I hope this helps someone on their journey.......
I went through all the usually crash diets and gimmicks to lose weight and always let my physical limitations be an excuse as to why they failed. I always set out with some goal - like lose 30 pounds in 6 months, or be certain weight by Christmas. Well, when 6 months would pass or Christmas came and I had 35 more pounds to lose or didn't make my goal weight I would end up going the opposite way and just gain more.
Well, 5 years ago I hit 293 lbs...the heaviest I have ever been in my life.
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My orthopedic wanted to fuse my L5-S1 together in my lower back and cauterize the nerve endings because the pain was so bad, and the VA issued candy was wasn't working anymore. After reading several medical articles on these procedures I decided I had to try something different one last time before the surgery. I made three small changes that have really made a difference.
1. I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app for my phone and religiously added EVERYTHING I ate to it. This held me accountable, and set realistic goals with the ability to track progress. The eye opener to this app was the 5 week forecast after entering your daily food log. For the first few days I ate pretty well and saw the daily 5 week forecast saying "If you continue to eat like today, in 5 weeks you will weigh 283" and was like alright I am doing well. That was until Friday hit, and I loaded in my 5 Sam Adams Octoberfest, 4 slices of pizza, and everything else (which by the way was a normal evening at that time) and the forecast said "In 5 weeks you will weight 318." <-- This really helped me stay honest and start to learn what to I could eat a lot of and what I should steer clear of.
2. Small choices - One reason I always failed in the past was I tried to quit bad habits cold turkey. This time around I decided that instead of trying to quit all my favorites, and go straight to shakes and rice cakes - when faced with a choice, try to make the better choice. So an example - If I went to McDonalds instead of supersize get the regular size. Or drink water instead of soda. Or apples slice instead of fries. Eventually this lead to grilled chicken instead of double quarter pounders, then salads instead of chicken and then eventually no McDonalds at all. If I made a bad choice, or had a bad day of food, I just told myself that I have to make a better choice next time and that over time make more good choices than bad and I will be ok. With a few weeks I had dropped 10 pounds and 5 week forecast was showing weights in the 270s...which blew my mind and gave me motivation.
3. Move as much as I can. This was hardest for me because I spent the last 10 years learning to restrict my movement because of my back (and other gifts from the Army). At first I did things like park further away at Walmart and work to get a few extra steps in (BTW - I did not track steps, just a preference. I did not want the constant reminder that I did or did not do enough). I also tried to exercise in some way M-F each week. I started with walking on a treadmill or riding a recumbent bike with Netflix up to help me focus on something else. Eventually I started to enjoy the stress relief of exercising - and even started running (more on this in a bit).
These three changes got me off all the pain killers various and VA vitamins and helped me get to a healthy weight. I got so into running at one point that I was putting 20 to 25 miles in a week. Well, I went from 293 to 208 and pushed myself so hard that I still had severe back pain (knee, ankle, etc) and had to roll that back to walking, biking and lifting weights. When I hit 208 I got my first suit that was tailored vs off the rack and actually felt good when I wore it.
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Since I hit 208 lbs in 2018 I have been able to maintain 222-224lbs for the two year or so (I am comfortable at this weight as its what I weighed while I was in the Army). My doctors have pretty much told me I need to stop running to hold off getting a knee replacement or damaging my back even further. I no longer use myfitnesspal to track my calories, as its become engrained in my routine what I need to eat to maintain. I split my daily exercise between the exercise bike and free-weights M-F and try to go on a hike or walk on the weekends.
I still get days where my brain thinks I am in my 20s vs 40s and hit the pavement for long run - against my doctors advice (What can I say, I am a saddle hunter!)
This morning I put 5.5 miles down in under an hour on my first day of a beach vacation felt good, but I will feel it for a few days. Anyway, I hope my my story can help someone out there who thinks its too hard, takes too long, or has given up. Tomorrow is another day, and its never to late start.
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