Hey, I'm Patrick, your guest blogger. Yes, Margie's husband, Patrick. My assignment, to write about my recent weight loss, seemed simple until it came time to do it. The place to start seems to be what would be my first tip to anyone who wants to drop some poundage - total honesty. I finally made a commitment to drop the extra weight I had been carrying around for two basic reasons: (1) This should come as no surprise - my wife was encouraging me to lose the extra weight after seeing me struggle with poor eating habits, loss of energy and very little to no exercise routine. She is, after all, the queen of uberfit and knows what it feels like (inside and out) to be healthy and she wanted me to be more responsible about my eating habits and to have more energy and stamina for our hectic family schedule and activities. And (2) I pretty well felt like crap all the time. I was tired and couldn't do much physically, which meant that when there was a time when neither Margie nor I w as working, I couldn't keep up enough for us to enjoy our time together. This was bad. Obviously, I needed to exercise, so I started by going to Kickboxing class twice a week.
Kickboxing was an easy choice because I knew I could count on myself to be consistent. Kickboxing used to be my favorite class at Spectrum, so it was an easy choice. After about a month, twice a week wasn't a challenge any longer and I started going to the gym on Sunday afternoon to run on the treadmill. A few more weeks of this and again, I needed to add something to my workout regimen to keep improving. Knowing in my head that you should include some sort of strength training in your routine to really start seeing the weight fall off, I finally gave up my resistance to weights. Margie always talks about her "Pure Strength Family" and commented on how proud she is of the difference it has made in her clients weight loss & fitness efforts, I had to sign up. (I couldn't come up with any good excuses). Since beginning Pure Strength, my new favorite class, my fitness level has increased steadily and I now work out 5 or 6 times a week. Aside from my initial apprehension about adding in weights, the workout section of this story is the short one because it was the easiest part for me in retrospect. The hard part was, and is, controlling my eating habits.
Going back again to 'total honesty' - I had to be honest with myself and acknowledge the most important thing to know about my preference for food is . . . I like junk food. I like all forms of junk food, except those containing coconut. I really enjoy milkshakes, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, orange soda, gummy critters (of all shapes and sizes), Swiss cake rolls, Milky Way bars, York Peppermint Patties, Peanut Butter cups and/or any combination of the aforementioned. Did I mention that I enjoyed these treats in tandem with hamburgers, fries, pizza, or fried chicken? Get the idea? I tend to gravitate toward junk food when I'm stressed and when I'm in a hurry. My other major food maladies include eating too quickly and eating too much.
So what's a guy supposed to do? Was I really going to move to a radical diet of raw vegetables and tofu? Not likely. Margie suggested taking it a step at a time. I knew I could give up sodas, so I picked that one thing and did it consistently. Next, I began to substitute healthier choices of the food items I was eating. For example, low fat turkey or chicken in place of beef. Only after a couple of weeks of being consistent with each additional change, did I make another. With this method, I have been able to radically change my behavior without making any changes that seemed radical at the time. Sounds easy, huh? Actually, it was, which surprised me greatly. Only two things have required a real concerted effort of will: (1) actually BELIEVING that I could be satisfied with much less food and (2) learning to satisfy my urges for sweet things with items that contain less processed sugar and also have some real nutritive value has been key. The method for training myself on being satisfied with less food was to consciously eat less and to promise myself that I would not eat anything further for a minimum of half and hour. Soon, I realized that I could satisfy my real needs with a great deal less than I was previously consuming. Regarding the second effort of will - my sweet cravings - there was no trick, just plain practice. The things that seem to work for me when I get a sweet tooth during the day are Emerald cocoa almonds, a cup of tea sweetened with agave nectar, or Greek yogurt with fruit. I also keep sugar free chewing gum handy and this helps as well.
The last detail I will share is that altering the timing of my food consumption has helped me a great deal. Since most of my activity and the majority of my movement occurs in the morning and early afternoon, it made sense to me to consume most of my calories in the morning. My first meal of the day, which is usually around 9:30 am, is the largest. For the rest of the day I consume somewhere between 100 and 300 calories at a time. I eat when I am hungry and I don't eat if I am not. I'm not 100% consistent, but with my wife's encouragement and support, if I stumble a little I get right back on the plan.
I hope my story has been encouraging or helpful to you in some way. If nothing else, I hope it is gives hope to those who are struggling with weight issues. My eating and exercise habits were exceptionally poor and I had to be honest with myself and commit to a healthier lifestyle. With the help and guidance of my wife and very little mental effort, I have found decent success. I'm certainly in no danger of being featured in the hunk of the month calendar, but I have experienced real change and am so lucky to have the support of my wife - the queen of uberfit. I'll be happy to share my encouragement and any info I can with anyone who wants it. See you at the gym! :)
