When I moved to Chicago I had pretty much dropped my healthy lifestyle. There were a number of factors - new place, new foods and restaurants to try, new (and rigid) schedule, and I was actually not doing that bad the first two months because it wasn't that cold, but then when the month of February 2007 hit, and it was under 10F for about a month, I stopped walking and started taking cabs. Then when I started walking to the train, at least, they closed my train stop for the entire summer, so I had no choice but to take a cab or bus. I also started going out to drink with friends more, and started drinking a LOT.
After a while I was so tired at the end of a work day that I'd cab it home, order delivery food, and at least reclaim an hour or two that I'd spend getting home, cooking, cleaning up, etc. Those were precious hours.
Then about a month ago I had severe pain in my back after drinking waaaaaaay too much the night before, and while there were many things that made me decide that I needed to make a change, the big one was the Dying Feeling again. I realized that this was different than a normal hangover and that if I kept up with what I was doing I'd die. Another bit of trivia - I took one of those "what's your TrueAge" tests that would calculate when you were going to die earlier this year. I was 31 at the time, and the test said that given my habits I'd likely die at 32. That was probably pretty accurate. No nutrition, no exercise, and lots of alcohol. I was out of breath walking down the hall to the elevator.
Anyway, I immediately cut out some high calorie, zero nutrition foods like Coke (I was tired at work, so I'd drink 6-8 cans of Coke a day too, in addition to about four cups of coffee), desserts, etc. Those were things that I cut out during 2007 when I lost 70 lbs in five months, and I don't at all miss them. I had a sip of a girl's Jack & Coke the other night and it was disgustingly sweet to me. It's easy to stay away from foods that now make you ill (the smell of fried chicken, for instance - ugh).
So the first two weeks I started eating better but not really following a plan. I started reading books on nutrition and fitness, and and used the fitness center in my apartment building for seriously the first time in the 18 months I've lived here. Two weeks later I joined the $90/month fitness center in my office building (which is awesome because I can now take a shower at work if I'm going out after work or something). So for the past two weeks I've been working out before work, showering and getting ready there, and then going to work. It's been fantastic. Exercising in the morning makes me feel fresh and energized for a good 4-6 HOURS after working out. The downside is that I have a pretty sedentary job, so I'm bouncing around the office too much. Maybe I'll get an exercise bike for my cubicle so I can sit the keyboard on the handlebars and code while I pedal or something.
Anyway, I'm doing a combination of cardio/aerobic exercise (walking, biking, crunches, etc.) and weight training now, and I'll be starting with a physical trainer this week so I know I'm doing it right.
I've also been talking to nutritionists and dietitians and was a little shocked to find out a lot of little fitness tidbits. I seriously feel like I've been lied to all my life about health issues.
You all probably know these things already, but the shocking revelations that I've learned in the past month:
- Soft drinks (Coke, Pepsi, etc.) are specifically engineered to be addictive. Even the diet ones (which aren't much better for you than the sugary sodas).
- You can "spot reduce" fat - doing abdominal exercise won't "melt away the fat" in just your abs. All of those videos are lying to you.
- Muscle doesn't turn into fat, and vice-versa, any more than lead can turn into gold (cue the alchemists...). They're completely different tissues.
- Exercise is highly important for living a healthy life, but it's not very effective for weight or fat loss. In other words, you can't work out like a madman and then eat anything you want. To burn off ONE Big Mac on the treadmill you'd have to run at high intensity for five to six HOURS. If you got the value meal, just keep running until you die. You'll never burn it off in a day.
- Yes, exercise increases the rate at which your body can metabolize calories - by about 1-3%. It's so insignificant that if you're counting on working off that key-lime pie through exercise, think again.
- The good news is that it takes a LOT of energy (the calorie is a unit of energy) just to keep you alive for the day, and your muscles will need more calories to keep up if you work out.
- Most of the calories you burn go toward keeping your body temperature at 98.6F.
- So how do you lose weight? The formula is so simple that I may get it tattooed on my arm or something: use more calories than you intake, or: calories in < calories out = weight loss.
- Because of those dang laws of conservation of mass and energy, fat doesn't just disappear. You lose weight through "evacuation" (my favourite euphemism for "peeing" - your poop doesn't count because that mostly contains unprocessed waste that doesn't get converted into energy by your body)
- A pint of water (and urine) weighs a pound.
- As your fat cells get rid of the fat as waste, they'll likely fill up with water at first, which is heavier. So your weight loss will likely increase and then decrease, increase a little and then decrease.
- You can measure your true weight by weighing in at least once a day and taking an average over time.
- Because exercise will increase the mass of your muscles AND bones, you will likely not lose *weight* as quickly as you lose *fat*, so don't put too much pressure on what the scale says. Your overall total weight is just ONE factor in determining your overall health.
- I'd suggest trying to "eat whatever you want" but stay within your calorie range for the day. You'll probably be hungry if you eat a bowl of Captain Crunch for breakfast and have the Big Mac Value Meal for lunch, since you'll be over your caloric intake for the day and won't be able to eat dinner. The upshot is that you CAN eat whatever you want - just be careful about the portions. I loves me some bacon, and I'm going to eat bacon every once in a while - but I won't eat half a pound of it, I'll have like, two strips.
I have to say, I was steeling my resolve for this to be a difficult process, and nothing could be further from the truth. I've lost an average of a pound a day the first month (yes, lots of that is fluid - my shoes don't fit anymore because my ankles and feet aren't swollen since I've been exercising, so I have to get smaller shoes - I'm using inserts right now to make the inside of the shoe smaller).
And the "diet" thing is easy - since I'm not following a plan but rather eating more healthily in general. I do log my food with Gyminee.com, but that's mostly so I can know what I'm doing or what my total caloric intake is. The first two weeks I would only log what I ate yesterday so the "counting calories" wasn't affecting my choices, but when doing so I noticed that I was keeping to about 1800-2200 calories a day, which is still likely less than I burn, so hence the weight loss.
Also, I'm HUGE. I mean, I'm 6'4" and now weigh well over 400 pounds, so a pound a day is a drop in the bucket for me. I need to lose 230 pounds or so, which means I weigh more than TWICE what I should weigh. I'm planning some celebrations for when I meet certain milestone goals (not "eat a big plate of ribs" types of goals, but goals that also tie-in to my fitness goals, like taking a trip to somewhere cool to walk around there instead of here, or buy some fitness equipment for home, etc.).
Anyway, my first milestone is my 10% goal, which I should hit sometime this week if I keep going. Then I'll celebrate again when I get under 400, then again probably every 25lbs thereafter.
I expect the weight loss to slow soon, but that's okay. My real target weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week, which I think is doable.
For those who can do the math, yes, it means that it'll take 2-4 years to reach my ideal weight goal. I wish I started ten years ago, but I didn't so I guess I'll just have to be fit four years from now instead. I had a year long relapse, but I have some support now, and paying lots of money to help me reach my goals will certainly keep me on track. There's no way I'm going to let the gym and physical training go to waste.
The last shocking thing I learned was how QUICKLY my overall health changed. Within a single week of eating better and getting some very minor exercise (my capability was so low that I could only stand to lift a tiny bit of weight and walk for a very short time) I already started to feel a lot better. My walking pace is about 50% faster already (from 2-3mph - my goal for the end of the summer is a steady 4mph without being sweaty or winded - yes, that's only a 15 minute mile, but I'll have to work up to faster). I'm seeing big improvements in flexibility (I do stretching exercises as well) and my memory and critical thinking abilities have improved drastically as well. I don't feel tired all the time and am sleeping better to boot.
I'm only a month in, but the only problem I'm having is to hold myself back from overdoing it because I feel so great. Eating crap and not exercising isn't really an issue.
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Topic: Still not dying! (Read 8182 times)