A Couch in a Donut Shop
I looked like I lived on a couch in a donut shop.
No matter how much I worked out....No matter how much I dieted....No matter how much I suffered, it didn't matter.
I was fat.
I know the thin people would look at me and think, "If he would just stop eating all those donuts and get up off the couch once in a while, you would be thin...like meeee."
Ever feel that way?
The truth was, I hadn't touched a donut in years. No, for me, if I looked at a carrot, I'd gain weight.
I didn't veg on the couch in front of the television either. I was too busy with work and life. I didn't even have cable.
I exercised and tried to eat right.
Was I perfect?
No.
Nobody is.
But occasional slip ups didn't account for being so overweight. They couldn't. I needed to lose over 100 pounds!
I didn't start out fat. I was almost underweight when I was born. Ounces away from the incubator, according to my parents. And I maintained a healthy weight as a child and teenager, despite eating pretty much whatever I wanted to.
Even in my college years, the beer and pizza didn't pack on the pounds. I remember when I was in the military eating two dinners and a dessert pretty much every evening. Plus a midnight snack. Why not? I was losing weight despite all that eating.
It wasn't until grad school and the stress of a professional career combined with raising a family that I started packing on pounds. Just a little at first. I figured I could take it right back off.
I tried.
Some came off...for a little while...then it came back and it brought friends.
Just think of how it can sneak up on you. If you gain a quarter of a pound a week you are in trouble. Would you notice a quarter of a pound? I didn't. In fairness, back in the day, the analog scales didn't display such precision as the digital ones do today. Regardless, it's not much. A quarter of a pound a week is 13 pounds per year.
Still not upset?
13 pounds per year is 65 pounds in only 5 years!
That is like sinking a cruise ship with a slow leak.
I tried all the diets that were popular: Low Fat. Atkins. Diet pills. They would work and then they wouldn't.
I ate those frozen meals that are supposed to make you lean.
I told you I wasn't on the couch. I exercised. At various times I did Martial Arts, Weightlifting. Aerobics. Jogging. Walking. Swimming. Biking. Boot Camp.
I even trained for and completed a half-marathon. I lost only 5 pounds for all that effort. Talk about discouraging!
Does any of this strike a chord with you? If so, leave a comment below.
After months and months of getting up at 4 AM to work out like a mad man at a boot camp, I asked my trainer why I had lost fewer than 10 pounds.
The answer I was given?
I was told: Your body has gotten used to the activity, so it won't lose any more unless I increase my activity!
It felt so hopeless that I really stopped going to work out. So I put that weight back on and then some.
I felt like I was doing everything perfectly with no results. Well, I wasn't doing everything perfectly. In fact, I was making a lot of mistakes. I didn't know it at the time, though. But I do now.
Do you want to know what some of those mistakes were?
I'll be happy to tell you. But that is for a future post.
Thank you for being one of my readers.
No matter how much I worked out....No matter how much I dieted....No matter how much I suffered, it didn't matter.
I was fat.
I know the thin people would look at me and think, "If he would just stop eating all those donuts and get up off the couch once in a while, you would be thin...like meeee."
Ever feel that way?
The truth was, I hadn't touched a donut in years. No, for me, if I looked at a carrot, I'd gain weight.
I didn't veg on the couch in front of the television either. I was too busy with work and life. I didn't even have cable.
I exercised and tried to eat right.
Was I perfect?
No.
Nobody is.
But occasional slip ups didn't account for being so overweight. They couldn't. I needed to lose over 100 pounds!
I didn't start out fat. I was almost underweight when I was born. Ounces away from the incubator, according to my parents. And I maintained a healthy weight as a child and teenager, despite eating pretty much whatever I wanted to.
Even in my college years, the beer and pizza didn't pack on the pounds. I remember when I was in the military eating two dinners and a dessert pretty much every evening. Plus a midnight snack. Why not? I was losing weight despite all that eating.
It wasn't until grad school and the stress of a professional career combined with raising a family that I started packing on pounds. Just a little at first. I figured I could take it right back off.
I tried.
Some came off...for a little while...then it came back and it brought friends.
Just think of how it can sneak up on you. If you gain a quarter of a pound a week you are in trouble. Would you notice a quarter of a pound? I didn't. In fairness, back in the day, the analog scales didn't display such precision as the digital ones do today. Regardless, it's not much. A quarter of a pound a week is 13 pounds per year.
Still not upset?
13 pounds per year is 65 pounds in only 5 years!
That is like sinking a cruise ship with a slow leak.
I tried all the diets that were popular: Low Fat. Atkins. Diet pills. They would work and then they wouldn't.
I ate those frozen meals that are supposed to make you lean.
I told you I wasn't on the couch. I exercised. At various times I did Martial Arts, Weightlifting. Aerobics. Jogging. Walking. Swimming. Biking. Boot Camp.
I even trained for and completed a half-marathon. I lost only 5 pounds for all that effort. Talk about discouraging!
Does any of this strike a chord with you? If so, leave a comment below.
After months and months of getting up at 4 AM to work out like a mad man at a boot camp, I asked my trainer why I had lost fewer than 10 pounds.
The answer I was given?
I was told: Your body has gotten used to the activity, so it won't lose any more unless I increase my activity!
It felt so hopeless that I really stopped going to work out. So I put that weight back on and then some.
I felt like I was doing everything perfectly with no results. Well, I wasn't doing everything perfectly. In fact, I was making a lot of mistakes. I didn't know it at the time, though. But I do now.
Do you want to know what some of those mistakes were?
I'll be happy to tell you. But that is for a future post.
Thank you for being one of my readers.
Comments
Post a Comment