August 16th, 2010
Whether you are trying to lose a ton of weight or just those last pesky five or ten pounds, losing weight can be a huge challenge. And it can be especially difficult in a city like Dallas, which is full of so many tempting restaurants, deep fried Twinkies, and good southern fried food. But it’s not impossible. I’ve discovered that the hardest part of weight loss is not getting the weight off – it’s keeping it off. My own journey with weight loss has been full of ups and downs. You know, the yo-yo syndrome. Maybe some of you can relate. A couple of years ago I weighed 300 lbs. I felt miserable physically and emotionally and I desperately wanted a change. After changing the way I ate and starting an exercise regimen I got down to 188 lbs in about nine months.
That is a difference of 112 lbs. Later I gained about forty-five of those pounds back. Then I woke up again and brought my weight back into the 190’s. But after finishing grad school I suffered a lot of major personal set backs. All the stress and emotional turmoil got to me and a little over a year later I had ballooned back up to 280 lbs. Currently I weigh 260 lbs and am rapidly burning up the blubber. I believe I will get back to former low weight over the next several months. But as I’ve said, the real challenge will be keeping it off. Some people will look at my story as a failure, or just another example of Yo-Yo dieting. I don’t see it that way. As I’ve said, weight loss is a journey. I have the confidence and the know how to lose the weight and I am working on identifying and overcoming the triggers and pitfalls in my life that cause me to fall off the wagon. I want to share with you how I lost over 100lbs, how I will again, and how you can too (even in Dallas). There are no miracle pills, surgeries, fad diets or one simple rule to follow. These are just practical, realistic things for real people. They worked for me and may work for you as well.
First you need to understand that everybody is different. What works for some people will not work as well for others. But here are some weight loss nuggets I’ve picked up. Read through them, take what you think will prove helpful to you, and ignore the rest. Second, it is important when your are trying to lose weight that you don’t view it as a diet. Diets are short term fixes. You need to find a plan that you can commit to for the rest of your life. So as the weight loss gurus are fond of saying -it’s not a diet; it’s a lifestyle change. And it’s true. If you start eating and exercising in a way that makes you miserable, there is no way that you will be able to keep it up indefinitely. You will fail eventually. I say it’s better to be miserable with a big piece of cheesecake than miserable munching celery sticks and fat-free cottage cheese. So think about the weight loss tips I’m suggesting and let it inspire you to come up with your own workable, misery-free plan.
Read more Part 2
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Tags: Blubber, Dallas Area, Deep Fried Twinkies, Emotional Turmoil, Exercise Regimen, Fad Diets, Fried Food, Grad School, Losing Weight, Miracle, Nine Months, Personal Set, Pills, Pitfalls, Real People, Tempting Restaurants, Ups, Ups And Downs, Weight Loss, Yo Yo
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August 16th, 2010
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I found the teaching of Zig Ziglar to be very helpful to me in understanding how to reach my goal. Not only is Zig a successful business man but he also won his own personal battle of the bulge years ago. He lost a little over forty pounds and has kept it off. The first thing you need to do is take a look at the damage. How is your body holding up, what is your current energy level, how is your health, and of course how much do you weigh? A good way to do this is by getting a physical from your doctor.
After I found out how much I weighed (a terrifying 300 lbs) I thought about how much I would like to lose. Something that helped me with this was doing a little online research. You can go to several online sights and see about how much you should weigh for your height. Usually there’s a range based on your small, medium or large framed. As you know, all fat people are big-boned. Just kidding. Once you have found out how much you weigh now and how much you want to weigh at your ideal weight you need to try and set a date for when you reach your goal weight. Think about how much weight you might realistically expect to lose each week.
Then use that as a guide to figure out how long it will take you at that rate to lose the weight. When you’re finished, circle that date on the calendar and think about how good you will look and feel on that day. Because I had so much excess weight, I figured a reasonable goal for me would be to try to lose two to two and ½ lbs a week. As it turned out I ended up burning through an average of five pounds a week. But the important thing was that I set small, realistic goals for myself. I didn’t think about how I needed to lose over one hundred pounds. I just thought about losing my two pounds that week and was very pleased whenever I exceeded that goal.
Read more – Part 3
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Tags: Battle Of The Bulge, Current Energy, Dallas Texas, Dallas Texas weight loss, Dallas Texas weight loss strategies, Dallas TX weight loss, Energy Level, Excess Weight, Goal Weight, Health, Ideal Weight, Lose Weight, Personal Battle, Realistic Goals, Successful Business Man, Two Pounds, Weight Loss, Zig Ziglar
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August 16th, 2010
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The next thing to do is to think about what kinds of food you are eating and how much of those foods you are eating. Like the vast majority of people, I was overeating and I was feasting on the wrong kinds of food – junk food, fast food, fried food, sodas, candy etc. I had to identify which of the things I was eating were going to keep me from my goal. Then I had to purge my house of chips, candy, ice cream, soda etc and replace them with things which I knew were good for me. There will be a period of adjustment for most people when they give up their favorite naughty treats.
But it’s not as long or as painful as you might think if you do it right. Look at this as a fun time to explore and experiment. You may find all sorts of new healthy foods that you actually enjoy. You might even discover (once you wean yourself from the junk food) that vegetables and fruits are not your enemies. I did. My wife was very supportive of me and my wife discovered lots of healthy low-fat recipes which I love. Simple things can make a difference. Replace white bread with whole wheat bread.
Find low-sugar, low-fat substitutes of foods and condiments that you enjoy. Eat less meat. Eat more chicken and turkey and less beef and pork. Eat more brown rice and vegetables. Find tasty fruits and snacks. I used to skip breakfast, but to start the day off right I would usually eat a bowl of oatmeal topped with unsweetened berries, or have one of those healthy Quaker instant kinds (not the ones loaded with sugar). Throughout the day, drink lots of water. This was hard for me at first. Then I discovered the product True Lime. It’s real powdered lime in a packet. You just add it to your water and it gives it a lot of extra zip.
Read more about Dallas weight loss – Part 4
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Tags: Brown Rice, Candy Ice Cream, Condiments, Cream Soda, Drink Lots Of Water, Fat Substitutes, Fried Food, Fun Time, Healthy Foods, Junk Food, Kinds Of Food, Low Fat Recipes, Oatmeal, Powdered Lime, Quaker, Sodas, Tasty Fruits, Vegetables And Fruits, White Bread, Whole Wheat Bread
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August 16th, 2010
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That extra flavor and kick really helped me drink a lot more water. There are also other flavors available like True Lemon. And Crystal Light has several zero or very low calorie powders that you can add to water for a very tasty beverage. They have a whole bunch of great flavors. There are some great stores in Dallas such as Central Market and Whole Foods which really cater to people trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Newflower Market is another fun one. You’ll have fun looking through the huge selections of health food products at these stores.
It is important that you stop overeating. Easier said than done, right? It took me a while to retrain my mind and body to eating less. Doctors say that it takes about twenty minutes for you mind to receive signals from your body that your stomach has had enough to eat. So eat slow. Try not to rush through you meals. Chew your bites longer. Talk to people around you. Start with smaller portions and add on as needed. Something that helped me was to use a small plate. It fills up quicker.
For some reason when I use a larger plate I always feel obligated to put more food on it. While it’s very important to reduce the amount of calories you’re taking in, it is equally important that you do not starve yourself. Perpetual hunger is the quickest way to get you back to your old unhealthy ways of eating. When I took the time to slow down and listen to my body I began to get a better idea of when my stomach was satisfied, when I was eating too little, and when I was crossing the line and eating too much. The less I ate the more my stretched out stomach shrunk and got used to less food at my meal times.
But as I ate less I also discovered that I got hungry during the long stretches in between meals. To combat this I carried around healthy snacks with me and just ate them whenever I got hungry. My snacks really helped me feel satisfied and stay on track and they were things I enjoyed eating and looked forward to. I would snack on things like a piece of fruit, a container of yogurt, a little baggie of Cheerios (or Honey Nut Cheerios), a ¼ cup or ½ cup of pistachio nuts, a granola bar etc. My snacks made it a lot easier for me to not binge or overeat at meals. I also made a rule for myself that I would not eat anything after 7:00pm unless it was a special occasion.
Sometimes I felt hungry and it was hard and sometimes I felt fine. But I knew that that time of night was peak binge time for me. I would sit around watching TV and mindlessly devouring junk. This rule really helped me keep on track and develop better habits.
Read more about Dallas TX weight loss – Part 5
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Tags: Amount Of Calories, Crossing The Line, Crystal Light, Dallas Texas, Dallas Texas weight loss, Dallas TX weight loss, Doctors, Extra, Flavors, Health Food Products, Healthier Lifestyle, Healthy Snacks, Hunger, Mind And Body, Signals, Stomach, Stretches, Tasty Beverage, Twenty Minutes, Weight Loss, Whole Foods
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August 16th, 2010
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After thinking about how you will change your eating, you need to think about putting together an exercise routine. First of all think about what kind of sports or exercise (if any) which you enjoy or are able to do. I really like playing basketball but I found it was not an activity which I could commit myself to doing everyday. Because I was so big I decided I would just start out walking. It’s simple, you can do it anywhere, and it’s good for you. This brings me to another important point. Start small.
Don’t try to run a marathon on your first day. I remember watching a race between a class of third graders once. They just had to run around a soccer field two or three times and the first one to cross the finish line would win. Well a couple of the kids just took off sprinting. They were in first place for awhile but after the first lap those kids were dead. They actually came in last place. In the same way, I’ve seen people get all gung-ho about exercising and losing weight drop off after the first week (sometimes after the first day or two) because they were totally out of shape and they tried to push themselves too hard.
The result is torture and no one wants to torture themselves on a daily basis. So find something that’s not torture for you. Start slow and build yourself up. When I first started exercising I was walking ten or twelve laps around a soccer field. By the time I reached my lowest weight I was jogging forty laps around that field. But I built up to it over time. Sometimes I would add a new lap each week. Sometimes I would jog one or two laps and walk the rest. Eventually I got to where I could do a lot more laps and jog more than walk. I was exercising five or six days a week for over an hour each time. Make a commitment to your exercise.
Once a week isn’t going to cut it. Try to get out there at least three or four times a week. Some other little helpful tips are to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park farther away from stores etc. and walk the extra distance. Every little thing that moves you further away from a sedentary lifestyle and closer to an active lifestyle is a real step in the right direction.
Read more about Dallas weight loss strategies – Part 6
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Tags: Daily Basis, Dallas Texas, Dallas Texas weight loss, Elevator, Exercise Routine, Finish Line, Helpful Tips, Important Point, Jogging, Laps, Losing Weight, Marathon, Playing Basketball, Shape, Six Days, Soccer Field, Stairs, Those Kids, Three Times, Torture, Weight Loss, Weight loss in Dallas Texas
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