Over the past few weeks we have discussed goals and it is critical to remember that in the beginning it can be difficult to stay on top of things, but perseverance is the key. Take action, develop a habit and you can do more than reach a goal, you can change.
Back in 2013 I started a journey that caught me by surprise. I was almost 265 lbs. and I was fine with it. I didn’t see it as a problem. I thought I was different, that I could never weigh less than 200 lbs. I graduated high school about 220 lbs., why would I think I could weigh less than that as an adult. My wife would bring up working out or eating healthy and it would irritate me, like she was picking on me. I know she wasn’t, she was just talking about what she wanted to do or what was on her mind, but I took it personally. Thinking about it now, if it bothered me that much, I probably needed to hear it.
And then it happened, I changed. Not overnight, it was a gradual shift in thought and belief. It started with a one-on-one weight loss challenge to lose 8% of our body weight within 3 months, with a $20 entry fee to be added to the prize pool, and then 9 more guys joined the challenge. The crazy part is the money was not the primary motivation, it typically never is. But we added a wrinkle to the challenge – If you do not lose 8% minimum, then you have to wear a women’s pink v-neck t-shirt, that is one size too small for you, at a public event. This was my motivation, to avoid public embarrassment.
Once I had the motivation and desire not to be seen, in all my glory, with 265 lbs. of hairy flesh protruding against a helpless v-neck Tee, looking like a pink Goodyear blimp, I needed to figure out how to lose weight. But I had one issue, I didn’t believe in diets, I still don’t. Diets have never made sense to me. The reason we see people yo-yo in their weight loss journey, is that they start the latest fad diet, they may, or may not, have success and when they are “done” they go right back to their old habits and end up gaining an additional 10 lbs. and the cycle starts all over again. Over the years, I have watched friends lose 40 lbs. on a crash diet and in a matter of months gain it all back and some more, and I did not want to be another casualty of the fad diet wrecking ball. So I was determined to “figure it out” and lo and behold it was very simple, and I knew it all along, but the engineer in me needed to do some research. Here it is, are you ready for it, the big aha… Burn more calories than you consume. It is so basic and so simple. We all know this, but putting it into practice is more difficult. Once I fortified this in my brain I realized it was a mathematical formula and as an engineer I can do formulas. All that I needed to do was burn more calories than I eat.
Let’s continue this story next week and I will share with you what I learned.
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