Hi all,
I am a 34 year old man who allowed himself to get far too overweight. In my twentys I moved up to about 240 and starved myself and ran 5 miles a day until I was back down to a respectable 180 pounds. ( I have a big frame) I fell into the trap that many people do, fast food no exercise and honestly for a long time thought I would NEVER be able to get motivated to lose my weight. I got up to about 340 pounds and one day my company had a paintball event and i realized that just running a few feet was tough for me.
A few months later I got wind that they were doing paintball again and I decided I would be able to run for that event.
I learned an important philosophy from this which has carried me through the last two years. Don't reach too far. Don't put too many expectations on yourself or you may never be able to do. I adopted a simple motto of "Just do better". At first I just ran for 15 minutes a night and then 20 and then I started to read a little. I started to buy into that I should workout muscles because this would give me a better platform to stay in shape once I got there and would help me lose weight passively.
I started working out a little and refused to do much to change my diet. (Just do better) I ate what i wanted when I wanted but over time I started to want to "do better" and while it wasn't a constant drive it was one that incrementally got better. I would eat about 2500 calories a day back then! I did ok I dropped about 30 Lbs and plateaued for about a year. I got discouraged and fell off a little and gained back about 10 pounds or so (possibly in muscle as I kept working out) eventually though something happened.
You see, just doing better had led me to stop drinking calories, and eating cheese (most times) I stopped eating ranch, and Mayo and started eating burgers with no buns and other little adjustments.
Then I hit a second wind I picked up the mens health big book of exercise and started really planning my workouts. All of a sudden me and my wife were busting out some pretty killer workouts and the muscles were starting to get bigger and more toned. Then in this burst of motivation I started tracking my calories again (roughly) and discovered I had whittled down my calorie intake to 1600 - 1900 calories a day and I was doing absolutely nothing painful or uncomfortable to do it. I wasn't hungry, I was taking my vitamins and drinking protein shakes and having healthy lunches and dinners and breakfasts and even having a cheat day when i wanted it.
It wont sound like alot but I gained about ten pounds almost right away when I started the more intense workouts. ( I have to think this was mostly muscle) but then next thing I knew I had broken my plateau and pounds were dropping off. Ill be sub 300 soon but im stronger than I have ever been! Im seeing 3-5 pounds a week recently and it feels great.
I wanted to share my story here because there is an important underlying theme. Guys don't beat yourself up, don't feel like you need to rush. Just do better
You will get there. I'm going to get there. I will be hanging out and sharing my progress I hope my experience helps someone out
Thanks
Chad
I am a 34 year old man who allowed himself to get far too overweight. In my twentys I moved up to about 240 and starved myself and ran 5 miles a day until I was back down to a respectable 180 pounds. ( I have a big frame) I fell into the trap that many people do, fast food no exercise and honestly for a long time thought I would NEVER be able to get motivated to lose my weight. I got up to about 340 pounds and one day my company had a paintball event and i realized that just running a few feet was tough for me.
A few months later I got wind that they were doing paintball again and I decided I would be able to run for that event.
I learned an important philosophy from this which has carried me through the last two years. Don't reach too far. Don't put too many expectations on yourself or you may never be able to do. I adopted a simple motto of "Just do better". At first I just ran for 15 minutes a night and then 20 and then I started to read a little. I started to buy into that I should workout muscles because this would give me a better platform to stay in shape once I got there and would help me lose weight passively.
I started working out a little and refused to do much to change my diet. (Just do better) I ate what i wanted when I wanted but over time I started to want to "do better" and while it wasn't a constant drive it was one that incrementally got better. I would eat about 2500 calories a day back then! I did ok I dropped about 30 Lbs and plateaued for about a year. I got discouraged and fell off a little and gained back about 10 pounds or so (possibly in muscle as I kept working out) eventually though something happened.
You see, just doing better had led me to stop drinking calories, and eating cheese (most times) I stopped eating ranch, and Mayo and started eating burgers with no buns and other little adjustments.
Then I hit a second wind I picked up the mens health big book of exercise and started really planning my workouts. All of a sudden me and my wife were busting out some pretty killer workouts and the muscles were starting to get bigger and more toned. Then in this burst of motivation I started tracking my calories again (roughly) and discovered I had whittled down my calorie intake to 1600 - 1900 calories a day and I was doing absolutely nothing painful or uncomfortable to do it. I wasn't hungry, I was taking my vitamins and drinking protein shakes and having healthy lunches and dinners and breakfasts and even having a cheat day when i wanted it.
It wont sound like alot but I gained about ten pounds almost right away when I started the more intense workouts. ( I have to think this was mostly muscle) but then next thing I knew I had broken my plateau and pounds were dropping off. Ill be sub 300 soon but im stronger than I have ever been! Im seeing 3-5 pounds a week recently and it feels great.
I wanted to share my story here because there is an important underlying theme. Guys don't beat yourself up, don't feel like you need to rush. Just do better
You will get there. I'm going to get there. I will be hanging out and sharing my progress I hope my experience helps someone out Thanks
Chad