TheWayneReport
Blog 1
They say that your body speaks to you. They’re right. My body is speaking to me, not like a cute little newborn or an Ewok, but more like a Lunatic Gorilla or a Screaming Beast of some sort. The problem is that I can’t understand what the hell it’s telling me.
At the age of 43 I could just write it off as “getting older” but I’m not so convinced of that. On the nights that I sleep right through till morning, (no, I don’t have to wake up to go pee…not yet anyway), I never wake up feeling rested. I wake up and my joints ache. From my ankles to my back, every movement comes with a dull ache (at best) until I get going. I believe the Medical People call it “malaise.” A general sense of “ick”.
Knowing that something is wrong is one thing; doing something about it is another. If you want to follow along with me, I’m about to take a 3 month journey into my health and wellness. I’m not going to lie, the whole purpose is for Me to help Me. I’m not only writing this down for your entertainment, but on the off chance that someone out there is struggling with the same thoughts, feelings or just has “the malaise”, maybe I can help inspire them.
Full disclosure: I’ve been down this road before. It must be four years ago now, I took part in a 6 week weight loss contest. I carried on eating the same, exercising the same (read: not exercising), and drinking just the same. I showed no commitment until the last 3 weeks. I had help from my Missus and my buddy, and I think I lost 16 pounds in that 3 week period by being healthy and changing my ways.
I was so proud of myself. I felt so good inside. But ask those around me and they’ll tell you – I was miserable…I’m not going to lie. I was. But I felt a little better inside. It was so hard to do (note: you can’t cram for weight loss like an English exam) and I swore I would NEVER let that happen again…
…And so, here we are. I tip the scales about the same place as I did before. Somewhere in the 200 lb park. At the towering height of 5′ 9″ (and a smidge) I should be in the 160 – 170 lb range. I’ll the first to admit, my numbers are not too far in the extreme, but in the interest of being healthy, the numbers have to come down. If you happen to be reading this and your numbers are much, much higher than mine, here is a great inspirational article to get you started. http://markmanson.net/weight-loss (I don’t know this guy, but his story is worth reading).
The question I’m going to ask is: Would I feel better at 160?
Let’s be honest. I haven’t seen 160 since high school. I do recall a period of 170 and that seemed to be alright for me. I could still wear my 32-32 501 Levis (not the skinny’s though, but let’s face it, nobody needs to see a 43 year old guy in Skinny Jeans). Really.
Last Saturday, November 1st, 2014 I weighed in at 201.4 lbs. (Ironic, the number is the same as the year, isn’t it?). I knew this journey had to happen. I admit my changes this week were small, and somewhat weak, but I believe that it is a better method than the alternative of going Cold Turkey and making drastic lifestyle changes like eating habits, going hard at the gym, and doing all sorts of crazy things that you’ll never be able to keep on top of for 2 weeks, let alone 3 months or a lifetime.
Instead, the approach was quite simple. Cutting down food portions, and choosing healthier foods more often.
Boring scientific, number/math stuff:
Let me be clear on this. It’s unfortunate, but in order to lose weight I need to either cut calories or exercise harder… Or ultimately — both. I’m lazy. Let’s try the easier approach first. There are many online calorie counters for you to google. I plugged my info into this one (http://www.cancer.org/healthy/toolsandcalculators/calculators/app/calorie-counter-calculator) because it came up first. I plugged in my numbers and it told me that maintain my current weight, I need to eat 2625 calories a day.
First of all, that’s a lot. Obviously I eat that much to be maintaining this weight. If that’s not depressing enough, I can’t account for where all those calories come from (or I don’t want to admit to it). It doesn’t matter. Not at this stage. I know I’m eating wrong. Let’s start to fix it.
What did I do? I can’t lay claim to this technique, but cut things in half (more often). I tend to eat out more often than not. Let me be extreme in this example. If I were to go out and order 2 pieces of Fish and Chips, order 1 piece of fish instead and don’t eat all the chips. This is not a healthy meal option by any means, but it’s at least a start. If you were to order a 12″ sub, make it a 6″ instead. At home, instead of filling up the big plate with your food, grab a smaller plate instead. This week is not about counting calories. Okay, enough boring, preachy, parent talk.
So how’d it work? This Sunday morning, November 9th, I weighed in at 197.8. A loss of 3.6 lbs and I didn’t even really try, or suffer. Would this get me to my goal of 170? No.
Using the same calorie counter with 170lbs, I have to eat 2423 calories to maintain that weight.
I’m almost done with the numbers (phew). If I eat only 2423 calories I will eventually get down to my goal weight, right? Sure. In a perfect test tube like scientific world, but it would take way too long and the ultimate goal for me is NOT weight loss, but overall health. More work is required.
The result:
So, do I feel any better? No. Well, not any healthier, anyway, but just knowing I was able to lose 3.6 lbs without much effort is so encouraging that I can’t wait for next week’s result. And I want to make sure I get a good result so, right now, I don’t mind the sacrifices that I know I will have to make.
Next week’s food choices involve much more veggies. Thankfully, the leftover Halloween candy is almost gone so I should be able to eliminate junk food!
This weeks key points:
Eat smaller portions
Eat healthier choices
More often
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