405 POUNDS TO 280 POUNDS
In my life I have tried just about every diet out there. I had always been a chunky kid, but I was an active kid. My family grew up poor after my parents divorced, so I didn’t have the healthiest foods around. I mean, there were times I ate peanut butter and syrup sandwiches! My neighborhood peers and I played football, stickball, tag, and many other games. If we were going somewhere, we were riding bikes to get there. In high school I was big but muscular. I played baseball and football. I’d gain weight in the summer, but by the time we had a couple of weeks of double practices in the summer heat, I’d shed 20 pounds easily. College days were pretty good too. I stopped playing football, but I walked everywhere on campus and worked out between morning and afternoon classes.
After graduating is when things took a drastic change. As a teacher I worked 40 plus hours a week. Now I had to find time to work out. Solution... I worked out with the football team and baseball team. I was able to stay about 260 pounds with a muscular frame.
Two years later I started graduate school! Then I had to work 50 hours a week (yes grading papers is still work), plus attend two classes, do homework and try to have a normal life. I was coming to the realization that I would have to sell my rental properties, because I just didn’t have time to manage them. At the time management companies only managed large multi unit buildings, not the 4-family apartments like I had. Anyway, I was now leaving home at 630 AM and getting home at 9 PM after classes. That two-year stretch didn’t allow for a lot of workout time, but I tried to make up for it on weekends.
Four years into my teaching career, I have a new Masters Degree and a 275 pound body, still with a muscular frame. That same year, an assistant principal died at my high school where I was a teacher. I have a new Masters Degree in Educational Administration. One of the assistant superintendents asked me, “Are you going to apply for the job.” I said that I had not really thought about it. He asked again. I hesitated. He said! “You ARE going to apply aren’t you?” This time I said that I was indeed going to apply. I did and I got the job.
For those that don’t know, the job of a school administrator in a large school district is full of discipline, supervision of events, committee meetings and evaluations. To do the job right, really takes 55 plus hours a week. Moreover, the hours can be unpredictable, depending on what you have to react to to in a given day or week. Throw in a relationship, marriage, kids or an ailing parent (or whatever major life change in any person’s life) and you have zero time for workouts, limited energy, and eating between meetings or sporting events. I gained 10 pounds a year for the next 12 years!!! That’s right 405 pounds!!! The high school scholar athlete was now a fat ass! I just didn’t know it until I bent over one day to tie my shoes and almost passed out. All the diets and pills and programs and shakes didn’t work long term.
I decided to change things right then. I looked at what it was going to take and what excuses I had made into obstacles. I knew I had to do three things
1. Eat less food
2. Eat higher quality food
3. Eat at better times
4. Stop drinking calories
5. Burn more calories
The excuses that I had to deal with and the realities I taught myself...
1. I don’t have enough time to work out...You got time to die
2. Healthy food is expensive... not as expensive as a heart attack
3. Water has no taste... it has no calories either, and the body needs it
4. I get hungry at night... nope you’re just dehydrated
5. I’m used to clearing my plate... Most American meals are at least 2 meals
Part 2 will include all the little changes that I made that made a big difference when put together. I’m now 280 pounds and have about 60 pounds to go until I reach my ideal weight.
Part 3 will detail the plan to go from 280 to 220!
I hope my fellow Steemians or steemmates as I call them will appreciate my journey. I hope this helps people. Lastly, I hope you all keep me accountable.