I'm fat. I have been for quite some time. I arrived at college (
Claremont McKenna College) at a slim 185. Instead of the Freshman 15, the all-you-can-eat style dining halls lead to a freshman 30 and sophomore 20. Graduate school, a failed restaurant, and a new baby later, I weigh 255 lbs (36% fat).
My mom recently came to visit me and left behind a couple of old photo albums. I looked at all the pictures from my youth. I used to be in such great athletic shape before college.
I've been eating like crap on and off for years. I mean, a large pizza from
Little Caesar's is only $5. Why cook in the sizzling Vegas heat. I weigh the most I ever have in my life: 255 lbs. That's 5 lbs more than I ever thought I would let myself weigh in my wildest or fattest dreams. My XL clothes are more than a little snug, and I refuse to buy anything XXL. No way!
With all the talk of cleansing diets and fasts, I decided to fast for a day. The idea was to give my digestive system a day off, something that's never happened in my life. The next day I ate only fruits and vegetables. On the third day I crashed and burned. I binged and went back to eating fast food and processed crap. The main reason I binged was because I just couldn't figure out what to eat, what to buy, what to cook, or even what restaurant to eat. I was in decision paralysis and I was lost. I realized I needed to find a way to make it simple for myself.
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In the past I have had the most success losing weight and eating healthy on low carb diets (usually South Beach, but also Atkins.) I can't stomach the idea of going through stage one or stages in general again. I do remembered that when I was doing stage one (South Beach) and Atkins it was the healthiest I've ever eaten. It's not just low carb, it's lean meats and a lots of healthy vegetables. I decided to alter the the ideas from South Beach, Abs Diet, Body Life and all the other weight loss systems I had tried with some success. I was going to distill the best ideas from all of them. I knew I wanted my approach to be low carb, but allow healthy items like fruit. It's fruit, how can it be bad for you? I want to eat at home more and eat real food.
I also need back up. Previously, the #1 reason I had resorted back to eating crap, when I was formerly eating health, was that I didn't have the time or opportunity to get to a healthy meal (e.g., working late, no time to shop, etc.) It would all head down hill from there. So this time there's back ups in the system. If all else fails I can always grab a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store or grilled chicken from El Pollo Loco (EPL), then grab a bag of microwavable frozen veggies for dinner. For lunch, there are a plethora of places that sell a fairly healthy salad (Wendy's and EPL come to mind.) It should be pretty easy to stick to the new plan, and to eliminate the processed foods that are probably killing me.
The change isn't so much to lose weight, but to live better through eating better. Sounds kind of cliche, I know. There is no specific finish line (not a month, or year, or 5 or 10). I'm hoping its a lifetime of change. I don't plan on turning back. So they'll be
One Less Fat Man in the world.
Statistics April 29, 2013 8:26 am
Weight: 255 lbs
Body Fat %: 34%
Fat Weight: 87 lbs
Lean Body Mass: 168.8 lbs
H20%: 47.5% (121.5 lbs)
we'll see what the scale says tomorrow ...
