I know the title is cliche but you can deal with it. The reason for this posting is that some folks have asked what I am doing to lose weight. So a couple of things that we need to cleared up and then I'll tell you how and what I'm doing. First i'm not on a diet, I have changed what I eat forever. Second I'm not actually trying to lose weight per se I am trying to change my bio chemistry so that I can repair some damage that I inflicted upon myself by lifestyle choices.
So here is how it all started. I had a fat gut plain and simple and had it for quiet some time. I hated it but not enough to really do anything about it. Until we had a "fair" at our apartment complex. One of the vendors at this fair was Gold's Gym. He gave me a deal (which turns out to be their standard deal) 30 bucks a month no contract. So I took it, I was determined to get in shape. I started working out in January, saw a fitness trainer and saw no results. To tell you the truth I was feeling pretty defeated, I was considering quitting. Then one night I got up in the middle of the night to go to the rest room and I passed out, hit the floor. So I decided I needed to go to the Doctor.
When I went to the Doctor he did a physical and everything looked good. He wanted to do some blood work and he encouraged me to watch what I was eating, limit volume, watch the carbs, standard doctor stuff. He also encouraged me to keep exercising. I kept going to the gym. I changed a few things but nothing too drastic. A few days later he called and asked me to come in he wanted to talk to me about my blood work.
Now I don't what you're thinking but I was thinking... cancer. Yep that's where my mind went straight to cancer, yep I knew I was dying. So I went to the Dr. Now the good news it wasn't cancer. The bad news my triglycerides were high, I have a fatty liver. Not only do I have a fatty belly I also have a fatty liver. So if you know me I'm like Vanilla Ice "if you got a problem yo I'll solve it". I asked what do we? how do we fix this? He said I had to cut my carb intake in half and exercise.
Let's get to the meat and potatoes so to speak. What do I do? For me this is about fixing the liver that's the plan and my doctor said half my carbs and exercise. So to be specific I limit my carb intake to 60 grams a day max. I upped my protein intake to 216 grams per day. (I got these numbers from bodybuilder.com calculators). I also work out about an hour and half 5 days a week and then on one of the weekend days we do something active, hikes, walks etc... Sunday is my rest day no work out on Sunday. My work outs differ every day but I will either lift weights, walk on a treadmill, hit the bicycle. I try to do maximum calorie burn in the time I am there. I push myself really hard at the gym.
What do I eat you ask. Well let me tell you what I removed from my diet that's easier. Here is a list of foods that I avoid. Soda, rice, potatoes, pasta, bread sweets, candy, and cake. Things I do eat. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans, raspberries, black berries, green leafy vegetables, fish, beef, pork, chicken essentially all meat. I also eat dairy products, cheese, cottage cheese mostly and I use non fat milk to make my whey protein shakes. I get recipes from Atkins books, Low carb diets etc...
There is one more thing that I do and I think this is very helpful and I think without it I would not be nearly as half as successful as I have been. I use two tools that are invaluable to me. The first is my fitbit. This is a pedometer that keeps track of all steps. It also calculates calorie burn and allows me to input empirical data, it allows me to keep track of my progress. The second thing that I use is MyFitnessPal app. This app helps me track every food I eat. It has a bar code scanner and imputs all the nutritional data from the foods I eat.
As a result of all this, as of this writing I have lost 22 lbs. More importantly though My triglycerides have dropped by more than half and they are in the normal range. I still have some work to do, I still have a fatty liver and I still have a belly although its 2 inches smaller than it was before.
So here are some suggestions from the cheap seats if you're looking to get fit.
1) Go see your Doctor, make sure its safe to work out and find out if there are any biometric problems
2) follow the eating plan suggested by your Doctor to help with your issues
3) work out, when you think you've worked out enough... work out some more
4) embrace this as a lifestyle change not a diet, you can never go back to the way it was
I hope this helps out and remember if you decide to do it... you can do it!
- Steve
