Well, I finished my first tri of the year yesterday. It wasn't pretty, but considering the lack of training and the fact that I tried to talk myself out of it Saturday night, I am happy.
My partner kicked my butt, but what can you do. The cycle was the hardest thing I have ever done. Felt like I was on a constant up an down roller coaster, and I my legs about gave out. I was riding past guys and girls that had to get off of the bike to make it up some of the hills, and I honestly thought I was going to have to do the same.
I am again motivated to get after these, and I have already decided I want to do at least one more, probably 2 before the end of this season. Laura was a wonderful cheerleader, but she now wants to buy a cowbell.
I guess that's it for now, but I am getting back on the triathlon horse!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
2 Weeks to Get Going
Well, we have no kids in the house for 2 weeks, and as miserable as that seems for us, we have decided we are going to have our own version of fitness 2 a days. I actually have a triathlon this weekend, so I am hoping this will help me get ready to finish the race on Sunday.
Laura and I are going overboard while the kids are at Granny Camp in Arkansas and Dallas. Our food is all healthy and we are both getting back into big workouts. I actually worked out twice today and hope to do it tomorrow. It's the only day this week I didn't have meetings all day, so I grabbed a lunch time run and an after bike. Not great, but a great way to get back into it.
Today I ran into an old friend, who has had a great weight loss experience similar to mine. We were talking about his brother who is heading down a very dangerous path and we don't know the best way to help him. I am hoping I can find a way to break through and help him realize that being the Yes man for everyone to go drinking and eating with is fun until you look up one day and your health is in critical place. I know he can do it, it's just trying to find the way to motivate him.
I am hoping in this 2 weeks to get into a habit of blogging daily again. I will keep trying. Going to sleep to get my first work out in before I drive to College Station for the day.
Laura and I are going overboard while the kids are at Granny Camp in Arkansas and Dallas. Our food is all healthy and we are both getting back into big workouts. I actually worked out twice today and hope to do it tomorrow. It's the only day this week I didn't have meetings all day, so I grabbed a lunch time run and an after bike. Not great, but a great way to get back into it.
Today I ran into an old friend, who has had a great weight loss experience similar to mine. We were talking about his brother who is heading down a very dangerous path and we don't know the best way to help him. I am hoping I can find a way to break through and help him realize that being the Yes man for everyone to go drinking and eating with is fun until you look up one day and your health is in critical place. I know he can do it, it's just trying to find the way to motivate him.
I am hoping in this 2 weeks to get into a habit of blogging daily again. I will keep trying. Going to sleep to get my first work out in before I drive to College Station for the day.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Nutrition Challenge
Well, I just got back from a nice night time bike ride and swim at the gym. Probably makes Laura more nervous when I do that than anything else I do, but when you want to spend time with your kids, crazy times of the day are the only times you can actually work out.
When I got on the scales at the gym I was reminded that working out is great, but your diet is still the driving force behind maintaining weight as well as losing weight. Three years ago, I was perfect, I didn't stray and for 2 years it paid off. Last year after doing my triathlons and adventure races I thouhgt I could start eating whatever I wanted and could work out hard enough to balance that food. It's impossible.
When I started losing weight, I had so many people giving me tips along the way. The funniest tip I ever received came from my uncle. At one point in his life, he weighed over 300lbs as well and one day decided he was going to make a change. He just quit eating and has never changed that philosophy. He doesn't exercise and still believes that not eating is the only thing you can do to maintain or loss weight. At the time, I totally disagreed and now I only partially disagree. I do think you have to cut back on the amount of food you eat. I think I normally eat around 3500 calories a day. Over time, that starts to add up. If I am able to keep my calories taken in per day closer to 2500 then I can consitently lose weight. For those of you who don't like counting calories, do it for a month and for the rest of your life you will have a decent idea of the calories you are consuming with your favorite foods.
Either way, no matter how hard I work out, I have learned that as much as I want to eat a burger a week, I can't. I have to eat fish, eggs, veggies and I have to stay away from my wife's amazing baked goods. Today was a wake up call, so hopefully I take advantage.
I also want to ask anyone that is reading this to say an extra prayer for the Sutton family in Dallas. Pat Sutton is a close friend of mine and he and his brother lost there mom this week. She is in a better place, and she was able to see both of her boys start wonderful families.
When I got on the scales at the gym I was reminded that working out is great, but your diet is still the driving force behind maintaining weight as well as losing weight. Three years ago, I was perfect, I didn't stray and for 2 years it paid off. Last year after doing my triathlons and adventure races I thouhgt I could start eating whatever I wanted and could work out hard enough to balance that food. It's impossible.
When I started losing weight, I had so many people giving me tips along the way. The funniest tip I ever received came from my uncle. At one point in his life, he weighed over 300lbs as well and one day decided he was going to make a change. He just quit eating and has never changed that philosophy. He doesn't exercise and still believes that not eating is the only thing you can do to maintain or loss weight. At the time, I totally disagreed and now I only partially disagree. I do think you have to cut back on the amount of food you eat. I think I normally eat around 3500 calories a day. Over time, that starts to add up. If I am able to keep my calories taken in per day closer to 2500 then I can consitently lose weight. For those of you who don't like counting calories, do it for a month and for the rest of your life you will have a decent idea of the calories you are consuming with your favorite foods.
Either way, no matter how hard I work out, I have learned that as much as I want to eat a burger a week, I can't. I have to eat fish, eggs, veggies and I have to stay away from my wife's amazing baked goods. Today was a wake up call, so hopefully I take advantage.
I also want to ask anyone that is reading this to say an extra prayer for the Sutton family in Dallas. Pat Sutton is a close friend of mine and he and his brother lost there mom this week. She is in a better place, and she was able to see both of her boys start wonderful families.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Getting Back Into It
Today was a day to start over. Start eating better and getting back on the daily exercise routine. I did some of this, so I consider that a good day.
I had a small breakfast, a busy day at work that didn't include my small meals in b/w breakfast, lunch and dinner, but my meals were overall very healthy. Sea bass from PF Changs was incredible as usual for lunch and the lite plate at Chuy's is hard to beat as well. It's the damn chips and margaritas that I can't say no to.
I did tell Natalie she would be able to scold me if she caught me with a beer. I have decided to give up beer for a few months while I get back into this. I am only cleared to drink at Mexican food places and parties that she approves.
I did have a huge exercise portion today, especially compared to what I have been doing lately, but with the triathlon coming up in a month, I have no choice. I ran outside the gym and then had a nice half hour swim. I will be feeling it tomorrow, but a long walk with Laura tonight while my in-laws put the kids to bed finished off the day with a bang.
I am starting to get back on track, and can't wait to get back to the a year ago when exercising was fun again. I am still at the point where it is necessary, a pain in the rear but something I feel better doing.
I had a small breakfast, a busy day at work that didn't include my small meals in b/w breakfast, lunch and dinner, but my meals were overall very healthy. Sea bass from PF Changs was incredible as usual for lunch and the lite plate at Chuy's is hard to beat as well. It's the damn chips and margaritas that I can't say no to.
I did tell Natalie she would be able to scold me if she caught me with a beer. I have decided to give up beer for a few months while I get back into this. I am only cleared to drink at Mexican food places and parties that she approves.
I did have a huge exercise portion today, especially compared to what I have been doing lately, but with the triathlon coming up in a month, I have no choice. I ran outside the gym and then had a nice half hour swim. I will be feeling it tomorrow, but a long walk with Laura tonight while my in-laws put the kids to bed finished off the day with a bang.
I am starting to get back on track, and can't wait to get back to the a year ago when exercising was fun again. I am still at the point where it is necessary, a pain in the rear but something I feel better doing.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
I'm Back
Well, I took a few months off, and decided to start the blog again to add motivation for my training as well as continue to help get the word out about changing your lifestyle.
It's been a crazy 6 months. Most of my time during the week has been working and playing with my crazy kids. Needless to say, that hasn't left any time to workout for myself or Laura. We have been so exhausted by bedtime that we can't workout at night, and we both have issues getting up early in the morning, so our workouts have been lacking.
I was slapped in the face this year when the CapTex Tri rolled around and I realized that one year ago I was able to complete the Olympic Distance in that race and I now was exhausted after running 3 miles. So, we are back to being motivated and back in the business of training for some upcoming events.
My buddy has signed me up for the Couples Triathlon in Austin in a few weeks, so that will really tell me how far I need to go. I am still looking down the road and wanting to find another Olympic Distance race before the end of the season. I have also signed up for an exciting Tough Mudder race in Dallas. This course was desingned by ex-Navy Seals and ex-British Special Forces. Should be tons of fun, and it's all about the team you are racing with.
As of today, I am trying to focus on getting my running back to a place I am happy, and I also need to start eating properly and try to drop about 20lbs before the end of the summer. I slipped and put back on about 15lbs of the weight I had lost, but I am ok with that as long as it doesn't get any more than that.
That's it for now, we will talk about improving food again later, just wanted to get started again.
It's been a crazy 6 months. Most of my time during the week has been working and playing with my crazy kids. Needless to say, that hasn't left any time to workout for myself or Laura. We have been so exhausted by bedtime that we can't workout at night, and we both have issues getting up early in the morning, so our workouts have been lacking.
I was slapped in the face this year when the CapTex Tri rolled around and I realized that one year ago I was able to complete the Olympic Distance in that race and I now was exhausted after running 3 miles. So, we are back to being motivated and back in the business of training for some upcoming events.
My buddy has signed me up for the Couples Triathlon in Austin in a few weeks, so that will really tell me how far I need to go. I am still looking down the road and wanting to find another Olympic Distance race before the end of the season. I have also signed up for an exciting Tough Mudder race in Dallas. This course was desingned by ex-Navy Seals and ex-British Special Forces. Should be tons of fun, and it's all about the team you are racing with.
As of today, I am trying to focus on getting my running back to a place I am happy, and I also need to start eating properly and try to drop about 20lbs before the end of the summer. I slipped and put back on about 15lbs of the weight I had lost, but I am ok with that as long as it doesn't get any more than that.
That's it for now, we will talk about improving food again later, just wanted to get started again.
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Small Changes
Well, it's Monday afternoon and I didn't blog all weekend. 2 sick kids and some great football took up most of the time. I got a long run in on Saturday and a short one yesterday. P90x showed up today, so Laura and I will start that tonight. Might not be able to walk tomorrow, but the misery should be worth it in the end.
The last thing I wanted to do in explaining my all around change was discuss the small things. I never realized, but there are so many things that effect your health, but you never take the time to think about it. I am just going to list these with a quick explanation if required and that will be it for today.
1. Never park near a store. No explanation needed, just don't be lazy and park as far away as you can. This frustrates Laura some b/c we always have the kids, but it is an easy thing to do and will hopefully teach our kids to do the same when they are older.
2. Have 5 meals. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, but you have to throw in snacks to keep your metabolism going. It's hard to do while in and out of meetings and in the car, but truly makes a difference in the long run.
3. Don't eat dinner after 7pm. I know I mentioned this before, but once this becomes a habit it truly works.
4. Take your daily vitamins
5. Quit depending on advil/tylenol to make you feel better. Stretch, drink more water and quit sitting around in 1 position all the time. If you get up and move around, your neck and back won't hurt. De-hydration is a large part of headaches, so drinking the proper amount of water helped stop that problem.
6. Find someone to talk to about the change. It's amazing how much better your feel about all the work you are putting in if there is someone to tell about it.
7. Include your spouse. Let them help you, if they are enjoying the change then it just makes sure you enjoy the change.
8. Make tons of small goals in the process.
9. Find one item of clothing that becomes a goal (or one store that has certain clothes you like)
10. Change your fitness routine as much as possible. Keeping it interesting keeps you excited about the fitness piece.
Those are the little things that kept me going. Tomorrow we start discussing triathlon training and you get a report on the first day of P90X!
The last thing I wanted to do in explaining my all around change was discuss the small things. I never realized, but there are so many things that effect your health, but you never take the time to think about it. I am just going to list these with a quick explanation if required and that will be it for today.
1. Never park near a store. No explanation needed, just don't be lazy and park as far away as you can. This frustrates Laura some b/c we always have the kids, but it is an easy thing to do and will hopefully teach our kids to do the same when they are older.
2. Have 5 meals. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, but you have to throw in snacks to keep your metabolism going. It's hard to do while in and out of meetings and in the car, but truly makes a difference in the long run.
3. Don't eat dinner after 7pm. I know I mentioned this before, but once this becomes a habit it truly works.
4. Take your daily vitamins
5. Quit depending on advil/tylenol to make you feel better. Stretch, drink more water and quit sitting around in 1 position all the time. If you get up and move around, your neck and back won't hurt. De-hydration is a large part of headaches, so drinking the proper amount of water helped stop that problem.
6. Find someone to talk to about the change. It's amazing how much better your feel about all the work you are putting in if there is someone to tell about it.
7. Include your spouse. Let them help you, if they are enjoying the change then it just makes sure you enjoy the change.
8. Make tons of small goals in the process.
9. Find one item of clothing that becomes a goal (or one store that has certain clothes you like)
10. Change your fitness routine as much as possible. Keeping it interesting keeps you excited about the fitness piece.
Those are the little things that kept me going. Tomorrow we start discussing triathlon training and you get a report on the first day of P90X!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Working Exercise back into my routine
Two nights this week have been hampered by great Football games, but terrible outcomes. I wish the Horns and Frogs had pulled it off, but hopefully the Cowboys can give me something to cheer for on Saturday night.
The next thing I wanted to discuss is my decision to finally add exercise to my lifestyle change. The detail is much easier on this and doesn't require near as much history. In college, I worked out somewhere b/w 4 and 7 hours a days 6 days a week. The program was set, if I didn't do it I would lose my scholarship. Pretty easy decision for me, plus I had 50 other guys that would call and ask me where the hell I was.
When I got through with football, I made my mind up that I would never enter a weight room again and nobody would ever tell me I needed to exercise again. What a childish response to the end of a chapter in someone's life. I would occassionally play pick up football games and Australian Rules Football, but I was so big and out of shape that I would pull a muscle or be so tired that it was never that much fun.
When I moved to Austin and had the heart scare, I made up my mind I would exercise again for the rest of my life, and only injuries would prevent me from doing this. I didn't start out like a crazy man, and I sure didn't do this on my own. I paid for a trainer and I literally walked my way back into some sort of shape. Once I gained some stamina, I was able to start jogging and doing other exercises. I will start from the beginning, but tonight I will hold off on the crazy triathlon training and the hours spent playing Australian Rules football last year.
October/November 2007 - This is the time frame that I hired my trainer. I had actually signed up with another trainer, but had never met with her. I met Renee while I was walking in the pool (I was doing this b/c it hurt my knees and ankles to walk for exercise on the sidewalks) and she was working with a client doing laps in the pool. This was perfect, someone who knew pool workouts as well as gym workouts. We started talking and she seemed like the perfect fit for me and my situation. Renee was fairly new to training, but she was a good fit for me. She was eager to learn new workouts and I was willing to do whatever it took. When we first started, I could barely walk a mile much less run a mile, and swimming was extremely challenging for me.
Renee talked me into the Body Bugg from 24hr fitness, and that was one of the key tools in the weight loss. This gave me the ability to track my calories burned during the day and a website to input my calories consumed. I was able to see a big chart at the end of each day that compared the two. If I needed to burn more calories, I would take my dogs for a 2nd walk.
After 6 months of twice a day, 7 day a week workouts and 3 of those days a week with Renee, I decided it was time to go to work on my own. I maintained the 2 daily workouts, but the 2nd was typically a short walk with the family. At this point, I was able to run anywhere from 3 - 7 miles without thinking and I was able to swim for more than 1hr without having to stop. This is what gave me the idea to start training for triathlons, but I will get into the true detail of those workouts later.
My uncle (a man that used to weigh 300lbs and lost over 100 and has mainted for more than 20 years) once told me that he didn't think I had any chance at keeping my weight off just by exercising, and I agree to some extent, but exercise sure makes you feel better and gives you the ability to enjoy some of the foods my uncle has given up. I still try to exercise 5 days a week and would love to say I never miss any days, but that isn't true anymore. I miss days all the time, but I have learned how to balance and maintain on the days that I do miss.
I look forward to giving some more of the small details like parking as far away from stores as possible and learning to snack 5 times a day, but it's late and weekends are long with 2 little ones so I have to sign off for now.
The next thing I wanted to discuss is my decision to finally add exercise to my lifestyle change. The detail is much easier on this and doesn't require near as much history. In college, I worked out somewhere b/w 4 and 7 hours a days 6 days a week. The program was set, if I didn't do it I would lose my scholarship. Pretty easy decision for me, plus I had 50 other guys that would call and ask me where the hell I was.
When I got through with football, I made my mind up that I would never enter a weight room again and nobody would ever tell me I needed to exercise again. What a childish response to the end of a chapter in someone's life. I would occassionally play pick up football games and Australian Rules Football, but I was so big and out of shape that I would pull a muscle or be so tired that it was never that much fun.
When I moved to Austin and had the heart scare, I made up my mind I would exercise again for the rest of my life, and only injuries would prevent me from doing this. I didn't start out like a crazy man, and I sure didn't do this on my own. I paid for a trainer and I literally walked my way back into some sort of shape. Once I gained some stamina, I was able to start jogging and doing other exercises. I will start from the beginning, but tonight I will hold off on the crazy triathlon training and the hours spent playing Australian Rules football last year.
October/November 2007 - This is the time frame that I hired my trainer. I had actually signed up with another trainer, but had never met with her. I met Renee while I was walking in the pool (I was doing this b/c it hurt my knees and ankles to walk for exercise on the sidewalks) and she was working with a client doing laps in the pool. This was perfect, someone who knew pool workouts as well as gym workouts. We started talking and she seemed like the perfect fit for me and my situation. Renee was fairly new to training, but she was a good fit for me. She was eager to learn new workouts and I was willing to do whatever it took. When we first started, I could barely walk a mile much less run a mile, and swimming was extremely challenging for me.
Renee talked me into the Body Bugg from 24hr fitness, and that was one of the key tools in the weight loss. This gave me the ability to track my calories burned during the day and a website to input my calories consumed. I was able to see a big chart at the end of each day that compared the two. If I needed to burn more calories, I would take my dogs for a 2nd walk.
After 6 months of twice a day, 7 day a week workouts and 3 of those days a week with Renee, I decided it was time to go to work on my own. I maintained the 2 daily workouts, but the 2nd was typically a short walk with the family. At this point, I was able to run anywhere from 3 - 7 miles without thinking and I was able to swim for more than 1hr without having to stop. This is what gave me the idea to start training for triathlons, but I will get into the true detail of those workouts later.
My uncle (a man that used to weigh 300lbs and lost over 100 and has mainted for more than 20 years) once told me that he didn't think I had any chance at keeping my weight off just by exercising, and I agree to some extent, but exercise sure makes you feel better and gives you the ability to enjoy some of the foods my uncle has given up. I still try to exercise 5 days a week and would love to say I never miss any days, but that isn't true anymore. I miss days all the time, but I have learned how to balance and maintain on the days that I do miss.
I look forward to giving some more of the small details like parking as far away from stores as possible and learning to snack 5 times a day, but it's late and weekends are long with 2 little ones so I have to sign off for now.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Step 1 - Changing My Diet
I skipped a night already, and TCU didn't even win. I had great intentions to run and then write last night, but I watched the game, felt guilty about not working out so I ordered the P90X series and went to bed. I have heard incredible things about this workout, so Laura and I are going to get started in the next 7-10 days when it arrives.
I wanted to breakdown the whole lifestyle change in separate posts, so tonight will be diet, tomorrow night exercise and the following I will talk about all of the small changes that worked together to make a big difference.
When you play any sport at a high level, you eat all the time. You have to maintain your energy level to balance the amount of work you are putting in on the field and in the weight room, but nobody ever talked to me about maintaining that energy level with proper nutrition and healthy foods, they just wanted me to hit 300. (I will give you a typical daily intake from my college days through now in just a few lines). I would literally eat everything in front of me and drink as much as I could afford or someone would give to me. At one point in college, I was going through 1 large pizza a day and could put down a case of beer at night. When I graduated, the football program said goodbye and I was suddenly a 300lbs kid on my own without a structured exercise program to keep me honest.
I immediately came back to Dallas and found my group of friends to hang out with. We would all work during the day (eat fast food for breakfast and lunch) then we would meet up for happy hour and drink all night. I would usually hit the local Whataburger on my way home and eat a double cheeseburger around 2am. I didn't do this everyday, but I did it 5 days a week, so you can imagine how my body would start fighting back. I was dipping tobacco and I was a guy like so many that smoked when he drank. Well, when you drink that much 5 nights a week, you are smoking 5 nights a week as well. I thought for sure this would all change when I met Laura.
Laura and I got married 7 years ago, and honestly my life gets better everyday with her. Early in our relationship and marriage Laura was running all the time. She ran the Chicago Marathon and New York Marathon's and she could eat an entire bowl of spaghetti and lose weight, so we had some big challenges. Laura loves pasta and rice, and so do I, but I was doing nothing to get rid of the carbs. When Laura would make a big old pot of rice or noodles, I felt like I had to eat them all, I didn't want to have leftovers. I was so happy not going out all the time and spending my time with Laura, but cutting out the beer wasn't enough for me to lose weight, I had increased my calories by eating bowl after bowl of carbs.
Looking back, I remember sitting in our new apartment in Austin, just moved all of our stuff in and I was by myself eating an etire box of Hagen Daas ice cream bars. Who does that? It was that night that I felt the pain in my chest and the next day that I made the decision to change my life.
Here is a quick look at a menu from my college days as well as my first few years before this change.
College:
Breakfast:
Chick Fila - 2 chicken biscuits w/honey and large Dr. Pepper
Lunch:
2 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhiches, 1/2 Gallon of Whole Milk and chips
Dinner:
Entire bowl of what was being served in the mess hall, 1/2 Gallon of Whole Milk
Late Night Snack:
Large Pizza
Weekends:
Same as above with at least 1 case of beer on Friday and Saturday night
After College, but before Laura:
Breakfast:
2 McDonald's Breakfast Sandwhiches, large DP
Lunch:
Double Cheeseburger, 2 orders of Fries, large DP
Dinner:
Queso, Chips, Salsa, Beer
Late Night:
Double Cheeseburger, 2 fries, large DP
After I met Laura:
Breakfast and Lunch were the same
Dinner:
Pasta, Pasta, Pasta
I hope I didn't make anyone sick with the menu's above, but that is the honest truth. Ask my bank account and my Dr., they both hated me for the years of abuse.
I am very lucky to work with a few guys that are extremely healthy. They have worked for years to find the proper diets, but not lose the ability to eat what you enjoy. The morning my life changed, I called them and started to ask questions regarding my diet. They all gave me great advice that would truly serve a purpose down the road, but at this point I needed something a little more in your face. My trainer introduced me to the Body Bugg from 24hr fitness. This is an arm band that you wear to monitor your calories burned throughout the day, but it is also designed to work with a program that monitors your calories in. It was so easy, you type in exaclty what you ate, and it tells you the calories you consumed, I was able to compare that to the calories burned and I knew what I had accomplished during the day and I knew if I needed to go for another walk with the dogs before I went to bed. The Body Bugg was a great tool, but I had to creat my own "diet" to make sure I lost the weight. Here is what I did.
1. I started to eat egg whites and egg beaters for all of my morning proteins. For anyone that says they can taste the difference b/w beaters and real eggs, you are full of it.
2. I took the self control issue out of going out to eat. I would order food and ask the waiter to only send out 1/2 of the meal. If the food wasn't there, I couldn't eat it.
3. I forced myself to like veggies. At first, I didn't branch out to far, but I created fun ways to cook the few veggies I actually like. I used Laura's homemade salsa as a dressing for every veggie I would eat. It added flavor without calories.
4. For the first 6 months, I flat out quit drinking anything. No wine, beer, margaritas, or liquor. NOTHING!!! I don't drink very often, but in my head, I knew if I could totally take out one of my biggest adult life temptations, I would be making a big sacrifice and huge step in the proper direction.
5. I never gave up dessert. My daughter Natalie and I would share a small blue bell cup of ice cream every night. In each of our 1/2 cups we would put a 1/2 a small bag of mini m&m's. This was a great way to get my favorite thing, share with my daughter and not sacrifice a bunch of calories late at night.
6. NEVER EAT AFTER 7pm. This is the hardest thing to do, but it does make a big difference. A good friend of mine from high school told me that was his secret and I decided to try it.
7. Finally I tried to follow this model. Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Queen and dinner like a peasant. Portions sizes should get smaller as the day goes on. Breakfast should always be your biggest meal.
8. I also forced myself to eat 5 times a day. To this day one of the biggest challenges, but something you have to do to keep your metabolism up.
This lifestyle change worked wonders throughout the first 18 months and is still the basis of what I do today. I have fallen off the wagon some, but that is because Texas Monthly came out with an article that described the top 50 Burgers in the state of Texas, and I have decided I want to try them all. I think I have hit almost 20 of them.
This change was easy after the first 2 weeks, and combined with the exercise, really made the difference. My next post will be the routine I got into for my exercise and why I think it made such a big difference.
Hopefully these won't be as long once I am done with the history on the change.
I wanted to breakdown the whole lifestyle change in separate posts, so tonight will be diet, tomorrow night exercise and the following I will talk about all of the small changes that worked together to make a big difference.
When you play any sport at a high level, you eat all the time. You have to maintain your energy level to balance the amount of work you are putting in on the field and in the weight room, but nobody ever talked to me about maintaining that energy level with proper nutrition and healthy foods, they just wanted me to hit 300. (I will give you a typical daily intake from my college days through now in just a few lines). I would literally eat everything in front of me and drink as much as I could afford or someone would give to me. At one point in college, I was going through 1 large pizza a day and could put down a case of beer at night. When I graduated, the football program said goodbye and I was suddenly a 300lbs kid on my own without a structured exercise program to keep me honest.
I immediately came back to Dallas and found my group of friends to hang out with. We would all work during the day (eat fast food for breakfast and lunch) then we would meet up for happy hour and drink all night. I would usually hit the local Whataburger on my way home and eat a double cheeseburger around 2am. I didn't do this everyday, but I did it 5 days a week, so you can imagine how my body would start fighting back. I was dipping tobacco and I was a guy like so many that smoked when he drank. Well, when you drink that much 5 nights a week, you are smoking 5 nights a week as well. I thought for sure this would all change when I met Laura.
Laura and I got married 7 years ago, and honestly my life gets better everyday with her. Early in our relationship and marriage Laura was running all the time. She ran the Chicago Marathon and New York Marathon's and she could eat an entire bowl of spaghetti and lose weight, so we had some big challenges. Laura loves pasta and rice, and so do I, but I was doing nothing to get rid of the carbs. When Laura would make a big old pot of rice or noodles, I felt like I had to eat them all, I didn't want to have leftovers. I was so happy not going out all the time and spending my time with Laura, but cutting out the beer wasn't enough for me to lose weight, I had increased my calories by eating bowl after bowl of carbs.
Looking back, I remember sitting in our new apartment in Austin, just moved all of our stuff in and I was by myself eating an etire box of Hagen Daas ice cream bars. Who does that? It was that night that I felt the pain in my chest and the next day that I made the decision to change my life.
Here is a quick look at a menu from my college days as well as my first few years before this change.
College:
Breakfast:
Chick Fila - 2 chicken biscuits w/honey and large Dr. Pepper
Lunch:
2 Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhiches, 1/2 Gallon of Whole Milk and chips
Dinner:
Entire bowl of what was being served in the mess hall, 1/2 Gallon of Whole Milk
Late Night Snack:
Large Pizza
Weekends:
Same as above with at least 1 case of beer on Friday and Saturday night
After College, but before Laura:
Breakfast:
2 McDonald's Breakfast Sandwhiches, large DP
Lunch:
Double Cheeseburger, 2 orders of Fries, large DP
Dinner:
Queso, Chips, Salsa, Beer
Late Night:
Double Cheeseburger, 2 fries, large DP
After I met Laura:
Breakfast and Lunch were the same
Dinner:
Pasta, Pasta, Pasta
I hope I didn't make anyone sick with the menu's above, but that is the honest truth. Ask my bank account and my Dr., they both hated me for the years of abuse.
I am very lucky to work with a few guys that are extremely healthy. They have worked for years to find the proper diets, but not lose the ability to eat what you enjoy. The morning my life changed, I called them and started to ask questions regarding my diet. They all gave me great advice that would truly serve a purpose down the road, but at this point I needed something a little more in your face. My trainer introduced me to the Body Bugg from 24hr fitness. This is an arm band that you wear to monitor your calories burned throughout the day, but it is also designed to work with a program that monitors your calories in. It was so easy, you type in exaclty what you ate, and it tells you the calories you consumed, I was able to compare that to the calories burned and I knew what I had accomplished during the day and I knew if I needed to go for another walk with the dogs before I went to bed. The Body Bugg was a great tool, but I had to creat my own "diet" to make sure I lost the weight. Here is what I did.
1. I started to eat egg whites and egg beaters for all of my morning proteins. For anyone that says they can taste the difference b/w beaters and real eggs, you are full of it.
2. I took the self control issue out of going out to eat. I would order food and ask the waiter to only send out 1/2 of the meal. If the food wasn't there, I couldn't eat it.
3. I forced myself to like veggies. At first, I didn't branch out to far, but I created fun ways to cook the few veggies I actually like. I used Laura's homemade salsa as a dressing for every veggie I would eat. It added flavor without calories.
4. For the first 6 months, I flat out quit drinking anything. No wine, beer, margaritas, or liquor. NOTHING!!! I don't drink very often, but in my head, I knew if I could totally take out one of my biggest adult life temptations, I would be making a big sacrifice and huge step in the proper direction.
5. I never gave up dessert. My daughter Natalie and I would share a small blue bell cup of ice cream every night. In each of our 1/2 cups we would put a 1/2 a small bag of mini m&m's. This was a great way to get my favorite thing, share with my daughter and not sacrifice a bunch of calories late at night.
6. NEVER EAT AFTER 7pm. This is the hardest thing to do, but it does make a big difference. A good friend of mine from high school told me that was his secret and I decided to try it.
7. Finally I tried to follow this model. Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Queen and dinner like a peasant. Portions sizes should get smaller as the day goes on. Breakfast should always be your biggest meal.
8. I also forced myself to eat 5 times a day. To this day one of the biggest challenges, but something you have to do to keep your metabolism up.
This lifestyle change worked wonders throughout the first 18 months and is still the basis of what I do today. I have fallen off the wagon some, but that is because Texas Monthly came out with an article that described the top 50 Burgers in the state of Texas, and I have decided I want to try them all. I think I have hit almost 20 of them.
This change was easy after the first 2 weeks, and combined with the exercise, really made the difference. My next post will be the routine I got into for my exercise and why I think it made such a big difference.
Hopefully these won't be as long once I am done with the history on the change.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Introduction 350 to Triathlons
Well, I started this blog as a reminder to myself how hard it was to lose over 100 pounds and maintain that weight loss.
This is the short version:
I had the opportunity to play college football at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. I was an offensive lineman that weighed around 295lbs and for the life of me, I could never get over the 300lbs mark. When I graduated in 1999, I continued to live the same life as a college football player, but I had cut out all of the exercise. I quickly shot up to around 350lbs and loved it b/c I was the big guy that was the life of the party and I knew I was in perfect health (or so I assumed).
I honestly continued this lifestyle for the next 5 years. During this time, I met my amazing wife Laura and she accepted me for the goofball that I was and never once asked me to change my lifestyle. The only thing she asked me to stop was dipping, and for the most part I did that without any issue.
In 2006 we had our first child Natalie. She was a true blessing to us and continues to be the same blessing (a little more challenging) to us today. Throughout the 18 months of her life I still didn't realize I had any issues with my weight, but the signs were starting to appear. I had multiple surgeries on my knees, I was constantly getting sick and my energy level was at an all time low. I made empty promises to my grandmother regarding my weight loss and told my parents that I would try my hardest, but would go straight to a fast food place and grab something for an afternoon snack. The only person that never hounded and stood by me without question was Laura. Most likely she would tell now that she should have pushed a little harder earlier, but I wasn't ready to change.
We had the opportunity to come to Austin, TX when Natalie was 18 months old to help open my companies first branch office, and we jumped at the chance. The first week I was in Austin, my life would forever change. After moving our stuff into a temporary apartment, I was sitting all alone while Laura and Natalie were still in Dallas and I suddenly had a chest pain near my heart that scared me more than anything in my life. I called Laura the next morning and told her I was on my way to the gym to get a trainer and get my butt back in shape. I had talked about doing this in the past, but never followed through so I am sure Laura thought I was fixing to waste a bunch of money on this, but she agreed and I started the search for my trainer.
As random and spur of the moment as the decision to get a trainer was, my decision on the trainer I was going to use was no different. I joined the gym and decided to go swim some laps. While in the pool, Rene Adams was working with another client on swimming, and I knew I found a great match. B/c of my size, time in the pool was my best opportunity to start improving my cardio and I thought I found the best person for that. As I would later find out, Rene was very new at this and I would be her lab rat in the gym. My old desire and love for the weight room and physical punishment quickly came back and I let her push me harder than I had been pushed since college, and the results were amazing. Almost 60lbs in 6 months, and at that time I decided it was time to put this full lifestyle change into effect and do it on my own.
I had changed my diet and started working out not only daily, but sometimes twice a day. It was great and I was seeing the results from all the work. With all of the results coming in, I decided I needed to set some new goals, and triathlons were it. Last summer I competed in 4 triathlons. 2 sprint series, 1 Olympic Distance (6 weeks after our son JP was born) and 1 adventure race, and for 2010 I have a goal of at least one event per month once the season starts. The final goal is to compete in a 1/2 iron man - 70.3 in October. The goal is lofty, but that's what goals are supposed to be.
This is a very quick review of the last 2 years. I will go into more detail about the diet and exercise and how I changed my ,lifestyle and how I have been able to maintain over the last 18 - 24 months since I started this.
I am hoping this blog helps remind me of the challenges I faced in the beginning as well as hopefully provide some motivation to someone out there trying to find a way to get started. If you think you need to lose 10lbs or 200, the overall lifestyle change is what matters. The long term change is what matters, and this will be a way for me to describe what has worked for me and could hopefully work for you.
This is the short version:
I had the opportunity to play college football at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. I was an offensive lineman that weighed around 295lbs and for the life of me, I could never get over the 300lbs mark. When I graduated in 1999, I continued to live the same life as a college football player, but I had cut out all of the exercise. I quickly shot up to around 350lbs and loved it b/c I was the big guy that was the life of the party and I knew I was in perfect health (or so I assumed).
I honestly continued this lifestyle for the next 5 years. During this time, I met my amazing wife Laura and she accepted me for the goofball that I was and never once asked me to change my lifestyle. The only thing she asked me to stop was dipping, and for the most part I did that without any issue.
In 2006 we had our first child Natalie. She was a true blessing to us and continues to be the same blessing (a little more challenging) to us today. Throughout the 18 months of her life I still didn't realize I had any issues with my weight, but the signs were starting to appear. I had multiple surgeries on my knees, I was constantly getting sick and my energy level was at an all time low. I made empty promises to my grandmother regarding my weight loss and told my parents that I would try my hardest, but would go straight to a fast food place and grab something for an afternoon snack. The only person that never hounded and stood by me without question was Laura. Most likely she would tell now that she should have pushed a little harder earlier, but I wasn't ready to change.
We had the opportunity to come to Austin, TX when Natalie was 18 months old to help open my companies first branch office, and we jumped at the chance. The first week I was in Austin, my life would forever change. After moving our stuff into a temporary apartment, I was sitting all alone while Laura and Natalie were still in Dallas and I suddenly had a chest pain near my heart that scared me more than anything in my life. I called Laura the next morning and told her I was on my way to the gym to get a trainer and get my butt back in shape. I had talked about doing this in the past, but never followed through so I am sure Laura thought I was fixing to waste a bunch of money on this, but she agreed and I started the search for my trainer.
As random and spur of the moment as the decision to get a trainer was, my decision on the trainer I was going to use was no different. I joined the gym and decided to go swim some laps. While in the pool, Rene Adams was working with another client on swimming, and I knew I found a great match. B/c of my size, time in the pool was my best opportunity to start improving my cardio and I thought I found the best person for that. As I would later find out, Rene was very new at this and I would be her lab rat in the gym. My old desire and love for the weight room and physical punishment quickly came back and I let her push me harder than I had been pushed since college, and the results were amazing. Almost 60lbs in 6 months, and at that time I decided it was time to put this full lifestyle change into effect and do it on my own.
I had changed my diet and started working out not only daily, but sometimes twice a day. It was great and I was seeing the results from all the work. With all of the results coming in, I decided I needed to set some new goals, and triathlons were it. Last summer I competed in 4 triathlons. 2 sprint series, 1 Olympic Distance (6 weeks after our son JP was born) and 1 adventure race, and for 2010 I have a goal of at least one event per month once the season starts. The final goal is to compete in a 1/2 iron man - 70.3 in October. The goal is lofty, but that's what goals are supposed to be.
This is a very quick review of the last 2 years. I will go into more detail about the diet and exercise and how I changed my ,lifestyle and how I have been able to maintain over the last 18 - 24 months since I started this.
I am hoping this blog helps remind me of the challenges I faced in the beginning as well as hopefully provide some motivation to someone out there trying to find a way to get started. If you think you need to lose 10lbs or 200, the overall lifestyle change is what matters. The long term change is what matters, and this will be a way for me to describe what has worked for me and could hopefully work for you.
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