Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Here I Am Again...
Betcha thought I'd gone away, didn't you? I guess I did. But I'm back, and as fat as I ever was.
In late 2011 I joined a gym to do boxing for fitness, but found I was caught in the Fat Man's Catch 22. I needed to do the program to lose weight, but I had lose weight to do the program. I just couldn't keep up with the physical demands of boxing. From jumping rope, to shadow boxing, to 60 second ring time, my breath would leave me, and my heart rate would climb to dangerous levels. I did successfully make it through the holiday season without actually gaining weight, but eventually I had to quit for, ironically enough, health reasons. Boxing for fitness wasn't good for me.
So I was faced with weighing 317 pounds once again. Then I stumbled upon Weight Watchers For Men! Yeah! For men! I had tried Weight Watchers in the past, but found the program to be geared primarily for women, or very gender neutral. The new program, however, addresses men's diets, physiology, and even psychology. Within 6 weeks I had dropped 30 pounds while still enjoying (most of) the food I love. The big change that really helped was that fresh fruit and vegetables no longer counted against me, so I could satisfy any mid-day hunger cravings with an apple, slice of watermelon, a banana or two, etc. without sacrificing the points I wanted to conserve for a good supper later.
But after 6 weeks and 30 pounds my weight loss essentially stopped. I would drop a half pound in a week, but be back up a pound the next week, and eventually I stopped losing anything. I had to do something to kick the weight loss back into gear. Talisa had already joined Anytime Fitness and started taking Zumba classes, so during a visit of a facility I decided to drop three lunches out with my friends during the week and join as well. I have no delusions about being a member of a gym AGAIN. This is the third gym in two years that I have been a member of. If I don't go, I won't lose.
I mentioned in an earlier post that the more gung ho I am about a program, the quicker I'll lose interest - much like a bottle rocket. The fire starts; the rocket zooms into the sky with a scream; then there's a quiet *pop*, and the inevitable empty stick falling to the ground in the dark. I knew that to be successful I would have to start slowly.
I found the Couch To 5K running program (C25K) to fit that bill perfectly. It is a very slow and gradual program that really does move you from no exercise to being able to exercise and eventually to a 5k (3 mile) run or a sustained run of 30 minutes. So that's where I am now.
I'm back on Weight Watchers For Men. I'm a member of Anytime Fitness, and I'm doing the C25K program.
And I'm back to blogging about it all. Stay tuned.
In late 2011 I joined a gym to do boxing for fitness, but found I was caught in the Fat Man's Catch 22. I needed to do the program to lose weight, but I had lose weight to do the program. I just couldn't keep up with the physical demands of boxing. From jumping rope, to shadow boxing, to 60 second ring time, my breath would leave me, and my heart rate would climb to dangerous levels. I did successfully make it through the holiday season without actually gaining weight, but eventually I had to quit for, ironically enough, health reasons. Boxing for fitness wasn't good for me.
So I was faced with weighing 317 pounds once again. Then I stumbled upon Weight Watchers For Men! Yeah! For men! I had tried Weight Watchers in the past, but found the program to be geared primarily for women, or very gender neutral. The new program, however, addresses men's diets, physiology, and even psychology. Within 6 weeks I had dropped 30 pounds while still enjoying (most of) the food I love. The big change that really helped was that fresh fruit and vegetables no longer counted against me, so I could satisfy any mid-day hunger cravings with an apple, slice of watermelon, a banana or two, etc. without sacrificing the points I wanted to conserve for a good supper later.
But after 6 weeks and 30 pounds my weight loss essentially stopped. I would drop a half pound in a week, but be back up a pound the next week, and eventually I stopped losing anything. I had to do something to kick the weight loss back into gear. Talisa had already joined Anytime Fitness and started taking Zumba classes, so during a visit of a facility I decided to drop three lunches out with my friends during the week and join as well. I have no delusions about being a member of a gym AGAIN. This is the third gym in two years that I have been a member of. If I don't go, I won't lose.
I mentioned in an earlier post that the more gung ho I am about a program, the quicker I'll lose interest - much like a bottle rocket. The fire starts; the rocket zooms into the sky with a scream; then there's a quiet *pop*, and the inevitable empty stick falling to the ground in the dark. I knew that to be successful I would have to start slowly.
I found the Couch To 5K running program (C25K) to fit that bill perfectly. It is a very slow and gradual program that really does move you from no exercise to being able to exercise and eventually to a 5k (3 mile) run or a sustained run of 30 minutes. So that's where I am now.
I'm back on Weight Watchers For Men. I'm a member of Anytime Fitness, and I'm doing the C25K program.
And I'm back to blogging about it all. Stay tuned.
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