backpacker
04-19-2006, 10:31 AM
Today I stepped on my scale and I was 185 lbs (I'm 6 ft tall). I know it's just a number, but it's a big one for me. It's my highschool graduation weight - and I'm 29 years old. :)
I have "big" genetics. I have two brothers over 250 and my father is somewhere between 230 and 240. My mother is around 200. Most of my dad's brothers have fought with their weight, and my grandpa was always a large man as well.
When I hit 230 lbs in 2000, 5 years after HS graduation, alarms went off and I knew where I was headed :eek:. I went on an exercise program, which dropped 25 pounds, but then I stalled. Then I discovered PP and dropped all the way down to 185 by the summer of 2001. I was so excited! I maintained for a couple years, but that was mostly due to exercising, and less due to continuing maintenance mode. Then went through a very difficult part of my life (a divorce) and stopped exercising all together and went back to even worse eating habits.
In October of last year I bought a scale because I could tell I was getting "bigger" again. Yes I was. As I looked at the number 212 on the scale, I realized I had put all but 18 pounds back on, and I was crushed. I had just remarried 9 months previous, and felt fat compared to my beautiful and slender wife. :(
I picked up the new PPLP book and went to work. Today, about 6 months later, I hit my main goal of 185 lbs. That's 27 lbs in 6 months, which is a healthy rate of 1 1/8 pounds per week. Considering I had to endure the holiday season, I think I did pretty well. :)
Now I look at myself and I see a little more around the mid-section than I had 11 years ago, and I realize that I want to do something about muscle mass. For the amount of muscle I have now, I should probably drop about 10 more pounds of fat, but I think I'd rather replace the 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of muscle. I have pictures of myself sans shirt from when I was 18, and I really liked the way I looked. Yes, I know it's not realistic to look 1/3 younger than I actually am - that's not really what I'm going for. :) Besides, I'd have to regrow all that hair on the top of my head. ;)
It's time to take up an exercise program, but I work about 55 hours a week, and have so little time when I get home. I think I'm going to try the SlowBurn workout that Dr. Eades was talking about on his blog the other day. I'm want to take 10 pounds of fat off with iron and replace it with muscle.
And honestly, If I don't take off another pound, and don't add one more bit of muscle, I'm quite happy with how I look and how I feel right now. I really wanted to be at this weight before I turned 30, which happens 9 months from today - so I'm a bit ahead of schedule!
The best part is that my wife eats mostly low-carb/high protein due to the fact that I'm the full-time chef of the house. She never needed to loose weight, but loves the way she "feels" eating this way in general, so I think maintenance mode for the rest of my life won't be much of a battle. She say's she can tell when she eat's carby foods now because she feels bloated, lethargic, and "gross".
I have "big" genetics. I have two brothers over 250 and my father is somewhere between 230 and 240. My mother is around 200. Most of my dad's brothers have fought with their weight, and my grandpa was always a large man as well.
When I hit 230 lbs in 2000, 5 years after HS graduation, alarms went off and I knew where I was headed :eek:. I went on an exercise program, which dropped 25 pounds, but then I stalled. Then I discovered PP and dropped all the way down to 185 by the summer of 2001. I was so excited! I maintained for a couple years, but that was mostly due to exercising, and less due to continuing maintenance mode. Then went through a very difficult part of my life (a divorce) and stopped exercising all together and went back to even worse eating habits.
In October of last year I bought a scale because I could tell I was getting "bigger" again. Yes I was. As I looked at the number 212 on the scale, I realized I had put all but 18 pounds back on, and I was crushed. I had just remarried 9 months previous, and felt fat compared to my beautiful and slender wife. :(
I picked up the new PPLP book and went to work. Today, about 6 months later, I hit my main goal of 185 lbs. That's 27 lbs in 6 months, which is a healthy rate of 1 1/8 pounds per week. Considering I had to endure the holiday season, I think I did pretty well. :)
Now I look at myself and I see a little more around the mid-section than I had 11 years ago, and I realize that I want to do something about muscle mass. For the amount of muscle I have now, I should probably drop about 10 more pounds of fat, but I think I'd rather replace the 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of muscle. I have pictures of myself sans shirt from when I was 18, and I really liked the way I looked. Yes, I know it's not realistic to look 1/3 younger than I actually am - that's not really what I'm going for. :) Besides, I'd have to regrow all that hair on the top of my head. ;)
It's time to take up an exercise program, but I work about 55 hours a week, and have so little time when I get home. I think I'm going to try the SlowBurn workout that Dr. Eades was talking about on his blog the other day. I'm want to take 10 pounds of fat off with iron and replace it with muscle.
And honestly, If I don't take off another pound, and don't add one more bit of muscle, I'm quite happy with how I look and how I feel right now. I really wanted to be at this weight before I turned 30, which happens 9 months from today - so I'm a bit ahead of schedule!
The best part is that my wife eats mostly low-carb/high protein due to the fact that I'm the full-time chef of the house. She never needed to loose weight, but loves the way she "feels" eating this way in general, so I think maintenance mode for the rest of my life won't be much of a battle. She say's she can tell when she eat's carby foods now because she feels bloated, lethargic, and "gross".