Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 17, 2008 7:20PM
How I Lost 30 Pounds in 3 Months While Never Going Hungry
BEFORE
AFTER
(Ok, both photos are exaggerated, but attention getters!)
A little back story on why I would need to lose 30 pounds. All of my life, I have/had been an ardent exerciser and athlete. I had a fast metabolism and because of the combination of the two, I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted and never gain weight. As a matter of fact, while in High School as I was playing basketball and training to get bigger, faster and stronger, I drank protein shakes to gain weight back when protein shakes tasted like cow manure.
I have mentioned on here before that in 1993 I was involved in a horrific car crash and broken up pretty badly. One of the effects of this head-on collision at roughly 60 mph was three ruptured disks. By 2000 the back pain had become so debilitating that I could hardly walk. I went to my orthopedist and he did X-rays and an MRI and my disks had finally run dry. No more physical therapy would do the trick. Now back-tracking just a bit. I had slowly gained weight from '93 - '00 due to medications I had taken off and on. Prednisone, Zoloft (the devil of weight gain) and some other various medications that slowed my metabolism. I would also occasionally drink beer and/or wine.
Stock photo of spinal fusion, not mine.
So now, back to 2000. I had a successful 7 hour long fusion of L-3 through L-5. I have an incision from my mid-back to my tail bone. The three vertebrae that had been basically sitting on top of one another were spaced, had titanium pedicle screws inserted into them and some small handcuff looking devices to keep them spaced. While in my back (sounds rather odd, but true) the surgeon found a stress fracture in one of my vertebrae. It had started on one side and made it's way through to the other side and didn't show up on my X-rays or MRI, much to his dismay.
So, further reinforcement had to be done. By all accounts after the surgery, my Doctor told me I was lucky that I hadn't been in another wreck as my vertebrae was very unstable. I was in a sort of "tortoise shell" front and back velcroed upper body suit for a couple of months upon my discharge. I had to wear a bone growth stimulator every night to help grow the bone. That's when the real work began. I started physical therapy to get my lower back stronger and also get my six-pack back in place of my developing pony keg.
Let me give some advice to anyone who ever has back surgery. You get out of it what you put in. If you work your ass off, you triple the chances of making it last. I've known people who have had back surgery, led a sedentary lifestyle, ate too much, not learned how to properly pick something heavy up and ended up back in misery. I did none of the above. I worked very hard physically, watched how much I ate and learned how to bend and properly lift with my legs and arms instead of my back.
My back began to heal and feel great. I was on some anti-inflammatory medications though for quite an extended period of time. Prior to that I was on pain medications until I was finally titrated off. The combination of this, slowed and/or changed my metabolism and the fact that although I was eating in moderation but NOT the right foods caused me to gain about 25 pounds. For example, what I call my fighting weight, is about 205 lbs to 210lbs. I am six-feet five inches tall. I like to be long and lean, not thick and muscle bound. So I peaked at 6'5/231 pounds. Not obese by any stretch, but heavy for me. I felt tired a lot and I was afraid it would take its toll on my back.
A Change Is A Comin'
The way I approach anything new in life is this. I educate myself on the issue thoroughly before undertaking it. I talked to my doctor, I read books, I used the internet to self-educate on how the physiological body works to process and metabolize food. Now, I have Type 2 Diabetes in my family, and when I was at 231, my blood sugar fluctuated between very high and very low, Hyper and Hypoglycemia. This is a precursor to Diabetes. So I educated myself on Diabetes as well. Any time you are going to make a major life change, educate thyself!
My eating habits weren't really that bad to start, but I ate the wrong things at the wrong times. I ate very little breakfast, and the wrong foods. Bagels and coffee are not a healthy breakfast. At times, I even skipped breakfast. This is the WORST thing you can do for your body. Why? Because when you wake up, you need to jump start your metabolism. If you eat nothing, your metabolism doesn't wake up along with your body. Think of the food as a setof jumper cables jump starting your metabolism and burning calories.
Lowers Cholesterol and Blood Pressure
Now, what to eat? My magic bullet was Oatmeal. Oh yeah, Oatmeal, that bland, awful "mush" of a breakfast treat. Wrong. I cooked Oatmeal, plain, added some Splenda, a little bit of Country Crock and fresh fruit, either Strawberries or Bananas. Drank a small glass of Orange Juice (not from concentrate) or POM Pomegranite Juice ( I call it magic in a bottle) and a cup of coffee. Caffeine, in moderation is NOT bad for your body. Not from the studies I've read and my own experience.
The next step in my weight loss magic. H2O! I drink a lot of water every day. I drink around a half-gallon or more throughout the day. Water is great for the metabolism, filling up your stomach and cleaning out impurities. Cut out ALL refined sugar with your new approach to life. That is, all unnecessary sugars such as soft-drinks, desserts and any other sugar filled drinks. Become a label reader. Watch your sugars in everything. I now eat Kashi Cereal for breakfast as a change of pace, and it is very low in refined sugar and is very tastey.
Eat small amounts and often. Make sure it's something tastey and eat every 2-3 hours. My food of choice between meals is almonds. I also eat boiled soy beans (which are edamame at your Asian food stores). They taste great and are loaded with proteins. I would also eat white meat tuna fish (no Mayo, yuck) on whole wheat bread. ONLY eat whole wheat breads. Only eat the kind that doesn't use starchy coloring. It has to be 100% whole wheat. Your taste buds will adjust quickly and once you go from regular soft drinks to Diet (or none at all), change to whole wheat breads, eat Oatmeal instead of Pop Tarts, etc... your taste buds WILL adapt.
I hear from people ALL the time that "I just can't adjust to Diet soft-drinks, water, Oatmeal, etc..." That's bullshit. Everyone can. I did. I recommend bottled water or invest as I did in a water filter for your sink. I drink only cold bottled water and/or filtered water. It will decrease your apetite, cleanse your body and keep your metabolism boosted. Trust me, I would not lie to you. Now again, keep up with the small meals through out the day. Another thing I started eating every day was one good healthy Braeburn red apple. Not too sweet, not too sour. Great source of fiber and tastes great too.
For lunches and dinners, I would eat what I wanted but with one hard, fast rule. I ate always before six o'clock and I ate moderately. I ate pizza, pasta, you name it, but in moderation. I usually make lunch my biggest meal of the day. Your metabolism is at its highest, you are more active at that time and you will be less hungry come dinner time. After six o'clock I would keep a bottle of water in my hand nearly all the time. I cut out alcohol completely. Alcohol is the DEVIL for your metabolism and weight. It slows your metabolism, screws up your sleep patterns, and slows digestion. Cut out alcohol if you're serious about weight loss. I had no problem doing it. Others find this aspect much harder. Just at least cut way down on the red wine and cut beer out.
Cut it out!
If I ate a snack in the evening, I always would make it fresh fruit or a bowl of high fiber cereal, Kashi Honey Almond and Flaxseed is the best on the market. ALWAYS use non-fat milk. If you're a woman, you'll still get all the calcium you need from non-fat that you get with 1%, 2% or God forbid, whole milk. It's SO high in fat. Skim milk, just like the rest, will be adapted to by your taste buds in days. You'll never go back. Someone gave me cereal with whole milk one morning and it tasted like heavy cream to me. Same with soft drinks. I literally cannot drink a regular soft drink. It tastes like pure syrup.
Start this out as soon as you can. For meats, eat small portions of lean, red meat if you eat red meat. Sirloin is lower in fat than a rib-eye. Educate yourself. Eat chicken and tuna only if you can stand it. But if you're like me, and love red meat, learn your cuts of meat, a la Letterman.
This is a good start. The second half of this endless post is exercise. I'm talking about exercise ANYONE can do, and it comes in part 2 tomorrow.
If I don't have your attention with this, and you really are interested in losing weight and not starving yourself, I am now a lean 6'5/210lbs with 10% body fat. The 210 lbs is a little heavier than I used to weigh but it's all muscle weight and very efficient.
Tune in tomorrow...
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Comments
By the way, I am better. At least not so desparate now.
Hugs
:-)
Take it easy and take care of yourself...
Maybe using this post of yours for inspiration I will actually start my own written and life journey.
I actually lost down below 200 pounds before bulking up a bit through isometrics/push-ups and eating more protein.
I hate to say it, but it was a relatively easy lifestyle change for me. The sugar and the alcohol are the two keys and the addition of a lot of water.
Good luck!
Greg
I love you as a well-spring of information. Will you be my Bro?
G
Gee, I would have never guessed your beautifully eloquent masterpiece from earlier today would be read so much! ;-)
Just keep putting them out my friend, I'll/We'll keep reading.
Peace,
G
Can't wait for part two. ha
D.O., Peanut Butter on Whole Wheat Bread is actually good. Eating anything high in calories after 6 pm isn't great. Substitute almonds, Soy Beans (I'm telling you, they're addictive), apples, grapefruits, etc... after 6 pm is best. Or a good cereal like the Kashi with Skim Milk.
YOU CAN DO IT. I'll e-mail it to you if you like.
The exercise part is fun. It's not hard core, time consuming cardio. Mainly walking, yoga, meditation, stretching. The combo of the two is the key...
Peace and Love to you both,
Greg
I am painting my brains out here, even tonight at 10:PM EST.
Pete
Result: Lose about a pound a week consistently, without even the slightest cravings (in fact, you may find you have to force yourself to eat) as well as watching your blood work improve considerably (including, yes, your cholesterol), your energy increase, your emotions stay level.
Tomorrow morning, it is oatmeal for me! I'm normally a coffee/chocolate chip cookie/peanutbutter cup/Pinot Noir kind of a gal. Which explains why I'm always so happy....
question - what about the Zoloft? is it possible to be on it and still lose weight? I need to lose about 20 pounds to be at my goal weight.
My doctor thinks it's not that big a factor, but I disagree.
Lisa, I lost at a rate of about 2.5 pounds approximately, but then I have a much higher body weight than average. And of course there was a greater loss at first, then plateau, then the metabolism kicked in.
Peter is right, Diet drinks are a poor substitute for regular, but in ONE can of Soda, there's a cup of sugar. ONE CUP. 200 Calories.
I know folks who drink 4-5 sodas a day. That's 800-1000 calories per day. Cut that out at 1000 calories per day, and we're talking 365,000 calories over the course of a year... ALONE.
Mary, it's the healthy and safe way to lose it and take it off. Atkins Diet is good in it's concept but it has some health drawbacks to the extreme. Ketosis for those who severely cut Carbs and Eat all protein. You have to have balance.
Silkstone, yours sounds like modified Atkins and a good plan. I eat plenty of colored vegetables. If it's bright, green, red, orange, etc... the healthier it is I've been told. Apples are really good and safe way to get a little sweetness without the high sugar. Bananas need to be minimalized, and I LOVE bananas.
Karin, my body thanks you and me. :-) It was all about a total lifestyle change, NOT a diet. Diets fail because people can only take starving and deprivation for so long. I love Pizza. So each week I treat my self to a huge pizza lunch or dinner. No guilt. I never once went to bed hungry. It just took a short adjustment period.
LP's, the Zoloft question is a bizarre one to figure out. It's not supposed to cause "weight gain", but what it did with me was make me crave sweets like mad. I mean obsessive craving of sweets, and I don't even eat sweets very much. So I gained weight. It just wasn't a good fit for me. Cymbalta has been the best for me. Few, if any side effects and it was initially prescribed me for neuropathic pain in my right arm and elbow damaged in the car wreck. I do push-ups ever day using the "Perfect Push-up" and I have no pain anymore...Talk to the Doc about the Zoloft options.
Thanks for the thumbification, as always. :-)
Like you, it completely worked for me. I am 5' 8-1/2" tall and have been under my goal weight since May. I now weigh 133 lbs. (down from 165+ last year). I weigh in at least weekly to keep myself honest, especially after a "bad week." I decided to make it a permanent lifestyle change. The only thing I would like to improve is the amount of exercise I get. I have been very active with my kids and in the yard and neighborhood, but my gym membership gets little activity these days.
Thanks,
Greg
Just trust in this, if you make the subtle changes, little by little, your body will respond. I've taught this to numerous people and they've never failed. It's not MY idea, it's an amalgam of many different theories on the body, eating habits and "moderate" exercise. Part II this evening. Anyone can do it.
I have a bad disc in my back due to an injury, but so far yoga is keeping me out of surgery. I used to have a killer metabolism too, but as I got older it went thud. Luckily, I'm the type that will basically forget to eat if my stomach isn't complaining, so I just gradually ate less and less. My hubby does most of the shopping and we eat all healthy vegetarian stuff and organic if it's available. Even with all of that my cholesterol is in the stratosphere without lipitor - it's hereditary. So, I tend to be size 4 and cholesterol 204! I can't even imagine what it would be if I ate like some of my friends....
A lot of her is hereditary too and the Japanese in her. Her mom is in her 70's and Miyako is about 4'11 90 lbs. :-)
Peace,
Greg
I HATE oatmeal! The sliminesss makes me retch. Damn. Doomed.
(OK, so really, the wine & martinis & bourbon are probably the real culprits in my case).
Thanks for the kick in the ass. I need it.
I just make sure I eat it during the middle of the day so I will burn it off more effectively. Pizza late in the evening, those days are over. But I never go to bed hungry!
It really grows on ya. I swear with my pinky as my son says.
-Ron Popeil
So glad i found your posts, particularly about an eating plan. Very detailed, with good explanations about why this or that, not the same stuff we'ver always heard. I'm 58, newly abstinent from alcohol (e weeks) type 2 diabetes on meds, and trying to recover my life from my self-destructive behaviors (not just wine). Joined a gym a year ago but negated the positive by drinking wine heavily 5-6 nights a week. Husband is supportive but doesn't get me. He works out in our basement. He's about 20 lbs overweight and I'm
60-70 lbs too fat. Have just very recently gone back to walking on elliptical at gym 35 mins at level 5, and find it very tolerable. Suggestions for any of this? Many thanks,
Marcia
If you have a home, and you have room to work out, you are much more likely to succeed in working out at home rather than a gym. In the cold of winter, I know I hated going to the gym. It's time consuming, cold, you have to shower and dry off, etc... Not to mention all the sweaty people.
Read Part II and try what I've put in it. Try the diet (anti-diet I call it.). It's a lifestyle change, NOT a crash diet. This has to be long term for it to work. Once the weight is gone, you have to continue. If your husband is 20 lbs overweight and working out, chances are it's his diet. Turn him onto it and try it all together. MY wife and I did and we bonded over it. It's a personal support system and just what you need. Now that you're sober, you'll need him more than ever and vice-versa. I don't mean to sound like Dr. Phil, I'm not a trained psychologist, but I know what I've lived. I know what I've seen with others. So take it for what it is. Free advice!
Message me any time you'd like to talk.
Good luck and many blessings,
Greg
Everybody here knows that nagging, diets and self-loathing don't work. But one day I just woke up and said to myself, I don't want to be fat any more. I meant it and figured out, with my doctor's help, how to address it. I came up with the magic bullet, at least for me. Attitude.
So I'll just add one aspect to your splendid program, if I may: attitude adjustment -- from negative to positive. Lose the word diet. Lose the idea of deprivation. Instead of waking up every day thinking, Oh no, another day I can't eat what I want, wake up and say, Cool, another day I'm gonna get thinner and happier.
Of course you need to eat the right foods, the right quantities, lose the booze, add the exercise. But if you can learn to look forward to each day as an opportunity to be a new you, it feeds itself, so to speak. And if you want a piece of candy, eat one! Just not a 2-pound Hershey bar. You want a glass of wine and POM just doesn't cut it? Use a shot glass or find a tiny aperitif glass. Be creative. Have fun. I did.
I became a strong, athletic, trim, robust, round but slim person. It's just me now, the way I am the second half of my life. I stay that way through exercise and moderation. And attitude.
And btw, if you're robust, round, happy and really healthy, but not so trim, I say stay that way too. No offense, Greg, just a reality check. The whole world doesn't have to be size 2. You're doing a great service to those who, health-wise and head-wise, need to be size 12.
Bravo!
An important fact that I left out. And as my disclaimer should say, hey, I'm not Dr. Phil. I'm just a guy who stumbled onto something that does work and isn't as hard or as hard on the body as a pure Atkins Diet, etc... This is healthy, smart, non-deprivation life-style change. I still have a glass of wine or (ten) on an election night. One or two occasionally, I agree. It's when it becomes every nigh that the body starts to slow down along with the mind.
Thanks for such wonderful additional information. I wish for more from others! This whole thing is a work in progress. I'm not John Basedow, nor would I ever want to be! :-O
love and gratitude,
theo (sandra no longer changed my name) and the wonderpups
I'm glad you are thriving and happy. Sometimes the meds we have to take cause some side effects, but most times the benefits outweigh those effects.
All the Best to you,
Greg