Nov 14th 2008, weight 238 pounds. I hadn’t weighed that much since I passed it on my way down from 265 in 2003. I’m pretty sure I was above 240 and some point around there as well. Things were getting out of control. I’d recently starting cycling to a new job and had all kinds of plans to get in shape, but I was going the wrong way. One night I got on the scale and, for lack of a better term, freaked the f*** out. I was angry at myself for slipping so far. As recently as mid 2006 I was 215 and the strongest I’d ever been. A torn pectoral muscle ended my bench strength and 2 years on the road with work had really taken its toll on my physically. I wasn’t a total loss, I could still run and bike, I was just a big fat guy.
The first weeks of eating healthy in my experiences are the most motivating. Within a month I was down to the low 220’s, the weight that had always been what I considered “normal” for me. I stayed within shot of the 220’s for the next month. At that point things cooled off a bit, but I was always seeing results. In March I was 206 and 19% body fat, sub 20 was a good target for me. I trained for a ½ marathon and met my goal time of <2 hours, I trained for a century ride and made it in just over 6 hours, the weight became a secondary issue. The century ride was Jun 6th, I was 194lbs. Almost 50 pounds lost from my peak in about 7 months.
I was laid off the next week. With a severance package and a poor economy I began to work a pretty rigorous lifting schedule into my routine. 6 mile bike each way to the gym and lifting 5 days a week (lots of golf too). Ironically summers have been harder for me to lose weight, more drinking and BBQs I figured, despite the increase in activity. I attributed my plateau to my lifting program, but I always felt like I would drop the weight sooner or later, I couldn’t be building muscle mass at the same rate I was losing fat, but this continued, and continued, and continued. Weight was still not a priority but more of a bizarre confusing issue to me and I’ll admit I really wanted to hit the 180’s. I purchased calipers so more accurately measure body fat and after that I didn’t care what the scale said. 15, 14, 13, 12% body fat as per the caliper readings every other week. The weight was staying the same but the mm on that caliper kept dropping. At the end of the year I was 12% per the calipers and 194. The same weight I was 6 months prior, but lower body fat by 5-6%.
The first weeks of eating healthy in my experiences are the most motivating. Within a month I was down to the low 220’s, the weight that had always been what I considered “normal” for me. I stayed within shot of the 220’s for the next month. At that point things cooled off a bit, but I was always seeing results. In March I was 206 and 19% body fat, sub 20 was a good target for me. I trained for a ½ marathon and met my goal time of <2 hours, I trained for a century ride and made it in just over 6 hours, the weight became a secondary issue. The century ride was Jun 6th, I was 194lbs. Almost 50 pounds lost from my peak in about 7 months.
I was laid off the next week. With a severance package and a poor economy I began to work a pretty rigorous lifting schedule into my routine. 6 mile bike each way to the gym and lifting 5 days a week (lots of golf too). Ironically summers have been harder for me to lose weight, more drinking and BBQs I figured, despite the increase in activity. I attributed my plateau to my lifting program, but I always felt like I would drop the weight sooner or later, I couldn’t be building muscle mass at the same rate I was losing fat, but this continued, and continued, and continued. Weight was still not a priority but more of a bizarre confusing issue to me and I’ll admit I really wanted to hit the 180’s. I purchased calipers so more accurately measure body fat and after that I didn’t care what the scale said. 15, 14, 13, 12% body fat as per the caliper readings every other week. The weight was staying the same but the mm on that caliper kept dropping. At the end of the year I was 12% per the calipers and 194. The same weight I was 6 months prior, but lower body fat by 5-6%.
I still have what I call “flab” or “flubber” but I think it’s just left over skin from my big fat guy days, I’m hoping to keep the weight off for the years it may take to become tighter. I’m not expecting a 6 pack, just not the handfuls of loose skin. The lesson here is that weight loss really should be secondary to overall health and if you are serious about getting in shape get some body fat calipers. The measurements one can get with them are much more valuable than what the scale tells you, especially when you get near your goal weight. By the way, on the high end or error for my body fat calculation, I would have to be in the mid single digits to be “normal” weight via BMI. That’s another story all together.
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