How much weight I lost
I reached 214 pounds in December 2001 and a fat percentage about 30%. Nowadays I am 166-168 pounds and a fat percentage as low as 14%. My waist shrunk from 36-37 to 31-32 inches.
What motivated me to lose weight
I went heavy and slow in most of my daily activities but the thing that triggered my desire to lose weight was the following: I was in the swimming pool with my little kids (at that time they were 3 and 5 years old) and they were comparing the shapes things and people had with their shadows over the floor; they saw things that looked like buildings, like Wilma Flinstone and so many others. When the saw my shadow the Yelled "DADDY'S SHADOW LOOKS LIKE BARNEY" and that was it, I decided the next day I will begin to do something for me.
How I lost weight
I began with a walk around my neighborhood; The fist day I only walked around 800 meters but when I arrived home I almost needed CPR because I barely can breathe. After that, I walked a little farther everyday; I began to run a little and also cleaned the dust from my old bicycle. One day went to a walking race and had a good performance, the next was a 5K run race. Now I try to participate in at least a race per month. Bicycling is also part of my workout, I do around two hours over the saddle once a week. I did swimming but now is a little hard for me because of my job. Cardio time for me is my relaxing time everyday; while I do cardio I listen music, pray, think about my job and my personal life and it is amazing how many times I get the right answer or decision during my cardio time.
One day I took some weights and began to use them; I added weight and read about that; now I do 6 days a week of weight training and it helped me to get leaner and feel much more energy.
I also changed my way of eating; I eliminate deep fried foods from my diet (they were my favorites), I banned sodas from my fridge, and eat more vegetables. The secret weapon for my weight loss is oatmeal; I used it and the results had been the best. I don't feel like a diet freak, in fact I go with my kids to eat hamburgers, pizza, ice cream and all that stuff but I try to stick in my healthy way of eating most of the time.
Tips and Tricks
- Accept your body and think about what you want in the long term.
- Do NOT believe in magic formulas; no pill, shake, diet or gadget will give you permanent results.
- Establish realistic a measurable goals; try to use little goals for the short or medium term in order to get big goals in the long term.
- Have a log about what you do, it helps you to know what you had done and what you need to do the next day.
- Reward yourself, buy new workout clothes or things every once a while because you did something you wanted.
- Involve your family in your weight loss program; family is very important to support you.
