Getting back to healthy, weekend 1
A long while ago, I saw the John Stone Fitness photos. Back when I first saw the photos, he had only been working out for a year, and at that point, I really liked the results. Nowadays, his recent photos are scary... it looks like he's on steroids. But the point is, at the time I saw the photos, I felt that it was hugely motivational to post monthly photos of his progress towards getting healthy.
Well, this past week, I finally had to take a day off from work and just sleep for hours and hours. I was exhausted. I wasn't eating right. I took in too much sugar, and I relied on multiple Pepsi breaks to caffinate me to keep me going. It was necessary to some degree – I had just started a new job at a big Internet company, and I intended to learn a lot, stay focused, and become a better Web Developer. And I truly am a better developer, after just a few months on the job. But now that I've made progress on that front, it's time to make progress on the health front too.
So, I'm going to start posting photos of myself, just as John Stone did. But I'm going to post them every weekend, and I'll do my best to get fit without turning into a "jock on 'roids" – which is what one person called John. Also, I have my own weight loss secret to reveal, so let's get to it.
Photos
Me, at my worst, this weekend:
Secret
A while ago, my doctor told me that I was "maybe diabetic." I didn't want to be diabetic. I was convinced that if I cut out sugar, my body could appear to be a normal, healthy meat & veggie kind of body. So I did that for a month, and then I went back in.
He ran tests, and he was puzzled. He said I looked fine. He eventually wrote off the earlier test results as an anomaly. But even I was puzzled, because of one thing: I weighed less.
It might seem obvious that if you change your diet you might change your weight, but I had just concluded a year-long battle to alter my weight. I had ended it as a futile effort. I had been about 189 pounds when I started working out at gyms, and a year later, I was 189 pounds. No, the fat had not turned to muscle, thus keeping the weight the same; the fat had ignored my workouts, and remained in place around my belly. So I wrote off the year at the gym as a failed experiment. But just a few months after that, I was standing on my doctor's scale, and I had lost weight without doing a single workout. I kept that in mind, should I ever decide to try to lose weight again. And now it's just a few months later, and I'm ready.
Diet
Based upon the secret I've shared, you can probably guess how I'm going to change my diet now. As of last night, I had my last piece of candy. My last drink of soda. But I'm going to find ways to eat healthy without eating unhappy. For example, I know that blueberries are great to eat, but I hate their texture. Eating them is not an option. So I found a juice. It has a good amount of sugar, but less than I'd get from a Coke or Pepsi. It will become one of my new drinks.
My jellies & jams have been swapped out for a lower-sugar variant. This variant does not use artificial sweeteners. It just doesn't have as much sugar. It still tastes good.
I'm doing this across the board. I'm finding ways to drop my sugary foods in favor of other foods that are simply "tasty but without tons of sugar."
Workout
My workout started this weekend, right after taking the photos. I ride a simple stationary bike while I watch a single episode of Farscape. So it's about a 40 minute workout. I don't push myself hard, but I do end up sweating quite a bit anyway, so I think it's effective for the time being. The company I work for has its own gym, so I'll use their equipment soon enough.
Weight
As of this weekend, as of the photos I've posted, I weigh 194.6 pounds, wearing shorts with no shirt. We'll see how the weight can go down, and if I can keep it off. The next few weekends will be telling. Wish me luck!