My Personal Journal: The Recent Years

Late in 2006 I hired a personal trainer, Steve Roy.
http://www.royfitness.com/
He asked me in the initial interview what I wanted to accomplish. I
stated rather vaguely that I wanted to improve my muscle tone and lose
some of the softness, said while patting my stomach. Steve's response
was that he could help me exercise to improve muscle tone, but that
the softness would only go away if I reduced my daily caloric intake.
Fortunately, he was able to help me learn how to do this wisely.
Following the direction Steve showed me to achieve a better balance of
fat, carbs and protein while cutting the over-all number of calories
consumed within a day, I began to really read and study the
nutritional content of all the things I ate, and since this was more
startling than I'd ever considered, I also started evaluating things I
didn't typically eat in order to find worthwhile substitutions. Other
posts to this blog will address specifics about diet and nutrition,
but the key point with regard to my personal journey to fitness is
that this is the point at which nutrition became a significant focus
in changing my life-style toward one that would support my fitness
goals.
It was not all clear sailing by any means. Learning what is best and
implementing it into my daily routine are two entirely different
things. The former is driven by intellect and the latter by habit.
Habit is by far the stronger force.
During 2007 Steve moved a little farther away and was no longer
training in my area and I lost my focus, slipped back into old
patterns and put back on all the weight I had previously lost. I made
a few false starts during 2008, but at the beginning of 2009 I was
back to nearly 200 pounds and without any regular exercise routine or
control over my diet. This is the point at which I decided that the
only way to make the change permanent was to turn what I knew
intellectually into habit. I had to not only squelch the old patterns
of behavior that were detrimental to fitness, but replace them with
new patterns of behavior to support fitness. Again, there's a huge
difference between deciding to do this and making it happen, but I was
pretty determined and Steve started training in my area again which
gave me extra support.
I lost down to 174 pounds by the end of 2009 and had a pretty good
handle on what I was eating and how I was exercising. The results
might have been more dramatic, but I broke my foot in June of 2009 and
had to restrict certain aspects of my exercise routine while it
healed. I was also by myself in the apartment, not going into the
office for some of this time which tended to lead me back into old
patterns of munching and not regulating my meals. Still, I was pretty
pleased with the loss of 26 pounds.
But as I started 2010, I soon learned that old patterns don't just go
away because I know they are bad. I put back on about six pounds and
fought to maintain a regular workout routine. I then read the book
"The Body Fat Solution" by Tom Venuto, and was immediately
reenergized. Everything he wrote reinforced what I had been trying to
accomplish. When I added to my efforts his personal trainer version
of the power of positive thinking, it all really began to feel like a
life-change.
To date I have just broken that barrier of 170 pounds – a struggle
that took me several weeks to accomplish, and have clear goals for
moving forward. For the first time, exercising and eating smart feel
very right and I'm not forcing myself to do either. I actually want
to do both! I am not, however, confusing this with any form of
victory. It is simply progress along my path to fitness.
I host a Google group on health and fitness at
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape
and I provide regular check-ins every Sunday. The updates I will make
on my blog via the personal journal category will be less frequent and
will offer a summary of progress to date. As of today, my check-in
looks like this:
The facts:
I made smart choices about what I ate this past week, staying at or
under 1600 calories a day.
I exercised five times – 2 weights/strengthening and 3 cardio.
I feel good and weigh 168.5 pounds.
My goals:
I make smart choices about what I eat and stay at or under 1600 calories a day.
I exercise 5 times a week.
I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week on average.
I feel good, am making progress toward fitness and weigh 153 pounds by 10/08/10.
I am fit, toned and feeling good, and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
I maintain my fitness through making smart choices about what I eat
and regular exercise, and perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
I still workout with Steve on most Saturdays and have a routine for
workouts throughout the week. I've recently been focused on how to
maintain an exercise routine and smart eating choices while traveling
as I have been traveling three weeks in a row for work with more to
come. For those three weeks I managed to maintain my weight, and
though I didn't lose any, I still consider this progress as I
typically gain weight when traveling. I have two more weeks of travel
during July and hope to improve my record. However, one of those
weeks is a vacation, and I will be realistic about what I will achieve
while on vacation! Still, smart choices are good any time, right?