It wasn't. I was definitely overweight. And was on a bad trajectory going into my 40s. A doctor told me flat out that I was fat and needed to lose at least 20 pounds. Of course I was angry and wanted to deny it but eventually, I saw a picture of myself and it finally sunk in. I was married now, with a young baby, and didn't want to continue on like this. But of course, being a new dad with a demanding job didn't leave me with a lot of time so if there was a faster, easier, better and more efficient way to lose weight, I was all in!
I knew that it would require both diet and exercise so I explored different options, which of course there are many. I tried a bunch, researched more, spent a lot of time doing trial and error, and came away with 3 key takeaways
- Every body is different - what might work for someone else many not work for you. And vice-versa.
- Losing weight/getting in shape is only half the battle - keeping the weight off and staying in shape is the other half. And maybe the harder one!
- There are no shortcuts - period.
#3 was the most difficult one for me to accept. Again, I didn't have a lot of time, I didn't want to dedicate a lot of time, and there's always gotta be a shortcut, right? A life hack, a cheat code, some smarter way to do more work with less effort. Many things promise this. I read articles about a fast-emerging training protocol of that time, Tabata, which actually claimed you could work out for 4-15 minutes a day and get all the fitness benefits of someone who spends hours at the gym. Weight Watchers had an add campaign with a bunch of guys saying, "I ate the food, I lost the weight" and then it shows pictures of burgers, pizza and even desserts! Who wouldn't want to work for our only 4 minutes and chase it with a pizza and yet still lose weight? Or maybe there is some brand new scientific discovery to help. A pill or some cleanse or maybe even an electronic device. Our world is full of this stuff and there is more and more every day.
While not everything was just a complete lie, there is certainly a lot of misleading information out there that is just as bad as a lie, in my opinion. Doing HIIT training under the Tabata protocol can be more beneficial in less time, for sure, and most people can spend hours at the gym doing very little, but 4-15 minutes is not going to get you where you want to be (also as just a general note about HIIT, a lot of the most explosive, cardio-building, calorie-burning exercises, the "High Intensity" part, are very hard to do at such a high-intensity for a deconditioned person so their results will be tremendously skewed by their own fitness. Same is true for running up a treadmill full-speed at a 20-percent incline. Most people cannot, and should not, even attempt that). You could absolutely eat Weight Watchers' pizza for lunch but it's tiny, is somewhere around 250 calories, doesn't taste like pizza you would normally get from a restaurant, and for the next 6 hours after eating it, you are likely going to be very, very hungry and the cravings are harder to fight than one might think. If they were easy enough to resist by just simple will power, we'd all to do it and there would be much less need for these kinds of diet programs.
NOTE ABOUT THE DIET/EXERCISE BALANCE: There is a school of thought that says losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. If you are looking purely at caloric deficit, these numbers may be accurate for you but there are other factors to consider. Exercise is more than just burning calories. It is a mindset. A new way of life. Discipline. Exercise changes how you feel physically, mentally and spiritually. This can even help with he dieting part and getting through those difficult periods.
No matter what you pick, for diet and for exercise, be prepared for some hard work. As I say all the time, if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. Doesn't mean you necessarily have to hate it. This is where the hack portion does come in. Find something you love doing that also challenges you. You may say that there is no type of exercise you are going to "love." Maybe, but make sure to try them all first! Same is true with dieting. If you can't embrace your diet on some level and sustain it, it will not be a long-term solution.
Which brings me to Takeaway #2. Losing the weight is very hard, keeping it off may be harder. Both the diet and the exercise have to be sustainable on some levels. Starving yourself will create that caloric deficit for sure but this may not be something you are able to do for months on end and when your body adapts to working with less calories, what is going to happen when you eventually start giving it more? Or if it requires a lot of work and meal planning, is this something you will be able to do consistently over time? Plus there is nutrition and general wellness to think about too. Not getting proper nutrition from your diet won't make it sustainable and if you feel terrible, that's not going to bode well either. Lots of people have achieved amazing success from no/low carb diets like Keto but I have tried them and felt weak, tired and unhappy.
Which brings me to Takeaway #3! Every body really is different. You might be able to find a program on your own that works for you and gives you the results that you want but you might need professional, personal help on both the diet and exercise front. What works for someone else may not work for you at all. This is what makes me generally angry about how a lot of information out there is presented - do THIS and THIS will happen! Trends come and go every few years and people are just so certain they have finally cracked the code. I have worked with many people as a trainer and anecdotally, I can tell you that results are very, very different for everyone. There are many factors at play and no one-size-fits-all solution.
Which brings me back to the original point of this post. I found the whole process of losing weight challenging and frustrating. Of course it's annoying when you can't find a clear and concise solution to a particular problem but when the problem is your own obesity, it becomes compounded in several ways, most notably in regards to self-esteem. I couldn't stand to look at myself. That sucks! People like me need help. And while maybe much of the information you find online or in magazines, books, etc is trying to do the right thing and help us out, promising any kind of simple, quick-fix solutions that very likely are not that simple nor personally effective feels kind of cruel to me.
At that point, my job was still making video games, which for sure didn't help anyone with their health and fitness. As I got older, I began to realize just how important that really is. As they say, we only get one body and if it doesn't work, feels bad, or is at risk any way, it will be harder to do literally everything. I was able to eventually find a diet and exercise program (boxing!) that worked better for me and was able to lose about 60 pounds before my 40th birthday. As I began to study this more and more, I realized that this was something I also wanted to do for a career. Maybe I could help other people too? Not by promising them instant solutions but by at least aiding them along the path to fitness and wellness, doing something (boxing!) I love more than anything. I became certified as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, boxing coach, quit my job, moved to Rochester, opened a boxing club and the rest is history! Some big changes for sure and getting into a completely new industry (as well as owning a business for the first time ever) was kind of an odd thing to do at my age but well worth it! It has been an honor and privilege to help people of all types with one of the the maybe the most important thing ever - our own health and wellness.
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