Notes on a "saner or normal" way to lose the pounds
Hey!! Long time no write!
So I am reviving my blog to talk about my latest personal project and that is, to loose some pounds, a lot of pounds, yup weight loss, that "spare tire" around the waist (or in my case spare tube!!) as we would say back in Nigeria. I have been, like many people out there battling for years (at least about the last 5 years) now with my weight control and it has not been a pleasant ride. I am typically rather private in nature, so deciding to share this blog has not been an easy decision!
How this started;
After our last Christmas holiday (2012), sometime in January, I got on the scale at home and almost fell right off it...(or broke it..) 281Ibs! What! Are you kidding me! Well, my daily worries and my weight gain had finally purchased an 18 wheeler trailer, packed with a turbo charged engine hit the freeway and came right at me at full speed and hit me head on!
The situation was further compounded when I had to go see the doctors for a host of reasons and each time my blood pressure was taken I was told I was pre-hypertensive...pre what? Pre gini...? Pre who? Pre Why? By the third time this happened I told myself this was no fluke, no work stress or other issues, this was directly related to my WEIGHT! yeeparikpa!
The wake up call
No it was not a near death experience or the loss of a loved one due to weight, yes I know we all love a dramatic story, nope it was very simple. After the third blood pressure test, and hearing the doctor talk about possibly putting me on medication, and wanting to send me to a specialist, which I simply hate, I recall going home and jumping on the internet to read about high blood pressure. Two things I read stood out... a high consumption of salt and weight gain can contribute to high blood pressure / hypertension.
A day or two later, I stopped adding salt to food after it was cooked... regardless of if dear madam had added salt when cooking or not. Cheikena... that was it. My wife could not believe the immediate halt. I only started adding much smaller amounts of salt to my food about a month or two ago, so essentially I took about a 6-8 month break from adding salt to my food regardless of salt being added while cooking or NOT. And I did eventually have a substitute which I will talk about later as I blog. As we all know salt is an essential body mineral so don't do what I did without some good thought, research and a plan and possibly speaking to your doctor.
A short back ground
So today I am in my early 40's. Back in my high school / secondary school days, I was an avid sports man. I played soccer, volley ball, field hockey and handball, and more, all for the school team. In university, I tried out for both the college volley ball and badminton teams. My point, I was a very active younger fellow. In my first years on campus in Great Ife, I would jog from my hostel, Awo Hall all the way to main gate. Those of you who are familiar with The Great Ife campus will understand that distance, and those of you who did not, check it out via Google maps or earth. That was a couple of miles. So like many of us, how do you go from being a fit sportsman to being almost 300Ibs! I know, I watched it happen. And now I have to reverse that long process!
The known quick routes
Okay I have tried several food plans and diets out there. Yes I tried Nurtisystem, when I got married, my dear wife warned me not to bring that processed stuff into our matrimonial home, even though as a typical stubborn Nigerian man I did, after its sitting in storage for maybe six months, it ended up in the trash....lol! I got a Wii and used the Wii Fit and Wii Sports as I love technology. I bought a TotalGymXL, Of course yes I loved Chuck Norris (till I discovered is Republican ways...lol). I joined Bally fitness, watched Insanity... and much much more, yet, the pounds kept piling up!
2013 to Today
So from January 2013 at 281 Ibs when I finally decided I need to get serious about loosing the extra pounds to a recent weight check last week, which was 250.2 Ibs. A loss of approximately 30 Ibs in the last 8 months. I decided to get serious about loosing weight. but most importantly I decided to loose the weight by being smart, consistent, realistic and most importantly without any "gimmicks" or at least a few as possible. No weight loss juju, magic or abarcadabra (the more you eat the less you understand) diets or exercise programs. I am still losing the weight and yes it takes dedication, and it takes time, and a strong will, but I have found it is possible practically with no use of the "gimmicks" we see daily on the TV or the internet. Note, I have used aids in my journey, which I will also discuss.
My Time magazine gimmick!
First lesson, not all gimmicks are bad gimmicks! lol. This blog series is to share how I was / am getting this done and for you to see if you can probably do the same, and save yourself a lot of money, time, heartache and in the process possibly change a lot of habits as I have been doing. And find new belief in your self esteem and strong will. I will end with what shaped my weight loss journey from the beginning. It was an article I read and saved from Time magazine.
I no longer have the magazine, but I am looking for it online, once found, I will share the issue and that author of the article so you can seek it out and read it. I was fortunate enough to have the good sense to keep that edition when I got it. I ended up actually reading the article almost a year or two after it was initially written! Essentially, that article pointed out to me the importance of watching what you eat versus trying to exercise like crazy to deal with weight loss or gain or maintain. After reading the piece, I was sold, it completely changed how I approached my weight loss plan and fast forward more than eight months later, I can certainly say that author was right on point!
So I hope for those of you out there still struggling and trying with no results, this blog will provide one more tool within the weight loss jungle out there of ways to loose weight. Trust me, this is not rocket science.
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| Our 2011 Thanksgiving dinner table! |
How this started;
After our last Christmas holiday (2012), sometime in January, I got on the scale at home and almost fell right off it...(or broke it..) 281Ibs! What! Are you kidding me! Well, my daily worries and my weight gain had finally purchased an 18 wheeler trailer, packed with a turbo charged engine hit the freeway and came right at me at full speed and hit me head on!
The situation was further compounded when I had to go see the doctors for a host of reasons and each time my blood pressure was taken I was told I was pre-hypertensive...pre what? Pre gini...? Pre who? Pre Why? By the third time this happened I told myself this was no fluke, no work stress or other issues, this was directly related to my WEIGHT! yeeparikpa!
The wake up call
No it was not a near death experience or the loss of a loved one due to weight, yes I know we all love a dramatic story, nope it was very simple. After the third blood pressure test, and hearing the doctor talk about possibly putting me on medication, and wanting to send me to a specialist, which I simply hate, I recall going home and jumping on the internet to read about high blood pressure. Two things I read stood out... a high consumption of salt and weight gain can contribute to high blood pressure / hypertension.
A day or two later, I stopped adding salt to food after it was cooked... regardless of if dear madam had added salt when cooking or not. Cheikena... that was it. My wife could not believe the immediate halt. I only started adding much smaller amounts of salt to my food about a month or two ago, so essentially I took about a 6-8 month break from adding salt to my food regardless of salt being added while cooking or NOT. And I did eventually have a substitute which I will talk about later as I blog. As we all know salt is an essential body mineral so don't do what I did without some good thought, research and a plan and possibly speaking to your doctor.
A short back ground
So today I am in my early 40's. Back in my high school / secondary school days, I was an avid sports man. I played soccer, volley ball, field hockey and handball, and more, all for the school team. In university, I tried out for both the college volley ball and badminton teams. My point, I was a very active younger fellow. In my first years on campus in Great Ife, I would jog from my hostel, Awo Hall all the way to main gate. Those of you who are familiar with The Great Ife campus will understand that distance, and those of you who did not, check it out via Google maps or earth. That was a couple of miles. So like many of us, how do you go from being a fit sportsman to being almost 300Ibs! I know, I watched it happen. And now I have to reverse that long process!
The known quick routes
Okay I have tried several food plans and diets out there. Yes I tried Nurtisystem, when I got married, my dear wife warned me not to bring that processed stuff into our matrimonial home, even though as a typical stubborn Nigerian man I did, after its sitting in storage for maybe six months, it ended up in the trash....lol! I got a Wii and used the Wii Fit and Wii Sports as I love technology. I bought a TotalGymXL, Of course yes I loved Chuck Norris (till I discovered is Republican ways...lol). I joined Bally fitness, watched Insanity... and much much more, yet, the pounds kept piling up!
2013 to Today
So from January 2013 at 281 Ibs when I finally decided I need to get serious about loosing the extra pounds to a recent weight check last week, which was 250.2 Ibs. A loss of approximately 30 Ibs in the last 8 months. I decided to get serious about loosing weight. but most importantly I decided to loose the weight by being smart, consistent, realistic and most importantly without any "gimmicks" or at least a few as possible. No weight loss juju, magic or abarcadabra (the more you eat the less you understand) diets or exercise programs. I am still losing the weight and yes it takes dedication, and it takes time, and a strong will, but I have found it is possible practically with no use of the "gimmicks" we see daily on the TV or the internet. Note, I have used aids in my journey, which I will also discuss.
My Time magazine gimmick!
First lesson, not all gimmicks are bad gimmicks! lol. This blog series is to share how I was / am getting this done and for you to see if you can probably do the same, and save yourself a lot of money, time, heartache and in the process possibly change a lot of habits as I have been doing. And find new belief in your self esteem and strong will. I will end with what shaped my weight loss journey from the beginning. It was an article I read and saved from Time magazine.
I no longer have the magazine, but I am looking for it online, once found, I will share the issue and that author of the article so you can seek it out and read it. I was fortunate enough to have the good sense to keep that edition when I got it. I ended up actually reading the article almost a year or two after it was initially written! Essentially, that article pointed out to me the importance of watching what you eat versus trying to exercise like crazy to deal with weight loss or gain or maintain. After reading the piece, I was sold, it completely changed how I approached my weight loss plan and fast forward more than eight months later, I can certainly say that author was right on point!
So I hope for those of you out there still struggling and trying with no results, this blog will provide one more tool within the weight loss jungle out there of ways to loose weight. Trust me, this is not rocket science.
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