Why I decided to lose weight
I was overweight and couldn't walk up a flight of stairs at work without stopping to catch my breath. I needed to lose weight. I couldn't keep up anymore. I was always tired. I didn't like my clothes or the way my clothes fit. How did this happen to me? O.K., I'll tell you the story of how I grew to be 220 pounds before I decided to lose it.
I was working a very physical job when I was in my 20's and then I got hurt. While I was working I burned so many calories and my metabolism was working so fast I never had to worry about what I ate. In those days I weighed 170. I was 6 foot tall, I wasn't doing any exercise, except for work. After an injury I was in the hospital for about 5 weeks. In those days I was smoking and because I was in a ward in a private hospital with other patients with broken bones waiting for surgery, they allowed me to smoke. After a few weeks in traction and extreme pain the smoking increased to 4 packs a day.
The smoking was totally out of control, the hospital put me on oxygen treatments. After I had surgery I knew I had to quit my job and quit smoking. I was on crutches for the next year. I never did any exercise. My doctors didn't put me in any physical therapy program. I was told to walk as much as possible with my crutches. This was the beginning of my weight gain. From the middle of September through the Christmas holidays I gained about 15 pounds. So now I'm about 185 and I'm feeling good. All the physical activity I had before I got hurt had increased my strength and stability so carrying the extra weight was easy. I didn't realize I was over weight. I think that can happen to all of us especially when your younger. I was in my middle 30's and still had all my strength that I had from my youth. I never gave my weight any thought. I knew I wasn't going to return to my job so I began thinking of another way to make money. I had a family and a mortgage. I had to work.
We decided to buy a business. An Italian restaurant, I know I wasn't thinking about my weight then. A word of advice, don't buy an Italian restaurant were you want to lose weight. I wasn't thinking about my weight when I bought the business. You see when your in an Italian family, your not overweight, your just health. Right, If that's not denial I don't know what is. In a couple years I had grown to 220 pounds. Now my wife tells me we need a gym membership. In the afternoon we can spend an hour at the gym. That's when I first realized how out of shape I really was. I could barely do a 20 minute workout. In those days they told you a 30 minute workout was a minimum or it won't do any good. Well I had to work up to that. I did start to lose a little weight, but it would come back and then I'd lose it again and it would come back again. I didn't have any real plan. We had changed our diet but because of our cholesterol we cut way back on meat. We didn't realize we had cut back on protein. We started to lose some weight from a starvation style diet, but because we cut back on protein, we were losing mostly muscle.
Actually, you don't realize that at first, your just happy about losing 5 pounds. But what really happens is you lose strength. I wasn't making any progress at the gym and I didn't know why. The scale shows I lost some weight, but I still have all that belly fat. I got discussed and quit the gym. I told my wife I hurt my elbow and couldn't use it. Through different diets, I did manage to lose more weight over the next few years but I was still over 200. We sold the restaurant and started another business that gave me more physical exercise, not because that's what I wanted. We had a large crew of employees and my manager needed help. I didn't spend much time in the office, I was mostly working with the men.
Well that turned out to be a positive thing and I managed to lose another 10 pounds that first year, mostly by accident. And over the next few years the extra physical activity causes me to lose more weight. Now I'm about 190 and stuck there. Now I'm not getting any younger and I still have belly fat, just not as much. I'm still not happy with myself and determined to do something about it. I'll shorten the story a little and tell you that I did get back to 170 pounds. I started the blog to tell you about my journey up and down the weight ladder and to give you hope and encouragement. I want you to understand that it's a part of maturing. I think we all go through a time in our lives when we gain weight and a time when we have to lose it.
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I was working a very physical job when I was in my 20's and then I got hurt. While I was working I burned so many calories and my metabolism was working so fast I never had to worry about what I ate. In those days I weighed 170. I was 6 foot tall, I wasn't doing any exercise, except for work. After an injury I was in the hospital for about 5 weeks. In those days I was smoking and because I was in a ward in a private hospital with other patients with broken bones waiting for surgery, they allowed me to smoke. After a few weeks in traction and extreme pain the smoking increased to 4 packs a day.
The smoking was totally out of control, the hospital put me on oxygen treatments. After I had surgery I knew I had to quit my job and quit smoking. I was on crutches for the next year. I never did any exercise. My doctors didn't put me in any physical therapy program. I was told to walk as much as possible with my crutches. This was the beginning of my weight gain. From the middle of September through the Christmas holidays I gained about 15 pounds. So now I'm about 185 and I'm feeling good. All the physical activity I had before I got hurt had increased my strength and stability so carrying the extra weight was easy. I didn't realize I was over weight. I think that can happen to all of us especially when your younger. I was in my middle 30's and still had all my strength that I had from my youth. I never gave my weight any thought. I knew I wasn't going to return to my job so I began thinking of another way to make money. I had a family and a mortgage. I had to work.
We decided to buy a business. An Italian restaurant, I know I wasn't thinking about my weight then. A word of advice, don't buy an Italian restaurant were you want to lose weight. I wasn't thinking about my weight when I bought the business. You see when your in an Italian family, your not overweight, your just health. Right, If that's not denial I don't know what is. In a couple years I had grown to 220 pounds. Now my wife tells me we need a gym membership. In the afternoon we can spend an hour at the gym. That's when I first realized how out of shape I really was. I could barely do a 20 minute workout. In those days they told you a 30 minute workout was a minimum or it won't do any good. Well I had to work up to that. I did start to lose a little weight, but it would come back and then I'd lose it again and it would come back again. I didn't have any real plan. We had changed our diet but because of our cholesterol we cut way back on meat. We didn't realize we had cut back on protein. We started to lose some weight from a starvation style diet, but because we cut back on protein, we were losing mostly muscle.
Actually, you don't realize that at first, your just happy about losing 5 pounds. But what really happens is you lose strength. I wasn't making any progress at the gym and I didn't know why. The scale shows I lost some weight, but I still have all that belly fat. I got discussed and quit the gym. I told my wife I hurt my elbow and couldn't use it. Through different diets, I did manage to lose more weight over the next few years but I was still over 200. We sold the restaurant and started another business that gave me more physical exercise, not because that's what I wanted. We had a large crew of employees and my manager needed help. I didn't spend much time in the office, I was mostly working with the men.
Well that turned out to be a positive thing and I managed to lose another 10 pounds that first year, mostly by accident. And over the next few years the extra physical activity causes me to lose more weight. Now I'm about 190 and stuck there. Now I'm not getting any younger and I still have belly fat, just not as much. I'm still not happy with myself and determined to do something about it. I'll shorten the story a little and tell you that I did get back to 170 pounds. I started the blog to tell you about my journey up and down the weight ladder and to give you hope and encouragement. I want you to understand that it's a part of maturing. I think we all go through a time in our lives when we gain weight and a time when we have to lose it.
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My new ebook is in online bookstores now. You can go to Amazon.com and type the title in the search bar: How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight? The price is $3.99. I think you'll find it interesting. I write about myself and my battle with weight and all the mistakes I made and how you can avoid the mistakes and lose the unwanted body fat.
The ebook is also at http://barnesandnoble.com and they have a special introductory offer right now $2.99. Also available on iBooks, Kobo, Scribd, and others worldwide.
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