Post christmas 2008. Weight 217lbs or 15 stones 3 lbs in Old English! 5' 10" in height and a BMI of 30.56. I am officially obese!!! How the hell did this happen?
Since I was 30 I have struggled to keep the weight off and have steadily put on the pounds, in fact for the last 8 years I have had a 36"to 38" waistline so my current partner has never known me as anything but a porker. Well, that's got to change and my new years resolution is to get back to 10 stones 7lbs, my steady weight throughout my 20's. How many middle aged men would like to do that?
Before embarking on this journey I scoured the web for good stories of other men who have achieved something similar so I could get some inspiration, but couldn't find any, or any advice aimed at someone in my position for that matter. 99% of dietery advice is for women and what there is for men my age assumes you have had a heart attack or require drastic changes in lifestyle due to imminent health risks. I'm just a normal bloke who is a few pounds overweight, I have normal blood pressure, I'm averagely healthy, I don't smoke, I don't drink heavily, I cannot find the time for regular gym sessions nor do I want the expense of memberships, I don't want to enrol in costly diet clubs, plans or crash diets. I like my life as it is, so how can I lose weight yet keep the same life I have now and not pay any money to do so... It must be possible...?
There seems to be a lot of dis-information about the best way to lose weight, crash dieting, complicated plans, low GI (whatever that is), low carb, gyms, expensive meal replacements, you name it. I don't want to spend any money to lose weight, so out go the replacement meal plans, gyms, fat clubs and similar activities. In this quest I plan to try to lose as much weight as quickly as I can but not spend any extra money or effort than I otherwise would have, if it works this could be the best diet ever!!!
The plan is to follow the most successful diet until I initially get to my target weight of 13 stones (182 lbs) which is still slightly overweight but a good start and will be a loss of 35 lbs. If a selected diet doesn't work I'll switch to another, this may involve me trying out several before I reach the goal. I will do my best to exercise maximum will-power and have made sure I have the support of family and friends to help me achieve this, so no ordering in of pizza, chips or Chinese food when I'm around to tempt me!
After reading up on the different types of diet I decided on a hybrid low carbohydrate one... sounds complex but just means this- low fat where possible, nothing high in carbohydtrates- meaning no bread, no potatoes or starchy root vegetables, no rice, no pasta, no sugary foods like biscuits or cakes, no cereals, no beer (argghhh), everything else is OK as long as there is sensible portion sizes and no binging or snacking. Calorie total for each day must not exceed 1,500. This is not an Atkins diet so no 16oz steaks covered in garlic butter! Its all about keeping calorie intake low and since most of the calories in food come from carbohydrates and to a lesser extent fats then by reducing these the plan is that overall calorie intake will drop as well... Of course if you take equal weights of fat (such as butter) and a high carb food, such as bread of course the butter (fat) will have more calories. However, most people eat far more volumes of carbohydrates than they do fats, think of a piece of toast with butter. By eating eating foods lower in fats and carbs the idea is that calorie intake will be reduced but volume will not, a chinese vegetable stir fry for instance is low in both if cooked correctly and will be quite filling.
6 days in and I have gone from 15st 3lbs to 14st 11lbs ( a loss of 6lbs which is nearly half a stone)! So it all appears to be working so far.
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