Ten Years

It just occurred to me that this month marks my 10-year anniversary of starting my fitness and weight-loss lifestyle. Oh, I had tried in the past and made half-hearted attempts at it, but this was the first time that I actually stuck with it and was successful.

It was a fairly long process (getting started, that is) - from the time I saw Bob Green on Oprah and bought his book that day; to finally getting signed on at the company gym and going for my first workout: about a month in total. So, things got kicked off the second week of September and I stepped on the treadmill for the first time at 6AM, Friday, October 11, 1996.

Weird, you might think, to start a fitness regime on a Friday. And the Friday before a holiday weekend, to boot!

I still remember how I felt when I got off that treadmill: I thought my legs and feet were detached from my body and I felt like I was floating across the room. The redness didn't leave my face until well after lunch. But after that long holiday weekend, I was back to the gym at 6AM on Tuesday morning and every weekday morning after that for over a year. To be honest, I was afraid that if I missed just one morning that I would quit altogether and fail yet again. I was partly motivated by fear.

But here I sit (yes, alone again on a Saturday night - oops, laundry is done... be right back), ten years later weighing at least 65 pounds lighter than I did that morning back in October of 1996. My losses were not dramatic at first and I hit lots of plateaus along the way, but I'm very proud of what I've accomplished. I don't know what the stats are, but I know that it's only a very small percentage of people who have been able to maintain a significant weight loss for 5 or more years.

I started at 235 pounds. The first 20-25 pounds came off fairly quickly. During that time, I also started running and even took up triathlon in '99. But as active as I was, I was unable to crack the 200-pound mark. In the fall of '99 I decided to do something that I had been considering for some years but never had the courage to do: have breast reduction surgery. I also discovered the power of the low-carb diet and was able to shed another 40 pounds in about 4 months so that I'd be within the guidelines that my surgeon recommended for me. On the day I went in for surgery, I was down to 174 pounds. I only lost about another five pounds post-op before I started to gain a bit back. I gained/lost off and on for the next couple of years.

By January of 2003, my weight had creeped back up to 188. I started my own version of "boot camp" and was able to lose about 15 pounds in the following months. That summer, I completed Ironman Lake Placid (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26-mile run) in 16 hours and 33 minutes, weighing about 178 pounds, which is kind of where I hovered for the next 2-3 years.

Earlier this year, I finally was able to lose another 10 pounds or so, and post my "lowest weight ever" of 164 pounds. My weight creeped up a bit during Ironman training again this summer, but I was able to stabilize around 172. And I felt like my weight was distributed differently than it had been when I was at that weight before.

After my summer adventures, I allowed myself to eat and drink whatever I wanted and the other day I stepped on the scales and saw 175.6lbs. Oh, no... I've worked much too hard to get this weight off, I'm not going to let it creep back on again.

So, I took a radical approach and cut a bunch of stuff out of my diet. A friend of mine recently did a "cleanse" where he wasn't allowed to each much of anything other than chicken, fish, vegetables and rice. No caffeine, no sugar, no dairy, no wheat. Well, there was no way I could go full steam with a plan like that, so I made a couple of little changes:

1. No sugar, except where it was unavoidable (my soy milk contains sugar as do some condiments and things like that)
2. Limit dairy to milk in my coffee (no lattes, no cheese)
3. Cut way down on wheat and flour (no pasta, no mini-wheats for breakfast, no bread)
4. No potatoes, so the only "starches" I'm eating are rice and corn
5. Obviously, since sugar/flour are out, no baked goods of any kind. That includes processed treats like granola bars and the like.
6. No alcohol

Only one exception: When running, I am allowed to take energy gels, sports drinks and protein shakes (post-run), even though they contain sugar, wheat and/or dairy.

The first week has gone pretty well. I switched to oatmeal for breakfast with just a touch of real maple syrup. I was able to stay away from pasta/flour. I did cave a bit and allowed myself one low-fat chocolate pudding per day as a treat (otherwise I'd go mental).

My stomach kind of protested a bit, although I'm not quite sure why. I've never been one to have stomach issues, but I've been noticing little pains and discomforts over the last week. And the good news is that as of today I'm back down to 170lbs.

So, that is how I'm celebrating my 10-year anniversary: By re-committing myself to good eating.

Some Before & After photos:

July 1996 (my security badge photo)


















September 1996 (in Chicago, days before I bought Bob Green's book)



















September 1999 (my first half-marathon)



















November 2005 (the New Me!)