I swear I didn’t mean for of this to happen, but when it comes down to it I can tell you exactly why it did. I also know exactly what I need to do to reverse what I caused. I’m not another one of those guys who doesn’t understand the nutritional value of spinach versus a candy bar or that drinking water is a lot better than soda. The gym is not even considered a strange land of equipment I don’t know how to use.
How’d I Get Here?
This might be a good place to start: rewind a decade, back to 2002/03. I was about 20 years old living with my girlfriend (now my wife) in an apartment in Brooklyn. At the time I was working from home on graphic design projects with some small businesses. There was no shortage of time.
Almost every morning I woke up, went running in Prospect Park and did some dips, sit-ups and pull-ups. By 9 or 10 I was all cleaned up, back at my desk and working. On slower days I would even do a weight routine later in the afternoon. I specifically remember the feeling I had after being able to do a pull-up. I had been trying for weeks, just hanging on the bar and getting nowhere. There was a point that year where I think I saw some actual muscle definition.
Year: 2002/03
Shirt Size: L
Pants Size: 36, almost a 34
Weight: 195lbs at my lowest
Workout 1: Light running 3-5 days a week, 3.3mi. Sit-ups, pull-ups, dips.
Workout 2: Weights at home, 2 days a week
Diet: Whatever was cheap that could be cooked at home; cereal, sandwiches, etc.
Winter Downgrade
I continued running in the park until it got too cold in November or December. Unfortunately, most of my workout was taking place outside and there wasn’t a gym nearby. I ended up joining an aikido class at Aikido of Park Slope. I was not too far from my apartment – easy enough to walk, even on a cold evening.
The classes were amazing and the people were just as great. There were some challenges in the movements, but the workout was not as intense as what I had been doing in the park. In the two years I had been a member of the martial arts class from 2003 to 2005, I put on a few extra pounds. On top of the downgrade of the workout, I went from taking the class three or four days a week to only getting in one or two days.
In this period of time, we also had acquired a car. As convenient as it was, we suffered through a few parking tickets and even a towing nightmare. The car definitely impacted the amount of walking we did in the city. More car = more sitting. More sitting = less calories burned.
Year: 2004/05
Shirt Size: L/XL
Pants Size: 36
Weight: 215-225lbs
Workout 1: Aikido classes, 2-4 days a week.
Diet: Whatever was cheap that could be cooked at home; cereal, sandwiches, etc.
The Move to Long Island
After my wife’s grandmother passed away in 2005 we decided to move into her house out on Long Island. Neither of were exactly tied to the city. We had been discussing moving out of the city anyways. The house needed some extensive renovations and we spent the greater part of a half year sleeping on an air mattress at one of our friend’s mother’s house.
To give them time away from us (and to have some time to ourselves) we often went out to dinner or to have drinks. Burgers at Fridays or Ruby Tuesday were not an uncommon dinner. We added wine and martinis to the mix as well. This was a huge increase in calories for me and on top of that I was not working out. In my opinion, this was really the beginning of the end.
The house and move to Long Island also meant a mortgage. The mortgage meant that I needed a steady income. Enter the full time job and a 45 minute commute to and from work. When I would get worried about my weight gain I was back at the gym for a week or trying to pick up running, but these attempts would only last a week or two at the most.
Year: 2006/07
Shirt Size: XL
Pants Size: 38
Weight: 240-250lbs
Workout: Non-existent
Diet: Burgers and fries, wine, restaurant food. Cooked pasta and quesadillas at home.
Rock Bottom
My weight continued to increase from 2008 – 2011, creeping up from 250lbs up to almost 265lbs. There were contestants on The Biggest Loser who weighed more than me. I know I hide the weight well. The right shirts, the right pants… nobody would guess I weighted what I did. The dinners out got a little more tame, but I real downfall became pizza. You know, that delicious food that’s full of all kinds of nutrients. Pizza seems like it would okay in small doses, but usually don’t stop until I hit three or four slices. Multiply that by 1 to 2 times a week and add in a dose of skipping breakfast.
I was better with lunches at work – I’m known for my chicken and cheese wraps. Just grilled chicken and a slice of American cheese in a low-carb wrap. To counteract that, I began developing a real taste for sugar… I’m not ready to get into all the details yet, but we had all kinds of snacks available at work; sugar-filled granola bars, candy bars and pop-tarts were not uncommon a few days a week.
In the summer of 2010, I had my best attempt at getting my weight back on track. I was running, lifting weights at home and eating well. I took my weight down from 265 down to 260 pretty quickly. Plateaus came and went and eventually I worked my way down to 243lbs. Most of my workout was running. I started at running 1 mile and worked up to 3 miles at a slow but steady pace.
The progress stopped when I got leg pains in both my shins. I’m hesitant to call them shin splints since they were not properly diagnosed, but I wanted to be cautious and stay off running for a bit. It didn’t take long to get back up to 260lbs
Year: 2008-2011
Shirt Size: XL+
Pants Size: 38 (really tight)
Weight: 245-265lbs
Workout: Occasional, but not often enough
Diet: Pizza, wine… one to two healthy dinners a week. Pop-tarts, granola bars…
Next Steps
I think it is officially safe to crown myself a professional yo-yo’er at this point. I know where I want to be and fully understand what it takes to get there.
My lack of effort has cost me 70lbs, several pants sizes and self respect. I consider myself pretty lucky that it hasn’t cost me health problems. I’m not ready to list my goals just yet, but am ready to really make an effort to challenge myself mentally and physically. I know I want to feel better. Maybe This will be year I get it done.
I think being open/public about this is a great first step in the right direction.
I struggled with my weight in high school – I had some other problems (primarily a bad case of acne and resulting depression) that were at the root of the weight gain.
By the time I graduated I weighted 215 – and I’m about 5’10/5’11. To put that into perspective, I now weigh about 170.
Diet & exercise, and never one without the other, is the only sustainable way I’ve kept the weight off. My diet at first (when I lost 45 pounds in a few months – probably dangerous) was incredibly strict. 5-6 small meals a day, nothing but grilled chicken, egg whites (or fish), and some plain green vegetables. And an hour of cardio 4-5 times a week. Within four months people didn’t recognize me. I relaxed the diet after that, but my view of food changed forever once I saw what it did to my body (and what the right food did to make it better).
I had more time back then than I do now (and I don’t have a baby at home like you do), but, gotta make time somehow. Joining a class or teaming up with a partner helps – when you’ve promised to be somewhere at a certain time, to someone other than yourself, you tend to follow through.
The diet alone can make a difference when extensive exercise is too hard to schedule. Pizza is delicious – I have a hard time resisting that one. But I think when you see some progress, it becomes easier to stick it out. And you have to take one day off a week to just go nuts, it’s the only way to keep sane.
You definitely got it right by learning how to eat – and making that a permanent change in your life. Last night after writing that post I started immediately – worked out and ate a healthy dinner (sans pizza). Thanks for reading and sharing your story.