Before and After
With only a few notable exceptions, I've historically been "the fat kid" for as long as I can remember. Looking back at my old photos, I was think until Grade 3 I was just like any other kid, and then suddenly I started gaining weight, and rapidly. From then on, I was always a "fat kid" and once you have a label like that, it really sticks. I did do a fair bit of activity (athletics, rugby league, roller skating, but I still remained obese. I remember one of my teachers in hig school telling me "you've got the fit mind, Seumas, just get the body right and you'll be set." I liked the idea, but never really knew how. Weight like a yo-yo: life before 2005When I went to university I discovered Step Aerobics and was doing about 4-5 classes a week as well as Circuits and was loving it, and lost myself a heap of weight, but by about age 20 I had moved off campus and stopped going to the gym. I started to put on weight again, and have see-sawed over the years, but have for many years been well over 100kg (220lb). In 2004, when I hit 119.5kg ( lbs), I joined a Fitness First gym in Gosford and started going 2-3 times a week, jumping on the cardio machines and doing the odd BodyStep class. I did see an improvement to 113.5kg but for some reason stalled there, and couldn't get beyond that. Eventually the weight went back on, and it got worse. In August 2005, just around the time of my Physiology exams, I was 121kg (267lb). I wasn't exercising then as I was doing lots of work and study, and I was treating eating as a reward for study, which was worsening the situation. Deciding to do something about it: September 2005My Physiology Exam was on 31st August 2005 - I had agreed that if I passed the exam, my next project was going to be working on a new me - to shape up and lose weight and get fit again in a way that I had been when I was 19. I started doing a little bit of research - I needed to change the way I ate and the way I exercised. Something clicked - I seemed to be actually setting up an eating plan and sticking to it, exercising self-control when I needed it. In addition, the variety of things I was doing at the gym meant that I was choosing to do more and more at the gym, and as my fitness improved, I started ramping things up in terms of intensity. And the weight just seemed to come off steadily and surely. I was amazed when I got down to 111kg, then 105kg, then below 100kg, then 95kg, and now I'm 88.5kg (195lb) - that's 32.5kg/71lb less than I was as at 1st September 2005.
I even stun myself as I look at those figures. I'm now 88kg/194lb - 33kg/72lb lost. UPDATE, JULY 2007: I'm still between 88-90, almost 12 months on - so I've kept it off for the first time in my life! How did you do it?A lot of people ask me "how did you do it?" so I figured I'd put some of my own guidelines up on the web. The simple answer is eat less, exercise more. I'm not suggesting that this is how everyone loses weight, but it might help. * Eating - the intake side of the equationMy decision was to choose a diet with a strong focus on fresh produce, which was calorie controlled, with a strong focus on reduced fat and simple carbohydrates (i.e. sugars), but with lots of complex carbohydrates (which had a low glycaemic index), and a slightly higher lean protein contribution than is usually recommended in dieting. This was consistent with both the principles of the The GI diet by Jennie Brand Miller (whom I met during my medical degree) and the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, which had a slightly higher protein ratio. I haven't followed either, but I did my research and was able to do something that worked for me. 1. I ate less. I used to eat a LOT. While it was generally reasonably healthy stuff, I would make something that said "serves 4" and eat two-thirds of it myself. Unfortunately this is the central point of the eating side - you usually need to actually eat less to get the weight off. There are recommended portion sizes for everything - use them as a guide. 2. I concentrated on caloric intake, not fat or carbohydrates. I used to fall into the mistake of buying a low fat yoghurt and eating lots of it, thinking "it's okay, it's low fat." Unfortunately foods usually need something to bind them, and if they don't use fat, it's usually sugar. I looked at that same low fat yoghurt, and found that it had MORE calories than an equivalent full cream yoghurt. What it ultimately comes down to is calories in vs calories out. Measuring fat or carbohydrates only, therefore, is just silly. Total energy content is important. 3. I ate more often, and planned my meals in advance. Make sure that you have an idea of what you are going to eat that day or the next. Plan snacks as well. I tend to have a piece of fruit ready for both morning and afternoon tea, and that keeps me going between meals. 5-6 planned meals a day is important - it keeps you full and you're constantly metabolising food. 4. I almost completely cut out heavily processed foods. As a shorthand, you can pretty much guarantee that most processed foods and takeaway foods are full of sugar and fat, and trans-fatty acids. It amazes me that food companies advertise that something is "90% fat free" - that means that it is 10% fat, and if you're eating 200g of the product, that's 20 grams of fat! Not to say that all fresh foods are somehow good, but the majority of my diet are now basic foods. 5. I cut out the alcohol. 1 gram of carbohydrate or protein yields approximately 4.1 Calories (kilocalories) of energy, whilst 1 gram of fat yields 9.3 Calories, but 1 gram of alcohol yields a whopping 13 Calories! Not only that, but alcohol inhibits lipolysis, which is the breakdown of fat stores into free fatty acids which are then used as energy. Alcohol is very bad for weight loss - use it in moderation, or better still, ditch it. I've switched to water or at worst Diet Coke when I go out. 6. I resisted the currrent trend to meal replacements and protein supplements and ate more real food! Everyone seems to spend a lot of money on protein supplements and drinks and creatine and whatever else. Most of them are highly expensive and don't give you any benefits over and above what you'll find in dairy products (many of them are dairy based in origin), so go for the high protein dairy supplements (like the low sugar low fat yoghurts, concentated skim based milks, and low fat cottage cheese, low fat meats and tuna (which is majority protein) in your diet. I talk more about this below. 7. I used Orlistat for early weight loss, but I wouldn't recommend it for most people. Early in the weight loss, I did use a little bit of orlistat (manufactured by Roche Pharmaceuticals, known as Xenical), a drug that blocks the ability of lipase in the gut to break down fat into smaller particles that can be absorbed, thereby inducing a malabsorption syndrome of sorts. It is expensive and it does have side effects, but most of them in my case were pretty mild. I generally only did this as a kickstart though, and as I got into reducing portion size and increasing the exercise, this became less important. I don't advocate the use of orlistat long term, but it might be worth considering. There are very few other pharmacological treatments that work, though - and you should be very careful about forking over money for these. Pharmacological treatments are NOT going to replace diet and exercise, which is the biggest reason that people using them fail - they can only ever be part of a bigger plan to lose weight. Taking Orlistat alone is going to cause you to fail, and just waste your money. * Exercise - the output side of the equation8. You don't lose weight so you can go to a gym - you go to a gym so you can lose weight. This is one of the things that puzzles me when I speak to people and they say, "I will go to the gym, but I have to lose 10 kilograms first." This always strikes me as odd, because going to the gym is going to help lose the weight more easily. I think people think that everyone in a gym is somehow one of "the beautiful people" and that they will be embarrassed to do anything about it. But I've been to the gyms that supposedly have all the "beautiful people" and in reality, there are all shapes and sizes there. Being embarrassed about turning up to a gym is counterproductive. Just say "stuff it, I'm going" and do it. Ironically, Now that I have lost 33kg, I get more kudos at the gym because my instructors and the other participants remember what I was like 12 months earlier and they can see the massive difference in me for themselves. If I had waited to lose weight before I went to the gym they wouldn't have seen the difference! 9. I maintain that "motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going". This is up on the wall at my gym, and it's true. If you can get yourself into an exercise regime for a month, be it walking, jogging, playing sport or going to a gym, then in a month it will be part of your program. 10. I varied my workout types. When I was trying to lose weight in 2004, I was doing a bit of cardiovascular exercise and not a lot else. I got an initial loss of 6kg, but then found it increasingly difficult to lose any more. This time around I have been smarter. I mix in around 2-3 BodyPump classes a week, a free weights class with music which has a strong endurance element. For me, what I'm trying to do is encourage the growth of the red (Type Ib) muscle fibres which are endurance fibres. In addition to toning, these fibres are more metabolically active than white muscle fibres (which are mainly for strength/power). These fibres have more mitochondria in them, which are the sites that convert nutrients you eat into energy that you can use. These energy burning regions lead to a slightly higher basal metabolic rate, so you burn more calories as you're sitting, as you're sleeping, or just doing your usual stuff. In addition, I've been ramping up the cardiovascular workout. I started off doing BodyStep, and added BodyCombat and BodyAttack (which burns 800 calories in an hour!) as my fitness levels increased. For a bit of fun, I do the dancing oriented BodyJam as well. I am convinced that it is the combination of strength training and cardiovascular training that has made the difference. If you want to know whether any of the Les Mills classes are available where you are, you should check their Les Mills Class Locator to see if they operate any classes near you. 11. I did something social. You might like to exercise with a friend, because it pushes you to work harder. For me, with my erratic work schedule, this isn't possible, but I find that classes like BodyPump and BodyAttack are good in that they are social and this forces me to work harder if I know I'm being watched by someone else in the class. If you can't get a gym buddy or go to classes and you have a lot of money, consider a personal trainer. The positive reinforcement of doing something with a friend or in a class or having a personal trainer to push you can be really motivating. 12. I resolved to "go hard or go home". When you go to the gym, resolve that you are never going to do a half-assed exercise routine; it's either "go hard or go home". You are not going to get results unless there's a little bit of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Start low but aim to increase as you If you are finding it easier, then this is a sign that you're seeing improvements, but if you don't increase your workout or vary it, your body is just going to get used to that and you won't see the same gains. I started BodyPump with only 7.5kg on the bar for my squats back in 2005 - by progressively ramping it up, I'm now squatting for 6 minutes continuously with 45kg on the bar. If I stayed with the 7.5kg, I wouldn't have seen the results I had now. If you're not sweating, then you're not working hard enough. 13. I eat something 1-2 hours before (if possible) and something immediately after exercise. This is particularly important if it's a strength training exercise. Something with a good amount of protein and carbohydrate. You need the energy to replace the glycogen that you've used up, and also to provide amino acids for muscle building. Try to go with slow burning fuels (like complex carbohydrates) rather than sugary products. I take a mix of rolled oats, dried fruit, oat bran, low fat/low sugar yoghurt and skim milk left in the fridge overnight for eating after a morning workout, or a tuna sandwich to an evening workout if I'm not going to eat dinner afterwards. * Motivation - what keeps you at it14. I try not to tell rationalise away things I really know are bad for me. Everyone at one point or another tries to kid themselves that something that they are doing is bad for their health, but they try to rationalise it in some way or another. For some, it's smoking or alcohol. For others, it's that their erratic work schedules mean they can't do a regular stint at the gym, or join a sporting team. For me, it was that I could accept free food at work and just have a little - in the end I found I would continue eating until there was nothing left. And you sit there and rationalise it that it's out of your control, and it's not that bad anyway, but in the back of your mind you know that it actually is having an impact on your goals. 15. I recognised that I have bad days. So I went out somewhere for dinner and lost control a little bit and ate something that I later figured that I shouldn't have, or I didn't go to the gym when I planned to. I don't give myself grief - I just pick up and continue as planned from now on. What is particularly important is that you try to overcompensate and starve the next day, because that is setting yourself up to failure. Just accept that you're in the right direction and go back to the sensible plan. You're in this for the long haul. With most people giving up their fitness plans after a lapse, this is the time that you need to make sure you just start back on track the next day. 16. I blog my progress. If nothing else, it's a fantastic way of charting your improvements! And that's about it. If you want to discuss anything about this page or want to make a suggestion or take to task anything that I said, I'm more than happy for you to email me at |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
. I hope to start a forum for bears that are getting fit very shortly - stay tuned! LATE NEWS
|
My Journal has all the latest news about my life, and is updated regularly. What's new on the site? Current Term: Chronic Pain. This is an interesting term and a future career interest - it's good to be back at a big hospital again too - I'm loving it! What's on in July/August 2007: |
CURRENT WEIGHT |
88.5kg (previously 121kg) more information on the Health and Fitness page. |
LINKS OF INTEREST |
|
Les Mills Fitness International Les Mills Class Locator - is there a class near me? |
