Saturday, July 17, 2010

Blog<Losing Weight> Goal Achieved!

Success!

Last week I talked about how close I was to achieving my weight loss goal. I normally do my official weigh-ins on Sunday morning, but I was so excited at the prospect of finally getting there, that I couldn't wait. My weight this morning was 205.6 lbs. That's a loss of a little over 60 lbs since January! Here are a few fun facts.
  • Total weight lost: 60 lbs
  • Time taken: 6 and a half months
  • Avg. weight lost per week: 2.14 lbs
  • Total calories burned: 210,000
  • Avg. calories burned per week: 7500
  • Change in BMI: 32.38 - 25.07 = 7.31
  • Change in BMR: 2505 - 2131 = 374 cal
Before and After

My reason for trying to lose weight was because I looked in the mirror and didn't like what I saw. In January, after over-eating at Thanksgiving, Christmas, the New Year, all of that Winter-time hibernation-mode eating, piled on top of a few years of not getting enough exercise and eating fast food all the time... after all that, I looked in the mirror and realized I needed to make a change.

Half a year ago, I used to start breathing heavily while walking up stairs. I used to get a rash from my thighs rubbing together. My feet used to get sore after standing for half an hour. I used to get acid reflux at night. The Texas heat used to bother me more. I used to struggle to lift heavy objects. I couldn't run a mile if my life depended on it. I used to depend on caffeine to get me through the day. The only positive thing about being so overweight and out of shape was that my clothes fit better than they do now.

That's not to say that the past 6 months have been peachy. I've suffered nearly every non-serious injury/malady you can think of while exercising and dieting my way into shape: shin splints, dehydration, friction blisters, runner's trots, pulled muscles, exercise-induced nausea, hyper-extended knees, crazy foot/ankle pain, hunger, caffeine-withdrawal headaches, and more sore joints than you can shake a stick at. But despite the setbacks and minor (sometimes major) discomfort, it was all worth it to get to where I am today.

Now I look in the mirror, and I don't cringe. I'm not completely happy with how I look (yet), but I love how I feel.

The Pictures

Before I started my weight loss plan, I decided to take some pictures so that I could compare my old flabby body with my new toned and firm one. It is with great embarrassment that I am now posting these pictures. Hopefully you don't need me to tell you that "old and flabby" is on the left, and "toned and firm" on the right, but I just did... so there.

Body - Front

Body - Side

Face - Front

Face - Side


What's Next?

As I mentioned earlier, I feel great, but I'm still not completely satisfied with how I look. I still have a roll of fat around my belly that I'd like to get rid of, and I'll be damned if I can't melt it off by the end of the year.

For now, the diet and exercise have become such an integral part of my life that I probably won't change much from what I've been doing. I plan on focusing more on running and generally trying to have fun during my workouts so that I can eventually transition into some kind of weight-maintenance mode.

So, my new goals for second half of the year are not quite as extreme as the first half:
  • Get down to 190 lbs (16 lbs over the next 24 weeks should be easy)
  • Be able to run 5 miles

That's it for now. See you next time!

6 comments:

  1. Kyle! You look fantastic! I'm really excited for you and proud of you. Whenever I get burned out on exercising, I'll just think of you to motivate myself again.

    We've been at it for about 2 months now, and I JUST NOW started to lose weight. I'm up to about ten pounds with plenty more to go, but this week we got in the pool, and I'm dying to feel like my old self again - not just look like it.

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  2. Kyle, I am SO impressed! You look amazing and I can tell from your writing that this is a lifestyle change that you have embraced whole-heartedly. You are inspiring!

    I will be taking some pictures today so I can compare too. I have lost 8 pounds so far and have about 50 more to go. So far, I have been counting my calorie intake and have added yoga most days. I have not really worked out much on a regular basis, as I don't have access to a gym. So I walk when I can and we dance at least once per week. Just having the awareness of what and how much I am eating has encouraged me to make more healthy choices.

    I hope you keep writing Kyle...I like being able to connect with you this way : )

    And Melanie, I am happy you are seeing some positive results to your hard work as well! Keep it up!

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  3. That's great guys! Congrats on the weight loss and putting in the effort to get back into shape. Keep it up!

    Those pictures were a big motivator for me in the beginning. I was keeping an exercise/diet journal on google wave (it's like your own personal wiki), and I put those 4 pictures right at the top. I wrote a couple of sentences about what I didn't like, and what I wanted to change.

    After a couple of months I didn't need the journal anymore because I had turned the weight loss plan into a kind of ritual. It was just a part of my normal routine. So, I hadn't seen the pictures in about 3 months, so even I was surprised by the differences between then and now.

    If you guys have google wave accounts and are interested in how I did the journal, I can add you as a member to it. Just let me know. I'd just embed it on this page, but I'm not sure I want the whole world to see it.

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  4. Also, Mom, don't worry about not having access to a gym. Any exercise will help burn calories and contribute to overall health. If I lived in such a beautiful place, I don't know if I could justify spending any time at a gym. :)

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  5. Well that's true...we got beach cruisers for our birthdays this month. I have been walking too, but am out of my routine. My problem is with time. I either have to get up super early and exercise in the dark, or try to motivate myself when I get home. I would love to see your journal, or at least know how to set it up. I have been keeping a daily log of calories, exercise, weight, and how I'm feeling, but it is pretty simplistic. I notice that when I am emotional or stressed I eat more, and food that is not exactly healthy. I kinda knew that, but when you keep track, you see it too. So any help yo can offer is appreciated.

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  6. I went ahead a just created page that lists all of the weight loss stuff in one place. It includes the embedded "wave" that I used as my journal. You can find it at the upper right-hand side of the blog under "Pages".

    Also, here's a direct link: http://parameterized-blog.blogspot.com/p/losing-weight.html

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