1. This is in part due to my first year of marriage (really though, not so much)
2. I gained 21 lbs. in 7 weeks as I wrote my book
3. I gained another 6 lbs. editing my book in three weeks
4. I quit working out
5. I quit eating healthy
6. I decided wearing sweatpants was the best form of comfortableness, so I went with it
All together that adds up to a gain of 39.5 lbs over the last year. A couple weeks ago I had to break down and by some new pants because I can’t fit in any of mine. My sweet looking wardrobe has been serious stifled because I can’t really fit in any of my clothes either.
The question is, why now am I choosing to try to lose weight? I think now’s a good time to start changing my health because:
1. It’s before New Years, so technically this isn’t a New Years Resolution that I’ll end up failing at.
2. I’m tired of getting winded after walking up a couple stairs
3. My stomach gets in the way of me putting on my socks and tying my shoes
4. I’m embarrassed standing in front of so many people talking about being a distinct Christian when gluttony and being obese are both just as bad as any sin anyone could imagine.
5. But most of all, I’m not comfortable in my skin or with myself in this roly-poly state.
And since I’ve clearly not been able to lose weight on my own (or technically, even care about losing weight), I’ve decided to make it public. If nothing else, I’m going to totally embarrass myself in front of everyone if I don’t work hard and lose weight because I’m going to write a post about my progress every 3 weeks from here on out. I’m doing this like Diddy. He did his whole weight loss thing on MTV, and as far as I know, MTV has way more viewers then my blog. Plus, what about all of those people on the Biggest Loser? Would you get up on national TV in a pair of spandex with your fat hanging all over the place? No thank you. To spare you that thought, here are recent pictures of me in all of my glory. The first one is the day I turned my book in to my publisher. Minus the beard (that was an experiment gone wrong), my belly still looks the same.
And this second picture was taken Nov. 21, 2008 as I spoke at the Youth Specialties national convention in Nashville, TN. As you can see by my belly, even my trick-of-the-eye sweater isn’t hiding it too well. Drat!
Just in case you’re wondering, here’s the timeline of how I got so fat:
-I weighed 110 lbs. in 3rd grade (yeah, I was the fat kid for a while)
-Around 8th grade I came into my own … grew 4 inches and gained a lot of muscle.
-Playing three sports in high school helped a lot! I weighed about 185 throughout.
-Playing Division I baseball in college REALLY helped. I was 195 lbs. of solid, six-packed muscle—benched 315, squatted 450 and could do abs all day long. Ohhhh, how I long for those days!
-After I got hurt and my career was ended, I hovered around 210 (which was still healthy)
-Then I got tired of working out and so I quit. I shot up to about 225 pretty quick—where I have been for the majority of the last 4 or so years.
-When I got married on Nov 3, 2007 I was 230.
-From May 1-July 7, 2008 writing my book I went from 230 to 251.
-Then a couple more pounds here and there (because hey, when you’re already fat, who cares about a few more?)
-Finally, the three weeks I edited my book I went from 253.5 to 259.5.
And here we are today.
So here’s how I’m going to lose the weight:
1. Cut all of my food portions in half
2. Eat three meals a day (I have a problem with overeating, so when I start it’s hard to stop—I’m not one of those 6 small meal guys)
3. No pop or no dessert
4. Work out: Consisting of cardio, weights and then abs
-I weighed 110 lbs. in 3rd grade (yeah, I was the fat kid for a while)
-Around 8th grade I came into my own … grew 4 inches and gained a lot of muscle.
-Playing three sports in high school helped a lot! I weighed about 185 throughout.
-Playing Division I baseball in college REALLY helped. I was 195 lbs. of solid, six-packed muscle—benched 315, squatted 450 and could do abs all day long. Ohhhh, how I long for those days!
-After I got hurt and my career was ended, I hovered around 210 (which was still healthy)
-Then I got tired of working out and so I quit. I shot up to about 225 pretty quick—where I have been for the majority of the last 4 or so years.
-When I got married on Nov 3, 2007 I was 230.
-From May 1-July 7, 2008 writing my book I went from 230 to 251.
-Then a couple more pounds here and there (because hey, when you’re already fat, who cares about a few more?)
-Finally, the three weeks I edited my book I went from 253.5 to 259.5.
And here we are today.
So here’s how I’m going to lose the weight:
1. Cut all of my food portions in half
2. Eat three meals a day (I have a problem with overeating, so when I start it’s hard to stop—I’m not one of those 6 small meal guys)
3. No pop or no dessert
4. Work out: Consisting of cardio, weights and then abs
What is my goal weight ... well, I'm not too sure. All I know is that I would love to get back down to my married weight first. So I'll say the first goal is to hit 230, and then we'll reassess. If all goes well, I would eventually love to get back down to about 210! :)
Hope it works! We’ll find out my progress on January 7, 2009.
Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/
Hope it works! We’ll find out my progress on January 7, 2009.
Much love.
http://www.themarinfoundation.org/
5 comments:
boy Andy, I hear ya! I know exactly how it feels to not feel comfortable in my own skin. And you can imagine the kind of pressure there is to not be a fatty in the gay community. even the skinny boys think they're fat.
it's all relative but it's all real for each of us.
after gaining back 75% of the weight I lost through the summer (after paying $$ for a personal trainer, which i'd do again if i could afford it), i finally went back to the gym with a friend last night and had a good work out.
the thing is, i almost didn't go because i was embarrassed of being too fat. crazy! i need to go to the gym in order to go to the gym! my friend called me out on my stupid "hiding behavior".
tip, don't do it alone. it's way too easy to choose not to work out when you're not feeling in. but, for me at least, when i have a work out buddy who's expecting to work out with me, well that gets me there...ya know, to keep the appointment.
my goal is to lose 10 pounds before the upcoming GCN conference (yeah, where tons-o-gay-folk will be), then another 5-7 pounds by the end of january in time for the Catalyst retreat.
we can do it, press on brutha forfar!
Hey Andy,
I can relate to how you feel. About three years ago I hit my highest weight and decided to join Weight Watchers. Over the next 10 months I lost 40 pounds, and then it took me another year to lose the last 10 and hit my goal.
I so highly recommend Weight Watchers! It's not that they have any sort of magic formula. Their plan is basically consistent with all the stuff you listed as wanting to do anyway. But most importantly, they helped me stick with it for the long haul, all the way to my goal. I would have given up much sooner without the structure and tools they provided. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
At first I didn't want to pay for the program, but then I decide it was either that or buy a new wardrobe, and either way it was going to cost money... might as well choose the one that would help me be healthier. :)
I wish you the all best on your weight loss journey.
Good luck! It's so important to take care of the bodies God has given us. My husband and I have found that working out together really helps us do more than we would on our own. Plus he gets to show off how strong he is for me!
dud...
water
water
water..drink some that helps a lot especially if you are cutting portion sizes..
good luck on that weigh in
This is a great postt thanks
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