Committing to Fitness - August 17, 2009

On a Sunday morning in early May during a drive back to Indianapolis from Ohio, I decided that I wanted to fundamentally change my life and the way I eat, exercise and look. I didn't know exactly how to go about doing that, but thought that a 90-day hardcore detox and commitment to a nutrition and exercise plan would be a good place to start. I started looking around on the internet and even at some infomercials (e.g., P90X), but didn't really see anything too appealing. Fortunately I have a friend named Justin here in Indianapolis who has been living the kind of healthy lifestyle I was after, and he was kind enough to offer to build both nutrition and exercise plans for me. I enlisted a couple friends from Columbus to join me in the 3-month commitment to a healthier lifestyle, and on May 18 we started.

The three months were broken logically into three separate workout routines which had us in the gym 3-4 days a week and out doing some form of cardio or interval training 2-3 days, for an average of 6 workouts per week. Justin did a great job setting up workouts for us that had enough variety to keep it interesting while mixing up the order and combination of muscle groups worked to keep our bodies from getting too used to what we were doing. A typical week would be broken up like this:
Monday - Lift [Back / Biceps]
Tuesday - Cardio [Run 30 mins + jump rope 10 mins]
Wednesday - Lift [Legs / Shoulders]
Thursday - Cardio
Friday - Lift [Chest / Triceps]
Saturday - Cardio
Sunday - Rest

Working out 6 days a week has definitely been a change from... well never working out, but once I got into a routine it was actually really easy to do. When I have my exercise planned out like that it's easier to just build it into my day rather than feeling like I have to fit it in somewhere. I lift in the evenings right after putting Clark down to sleep at 7pm, so I don't miss any quality time with him either. The only real time sacrifice has been the relaxing time Katie and I would have had from about 7-8:30pm, but the compromise has been worth it so far.

The nutrition plan I've been following is really what has set this apart from any other time that I've attempted to lose weight. My weight has been up and down my whole adult life (well, mostly up with an occasional down). I got up to 296 my junior year of high school before going on a semi-starvation diet that had me down to around 230 by the middle of my freshman year of college. After that point I ballooned back up throughout the rest of my college career and the early part of our marriage, topping out at 307 in May of 2007. Katie and I both set out to be healthier at that point, and I actually got down to 236.5 by the end of 2007 through a combination of a lot of running and reduced calorie intake. Unfortunately 2008 saw a lot of that work undone by frequent business trips in the early part of the year and a lot of inactivity in the later part of the year when Katie was pregnant and we had a newborn around. I gained 33 lbs back in 2008, putting me just shy of 270 again in the early part of this year.

The problem I had each of those times that I've lost some weight is that I never had any kind of sustainability plan. It was always based on a (sometimes extreme) cut in my caloric intake, but always focusing only on what I was trying to avoid without any kind of plan for what I SHOULD eat. Gradually, that kind of weight loss strategy always failed me because the wrong things would creep back into my diet unchecked and eventually I'd just revert back to my old habits while gaining a pound every couple weeks and always thinking I could stop it whenever I wanted.

My nutrition plan this time is different. It's what I've been referring to as an "affirmative" plan. Rather than saying I'll cut out candy or reduce the size of my lunches, I've taken the approach of defining exactly what I'm going to eat every day. By taking the decision making out of the process I've removed the possibility of slipping. Quite simply, if a food is not on my plan for a certain time of day, I don't eat it.

This is how every single day is structured for me nutritionally:
6:30am Breakfast
- 3 egg whites + 1 whole egg omelet
- 1-2 pieces whole wheat toast
- 8 oz orange juice
9:00am Morning Snack
- whey protein shake w/ 8oz milk or ~4 oz lean protein (chicken, tuna)
12:00pm Lunch
- 4-6oz lean protein (typically a grilled chicken breast)
- green vegetable (typically a can of green beans or peas)
- almonds and/or peanuts for monounsaturated fat
3:00pm Afternoon Snack
- 4-6oz lean protein
6:00pm Dinner
- 4-6oz lean protein
- green vegetable
- complex carbohydrate (whole grains, sweet potato, new potato, brown rice)
8:30pm Post Workout Shake
- whey protein shake w/ 8oz milk

Eating all of that puts me between 1800-2000 calories for the day, with around 40% of that coming from 200g of protein to help maintain and build muscle while I'm losing weight. The notable omissions from this diet are things that are unfortunately very common in most people's diets these days, and were certainly staples of mine. Enriched or processed white flour, refined sugars, alcohol, and large quantities of saturated fats are simply not on the menu.

Chicken breasts are the cornerstone of this nutrition plan, and I've probably grilled up and eaten somewhere around 150 of them since we started this in May. Fortunately I love grilled chicken, so that hasn't seemed like a chore to me. I also happen to love the omelet that I have every day, so the monotony really hasn't been too much of a challenge. A picture of my daily breakfast is included below.


So anyway, that's what I've been doing for the last three months. Today is the official ending of our 90-day commitment, so I thought I'd share my progress so far. I started out on May 18 weighing 258.5 lbs, already having lost 11 from just being a little better about eating and running in April. Since that time I've dropped 35 lbs to get to the lowest weight I've ever been as an adult at 223.5 this morning. I've still got a long way to go to drop my body fat percentage to a healthy point, but I've definitely found a way to get there. I'm going to continue on this plan until I can't cut any more body fat and then figure out what my next goal will be.

Below are the pictures I had Katie take on May 18 along with the same pose taken tonight after my workout. For 13 weeks of work, I think it's a pretty good result.





Hopefully I'll have some more compelling photos to post later on in the year as I approach and hopefully crack the 200 lb mark.