Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Well over a year ago I was fed up with my weight.  I had grown fat and lazy.  Laziness was further perpetuated through the programming my brain had undergone with the years of poor eating and neglect.  I was addicted to sugar and fatty foods and eating the way I did sent me spiraling into depression which often then made it easy to be lazy. It ensured a self fulling prophecy of health failure since like any addition the substance (food in this case) tricks the brain into satisfying itself but with destructive results.

I woke up to what was happening and decided to try and lose weight.  Knowing well it was going to take a lifestyle change I cut sugar out of my diet and ate a high protein / low carb diet and lost over 40+ lbs.  However with the rising costs of food, having a family that has no dietary restrictions and having a disposition that proved to be weaker than I first thought, I fell back into my old routine of addictive sugar/fatty diet and gained my weight back.  Cost of food was really the breaking point since it is very expensive if you want to move completely away from eating processed foods.

I wrote about a friend a few weeks ago who wants to get his weight down to a certain number, despite already losing over 100 pounds. Recently, he told me he wants to cut his calories in half. To me, this is dangerous, not just because of the potential for developing an eating disorder, but because cutting calories will not result in sustainable weight loss.

Too many people think that by not having enough calories, they will lose weight. Well, all that will happen is that the metabolism will slow down to a crawl. Do you want to feel tired and have no energy? That's what happens with calorie restriction.

I remember when I first started losing weight a little over three and a half years ago. I would feel somewhat embarrassed with all the attention and would sometimes understate how much weight I lost. But, eventually I had to admit my weight loss to others. I was always afraid of people's shock when they would hear the number... 140 pounds, Oh My God! Of course, now it's been over 150 pounds lost, but anyway... 

Personally, I have no desire to get to a certain number. I'm very happy with my weight... in fact, if it goes down a little on the scale, I get nervous as I don't want my weight to go lower. I judge by how I look... despite the sagging skin on my abs, I know that I don't need to worry about my weight. I'm proud of the weight I lost and have no interest in losing anymore. I know I have an athletic body fat percentage and that my waist circumference is considered healthy. For me, it's all about being healthy. But there are other people I've talked to that obsess about getting to a certain number on the scale.

A few months ago, I did an email interview with Derek Mitchell. He made the national news as he is doing a 5K race every month and plans to lose 175 pounds by the end of this year. He started out at about 570 pounds but he's doing an awesome job and inspiring thousands of others! I wanted to update on how Derek was doing, as he just announced he completed his ninth race. Great job Derek! If you're ever in CT, let us know... I'm sure many of your fans here would do a race with you!

1. How many races you've participated in so far?

9 - 8 live 5k's and 1 virtual 5k.

You know you've accomplished something when you have to buy new clothes!

I kept a few pairs of my size 44 pants, just as a reminder of how obese I really was just a few short years ago. To put it in perspective, I went from size 44 waist down to size 34.

It seems hard to believe that at one time I actually fit into these pants. Some of the shirts I've saved went half way down my legs, many being XXL. Now medium shirts fit me... I never thought I would fit into a medium.