How'd you do it? What are you doing?

It's a question I hear some these days. Sometime in 2006 I was weighing in at 210 pounds, was wearing baggy clothes to hide my growing gut, and my selection of clothes that still fit me was dwindling. I was embarrassed to be seen without my shirt on, and even though I was active and played racquetball three times a week, my knees and ankles were very sore the day after matches. My general muscle tone reflected the absence of any real weight-resistance training, too.

Me in 2006 at about 210 pounds

The Decision
I made a decision. It was a small decision, but it was enough to move in a positive direction. I wanted to weigh 190 pounds.

Twenty pounds should be easy enough to lose, right? My goal was in place. Next I had to put some action to it. One overriding thought, though, was I did not want to lose the weight, only to gain it back later, as so many others I had seen. If I was going to do this, it HAD to be sustainable for the rest of my life. So I decided to start small.

One Small Habit
Using no real "diet" plan, I just chose to reduce the portion sizes of my meals. Everything else stayed the same. That's it. I knew I could do just that one thing. And that's how it all started.

Fast Forward

Now I am in better shape, in many ways, than I have been my entire adult life. My waist went from a snug 36" to 32" and I have gained approximately 10 pounds of lean muscle while losing 45 pounds of fat! While I still play racquetball regularly, I (am learning to) enjoy running, weight train at least twice a week, feel great, and look better than I have since my 20s.



Summer of 2010 (45 years old) at 174 pounds



All it took was reducing meal portion sizes, you ask? Yes. Then, once I had firmly established that habit, making it just a regular part of my daily life, another habit could be added, then another, and so on.

It all starts with the first habit, and then build from there.

In the beginning, if I had looked at a list of all the new habits I would have needed to get here, I may never have started. So I concentrate on one at a time. What are all of my "new" habits? I'll try to cover that in later posts. I'm also working on new goals, trying new habits, and evaluating all of the time.

To your better health.