I think the video
sums up my feelings pretty well...
Sounds like the
cranky old man needs to eat something, huh? LOL. But,
it's really interesting to me what the difference is
between losing weight at 25 and losing weight at 36.
11 years ago it was this video:
All around
happiness, excitement, support. Seemed only my Greek
grandparents tried to feed me. Now with the advent of
Facebook? Jesus. It's hate, hate, hate. Again, it
doesn't really matter to me - I'm happy and the people
around me are happy but there's this A.D.D. world of
reactionary judgement that has permeated "the
internet" that I'm just sad about. 11 years ago? You
read the entire entry. You read several long
entries and got a ton of information. In fact, 1132
entries ago you read this.
That's not 140 characters, it's not a status update
and with good reason. Brotha lost 50 fucking pounds.
And this time, brotha lost 40 fucking pounds.
But the hist just keep on coming. Somebody at the baby
shower yesterday (which Talya and I both ignored)
actually said: "You did this while your pregnant
wife was gaining weight? Did you ever think about how
she felt about that?" in a completely snotty "you
inconsiderate husband" sort of way. (sigh) for the
second time on this site I will reiterate this
point:
Talya is
thrilled I'm staying fit. It means she will
return to her Pilates-Instructor fit form right away
because I'm maintaining those habits now. I was 190 at
the start of her 2nd trimester. Can you fathom what
I'd be if I "let go"? And then when the baby
comes we're both trying to get back in shape? This was
done for MY FAMILY. This was done to set an
example and to break a Generations-long Kontras cycle
of weight battles. And you have the audacity that
I somehow didn't consider Talya's feelings? That
being supportive means gaining weight WITH her?
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I just have no time for that
conversation and ignored it... but it was brought up
before and it goes along with all the other comments:
"You look tired", "you look ill", "no more weight
loss, ok?". I'll give everyone the benefit of the
doubt here and admit this. The difference between 150
pounds when you're 25 and 150 pounds when you're 36?
Your skin sags. This picture...
...is of a man a
couple months shy of 37. My face is a bit longer. The
lines under my eyes a bit more defined and
I actually, physically, was "tired" after 6
straight 14-16 hour days working construction when
I took this. I don't however look "ill". Or
malnourished because I'm sooooooo skinny and
withdrawn. People need to accept the fact that I'm
pushing 40 and am going to look different than the
"Journey Adam" they're used to seeing. I think
I look pretty damn good thank-you-very-much, but
I'll never beat Father Time and don't intend to try. I
want to be healthy and active for my family. Mission
accomplished. Now...
SOME of you
wanted to know how I did it. And I've told
everyone I'll have a big entry when I reach the
goal (which I took a picture of on my
11-year-old, dirty, beat-up scale for the poetry of it
all):
And here it is,
the big secret: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If you're
searching for how to lose weight, you've already lost.
If you're buying books on ways to lose weight, you've
already shown you're not in the right mindset. The
unadulterated truth is, you know exactly how to
lose weight. You know exactly how to keep it
off. You eat less and you move more. It's hard. If you
don't want it to be hard than you aren't ready to try.
If you start and then quit? You weren't ready to try.
If you can't keep going through plateaus? You aren't
ready. Healthy weight loss is slow (except for the
first week, that's fast and fun). It's a grueling
1-1.5% of your body weight each week. Which is
about 2 pounds for most people. That sucks. It takes a
loooooooooooooooong time. You may go 10 days without
losing a pound. That's just the way it goes as your
body is adjusting. Now if you think you're ready? I
can indeed tell you that this time was a little
different than before and it really surprised
me.
Sadly, my
maintaining calorie intake for my lifestyle is 1500
calories. It sucks. I hate it. I have a
metabolism like a pregnant woman. Anything over 1500
calories and my body stores it immediately. This is
different for each person, but again, I've done all
the math for over a decade now and that is me. So in
order for me to lose weight I had to eat around
1200 calories a day. As far as activity, here was the
big surprise for me: I only worked out every OTHER
day. I've been an "every day" advocate forever
and to save my knees I simply ran 30 minutes
every other day and I experienced the same weight
loss. It just goes to show you that the key to weight
loss is about 3 parts diet and 1 part exercise. If you
create a caloric deficiency? Your body burns fat.
Period. Getting your target heart rate up is great for
your heart and clearly it burns calories, but the
truth of the matter is that creating the caloric
deficiency and maintaining that is what gets results.
Even for mucle tone (people love to argue with me on
this one, so I'll give it a new
paragraph).
Want abs? Eat
less. Want to get a bigger stomach? Do sit-ups and
crunches. I cannot believe the amount of people
that go to the gym and gain muscle and wonder why they
don't look the way they want. We all have ab muscles,
we just can't see them because we have fat over them.
Burn that fat? You will see 'em. Now if you're already
at a low body fat % (I'm at 13%, you need to be under
10% as a guy to see serious muscles) absolutely doing
more ab work will better define them. But if you're
over 15% body fat? Uhm, you're not seeing shit and
crunches will make your stomach bigger. Caloric
deficiency. But obviously, a controlled caloric
deficiency. And that is honestly up to you to
determine and experiment with.
Will you be
hungry? Of course you will at the beginning. Will it
be uncomfortable? Of course it will be. Is it hard? Of
course it is. But, buy a scale, count some calories
and you'll begin to choose wisely. You don't need a
meal plan. There is no secret what food to eat. You
really want to eat 2 McDonald's Fries for your 1200
calories ALL DAY? Of course not. You will choose
things that maximize your 1200 calories so you can eat
more. You don't need anything except a running tally
throughout your head. And I'm so accustomed to it I
can tell you how many calories are in a bite of
almost anything. Google is awesome when you're at
places with no calories and again, there's nothing
else to say that I haven't said in 2001
and 2008
when this happened before (though 2008 was just
160).
A cynic would ask
why I've had to do this 3 times if I'm so
"good" at it and you're totally right.
Maintaining is a bitch and my genetics tell me to eat
everything I see and I have no "full" synapse in
my brain. So it will always be a struggle. But
I wasn't kidding when I said the Nike
Fuelband changed my life. I still have to hit 4000 on
that thing everyday, even if I'm not trying to lose
weight. And that's not easy sitting here writing this
entry. That's a lot of movement. Hell running over 6
miles for an hour is only 2500. Think about
that. And my daily average is over 5000. That's
movin' man. And even though it isn't as crucial for
weight as diet is? It certainly keeps you aware of
what you're eating when you stay that active. So
I think I've officially broken the cycle, but
alas, time will tell. I picked the hardest time to do
it and having a newborn isn't gonna make it much
easier...
...but I like
the challenge. And in case you missed it? I told
you guys this was exactly what I was gonna do a
few months ago:
And a few
months later I'm a GOD:
BWAHAHAHAHA. That
is by far, without a doubt, the most pompous picture I
have ever seen. I feel like Cameron finding a picture
of his asshole brother Adam and exposing him to the
world. Believe it or not I thought my shirt
looked cool in that bathroom and when I took the
picture the flash went off by accident creating THIS.
HAHAHAHA. What a fucking douche. Too
funny.
