With the start of the new year, our focus often turns to those areas in our life that need improvement. For many or us, that usually involves fitness and diet. In the spirit of that, a few of my coworkers have agreed to let us follow them as they work toward new health goals this year. Each week we'll check in with Steve, Sarah and Kevin to see how they're doing. We'll follow their successes and their struggles. I think it's very brave of them to be so open. When I asked them to include their weights and measurements, they barely flinched. I'll post their fitness profiles throughout today. Let's start out with Steve. He's the director of multimedia at The Sun.
Steve
Weight: 257.5 pounds. Not the heaviest I've ever been, but definitely not good considering the risk factors that run in my family. In 2003, I lost about 70 pounds via Atkins and kept it off for more than 3 years. But the past couple of years have been incredibly stressful and my primary coping mechanism has been eating – anything and at any time of day and night. Pair that with a treadmill malfunction in early '09 and the result was a gain of about 40 pounds.
The treadmill has been fixed and I'm motivated to join my colleagues in this quest or face public humiliation if I fail. My plan is to do a 3-week induction that will allow me to eat well, but with a minimum of carbs (my body does not metabolize them very well), a maximum of raw veggies, no sugars, lean meats (fish, fowl) and lots of water. I learned from the previous diet that if I can make it through this period, my body will get past cravings and the diet goes pretty smoothly from there on. The exercise program, at least initially, will be pretty light – lots of stretching and 20 minutes on the treadmill at least 5 days a week. That's primarily due to arthritic knees that tend to react unfavorably to more than that. If the knees do flare up, I'll substitute 20 minutes on a stationary bike to lessen the impact on the joints. Hopefully by the time the weather turns for the better, I will have lost enough weight so that I can take the workouts outside and increase my activity.
My goal is to approach the diet as more of a behavioral change than a weight-loss program. I've learned that it will be successful if I focus on changing my eating habits for the better (eating the right foods at the right times of day). If I accomplish that, the weight loss will follow naturally, a couple of pounds a week.
Starting point:
Weight – 257.5
Bust – 50"
Chest – 49"
Waist – 42"
Hips – 45"
Upper Arm – 14"
Forearm – 12"
Thigh – 27"
Calves – 18"