I have always been a 'big size' kind of guy. Those who know me knows that food is an important part of my life; and I love to eat. The result of that is, of course, me being overweight.
When I was 19-20years old (before I entered NS), I weighed around 87-90kg. And I entered NS to the PTP batch, where Army helped me build my fitness and lose weight. During my NS times, I maintained at around 73-77kg. Even through my university days, I managed to maintain that weight with a very active lifestyle of exercise.
After I started working, things went down hill from there. I continued to exercise around 3 times a week; but the intensity and duration is cut short due to work, being tired and all other reasons. I also started to eat in office while working late (eat and sit down thereafter). As a result, in just a short span of 3 years (from May 2006 to 2009), I gained a staggering 25kgs from 77kg to a whopping 102kg.
I have been carrying this weight around (~102-105kg) for the next 4-5 years, i.e. from my marriage to moving into my new home to my newborn baby girl. Always saying that I would lose weight but never really put down the determination to do so.
My wife suddenly decided in Jan 2015 that she will (and fully determined to lose weight); and seeing her success (i.e. in 3 months she lost about 10kgs and became fitter), I decided to also follow suit. Plus she threw in an extra incentive if I am able to lose 15kgs, I would get a special gift (i.e. a Recaro Sporster car seat). Hence the 2nd journey for losing weight began.
** Before attempting any form of exercise or dieting program, you should consult your medical physician and identify your body's health and condition. **
For obese or severely overweight conditions
I am considered one of those that are obese (with BMI over 30); although BMI is more of a general guide but this number it is considered very unhealthy too. And to consider to reduce this BMI number, hard-exercising or extreme dieting is NOT recommended as this point.
My general advice is to look at your daily schedule over a week; as well as your daily food/water intake over a week for a start. Review how busy you are in a day and find out whether there is time in your schedule to include some time (approx 1 hour) for physical activities. And evaluate your food intake (what you eat and how much you eat) across a day. This evaluation over a week is to help you identify a plausible schedule of a week's routine for physical activities and controlled food intake.
To start of easy, start with the evaluation of food/water intake. If you are the type who eats a lot of carbohydrates (e.g. rice, noodles, bread, potatoes, etc) but does not eat much proteins (e.g. meat, eggs, soy, cheese, etc) or fibre (e.g. vegetables, fruits, etc), you may like to consider reducing your carbohydrates intake by 50% for your lunch and dinner (breakfast is as per normal) while maintaining the same intake of proteins and fibre. By doing so, you should get the feeling of slight hunger (light feeling only); and you should use that as a form of motivation to know that your body is working to burn fats from the body's reserves. To assist in the body's ability to burn those fats, drink more plain water throughout the day. A general rule of thumb would be to drink more than 50% of plain water than you usual intake (** abstain from sugar-laden drinks).
Take your weight before you begin your program. Maintain this carbohydrates deficit diet for about 1-2 weeks; and check your body weight again. If your weight has reduced slightly, that is a good sign that you are getting use to the reduced food intake program. Your body should be able adjust to the reduce in food intake in about 1 week; and you not feel as hungry as when you have started in the 2nd week.
To bring it a step further, if you usually do not have physical activities at night, you should reduce your carbohydrates intake by another 50% for dinner; and drink more water appropriately when hunger sets in.
2-3 weeks into the diet control - Increase Physical Activities
You should be able to see slight improvements in your weight within 2-3weeks of controlling your diet. This is to get your stomach accustomed to the lack of extra 'materials' it has to burn previously; and getting used to the a smaller intake of foods.
It is now time to increase your weekly physical activities. (If you are not familiar with exercising on a regular basis, 3-4 times a week, previously. Do not start off with strenuous exercises activities). Look at your own schedule and identify time slots (preferably 1-2hours) that you are not bogged down; and set them aside as 'fixed times' for your physical activities, preferably alternate days for 3 times a week for a start.
Start with brisk walking around your neighbourhood or a park for about 30-40mins. Get a good pair of shoes. This is to increase you aerobic activities if you daily schedule is more a 'keyboard warrior' regime. This will get your bloody flowing and start to get some sweat off your body. If you feel any pain or discomfort, please consult your doctor immediately.
On top of including these physical activities in your schedule, you MUST continue the diet control as well. You will feel a little hungrier, but that is normal. Drink more water.
The whole point of taking it slow is to build consistency; and getting your body use to what is to come later.
This is the end of Part 1. Hope you are able to fit the above ideas into your own life's schedule.
Sunday, June 07, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
