What I Learned From Losing Almost 70 Pounds
I originally posted the following on Facebook last August, but inspired by Bill Barnwell’s incredible story, I decided to share it here at Medium. See you at the gym.
Over the past year, I’ve been working on a fitness plan with Bob Whelan, a trainer I’ve worked with on and off since my hockey playing days back in the 1990s. Outside of my wife, nobody has helped me with my efforts more than Bob.
Since I started things seriously one year ago I’m down over 40 pounds, and since 2011, I’m down almost 67. Progress has slowed, and it can be tough going at times (we’ll have more on that later), but I’m still moving forward.
In terms of overall targets, I wanted to get down to 182 (my weight in college), but I’m still keeping Bob’s advice in mind that life in the low 190s might be best for me given my body type. In the meantime, I’ll just keep working out, watching what I eat and see where it goes. As Bob once told me, “Eric, you don’t want anyone thinking that you play tennis.”
When it comes to working out, I’m in the gym 5–6 days per week, and it’s now to the point where I look forward to the time there and it isn’t a chore. I do cardio 3–4 days per week, and lift weights consistently the other two. For cardio, I do a mixture of elliptical (60 minutes) and spinning classes (45 minutes). One odd finding: spinning classes are very intense, but all the research I’ve done seems to indicate that I don’t burn as many calories as on the elliptical. When I started, I used a Fitbit, but after a few months, it was a crutch I didn’t need anymore.
As for the weights, I’ve tried to apply Bob’s advice to break the body up into zones: legs, abdomen, arms (vertical push and pull; horizontal push and pull).
Here’s what that workout looks like:
Leg press or squats (alternating days)
Crunches (150) and Leg Lifts on Bench (150) everyday I’m in the gym.
Horizontal Push — Incline Press or bench press
Horizontal Pull — ISO Lateral Row or Barbell Bent Over Row
Vertical Push — Military Press
Vertical Pull — Pull Downs
I’ve been supplementing this with a lot of reading, including Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes and Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. With the second book, I’ve taken some of the exercises — incline press and squat — and increased the weight while dropping the reps to five. It’s working great so far, as I’m already up to 200 on the incline press.
Lately, I’ve been dealing with some nagging injuries. After a few weeks, I’m finally pain free in my elbows, but I’m still struggling with a pinched nerve in my neck. The most challenging part has come since I threw out my back a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had to stop lifting for a few weeks, but I’m in the gym again doing the cardio and getting back on track. As it turns out, Bob has some solid advice on how to work around elbow pain. In addition to elbow braces, Bob advises cutting your weight by 50%, but slowing every motion to a 10-count, both up and down, separated by a short pause. Keep those reps disciplined and you’ll get results.
On the food side, I’ve been using an iPhone app called My Fitness Pal to log my meals. It isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s a heck of a lot better than before, where I really didn’t know what I was stuffing my pie hole with. In terms of diet, I’ve kept it simple — cut out carbs like bread and pasta and forget about sodas and juices. I was talking with a nurse about weight loss a couple of weeks ago, and she mentioned that dieters make a big mistake when they only concentrate on cutting back calories. She’s apparently seen a lot of patients who are able to lose significant amounts of weight, but wind up looking like a bag of bones because they haven’t been able to add muscle mass while dropping fat.
One last item before I close: I’ve seen a lot of my friends post publicly about their struggles with diet and fitness, and many of those posts have been tinged with more than a little bit of despair. I’ve been there. One year ago today I woke up and my feet hurt, my hips hurt and my knees hurt. But the one difference about me that morning was realizing that I was in control and I could punch my way out of the corner if I wanted to.
I used to get winded walking up flights of stairs. Today, one spinning instructor says I need to set my sights a little higher and compete in a sprint triathlon. If things can change for me, they can change for you too. Whatever you do, don’t despair. End of sermon.
