As devout readers of this blog may know already, I have, for about the past seven years or so, struggled with my weight. I indicate seven years because that was the first time that I failed the Army’s body fat standards. Being in the Army at the time, it was the way that I measured my weight. I left AIT at Fort Jackson on October 5, 2001 weighing around 185 pounds. My weight gradually crept up over the past decade or so to the point that it is at now, which is the most that I have ever weighed. I’ll get to the numbers soon, but before I do, I want to discuss why I want to lose weight.
There are plenty of blogs out there about losing weight, and I would be lying if I said that some of these were not my motivation. Previous posts on this blog may indicate that I thought losing weight would help me with the ladies, which I am sure it would. Since I have found a person, however, this is not a primary motivator at this point, though getting fit and trim will be sure to help in other areas of that relationship. I am generally not a vain person, so my personal vanity has little to do with it as well. Sure, I would love to wear normal-sized clothes again and shop anywhere besides Casual Male XL, but I think I could also be content staying right around my same weight forever, but that is where the true motivation comes in.In my family, especially on my mother’s side, there is a history of obesity-related disease. Diabetes, gout, high blood pressure, and many other diseases like these have affected people in our family. While no one has specifically died from these ailments, the impact on a person’s overall health sure doesn’t make it any easier to fight of diseases and what not. It is for this reason that I hope to lose some weight. I don’t think I will ever get down to my post-AIT weight, though to be honest, I think that may bit a bit slim for my build, but I do hope over the next 18 months or so to lose about 25% of my total weight from today, which again, will be revealed below.
I thought long and hard about even really revealing my starting weight, and instead simply reporting my weekly losses or gains along the way. I don’t think that would help me in the long run track where I start and where I end, or give me a place to reflect back on in the weeks that it gets a bit to hard. Instead, I will tell you exactly what I weigh, what my goal weight is, and how I am doing every week. I was going to do before and after pictures here as well, but I don’t think I am going to do that right now. I am going to take the pictures, but they will be for me and might be shared at a later date. Since I am soon to become a super famous internet presence, I need to keep what comes up via Google to a minimum.
How do I plan on losing weight? It will primarily be a combination of two things, which is generally the way you lose weight in most situations: eat less and exercise more. However, the eat less portion is going to be slightly different, as I will be following most of the principles outlined in “The 4-Hour Body” by Timothy Ferriss. The main thing will be an attempt at the “Slow Carb Diet” as outlined in the book. The exercise piece will come full force later, but for now, I am going to do my part and help the environment by walking and/or riding a bike to work 4-5 days a week. After about 10 weeks or so on the diet, or whenever I hit a short-term plateau, I plan on ramping up a bit on the exercising, though it probably won’t be anything super crazy.
Towards the end of this year, if the weather cooperates, I might even start running the three or so miles to work in hopes of running my first marathon next year. But I only want to run the marathon if I am at least half way to my goal by February 2012. Just an arbitrary date for now, and if I haven’t arrived at my desired weight by then, I will try some different things. But I hope to update this blog every Sunday with my results from the week, so keep checking back here under the label “Weight-Loss” for the latest updates.
Without further ado, below are the measurements and weights I will be tracking. I plan on doing the measurements every other week, but I will be weighing myself weekly before the weekly “cheat day” as outlined in the slow carb diet from the book.
July 10, 2011
Age: 30
Height: 6’2″ (74 inches)
Weight: 317.6 pounds
Measurements:
Neck: 16.25 inches
Right Arm (bicep): 15.75 inches
Left Arm (bicep): 16.00 inches
Abdomen (navel): 55.25 inches
Hips (widest point): 53 inches
Right Leg (thigh): 27 inches
Left Leg (thigh): 27 inches
Total inches: 210.25 inches
Body Fat % (per my fancy scale): 40.4%
Body Fat % (per Army standards): 40.18%
Water Weight % (per fancy scale): 44.9%
Until next time…
Robert Writes About... 
Congrats on taking the first step. You're right, posting the numbers was probably hard, but it will help keep you accountable. I'm glad you're loving MF so much, and I hope we can get together again soon!