The gain
I grew up on Italian staples: pizza, pasta and bread. Pure carbs. ” the quality wasn’t the problem though,” I recall. ” there’s nothing worse than eating a big plate of pasta before bed.” Already embarrassed about my size, I felt “socially excluded” when I went out, believing people were judging me. ” girls just stared at me,” “I never had a girlfriend.” Instead, I retreated to my bedroom, watching dvds, surfing the net and blasting my way through the call of duty franchise for my xbox. Unfortunately for me, my cholesterol reading of nine ( normal is below 5.5), high blood pressure and high levels of ” visceral fat” for me firmly in the firing line to diabetes and heart disease.
The change
I was booked to go on a holiday to Las Vegas with 20 of my friends in October last year. Determined to enjoy the trip I decided I needed to shape up before I could take off. ” something inside me just snapped,” “I wanted to be comfortable on the flght and I’d definitely didn’t want to be slugged from two seats,”
I investigated lap band surgery, but decided it wasn’t for me. Instead, four months out for my trip, I devised a high protein, lo-cal eating plan that saw me eat small meals every 2 hours and drink 3 to 4 l of water a day. My familiar oatmeal in the morning, I also began walking, starting with 15 minutes a day, then 30, then 45. I now run six kilometres, do an hour of weights and do 50 push UPS and 50 sit UPS every day.
I got down 112 kg for my holiday and had a blast. Afterwards, I said to myself ” if I can do this much for vegas, why not keep going for me?”
The result
I had lost almost half my body weight since beginning my quest a year ago. My entire body fits in one leg of my old jeans and I recently put 70 kg into a backpack to see what it felt like. ” I couldn’t believe I was carrying that much weight on me,”. At the same time, my health concerns have disappeared, although I have been left with excess skin, for which I am due to have surgery. And, lock up your daughters the former permit has gone from shy to fly. ” girls talk to me now,”.
The advice
Set realistic goals. If you set small, monthly or weekly targets, you have a better chance of hitting them, which help you sustain motivation. Find the spark. “For me it was Vegas. That lit the fuse that set off a whole chain reaction.”