The 100lbs Project

I have a problem with most weightloss books and “success” stories: They’re always shared after the fact. Nobody seems to have written anything that truly starts with them being fat and ends with them being fit.

Why is that?

Probably because there are so many conflicting studies and confusing research results thrown around in the weightloss industry that we all end up wondering if we actually have control over our weight!

I don’t have any answers. I’m not a doctor or health specialist. I’m just a guy who let himself go a few years back and wants to see real change in his life.

My Story

In January of 2009, I weighed in at a stately 425 pounds. I’m 6′5 but at that weight, I was starting to look pretty darn round. Bloated, you might even say.

I’d stopped caring about myself. I’d stopped caring for myself. I was a mess.

I decided to change.

So I’m changing.

I messed around with a lot of things at first. I tried niacin supplements, sleep deprivation, high-protein meals, no-protein meals, all-raw meals, and all-carb meals. I read through dozens of weightloss and fitness books, trying to find solutions I could make work for me. Most of those solutions left me feeling weak, underfed, and tired.

I examined my toolkit:

• Basal Metabolic Rate of ~3,500 calories (what my body burned on its own each day at 425lbs).
• Time in each day for at least 1 hour of activity (getting my sleep cycle under control freed up a lot of time I never knew I had!).
• Willingness to eat anything if I thought it might help with weightloss.
• Burning desire to change.

I made a list of what I wanted out of all this:

1. I want to be stronger.
2. I want to be faster.
3. I want to drop to a weight range that isn’t putting me at risk for annoying illnesses.
4. I want to get to know myself better through this.
5. I want to figure out why I gave up on myself so I don’t do it again.
6. I want to do something just for me and have it turn out beautifully because I want it to.
7. I want to spend less time hiding and more time discussing my issue, even though it’s embarrassing.

I started working toward a solution comprised of a few basic parts. Call them tenets if you will. The rules or beliefs on which my entire effort is based:

1. Hunger is an indicator, not an order. (When I started drinking enough water my daily instances of “feeling hungry” dropped by more than half. Cool, huh?)
2. The results of exercise are to be measured in terms of stamina, strength, and speed. NOT weight. (Unless you’re talking about lifting weights at the gym.)
3. Weight is lost through sustained reduction of caloric intake. (Lots of variables but this is the one thing that holds up no matter what crazy diet mongers write about.)
4. Feeling starved is a bad thing. (Eating the same amount in terms of bulk but with fewer calories seems to work quite well.)
5. This is a lifestyle change, not a diet. Diets are for bimbos. Being healthy is for real people.
6. I am forgiven. Each day presents a new opportunity to make the right decisions. There’s no need to get stuck in the past because my past has trouble shopping at normal stores.

I went about changing my eating habits, sleeping habits, and activity levels. There was just one problem: I was doing it all alone. Don’t get me wrong. I like working out by myself and have no trouble tearing into an avocado on homemade wheat toast without company.

I simply wasn’t engaging any sort of community in my efforts. I wasn’t reaching out to those ahead of me and asking for help. I wasn’t reaching out to those behind me and offering a hand. I was just doing my own thing. I got lazy and stopped exercising consistently. I fell back into poor sleep habits and started feeling tired during the day. I wasn’t gaining weight, but I wasn’t losing it at an encouraging rate anymore.

Then I gained weight. Not a lot. Just about 10 pounds. My reading said that was normal after such a quick initial drop in weight. That still freaked me out a bit. I wasn’t supposed to be gaining weight!

Just back from a birthday stroll. There's no shame in perspiration!

I’ve started 100 pounds as a place where I can share my thoughts, fears, triumphs, and hopes with you. I’m hoping that doing so will give me an extra reason to update this site and stick to something that I know I can do. I just have to keep doing what I’ve been doing. The only difference is, I’m sharing it with you now. I started writing letters with #363 and I’ll keep writing them until I get to #263. At that point, we can all vote on whether or not I should keep going. =)

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts you’d like to share. Please let me know in a comment on one of the blog posts (I read all the comments). I’ll have a contact form up soon so you can send me notes directly if you like. Until then, you can reach me at sethsimonds@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!