How I undid 10 years of driving!

I've done something remarkable with myself and thought I would pass on to anyone interested in reading what I had accomplished to lose 35 lbs, improve my health tenfold, and become a happier, healthier, and energetic person.

This tale starts off in June 2010 when my daughter graduated high school and pictures were taken of the big day. When I finally saw them a couple months later when I came home off the road, I was surprised by how big I had gotten and how terrible I looked. Now, before I start, I am not a big man. I am 5' 9" with a medium frame and weigh -- currently -- 175 lbs. Believe it or not, I am still considered overweight by my Body Mass Index. But, I can live with that.

At my peak last September, I weighed 210 lbs. I was heavy, tired, felt awful, and was prone to bouts of sweating and headaches all the time. I had enough, so I did something about it.

1) Change of Diet
I used to eat once a day, right before bed and then start the day on an empty stomach and a Diet Pepsi. I did that for 5 years. The first thing I learned was this had to change.

Obviously living on the road has its limitations, keeping cold food and being able to cook healthy food is not really an option I have. I had to lower my caloric intake to under 1,200 calories a day. This was not easy. I settled on the Slim Fast shake diet.

* A shake within the first hour of waking up (to jumpstart the body, break the fast, and start building energy that is needed to get through the day).
* A 90 calorie Special K bar for a snack 2-3 hours later.
* Another shake for lunch 2-3 hours later.
* Another 90 calorie snack of choice 2-3 hours later.
* A sensible 500 calorie dinner 2-3 hours later (Wendy's Salads where my choice).
* A last 90 calorie snack an hour before I go to bed (depending on how long my day was).

The purpose of this diet is basically to lower your food and calorie intake, increase your metabolism, and provide your body with fuel to burn. I won't lie, you will be hungry the first week or so as your body adjusts to the change and you won't like it. Tough. Sometimes, you have to suck it up and do what you have to, to reach your goal.

2) Exercise
A lower calorie intake only works well if you can raise your heart rate and burn some calories. Every morning before I drive, I exercised 30-45 minutes. Walking the parking lot, sit-ups in the bed, push ups, lifting weights, jumping jacks, running in place, to actually running some distance is what I did to replace the fat that I had gained with lean muscle. I'm not a Greek Adonis, by no means, but I am leaner, stronger, energetic, and sexier... ok, that last part I made up. But the rest is true. As long as you can move around and raise your heart rate, you will lose weight.

But not before you feel like dying first. Seriously.

3) No Sodas
Title says it all, no soft drinks. Turns out, carbonated soda's -- even diet -- are really bad for you. They block the body's natural ability to burn fat. So, I cut them out of my diet. And I went through hell for it. You see, Diet Pepsi has lots and lots of wonderful caffeine in it that I am addicted to. I switched to drinking nothing but water and a couple days later, my body rebelled against what I was doing. Headaches, twitchings, blurry vision, swellings... you name it, I had it. I couldn't beat the addiction, so I did what I could only do.

Black coffee.

Somebody up above blessed this earth with black coffee and I thank them for it. Not only did it ease all my problems because I dropped the sodas, but there were other benefits that helped me with my weight loss. Coffee with no sugar or cream is a natural boost to your metabolism. So I win.

4) Sleep
Back in my service days, I could live on 4 hours of sleep a night. I can't do that anymore. At 40, I need my rest. So, I try to get at least 8 solid hours of sleep a day.

Ten hour breaks go fast, especially since I wake an hour early to exercise, so I spend either an hour watching a favorite show before bed, play a game, or browse the interwebs. But, only for an hour unless I have more free time available. After that, this boy needs his sleep.

Seeing results... slowly.
The first month (Oct 2010) I saw 10 lbs lost, mostly water weight. Since then, it has been small losses here and there. I'm losing the fat I had gained, but I am also rebuilding muscle, so seeing huge big strides in weight loss won't happen. I even gained a few pounds in January which kinda sucked.

Today, I am still on my diet and exercise regiment but I replaced the Slim Fast shakes with Muscle Milk and added a protein bar. I'm up to 2,000 calories a day now and still losing the fat... slowly. That's fine by me. I can drive longer hours, I no longer have health issues, my mood swings have disappeared, and I am generally a happier person. Life as a driver is still hard, but I can do it easier now.

So, if this long post hasn't bored you to sleep, think about what I have written and see if my lifestyle change might help you change yours. Educate yourself on what your body's specific needs are and don't push yourself to hard. I've been doing this for eight months already, patience is a virtue.

Good luck.

 

I'm not real familiar with a gluten free diet. So I really can't add any opinion on it, sorry.