Since December, I have been losing weight. I know it't not nice to brag, but really it seemed to happen almost by accident. I had seen a physical therapist in late November and early December and was assigned certain back strengthening excercises. I performed them dutifully, and one day in February, I noticed that I looked a little thinner! I hopped on the scale and realized that I had lost a whopping 20 pounds!
However, physical therapy is not the only thing to blame for this success. I had also started walking to the nearest train station, which is about 1 mile from our house. I would hop on the train and ride to the West End where my office is.
I don't beleive that there is a one-size-fits-all diet and excercise plan that is great for everybody. However, I do beleive that there are three basic componets to losing weight the right way (rather than lipo-suction or starvation). When I lived in Louisiana, the Department of Health and Human Services started an ad campaign to combat obesity, which is a growing problem (pun intended). They called this the Louisiana Two-Step, and consisted of 'Eating Less and Moving More.' Sound simple enough, right? I have no doubt that this is a great way to live healthier and generally feel better, but I look at it slightly different.
The 'Two-Step' is really diet and excercise, which I think is way too broad to be effective for weight loss. I envision it as a tripod, with one leg being diet, the other two being cardio/aerobic and resistence training. It seems that when these three are put together, there is a greater chance for weight loss.
So, the physical therapy handled the resistance training. What about the diet and cardio? Well, if you're like me, you probably hate taking extra time out of your day to perform cardio. I decided that public transportation would play a central role here. Because I live in Dallas, a relatively large city, it's easy to get to transportation hubs. Since driving or riding would take me 20 minutes, why not just take an extra ten and reap the benefits of walking? I don't really lose any time out of my day, and I still get to work on time, so why not? So every day I was walking about 2.5 miles, and I would work out on Saturdays, so cardio six times a week.
And for the proper diet? My wife and I have found that cooking our own meals, even if not the healthiest and most well balanced, are a great step forward from eating out all the time. While we were planning our wedding, we ate out a lot and there were times where we would stress eat. Since then, our lives have become more relaxed and less stressed. We like to cook our own meals for the most part, and we think that cooking is fun, especially with easy recipies that taste great. We particularly love Sandra Lee's cook books. We tend to make smaller portions than we would recieve in a restaurant, so even if the meal is high in fat or calories, there are fewer of them on the plate.
So there you have it. Now, what kind of catchy dance has three steps instead of two? A Texas Waltz? No, I think not. But it is working and working well. To date, I have lost nearly 30 pounds and though the progress is slow, it is steady. Lately I think I am running up against a plateau. Personally, I think the way to beat it is to keep on track, and take the excercise up a notch. So to that end, I will start riding my bike to work, 4.5 miles a day round trip.
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