I’m sure you’re a little confused, so here goes. I was told by my doctor back in 2018 that I needed to lose weight – I was at 364lbs and looking at pre-diabetes and going on a statin drug as well. So, I got a stroller and started pushing my daughter around a lot and limited intake. In six month, I’d lost around 60 pounds. I ended up down to 200 pounds in the next year which was pretty good. Well, In 2021 my mom died and early the next year I got COVID and ended up in the ICU. I gained 88 pounds back – definitely not what was on the menu but it happened. In early March, I saw my doc and he said I was back at 288lbs and said to lose weight again. I modified the diet I had done back in 2018. The next visit was in June and I’d lost 56 pounds which is an average of 0.6 pounds per day for 92 days.
I’m not going to do one of those long spiels about how revolutionary and wonderful the way I did it was that takes an hour and then tries to get you to buy something. It’s diet and exercise; something I’m sure most people have been told a million times by their doctor if they’re overweight. I did a video talking about the details of what I ate mostly and what I did for exercise, but I’ll go into it a little further below. This isn’t about some fad thing; it’s about logic and dedication to making changes. I figure if I can do it, you can do it if you need to. If you don’t need to good for you – being overweight is a crappy thing.
Exercise
I walk. A lot. If you don’t, then you should know there are a ton of benefits to it other than just losing weight. You build muscle, you get outside and get to really immerse yourself in nature and the seasons peeling by. Walking as opposed to jogging or running is a lot more time consuming, but it’s lower impact. Like I mentioned I used to walk my daughter in a stroller – here’s the first video of my progress back in 2018.
I had a speaker or two in the stroller for us to listen to music as we went through town and on an interurban trail. It was nice.
Here’s the progress after a bit more time – a year had passed.
This is the third episode of our walking. We ended up having our last stroller escapade in 2022 on a 5k – she barely fit in that thing as she was 5. I always said she’s be getting in that thing until she graduated high school but that kind of didn’t work.
A pic of my usual walks, morning and afternoon (click to enlarge).
My advice on walking – start slow and gradually add more on. In the early days, I would do 4000 steps, then ramped to 6000, 7000, 10000. I also used to do apartment laps – those just aren’t as good as walking outside with different grades and hills etc. It’s also quite boring. At one point, I got a exercise machine thing thinking it would be great for when it rained. It sits unused. Whenever I kind of don’t feel like going out walking, I look at it and then immediately go out – being in one spot doing exercise just doesn’t work for me. Fresh air is nicer.
I decided that I would try and walk ten miles a day. This didn’t happen as I kept pushing it up and up beyond that. But from February 26th through June 10th I had done 101 days of walking above ten miles, and one at 26.4 miles which is just over a marathon – which was definitely too much and I had to take the next day off.
Shoes are real important by the way – changing socks often, decent insoles, decent fit. I used to use UKGear PT-1000 running shoes but they’re spendy, so I like the New Balance 410 Trail Shoes. They’re a third of the price.
I ended up in May of 2023 walking over 500 miles. This was a lot of work but it was pretty cool. June will be a bit more difficult. Kids will be off for summer vacation so I’ll be at home with them every day which makes just doing ten miles a struggle. I will be trying to get them out every day and slowly building them up to doing a decent amount.
Diet
I decided I wanted to kick things into gear by limiting myself to 1200 calories per day. You lose weight when you burn more calories than you consume. I use MyFitnessPal to log everything I eat. Generally my days go like this: vitamins and a 300mg caffeine drink in the morning. I like the Bang or Reign drinks as they have creatine in them. This stuff keeps more hydration in your muscles, leading to less leg cramps. Leg cramps aren’t fun. I walk about 7.5-8.5 miles in the morning, then come home and have another caffeine drink and a protein drink. I do the Premier Protein shakes – the pre-mixed ones. Then I do my afternoon walk which usually takes me from here to a sign that says Welcome To Seattle. By the time I’m back I’ve got 15 miles. Then I have some popcorn after my wife gets home and later for dinner a can of Progresso soup with a 1/2 cup of brown rice, some cheese, and some Goldfish crackers. I usually have a couple hundred calories left to consume if I’m still hungry. It works out pretty well.
I will say that starting this, it’s hard to get used to eating less – I figure most people eat more than they should be reading this, so it’s a bit of a tough time eating less. MyFitnessPal is great for this since it is like a bank of calories to draw off of during the day. I save most of mine for the evening.
I also use a Fitbit fitness tracker. One thing I will stress is that being able to track what you’re doing and making little micro daily goals is really satisfying. I also will say this in no uncertain terms – FITNESS TRACKERS YOU WEAR ON YOUR WRIST ARE A SCAM. They don’t work! Think about it – you’re trying to track your walking. I have a Fitbit with a little cover I put in my left pocket. To have one on your wrist would make sense if you were tracking arm movement. Granted you can get different heart rate and other metrics if you want, but the more movement you’re doing the better as that is exercise. Also, if you’re pushing a stroller, you’re not going to get steps since you’re holding a handle all the time. These watches are simply fashion statements.
Much to the amusement of many I have as waist pack. Actually, two of them. The big one in the front holds a Bluetooth speaker and an old phone full of music . The side on is for keys etc. I also have a Bluetooth headset in my ear, Music is nice for walking for one thing. The Bluetooth is good for chatting with people.
Another thing I don’t do is weight in every week or every day. I only weigh myself at the doctor’s office. Progress is definitely more noticeable when I’m able to wear clothes that weren’t fitting. It’s nice. I had no ideas how much weight I’d lost when I saw my doc last time and honestly was surprised that I’d lost that much. I went from a BMI of 39 to 31.
Like I said, I figure if I can do this, you can do this. If you don’t need to, then that’s great. Just remember to start slow – don’t start off killing yourself doing too much because that’s a quick way to burn out quick or injure yourself. If you usually walk very little then go out and do ten miles, you’re looking at some major soreness. Just add a little bit every day. You don’t have to walk as fast as you can. Just walk. You’d be surprised how much you miss when you go by places in a car rather than on foot. I found a cellphone on the ground recently and was able to reunite it with it’s owner. I do a lot of the grocery shopping on my way home during the week. Things like that.
So, your burning question I’m guessing is ‘but you’re the ramen rater guy – you eat tons of ramen!’ No. This is incorrect and has really angered a lot of people so let me explain. I review instant noodles. I try the soup and noodle and included garnish in a very small amount. Then I garnish and take pictures – and down the drain it goes. Yep. I spend a lot of time on what I do, but in the end most of it goes right down the drain. ‘What a waste!’ ‘You should do your reviewing at a homeless shelter!’ Yeah, that wouldn’t work. My wife if gluten free and I’m not feeding my kids noodles every single day. I often do three reviews in a session – it’s fun and will keep doing so. It’s been tough being a food critic and not eating a ton of food. I really like exotic foods. I have had to make this change as it’s better for the old blood pressure for one and I want to spend my calories on stuff that’s less calorie dense. Like I mentioned earlier, often I’m just not extremely hungry doing 1200 calories a day – some days I am and a have a little more.
With that, thanks for reading – it’s a big part of my life so I thought I’d share.
