Fitness Update! “the skinny” 10/05/16
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Welcome Back!
Hello Folks,, and thanks for joining me for an update on the fitness portion of my life-style change. When I launched livedeckers.com back in June, I had also set out on a mission to completely change the way that I think and eat on a daily basis. Controlling my weight my entire life has always been a battle. As a young child, being left with the option of either having epileptic seizures or taking the energy draining anti-convulsion drugs was a constant battle when it came to controlling my weight. No energy=weight gain, so it was always a struggle to burn off my unhealthy dietary choices and keep my weight to a healthy level. Fast forward to where I am now, I’ve got a heart that has been repaired and a neurological condition that has been under control for quite some time. With these issues out of the way, the path to optimal health and wellness was finally in my sights! After many years of trying to manage my stress level and stick to a proper diet, which is a major cause of my seizures, I decided it was time pursue my dream of being an outdoor writer, blogger, and photographer and leave the food and beverage industry and follow my heart and health! The everyday stress of running a restaurant, combined with the inconsistent schedule and infrequent times to eat a proper meal, I realized that I had fallen into the “industry trap” that so many young people unknowingly fall into with no regard for how these life-style habits shape you into “self” down the road. Well, 30 years later, it was time to make the change. Hence, the creation of this website and blog. When I began my quest to lose 100 pounds, I weighed in at a whopping 279 pounds! I was borderline diabetic, suffered from severe joint pain, and hardly had the enthusiasm to go to work on a daily basis. Today, it’s October 4 and I’m extremely happy to announce that I’m down to 217 pounds! Yes, I have lost 60 pounds in just under 4 months!
In this paragraph I would like to share with you how I’ve lost all this weight in just a short period of time. Keeping in mind that I had lost about 80 pounds between 2013 and 2014, I had already used road cycling as my main source of physical activity that led to most of that weight loss. In October of 2014, I suffered a shoulder injury that kept me off of the bike until I rehabbed the shoulder on my own. Like most men, I decided that I didn’t really have “that bad” of a shoulder injury, so I suffered through all of 2015 with chronic shoulder pain. The problem here was not only the fact that I had completely stopped riding the bike, I was never really focusing on what I was eating during this entire weight loss period. Therefore, when I stopped riding and kept on eating the same way, 80 of the 100 pounds I shed came right back! This time it was accompanied with the fore mentioned joint pain, night sweats, and general overall fatigue! Compounding my problems with a bout of pneumonia that led to my third battle with Congestive Heart Failure, I had to act now, or the next time I may not have a choice in the matter. After going home to the east coast in June to attend my nephew’s High School graduation, I returned home to look at some of the pictures of me from my trip. I was horrified! All that work in 2013/2014 went to crap! Who was this guy and how was I going to fix this mess that I was looking at? As I was on this very trip home, livedeckerscolorado.com had come to life and the site was turned over to me on June 6, 2016. This was it! I had created a platform to share my thoughts, photographs, and life here in beautiful South Platte River Valley. Alright, enough on the background of why, and more about the “how I’ve gotten to this point” Starting each morning at about 5:45/6:00, I eat breakfast within 30 minutes of being awake. After sleeping, your body is craving what it needs to give YOU what you need, so getting that food in your system is key! My breakfast is typically a mix of components that I prepare ahead of time in order for me to always have the right foods to eat. This is a very important part of the process for me, going back to being a Chef of 30 years, it’s easy to just grab what’s there. Each week, usually on Sunday, I will make a vegetarian Bean Pot, a couple of cups of Lentils, bake a few sweet potatoes, roast a butternut squash, a batch of brown rice and pearled barley . Each morning I’ll have a cup of the rice/barley, 1 cup of the bean mix, 1/4 cup lentils, 2-3oz. sweet potato/squash, and one over-easy egg. Add a banana and a couple of strawberries and I’ve got the fuel I need to head out for my daily 25 mile bike ride! After the ride, I usually come back home and have a mix of the same components, with the addition of some lean protein such as deli turkey or grilled chicken or fish. Only about 2/3 oz. of meat added to these lunch meals. Next up, it’s usually time for a hike or a work project that is usually involving physical work such as wood stacking or some other labor intensive project! My philosophy is that if I’m not working, I’m working out. Hopefully, the work that pays the rent is also work that involves strenuous physical activity, particularly heavy repetition like shoveling or wood stacking! The goal here is to completely incorporate a physical life-style around a healthy diet and positive attitude to achieve optimal health! My evening meal is usually a small salad, consisting mostly of vegetables and perhaps some of those breakfast components, simply cold. As I spend most of my day on the river or in the forest, I’m burning tons of calories. To keep the energy up all day, I like to snack on nuts, dried fruits, raw vegetable and drink lots of water. In the evening time I like to reward myself with a couple of strawberries and a little non-fat yogurt. That’s really it my friends. I’m not really doing anything special, I’m just being consistent and trying my best to hold myself accountable for the way I look, feel, and want to live each day. My goal here is to hopefully continue this life-style change and be able to be an example to others that if you want to make a change, YOU have to be the one to do it! Today’s picture gallery is a collection of the food I have been preparing for the last three months, plus some before and after pictures to show you my progress since June. Thanks for reading and all the support! If you like what I have written, please share with your friends and spread the good news about https://discoverdeckers.com. Have a great day and I’ll be back with more soon!
Chris
