Now, I am NOT blaming my marriage for my weight gain, I am only saying that it is when my issues and struggles with my weight really began. Due to some very poor choices while at Bible College, of all places, (and that is a whole other blog post), I found myself newly married living in Anaheim, California working a swing shift job at Kwikset Lockset Co., trying to figure out how I was going to support my new bride and a baby on the way!
I have always tended to be an owl when it comes to my sleeping habits. So working swing-shift suited me fine, but it was also detrimental to me because I tended to eat late at night when I came home from work. Before marriage, I had been much more active and so my late night trips to Jack-in-the Box didn't seem to have such an affect on my weight. But now, domesticity kicked in and I became much more sedentary in my life. Not having a means to burn off those Jumbo Jacks really caused me problems. The weight began to accumulate.
Throughout my twenties I continued to add the pounds but it never seemed to be out of control to me, since I never went over 210 lbs...(still weigh too much though - pun intended!). In my mid-thirties, I really began to have issues as I became the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church. This meant a great deal of time sitting at a desk, and it really had an impact on my weight. The lack of exercise and the slowing of my metabolism (as is normal at that age) caused my weight to go from about 210lbs all the way up to 284lbs at my heaviest. In addition to my lack of exercise and poor diet, I became a stress relief eater. Pastoring a church is no easy task, and I would love to eat when I was stressed...it made me feel better! Here is a picture of me at about 270lbs from 2006.
Yeah, I know!!!!!
The funny thing is that I never really worried about my weight and it never really bothered me! I liked myself for the most part, and the only reason I would ever think of going on a diet is because my family worried about me. Prior to 2006 I was in decent health and my vitals were always in the normal range. However, in 2006 I started showing signs that things were not okay. My blood pressure was rising to above normal levels and my cholesterol was pushing 300. In addition, I was showing signs of being pre-diabetic. To make things worse I was having severe heart palpitations and my Doctor told me my heart was slightly enlarged. YIKES. The palpitations were so bad that I lay in bed at night wondering if I would wake up the next morning. I privately shared with a friend that I didn't know if I would be alive in a few years. It scared me! My son Andrew was just graduating from college and was planning to be married the next year, I privately worried whether I would get to see his wedding day. The heart doctor told me that the only way I could stay alive was to lose the weight. My ex-wife and doctor encouraged me to consider gastric bypass surgery but I really didn't want to have surgery. So I made the decision to lose the weight on my own, the old fashioned way!
As I look back on the timing of that decision, I realize that it was providential. Shortly after I started to lose the weight, my ex-wife informed me that she wanted a divorce. The divorce was not the catalyst for the weight loss (I had already started) but it certainly served as a motivating factor to continue. As a stress relief eater, this was a very difficult time for me. Fortunately, I was able to find other outlets as a means of relieving my stress, primarily walking. I walked every where I went. Wasco is a small town laid out in a square. There is nothing in town that isn't within three miles, so I developed several routes and walked them religiously EVERY day. If I needed something from the store, I walked. If I wanted to rent a video, I walked. I walked to church, to the post office, to pay my water bill at city hall...I walked everywhere. In an 18 month period I never missed a day walking. I tried to walk for about an hour each day (I could do three miles in about 50 minutes which is a pretty good pace). There were several times when I found myself walking well past midnight. I would go to bed without walking that day and then find I couldn't sleep. I would toss and turn and feel guilty for not walking, so in order to get some rest, I would go out and walk!
I also did a great deal of reading about the science of weight loss, trying to understand what really worked and what didn't. After a lot of research, and knowing what worked for me in the past, I decided to focus on three things. I call them the three "s"s. Since many of you have asked, I wilI share them with you.
The first "s" is for small. Throughout my weight loss I carefully watched my portion sizes. When I went out to eat, I automatically asked for a to go container and I cut my meal in half. One bonus to doing this is you get a great lunch for the next day.
The second "s" is for smart. I was very careful about not only how much I ate but also what I ate. I am a big proponent of the research behind the glycemic index. I actually cut out almost anything white (refined carbs) from my diet. That meant no sugar, flour, rice, potatoes, pastas, tortillas or bread. You know, all the good stuff! I ate a lot of protein and fat (yes there are good fats). While this made for some challenges in meal preparation I did learn to be creative. If you think about it, almost every meal has some kind of side that goes with it. Most sides are carb heavy. One advantage to limiting carbohydrates is that it helps with hunger cravings. I found that by limiting my carb intake it helped me not to feel hungry even though I was cutting my portion sizes.
The third "s" is for sweat. As I mentioned earlier, I walked everywhere. My exercise routine was nothing too fancy...I did do some cardio (mostly running) but I just basically focused on staying active.
It did not come easy nor happen quickly but over the course of 18 months I lost 115 pounds (from 284 to 169). I actually hadn't been in the 160s since college so it was a great thrill when the scale said 169. Once I reached that weight, everyone told me that was too low. I didn't like the way I looked at that weight, but still, I was excited about reaching that goal. Eventually, I settled in at a more comfortable weight. Here's a picture of me at my thinnest.
Since that time it has been an ongoing battle to maintain my weight loss (it was a lot easier to lose it than it has been to keep it off). I know that I will struggle to stay at a healthy weight for the rest of my life. Still, I am thankful for what I went through back in 2006 because it probably saved my life!
Thanks for reading, I hope this has been an encouragement to you.
Jim
1 comment:
Hi, I fould this article very helpful. I also have been trying to loose weight 60lbs of it. I have been going to the gym for two months and found it to be very fun. Although sometimes it's a fight with myself to go. The idea about only eating half of what you order is also something that I have been doing. So far only 10lbs but more to come.
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