Weight Loss Journey: Vacation Recap . . . 34x34

One of the hardest things about going on vacation is that you usually come back heavier than you started. You lose your routine and access to all of your favorite healthy foods. However, I did not realize my juggling and fighting to keep some trace of normalcy was actually paying off. When I say juggling, I mean I was really juggling. At times my weight would look like it wanted to drop, but would go up or stay the same. In end, I started the trip weighing 258lbs and came home weighing 238lbs.

Working Out on Vacation:

I had a glorious time away from Winston-Salem, NC, with my family down in Thomaston, GA. I cannot believe I spent nearly a month down there. In the beginning it was very hard maintaining my training schedule and my new eating habits. I rarely had access to a gym and the gym I did go to (about three times) had rusted equipment, no air conditioning, lukewarm water, and it was dirty. Can you imagine trying to push yourself to the next level physiologically and you get to reward yourself with lukewarm water? Eventually, I had no desire to go there.

So I hit the pavement and I hit it hard. Running about 3.5-6 miles a day depending on how much energy and motivation I had. Even when we went to World Changers, I would get up in the morning and run before going to the worksite to paint the house. My Mom-A would get up with me some days at World Changers and workout with me. I mean we were getting up at 4:50am doing cardio and then hitting the road at 6:50am to arrive at our worksites at 7:00am. Craziness!

When we got home from World Changers I kept running. Eventually, all the running on a not-so-giving-surface took a toll and I developed tendonitis in my hip. So I started speed walking after that to let my hip recover. I also combined this running and speed walking with Jillian’s 30 Day Shred workout. This DVD is a great workout especially for those you who do not like gyms or cannot make it to one.

Eating on Vacation:

Maintaining my healthy eating habits was hard. Mom-A and I did a good job of cooking healthy dishes like turkey meatloaf with garlic & spinach and chicken supreme, but it was the awful things that would sneak in through the back door. Free fatty food what could be worse for a recovering food addict? For example, one day the church had a “Cookout Lunch” and we received hotdogs, processed hotdog buns, baked beans, and apple cobbler. I am a dessert addict so you know I ate at least half the pan of the apple cobbler before gaining the strength to throw it away. In the past, I would have easily eaten the whole pan; at least, I have taken a baby step with dessert.

One day for lunch, I took 2 hotdogs (280 calories) and placed them on 2 slices of wheat bread (100 calories) with ketchup (30 calories). When I was eating I thought the hotdogs would be the worst part of my meal. I also had 1.5-2 cups of baked beans thinking I was doing okay, eating within my 500-800 calorie range per meal. I checked out the nutritional info on baked beans (esp. doctored up baked beans that only southerners know how to make . . . lol) and found out they were 170 calories. You ask what is wrong with 170 calories. Well, I did not finish (I have to leave you hanging on). 170 calories per 0.5 cup of baked beans so that added an additional 510-680 to my meal, pushing it into the range of 910-1090.

When I had learned this I was so disappointed because I feel like we are food prisoners in America. Having been to the Ukraine and the Dominican Republic, I am very thankful to live in this country, but I feel like people are forced to eat high calorie meals if they do not know anything about nutrition. I mean I used to eat three double cheeseburgers at McDonald’s for a meal thinking I was doing okay. It only cost $3.00 so it must be okay. Each double cheeseburger is 440 calories (I’m mad I have that memorized lol), so I would eat 1320 calories not including if I decided to get fries or a Mc Flurry. Let’s not talk about the processed carbohydrates and fat I was eating in that one meal, no wonder I used to weigh 328lbs.

Going out to eat is always a struggle whether you are on vacation or not. I had to learn how to use the half rule, which is splitting your meal in half unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is a healthy meal. For example, we went to Applebee’s one day for lunch. I ordered the Weight Watcher’s salmon with rice pilaf and vegetables which is estimated to be less than 400 calories with two mozzarella cheese sticks which were about 120 calories. Mom-A ordered a salad that was over 1000 calories if you ate the whole thing. So she halved it and took the rest home. Many of us would have eaten the whole salad thinking we were doing good; however, that influx of calories would have left your calories in/calories out budget whacked for the day if you were not paying attention to the rest of your meals.

Also, do not pour the salad dressing all over the salad; dip your fork in the dressing between bites because salad dressing can easily add hundreds of calories to a nutritious meal. You may say I will not be able to taste the dressing, yes you will. The dressing will be the last thing to touch your tongue and it will fulfill that craving. It works for me.

Often times when I would lose all control and keep eating, Mom-A would simply tell me “You are not a football player anymore.” That statement helped me realize that she was right and I do not require 4000 calories a day. In all honesty, I did not need 4000 calories then because I wouldn’t have climb from 295 to 328lbs in two years if I burned it all practicing.

Realization on Vacation:

I did not think what I was doing was working, but on our beach trip we went clothes shopping. I knew my waist had dropped to a size 36, but I am also blessed with a rear from both sides of my family . . . so I had to wear size 38 jeans. Well, Mom-A had me try some 36x34, which used to be tight on me before the trip. I walked out the dressing room and we both teared up, the fit me perfectly. She saw that I had more room in my jeans and brought me back a pair of 34x34s. I fit those as well. When I was in middle school and high school the only store in the mall in which I could shop was Old Navy because they carried large enough sizes. Occasionally, American Eagle if all the 3x’s had not been purchased. I cannot believe I have come this far.

The last time I wore a size 34 jeans was in . . . brace yourself . . . not middle school. I was in elementary school.

The thing I learned from this trip is to be consistent. If you think that 20 minutes of walking is not doing anything, do it anyway. If you think you do not want to deprive yourself from another piece of apple pie, think about how your current weight is depriving you from who you want to be.

BELIEVE IN THE PROCESS.

Weight Loss Journey: 238lbs . . . -90lbs and counting

My dad, Mark, showed me an old picture of me a couple of days ago and I cannot believe how far I have come. I realized that I was a “thicker” version of my current self. I have noticed things on me are a lot slimmer, but looking at that picture really had it sink in for me. No wonder I had severe knee pain and I was doped up on extreme amounts of ibuprofen (800mg) and acetaminophen (1000mg) for practices and games. In addition to the knee pain, my blood pressure was high as well. If I had continued and went to the NFL, like many people believed I should have, there is no telling how bad my pain would have been and how my blood pressure would have been affected. I am also sure I would have been way over 328lbs with my eating habits I developed. Other than the money, there is no way my health would have benefited from playing in the NFL; the money that I would have to use for my health to recover from the years of playing football.

I cannot believe I have reached 238lbs. The last time I weighed 238lbs was early 7th grade, which is a very sad thing to think about. I mean 7th grade . . . that was 13 years ago. Getting to 238lbs has not been an easy task and there have been many bumps along the way . . . and I mean many bumps along the way.

Starting medical school was one of the largest bumps in the road last year, giving up working out and monitoring what I am eating because of stress caused me to go from 328lbs (January 2008) to 275lbs (August 2008) to 302lbs (December 2008). I am not saying never eat the cheesy grilled cheese sandwich or meat lovers pizza, but not every other day. Make it a one to two time a week thing and when you are eating it do not have the “all or nothing” mentality. Be mentally aware when you are eating those things, do not check your brain at the door as soon as the pizza shows up at your door.

Going through this process last fall, I realized that I am one of the lucky people who drew the straw that had “I must workout and monitor what I eat for the rest of my life” attached to the end of it. I have some friends that can eat fast food all the time and not gain weight, but I am not one of those people. I have some friends who do not workout, but I am not one of those people. I am ME.

This year I have had weeks in which the weight loss was not amazing or I had weight gain which is very disappointing. Going on vacations and being away from the confines of my kitchen have been very challenging to deal with as well. The other thing that has been difficult is hearing people who are not doing anything about their weight telling me that I am getting too skinny. No offence, but I am not on this journey for them, I am on this journey for Louis. I have learned during these hard times (ex. when the scale does not show you the numbers you would like) you need to have a list of reason in your head of why you are doing what you are doing. Some people say get rid of the scale, but if you do not weigh yourself at least once a week . . . how will you be able to know the things you are doing are actually effective? There are times in which you have to tweak your workouts or the things you are eating.

Anyway, back to the reasons, these reasons of why you are on this journey will help you stay positive.

Try it out . . . be very specific . . . here is my list:

1. Want to look better
2. Buy nice clothes
3. Improve my health
4. Challenge myself to become a better person
5. Motivate my friends and family
6. Have always pictured myself thinner
7. Tired of carrying extra weight around
8. Improve my self-esteem
9. Be an encouragement to my mom
10. Decrease my knee pain

Well, I hope this entry has been a blessing to those who read it. If you have any questions do not be afraid to ask.

Weight Loss: Change = Running 8 miles in 82 minutes

The most I ever ran outside was 5 miles. Our coach made us do it in high school for wrestling conditioning and I did it last week with Mrs. Jaco Justice. Running with Jaco and Dallas (the dog) was amazing she kept encouraging me the whole way and next thing you know I finished 5 miles in 42 minutes (under 9 minutes a mile). There were so many times along the way when I wanted to stop because I did not believe I could do it, but I did it!

Date Weight Loss % Fat Lbs Fat % Muscle Lbs Muscle
5/8/2009 258 11 23.00% 59.34 37.00% 95.46
5/15/2009 254 4 23.50% 59.69 36.70% 93.218
5/22/2009 250 4 21.90% 54.75 37.60% 94
5/29/2009 254 -4 17.90% 45.466 39.50% 100.33
6/5/2009 250 4 15.90% 39.75 40.40% 101

Currently (June 6, 2009), I weigh 250, 30lbs from my next goal. I woke up this morning thinking I wanted to just go to the gym and do cardio on the elliptical or treadmill for an hour and a half like usual, but I really was not feeling it. So I decided to go to Salem Lake. I decided to challenge myself to see if I could run around the whole lake. The doubts definitely came into my head . . . let’s get real Louis you walk this lake in 2-2.5hrs; you cannot run around this lake . . . what about your knee? It can start hurting again and you do not want to deal with that pain. At that moment I told the CRITIC to shut his mouth and I told myself that I am going to get around this lake even if I am crawling on all fours in the end.

So I started and the hardest part is starting. After that I told myself: Keep going, you only have this one chance, you are strong, just one more step. Next thing you know, I was at the 1 mile marker, 2 mile marker . . . 6 mile marker . . . then back to the 1 mile marker. Even after running through water after the 6 mile marker (the dam was releasing the excess water from the lake); I told myself these wet shoes are not going to stop me today.

Once I finished the loop, I figured why not go an extra mile to see if you can do it? So I kept the positive self talk coming and next thing you know I was back at the 1 mile marker.

When I finished I could not believe it. The former 328lb lineman, who is now 250lbs, ran 8 miles in 82 minutes. Anything is possible, trust me, this is coming from someone who used to hate running and now I love the thrill of running.

Do not give up on your weight loss/fitness goals. Right down your goals or think of one you would like to accomplish . . . then work towards it. My next goal is to run 10 miles; I totally believe it is possible. Remember everyone “take one more step.”

One and Half Times . . . Weight Loss Journey

I did not realize how much weight I had lost until I was getting ready for my Standardize Patient Assessment a week ago. I put on my belt and it looped around me one and half times. I immediately broke down into tears.

Currently, I am 254lbs, which is 4lbs away from my goal which I set for myself in 2008. As I have told you, I struggled last fall and I gained about 25lbs back. Anyway, the last time I was 254lbs was in 7th grade; thus, making this number a very emotional number for me as of late. I feel like the more I lose the more emotional it is going to get. I mean sometimes an inspirational song will come on and I will break down into tears while working out. (LOL)

New goal: 220-30 lbs.

I love watching the Biggest Loser and so their way of weighing inspired me to calculate my percentage of weight loss:

Since January 2009:

Starting weight: 302
Amount Lost: 48
Percent Lost: 15.89%

Since January 2008 (Grand Total)

Starting weight: 328
Amount Lost: 74
Percent Lost: 22.56%

Starting waist size: 42
Current waist size: 36

Recently, I have realized that I am never going to naturally be a small person. I have to go to the gym and workout. I have to watch the things I eat on a regular basis. I do have days in which I allow myself to indulge, but as for indulging everyday . . . that is not going to work. I would rather change my lifestyle and have more self-confidence and enjoy the way I look; as compared to not changing my lifestyle and complaining about how big I am.

Do not give up on what you want to do. Make sure you set a “big picture” goal weight you would like to achieve by a realistic date. Do not tell yourself you want to lose 30lbs in one month; although, I have done that for wrestling in the past, but that is not healthy. It is better to tell yourself you would like to lose 30lbs over 3 to 5 months, which will give you time to set up a plan of action on how you are going to achieve your goal.
I am still deciding what topic to write about next time, but I wanted to write this note and let you know you can do it. Consistency is the key!!!

Keeping your weight loss goals

Well, I promised that I was going to do my best to keep writing about my weight loss experiences and did not write as many as I would have hoped but there is that one thing called medical school, lol. Anyway, here we go . . . by this time three things have happened with your New Year's Resolution for weight loss. You stuck with the resolution, you are in limbo between keeping the resolution and giving up, or you have given up.

I have definitely been in all those phases before. Last year once I started medical school, I gave up working out so I could study. I did great in class but my goal of reaching 250lbs flew out the window. I allowed myself to be consumed with "stress" eating, eating my favorite fattening foods all the time and without burning extra calories in the gym my weight increased again. I started medical school on August 1st at 275lbs and by December 31, I was 302lbs. On the positive side, I started January 1, 2008, at 328lbs and ended at 302lbs, so I still lost 26lbs. On the negative side, I made an excuse to stop going to the gym.

Do not give up on exercise, ever!!! It is a stress reliever and it is the only way you can build muscle to burn fat and the only way to burn calories doing cardio. Some of the excuses I have used:

I do not have time to go to the gym: in some cases if you have a project due or an exam coming up that is true. Other than serious deadlines, you always time. Think about how much time you spend on the internet, watching tv, etc. You can also go for a walk, run, hike,P90X etc.

I do not want to workout that long: you do not have to workout that long, all you need is a good 35 minutes and you can get a good workout; even weight lifting, using circuit training. This excuse has been my downfall many times. Trust me, you can get a good workout in 35 minutes.

I do not know what time I should do it: some of us have to set schedules, once you make a schedule it makes it a lot easier to workout. I mean a real life schedule, not a mental note.

For most of us, it takes 2-4 weeks for something to become routine, so try to find a schedule by 3 weeks and you will be surprised how it becomes ingrained in your conscious. I actually feel sad or feel like I am doing something wrong when I do not workout LOL.

Currently, I weigh 260lbs which is the lightest I have been since the summer between 7th and 8th grade and 10th grade of high school when I was wrestling; respectively, 12 and 15 years old. So I have dropped 42lbs since January 1, 2009. Making my total weight lost since football being 68lbs. Since I am so close to reaching my goal of 250, I have set a new goal of getting to 230.

Don't give up on your goal. Watching the Biggest Loser is great, great motivation :). If you have more specific questions just ask.

Weight Loss Journey: The Food

I am writing this to encourage others with their weight loss aspirations. I have had several friends and strangers who wanted to know how I have lost the weight so far and this is my big reveal. The amazing thing, it is nothing really special.

I started this journey last year around 328lbs after finishing the Meineke Car Care Bowl. My goal was to start losing weight because I heard about a group of men (I will not reveal them) that met one day and joked about who would come back bigger than are now once they finish football. I was one of the ones that they assumed would get fatter once football ended, so I was determined to prove them wrong.

I cut out fast food and if I had fast food it was a grilled chicken sandwich with a baked potato or fruit salad. These establishments also have salads which are healthy until you dump the entire packet of salad dressing all over it. Some salad dressings can cause a salad to reach the upper hundreds in their calories; you might as well eat a Big Mac at that point. To avoid the dressing trap, pour three to four table spoons (lighter oil based) or two to three tablespoons (heavier ranch and thousand island) of dressing over the salad and shake it in the container to get a nice light coating of dressing across the entire salad.

I also started cooking my meals and if I had to use oil, I used olive oil. For some, olive oil may have a weird taste at first, but it is loaded with good fat . . . yes, people there are such thing as good fats. Stay away from Crisco type Vegetable Oil, aka disguised Trans fat.

I also limited my intake of pork and beef. You can eat these things, but eat them in moderation because they are loaded with fat and our bodies are excellent at processing fat. Simply put, our bodies melt the fat down and reassemble it once it gets absorbed by the small intestine. There are videos on the internet that show the how the blood becomes a fat slurry after eating a fatty meal. YIKES!!!! My main meat was chicken and no not fried chicken!!!! I know this next statement is going to sound like blasphemy to some, but take the skin off. Yes, I said it and it was hard for me in the beginning as well, but take the skin off . . . that takes away a lot of fat and calories. Growing up on fried chicken, I decided to use Oven Fried or Shake N' Bake (It's Shake N' Bake and I helped, lol) mix to help fulfill the craving of fried chicken. I also baked the chicken with olive oil or placed a whole chicken in a Crockpot . . . if you need suggestions on how to cook a "healthy" chicken just send me a message.

With your meals always keep it balanced. Include a complex carbohydrate (like mixed vegetables or fruit, not just mashed potatoes). Also, drop the white rice . . . it is devoid of all nutrition . . . use brown rice. "But I do not like the taste of brown rice," Uncle Ben's makes some really good brown rice and you can barely tell the difference between that and white rice. I also included pasta as a side dish; they have the high fiber pasta now which tastes so much better than the wheat pasta. I am actually giving you a free pass on the wheat pasta, that stuff is just grainy and gross. The main point of this paragraph is to encourage the increased intake fiber. You body struggles to breakdown fiber and that's a good thing. The more energy it takes for your body to work through meal, the more calories you burn = weight loss.

Use common sense with gravies and other food lubricants . . . use sparingly or not at all. These things increase your caloric intake and increases the amount of work you have to put in to balance the calorie equation (calories in - calories out = weight loss, maintain, or weight gain).

Drinks - eradicate soda from your life. If you have to have a soda drink a diet soda. Regular soda is filled with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is not natrual. HFCS is a genetically modified substance that the human body has not encountered until the 21st century. Manufacturers take a natural sugar like fructose and basically line a bunch of them up in a chain . . . this helps them reduce the cost of production and it makes us fatter! Dr. Hyman (author of Ultra Metabolism) explains that HFCS tricks our body. Once it gets absorbed into our blood stream it triggers the release of insulin like any other sugar; however, it does not need insulin to get absorbed into cells. So with all of this insulin floating around in your blood it tells your brain that you really need to eat. So then you eat a lot of food to satiate your craving. Why do you think restaurants offer soda at the beginning of the meal? You drink the soda, HFCS enters blood stream, tricks the pancrease to release insulin, insulin levels rise and you are left with the raw end of the deal eating more than you would have if you just had water with lemon and a higher bill because you downed entire the white chocolate molten cake at Chilis (personal experience).

You can drink juice as long as they are 100% juice and not from concentrate. Concentrate is hidden language for HFCS. Limit juice to 2 cups a day at the most, learn how to savor the taste and just not gulp it down.

Once medical school started I had lost over 50 pounds and weighed 275lbs.

You are probably at the end of this essay thinking there is no way I can cut out all that stuff, but just take baby steps. I started with just the soda and limiting my juice intake in the beginning. Dropping soda alone can help some people drop several pounds in a month. Also, I am not saying never give into your craving for a double cheeseburger, but allow that to be a treat . . . not a every other day or everyday meal. Work the double cheeseburger into each week as a cheat meal where you can have whatever you want. As Americans sometimes we get caught up with taste, but we need to learn that satiating our hunger is the key, not necessarily what is loaded with fat and taste the best.

There will be more to this weight loss journey . . . working out, frustration with not losing any weight, and yo-yoing. If you have any other questions on the food front, just let me know.

Dominican Republic 8

Johnette's jealousy.

February 23, 2008

This day was so relaxing! I got to sleep in until 9AM, but did not get home until 2AM because we were out working it on the dance floor. The only strange thing I remember about last night was getting a couple beer bottles thrown at us by the locals. I think they did not like us because we were black, I mean American. You know I had to throw the race card in there somewhere.

One of my favorite omelet chef's in the world.

Aw, sis.

Shortly after finishing breakfast, half of the group departed for the beach with our hats and our bug spray and sun block soaked bodies. We got to the first beach and it lacked one essential element that we are so used to seeing in the states. The beach lacked sand people! Sand! Instead of sand it had rocks varying in all colors, shapes, and sizes. I did a few model shots out on the palm trees. Johnette did not approve of the shots and walked into one of my shots making the vomit face I always make when I am displeased. After finishing my photo shoot, I walked down the beach to take a picture of this jagged rock structure that was jetting out into the water. Well, for some reason I thought taking my sandals off would help me walk to the end of the beach faster. Remember, I am on a rock beach. Let’s just say when I got to the end of the beach I was not so happy to be down there to take the picture. I made sure my poor feet suffered for a reason and took as many pictures and videos as my little camera could hold.

The rocks on the beach!

Captain Morgan.

We made a stop at this area overlooking the water. It was unbelievable. The color of the water and the various flowers were amazing.

The photo shoots continued all throughout the day; even at lunch time, when we found this river side restaurant. The owner of the restaurant let us sit and make sandwiches outside, after we bought a couple of Presidentes from them. The river looked very beautiful. As I was taking pictures of it, I could not help but notice someone on the other side lathering up. He scrubbed his entire body and jumped into the river as our host went down the river in his tube.

The river.

The bath.

The tube.

They were catching fish.

At the end of the river was the ocean. This beach had pebbles instead of large rocks or sand. We voted and we think the small pebbles are lot more fun than sand. You do not have to worry about getting sand everywhere, just a couple of pebbles here and there. However, you could never make a pebble castle. It would just be a mountain of pebbles, so it does lose cool points there. Anyway, the water was a pale blue and the waves were some of the largest waves I have ever seen. At first we were a little hesitant to jump into the water, but a family came up and started riding the waves; thus, we followed their lead. These waves tossed me around like a rag doll. In fact, one time they tossed me so bad that I looked like a beach whale on the shore trying to get back out to sea. Oh, good times. Oh and we stayed at this beach so long that many of us had to use the potty. Rachel is going to hate me, but I captured some beautiful images of that process.

Look at that gun!

What was she doing?

What are you doing in the water?

I had to do it too.

The excitement of rock skipping!

Boy standing outside the bus.

Our last stop was the waterfalls. Talk about photo shoot time. This place was so green and the waterfalls were amazing. I took a couple of pictures in the waterfall. The water was so cold and in a couple of pictures I think you can actually see me shivering.

We came back to the hotel and lounged around like the other half of the group had been doing all day. After receiving my glorious rock pedicure, I am not so sure going to the beaches was worth it. I wish I took a picture of the bottom of my feet, they were so red. The pedicure only enhanced the look of my slave feets. Yes, I said feets. However, getting to see the beauty of the Dominican’s beaches was definitely worth the pain. Next time, I will know not to walk down a rock beach with my shoes off. What in the world was I thinking?

Before we had our last group meeting, David and I walked down the street to find a painting he wanted. This part of the trip was unbelievable. We walked right into a Presidential Rally for the Purple Party. There was purple everywhere! Purple flags hanging from the cars and mopeds, purple t-shirts, and purple bandannas. Then there were venders lined along the street selling hot dogs and other unidentifiable meat products. There was also music blaring from some of the cars and drums being played in the distance. Eventually, the drums caught up to our location and I got a chance to record the madness.