I’ve often joked when trying to get into shape or lose weight that I simply want to “look good naked”. Of course, I do want to look good naked and I want to live a long, healthy, productive life.
I’ve been on a quest for the last three months to lose weight and get back into shape. I’ve been inspired by my bother in-law, John, who lost over fifty pounds by simply cutting back and my son Sam who has lost about 30 pounds since graduating from high school back in June.
Neither one followed a particular plan. Most of the weight loss has come because of a simple awareness of how much and what they put in their bodies and an increase in physical activity.
John is an engineer and he loves to work around his house and build hot rods. He’s always been physical but over the years he just didn’t pay attention to what he was eating. Like most of us in middle age and beyond he simply gained a few pounds every year without really noticing what was happening.
Once he decided to lose weight he focused on cutting calories and as the pounds began to fall off he simply started do more and more of what he already loved. It is wonderful how that type of positive energy helps to burn even more calories. I heard he spent a lot of time working with his shirt off this past summer!
Sam has always been a big guy. It wasn’t an easy role to play in a household full of slim people who loved running. What is amazing to me is how hard Sam worked on his running in high school and how he continues to work on his running at college.
I would take him to work with me this past summer and then he would walk and run the five miles home. Once he got to the University of Maine at Farmington he became a gym rat playing pickup games of basketball, the sport he really loves. He also went out for the baseball team, helped to coach a middle school cross country team and published a blog on Maine high school running.
The commitment to exercise and the continued weight loss really helped to boost his confidence and the transition to college. Sam is also a much better student in college than he ever was in high school.
Because of the wonderful people in my life, like John and Sam, I have started my own quest to get in shape.
At the beginning of November I weighed 205 pounds. I started exercising by running and doing weight resistant exercises. I’ve loved this type of exercise since I was a kid so I’m trusting my own instincts and experience to make this work.
I didn’t change my diet for the first two months and I lost 5 pounds. Since the first of the year I have given up alcohol (Don’t worry I already have a date with my daughter Kourtney to go out drinking on her 21st birthday!) and changed my caloric intake. I’ve lost another 14 pounds since then.
If you are interested in getting in shape and losing a few pounds yourself I would encourage you to really look at whom and what inspire you to move your body and be more conscious of how much and what you put in your body.
I have several more heroes like John and Sam to write about and I’ll use them for motivation as I continue my quest to look good naked.
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