Inspire your self: Weight loss is achievable with sacrifices

By Darren Hamburger

Several months ago which seems like a very long time ago, a colleague and I were joking about my weight. Actually the excess of the weight to be more correct. I had ballooned out to 99kg which is by far the heaviest I had ever been. My colleague and I had also discussed noticing people who use dietary supplements like the weight loss shakes and then later may eat unhealthy foods because the meal replacements were not filling enough. The one thing I have noticed when anyone says they are going to lose weight is people will tend to come out with strange or specific diet plans, specific foods to eat, different exercises one must do otherwise you won't lose weight and above all my absolute pet hates are the marketing ploys of special foods like low carb, low sugar, special chocolates, meal replacements the list goes on and on. I have always held the belief one only needs to eat correct, drink water and do basic exercise for a person to lose weight. And this is exactly what this article proves. If you are one not to be able to stomach (pardon the pun) hard truths or hard realities in a blunt format, I advise you to read elsewhere as this article may offend you. Just like that infamous line from the movie a few good men You want the truth! You can't handle the truth I've decided to ignore using any niceties in this article and focus purely on how I lost weight. Thus I thought I would use my weight loss story to inspire others, just to let people know not to feel defeated but to be inspired and motivate themselves because it is always possible to achieve any goal you wish. Obviously it goes without out saying, I am not a dietitian or a dietary / weight loss specialist so any discussion within the article has been only about my progress and any attempt to emulate what I have done you do at your own risk.

The Bet!

My colleague had placed a bet of $100 stating I would not be able to achieve weight loss that would result in my weight returning to 80Kg within 6 months. Therefore as my starting weight was 98.9kg if we round up that's a total of 19kg to lose. I didn't lose the 19kg in 6 months, however I lost 20kg in a little over 3.5 months! Cha Ching!!! $$$$$ Thanks Charlie.

The reality and keeping it real

First off, don't use words that try to minimise what you are doing, or how you look. For example big bones or heavy set, no I'm fat it's really that simple. Secondly don't demoralise yourself, don't depress the crap out of your self by attacking your self esteem. Simply recognise your over weight and what your realistic goal weight is and take sensible action to lose that weight. Stop with the delays, stop with the excuses and above all stop with feeding your self crap outside of meal times and learn to do without. No it's not easy, I never said it would be. I just said it is possible.

Stop Diverting!

The one thing I frequently see when people tell me they are trying to lose weight one moment, only to be caught eating crap the next. It's like listening to a smoker that says they are quitting and 30 minutes later there back smoking. Put up or shut up! Is what I say. As far as I am concerned a hard attitude needs to be resurrected if you are to reach your weight loss goal. There is no point starving your self and exercising 6 days a week only to eat fatty food on the 7th day because you have been good. Your reward in weight loss is the weight loss! Not the food you shouldn't be eating or drinking. If you don't understand this and adapt to this, you are likely to fail. Fail because you will eventually feel your working hard and the weight loss is taking too long, fail because eating crap causes you to relapse and it can be a while before you get real again and of course fail because the unhealthy food choices are laden with excessive callories. So stop sneaking the extras in your mouth and learn to keep that mouth shut outside of the proper meal times.

Cognitive ideologies I had to over come

• It's OK to have a little bit of chocolate, chips, cakes, pizza or anything else for that matter
• I deserve a reward, why not have something to celebrate 10 kg weight loss
• understanding sweet foods while looking good, often don't really taste as great as once thought
• Maybe I could minimise Pepsi intake instead of giving it up
• Overcoming I don't like water
• Overcoming the large meals to make me full
• Don't go to shops hungry

Side effects of weight loss

• Spending additional money for new clothes
• Need to allocate additional time for exercise
• Restrict my food intake instead of eating everything on the table and the table itself. Now I just eat a small proportional meal at the correct times.
• Everyday I MUST exercise no matter what excuse that comes up
• Need to plan a head I.e when to exercise, what to eat
• Being mindful of Calorie laden foods, now have to spend a bit more time to review contents of foods in packages.
• Trying to eat only fresh no processed foods
• Staying away from take away foods

Try and understand where your going wrong

The main issue for me was eating inappropriately otherwise own as convenience foods. i.e a large pizza in full, processed foods, snacks, drinking to much Pepsi, no exercise no routine and eating large meals. While these foods may not be a daily routine, they were nevertheless in sufficient quantity to gain weight over a course of time. Having an understanding of calories also helps, when you start your weight loss and start to examine the calories within the normal foods you eat , you will be astounded how you have gained weight.

What are your reasons ?

Talking about letting ones self go, if I were to run it felt like I had breasts, I was easily puffed and I got hot very easily and started to sweat. By the time I walked to the bus stop which is 5 minutes away I had already started to perspire and breathing deeply. The way I envision the attitude I needed to adapt for my weight loss is no different to the attitude a client would be asked to have when giving up an addiction. Theirs is a substance, mine is food & Pepsi. I felt I needed to be real about my condition, I also needed to be real about my goals and above all I needed to be staunch in my approach to eating healthily, exercise and not drinking soft drinks etc. It is helpful if you are able to take stock of your own reasons when loosing weight as I did and keep doing, because during the course of your weight loss you will be referring to them often as a reminder to keep on track. This will help guard against relapse.

The goals

O.k So now I have given some thought to were I am going wrong, I am now able to make a realistic plan to lose weight.

My Goals:

Start Exercise - treadmill speed set 6 k/phr ‐ start slow and pick up the duration over a week

• 15min each day for 2 days
• 30 min each day for 2 days
• 45 min each day for 2 days
• 60 min each day for 2 days
• Every day after minimal 60min walk each day.

Food:

• Eat smaller proportions
• No fast foods, snacks, lollies, processed foods, alcohol, soft drinks etc. You get the picture NO CRAP!

Diet:

• Breakfast 1 x large egg sandwich with BBQ sauce
• Lunch 1 x large salad wrap with Honey Mustard Dressing
• Dinner 1 x Chinese Long Soup
• or
• 1 x assorted veg and 200g beef or chicken breast.
• I.e 2 x carrots, ½ capsicum red & yellow, Asparagus, ¼ Avocado, Sweet potato, ½ head of broccoli (lots of yummy broccoli).

Drink:

• Ad lib Water either from tap or Carbonated Water with a slice or two of lime or lemon and sometimes both. Once a day in afternoon after work 500ml Milk.

Vitamins:

• I decided to take a multivitamin

Now armed with the diet plan set, the exercise plan set, the only thing else to do is commit and action.

Commitment:

I started telling people I was losing weight, so much that I am sure they were fed up hearing about me loosing weight. At work I even had a weekly weight chart on a white board so others could see what I was doing. The workplace chart made myself accountable because if I didn't lose weight I would look like an idiot not walking the talk. Psychologically speaking, the commitment came from having the do or die attitude, thus having the ideation I've been good or I can have a little of a forbidden food or drink was eliminated. I made absolutely no diversion to the plan and as I said previously, I see the way I lose weight should be no different to how I treat clients of addiction. Meaning It is never o.k to have a little of the substance as that itself can evoke a relapse. So I stood firm and did not break. Ultimately I am not interested in the relapse, I am only interested what can be done to rectify the issue i.e my weight.

Weight Loss Progress:

Below is the total weight measurements I took every Monday from the scales., feel free to click on the links for the associated photos.

Treadmill

Below is the total time walked, total Calories burned I did everyday from my treadmill control panel. Feel free to click on the links for the associated photos.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

A General Note:

Perhaps one of the human race largest faults is its ability to make excuses, appeal for sympathy in order to make things feel right so we don't have to change, when really one needs to develop and reshape their attitude into a just do it mentality. However time and time again when we look into history we see humans who have struggled against all odds usually end up better off because of their struggle. One key that unlocks and dismantles this need to fight and struggle are outright excuses which can create a learned state of helplessness. It is these excuses and the cognitive distortions which ensue causing us to divert from our goals and invariably causes us to relapse in relation to achieving our weight loss goals.

I lost weight for a number of reasons, however one of my driving factors was to demonstrate while at the time I might be fat, it does not define who I am, however my actions do. So I took the challenge to lose weight because I wanted to show I am a person who does what he says and not all talk. I wanted to walk without getting puffed, I didn't want to buy bigger clothes as I felt this would only delay me deciding to exercise, It was an achievable goal before the end of the year. The weight loss was also a distraction to have me focus on something other than work and of course having the $100 bet was a cherry on top. How did I achieve this? I screamed it from the roof tops! I told everyone what I was doing, I kept on reminding myself What my goals were and all those sweets, cakes, chocolates and Pepsi don't actually taste as nice as they look.

Conclusion:

So I have accomplished one of my goals in 2018 and that was to achieve a 20kg weight loss and that is now signed and sealed. I am not saying I am perfect, I wont slip nor will I gain the weight back on because keeping weight off is another beast of its own. I am merely showing you the reader things are achievable if you stop with the excuses, have a hardened approach to not slip, not even for a bit! but only and always ONLY when you make sacrifices. I would have never been able to achieve my qualifications as a psychologist if I did not focus on study when the friends were asking to go out to parties. I would have never started, developed and maintained a business for 8.5 years if I did not focus on the task at hand. Therefore as far as I am concerned their is no difference to the approach I should use when it comes for me to loosing weight. I just had to bite the bullet, keep focus and not break that routine because I know once a person breaks a routine all the excuses that try to make it o.k will soon follow and the goal is generally not realised. A special thanks to Charlie, sorry you lost but I am thankful for the extra $100 nevertheless.

So I encourage you to go out their now with all the possibilities you can achieve, eliminate all of those excuses and temptations because it is time for you to realise your goals and become successful. Good Luck.

Until next time...

Darren Hamburger

Page Last update:17/11/2018

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