Introducing the Flab to Fab Project
In May of 2023 my doctor informed me that I was officially Type 2 diabetic and that if I did not make some changes, I would soon become dependent on medication and possibly insulin. Being in my 50s and already on hypertension medication, I did not want to add to the list of drugs I needed. I was also, quite frankly, tired of being overweight.
I decided that I was going to make a change. At the time, I weighed 270lbs with my heaviest recorded weight in recent years being 300lbs at 6 feet tall. I chose a desired weight of 200lbs and set target weights as realistic goals to hit. The first of those goals was 230lbs.
To achieve this, I needed to do two practical things. The first being to change my diet. The second change needed was to drastically increase the amount of activity I was doing from my largely sedentary lifestyle. Those were straight forward changes that I could track. A more problematic obstacle to achieving my goal was the motivation to stick to a plan. This actually turned out to be quite easy once I started. Motivation was found in the progress I quickly saw once I put the plan into action.
- Change my diet
- Become more active
I will be covering each of these in subsequent blog posts.
A year after starting this process, I am now 195lbs and have run both 5k and 10k races. I went from sitting most of the time to enjoying getting outside for some running. The weight loss and running have definitely made me a healthier person and lab work I had done in February was, for the first time in decades, perfect. Every test item was in normal range.
So what now? Well, I have a new goal. It is the Flab to Fab goal. I lost nearly 100lbs and that has left me with a distinct lack of upper body muscle and I am still carrying too much body fat (at roughly 23% currently). I am flabby. I wish I had a Hanz and Franz in my back pocket to ‘Pump Me Up’, but alas it is on me to make this change. This is going to be much tougher than the weight loss journey though. In part because I do not enjoy weight training as much as I enjoy running and there are more moving parts and variables going into building muscle.
I have my targets though, sort of. Part of the problem with this journey is that I don’t have a number as a goal. I can use various numbers like body measurements, but ultimately this is going to be a how I look and feel sort of thing. I am also starting this at possibly the worst time, SUMMER. The summer heat knocks all the motivation wind out of my sails. However, I am determined to make this happen and I have 6 month in which to do it.
Follow along with me on my journey. Your encouragement and any advice will be most helpful.
For now, here is the results of my weight loss journey in the form of a before an after picture.
