You see, Mr. Herron lost a substantial amount of weight since the time my daughters went to CHCS -- an inspiring amount of weight, as a matter of fact. After much consideration, he has agreed to let me post some "before" and "after" pictures, which I will do somewhere in the midst of his articles. You will be amazed. And now, I give you (drumroll, please)... the Herron Chronicles, part one:
You know there's a problem when you get out of breath going up a short flight of stairs... when you have difficulty finding clothing that fits... when you look in the mirror and can't understand who the person is looking back at you... when you get angry because you have allowed this situation to develop due to a lack of self-discipline... when you get frightened and realize that if some drastic actions aren't taken immediately, your life may be much shorter than you expect. I decided to do whatever it took to completely change my circumstances. I realized that I was the owner of this health-threatening and perhaps life-threatening problem. There was no one else to blame but myself.
Thus was the beginning of my commitment ten years ago to remake and overhaul my physical condition. I use the word "commitment," because without a deep and intense commitment, nothing is going to happen. Substantial weight loss and getting into good physical condition is a perfect example of the adage; "the future is created by actions... not intentions." The motivation behind the action was the two powerful emotions of fear and anger. You have to create new and different eating behaviors. You have to decide to "eat to live rather than live to eat." The key to successful weight loss, keeping the weight off, and getting into good physical condition is based on lifestyle change. There are no shortcuts. It is simply desire, determination, priorities, and hard work.
In the beginning, I began by reducing my total consumption of fat in the food I ate. I examined everything in terms of its fat content. Since there are more than twice as many calories in every gram of fat as there are in any other kind of nutrient, I was immediately able to reduce my caloric intake with fat control. The bottom line for anyone who wants to lose weight is the same... you must expend more calories than you consume. Period. You must learn to live by eating fewer calories. It isn't about the latest fad diet. You don't spend the rest of your life on a diet. It is about basic changes in your eating habits. It's about what you eat and how much you eat.
And, you must increase your activity level so that your metabolism will increase and you will expend some of those calories. In the beginning, I started simply walking up and down the side streets in my neighborhood. I was soon briskly walking three miles a day -- every day. You have to increase your heart rate -- I can tell you more about that later.
That was the strategy -- in the beginning. Later, adjustments would be forthcoming in nutrition and exercise since the initial plan needed revised as I made progress. My nutrition and exercise routines today are quite a bit different than those I followed in the beginning.
This isn't really about pounds. It's about body composition. Muscle weighs more than fat. You want to be muscular because lean muscle burns more calories than fat -- even when you are asleep. The way I could tell I was making progress toward my goals was in the changes in my clothing sizes. Just to show what can be done, today I wear the same waist size I wore when I graduated from high school in 1969 -- size 34.
Later, I'll tell you how I keep my weight under control and how I maintain a very high level of physical fitness... regardless of age.
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