Hi, my name is Steve, and I am overweight. And I am proud to say that I’m overweight, as six months ago I was on the brink of being classified as a morbidly obese guy. With a BMI of 38.3, I was easier to jump over than to walk around. Genetics was one of the factors to blame, but not the only one – although I come from a family where obesity is hereditary, it was not the only culprit. My sedentary lifestyle and my love for sweets was the main issue here. And when I found myself panting hard when climbing the stairs to get home, I knew something had to be done.
I’ve changed quite a few things in my life ever since, and the results have started to show.
First of all, I altered my daily diet and excluded two of the most abundant sources of carbs – sweets and bread (plus anything pastry). I also try to avoid eating after 6 o’clock. Sometimes I get hungry, though – in such cases I only eat fruit. I’ve not abandoned pasta, rice and potatoes, though. After reading a lot of articles about diets and weight loss, I didn’t want to rush things – my goal was to lose weight gradually and to avoid any ill effects it might have on my health.
But eating less carbs is far from being enough to lose weight. I’m not a person to go for a jog, so I chose the next best thing – biking to the gym each morning. Biking serves as a perfect warm-up to get my blood pumping in the morning. I also spend one hour at the gym each morning, lifting weights and stretching my muscles.
The result: in just six months I’ve lost 45 pounds without having to starve and without killing myself with training and effort. Besides, I sleep better, and generally feel better about myself. My BMI is now 31.8 – still not ideal, but I have all the time in the world to improve it.
Aside from eating less and moving more, there is another important change I made in my everyday life: I now dedicate a part of my day to relaxation. Mens sana in corpore sano, the ancient saying goes – but the reverse is also true: for a healthy body you need a healthy mind. And, as I am an active guy (I know, this sounds like a contradiction) I don’t just stargaze or meditate. Instead I like keeping my mind occupied and my body relaxed.
This spring I found a new hobby – a card game I like to play online. It’s called Blackjack, and it is among the most entertaining games I’ve ever played. When “game time” comes, I put the work aside for the day and head to the Royal Vegas online casino for my daily dose of cards. It’s easy to get started as a player at the Royal Vegas. Basically Royal Vegas is a real money gaming portal, but you can also play their games free of charge, for the fun of it. Blackjack is the perfect combination of skill and luck, allowing me to keep my mind off the daily chores and focus on the game for a while. And the best part of playing games at Royal Vegas that each month I walk away with some extra cash in my pocket – enough to cover my gym subscription, and often quite a few protein bars at the side.
The moral of my story is that you have to find balance in your quest for the perfect weight. Starving yourself will never be a long term solution – it will almost certainly do more harm than good. In my case – and I know each case is different – the solution was replacing the foods that were not good for me with more healthy alternatives, and increasing my daily calorie consumption by working out and biking.
And a final tip to conclude – when you hit the gym don’t focus on growing your muscles. To grow muscles you need calorie excess in your diet. If you try to lose weight, your muscles won’t grow as fast as you would like them to – and this can be a source of frustration, which can ultimately lead to you abandoning working out as a whole. Instead of watching yourself in the mirror, better jump on the scale once a week, and be happy to see your weight gradually melting away.
