Category: Blog

Two weeks down…

I’ve been back on my healthy lifestyle routine for three weeks and into my fourth week now. Good news is I’m down about 8.5 pounds, bad news is that my whole body feels like its been run over by a truck. I’d forgotten how sore one gets when out of shape and starting to lift weights after a prolonged absence from any type of work-out routine.

via GIPHY

I’m still struggling with food intake. Meal prepping has helped, but again my work schedule makes it so hard to stick to any sort of routine and I’ve been sneaking in some junk food here and there. Overall I’ve taken some great strides in the right direction but still have a long way to go.

I ask myself every day – is it worth it? The sweat, the pain, the sacrifices? In the moment its hard to say yes when you’re feeling sorry for yourself, but then I remember that its my own fault that I’m in this place and that I need to persist if I am to achieve anything good.

Next weigh in is on Sunday and I’ll be taking some progress pics and posting next week. In the meantime here’s my first set of progress after the first two weeks.

My shirts fit better over my belly and I’ve noticed a slight improvement on my arms and thighs but it’s still to soon for it to be noticed. Here’s hoping my next set of progress pics show a more definite improvement.

Until then, wish me luck!

Luis

Starting Again… Again

Starting again – not where I wanted to be after all the hard work done over the last few years. Unfortunately, I slipped and find myself on the way back to where I was, which is somewhere I never wanted to find myself again!

The reason why I started this blog in the first place was to be held accountable for all my lifestyle changes and to have a sounding board on where to be able to steam all my frustrations, successes and failures, but it is hard to keep it up when life gets in the way. What can I say – I dropped the ball, hard.

via GIPHY

I can make a million excuses to explain why, but the honest truth is that I got lazy and took things for granted.

Since my last post in November of 2019, when I wrote I’d be starting over again, I did make some great strides to improve my health and overall lifestyle. Lost about 80 lbs and got in the best shape I’d been in over 10 years, however since middle of 2021, I have gone back to my unhealthy habits, stopped working out and have put on about 20 lbs back.

I’ve been afraid to step on that scale for months as I’ve seem my body gain the weight back. My self confidence is immediately affected, which affects not only my professional life but my personal one as well. Not feeling confident about how you look and imagining what people think of you only causes me to retreat more and not want to go out and be seen.

Not all has been bad. My partner and I have grown our Interior Design and Home Staging business and are now nationally recognized and I’ve also moved on from my 9-5 jobs as an engineer and now are dedicating my time to our business and my new career as a real estate agent. I love this but it’s added a lot of stress and worry to my life. I want our business to be even more successful and we’re dedicating a lot of time and resources into making it so, but as I’ve mentioned on previous posts, stress only adds to my bad habits since I am an emotional eater. I eat everything in front of me. Food comforts me, but at the same time it’s only a momentary moment of comfort because right afterwards I feel so guilty. It’s a vicious cycle.

The reason why I decided to resume my blogging is the same as it was in the beginning. I need to be held accountable and putting these words on a public platform (even if no one reads them) is a big thing. I am vulnerable and flawed but I can do better. I have to do better!

This year i’ll be turning 40 years old so now is the time to refocus and re energize my health goals and start again. My challenge this time around will be to find a balance between my every day life and fitness goals so that I don’t feel burned out again or so restricted that I’m constantly feeling like I’m at the edge of a cliff and risking falling off and into bad habits again.

I plan to get some help from a nutritionist and fitness advisor this time around and see how that goes. Food is what I struggle with the most. I like food, I like to eat and I know it’s stupid to say I want to lose weight without having to restrict myself so much but I know there’s a way to make that work. I will start working out again 3-5 times a week, but I think that this time around I really need to get my eating habits under control if I want to be successful at achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

Please stay tune as I move forward with this journey, AGAIN!

Until next time! – Luis

Starting Again…

So now that I’ve started again, I need to set the stage for the starting line. So here we go; moment of truth. Weighing myself and taking measurements was an even bigger eye opener than the pictures but since picture are worth a thousand words you can see below how bad it’s been.

So now that I’ve started again, I need to set the stage for the starting line. Back in 2017 when I first made the decision to start this blog and keep a record of my journey to a healthier life, I was just over 320 lbs. I had just come out of trying the Keto Diet and phentermine pills but the side effects of the Keto Diet (the “Keto Flu”) were horrible which made it clear that that path was not for me and was feeling very defeated because I was at my all time highest weight. I made a choice to hire a personal trainer and start working out regularly, but didn’t really change much of my eating habits. Yeah I did eat better but nothing too different from what I was used to. Working out worked, the weight was coming off, the fat was melting away and I could see my body changing. It was great, exhilarating. But too much of a good thing is not really that good. It took over my life; my day revolved around my “workout” time and everything else was not as important. It was too much, I was burnt out and hence I could not keep up that lifestyle. I stopped to take a “break” and that break became permanent.

Now I’ve reached the same weight I was back in 2017 (320+) but this time around, the weight distributed differently in my body. I don’t know if it’s that I’m just getting older or what, but I’ve never had this big of a belly. The breaking point came earlier this year when I went to a convention in Las Vegas and saw pictures of myself afterwards. OMG! I was so embarrassed and couldn’t believe I had gotten to this point AGAIN!

Below are said pics – Can’t believe I’m sharing these publicly.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had an excellent time at the convention and I thought I looked cute and stylish and came back home with lots of new ideas for our business but after seeing these, it was like a bubble bursting. I thought to myself that people wouldn’t take me seriously looking the way that I do. People tend to judge fat people, I’ve fought against that my entire adult life and I know that it’s not always true but still can’t help thinking about it. Now that I am a business owner, of a design business of all things, having a good appearance is an asset that I unfortunately can’t take advantage of. Thankfully my partner makes up for any deficits on my part.

So here we go; moment of truth. Weighing myself and taking measurements was an even bigger eye opener than the pictures but since picture are worth a thousand words you can see below how bad it’s been.

Starting Weight: 10/28/2019324 lbs
Chest50.5 in
Waist (@ bellybutton)53 in
Hips53 in
R. Thigh31 in
L. Thigh31 in
R. Bicep17.5 in
L. Bicep17 in
Neck18 in
R. Calf19 in
L. Calf19.5 in

Below are pics showing the changes from Nov 2017 to April 2019 and then to now.

Crazy how months of hard work can just go down the drain so easily. This time around I don’t plan to make the same mistakes. I’m optimistic that in a year from now I’ll still be on this journey and writing about the ups and downs but living healthier and happier.

I’ll be updating my progress on a weekly basis here and adding pictures as we move forward here. Any comments are welcomed!

Hope you stick around.

Until next time! – Luis

Shame…

So it’s been well over a year since I last posted. I dropped the ball. The reason why I started this blog in the first place was to be held accountable for all my lifestyle changes and to have a sounding board on where to be able to steam all my frustrations, successes and failures, but as just said, I dropped the ball. I had been consumed with “fitness”. What to eat, when to work out, always planning for the next day and definitely not enjoying the results of all my hard work. I couldn’t find a balance between living a healthy lifestyle and a normal life. I was burned out, so I stopped and said to myself that I just needed a month or two to unwind and then I would be able to get back on track. Obviously that didn’t happen.

Continue reading “Shame…”

Back at it…

It’s been a long while since my last post but that doesn’t mean I’ve fallen off the bandwagon. I’ve been super busy at work for the past couple of months and unfortunately I’ve neglected my blog a bit which is something I really do not want to do. Part of the reason why I created this was to keep me accountable and motivated throughout my journey and to share my successes and my struggles with whomever is interested.

Since my last check-in, when I shared I had finally pushed through my weight loss plateau it seems I’ve hit another one. I haven’t really lost much weight since and because I’ve been weighing myself more frequently now (which I told myself I wouldn’t do) I see a lot of fluctuations throughout the week that can be a bit discouraging when you feel like you’re working your ass off (literally).

Weight aside, this past month has brought me a few “non scale victories” which I am happy about. During my business travel, I was able to buckle up the air plane seat belt without the need of an extension and/or feeling like the I cut the circulation to my lower extremities as I often felt when I was too embarrassed to ask for an extension. Flying is still not as comfortable as I would like it to be but it was definitely a big improvement.

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No extension for me anymore!!

Continue reading “Back at it…”

Progress?

So after almost two weeks of traveling I’m back home. I’m still pretty busy so I had not been able to sit down and write and post something as I would’ve wanted but hopefully I can get back to my semi-normal routine soon. Lots of things going on at work, getting some more responsibilities, which is good but at the same time makes me worry. I can deal with stress, but usually that meant eating and eating and eating some more. I am an emotional eater and find comfort in food, which has been a lifelong struggle that’s hard to let go.

On one hand I managed to visit the hotel fitness center a few times during my travels, so at least I can say I tried to keep up some sort of exercise routine. On the other hand, I do not think I did as good with the food and drinks. First week I did OK, only having a cocktail (I’m a Vodka kind of guy) with dinner and keeping the snacking to a minimum  throughout the day; but during the second half of the trip I attended a conference which meant lots of business dinners and lots of free drinks. In past years I’ve been guilty of overindulging, this year I did not take it too far but still managed to drink a good amount of alcohol during the networking events. I had been tired from so much travel the week before so I was glad to end the trip on a happy and festive note so I may have slipped a bit. Compared to other years I did excellent so I’m not feeling guilty and I’m proud of myself for showing some sort of restraint but I know I still have a long way to go before I can get through one of these events without falling back into old habits. At the end of the day it was a successful business trip and I had fun, so that is really all that matters. Continue reading “Progress?”

Another week gone

I’ve been extremely busy at work this week so my days have been long and a stressful, which is something that usually triggers my over-eating. I’ve been able to remain somewhat good with my food intake this week, not great but not horrible. I did have some sweets this week and a couple of glasses of wine last night but that’s part of life. I am not going to feel guilty about having a few “treats” from time to time.

Continue reading “Another week gone”

Diet history and what I’m doing now.

Ever since people started to notice that I’ve lost some weight, the first thing I get asked is what diet am I following. Everyone wants to know if I’m doing the Atkins, or Paleo, or Keto diet; or if I’ve gone on a low fat diet, or tried a vegan diet, or even if I’m taking any medications or supplements to help with my diet. When I say I’m just eating better,  working out and not following any strict “diet”, everyone is always so surprised and almost incredulous to a point.  Continue reading “Diet history and what I’m doing now.”

Awkward Progress Pictures (3rd month)

So even though this has not been the most productive few weeks, I still need to keep moving forward and tracking my progress (no matter how small it may be).

The good news is that I have not gained any weight, however I haven’t lost any more either, which strangely makes me feel good. As mentioned on my previous post, I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately, not eating so good and having very little motivation for working out. This week, I did a little better with the food, however I didn’t get to work out as much as I would’ve wanted to but at least I got a couple of cardio sessions before driving down to Corpus Christi to attend a friend’s wedding. I had a great time seeing some old friends and celebrating the bride and groom so of course I had a few drinks and a slice of cake (no regrets here!) Continue reading “Awkward Progress Pictures (3rd month)”

Losing steam and getting back on track

I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I’ve fallen into a bit of a slump. At the end of January I got sick and in my attempt to let my body heal I might have fallen back into old habits. It’s been 12 days since my last post and since then I’ve only exercised four times, and while that is still good I haven’t really been making much of an effort with my meals. I’ve stopped planning my meals as I was doing and I haven’t been keeping track of my caloric intake (MyFitnessPal) which for me is a great tool. I’ve been busy at work so I’ve let that also affect my routine, which means I’m cooking less and ordering take out more or getting some fast food on the way home which would not be bad if I made better choices on the food ordered. As a results I’ve gone up a couple of pounds, which is not necessarily the end of the world, but it’s had a big impact on me mentally. I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am and I feel like I’ve undone all of my progress in these past few weeks. Of course that’s nonsense, but it’s easy to feel like a complete and utter failure, even if you’ve already accomplished a lot.

Continue reading “Losing steam and getting back on track”