Fitness – Re-Engineered Lifestyle

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

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.

Continue reading “Back at it…”

Quick Update

I limit the times I weigh myself throughout the week because I feel it’s too much stress. The past few weeks I’ve been struggling to lose weight so I’ve been stepping on that scale more and been disappointed every time. I’ve been fluctuating around 290 lbs for about a month now if not a bit more. I’ve been determined to push through that plateau and not let it deter me from continuing on so I’ve upped my training schedule and worked extra hard to eat better these past couple of weeks and it seems to be working. I weighed myself this morning and I’m down almost six pounds since last week. I’m now at 284lbs which is still a lot but it’s been years since I’ve been at this weight so I couldn’t be happier. Continue reading “Quick Update”

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?”

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”

Progress Update

I’ve been feeling somewhat sick this week and with work keeping me super busy and the crazy weather it’s been a struggle to keep active and find the motivation to work out and eat right. But the sacrifice is paying off. I’ve officially hit the 30 lbs lost mark. Still got a long way to go and I’m sure it’s just going to get harder but I’m in this for the long run.

Looking forward to continuing on this journey and seeing what the future holds.

Can it please be spring already?

I am so over this crazy weather. If it’s not freezing outside, it’s pouring rain (on top of the cold). I am so ready for the warmth and humidity to come back to Texas. In the six years that I’ve lived here, I think this has been the coldest and longest winter I’ve ever experienced. It’s making me really miss Puerto Rico and St. Croix and all the beautiful beaches and warm weather I gave up. But I do love it here and I will just have to put up with this a few more weeks, hopefully less.

4mAIh91 — Weather can’t make up its damn mind

This weather is conducive to only two things: eating and sleeping. In the past I would’ve relish that, bundled up in bed with the dogs while eating snacks and binge watching a series or two on Netflix. Ahhhhh the good times, but that’s now all in the past. I’ve been working hard these past couple of months and I’m not going to give it all up just because of cold rainy weather. However, with shorter days and colder weather, finding the motivation to stay healthy and fit can be difficult.

Why does this happen? Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me? I wonder if it is an instinctual act that compels us to stack up on food and fatten up during the cold months where there use to be a lack of food. At least that’s one way of explaining my constant craves these past few weeks that doesn’t make me feel like a fat ass. I’m eating right, drinking lots of water and maintaining a semi regular workout schedule, yet I feel like I’m in a bit of a rut. Thankfully we don’t keep a lot of junk food around the house anymore so it’s made it easier to abstain from eating since there’s not much around.

My workload at the office has picked up and I’ve been a bit more stressed out and irritable than usual but I can’t let that get to me. Part of the reason why previous attempts to better my health and loose weight ended up failing was because I would always come up with an excuse not to do something and when the weather is all funky like it is now it’s really easy to come up with an excuse to not workout or to eat all that comfort food and just be lazy. The problem is, once you make up one excuse, chances are you’ll make more until you fall back to your old habits. So I have to keep up with what I’m doing and find the motivation where I can, regardless of the weather and whatever might be happening at work.

I really hope that this weather starts improving soon. I want to start a vegetable garden in our back yard and I’m really looking forward to doing that as well as doing some outdoor activities. Slowly but surely getting ready for the summer.

I’ve you’ve stuck around until now, thank you for keeping up with my ramblings.

Awkward Progress Pictures (2nd Month)

I can’t believe how quickly these past couple of months have gone by. When I started this journey back in November it felt like an impossible task to do, considering that the holiday season was upon us. But now, the holidays have come and gone and we are now in a new year, full of new opportunities to take and obstacles to conquer.

The first month in my journey was really successful, more so than I could’ve imagined loosing about 21 lbs total. I was determined to to loose some weight before taking some time off to be with my family and friends in Puerto Rico so I wouldn’t have to listen to my mom and my grandmother telling me how fat I was and so I could fit better in my clothes. It is so hard finding clothes that fit and look nice on you when you’re over a certain (but that’s a topic to discuss another time). The holiday’s were a success, mission accomplished, now it was time to get back on track. I am very happy with my progress these past couple of weeks even though this week it’s been a little slow with the crazy weather we’ve been having here in Texas and with work keeping me super busy.

Continue reading “Awkward Progress Pictures (2nd Month)”

Getting back on track after the Holidays

Today’s Friday and that marks a full week since we returned from our vacations. It’s been a tough week, lots of catching up to do at work with dozens if not hundreds of emails to go through and reply to and following up on pending jobs from last month so I haven’t had as much time to write as I would’ve liked. The house is a mess, luggage is still unpacked which would normally drive my partner crazy, however given the fact that he’s been super busy at work too so I haven’t gotten “the look” yet. I still may get it this weekend if I keep procrastinating.

Even though I’ve been busy at work and as part of my 2018 New Year’s resolutions I did manage to cook pretty much every night this week, except on Tuesday when we went over to my in-laws house to celebrate my father in law’s birthday. I did have a couple of pieces of fried chicken (yum) and a slice of homemade carrot cake and I regret NOTHING. It was all delicious and we had a fun evening so to me that’s a win. The rest of the week I tried different healthy recipes that were all excellent, my favorite being these baked shrimp taquitos from the skinnytaste website. I love shrimp and this recipe is really easy to make and most importantly they taste delicious. I wish I had taken some pictures of it. Continue reading “Getting back on track after the Holidays”

Awkward progress pictures (1st Month)

So I finally took some progress pictures. I know it’s only been a little over a month and that it may not look like a lot but I really do feel like my body has changed a bit. Definitely feel like my belly has gone down and it makes me feel a little bit more confident, even though it’s still embarrassing to show these.

I put together two slide shows below with some front, side and back pictures side by side for comparison. Hopefully I’ll get better at these as I move forward.

Let me know what you think afterwards.

Continue reading “Awkward progress pictures (1st Month)”