It is an early Monday morning. I get out of bed to get ready for work and before getting in the shower, I sleepily step on the scales - 205. ~sigh~ I go about the rest of my morning and go in to work. For the last two months it has been this way, except that the number has been increasing, slowly inevitably, again.
This time last year, I began walking vigorously every day during lunch. That mixed with reducing my intake of food brought down my weight to 190 over the course of about 4 months. Hurray! Well, kind of. I was generally always hungry, tired, and as soon as I took my focus off of my health to do something insane, like work or consider my personal home life, it all fell apart. I've been moving that dial upwards every day since. Plus, I am just tired all of the time. There has got to be a better way.
A few months ago, my wife was introduced to Visalus and "The Challenge." She used their products and lifestyle change recommendations to lose over 30 lbs - all without having to drastically change her lifestyle and also without having to starve! I watched it all happen over the course of the first 90 days and now into her second 90 day period. I would quiz her on her health, mood and hunger and she continuously responded back that she felt good, had plenty of energy, and didn't really think about breakfast or lunch. It was easy.
Impressed, I started looking into it and saw that it was a protein "shake" meal replacement and that you could use it to do more than just lose weight. People were also using it to help build muscle mass - as a protein boost after working out. Interesting. I had been putting off starting a new health regimen mostly because, frankly, it is a pain in the butt! I hate having to worry over diet and adding a new time consuming routine to my already overtaxed day. However, if she could reach these results this easily, I really didn't have an excuse any more, so, I decided to try it.
That was last week. This morning I got on the scale and was magically 4 lbs lighter. This is a good start. So, what am I doing?
My Challenge
Obviously, it isn't magic. If you consume less that 2000 calories in a day, you will lose weight. The problem is that most people feel like they are starving on a <2000 calorie diet. The shakes are high in protein, low in carbohydrates and are less than 200 calories, depending on what you mix the Visalus with. By itself, a serving of Visalus is 90 calories. The protein is the secret. Protein is the best tool in your weight loss toolkit for not feeling like you are famished! Plus, this stuff tastes good to boot!
My ideal weight for my age and height is about 185. My goal for the next 90 days then is to lose 20 lbs. I know I can do this as I have done it before. This time however, I want to also incorporate my other goals and really test this system out! As, I am less interested in the weight loss as I am in building muscle and therefore increasing my metabolism (making it easier to keep the weight off once I reach my goal) I am only fully replacing one meal and using a second shake after my workout.
I am one week in and so far this has been very easy. With the help of a trainer at work, I am having very productive results with my workouts. (more on that in Goal 3)