Welcome to WalkingOffPounds.com!
My job, as a military physician, has always required a certain degree of physical fitness and readiness, but the nature of my job is at odds with that requirement. I work as a physician and administrators. I spend most of my time seated in an office answering emails and preparing operations plans for hospitals. As many of you know, some research indicates that a seated job in an office is as bad for your health as tobacco use. I suspect this is an over simplification so I would not pick up the cancer sticks.
Most of my exercise and fitness kicks were on a twice a year schedule to cram for the physical fitness tests. After years of up and down weight control through twice a year binge and purge (using dieting), I have decided to make a healthy change to maintain my weight through moderation. I need to find a better method to meet the weight standard and stay fit. There are plenty of folks in the military that resemble having an eating disorder, and I was no different with my yo-yo diet. We do this because our jobs and lifestyles conflict with one another. You are required to be physically ready to respond at a moments notice, but you work 8-12 hours a day in an office. The physical requirements are at odds with the daily job requirements.
I started in June of 2016 by reading all that I could find in books, magazine, and the internet to ready myself to change. I wanted to get away from the fad diets I tried in the past and began looking for a plan that I could maintain and continue. What I found did not surprise me. I have read it many times in medical textbooks and articles. In the past, I was, unfortunately, never able or ready to accept the truth because I always wanted a quick fix. The key to long lasting weight loss is a lifelong change to moderation and a lie long exercise plan. For me, walking off pounds just makes sense.
I created this site to share my successes and products that I have used to meet my goal of achieving a healthy weight without the use of fad diets or supplements. Taking control of your nutrition and diet will help you reach all of your goals in life because if you are more healthy, almost anything is easier. You will feel better and more confident. As I progressed through the program, my energy multiplied and I look forward to my daily workouts. My stress and sleep have also improved.
Simply put, my goal is to walk off the pounds, and this blog is a means to keep me on the straight and narrow. I ask that you, the readers, keep me focused on my new found health.
As I have successes, I will share my methods and tools so that you too can enjoy a healthy transition and better manage your health. My goal is to help you work through your path to healthy and fitness.
I look forward to following your progress as you post it here on your blog.
I came to many of the same conclusions regarding health and fitness as you have. I too want to be more fit and active…and my cardiologist would heartily agree.
As a young man I was employed as a forester which required plenty of hiking up and down steep slopes fighting through the brush in the cool and wet coastal region of the Pacific Northwest. Keeping trim was a fortunate result of the strenuous work.
Thirty four years ago I moved away to marry my Midwestern wife. My sales career did not require anywhere near the same physical exertion as my previous work. And, not surprisingly, the pounds of fat slowly found sactuary in all of the expected spots on my body.
To lose the fat and become more healthy I decided to walk much more frequently. My current job allows me the opportunity to do this.
I’m 5’7″ and I topped out at a portly and sluggish 216 pounds. It has taken quite awhile to whittle down my weight through a modest amount of walking…maybe four or five pounds a year. I was headed in the right direction, but at too slow of a pace.I was stuck around 190 pounds and seemingly unable to make much progress. A couple of pounds lost would quickly find a home around my belly. Frustrating.
So I decided to step it up and get out and walk more frequently. I used to walk 2-3 miles each day and now I have that up to 6 miles or more each day. And the calories…I’ve reduced those by 30 or 40%. It takes both exercise and a reduction in calories to lose weight.
To go from my top weight of 216 pounds down to the entrenched 190 pound spot took a handful of years. With my renewed desire to become more fit and healthy I have a shed 15 pounds in about a half year or so.
I’m feeling much more fit, healthy, and mentally satisfied. My energy and confidence is up…right along with my motivation to continue. I plan to lose another 20 pounds.I’m confident I will achieve that.
It is so very important to understand the process and to have reasonable expectations. If it took years and years to gain unwanted weight it is only reasonable to expect that it will take a fair amount of time and effort to lose it.
Success breeds success…build upon each and every victory. That will sustain your hope and motivation.
It can happen. I’m proof. My cardiologist no longer describes me as ‘indolent’…he now smiles as he walks in the room to greet me. My fit and healthy body is his success.