Part 2: “The Fat Yogi’s Bag of Tricks” Before During and After Photos of 41 Pound Weight Loss

May 11, 2011 By 5 Comments

From 230 Pounds to 186 Pounds!!!!

Yesterday is was 40 pounds today it is 41 pounds…..woohoo!!! Bill snapped todays photos and he was impatient. I interrupted his birthday eggs to take this picture. Tonight we are going to the Ordway to see the hit new Broadway musical, Next to Normal, to celebrate his big day! Hence the photos are a little blurry.

December 17, 2010 Wow I was FAT!!! 230 Pounds!!! Looking trim at 189.6 Pounds!

 
 

189.6 Pounds!!!!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So how exactly did I lose the 41 pounds? Not only did I start on the Slow Carb Diet, I discovered it weakness after I lost the first 20 pounds and based on my years of studying and real life experience I developed this bag of tricks to actually lose weight and keep it off.
 
The Fat Yogi’s Bag Of Tricks
  1. Binge weekly: at least one day per week as noted in my food plan.
  2. Weigh Daily: Ignore what the pros say about weighing weekly. There is no research that shows that weighing weekly is better than weighing daily. Daily weights give you a running total of what direction you’re heading.
  3. Identify a weight range of six pounds, three pounds each direction and make sure on a Day-to-Day basis you are staying within that 6 pound range.
  4. If you are losing weight only record your weight weekly, on the same day, at the same time. This is your official weight. Through the week during this phase you are looking to see if you are staying within the range for that weeks weight loss. If you at anytime during the week you creep to 4 pounds above the range, look at what your eating.
  5. It is OK to cheat between cheat days. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you have to open your mouth like and swallow that ball whole and fast. You need to create rules for cheating. These rules are to help you balance your goals with real life actions. Rules for cheating give your permission to start over each and every meal.
  6. Allow yourself a bag or two of popcorn, no added butter and a diet coke once or twice a week, it must replace a meal or a snack and if the next day you get on the scale and your out of your safe weight range , double down on the food plan.
  7. Once you have gotten the first 20 pounds off it is time to pull back on the beans a bit and focus on lean meats and vegetables. I will eat beans only once a day and many days are sole veggies and protein.
  8. Protein bars with zero grams of sugar. I eat Think Thin protein Bars. Buy these by the box full, you will eat them a lot!!!!
  9. Get used to feeling hunger. This is an entire post all on its own and it really has a yoga connection. Which is why it is a post all on its own. Let me just tell you there is power in developing a healthy desire for the feeling of hunger. REAL LIFE CHANGING POWER!!!
  10. MOVE everyday. Even if I don’t make it to a yoga class everyday, I practice yoga daily! Getting your joints open and moving creates space for fluids to work in your joints. If you’re not opening your joints and moving them they get stiff and stuck and there is no room for joint fluids to move around.

Part 3: Hunger Pain and The Yoga Connection!

 

Filed Under: Beyond Yoga, bikram, exercise, Food Plan, Motivation, weight loss, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

198 Pounds: I am in the Onederful Club!

March 3, 2011 By 5 Comments

Last Saturday morning I finally hit 198 Pounds and am under 200 pounds. This week has drug on like the weight is not coming off. The few times I got on the scale I actually weighed more than last weeks low, until this morning, 198 pounds, again! So, hopefully, if I stay off the scale until Saturday, I will be under 198 pounds on ‘weigh-day’.

Even though it seems that I am losing the same week this week that I lost last, my body is visibly thinner, so much so that Bill noticed it while we were watching American Idol last night. Bill is a total American Idol fan, and this year truth be told, so am I. At least none of the Palin kids are on this one, last year when Brandi got sent home, Bill went totally ‘Wisconsin’ at the TV set….back to the point…we’re sitting there watching the show and Bill is looking at me and he goes, “Will, your nose is getting smaller”.

I guess I can add that to his list of of loving observations; “your face is not as large as a globe anymore”, “you arms don’t hang like a gorilla’s any more”, “the house doesn’t shake when you walk around it”,  or “oh look at your jacket, it almost fits”. Of course I made one of those up!

But I have noticed changes this week, my POLO jeans, that I have not had on my ass in several years went on easily. I am so taking those to LA today! During yoga I noticed that I almost have only one chin. The triple chin is long gone and the double chin is half-gone. It may even be 3/4 gone, but it is definitely smaller.

I won’t have my scale to weigh myself for the next 9-10 days, but I am going to be in Los Angeles for the Yoga Asana Championships. From there I will be hotel hopping around California visiting friends and family. This poses a challenge for a person wanting to live a healthier lifestyle. Where am I going to do yoga at? Where am I going to swim at? How am I going to eat? This is where some creative planning come in.

Doing Bikram Yoga while I am gone is simple. I will just go to the Bikram website, click on the World Headquarters Schedule and go to a class. In fact there is one tonight at 7:45 PM that I will be attending. While I am there I will try to take a class with Bikram himself, or even his wife.

There is a great website for swimming locations. It helps you find the best pool, that is closest to you.

As for the diet, you can bet that Chipoltle Burrito will be my friend for dinner. I will consume a large amount of protein bars, which are not perfect, but they will get me through tough spots. I will locate a local store for hard boiled eggs and keep a stock of fresh veggies in my hotel room. It should be pretty easy as long as I am prepared with protein bars.

I will probably eat a higher protein diet similar to Atkins with a heavy dose of vegetables, low on the beans. It is simply easier to eat a high protein diet when you’re on the road when your options are fewer.

So that is my plan. I would like to come home and be around 195 pounds.

Eric the studio owner asked me yesterday if it was all yoga or yoga and diet that have changed my life. It is both! One fo the interesting things about yoga is that you really do change what you eat the more you practice yoga. Your body literally request that you eat better or your yoga practice suffers. It is most amazing how the cravings for crap leave you once you actually make the committment to eat better.

I have found this ‘slow carb’ diet very easy to follow and I can do it for month after month with ease. Of course I live for pig-out days and I have developed some really cool tricks for breakfast that I will be sharing with you.

So I have a plan for SDY, (Swim, Diet, Yoga) while I am in California. I will be interviewing yoga teachers, I will be filming the local yoga champions, and taking pictures for the blog.

I have found that having a plan makes it easier to stick to a plan and eating and doing yoga are lifestyle changes. Besides practicing yoga at new and different studios introduces you to new people and new types of yoga!

Filed Under: bikram, weight loss, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

OMFG!!! Check out my before and during photos! WOW my belly is going going ……..

February 18, 2011 By 27 Comments

Yesterday was day 53 of the 60 Day Yoga Challenge. It feels so good to see that I am capable of what I thought I was not capable of. If I can do it anyone can do it.

Only seven days to go till I complete the Bikram Yoga 60 Day Challenge. There are many things going through my mind as I near this first step in creating a healthier lifestyle for myself. Perhaps the most compelling thoughts are those related to my ability to stick with this self-imposed commitment.

60 Days of Yoga, not missing one day, no matter what, now that is committment! I was pretty confident when I started this that I would be able to do 60 straight days. I had done about 20-25 classes between Thanksgiving and Christmas preparing myself for the 60 Days. I knew it was coming, Tracy, who attends the same yoga studio I do was fast approaching 200 straight days when she challenge me to do 30. I, of course being all butch and masculine decided, I’d do 60 days.

December 17, 2010 230 pounds!

February 17, 2011 I weighed 202 pounds yesterday for a total weight loss 28 pounds.

 

That was a hell of a commitment. What was I thinking? To tell you the truth, I was feeling pretty desperate. My body was falling apart. I felt like shit. I was miserable. I needed relief and I needed a challenge. I needed to struggle and fight my way back to living. I needed a mission and a focus. Tracy’s challenge was just what I needed.

December 17, 2010 Left side photo

February 17, 2011. Just two months later my belly is shrinking! I can totally do another 30-40 pounds!

 

Let me be the first to say that this has been a battle. It has been a personal war on my own attitudes and a war on my body. I am not a flexible person. Many of these poses feels like I am stretching cold hard rusted steel into position instead of a sinuous body.

Yet I have prevailed. I have only seven days left. I am going to make it, nothing can stop me from hitting this first goal. Yoga is a life long practice that generates life long well-being and I have benefited tremendously from the last two months of yoga.

My injuries have begun to be healed. I can walk with ease and have started to swim five nights per week. I have lost four inches on my waist. I have plenty of energy and I have hope for a better and more healthy life. I have lost about 30 pounds. All from yoga!

If you think yoga won’t change your life or burn off fat or improve your mood, I challenge you to do 60 Days of yoga and see if your life does not improve. Besides look at the photos!

Filed Under: bikram, exercise, Motivation, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Day 42 of 60 Day Challenge (weight update): Why is this so damn hard and why do I want to give up?

February 7, 2011 By 6 Comments

 

This is my Eagle Pose, as you can see I am grabbing my shoulders. I did it this way for years and only a week ago I started being able to catch my hands in the first part. See below!

Total Weight Loss: 23 Pounds as of last Saturday!  

Last week was a real difficult week. Have you ever been to that place where the desire to just surrender seems overwhelming and that bag of gummy bears or chocolate ice cream screams out…..just eat me!

Well that is where I am at! But I made a commitment. I committed to 60 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge and I feel so much better as a result. Not just physically better, but mentally better, so why would I begin to even question my resolve in light of such positive improvements?

You see how my arms are crossed and I caught my thumb.....that is a major accomplishment for me! I am so tight that I have not been able to do this in 4-5 years of practice, but after 30 something days in a row, my shoulders released enough to do it!

I’ll tell you why. We are lazy! Humans seek the path of least resistance and it takes a formidable commitment to overcome that inherent laziness. When I committed to eat better in December I was so miserable that it would have been more difficult to continue eating and resisting exercise than it would be to change.

However almost two months later, my health issues have begun to resolve, my body feels and look a lot better, and I am no longer miserable. So my mind starts telling me to let up just a little, enjoy life. That bag of gummy bears is only 500 calories, it is not going to add 23 pounds, but would I be able to stop at one bag? That is the question? Which is why I am glad to have a binge day once a week!

So with all these emotions running around and a deep feeling of insecurity and doubt, I have to remind myself of the commitments I made to change my life. I can’t give up yet!

Here you can see Kate doing it right and me looking like THE FAT YOGI! My leg won't bend all the way around and I am struggling. The point is that I am at least trying and my body is changing slowly going in the right direction. That is how it starts! You simply can't be afraid to go to yoga. You just have to go and watch your body change. I never once believed I would be able to catch my thumb in this pose, now I believe I can eventually get to where Kate is. Though I never will if I don't go!

 

I made a commitment to do a 60 Day Challenge. In the beginning I was ready to make a 30 day commitment and I increased it to 60 Days on a lark. Surely, I can do it, I thought. During the initial days it seemed like I could quit and start over because I was not very far into the committment, now at day 42, there is no way in hell that I would quit and start over when the goal is within my reach. In fact I have been playing with adding an additional 30 days. 

But what accounts for my doubts? I know that I am going to finish the 60 Day Challenge. But what about getting below 200 pounds and down to 175 pounds or even 155 pounds?

Do I have what it takes to get through this emotional block? Do I really believe I can do it? Why is this so damn hard today?

I don’t always have the answers. Nothing about this life is easy. It is a struggle and I have to believe that I will succeed. It is a must, but that does not mean I am going to breeze through this time of change with ease. It just means I am going to have to be real and accept that self-doubt always creeps in when we are about to achieve something great!

Filed Under: Beyond Yoga, bikram, Motivation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Can You Imagine Doing Bikram (Hot Yoga) For 31 Days In A Row And Hitting a Brickwall? Plus WEIGHT UPDATE!

January 27, 2011 By 8 Comments

This me on December 17, 2010 at over 230 pounds! Like the way my belly hangs over my yoga shorts!

The First Two Photos are Before and During Photos, after that I do Triangle Pose! I say during because, I still have about 50 pounds to lose.

Yes, I have completed 31 days of Bikram Yoga in a row. My goal is to complete a 60 Day Challenge and I am now more than half way there. So let’s look at the numbers:

  • On December 17, 2010 my blood pressure was 149/90, yesterday is was 115/75. That apparently it an athlete’s blood pressure.
  • On December 17, I weighed more than 230 pounds. I used 230 pounds as my start weight, when I called to get my blood pressure the doctor’s office informed me I was 233 pounds. As of  Saturday I was 209 pounds, bringing my total weight loss to 24 pounds.
  • In December I completed at least 20 Bikram classes and on December 27, 2010 I began my 60 Day Challenge. Today will be day 32! Yesterday was day 31!

Here I am getting ready for Triangle Pose. You can see my belly is not as large as the picture above. It surely does not hang as low. Another 50 pounds to go!

So those are the numbers. My blood pressure is down and my weight is down and I feel fabulous. Though last night during my 31st consecutive day of yoga you would have thought it was my first class ever. I hit a brick wall as soon as we began the floor series. My heart rate escalated and I did my best to control my breathing, but alas I ended up fleeing the class for my inhaler, though I was able to calm my self down and did not need to use it.

Once I returned to class, I laid down and waited for the next pose. I did a few of them and by time we got to Camel Pose I could only do one of them. I was done. I hit a brick wall in class and it did not matter what happened next. I was done for the day. I just laid there until the final breathing pose. Of course after 31 straight days I should be kind to myself and realize that my body is going through changes. It seems like my hips are really sore in triangle pose, at least coming out of it. 

Begin Triangle Pose By Bringing Your Amrs Over Your Head.

I spoke with my instructor about how completely impossible it was to move and she said that doing a 60 Day Challenge is tough and that I will hit a few more brick walls before I finish the 60 days.

So I have to ask myself if it is worth it? Hell yes! I go to the fires of hell for 90 minutes each day. I bend, flex and contort my stiff, almost 50-year-old body into positions that I could do when I was 20. The end result is that I move through the rest of the day with ease and with no pain.

Generally you would step to the right, I had to step to the left and bring my arms down due to the space in the class.

Is it worth it? Last Saturday Bill and I were coming home from the gym (him), yoga (me) and I was walking in the house when my pants slipped down to my knees. Yes they are so loose that they fall off. Bill said, “Will, can you please go a size lower, I know you like the feeling of jeans falling off, but really”!

So then I spent the next 20 minutes trying on various sizes of pants. My waist is no longer 38 inches it is 35 inches! I only have one pair of jeans in this size, but in 34 inch jeans I have about six pairs. This morning Bill noted that my 35 inch jeans looked like they were getting to big also.  Cannot complain about that.

Next I bent my right leg down, till it was a letter T. Notice my rigth foot is turned to the right.

So yes, last night I hit a brick wall in yoga. I was emotionally and physically exhausted, today will be day 32 and I am going!

You never know how committed you are to something until you review where you are to where you came from. I am not sure what clicked inside me this time to really focus my attention on this commitment of eating right and exercising everyday. Was it a realistic fear that I was killing myself? Was it a desire to have a rockin-sexy-body, or was it I just wanted to enjoy a life free of pain? Whatever it was I found inspiration to commit to something real and life changing. For that I am grateful.

Here I am in Triangle Pose. You should have seen my belly in this pose before I lost 23 pounds!

Filed Under: bikram, Motivation, weight loss, Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 38 other followers

%d bloggers like this: