Losin' It

The Challenge: Final Week

Contributed - Apr 14, 2011 / 5:00 am | Story: 61377

Weigh-in: Final Week

Weight: 334 lbs

This is it! Week 12 is in the books. All the measurements have been taken. Let’s get right to it.

I started at 376 lbs and now weigh 334 lbs. That is 42 lbs lost. Starting chest was 55.5”, finishing at 52.5”; starting belly was 60”, finishing at 55”; starting hip was 55”, ending at 49”, for a total of 14” lost. My starting time for the obstacle course was 1:36:42, finishing time 1:06:00 for a 30.42 second improvement.

Photo: Contributed

Dan Boundy - before and after!

The most important thing of course is the way I feel. I have energy throughout the day. I actually get restless if I haven’t worked out. I can run in short bursts without feeling like a truck ran over me. I couldn’t go up and down the stairs at the gym without feeling like my heart would explode; recently I did 8 trips up and down at the last work out. My injured knee is strong and can take the impact of running and jumping.

When you start a program like this you have all kinds of doubts. Will I get to the end? Can I do what the want me to do? Do I have what it takes this time? Will I really lose the weight? In many ways I still feel that way. I still have just under 100 lbs to go. The real challenge is showing up every day. After 12 weeks of getting myself to the gym and watching what I eat, I can say with certainty, “I CAN.”

Let me outline what I have learned:

Just Show UP! – seriously so many things come out of just making it out of bed each day and showing up. It doesn’t matter how hard you work while you are there, the key is that you are doing something you didn’t do before. With time the intensity will improve, but you won’t have that chance if you are not there in the first place.

Try – If you think you can’t do something try it anyway. You will be surprised what you can do if you just try it first. Too many people give up before they get started. There were so many exercises I thought I could never do. I shocked myself every week with things I wouldn’t even think of trying 12 weeks ago.

Diet & Portion Control – Use that hand example I showed you from week 4. We eat way too many starchy carbs in our diet. Just reverse the proportions and you will be successful. As far as diet is concerned there are far too many books and programs out there to give you the right answer. All of them pretty much say the same thing. You know what you should or shouldn’t eat. If it’s in a box or ready in five minutes you probably shouldn’t have it. Get rid of the junk and don’t beat yourself up too much if you have a treat every now and then. Start a food log. Just by having to record what you are eating you will think twice about putting it in your body if you know you have to write it down for someone to see later.

Set your Intent – Before every workout get your mind set up for it. If you enter a workout feeling blah with a mind-set to do the bear minimum then that is what you are going to get out of it. It’s still better than not doing anything at all, but if you can set your brain to give it all you've got you will be much better off. Before my last run of the obstacle course I did that. I know I gave everything of myself that I could and took 30 seconds off my original time.

Self-Compassion – In general, we are always our worst critics. If we are not first across the finish line, working out 2-3 time a day, somehow we tell ourselves we are not good enough. We are quick to judge and take away success the moment it happens. I lost 13 lbs. in the first weigh-in and the first thing I thought was that there was something wrong with the scale. We used different scales so that should be most of the loss. Why not just celebrate the fact you achieved something, right? The simple fact is you are always doing the best you can with what you have at that moment in time. Embrace yourself and give yourself a pat on the back for even trying in the first place.

The Scale – Use it sparingly and in combination with other tools. The scale is like a good stock, but in reverse. A stock will rise and fall, but over time the general trend is up. The scale is no different, but overtime the weight will come off. Be confident in what you do each day and the results will show. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There is more to fitness then what the scale says.

I also want to tell you about my friends over at George Richards Big & Tall Menswear. I have been going there for several years now to get my dress clothes for work and home. The single biggest thing I like about them is the level of service they provide. I have never felt like an outcast. Other stores have made me feel like I didn’t belong or that there was something wrong with me for needing 3XL sized clothes. In particular, Jeff Gyle the sales associate I normally deal with, went above and beyond this week.

At this time a new wardrobe is expensive and doesn’t make too much sense. I am not slowing down and I am training for the Try a Tri in August so anything I buy now will not fit in a few months anyway. Jeff agreed to dress me up in some outfits that fit properly so I can have some good before and after pictures. It is amazing how after just 12 weeks you can see such a big difference in the way youI look. I have included these pictures in a short gallery with this article.

In closing I just want to say something I think is key about the success of this program. In other gyms, over the years, everyone tries to figure out what is wrong with you. If you didn’t lose weight that week it was because of something you did or didn’t do. In my opinion this helps foster the negative energy that leads to failure. It is well intentioned of course; they are trying to find the problem. In my experience Global Fitness Centre has gone away from that type of thinking. During the time I didn’t lose weight I was never led to feel like something was wrong with me. Everyone was full of encouragement and positivity. I was encouraged to just keep going and reassured that the results would come. Without that level of support I am not sure I would have gone through to the end. Thank you to Darcia and Global Fitness Centre, you have changed many lives for the better this past three months. I am very proud to be associated with you.