 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
Senoia
man rides the fast track to fitness
By PAT BURTON
Special to the Journal-Constitution
Like many
others before me, I was fat, just a biscuit away from 300 pounds.
A little more than a year
ago, I hit my breaking point. A holiday party, nothing to wear. It wasn't that
I had no nice clothes to wear -- it was that none of them fit. To go out and
buy new clothes again would be to admit that I was fat again. I'd been a
frequent rider of the weight loss roller coaster. Been there, done that, got
the T-shirt, which was always quickly too tight on me.
So I changed my life.
And about a year later,
I've lost more than 100 pounds, reduced my body fat by more than 20 percent,
and gone from a couch potato to health club instructor. I've learned how to eat
and exercise, and just as importantly, I've learned what not to do.
I re-created myself at age
40.
I have always been somewhat
overweight. I'd range from about 50 to 100 pounds overweight nearly all my
life. In July 1992, on my wedding day, I was between diets and again was more
than 300 pounds.
In January
2002, I met with a nutritionist and found that when I thought I was eating
well, I wasn't. And when I knew I was eating poorly, I was really eating
poorly. I was eating too many carbohydrates, eating too late at night, and
starving myself at the wrong times during the day. We cut out 95 percent of my
carbs, reduced portion sizes and increased my intake of proteins. I also quit
eating at least three hours before bed and began eating breakfast as soon as I
got out of bed in the morning.
The diet part came fairly
easily for me. When I want, I can have ironclad willpower. But to make this a
complete lifestyle change, exercise had to play a major role. I chose to go
with what I like -- even when I was stressing out the springs on the scale, I
enjoyed cycling. I made that my main form of exercise. It's social, I enjoy it,
and one of my goals was to repeat the Six-Gap Century Challenge, a 100-mile
bike ride over six of the highest mountain gaps in Georgia. The ride consists
of 10,400 feet of climbing, and I'd done it before. I wanted to do it again,
but it takes a lot of energy to haul 300 pounds up a mountain on a bicycle.
My wife, Angie, has always
supported me in everything I do. She stood behind me through every new weight
loss scheme, and she was there through this one as well. It was Angie who
introduced me to spin classes at Gold's Gym in Peachtree City. I was a bit
skeptical, but she told me an instructor named Joe Domaleski would take me
through a class that was "awesome" and that I'd want to "throw
up" after 15 minutes. Awesome and throw up: two words that haven't appeared
together in a sentence of mine since my frat party days.
On Jan. 16, 2002, I meekly
walked into "JoeDom's" spin class. Domaleski, an Ironman, wasn't what
I had imagined. He wasn't this huge, towering drill instructor type; instead he
used personal pride to drive your motivation. And after 15 minutes, I didn't
feel like throwing up. I thought I was going to die.
Joe was in the process of
indoctrinating himself to the Heart Zones Training System, a training program
that targets all your fitness heart rate zones using a heart rate monitor and
specific indoor cycling training programs. A system that not only helped with
my weight loss goals, but put me on the fast track with my cycling fitness.
I was hooked.
This wasn't my first diet
nor the first gym exercise routine I had started. It was, however, the first
time I had a well-defined goal that would require me to lose weight and become
healthy. I knew I would not be able to do this alone. Having a support team is
very important. Mine seemed to grow with every pound I lost and every
additional hour spent exercising.
By July, I was losing about
10 pounds a month. I was eating between six and seven times a day, and that was
turning my metabolism into a furnace. I consumed huge amounts of protein and
the majority of my carbohydrates came from fruits and vegetables. Very little
grains, rice and pasta. No eating two to three hours before bed. No fruit up to
four hours before bed. A detailed log on what I ate and when, and at least a
gallon of water a day.
I am a prophet of good logs
and diaries. You won't remember how you got there unless you can look back to
see where you came from. You need to be able track achievements and note
downfalls.
I am also a gadget geek. I
use technology to keep track of my diet and exercise -- MySportTraining version
3.11 and Pocket Diet Tracker, handily loaded on my PocketPC.
By September, the month of
Six-Gap, my weight hovers around 200 pounds, yet I can climb with riders 30
pounds lighter. I have become a force to be reckoned with. On my group training
rides, I am leading the pack up the hills and feel great doing it. I am no
longer a B group rider trying to hang with the A group. I have been accepted as
an equal.
By October, I am encouraged
to become an instructor at Gold's Gym. Today I am a certified cycling
instructor -- who'd of thought?
So as 2003 begins, I
continue with my new me. Is there any thing I miss from my "old"
lifestyle? Not really. I tell you, it's nice to go to a movie, ride on a plane,
and sit in a booth at a restaurant without worrying about if I fit or being
embarrassed if I don't.
How Pat Burton's body changed January 2002
December 2002 Change
|
Pat Burton is an
information technology professional with Aaron Rents home office in Kennesaw. He
lives with his wife, Angie, in Senoia.