Back in January I started going to the pool at my local Y and lap swimming. I weighed 190 pounds, all of it on my waist line. I bought some decent goggles, some ear plugs and even a couple pair of long Speedos. Yeah, that was kinda embarrassing, but I didn’t care. I swam three times a week and gradually built up to swimming for 30 minutes a session. After a few months, I could swim the full 30 minutes without stopping for long periods to catch my breath.
Four months into my program I started noticing that I was losing weight. As of last month, I had lost 15 pounds. That’s effectively two waist sizes. Suddenly none of my current clothes fit me. Even my poor belt didn’t have enough holes in it to keep my pants up. Now to be sure, I did more than just swim. I started to eat less. And I cut out nearly all snacking before bed. The occasional peanuts or cheese was allowed but usually, nothing. I also stopped drinking soda. Man, that alone accounted for at least five pounds!
Along with losing the weight, I also gained muscle tone. My physique is actually more toned now than I was at half my age. I would still like to lose a little more, but lately, I slipped back on a few pounds. So I’m back to my regular routine. Losing weight has done wonders for my health and energy levels. It’s lowered my stress levels and been good for my self esteem.
This summer I’ve been swimming at my local outdoor pool and that has been fun. I like seeing the spray of water back lit by the sun on the pool bottom as I swim freestyle. It’s also starting to even out my Baseball tan lines. Getting back into shape has had one extremely important side benefit for me. It has given me more energy to play with my kids and also to write. We go on family bike rides and walks now, and I find that I have more energy to sit at the laptop and write longer. All improvements to my quality of life and health and happiness.
I’m proud of you Ken:):) Keep up the good work:) I’ve lost twenty pounds and feel Great also. I want to lose another ten, but it looks like it will be slower to do!!!
Thanks Steve. Keep up the walks. My brother does that at lunch too. I used to walk around the HP campus, but stopped and decided to use the time to read. ;-) Now I think I’m addicted to the swimmer’s high so I think I will be able to stick with it for a while. Ideally I’d like to never stop. We shall see.
Good job on the weight loss, Ken. I certainly liked it when I could regularly use the Wii as well. And now that it’s been a few months since I could do that, I’m feeling the effects of stopping. Seems so strange to have lived a long time this way, but how weird it feels to not be exercising regularly (although, these days I’m trying short walks before eating lunch when at work).