I’m somebody who’s always had to be conscious of my weight. I’ve never had the luxury of being able to eat anything I want without worrying about gaining a few pounds. As the story goes for many a man, the weight struggle intensified when I got married. Never was this more pronounced as during my wife’s pregnancies. So with work, family, and other responsibilities it was all too easy to let my good habits slide and pick up a few bad ones along the way.
Having lost a fair amount of weight in the past at different times, I had a good idea of what it would take to lose it again. As most successful weight loss programs go, the keys to my success had to do with improved diet, exercise, and an increased level of accountability.
Some key diet factors were:
- Eat a healthy breakfast every day
- Eat smaller portions and snack throughout the day (basically I was eating six small meals/snacks a day)
- Stop eating after 7:30 PM
- Have one splurge meal per week
- Log meals on VFL.com to track nutritional intake and get a better understanding of where my calories were coming from
Some key exercise factors were:
- 20-30 minutes of intense cardio interval training 5-6 mornings a week
- 30-45 minutes of circuit weight training 2-3 days a week
- 30 minutes of moderate cardio training 2-3 nights a week
VFL.com really helped with my sense of accountability and motivation. One thing I tried to do as often as possible was log my food for the entire day in the morning. When I was able to pre-log my meals it really helped guide my eating choices throughout the day. Besides logging my meals and exercise, something else that kept my motivation at a high level was seeing the progress on the weight chart every few days. Once you see a little improvement and get on a roll, it’s easier to stick with your plan.
Now the challenge will be to keep the weight off. With tools like VFL.com, maintaining healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle will be that much easier.
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