I’ve never considered myself extraordinary. I’ve never considered myself inspirational. To be honest, I never really thought of myself as reliable, persistent, and never really thought I could see difficult things through.
 
In October, I got an email at work asking for feedback on the personal trainer they employed in our gym. In 7 months, I had no idea he existed. I asked for some details and was blown away to discover that in addition to our gym being free, working with the personal trainer was as well. You were able to meet with him twice a week for 30 minutes. I’d recently turned 30 and was still in a funk about that, not to mention one of my closest friends went from a regular, slim guy to JACKED what seemed like overnight. He seemed like he felt better, was more confident, just loving life.
 

Sure, there were Boot Camp classes, Spinning classes, Zumba, etc, but I was horribly, horribly out of shape. I knew I wasn’t capable of keeping up with a class like those. And despite the fact that I know people go to these classes to become fit, I wasn’t prepared to be the new guy in class with no idea of what he’s doing. I’ve always been very self-conscious, and I couldn’t force myself to go to the classes. I sat down and talked to my wife, who suggested I try going before work in the mornings.
 
Let me say- for a place with a free gym, complete with sauna, cardio machines, free weights, and loads of weight machines, I was astonished when I only regularly saw two people up there in the mornings. It was commonplace to see the same guy busting out ab work and the same girl working on toning her arms. I continued meeting with the trainer twice a week, and going to the gym in the mornings another 3 days. I told my wife I continued so religiously because if I slacked off, the trainer would know.
 
Then it happened. The company no longer provided a trainer. We were able to continue seeing him if we chose, and he was still allowed to come to our facility to work out, but he was no longer essentially an employee. His rates were fair, but I couldn’t justify paying them. Whenever I don’t know what to do, I go back to my wife, and I was clueless. I couldn’t do this on my own. She helped me talk out what I thought and felt, and I realized that the reason I was sticking with the gym wasn’t because I had someone to help- I felt accountable. I felt like I had to do this not just for me, but because I had someone dedicating their time and attention to me.
 
I immediately went to the two places I knew people would listen because they pretty much had to: Twitter and Facebook. I spilled my weight, my goals, everything. I started providing updates as there were changes and transitions. I felt accountable to the people who began replying to my posts, clicking that like button, and retweeting me. I felt like I needed to continue this for me AND them.

The short answer on how I’m doing this: I immediately eliminated a 500 calorie 32 ounce soda from my diet. I was drinking one every day. That’s the 3500 calories they say you need to lose to drop a pound a week. I’m in the gym 6 days a week for a minimum of 45 minutes each of those days.

The long answer if you want details(and it is a long answer):
Step 1: Set multiple goals. My final goal is to be down to 180. Going from 246 down to 180 seemed impossible. I wanted to quit before I started. I found if I gave myself more attainable goals, I didn’t feel so overwhelmed. 246 to 225 seemed possible. Once I hit 225, I had something to celebrate. My next goal is 200, then 180. I’ll feel accomplished at each goal.
 
Step 2: Become accountable. I don’t care who you’re accountable to. The more people the better. The more you feel like you’re going to let someone down, the harder you’ll push to achieve your goals. The second I distributed to 500~ Twitter followers and 100~ Facebook friends what my weight was and where I wanted to be, I immediately received encouragement. I still get it every time I update those same folks. It’s a little push every time you tell these people you made yourself accountable to that you’re achieving what you essentially promised them you would.
 
Step 3: Find a trainer. You don’t have to meet with a trainer every day, every week, every month. I met with a trainer 5 times over the course of a month and a half, and he helped me establish what kind of work I needed to do to get where I wanted to be. He was also a part of step 2. If I wanted a snack, I felt he’d know, and he’d punish me for it. Good punishment, but punishment none the less.
 
Step 4: Become educated. Find a good cardio workout you enjoy. Find out how many calories it burns. Know that there are lots of myths that are perceived to be fact, like “more weight & fewer reps = ripped, but less weight and more reps = toned.” Do some simple math knowing that 3500 calories burned is the equivalent of a pound lost. Pair your cardio with light toning weight work, and you can start losing the pounds. An example of the workouts I’m doing:
 
4a. 1 hour 4.0 mph walking on a 15% incline. I do this for a mile, then take a couple of minutes to cool down at 3 mph @ 4%. Repeat. In an hour, if I’m consistent, I burn about 1000 calories. I do this at least 4 days a week. There’s a pound a week. If you’re comfortable running, you’ll burn more, but I find the inclined walk burns as many calories as a 5 mph jog for an hour, and causes my knees less stress.
 
4b. I do all weights in 4 sets of 15 reps unless noted otherwise: 4 sets of 25 reps on an ab machine(I’m currently maxed on this machine at 150 lbs. Someone offer an alternative?), 60 lb preacher curls(30 lb each arm), 70 lb triceps extensions, 70 lb lat pulldowns, 80 lb bench presses, 60 lb shoulder presses, 60 lb flys, 50 lb leg curls, 50 lb leg extensions, 50 lb glute extensions, 40 lb inner thigh machine, 40 lb outer thigh machine, 120 lb calf extensions. I try to do at least 4 of these exercises 6 days a week. Maybe Monday is curls/extensions/bench/lats. Maybe Tuesday is flys/leg curls/leg extensions/triceps. Mix it up, keep it interesting.
 
4c. Know that cool down days are just as important as workout days. Your muscles need time to rebuild as you destroy them with every workout. again, become educated.
 
Step 5: Dieting DOES NOT WORK. Changing your eating habits does. Identify calories you waste, and eliminate them. Example: I was drinking a 32 oz soda daily. I did the math and found that my soda was 500 calories. 500! I cut this out and saw immediate results. Learn portion control. You’ll feel silly for a few days with a measuring cup pouring exactly a cup of Cheerios and half a cup of skim milk, but it helps. You’ll eventually get frustrated when you’re not able to measure out your portions.  Breakfast for me is a 200 cal protein shake before I work out, another after, and usually a 150-170 cal bowl of cereal with skim milk(150 being the cereal and milk combined). Lunch is usually 300-400 calories, dinner the same. Get the majority of your calories early while your metabolism is up. Drink lots and lots of water.
 
Step 6: Work, work, work, work. You’re going to lose like crazy when you first start. Then you’re going to hit a plateau. You just will. Understand this and prepare for it mentally. I lost about 20 lbs in 2 months(it’s probably more than 20 lbs of fat, but it’s hard to account for the muscle you add), then fell flat for 3 weeks. Consistently 221 lbs. I’ve worked through the plateau, changed up my workouts, and I’ve lost 3 lbs in 3 days. The plateau is coming. BE MENTALLY PREPARED.

I know this is a lot to read, but that’s because it’s been a lot of change. I have worked harder at this than I have anything in my life. Understand that I do realize I’m an exception. I’m consistently losing about a pound a day. I’m not sure how, but I continue to do it. Any other questions, I’m more than happy to answer. Feel free to ask.