Exercise is Key

I lost my first 60 pounds without any exercise at all. Frankly, when you weigh 244 pounds, exercise just doesn’t feel very good!  To lose weight, I just ate less food.  I was using Slim Fast for breakfast and lunch, and also counting WW points.  I think I was eating about 25-30 WW points per day, which equals about 1250-1500 calories per day.

When I got to 185 pounds, I stopped using Slim Fast and started following the South Beach diet.  I lost 6 pounds on the first phase of the South Beach diet, then had trouble losing any weight after that.  So, I started counting calories, in addition to following the South Beach diet principles.   I was eating 1200-1400 calories per day and still not losing any weight.  I figured that 1200-1400 calories per day was just my maintenance level of calories!

I did not want to lower my calorie intake, so I decided to start exercising to burn off some calories.  I started a program called Couch to 5k, which is a training program designed to slowly work up to being able to run a 5k (3 miles). It took me 7 months, but now I can run 3 miles!   I also lost 25 more pounds along the way!

After 7 months of running, I added biking and swimming to my workouts. I completed a Triathlon on April 16, 2005. I then went on to do another triathlon, two 5k road races, a 5 miler and a 1/2 marathon! You can read all about those races at my triathlon training blog!