Determination=Results

Even though, over the last eight months, I haven't lost a ton of weight...or as much as I've wanted to, I can see the results.

(65ish pounds down (since January) and about 20 inches in 8 months)

I've been on a weight-loss journey for for seven years now. So far I've lost 165ish pounds. Which is a pretty great number for me, coming down from over 400 pounds has been quite a struggle. I battle daily with the fact that I haven't reached my goal weight in the 7 years. Any of you who have struggled yourself with weight loss, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm not one to dwell on negatives and focus on what I've learned.

1) I have to eat to live, not live to eat. You need food to survive, to live, but I don't need it when I'm sad/mad/happy/breathing/bored/celebrating/etc. I haven't turned to food as a friend in a couple years. It doesn't make up for the fact that I did for a long time. Food was there whenever I needed it to be. Now, I look at food to fuel my body. It's a hard realize that sometimes. I've come by some great coaches and friends that have helped me learn this. I've been doing the paleo diet for six weeks now. I was strict for a month. I'm going to stick with it, I'm allowing myself rice occasionally and yogurt once a day. Mostly to switch things up.

2) Exercise is super important and my body feels weird without it. I started doing Muay Thai in 2006 under Eric Haycraft (www.realfightersgym.com). BEST DECISION EVER MADE. I learned discipline, I gained a family. I learned that I'm tough, I'm strong, and that I am an athlete. I'm a fighter. I wasn't allowed to give up, I had to try every task before me. I learned to jump rope. I learned to depend on others and reach out. Moving to Nashville was hard, because I had to leave that gym and my coach. Now at HotBox (www.hb4.me), I have learned a lot of the same things. It's a different game. I've improved on my skills, power and speed. I've gained a lot of strength from circuit training classes and flexibility in yoga.

3) You can't lose weight alone. This is not a journey taken by yourself. People help you along the way. I am fiercely independent. I don't ask for help, I throw fits when people buy my drink/meal/etc, even if the tasks takes me longer without help, I'd rather do it myself. In this journey, I have learned that I have to put my hand out sometimes and ask for help. I have to have my trainer get in my face and yell at me to keep going. I need the people on my team.

Thank you, readers, for being a part of this journey too. What's next? Well, I'm going to continue down this path. I have a bit more to go. I'm focusing on getting stronger, leaner. I'm not focused as much on a number anymore. More on how my body feels.

Good luck.

-Amos

So Easy A Caveman Can Do It

Somehow, one of my kickboxing instructors talked me into doing the Paleo Diet. I had recently come to a plateau...and I was really bitter about it. So I cut back on food, my first (what I thought was logical) decision. I was eating at least 1200 calories a day, but that wasn't sufficient enough for the amount of working out I do a day.

This is definitely a growing experience, weight loss. I don't know a ton about nutrition, I know what's bad and what's good. I've been vegan, vegetarian, I'm gluten free. I've done Weight Watchers, I've been all over the map. I'm a southerner and everything is about food.

So I gave this diet a shot. What do I have to lose? Right? The first couple weeks have been hard. I have had a couple Diet Cokes, a few grains here and there, but not daily. Spending my lunch break today figuring out recipes, because I haven't cooked meat in a very long time. I haven't had red meat since my teenage years (minus my a burger at In and Out when I was in LA).

I'll keep you posted on results and how I feel. Today, the one thing I miss is peanut butter. I really miss peanut butter.

Trust The Process

Each time I take one of these, I feel better. Anyone who struggles with weight understands the up and down of the journey. I haven't been losing a ton of weight recently, I tried a lot of the summer (because I wasn't working) to focus directly on my gym time and my food. I was pulling three-a-days at the gym and cutting back a lot on my calories. It didn't feel like it was working. Once I got a job, I felt like everything stopped. Maybe it was the stress of a new job, maybe it's because I'm super hard on myself, who knows. I don't know how much I've lost because I don't have a scale, but looking at this and measuring myself this morning, I feel like some changes are happening.

The weight loss journey, I believe, occurs in three parts. One being exercise. I know I have written a lot about being active, I don't know how to be more obvious about it. Find something you can stick to, find something you love and start doing it all the time. I get a lot of "you're crazy" when I tell them how often I exercise; I'm not crazy. I love kickboxing, I'm actually pretty good at it. When I plan out my week, I plan a lot of my life around gym time. No, I'm not cutting off friends to get gym time in, however most of my friends know what I do and accept that most of my time goes to kickboxing. I also feel so much better. I feel stronger, everyday. 

The second, and really equal with the first part, is food. Food is my biggest struggle. Not that I overeat, or eat junk food...I tend to under-eat. I have been struggling for a while to learn what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. It's a daily/weekly process. Luckily, trainers at the gym have been checking my food log, and checking in to make sure that I'm eating enough and the right things. I try to make as much of my food as I can. Like the food gummies above, I made those myself. All fresh ingredients, all things I could pronounce. I'm learning to eat to live and not live to eat. It's a process and a really frustrating one at that. I'll let you know if I come up with any tricks, but all I've found that works right now if someone to keep me accountable and Pinterest for recipes. 

(Best breakfast!! Steel cut oats, blueberries, bananas and some applesauce and protein powder)

Last but not least, having a community to keep you going. 

I enjoy going to the gym (I don't have photos of anyone..sorry, just use your imagination) because I love the community I have there. Even with the people I don't see all the time, or don't know very well, we are best friends for a hour of class. When you can look at the person at the next bag or holding the pads and they know exactly how out of breath you are and how tired you are, but they make you keep going...nothing is better than that. 

(John Wayne Parr from a seminar at Real Fighters Gym. A legend and amazing teacher. We don't train together on a regular basis...I just wanted to post this. I mean, it's JWP.)

(My favorite coach of all time, Eric Haycraft. Eric was the first coach I ever had that treated me like everyone else. I was expected to work, and work just as hard, as any other fighter in the gym. There are some training sessions that I am amazed that I survived, but I always did. I know he believes in me, even though I'm in another city and at another gym.)

There's going to be some bumps along the way, but that helps make all the high points worth it. This journey feels like it's been incredibly long and tiring. I know when I look back on this, it will seem like a blink. 

Good luck to yall.