I'm 6'1" and 42 yrs old. About 6 months ago I was up around 240 now I'm down below 215 and still dropping. My goal is 190. Diet and exercise are the key and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) helps speed things along. Any plan needs to be a lifestyle change. Most people who diet, if they reach their goal, end up putting back on more weight than they originally lost because they reward themselves by going back to their old habits. I've seen it and I've done it.
I simply couldn't agree with this any more. The end of last summer I had a routine physical and when the doctor got the blood work back, she called and let me know my cholesterol was starting to get elevated. I'd been skinny my entire youth (I was a baseball player) and stayed that way until my career ended in college because of a shoulder injury. After that, not having routine exercise and training took it's toll on me.
When I was in college, I weighed around 160 lbs. At the time the blood work came back, I weighed nearly 240 lbs. I'm right at 6 feet tall and 37 years old.
The blood work convinced me I needed to do something. I changed my diet, started watching what I was eating, cut out all soda and started drinking nothing but water. At the same time, I began easing myself into doing P90x. I made it through about two weeks before I started having knee pain, so I took a break, but I continued to watch my eating and still drinking nothing but water. In the two weeks following the blood work, I dropped about 10 lbs and, more importantly, I dropped my cholesterol 26 points! I was so proud of myself!
But I did exactly what you said...I started rewarding myself by going back to my old habits. Before I'd knew it, I'd gained back most of the weight, and I can probably guess that my cholesterol is back up again. I've been thinking about this a lot lately and have decided to start over again and really commit myself to sticking with both the diet and exercise.
