Lifestyle Changes in ’09

An article by Ryan    No Comments

In college, I was an avid weight lifter. I also was probably a little overweight. Hard to believe if you’ve only met me in the past few years as I am currently about 10-20 lbs underweight and very scrawny. For all my professional life, I’ve worked a desk job, the last 2 years on Oahu in a cubicle and probably never walked more than half a mile each day. Since I graduated from college in 2004, I’ve lost 30 lbs of muscle (and fat) and haven’t been feeling very healthy. I suffered from IBS for over 2 years (severe upper abdominal cramping after eating, so bad that I could never finish my meals), which undoubtedly contributed to the weight loss.

Earlier this year, I made a conscious decision to improve my quality of life and at least try to start feeling better again. I went to the doctor again to check out my symptoms, and he sent me through a ringer of tests, blood work, ultrasounds (which was performed by a friend from college… awkward). All the tests came back normal. At the same time, I began lifting light weights again. Since I did not have access to the full gym that I did in college, I bought a cheap dumbbell set and improvised with things around me, doing pull ups on a dog kennel, etc.

I also started to try to eat healthier. I cut down significantly on my red meat and carb intake. Sure I still eat a steak of Kalua pig plate once in a while but I eat a lot more chicken, turkey and fish for my protein. I eat out less and cook a lot more. I also eat a lot more vegetables and consciously try to put them into the things I cook.

It’s been about half a year in and although I don’t really seem to have gained much weight yet (probably because I still don’t get enough calories in a day), I feel much better than I did at the start of the year. The changes in my diet seems to have made the biggest impact in my over all health. My IBS symptoms are almost completely gone now and I just feel better.

My goal is to gain back 10 lbs of muscle by the end of the 2010. I’m currently experimenting with a modified High Intensity Training workout to see if that can help with the weight gain. Maybe one day I’ll post my before and after pictures.