When the day came to get started, I quickly realized that I was not a professional athlete. I was 215 pounds (220 depending on the time of day), and had a lot to do before I hit the pavement running.
My First Attempt at Running
My first attempt was simply to start running, and maybe hit some weights. I still remember putting on my runners and saying to myself “ok, time to run 5k”. I was able to push myself to finish about 2K, but it was not very impressive. After just 5 houses, I found I was in desperate need to slow down. My knees where feeling stiff, my ankles seemed on the verge of snapping, and it just felt very unnatural. The run itself wasn't that exciting. I was pretty bored, running for the sake of running and losing weight. I couldn't really kick it up a notch because I was pretty much done after 5 houses.
When I took my shoes off, my knees were in serious pain, and my legs felt like Jell-O. I was not motivated, inspired, or anything of the like. I felt defeated, upset, and just wanted to go have a bath and pop open a few beers.
The Gym
The next day, I would hit the gym. The morning of, I packed up my gym bag with my workout pants, shirt, and a bunch of toiletries. I almost forgot my workout shoes, but I threw them in last minute. On the way I realized I forgot a lock, so I stopped to buy one. Once I got to the gym, I thought it would be a simple process to re-active my account. It wasn't. I had to sit down with someone for about 20 minutes, tour the gym, sign on some papers, and provide payment information. So I was about 30 minutes at the gym, and I hadn't actually worked out. By the time I had changed and locked up my stuff, I was looking at 40 minutes at the gym, without lifting a single weight.
The actual workout wasn't too bad, but I hit the weights a little too heavy. I didn't really have a plan going in. I thought, “ok I'll do some arms and chest today… what did I left before?” This was a bad idea. I pushed myself way too hard. I won't give you the gory details, but I pushed weights that were too heavy, used really bad form to try and lift the weight that I shouldn't have been lifting.
The Next Day
The next day was brutal. I noticed right away when I made my way to the bathroom. I could barely walk and my knees where clearly swollen. My chest was killing me, and not in a good way. My neck was super stiff as well and as the day progressed, my neck was killing me. Wanting results right away, I figured “Ok, I feel like crap, I'm sure I will have lost some weight.”
When I got home from work, I stepped on the scale. It actually said I gained a pound. So after two days of working out, I had basically no results to show for it other than pain.
The Next Week
I kept most of this painful routine up for another week. Committed to being successful. By the Sunday, which was my seventh day of exercising, I had managed to lose the one-pound I had gained, and still sat at about 215 pounds. This was not the result I was looking for. I had exercised every day for the last 6 days, and Sunday was going to be my victory day. Instead, Sunday turned into a day of feeling like I had failed, and eating a bunch of unhealthy food that I shouldn't have been eating.
10 Key Mistakes I Made
- I was overweight and I tried to run on pavement day one and set a ridiculous goal of running 5 km.
- I didn't have music, or even a playlist made while I was running. All I had to motivate me was my surroundings. For some people that's enough, not for me.
- I had no business running. I was way overweight, and my poor knees where in pain because they were saying “STOP RUNNING YOU IDIOT!”
- I hit the gym, and hit it pretty hard after not doing anything serious for more than 5 years.
- I didn't pack my gym bag the night before.
- I didn't setup my gym membership before the first day of going to the gym.
- I didn't eat very well during the week. I continued to eat as I normally did.
- I didn't have a meal plan for the week. I didn't track what I was eating.
- I didn't take the time to do a BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) test that would allow me to look back and track my progress.
- I didn't take the time to take a proper cardiovascular and physical test of myself before starting.
Overall, the biggest mistake I made was I didn't set myself up for success. I set myself up for failure. I took on way more than I could day one, and I killed my body for a week with no results to show for it. Down and out, I knew there was a better way to do it. My next blog post will talk in detail about what I did to lose 45 pounds in three months the healthy way.
