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I Lost It: 'Find Your Incentive'

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

John Walsh, 43, Tampa

Height: 6-foot-4

Starting weight: 243

Current weight: 193

Why I did it: It's one of those things where I'm 43, and everyone jokes about what happens after you turn 30 and 40. I've always been pretty athletic all my life and never had to worry about what I ate. But then my clothes got tighter, and things weren't fitting quite as well. The big eye-opener was when I went to a holiday party in December, and a friend took a picture of my wife and me. Our friends gave it to us in February, and I thought, "Oh, my God, I have three chins!"

I also wanted to get off my blood pressure and cholesterol medications.

My wife and I hemmed and hawed, but then we said, "We've got to get serious. What are we going to do?"

How I did it: Our doctor, Joseph Cozzolino, has a weight-loss clinic right in the building. I had gone there for something else, but I grabbed a flier off the table and said, "Let's check this out."

We started in March.

It's funny, because the plan is everything you've ever heard about. It's almost kind of embarrassing how simple it is. It's more or less eating smarter, pushing away from the table a little sooner, eating less and watching your calorie intake.

In the beginning, everyone starts on a mild appetite suppressant once a day in the morning. Since I met my goal weight last month, I'm off that, and it's been replaced with a vitamin supplement. Some people take it and some don't.

You still have to watch your calorie intake. I had to eat between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day, one-third of it fat, one-third protein and one-third carbs. No one wants to do the math on that. I would go on the Web and plug in what I was going to eat so I'd know how it broke down. After a while you don't need the Web site. That was probably the biggest help, balancing the intake of calories.

I was a huge milk drinker and thought I would never stop drinking milk. But I did. I had to take calcium twice a day to help supplement my diet.

You have to become pretty active, too. I think when you feel better, you want to be more active.

I would've preferred to go out and play basketball, but I ended up having shoulder surgery because of playing. I did cardio and ab work three times a week.

I used BMI charts that said I should weigh 197, but then I kept going. I decided 193 is good because I didn't want to alter every piece of clothing I own.

The doctor told me that he had not had a patient over 40 get to their chart weight. I got married almost 20 years ago, and this is what I weighed then. I never thought I would get down to that weight again. I'm a pretty competitive person, and I kind of took that as a challenge, and I made it.

Allow yourself a treat. I don't have a particularly large sweet tooth, but one thing we would eat at night, at about 9:30, was almonds and cashews. That was our treat at night.

Hurdles: One thing that was difficult as my wife and I were losing weight together was that I lost weight a lot faster than she did. I think it might have been God's twisted sense of humor.

It would frustrate her. Once she started making progress again, things were positive.

You have your weeks where you work really hard and you don't lose any weight, or lose very little. You have to be patient. The first couple of weeks were the most challenging.

Going the distance: I played sports my whole life, but I hated running. Every sport I ever played had a running component or training aspect to it. I didn't want to go out and run a marathon. I'll take baby steps, run my first 5K and work my way up and see how I do.

I can't just go out and do the things I did at 23 now that I'm 43.

The other challenge facing me, I think it was Bill Parcells who said this, but it's easier to achieve than maintain. Let's see if we can keep it off. I think it's a challenge.

I don't want to go back to 243 pounds again. I felt lousy. I just feel a lot more mentally and physically energized. I work in higher education. I'll be moving to Vermont once we sell our house. They asked me, "Would you consider getting a Ph.D.?" At 243 pounds and exhausted, I would've said, "No way." Now I feel maybe I could do that.

Best advice: Do it with somebody. If you can do it with your spouse, it really is a lot easier. If you can't, you absolutely have to get through the first three weeks, and you'll start to see results and you'll feel better and look forward to your next weigh-in.

Statistically, most people quit a diet within the first two weeks. You've got to tough through those first three weeks. It does get easier and you adjust to it.

Find your incentive and remind yourself of that.

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