Weight Loss Journey

Denny Edwards

June 29, 2009

            Twenty-one years ago I decided to go on a diet with the goal of losing 20 pounds for my 20 year high school reunion.  I chose the Nutri-System diet in which over a twelve week period I was successful in dropping the 20 pounds.  What I thought I learned from that experience was losing weight was really easy.  All I had to do was eat the pre-packaged meals and the weight would come off. After I lost the 20 pounds my weight was 185 and I did not want to see 200 pounds again.  Over the next fourteen years I was very consistent with workouts that included tennis, swimming, and running.  I watched my weight climb approximately three pounds a year.  I kept justifying that because of my workouts I could eat anything I wanted, and that a lot of my weight gain was extra muscle which weighs more than fat.   Along with that mindset, for a long time I thought that I carried the extra weight pretty well and I knew at any time I decided I could start Nutri-System again and lose any amount of weight I wanted very easily. 

            Over the next seven years my physical condition really deteriorated.  I was transferred from Grand Island to Omaha to start a new business.  I temporarily left my family behind which meant commuting, a lot of long hours at work, no exercise and terrible eating habits.  I got to the point where any kind of physical activity was difficult or not even possible.  Walking up a few stairs would cause me to become very winded, I could not get my wedding ring off my finger, my stomach hung over my belt and I could set a can of coke on top of my stomach while sitting in a chair.  I had no endurance for any of the physical activities I had been involved in over the years including basketball, tennis, snow skiing and my favorite activity, water skiing.  Last August when I water skied I had to wear a triple extra large life jacket with the straps stretched out as far as they could go and was lucky to ski for three minutes, while breathing so heavily from getting out of the water that I couldn’t enjoy my short time skiing.  Sometime during those seven years I began snoring.  According to my wife it was terrible.  She worried about me holding my breath and not breathing properly.  We talked about sleeping in separate bedrooms so she could get some rest. 

Two years ago I joined Life Time Fitness.  I was fascinated with the facility.  It was better than any fitness center I could have imagined.  With commuting and business pressures my workouts were limited.  The few times I attended Life Time I worked on the elliptical machines and was gradually working my way up to one hour workouts.  The few times I attended Life Time the advertisements over the intercom and the posters caught my attention.  I slowly became more and more interested in the boot camp and team weight loss advertisements. One time while standing in front of a table reading different material a trainer, Colin came up to me and started talking about the different activities.  He asked which one I was most interested in.  I said I really wanted to get back into shape and would like to lose weight.  He suggested Team weight loss, but I wasn’t sure.  He gave me his business card, personal cell phone number and asked if he could keep in touch with me.  He was trying to come up with numbers to participate in the upcoming weight loss class and wanted to keep me up to date about what was going on.  He took my cell phone number.  Over the next three weeks I heard from Colin three times.  Each time he mentioned things like, metabolic testing, heart rate training, personal training, and a nutrition coach.  I remember thinking what a great concept to lose weight, learn how to work out efficiently, get into shape and have someone teach me how to eat healthy.  I felt like I was on the fence. I could decide to follow the same path which I knew could lead to weight gain, serious health issues, limited physical activity with family or I could join the weight loss program and hopefully learn how to live a healthier more fulfilling, happier life. I feared this might be a scheme for Life Time to get more money, since it seemed expensive.  I didn’t know anyone who had completed the program, and it seemed too good to be true. 

            One night when I was on the elliptical machine Colin approached me.  He was sure this was the right program for me.  He said he had written up all the paperwork and I could pick it up at the front desk after my workout.  When I stopped by the front desk, no one could find any paperwork.  This was upsetting to me and I figured I would not participate.  Colin called a few days later and apologized for the misunderstanding, asking me to look him up the next time I was at Life Time. It took a lot of encouragement for me to sign.  There were a lot of trust issues and fear. I could not help but think the trainer was just interested in making money for himself and Life Time. I feared I would spend a lot of money and fail.  I felt if I dove into any kind of weight loss program I wanted it to be a lifestyle change. 

            My journey started with a meeting that involved a trainer, Scott, nutrition coach Andrea Seminara, a group of people participating in a weight training class and me. I was the only one who signed up for the weight loss program.  I quickly became discouraged when I was being told that if they couldn’t come up with more people for the weight loss class they would either refund my money or allow me to do the weight training class.  Andrea told me she would work with me for two weeks while they tried to get more people to sign up and that a decision would have to be made.  I almost asked for the refund then.  However for some reason I decided to listen to what Scott and Andrea had to say to the group.  Scott explained what he had planned and Andrea started explaining about nutrition.  She made a statement that weight loss is 80% nutrition.  The comment blew me away.  She went on to explain that she would be speaking 15 to 30 minutes each week about nutrition.  We were to log our meals and she would go over our log books. I knew this program was for real and was fascinated by the whole concept.  The process made me take a hard look at what I was eating, since I was going to be held accountable.  Andrea fine tuned my meal plan to perfection, while teaching me the importance of what to eat, portion size, as well as when and how often.  She taught me the importance of taking multivitamins and fish oil tablets daily.  She did this with such precision and intensity that I was several weeks into the weight loss program before I realized how much my eating habits had changed. I had gone from a diet that included 4 to 6 cans of regular pop daily and up to 24 oz of cran-apple juice.  I never drank water and seldom ate breakfast.   My meals consisted of cheeseburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, french fries, onion rings, pasta, fried chicken, lots of beef and potatoes, hot fudge sundaes, licorice, buttered popcorn and cashews ever night.  I ate when I wanted to celebrate, when I was depressed, when I was bored, and basically anytime I wanted.  I joked a lot about the 2^nd and 3^rd helpings were for pleasure only.  My eating was out of control. 

            I now eat five times a day and drink 5 to 6 bottles of water.  The only other things I drink are unsweetened iced tea and 4 oz of orange juice one or two times a week.  Andrea told me not to drink my calories.  My meals today include oatmeal, eggs, natural peanut butter, almonds, chicken breast, salads, fish, fruit, vegetables and organic protein bars. I follow a very structured set schedule of eating and pay close attention to proper portion size and never over eat.  I have reached the point where I can honestly say I eat to live not live to eat.  I have given up almost everything I used to eat before I started the program and find I enjoy my meals more than ever. My workouts during this program mostly involved the treadmill with lots of extras, weights, push-ups, monitoring my heart rate and varying the speed and incline of the tread mill.  As I got into better shape Andrea started teaching me workouts on other machines.  In the beginning I was told that if I followed this meal plan and did the planned workouts I would lose about 2 pounds a week.  That is exactly what I did.  During the twelve week program I found this experience to be extremely emotional for me.  I thought I would lose twenty pounds and that would be it.  What happened was I learned that I could change my life style forever.  I will never be overweight again and will always be in the best shape possible.  I know this because that is what I have learned how to do.  I will continue to fine tune my eating habits as well as my exercise workouts. I now workout 5 to 7 times a week.  I swim 1 ½ miles at a time 3 to 4 times a week and continue with weight training 2 to 3 times a week.

My weight when I started was 243 pounds. Today I am at 203 pounds headed for a goal of 189.  The benefits of my transformation are numerous.  The last time I water skied I was able to get right up, skied for a long time, felt really strong, was not winded at all and went from a triple extra large life jacket to an adult large.  My family cheered when I got back in the boat.  I felt like I was twenty years old again.  I no longer snore. I feel there are not any closed doors as far as what I can do.  I will be forever grateful to Andrea for everything she has taught me.  She made the whole journey fun and easy.  I do disagree with one thing Andrea said.  I think weight loss is closer to 99% nutrition than 80%.  I hope Life Time realizes what an asset they have with Andrea.  Her wisdom, work ethic, professionalism and compassion are priceless.

            I want to thank Life Time and Andrea for helping me accomplish something I could not have accomplished on my own or anywhere else.  I am on track to live a longer, healthier more fulfilled life or I might die during one of my next workouts.  Either way I will be lean and mean and couldn’t be happier.