RicksWeightLoss.com

Welcome to RicksWeightLoss.com.

I spent a year losing over 150 pounds of FAT the old fashioned way: proper diet and exercise. No fads. No pills. No surgery. No crazy machines.

In April of 2004, I was 31 years old and 340 pounds. With a history of heart disease and obesity in my family, I decided it was time to shed the pounds.

As of March 2005, my weight was down to 185 pounds. My body fat is down from 42% to only 15.5%.

Yes, that's me to the right - before and after. I look better, but most importantly, I feel better. I have lots more energy, I need less sleep at night, and my back pains are all gone.

On the left my weight was about 300 pounds. My heaviest was yet to come... 340 pounds. Check the Pictures page for even more pics... if you like to torture your eyes. A current picture of me is to the right of that one. As you can see, I've lost a significant amount of weight since then. I'm still losing about a pound or two a week, and loving it.

This web site is here for two purposes. First, to chronicle my journey of weight loss for my own purposes. Yes, it's something of an online diary; something for me to look back on. Second, I'd like to share with the world the information that I have learned while getting fit... my recipes, workout routines, weekly exercise schedules, eating tips, and more.

I'm not out to make any money with this web site. This is purely a personal passion of mine (I'm a computer geek - not a fitness expert). However, I've spent years studying weight control, and I just want to share what I've learned with anyone else who wants to lose weight and be healthy! I've got some small ads running here only to help cover the costs of running the site, and I ask that you support our sponsors (including my excellent 599CD Computer Training products), but aside from that, I'm not trying to sell any products or services here. There are no quick-fix solutions to weight loss. I'm not looking to get rich selling you machines, supplements, or wacky diet plans. I just want to help you get fit!

Almost every day I get people I haven't seen in years coming up to me saying "Wow! You look great!" and then the next question... "What have you been doing?" Well, now I can just tell everyone to come here and find out!

What's New	Check this page for news and updates.
Diet	All about eating: what, how much, and how often.
Exercise	Exercise tips and techniques.
Mailing List	Subscribe and get our free eBook on weight loss.
Forums	Interactive forums for you to chat with others.
Pictures	Rick's before and "now" pictures.
Links	Links to other helpful sites that Rick likes.
Contact	Contact Rick.
Database	Online database to track your diet and exercise.

Now, of course, as a general disclaimer, I have to say that the tips I'm sharing with you here are just from my own personal experience. I'm not a professional health expert - although over the past couple of years I've read dozens of books, and hundreds of articles on nutrition and exercise. I'm not a doctor. You should, of course, seek your own doctor's advice before starting any kind of a weight-loss or exercise plan.

I lost about 150 pounds in roughly one year. I didn't lose it all at the same speed. I started out slow at first, losing a few pounds here and there as I began by just trying to cut the junk food (chicken wings and cookies were my favorites) out of my diet.

What's my point? Well, I just want to let you know that I've seen weight loss from many angles. I started out as the frustrated fat guy who wanted to lose weight but had no clue where to begin. I started by doing a lot of the wrong things - like trying fat-blocker and carb-blocker pills, and like trying to cut all fat from my diet (you need good fat!). I spent many months struggling because I just didn't have the will power or the proper knowledge. I can't give you will power, but I can help to arm you with the right know-how.

I progressed by learning a little bit about eating properly and exercise. I started exercising slowly at first (which is what I recommend for people who aren't currently active). I began with just walking. I progressed to light jogging and some cycling. Now I run three days a week, swim three days a week, play softball 3 to 5 nights a week, and bike over 50 miles a week. I could have never started by doing that all at once. You need to slowly progress into it (I'll share more on this later).

Finally, after learning what to do, I planned out a proper workout routine, a proper diet, and I got my metabolism fired up to the point where I was shedding 3 or 4 pounds a week. The weight really melted off at that point.

Now, while everyone might not be able to lose that kind of weight that fast, I firmly believe that almost everyone can lose the weight. You just need to find your comfort zone as far as speed goes. You might not be able to lose 3 or 4 pounds a week. But, with the right diet, and the right amount of exercise, you can shed a pound a week. Do that for a year, and you've lost 52 pounds. Above all else be patient.

JANUARY 2005: I finally took some up-to-date pictures of myself. It's nice to have something to compare with. I highly recommend to you: take pictures of yourself before starting your weight loss program. I wish I had some shots like these of me from the spring of 2004 before I started working out. It would be nice to compare them to.

It's now January 1st, 2005, and I'm down to 205. I wanted to hit 200 by New Years, and I probably could have... but I decided that I was close enough to my goal weight, I was feeling good, and I wanted to enjoy the feasts and snacks that accompany the Holidays. I didn't "pig out," but I ate sensibly, enjoyed the occasional Christmas cookie, and had some snacks at the various parties we attended. Life is too short to deny yourself treats all the time. Besides, Christmas and New Years Eve only come around once a year. Might as well enjoy them!

I'm very close to where I want to be, weight-wise. Like I said, I'm down to 205. I've been lifting a lot of weight since September, so I haven't lost as much weight as I could have. I've been building muscle mass, which is good. Muscle tissue is like a little furnace in your body. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn at rest. Weight lifting is important to look and feel good. Even just a little weight lifting (yes, even you ladies too) will do a lot for you.

As you can see from the pictures, I still have a little fat around my midsection that needs to go (the old spare tire). It's very hard to get rid of! Unfortunately, it's impossible to spot-reduce fat. You can't just perform certain exercises to lose weight in specific areas... the only way to lose fat (other than through surgery) is to burn it off over your whole body (reduce calories). You can build the underlying muscle in an area (like your abs) but if there's fat over the muscle, you're not going to see the muscles.

So, I'm not setting myself a weight-loss goal now... my goal now is to just get rid of the fat around my middle so I can actually see my abdominal muscles (the old six-pack). I'm guessing that's going to come after I hit about 180 pounds - and many thousands of crunches. If I continue with the safe 2-3 pounds per week weight loss program that I've been on, I should hit 180 in about 8 weeks - or by the beginning of March.

OCTOBER 2005: I'm happy to say that I maintained a healthy weight of 185 pounds all throughout the summer of 2005. Now, I'm actually trying to put some weight back on. I've increased my resistance training (yes, that's weight lifting) and added more calories to my diet so that I can slowly build up some muscle. As of today, my weight is up to about 198 pounds. I've added about 8 pounds of lean muscle tissue, and about 5 pounds of fat (it's impossible to add muscle without gaining some fat). My personal goal is to continue gaining weight (muscle) throughout the winter and then this spring go back on the fat-burning diet with lots of cardio (got to look good in that Speedo... just kidding!)

MARCH 2008: I've got some weight to lose again. I've had a really LAZY winter and I'm about 30 pounds overweight. Here in Buffalo NY, the winters are long and dreary. It can be a challenge to stay active, and at the same time, your body wants those "comfort" foods that are high in fat and carbohydrate - which goes back to our primitive ancestors "storing fat" for the winter. Nevertheless, now that the warm weather is ALMOST here, I'll be getting back outside - logging some hours on the bike (I love cycling) and eating right. Well, I should qualify that last statement... I've been eating MOSTLY "right" for the past three years now. If weight-loss has taught me anything, it's how to eat right MOST of the time. However, every now and then I sneak in that cheat meal - pasta, maybe a pizza once a week, and of course my love of CHOCOLATE gets me sometimes. The problem is not that I'm eating WRONG, it's just that I'm not getting the exercise I should be. So... that all slowly adds up to a 20 or 30 pound weight gain which has been slowly creeping on since the end of last summer. Time to hit the weights and hop on the bike again. I'll keep you posted! In the mean time, enjoy the site.

SEPTEMBER 2008: What can I say? I've had a lazy summer too. I've been active (swimming, playin' a lot of softball and baseball again this summer for the first time since high school) and I've been lifting weights, but I haven't been doing a lot of real cardio. So I haven't taken off that 20-30 pounds of extra fat I put on last winter. The good news is that most of the extra weight I've put on has been muscle mass (I can tell). I'm still eating healthy, but of course weight loss is a matter of calories IN minus calories OUT. There haven't been a whole lot of calories going out, if you know what I mean.

Biggest Loser... so a friend of mine announced in August that he was going to hold a Biggest Loser-type competition. This is the perfect kick-in-the-ass I need to shed this extra weight. There are about 10 of us in the contest, and we all chipped in $20. The winner gets the pot (it's not about the money for me - it's about bragging rights). The winner is the person who loses the highest percentage of body weight... which isn't the best method of tracking it, but it's the only fair way to do it without body fat calipers or expensive testing. Percentage of BODY FAT is the best way to go, because when you work out properly you're going to build muscle mass which is actually denser (heavier) than fat is - but that's OK. I have at least 20 to 30 pounds of FAT to burn off, so I'm good to go.

My weigh-in weight on Labor Day weekend was (gasp) 281. OK, OK, I'll admit it... I ate like a PIG the week before weigh-in (which wasn't against the rules) capped off with a trip to the buffet the day of the weigh-in - so I'm sure about 3 to 5 pounds of that was intentionally gained. Now, that's about 60 pounds over where I like to be (220) but I have been lifting and like I said, I know I've built up a lot of quality muscle (unlike the 340 pounds of FAT I was before)... however in order to win the competition, I'm going to need to shred off this fat. The competition goes to Thanksgiving, so I should be able to drop at least 20 to 25 pounds. If I can get down to 250, I'll be ecstatic. Then I can eat like a piggy on Thanksgiving. That whole period from the end of November right through the holidays is tough... hard to stay away from the "comfort" food... and of course drinks with friends at all of the parties!

Update... it's now Sept 16 and I'm down to 269. That's 12 pounds boys (almost 5% of my body weight). You all better get moving. I haven't even really started ramping up the heavy cardio yet - and I've been keeping up the weights so I don't lose muscle. I've been getting back into the swing of things slowly. Time to kick some behind.