Sunday, April 6, 2008

Losing 140,000+ calories

About 3 months ago, my wife and I found ourselves complaining because we were so full from dinner. Now, I am talking FULL to the point where our stomachs hurt, we were tired & grumpy and our clothes refused to fit. Let's face it, we needed to lose some weight.

We talked for a few minutes and decided to do Weight Watchers. I thought in my head, "Yeah right, I'll do it because YOU want to do it, but I doubt it'll work well." Ok, so I am a skeptic on some things. I love my wife dearly, but I was unsure about showing my weaknesses in front of others.

So we joined WW and it was great. We went to every meeting, learned better ways to cook and we still got to eat anything we wanted. The great thing is it's not a diet. It truly is a lifestyle change. One of the great things was everyone there is in the same boat. We were all overweight and needed help.

Want to know what my average Sunday lunch was? A double cheeseburger from Paul's (awesome burger joint by us), large fries, deep-fried zucchini sticks with ranch dressing shared with the wife and a peanut butter cup shake. Hmmm, lemme think... why did you feel like crap again, Al? Yeah, I was bad. I wasn't a very good influence either.

One of the worst things about being overweight was my back hurting and being out of breath. We walk dogs every Saturday and I would literally walk 100 feet and start complaining about how bad my back hurt. It really did hurt bad, but I was a whiner, too. (Just ask my wife). The dogs could feel how grumpy I was and I knew I needed to do something about it. Plus, I would walk the 13 or 14 steps up to our apt. door and I was out of breath. It was obvious that I was not only out of shape, but that my health was being affected.

We started going to WW meetings, hitting the gym 4-5 times a week and the lbs. started coming off. Slow and true. If you have been following my wife's blog you will know that she is looking so sexy from her loss. 19.2 lbs so far! That is an awesome feat. She really, really looks good. ;)

I started out at 254.5 lbs. The most I have ever weighed. My goal was to lose 30 lbs and see where I went after that. It was tough at times, but easy when you feel how amazing it really does feel. We ate better, too. I crave veggies now. I need to buy stock in Subway and Baja Fresh. Good stuff!!

The results so far, you ask? I have lost 6+ inches on my waist going from a 42 to less than a 36. I have no pants below that so I don't really know where it is. I have lost a total of 40+ lbs, too!!! I fluctuate a bit, but I am right around 214 lbs. My wife has never seen me this thin!! I am so excited and I feel fantastic! I fit into smaller clothes, I can exercise for long periods of time, I am not out of breath and I cut my standing heart rate in half. IN HALF!

Here are the before and after pictures. 254.5 to 214 in 3 months. Weight Watchers works, but I couldn't have done it without the support of my wife, too. Thanks babe!!

I am shooting for under 200 lbs. right now. Just to clean up, get healthy and be able to do things I haven't done before. Maybe run a 5K, bike to the mountains or just get my 6-pack back!

Photobucket
Photobucket

9 comments:

kymberli q. said...

This is unreal, babe! You look sooooo good! I am so proud of you. You worked your a$$ off getting here and it shows. You were hot before, but you're hotter now!! I love you so much! Great job, babe!

Roody said...

Congrats dude. I too have been hitting the gym for the past 15-16 weeks, going 4 times a week. I'm down about 7-8 lbs, and I feel and look better. I've got a whole different approach to my gym time these days. I do cardio every time I work out now. I still do some weights, but I don't have the urge to bulk up anymore. I'd rather have lean muscle, with a strong core (for a better golf swing, hehe).

Unlike you though, I don't have the cohonas to post my before pictures up in the interwebnets. Maybe I'll post my after ones.

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! Good for you both...You look awesome dude..Congrats and keep up the good work!!! Definitley an inspiration...

Anonymous said...

WOW Al! GREAT job! I am IMPRESSED!

I am *trying* to watch what I eat. I figure ANYTHING I do it better than NOTHING. Tell Kymberli to shoot some of your favorite recipes my way!
Barb

Jim, "Homer" said...

Wow, congrats to you and the wife. Very life changing. Seeing this is really making me look at myself. Thanks for the motivation.

cassandra-m said...

Hey does loosing weight give you tan too...ha.ha. All I can say is WOW! I know you both are very proud of yourselves! Going to check out Kymberli's blog now. GOOD LUCK on your continued journey...

Al Quackenbush said...

Thanks everyone. I feel great. Yeah, it took some courage to post my before and after, but when I saw the before I was like "UGH, damn I was F.A.T.!"

And Cassandra, yes, losing weight gives me a tan. It's this cool feature from switching my lighting and having Kymberli shoot with my camera. The first was with her Canon and the second with my Nikon. I like the tan effect! LMAO. Ok, so I did some PSP cleanup, but no editing of the photo other than that.

People keep asking me for recipes. Here's some of what we did. Subway, lots of fresh veggies, LOTS of water (at least 6 - 8 glasses/day) and Golden Sppon. That's frozen yogurt for the non-native Californians. It's awesome and so much better for you than ice cream. We also make our own little pizzas using English Muffins, tomato sauce, veggies and a slice of lowfat American cheese. They ROCK!

I aim to lose another 12 lbs or so. Get down to 200 and I'll be happy. Whoo-hoo!

Unknown said...

I guess I really haven't seen you in a while. Al, not to sound condescending, but I am seriously proud of you. This is a spectacular accomplishment. I'd like to go on and on about it, but I'd run out of adjectives pretty quickly. Great work. I'm going out for Subway now.

alicante said...

OMG!!! Did you lose all that weight and give it to me?! That's so good of you and the wifey to be achieving this together! I'm jealous!