Terry lost 60lbs and his story will motivate you

Ask the experts – Let’s talk about inspiration

Inspiration sometimes comes from the most unusual places such as the everyday little things which make us smile, from the people we love and from our heroes. A while back I got a message from Terry, a reader of caloriesecrets who wanted to thank me for the support through the articles and wanted to share his weight loss success with me.

I must admit I was touched and hearing from Terry every now and then about meeting his goals got me inspired. To know that you are the source of inspiration is as amazing as feeling inspired.

That’s when it hit me: The ones who are the most experts here are those people who have been there.

Successful or not, they know better than anyone what works and what doesn’t. Yes there is a lot of science and there is a lot of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ dieting and I don’t want to take away the value of the professionals. However, there is so much more to dieting and my aim is to share it with you.

So ‘ask the experts’ has been inspired by people like you and is brought to you in the hope to inspire you. This is an individual personal story and any practice may not be transferable to others. Also it does not aim to sell or promote one diet or exercise regime as best over another.

Terry’s story

In his 40’s Terry found himself to be miles away from the ever active child which used to climb, jump and his favourite run. Having reached 304lbs and over 30% body fat he decided to do something about it and taken on exercise.

The problem: Realised that he no longer had the metabolism of a 12, 18 or 25 year old anymore.

The solution: Hit the elliptical machine for an hour.

The verdict: Terry says that he did see some results but he found that when he builds muscle easily he also carried a lot of fat easily too. Not knowing how to get rid of it made it hard to lose.

This is a very common problem for many of people who want to lose weight or just want to improve their body and physique. Exercising for hours will not always return the desired results. Matching the exercise with what you want to achieve and also matching the exercise to your own individual needs are both important.

Another common practice is doing masses of aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise will burn fat so if I do aerobic exercise for hours I will lose loads of fat. There are loads of parameters which do play a role and also aerobic exercise is not the answer to all weight problems.

Statistics:

Started at 304lbs and ≥30% body fat.

His goal is to lose approximately 60lbs and reach 9- 12% body fat.

Final weighing for reaching goal is in July.

What worked for Terry?

#1 Asking for advice and guidance worked for him the best. Doing it alone is sometimes hard to know what you if what you do is right or wrong or if you could just do things easier. We are proud to say that Terry did find the articles in calorie intake and general nutrition provided by myself and the team very useful and following some of these tips helped him to get results.

#2 He also got in contact with a personal trainer and got more advice on his exercise. Having a tailored made exercise regime means that he now exercises less and gets more results.

Getting that little bit of advice or support may be all you need. There is a vast majority of information out there in electronic format, magazines, blogs, and videos…everything you can imagine. It can be hard to navigate through it and admittedly not all is good quality. Like I always say, look for credentials and evidence of science. Ideally always consult an appropriate professional or a doctor before taking on exercise or diet.

Support and motivation can come from anywhere. I am humbled and happy to know that I have inspired and motivated Terry in his journey, but look around you and you will find it in a friend, family, someone you admire your kids or parents. Like Terry has told me many times in the past ‘it makes him want to try even more.’

#3 Full body workouts. His workouts target more muscle groups and are a lot more intense. Although his sore all over his body, they take less time to complete and return good results. Terry says ‘I truly look forward to all of my workouts’.

#4 Enjoying. what you do does make a difference in sticking to workouts and exercise regimes. This can motivate you and help you push through and put up with sore muscles, aches and pains. Also keep the workouts interesting and challenging.

Terry incorporates a number of different methods to keep his exercise regime interesting and keep changing things if they become too easy. Terry’s advice is try something new.

Favourite exercise: The ‘Tractor Tire Toss’ as it targets the entire core and it’s not boring whatsoever’.

#5 Matched the diet to his physical activity. Terry favours protein and fibre in his diet. He finds that when calorie counting controlling his carbs and protein and fibre are a huge success for him. Protein can protect, fuel, and maintain muscle while exercising and in a calorie deficiency to burn excess fat.

Terry has found a style of diet which works for him and it does not mean that it would be as successful for other as it is for Terry. Getting advice and matching your diet to your individual needs can sometimes do miracles.

Terry’s pointers of inspiration

1. Be mindful of food, calories and what gets eaten but when getting a big craving for junk food, chips etc just have a small portion of it. For example don’t eat more than 2 servings.

2. Moderation can be very important.

3. Motivation. When sidetracked I keep reminding myself how tired I was to keep on buying bigger clothes and how I used to look in the mirror. I just keep thinking how happy I am now and I want to keep it so I keep on it.

4. Try something you never done.

5. Listen to your body. I now have learned to listen to my body and take a rest when it tells me to. It doesn’t mean I failed because I didn’t go to the gym for a day or two. It means that I learned that for a successful workout I have to let my body heal.

6. As a kid physical activity and exercise comes natural. Never think of exhaustion, you just think of reaching your goal. Success only took determination, dedication, willpower and humility, the mindset of a kid.

7. Take responsibility for own self. I knew I wasn’t always overweight and I knew that it was my doing being overweight. I also knew that it was up to me to change it.

8. Be proud of yourself and how much you have achieved. I have managed to keep to my diet and I am proud of this.

The journey to reaching that goal, any goal can be a personal matter and full of adventure. It can be hard or smooth, exciting, rewarding or full of pain and tears. Either way, each journey is an amazing experience and someone out there may have been where you are or where you are going. What works for Terry may not be appropriate for someone else. However, knowing that someone did do it can give be the inspiration that many need to keep going.

Do you want to be an inspiration source for other people? Send your story at webmaster@caloriesecrets.net. Don’t worry we respect your privacy and won’t publish (or share) any personal data.