I was asked in the comments of my last post by PBT for advice on loosing weight. (She also called me handsome. I'll be riding high off of that one for the next week. Sorry KS. Your girlfriend is hot!)

Let me start with some history on my weight gain. As a little kid I was pretty chunky. Unfortunately I was the "fat kid" at my elementary school. That was bad. It was even worse because I didn't know how to stick up for myself. As I grew older I slimed out more but wasn't in any kind of shape until I started doing martial arts as a teenager. My diet had a few parameters right after I began martial arts training. No red meat, no pork. Everything else was fair game. I leaned out pretty nicely but I had a very young metabolism. When I turned 23 I had a major life change due to the reading of a brilliant book called Diet for a New America by Harold Robbins (http://www.veganessentials.com/catalog/diet-for-a-new-America). Harold himself was the heir to the Baskin-Robbins fortune which he declined to take a penny of due to his beliefs. The book changed my life forever. I immediately became a vegan. I lost even more weight during this time partly due to the fact that I wasn't training that much. When I got back into heavy training I became and even healthier guy. Here's me at 25.



I felt like quite the hot shot. Truth be told this isn't even me at the high of being in shape. The next year I discovered my Capoeira Angola training. I was training several times a day then.

Fast forward my move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In San Francisco I had the vegan thing down. I knew exactly where to go and what to eat. I also knew how to find it for cheap. LA had a completely different set of rules where food was concerned. Unless you were on the West Side healthy food was very hard to come by. Health food stores charged and arm and a leg. No one knew what to make of my eating choices. I also didn't know the area very well. Somehow slowly but surely I wind up eating meats, eggs, and dairy again. I suspect this is partly due to being around my ex-wife but I really can't blame her. I also began working full time in the entertainment industry as a computer guy. Translation: I sat down most of the time and ate out every day. With no eating philosophy I quickly began gaining weight. Fast forward again to me taking a job working the Help Desk (sitting down all day) at Dreamworks SKG. Dreamworks had the most amazing perk for it's employees. Completely free breakfast and lunch. There was a 4 million dollar food budget and a kitchen staff with a head chef. Man was the food good. There were also soda fountains and bulk snacks in every kitchenette. For the 18 months I was there I ballooned to over 200 pounds.

Fast forward to one of the major events in my life. Contracting double pneumonia. I'll save the details of the illness for another post but here's the correlation to this one. After having my lungs shut down on me I was left with little breathing capacity. I had to sit on a couch for 4 months and take massive amounts of steroids and other things to get me healthy again. Psychologically, becoming out of breath scared the hell out of me. My weight piled on at about 5 pounds a month. I topped out at 247 pounds. You can see pics in my posts below.

It felt helpless. I was on Paxil because I was so depressed (one of the major side effects of paxil is weight gain) and became incredibly gluttonous. I also lost all caring for my appearance. One day I had had enough and slowly started a transformation. I cut my hair and went shopping for new clothes. I was still fat but I looked better. I tried some diet restrictions but nothing worked for me. I lost a few pounds but still was obese.

Fast forward to May 2004. My doctor gives me the results of my blood work. My cholesterol count is sky high. I'm suddenly at a major risk for some nasty stuff. My doctor prescribes me Lipitor to bring my count down. I took the pills for two days and began to have unexpected shaking in my hands. Enough was enough. I knew exactly what to do. This was 100 percent curable without medication. I went cold turkey back to veganism. After a two week rough adjustment period my body evened out. Interestingly enough I became ever more strict in my diet by not eating sugar or honey, both of which can be considered animal products.

I slowly began increasing the intensity of my classes and began working out more and more with my students. My body began to change and so did my mood. This year I retired from doing any type of computer work. I'm now a full time martial arts instructor and healer. I use visualization meditations to constantly see where I want to go. Lastly, a new student walked into my school who is a world class personal trainer. She and I barter private lessons with each other. Talk about getting a good workout.

So that's my personal story about weight loss. I still have more weight to loose but I'm finally in a position where I can workout like I want to. In addition to myself I've also seen some amazing body transformations in my students. Even for those who were already in shape.

Here's my advice.

Diet has to be a lifestyle and not a phase. For me it's a philosophy that incorporates health, environmental, and ethical concern. All three keep my eating in line.

Workouts have to be a passion and not drudgery. It's important to workout doing something you love. Martial arts is my life's work so it's easy for me.

Mental health has to go along with the package. If you're mind isn't there you will be out of balance. Incorporate meditation, visualization, prayer, or whatever makes your mind feel calm into your routine.

Come take one of my classes. http://www.fullcirclejujitsu.com
Shameless plug, I know. Blame the yams. Seriously though, we have a lot of fun. You'll get in great shape and learn how to defend yourself at the same time. I'm also free for private workouts.