Hello World!

I created this blog to start documenting the journey I am currently experiencing.  I want to share the lessons, struggles, and surprises I have learned going from being a 6' 1" out-of-shape, overweight, middle age man to a fit endurance freak.  I was 265 pounds in mid-2007. By November 2013, I was racing Ironman Florida at 172 pounds.  Since then, my weight has settled into a range between 180 to 185 pounds; however, I am leaner, stronger, and faster than when I weighed 172!

July 2007

The start of my story is probably not much different than many of you out there.  Each year, I gained a little weight even when I tried to eat healthy -- well, I thought I was eating healthy.  As I gained weight, I always thought I could lose weight easily and achieve the mental picture I always had of myself - lean, toned, and fit. But yet, each year I continued to get fatter and fatter and I always lied to myself saying I was just a little overweight!  I was wearing size 40 and 42 pants and XL or XXL shirts. By the way, I now wear size 34 pants and Medium shirts!

I was unhappy about life in general. Then my 15-year marriage fell apart at the end of 2007. Due to stress and lack of appetite, I quickly lost 20 pounds. I looked in the mirror and was thinking I could quickly and easily achieve the body of my self-image.  Well, I have to say, it took significantly longer than I had anticipated.  Looking back, I like how it panned out since I learned so much during this time. Believe it or not, I still had to adjust my brain. Even though I was working hard to becoming fit and getting toned, I kept acting as if I was that shy overweight guy I had been for so many years!

November 2013 - Ironman Florida

I lost 70 pounds from the middle of 2007 to late 2012 and I struggled to keep it off. Gaining weight and losing weight all of the time. I was eating what many consider to be healthy.  I had joined a gym for the first time in my life in mid-2008 and I started losing more weight plus gaining muscle mass. However, I was still slightly overweight and I was being told that I looked in shape.  But I not only wanted to look in shape, I wanted to be in shape.  At that time I could not run or cycle for long but I completed my first 10K race well under the time I had hope to achieve. In early 2010, I started to increase my run and cycle training, and I even did a round of P90X. I lost more weight and got fitter.  Oh, and not long after I did my 2nd 10K race, I had a trip to the ER and an overnight stay in the hospital during this time but that's a humorous expensive lesson learned that I'll share in a future post.

I was riding around on a very cheap heavy mountain bike.  I enjoyed cycling so I upgraded to a nice and pricey road bike and completed my first century ride (100 miles). I was running in few local run races and started competing in regional duathlons.  In early 2012, I had to take swimming lessons since I could barely get across a 25 yard pool.  With swim training underway, the love for triathlons took over.  In November 2012, I went to cheer on some friends at Ironman Florida.  I also volunteered "just in case" I wanted to sign up to do my first Ironman in 2013.  Mind you, this is after having completed just two very short sprint triathlons earlier that fall where I struggled during the swim!

During marathon training in late 2012, I strained both of my calves pretty badly.  So, my training volume dropped significantly.  I knew I would quickly gain weight.  During 2012, I had been hearing about fat adaptation so I started testing things out.  With minimal training, I quickly lost the little weight I had gained plus another 20 pounds! I was now 90+ pounds lighter than when I started back in 2007!  As my calves healed, my running had gone to a new level.  Obviously, I had 20 pounds less to haul around but I contribute a good portion of the improvement to the nutritional changes I made in my life.  This fat-adaptation thing was going to be a fun experiment.

When I first started looking into getting "fat adapted" by eating a high fat diet or Paleo, I read a few books and listened to a boat load of podcasts - I still listen to a few of them today.  I was trying to learn as much as I could as fast as possible.  My kids, friends, and co-workers all thought I was losing my mind.  I talked about it all of the time and I was trying to teach everyone everything I learned since it was working and I was feeling like I was on top of the world.

There is so much good information out there but with that comes tons of contradictory information. One book, the first book I read, stood out as an easy read and one I could recommend others to read if they were interested in understanding how easy it is to lose weight.  I have recommended the book to many individuals and those who read it and took it seriously have lost significant weight!

When I read Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes, I was just floored!  Honestly the first 10 chapters or so are a little boring since it covers a lot of history as to why and how we got to where we are today. But, brother, the rest of the book is where the shock came in.  Staying away from sugars, grains, and dairy will solve a lot of issues for oh so many people! After going low carb, I started eating more and more fat and lost more and more weight.  At one point, I quit losing weight because my fat intake was 75% to 80% of my total calories.  When I reduced it to about 60% or so, I started to lean up.  The amazing thing was I was NOT gaining weight when eating so much healthy fats and I figured out it was because I was eating very low carb.  I started experimenting to find what worked best for me. I then read the Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet and Shou-Ching Jaminet. The book is not a diet book but provides guidance on macro-nutrient ratios, what foods to eat and avoid, and which vitamins we should supplement!  I tell people I eat Paleo-ish but it is closest to the Perfect Health Diet.

I could keep writing but I will stop for now! But first I created a quick list of a few of the main things I learned that I want to discuss in future posts. 

• Calorie in / calorie out does not work!  We think we can go exercise and burn 1000 calories then just go eat or drink 1000 calories of anything!
• We need to destroy all bathroom scales. I still let the number on the scale impact me; yet I'm heavier but leaner than when I was 172.  We need to judge ourselves from the mirror and how clothes fit!
• The way we've been lead to believe that eating "healthy grains" is good is a myth.  Fruit is not 100% healthy if you eat too much of it.  Juicing is not 100% healthy if you do it often.
• Eating a high fat low carb diet makes losing and maintaining weight so easy. I have been eating this way for 18 months now and I can never see myself going back to eating a high carb or Standard American Diet (SAD).  Believe or not, I cook nearly everything in butter! Yes, butter.  I was crazy at first and tried to use olive oil as nutrition during my long run training -- that didn't last long! Yuck!  Cooking with coconut oil is probably the best option but I just cannot get used to it!  The flavor butter adds to food is just amazing!  Hell, I put butter and MCT Oil in my coffee nearly every day!  Do a Google search for "bulletproof coffee"!  The coffee is amazing!
• 75 to 80% of the effort to lose weight is based on your diet!  Exercise is only 20 to 25% of the effort!  Don't get me wrong, you need to do some level of exercise for a healthy life but starting with a change in how you eat (and drink) gives you the best bang for your buck!
• After your body becomes an efficient fat burning machine, you can handle sugars and grains a little better.  And no, this does not give you the right to go back to eating high carb!

Although I am still learning about healthy eating, I'm now spending time learning about better run, cycling, and swim techniques.  I also hired a coach who has me training harder for this year's ironman than the self-training I did last year that got me a 12:23 ironman finish time.  I also started listening to podcasts about self-improvement/self-confidence. I'm dabbling into books about telling your mind to shut up about the negative things because during long endurance racing, the brain doesn't shut up when things get tough!

I believe in always improving in every aspect of life.  This leads me to... My writing skills may not be the best but I hope it improves as I continue to blog!

Thanks,
Tomas Orihuela