Paul Hammond's Blog

My friend Dave is very fit.  He works out every day, eats right and has the will power to stay away from bad foods.

Late in August, I went to the Agile 2009 conference with Dave.  On the first day in Chicago, I decided that I should take advantage of our hotel being right on the River Walk, and suggested to Dave that we go for a run.  I think I managed about 2 miles that day, with a rest or two, and Dave seemed to be OK with me slowing him down!  I was breathing hard after a couple hundred yards, and struggled to push myself through the second mile…

At the time I was carrying about 204lbs (14st 8lbs for you UK folks, 93kg metric).  I knew I was overweight and unfit; simple tasks like walking flights of stairs made subsequent conversation difficult, so it was obvious I was out of shape.  But running with Dave really brought it home to me how bad I had gotten.  Other incidents also tipped me off.  For example, when I told a colleague that I had a 32” waist, he laughed at me!  We agreed that while I wore 32” waisted trousers, they sat very low (way below my waist) and that my proper waist size was in fact much larger!  And when I remembered that I had been 140lbs throughout college, I realised I’d added nearly 50% of my body weight in my “sitting on my backside at the office” years.  Granted, 140lbs was way too thin, but equally, 204lbs was just too fat.

So, I found myself quite profoundly shocked at myself, all of a sudden.  It took such a long time for the weight to creep up, that I hadn’t really noticed so much.  Struggling for breath as I walked the last 200 yards back to the hotel sure made it obvious.  So, right there on that Monday morning, as I watched the sun rise over the lake, I made a decision to exercise more and eat better, and to try and get myself fitter.  If I lost a little weight, that would be a bonus, but as long as my heart was healthier, I would be happy.

I exercised every day in Chicago with Dave, either running on the lake front, or in the gym.  The 5 days came and went, and I still felt awful after every session.  But when I arrived home, I decided I had to make a continued effort.  I decided that I’d make time for exercise by getting up earlier and running first thing in the morning – time when I’d ordinarily be sleeping anyway.

Knowing that I would need some sort of regimented approach, I went online and found a novice 10k training programme.  I began to follow it, to the letter.  I would run 3 times a week, and then either use our cross-trainer or take my bike out for long rides on the other 2 days.  At the same time, I started changing some of my eating habits; fewer Diet Cokes, skim milk, much smaller breakfast cereal helpings, more fruit during the day (I never was very good at remembering my 5!), and fewer snacks.  Nothing drastic, just some sensible changes.

I’ve been following “the plan” for about 12 weeks now.  Two significant things happened this weekend.  Firstly, I bought some new jeans, with a waistband that is 2” smaller than my old jeans – some lovely Superdry jeans with a 30” waistband.  And they actually fit me at the waist this time!  Secondly, I got down into the 12-stone-something range (albeit only 12st 12lbs, or 180lbs).

Incredibly, with some regular exercise and a sensible approach to eating, I have lost over 24lbs in weight in just 3 months.  No diets, no fads, just a little will power and a few hours hitting the road when I would probably have been sleeping anyway.  I’ve found that I actually like running and cycling, and that there is a certain meditative quality to both.  I’ve also found that I can push myself farther than I thought I could, able to go “just one more mile” when my body really wanted me to just stop and sit on the curb.  My lap times over the various distances have consistently improved too, and I am able to run much further distances; both indications of my fitness improving dramatically.  And you know, generally, I just feel so much better…

Despite having quite a bad a right calf strain this week which has slowed me down a little, this is not a temporary life change for me.  I intend to continue exercising 5 days a week (even though the winter months might be tough!) and I will at least maintain my fitness and my 175-180lbs of body weight.