How I lost 15 Pounds in Six Weeks This Summer at Age 51
The last half of 2014 and the first half of 2015 was a rough time for my family. My 95-year-old father became critically ill in the summer of 2014 and had a roller coaster ride in and out of the ICU and hospital and then rehab centers until he finally passed away in March. Much of my free time was spent at his bedside racked with worry. That coupled with a one-year-old child at home left no time to exercise and the emotional ups and downs and lack of time led to poor eating habits. I had put on 15-20 pounds and was terribly out of shape. I was tired at the end of the day, had diminished drive and just felt like a big slug. I looked in the mirror and saw an aging man in the reflection.
We scheduled a family vacation in mid-August and I decided I would use that as motivation to get back into shape. Only several years ago I was practicing Karate 3-4 times per week and riding my bike down to the beach several times a week.
I decided to get some help getting back into younger form so I called upon two close friends; celebrity nutritionist/trainer Harley Pasternak and former Israeli Heavyweight Mixed Martial Arts Champion and Krav Maga expert, Amir Perets.
I planned to tap into their expertise to get inspired and work my way back to good health.
Amir happens to live across from my office and I started going with him to the track at Beverly Hills High School, right around the corner. It was impossible to keep up with Amir at first; he is in incredible condition and could do things that seemed super human. In fact, he was the “human weapon” featured on the History Channel’s show “Fight Science.” Working out was a challenge since I have a number of sports injuries including my right shoulder from bench pressing and left Achilles tendonitis from sparring in Karate. Amir showed me a number of exercises to increase my flexibility while minimizing re-injury to my nagging chronic conditions. Harley also weighed in with great advice. Amir and I started working on conditioning and combat fitness. We also began swimming together because I was unable to burn calories running or jumping due to the tendonitis. Try keeping up with a former Israeli navy seal instructor in the water! It was easy to become discouraged but Amir had a saying that really helped me keep going. When I would frequently complain that I couldn’t keep up and had to stop, he would tell me (in his Israeli accent) “Philip, it is all mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” I still can’t believe how effective those words were. I was able to use them to break through the mental barriers I had set up and really push on. Once I saw that my body could do things I thought it couldn’t; it became a positive reinforcement cycle. Once I started to see a difference I wanted to do more; I wasn’t lazy anymore. Success breeds success.
I also started to slowly get back into the gym on my own to help build muscle and strength. Coupled with this increase in activity, I asked Harley to help make suggestions to improve my diet. Harley has authored a number of best-selling diet and nutrition books. He kindly reviewed my already-self-adjusted diet and pointed out that some of the things I thought were good for health and weight loss really were not. Harley also suggested I walk at least five miles per day (10,000 + steps), which I was able to track with the health function on my phone.
I worked hard for six weeks, ate better, got a good night’s sleep each night and saw a great transformation. While I lost 4-5 pounds in the first week and a half, my weight plateaued as I built muscle. I was drinking protein shakes every morning, stopped eating bread (my favorite) and cut back on alcohol. Once away on vacation, we walked everywhere. I was doing between 12-15,000 steps per day for a few weeks. The weight really started coming off. My energy increased significantly, I feel terrific and I am told look much better (and my wife says younger too). I went from weighing 241.7 lbs. to 227.5 lbs. and have almost reached my goal of 225 lbs.
Stay tuned… more to follow. If I can do this, anyone can. All you need is a blender to make shakes, some good advice and MOTIVATION.
