When this man couldn’t fit into his pants, he knew he had to make a change.
Sometimes all it takes is a single piece of clothing to catapult someone into finally making a healthy lifestyle change. For Scott Fehr, it was his jeans.
“I was very self-conscious about my weight, and I was just getting heavier,” says Scott, when asked about his battle with the bulge. “My jeans were too uncomfortable to wear any longer, so I wore sweatpants all the time, even to go out. My wife was getting annoyed with my wardrobe, and so was I, so I finally decided it was time to lose some weight.”
Motivated, Scott turned to the Internet for a weight-loss program to follow. After slogging through a bunch of complicated websites and expensive programs, he finally found my Fast Track to Fat Loss program at fasttracktofatloss.com. The program was simple, and he decided it was something he could sink his teeth into — literally and figuratively!
“My favorite time to eat was right before bed,” admits Scott. “That was when I was most compelled to snack.” But on the Fast Track to Fat Loss site, he learned the basics of nutrition and meal timing, and with a little will power was able to quell that habit. There was no complicated calorie counting, just a few basic edicts to follow, along with a healthy dose of common sense about the foods he was eating. The simplicity of the program helped him stick to it, and he soon found he had more energy and stamina.
Scott also learned that he could fit in simple workouts anywhere, anytime, with a little planning and foresight. “Working out at home was key for me,” says Scott. “I have a very busy schedule and I needed the workouts to take as little time as possible.” He followed the simple workout plans he found on the Fast Track site, and after several months of consistent training and eating right, he started seeing results. “Once I start something I am very focused,” he says. “My main motivation was my kids, though. I wanted to set a good example for them.”
And so he did. Scott lost almost 100 lb in five months, and 10 inches from his waist, and has kept it off for over a year. These days he can wear jeans again — but not his old ones; they are way too big!
Scott’s Six Simple Rules For Lasting Weight Loss
1. Plan and prepare. Always make your food ahead of time. Having the right foods ready and available helps you avoid eating the wrong foods.
2. Eat natural foods that don’t require much preparation. Some of my favorites are chicken, eggs, fruit, and veggies like carrots or snap peas.
3. Eating small means more often. As soon as I started to eat smaller meals throughout the day, I craved food less at night, helping me break that bad before-bed snacking habit. Eating four to six times a day keeps me satiated and satisfied.
4. Work out every day for a reasonable amount of time for you. For me, committing to an hour was too much. I’m busy and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stick to that plan for very long. I found that 45 minutes was a duration I could talk myself into, even if I didn’t feel like it!
5. Work out at home. Honestly, you don’t need much to get a good workout. Do simple exercises like jumping rope, pushups, squats, lunges and jogging.
6. Do workouts that you actually like. Too many people force themselves to do things they don’t like instead of just doing exercises that are effective and enjoyable. I liked to mix one minute of cardio in between sets of weight training. This way I burned more calories in a short amount of time and got two things done at once!
Scott’s Fat-Busting Meal Plan
Meal 1: Egg whites in a whole-wheat tortilla and a banana
Meal 2: Chicken, brown rice and cauliflower, with a few strawberries and almonds
Meal 3: Chicken and snap peas
Meal 4: Chicken, brown rice and carrots
Meal 5: Protein shake
Meal 6: Turkey with vegetables
Kim Lyons, NASM CPT, PES, CES and Prenatal Specialist, is an internationally known fitness trainer who worked on “The Biggest Loser.” For more information about Kim, visit www.KimLyons.com.
Photography courtesy of Scott Fehr.