I was obese in 2000, had abs in 2003, obese in '07 and getting lean now. You start to notice changes in your body as you gain and lose weight and I'm curious to see if any of these things resonate out there in blog reader land.

On Being Fat...
Before I understood how fitness worked, there were some things that I had come to "live with" as a heavy-set person.
* I was strong, but got out of breath easily.
* Since I was eating unhealthy amounts of sugar, I often felt lethargic
* I'd grunt getting up from a seated position (espeicially getting out of a car)
* Breaking into a run from standing still felt like moving slow motion

On Losing Weight...
Apart from the obvious health benefit to exercising and eating properly, there were some curiosities associated with losing weight.
* As I would lose weight, the cuffs of my pants would hang lower on my shoes. The cuffs of my slacks would become threadbare as they were trampled under my heels.
* The day after an extremely low calorie day, I would retain a ton of water. It was disheartening to see such a blobby physique after so much hard work... but the next morning the water would be gone and I would be significantly leaner.
* When I restricted calories and fat, my libido was non-existant.
* After shrinking down to a certain point, I found that my workout shorts, now too large, turned into wedgie factories.
* It was funny noticing how baggy my underwear would get. I remember going from x-large to a large in T-shirt size and underwear. Suddenly I was able to wear smaller clothes because I had less fabric underneath them.

On Being Lean...
Once I was in the single digit bodyfat... there were still more oddities
* I had to wear jackets more often because I would get cold very easily
* My posture was better because I wasn't hunching over to try to hide my belly so much
* People treated me differently. This was not my imagination. When I was heavy, people were neutral toward me. When I was lean and fit, people greeted me warmly. At work, there was this underlying expectation that I "had it together" because I LOOKED like I had it together. It was a very empowering feeling.
* I had more motivation to do "unpleasant tasks" (like paying bills, chores around the house...etc.)
* It was easier to stay clean. Weird, eh? I'll leave out the details, but I noticed as a lean person, I didn't need as much deodorant (and it failed less often).
* medicine took effect faster (this was probably due to my cleaner diet more than my bodyfat level - but who knows?)

On Gaining Weight...
I actually documented my weight gain with physique photos... It looks like a success story in reverse. Here is what I noticed about gaining weight.
* I was often giddy when I ate more than I burned. It felt great and made stress easier to deal with... (in the short term, anyway.)
* If I ate simple carbs early in the morning (with a calorie surplus the previous day) My libido would shoot out the roof. (I found out later that this was because the simple carbs were turning into fat... I'd have the same result by eating a handful of mixed nuts.)
* Water weight gain precedes weight loss and follows weight gain.
* I always feel leaner 2-3 days after a low calorie day, and I feel fatter 2-3 after a high calorie day.
* Water weight "rides" in clothes in a much different way than fat weight. Water weight made my skin feel like it was spilling over my clothes. Fat weight made my clothes feel tight.
* Water weight never made my waistline bigger, fat gain did.
* If I wear sweat pants on the weekends, I would often start Monday with slacks that I couldn't button.
* Every time I gain 10 lbs I go up a pant size 240lbs to 250lbs was size 40 to size 42.
* Every time I gain 5 lbs, I go up a belt notch

On Being Fat Again...
* I sweat a lot more, now thanks to the extra insulation.
* I had to switch to an antipersperant (rather than just a deodorant) because my armpits would quickly overwhelm the poor sport stick I used to use when I was skinny.
* I am more prone to skin oddities - heat rash, acne, moles, skin tags, broken vessels... all sorts of things seem to sprout up from no where when I have a lot of weight on.
* Weight rides differently on your body when you have more muscle under it. Even though I'm about the same weight as I was in 2000 (10 lbs heaver), because I have more muscle mass, it looks better than it did.

Because I'm aware of these different "things" at different stages, I have been getting excited about seeing "signs" of weight loss. I'm just starting to notice my underwear getting baggy. That is an AWESOME feeling. Er... well - you know what I mean.

I'm going to take a picture on Saturday and post the "progress shot"

--B


Today...
I was up so late last night that I missed my morning cardio. I'll have to see if I can sneak off to the weight room later tonight because It is noon and the chicken sandwich I had for lunch used up the rest of my calories for the day. I've got to get that 750 burn in!