Tyrone Aikins weight loss story

A trip to the doctor’s office two years ago gave Tyrone Aikins a scare. The sheriff’s deputy had high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and his doctor gave him a kit to monitor his diabetes. That spurred Aikins, now 50, to exercise more, eat healthier, sign up with a personal trainer and start bodybuilding.

What was your breaking point?

On a doctor’s visit, I was told I had high blood pressure and my cholesterol level was high. I was given a kit to monitor my type 2 diabetes. That was a wake-up call for me at such a young age, 48.

What was your physical condition at the time, and what were your goals?

I was 290 pounds, and at my height, 6 feet 2 inches, I was considered obese. I could not run a quarter mile nor do any type of physical activity for any extended amount of time without becoming winded.

My first goal was to lose weight and get out of the danger zone of obesity, which to me was a scary word. My next plan was to get healthy and lose the diabetes kit, lower my cholesterol and my blood pressure.

How did you achieve your goal?

I have a great love for bodybuilding and decided to go that route. I decided to diet with the help of a personal trainer. I knew I would need help and dietary expertise.

I changed to a low-fat, low-sugar diet. I could eat anything I wanted one day a week. I used to eat pancakes every day, but now I can do that just one day. It was my cheat day. Whatever I craved that week, whether it was fast food or french fries, I would eat on that day. It was usually on Saturday, but if there was a holiday, I’d rotate it to that day.

I now weigh 205. All my numbers for blood pressure and cholesterol and blood sugar are excellent.

What did you learn about yourself along the way?

That although I have great will power, I could not have done half the requirements without a support system. It is written that two are better than one, because they have a good, more satisfying reward for their labor, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

By entering bodybuilding shows and running half marathons.

I usually jog four miles in the morning, six days a week. After I finish jogging, I do 20 to 30 minutes of stomach exercise.

After work, I go to the gym and lift weights for an hour and a half.

Your best advice for others?

Set small goals so you do not become overwhelmed or discouraged along the way. As you reach each goal, you will feel a sense of accomplishment, and that will help keep you motivated to continue.

What is the Atkins Diet and What does it aim to Achieve?

The Atkins Diet is a long term approach to weight loss and management. It’s a totally different way to look at food. It works on the premise that eating the right foods can change the way your body works. In other words, it will change you from a fat-storing to a fat-burning machine. Throw in some fun exercises and you’re on your way to sexy results.

The plan teaches you how to eat the right foods.Foods that nature intended you to eat. Lean proteins, leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains. Atkins also provides bars and shakes for snacks. By eating the right foods, your body keeps burning fat no matter how busy you are. It makes it easy to stick to your program at work, at home, on vacation, or when you’re eating out. You are choosing nutritious foods that you purchase in the supermarket, not expensive pre-made diet meals.

Read the whole article about what the Atkins Diet aims to achieve…

Kids Lose Weight with Behavioral Management Plans

Most effective programs include techniques to improve diet, exercise habits

Behavioral management weight loss programs can help obese school-age children and teens lose weight or prevent further weight gain, according to a new report.

Approximately 17 percent of American children and teens are obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height) at or above the 95th percentile for their age and sex. Children who are obese are at increased risk for asthma, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea, psychological harm, and other weight-related problems.

In a new study released Sept. 29, researchers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) evaluated methods for weight loss and the prevention of further weight gain in children and teens.

The researchers found that the obese children who completed weight management programs weighed between 3 pounds and 23 pounds less, on average, that obese children who were not involved in such programs. This weight difference was the greatest among the heavier children and those who were enrolled in more intensive programs.

“Effective prevention is the best way to stem the childhood obesity epidemic, but we also have to find effective and healthy ways of helping our children and teens who already are obese get to a healthier weight,” AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy said in an agency news release.

The medium- to high-intensity behavioral management programs investigated in this study met for more than 25 hours, usually once or twice a week, for six months to a year. The most effective programs included techniques to improve diet and exercise habits. Some programs focused on goal setting, problem solving, and relapse prevention.

“Obese children and their families may be discouraged about their weight, but our review found there are programs out there that can help kids to either gain weight more slowly as their grow or, where appropriate, lose weight,” Dr. Evelyn Whitlock, associate director of the AHRQ-supported Oregon Evidence-Based Practice Center at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research in Portland, said in the news release.

In one of the studies included in the report, 8- to 16-year-old obese children who participated in a high-intensity behavioral management weight loss program gained less than one pound on average, compared with their obese counterparts who were not participating in the program and gained almost 17 pounds.

The researchers also found that intensive, health care-based programs were generally more effective than school-based programs. And, prescription weight loss drugs and weight-reduction surgery were both associated with weight loss in obese children and teens, but they were also associated with adverse side effects, while there were no reported harms from behavioral intervention alone.

Source: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/10/03/behavioral-management-plans-help-kids-lose-weight.html

The secret of fast weight loss

Weight loss is a prime issue in America these days. While the land of the free is overwhelmed with diets and exercise regimes, it clearly appears that we still have trouble dropping weight. Could it be the abundance of fast food restaurants that reside on every street corner, tempting us as we drive by? Well, we certainly have a choice on whether or not to indulge in this heart-stopping decadence. I believe that the problem with Americans is self-control. Do we have it? I understand that everyone wants to achieve fast weight loss, but what are you willing to do to make it happen?

The media sure can make you feel fat. Check out the various celebrities who are standing at 5′11” and weighing in at 110. Is this reality or a CG utopia created by Spielberg or Bruckheimer? While some people choose to deny it, this daily dose of tinsel town has an obvious affect on the general public. We see these stars and strive to measure up.

If you don’t believe me, just take a gander at your local high school. It’s obvious that we all want to achieve fast weight loss, but only the few really work for it. My sister is a perfect example of this. She expects some wonder diet pill to miraculously shed off her excess pounds. This is not reality. If you want fast weight loss, you have to work for it.

The vast spectrum of diet plans (low carb diet, high protein diet plans, Atkins, Lemonade …) gracing the markets these days have created options galore when it comes to rapid weight loss. The trick is locating that particular diet that’s right for you, you have to feel comfortable with the diet. It’s always a good idea to speak with a nutritionist before attempting some random new-age diet.

This way you can fully understand your personal body type, and what is necessary to achieve fast weight loss. Although some people hate to hear it, most fitness and diet experts will always recommend some kind of workout routine in order to successfully lose weight. A healthy diet and regular exercise are the keys to fast weight loss.

If you are in need of a good diet plan or fitness regime, jump online and get help now. The great thing about cyberspace is the loads of free information. Simply by logging onto your computer, you can attain a better understanding of how specific diets work. It is feasible to accomplish fast weight loss; you just have to know how to go about it. With all of the rave diets on the market today, you will surely find a routine that’s right for you.

Read more about a high protein diet plan

Weight Loss Stories

Like many of you, I hate to wait to lose weight. Like many of you, I wanted instant results.

It was about a 29-year wait before I lost the weight. Twenty-nine years is a long time.

In our instant gratification society, we do not like to wait. We want the Oprah cure. The only problem is she made something like $222 million just last year, and she can afford a personal trainer. Yet, her weight yo-yos like the tricks I used to perform in elementary school: around the world, walking the dog and over the shoulder.

The weight finally came off when I decided just to wait and forget every weight-loss diet or clinic invented by humankind.

I was never morbidly obese, but usually about 10 to 20 pounds above my desired weight of around 185. Yet I always exercised.

My only month of weight-loss success started on New Year’s Eve, 1979. I can recall the street I was on, driving in the darkness, where I was going and my New Year’s Eve pledge. I told myself: no junk food, no chocolate and no soft drinks for one month. I kept the pledge and lost 10 pounds.

I gained the weight back, however, in a matter of months.

Unfortunately, I did not see the light, as they say, until almost 30 years later. I attended several meetings of weight loss groups in Cape Coral, and nearly everyone there had lost an average of 75 to l00 pounds over the past few years – and kept the weight off.

They kept it off because they measured their food, and they had a weight loss partner they talked to every day. I am all for support groups. I think that is why Consumer Reports recently ranked Weight Watchers, based on responses from thousands of readers, as the number one weight loss program.

I joined Weight Watchers when I first moved to the Cape more than 10 years ago, and I lost some weight. It’s one of the most effective ways of losing weight because you have a large support group that you meet with once a week, and everybody pulls and “weighs in” for everybody.

I could not make the weekly meetings, so I dropped out. The weight I had lost quickly found its way back home.

Now I have just about reached the exact weight for my body frame.

So what finally made me weigh in on the right course of eating? I was measuring food several months ago on one of those food scales when I heard a voice. “This is ridiculous,” the voice inside my head said. “Weighing food may work for some, but it’s not for you.”

I began to think about food and drink. They are intended to be a celebration. We celebrate with food, drink and companionship. When used in moderation, they can feed the body and soul.

We can have it all. We just can’t eat or drink it all. We can and should enjoy it.

It’s when I heard these pearls of wisdom that my attitude changed and the weight came off, two to three pounds a week, probably the way it should. I no longer have to wait for the best weight. It was all in my head.

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