Taft Price Blog: Looking Back On The Choose 2 Lose Program

TULSA - As the Choose 2 Lose program winds down, I look back at the last eight weeks and all the changes I have seen in my health and fitness levels.

I came up with this idea back in December because I wanted to start working out and get in better shape.

I needed help starting a fitness program and wanted to be held accountable so it only made sense to ask Wes Cole, our weekend morning fitness expert, if he wanted to be a part of it. After he agreed, Wes and I sat down and hammered out a nutrition plan and scheduled workouts for each week.

To read more about Taft's journey to a healthier lifestyle go to www.kjrh.com/choose2lose

I have learned a lot over the past eight weeks concerning nutrition and exercise.

I learned what foods were healthy and which were not. We all know that a cheeseburger isn't healthy but I had to also learn that some "health" foods were not as healthy as I had believed. I had always focused on fat grams when it came to food. Wes taught me to pay attention to calories first, then carbohydrates and finally sodium amounts in food.

He put me on a 1,900 calorie a day diet which seems like a low number but when you are eating healthy, clean foods such as vegetables, fruits, and lean meats, it is actually a ton of food. In fact, I never had much of a problem staying under the 1,900 calorie limit.

I cut out cereals for breakfast and replaced it with eggs. For lunch, I always bring my food from home. A piece of chicken or a sandwich with lean meat was a staple but I also ate plenty of vegetables and some fruit.

I am blessed to have a wife that can cook almost anything! She was a major help in eating the right foods, prepared the right way. I was also able to get my portion size under control by using a smaller plate!

Finally, I began paying attention to the amount of water I was drinking and cut my diet soft drink consumption down by about 80%. I still have one or two a week but down from the eight to 10 I would have had before.

The workouts were tough but not overwhelming.

A typical workout would start with warm up time on the treadmill. At the beginning, I could barely walk on it for more than five minutes without getting tired. Now I can run at an eight and a half minute pace for up to 20 minutes.

Then, the main workout would begin and it was always changing!

At the beginning, the workouts were easy and not terribly demanding but they would wear me out due to my fitness level at that time. As the weeks went by, I started running more and at a faster pace on the treadmill and then I would go into circuit training. These exercises were always changing so every workout was different. This was challenging but kept the training fresh with new exercises.

Around week 5, Wes introduced me to boxing. I have always loved the movie "Rocky" but never thought about trying boxing myself. It is now one of my favorite exercises to do. I love to hit the bags and it always gives me a great workout!

As the program wraps up, I am officially down 25 pounds but I have more to go! I started at 254 pounds and have dropped to 229 pounds. My final goal is to reach 215 pounds so I still have about 15 more to go.

Now that I better understand nutrition and the type of exercises I need to be doing, I know I will reach it! The biggest thing that I have learned about my weight loss is that staying healthy has to be a life-long habit. You have to change the way you look at food and exercise and realize that in order to stay healthy and fit, you have to keep close tabs, daily, on what you are eating and how much you are moving. 

I hope that I have inspired you to eat a little better and to move a little more. I have had a great time over the past eight weeks and I appreciate all of the encouragement along the way! I look forward to the fitness journey that is still ahead of me!

Taft