The Place I trained in the AM had a visitor. We had several things in common. We both have 4 daughters, We both have trained for about 2 years. We both lost a ton of weight when we started doing BJJ. Of couse I was 30 years older then him but that did not seem to matter.
How did I know he lost the weight? When we were sparring I asked him how much he weighed. I ask this question often because 1. I like to have a feel for some of the moves I do and how they are working on people of different sizes 2. I like to know if people are bigger or smaller then the weight I compete at. He told me he weighed about 155 but when he started BJJ he was at 305. I was amazed. He looked great and I could see no sign that he had dropped over 50% of his body weight. When I started BJJ I weighed in at 220 and now I weigh about 160. I thought that was a huge weight drop but that is nothing compared to this guy. I wish I would have gotten a picture of us and also been able to question him about how he did it but I was off to my next roll and then he was out the door before I had a chance to ask him more questions.
It is funny when you have lost a lot of weight. The first thing you get is that eye from people who wonder if you are sick or have some ailment causing you to lose the weight. They have not seen you in a while and that last time they saw you, you were much bigger and they don't want to be rude so they don't ask. Then once they find out your healthy the questions start to come. Here are the answers to the most common asked questions.
Q: How did you lose so much weight?
A: I started doing BJJ. I did not set out to lose weight it was just a byproduct of the workouts.
Q: Did you change your diet or just workout.
A: I often tell people I started having Motrin for Dinner instead of real food and that is the truth but I was not doing that to lose weight I was so sore after workout I could not eat and I needed something to reduce the inflammation in my joints so I was on the Motrin Train.
Q; How long did it take you to lose the weight?
A: I got down to 175 in about 3 months and then held that for a year until I dropped another 15 lbs for competition purposes. ( The guy that lost the 150 lbs told me he dropped all that weight in less then a year)
Q: Did a doctor tell you to lose weight? What was your motivation?
A: Every Check up I went to the Doctor told me I was healthy and did not need to lose weight. The reason I lost weight was because of my desire to compete. I would spar with people and then ask them how much they weighed. I knew I could hold my own with the under 175 crowd so I decided if I was going to be compete that is where I needed to be. It was easy to cut weight when you had the motivation of competing against smaller athletes. Every time I thought about picking up a Donut or taking a Second Helping I was able to remind myself that I wanted to compete in the lighter weight class and I was able to abstain.
Q: Has it been hard to keep the weight off.
A: No it has not been hard. Now that I have been doing this for a couple of years my appetite has returned because my technique has improved and I am not getting beat up like I once did. I am still burning the calories and I watch the scales daily so if me weight starts to creep back up I can cut back but I basically eat what I want and am able to maintain my weight.
This has been a crazy trip for me. I never was overly concerned about my weight and 3 years ago I was happy and content. Then I got the BJJ Bug and I look like a different person. To be honest I had never even heard of BJJ before I attended that first class with my Son in Law. Now I am a total addict (working out twice yesterday when my wife and daughter were out of town). I think I am in this for the long run.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this journey.
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