20 Habits that made me Fat

HABIT: noun

1. an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.
2. addicted

What do you think of when you read this definition? Is it positive or negative to you? For me it's negative. I immediately say to myself, "yep, that's how I got this way." By "this way" I am of course referring to my current situation; being 100 plus pounds overweight.

After my initial blog (that set off this new journey of mine to lose 100 pounds in one year) I thought, "ok Papi what's the first thing you should look at out of the gate?" the answer of course is....me! After watching episodes of Celebrity Rehab the one thing Dr.Drew always does after each patient settles in is talk to them. He gets a history of their background and talks about their habits and processes that got them in his facility. Made sense to me to the same for myself.

How did I go from an athletic and svelte 6'1" 215 pound athlete and adventurer to a 340 pound sedentary loaf? What happened? Outside of the psychological reasons I went around and did a month of research on the internet and through magazines and books to find recurring bad habits of obese people. I found twenty that fit the bill with me. To some of you reading this, maybe you will see some similarities as well.

The 20 Bad Habits That Made Me Fat

1. Sitting:

Once I started traveling as a comedian I was driving anywhere from 600-1000 miles a week. Lots of time to be in a car. As my career propelled into radio and dueling pianos my sitting time got even worse. Mens Health says you interrupt your sitting every thirty minutes even if it's just to stand up. Our legs Femoral Vein will start clotting if we sit to much at ninety degrees. Circulation socks are good for travelers like me. You can get them for cheap at Walgreens. I've started using them and practice the thirty minute sit rule and have seen amazing results!

2. Eating Late:

I developed a habit of not eating much before shows and then gorging after them at 2-3am right before bed. OUCH! The body can burn flab when it sleeps but not if it's busy processing a full stomach.

3. Drinking:

I'm starting to notice already a lot of bad habits from my career alone and drinking goes to the top of the list. No wonder I had late night eating issues. I would take in at least 600 calories a night Thursday through Saturday. That was just the beers mind you. It is no secret that alcohol encourages your brain to grab food. Not good.

4. Activity:

The more I traveled the less unstable my regular environment became. Some cities didn't have gyms near the club and I simply gave up and started paralyzing myself watching "reality" tv.

5. Stress Management:

Unfortunately, none of us are immune to the ups and downs of life. Whether it's cars breaking down, job loss, or other hiccups in the road. For me it was career chasing which led to my eventual divorce. I was crushed emotionally from the loss of my wife which felt like a death and the end of continued living with my kids. I now had to learn how to be a summer and some dad.

6. Emotional Eating:

With all this bad news hitting me, I sat in a corner and BALOONED! My challenge now will be to find an automatic response to bad news that doesn't involve food. Perhaps a walk or a swim.

7. Sleeping Too Little/Much:

Once all this piled up my sleep schedule from partying and depression was WAY off.

8. Too Much TV:

As mentioned earlier my TV consumption went through the roof! I read a study that said reducing TV watching 50% can burn 120 calories a day on average!

9. Skipping Meals:

No breakfast for this guy and I STILL gained weight. My research showed me why. I found out that apparently your body "hibernates" if you don't eat small meals throughout the day. When you skip meals it stores fat as reserve. Oops!

10. Drinking Soda:

It wasn't long before I started drinking soda with alcohol and even slammed Mountain Dews while driving or staying up for flights. I found out on MSN health that even in diet sodas the artificial sweeteners trigger appetite cues that cause you too unconsciously consume more food at each sitting.

These first 10 bad habits produced the behemoth I became. In my next blog, I'll go over the final 10 that kept me there. This blog is already helping me tremendously. As I do the research and asking questions I am really starting to understand what brought me to an unhealthy lifestyle. It's not that I was a bad person or simply an over eating lazy sloth. Weight gain of large quantity is not something to finger point and mock.

We are people too just like you skinny folk. We just developed some bad habits during our time
of coping with life and it's obstacles. The good news is, bad habits can be reversed and
broken. Hopefully, this blog will guide me back to where I was before I got lost in indulgence.