Weigt Loss Journey of Robert Buongiorno

First let me give you some very basic information.  I was born in 1959 so today I’m 51 (52 in May) years old, about 5’ 8” tall.  On my 50^th birthday I announced to my wife, “I’m getting liposuction”.  You see, I one of those people who struggled with their weight for their entire life.  Not blessed with great genetics, I was born to an Italian/American family in New Jersey who believed that food cured everything.  I was the fat kid in school; always picked last for sports, always picked on and always tried to hide my weight (which I became a master at).  I was never morbidly obese, but just fat.  In 6^th grade I had a 34” waist if that gives you some perspective.

After graduating collage in 1982 I tipped the scales at 200 lbs.  My first job out of school was a field service rep traveling around the country.  What scared the hell out me were the people I was working with.  They worked hard all day, drank for several hours after work and ate a big dinner around 9:00 PM, and then some would go back and drink more.  I ballooned to 220+ at that time, but one morning I looked in the mirror and said out loud, “if I keep this up I’ll be dead before I’m 30”.  So I went out and bought one of those plastic suits that were popular in the 80’s and started running.  Next thing I knew I’m in a hospital in Texas while working on a job, with kidney stones caused by severe dehydration.  After learning my lesson I started to drop some weight by dieting and got down to around 190.  In 1983 I moved into sales and back to my home in New Jersey, got an apartment and met my first wife.  We were married in 1985 and once again it was time to get serious again about losing weight.  I started running again and also started the first of many fad diets.  This one was no wheat, no sugar with lots of running.  Believe it or not I got down to 145 lbs, got severe shin splints and still was in terrible shape.  Although my waist was now less than 32”, I still had a spare tire the size of something you would find in an SUV.  Skipping ahead, I was divorced in 1990, which had nothing to do with my weight but guess what; my waist was back up to 36”.

“Oh my God, I had no idea you had such big love handles”

Divorced, overweight and 30 was not fun but I discovered 2 things.  First, I was a master at hiding my weight.  Clothes were very strategically purchased not to show my midsection and I never, ever took my shirt off in public, something I never did for most of my life anyway.  Second, it wasn’t as hard as I thought to meet women but 1990 and at that age they all wanted to get married.  Also at 30 I took up a sport that I love today, skiing.  I’ve told people that learning at 30 was a real lesson in humility.

Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t’ a couch potato, just fat and no matter what I did, I was always fat.  Countless gym memberships, pills, fad diets, weight loss machines you see on HSN at 2:00 AM, nothing worked and I spent fortune on all this stuff over the years!  Finally today I know why. 

In 1995 I moved to Germany for my company, which looking back was a real turning point in my life.  I met my second wife, who is French and I had a group of friends that were very active.  Skiing in the winter, hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing, all became part of my regular activity.  I joined a gym to stay in shape and started running again.  One day, while rock climbing I need to take my shirt off; my close friend took one look at me and said, “Oh my God, I had no idea you had such big love handles”.  Embarrassed I explained I had them all my life and can’t get rid of them then quickly put my shirt back on.  I can’t tell you how much that hurt. 

In 1999 I was told I’d be going back to the US in mid to late 2000 so my then French girlfriend and I decided to marry.  Once again, one more fad diet, this time the protein diet.  Living in Germany, the protein diet was easy since everything as meat and once again I got my waist down to 32” but just like always, I was still way out of shape and guess what, by 2002 I was back to a 36” waist.  When would I learn, fad diets don’t work. 

After all this (and this is the abbreviated story), we come to my 50^th birthday.  Then (and now) living in Chicago, looking in the mirror and announcing I want liposuction because it’s the ONLY way.  My wife was dead set against me getting it, not because of the cost but because of the risk.  Further, my job kept me on the road quite a bit so always could fall back on that excuse. 

So what changed my life? 

This was a combination of a lot of things, some spiritual healing that needed to be done and the realization that everything I’ve done to lose weight, get slim, get toned and get into shape, to this point of my life was wrong. 

Living in Chicago, I have great gym about a 5 minute walk from where I live.  Also I find living in a city verses the suburbs (I lived in New Hampshire for 3 years) you tend to be more active.  My gym time was spent like a lot guys my age, work out, go home and over eat.  I also got down to a 34” waist.  In December 2009 I got an iPhone and discovered the first step to my transformation, an app call Lose-It.  My wife had been using it and I laughed at her every time she entered something, but you know it’s back to basics!  Calories in verses calories out; if calories in are greater than calories out, you’re going to put on weight.  This actually started to work and I started dropping the pounds again.  Next step was to figure out what I was doing wrong in the gym. 

My weight routine at that point was about 60 to 90 minute full body workout.  Each exercise was 3 to 4 sets with 8 to 12 reps per set and around 1 to 2 minutes rest between sets.  Sounds okay but not for a person trying to loose fat.  I did some internet research and watched the trainers then came to the realization that I wasn’t getting my heart rate up enough to burn the fat.  Everyone knows resistance training is important, the trick I discovered is finding a program that works best for you to achieve your goals.

Today my workout is 90 to 120 minutes starting at around 5:00 AM (I know it’s a lot but there is a reason), full body, 2 to 3 times per week with cardio on the off days.  My workout is “active”.  I don’t sit and rest between sets at all.  All of my time is spent doing antagonistic sets.  In other words, I rest my biceps while doing triceps; I rest my chest while doing pull-downs, etc.  I combine 2 to 4 exercises at once before I move onto my next muscle group and next set of multiple antagonistic sets.  I also continue to count my calories every day.  My supplements include; whey protein, BCAA, Creatine, L-Canitine, CLA, a multi, green tea and cordyceps. 

Today I’m down to 145 lbs, 30” waist, almost no love handles and around 9 to 10% body fat as I measured with calipers using the 3 point method.  Best of all, people in the gym have told me I’m looking ripped and toned.  Who me?  Last week one of the “big boys” who is a competitive body builder walked over to me and said I was really putting on some great size and definition.  This is the greatest motivator you can imagine.  I’ve spent my whole life hiding my weight, avoiding clothes that were even a little bit tight and never taking my shirt off around other people, now I’m proud to take my shirt off and more motivated that ever to get that toned, ripped body that was so elusive in my teens, 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. 

For most people turning 50 means being a little (or a lot) overweight is okay and not being as active as you once were is okay too.  Aches & pains are more frequent so taking it easy is a good thing.  Most of the kids are either out of the house or within a few years of leaving.  My wife and I just adopted a boy from Ethiopia who is 28 months old; he’ll turn 3 in November and I really want to be healthy and active when he’s in High School.  I was never really athletic, never in shape and all but gave up.  What inspired me to get to where I am?  Look around sometime.  Take note how many people today are obese, how many older people are inactive and just what some people look like at your age.  If that’s okay, fine; but if it scares you the way it did me, you need to find a program to achieve your goal and most importantly, a way to change your lifestyle.

I had everything against me; genetics, an overweight childhood, a job that keeps me traveling and my age.  If I can do it, anyone can!  I’m quite their yet but I know I will be soon. 

There are a lot of sub-stories in my journey and if the readers want to hear them I would be happy to share them.  This transformation has also opened up some doors for me as a lifestyle consultant, helping people my age realize they are not old and helping some younger people not to make the mistakes I made. 

Everything is possible; you just need to believe it. 

Good Luck with your own personal journey,

Robert Buongiorno

robert.buongiorno@gmail.com