What the Health Have I Done?!

I did something crazy over the last 6 months - I intentionally gained 30 pounds. Now why would anyone in their right mind do that? Honestly, I did it to prove a few points. I’ve been 184 pounds for the last 20 years – that’s an ideal weight for a guy who is 6’4”.

Here I am after a 1.5 mile ocean swim last summer

I’ve always worked out hard and eaten healthy to maintain this weight and muscle; however, I’ve repeatedly heard from people how “lucky” I am to never gain weight, to have a great physique and no history of health problems. Even members of my family have accused me of “getting all of the good genes."

Eating a 15 ingredient salad on a kayak trip

In the last 6 months, I have departed from my normal routine to prove that I am indeed human. I also wanted to prove that when you do what the average person does, you get average results.

A shot of wheatgrass juice on St. Patty's Day 2011

There are some things that I will never compromise – like my strict vegetarian diet. I have been 100% vegetarian for over 17 years now and will maintain that until the last meal I eat. However, over the last 6 months I transitioned from a vegan diet consisting of mostly raw fruits, veggies, sprouts and fresh juice to what I call a pizza and potato chip vegetarian diet. I still ate lots of fruits and veggies, but I added in pizza, pastas, pies, bread, chips and dips and, oh yes, BEER – that’s vegetarian right?

I wanted to get closer to the Standard American Diet or “SAD”, but I still wasn’t willing to compromise my health by drinking soda, eating candy, fast food or meat.

Exercise has been an integral part of my life since I was a child, so I wasn’t willing to give that up completely either. Although 60% of America doesn’t exercise at all, I wanted to replicate what is a more typical American workout plan – sporadic and short. Instead of devoting 10% of my day (or 2 ½ hours) to walking, running, swimming, biking, yoga, pilates, and weight training daily, I decided to just do things when I felt like it – or when I had time.

Yoga on the beach

With this new “average lifestyle” I was able to consistently gain 5 pounds per month for the last 6 months. Awesome – huh? Oh yeah, I almost forgot – jeans and board shorts I’ve worn comfortably for over ten years are busting at the seams since my waist has gone from 31 ½ inches to 34 ½ inches in the same period of time.

Enough is enough. I’m not ready to go shopping for a new wardrobe yet. I’m also not happy about how I feel in my new body. I’ve developed regular back aches, pains in my hip joints and I’ve been sick more in the last 6 months than in the previous 6 years! Coincidence? I think not.

So now that I’ve demonstrated how easy it is for a 37 year old vegetarian who still works out occasionally and has good ‘genes’ to gain 30 pounds in a short period of time - I now plan to demonstrate how to right the ship and undo my sins for the last 6 months.

1.1.12 - My 6-pack turned into a pony keg!

Here I am today – I’m putting this out there for the world to see. Sean Donovan weighs 214 pounds. That’s well over 20 pounds more than I’ve EVER weighed in my life!

 Hello New Year - Bye Bye Belly!

I plan to lose 30 pounds in half the time it took me to gain it. That’s right – starting January 1, I’m going to throw my arsenal of tactics back on my physique and be back at my ideal weight of 184 pounds by March 31.

Keep in touch and follow me to see just how easy and healthy weight loss can be.