Although the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HGC) Diet has become popular among some of the faculty, chemistry teacher Alan Beamer began a self-made plan July 5.
Beamer started dieting when his doctor informed him he was pre-diabetic.
Beamer has lost over 60 pounds by a strict combination of calorie counting, healthy foods, intense workouts and the elimination of carbohydrates and sugars from his diet.
Not wanting to go “gung-ho and hurt (himself),” Beamer spent the first week of his plan exercising on the treadmill for half an hour each day.
However, the second week, Beamer admits that he went “exer-psycho.” He worked out two hours a day six days per week and biked to and from the gym (10 miles total).
The third week, Beamer continued with his second week workout but added one hour of weights three days a week.
In addition to exercise, Beamer restricted himself to eating 1200 calories a day, aiming to burn 1800 calories through exercise.
Knowing that his body would go into “starvation mode” and begin to conserve fat, he increased his daily caloric intake whenever he hit a plateau (not losing any more weight).
By increasing his caloric intake Beamer “jump-started” his weight loss again.
Although a difficult plan, Beamer stayed motivated by setting small easy-to-reach weight-loss goals for himself (only a few pounds per week),
“I just didn’t want to get to the point where I had to depend on medicine or chemicals to keep me going,” he said.
Beamer has surpassed his original weight goal of 165 pounds and says his next goal is to maintain his weight (through continued healthy eating and regular exercise) until the one-year mark.
