{"id":96486,"date":"2014-03-08T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=96486"},"modified":"2014-03-09T14:24:06","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T19:24:06","slug":"ray-allen-lost-50-pounds-again-when-he-stared-down-his-own-mortality-and-made-a-big-lifestyle-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/03\/ray-allen-lost-50-pounds-again-when-he-stared-down-his-own-mortality-and-made-a-big-lifestyle-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray Allen Lost 50 Pounds (Again) When He Stared Down His Own Mortality and Made a Big Lifestyle Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ray Allen knows how important it is to have the right mindset when you want to lose serious weight. After dropping almost 60 pounds during a company sponsored weight loss contest, he slowly gained almost all of it back. Now, 50 pounds lighter, Ray says his biggest obstacle was getting out of his own way.<\/p>\n

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More from Ray in his own words –<\/p>\n

My weight struggle began after the Army when poor food choices and not exercising over the course of a few years got the best of me.<\/p>\n

In Feb 2026 I realized I needed to make some permanent changes to my lifestyle. My father died of heart disease<\/a><\/strong> at age 44 from a massive heart attack. He didn’t take care of himself and one of the contributing factors was his weight. Getting closer to that age, I decided I wasn’t going to let that happen to me.<\/p>\n

I lost 50 pounds in 5 months and now I’m slowly gaining weight in the form of muscle instead of fat.<\/p>\n

How did you lose the weight?<\/strong> I knew I needed to eat less so I tracked my calories on the website (caloriecount.about.com) This was an invaluable tool. I kept my calories below 1500, but I knew that what<\/em> I ate was just as important so I gave up sugar, besides what I put in my coffee, and then eliminated anything sweet including cake, donuts, pastries, etc. I also gave up bread, butter, peanut butter (I went through withdrawals) and cheese.<\/p>\n

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My diet now consists of eggs, brown rice, milk, chicken, chicken and more chicken, yogurt, oatmeal, pasta, Honey Nut Cheerios – Okay, probably not great but not too bad.<\/p>\n

I knew I needed to exercise so I started off with 80% cardio and 20% weight training. I didn’t really know at the start that if I integrated weight training into my workout it would help with fat burning. \u00a0In the beginning I ran on the treadmill or bike, and worked out on the Arc machine. Now I do HIIT, Fitnessblender.com workouts, bootcamp<\/a><\/strong>, etc.<\/p>\n

How he fights off the dreaded plateau<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you work hard enough in the beginning you will lose weight, but I think when you keep it fresh and new, your body has to adapt and that helps stop the plateau. I just use common sense and what works for me.<\/p>\n

In the future I’d like to run a full marathon<\/a><\/strong>, and maybe some amateur physique competition at some point, although at this point it might be the senior circuit. Haha!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"ray<\/a>Ray’s advice to others struggling with weight loss:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n