First things first.
Progress pics: https://imgur.com/a/k9hi797
Key Details:
- Age: 35.
- Height 6’
- April 2023 (Starting): Weight: 97 kgs. Waist: 40.6 cms.
- March 2024 (Current, end of cut): Weight: 71.4 kgs. Waist: 28.75 cms.
Previous weight loss
Oct 2014: Weight 100.6 kgs. April 2015: 80.2 kgs.
After 2015, weight creeped back up again slowly. I had few sporadic attempts to lose weight again in the last many years but never had the consistency to make it stick.
Finally, in April 2023, I decided to get healthy and change my lifestyle. I was motivated once again to start my journey but also scared of giving up once again after the short lived motivation runs out. I did hire a coach this time and learnt a lot of great things over last one year which the mainstream media and fitness industry does not show or promote as it is not shiny or cool enough to earn money.
Some major learning in past year have been as follow. Please note than this is just my learning and what worked for me.
- Small deficit: In past I used to get motivated and go to a a large deficit to lose weight/fat as soon as possible. This never worked beyond couple of months once the motivation died and the starvation and craving spiked up. This time around I was eating 2100-2200 calories which was just about 200-300 calories deficit from my TDEE.
- Healthy and high satiety food: I focused on eating healthy and high satiety food item as much as possible. In past I used to mix up unhealthy items as long as it fits in my macros (iifym). This approach might work for some or scientifically be correct but it was a very slippery slope for me. It made me eat unhealthy and low on satiety index food as a habit constantly trying to catch up on my weekly calorie goals. Eating as clean as possible and high satiety food made me break this pattern and be full through the day which drastically reduced and slowly eliminated cravings. A pint of ice cream does not seem appealing when I am full with 250 grams of veggies from last meal.
- No cardio and active lifestyle: I did not do any cardio at all. I hated doing cardio and always thought it is essential to lose fat/weight as marketed by mainstream media but there is enough scientific evidence that cardio is not good for fat loss. It took me a long time to change my mindset around this. I focused on active lifestyle i.e. getting at least 8k-10k steps per day and as much as I can beyond that. There would be weeks when I will average 15k steps per day.
- Sleep: I never prioritized or liked sleeping but in this journey I learnt the importance of sleep for recovery and weight loss. I used to sleep 4-5 hours per day earlier but changed to do at least 6 and up to 8 hours per night.
- Strength training: I focused solely on strength training and hypertrophy to retain (and build as newbie gains) as much muscle as possible.
- No planned cheat meals/days: In past I would have a good M-F of deficit and then end up eating the deficit up on weekend in cheat meals. Now I do not do cheat meals or days at all this helps in being on track. In beginning this appeared very hard and I also felt like I would be giving up a lot like what is the point of life of being healthy if I can't enjoy some tasty food? But now I have came to realize it is not that I cannot of those tasty food, but I choose not to as much as I want/can. I can always eat them when I really want to but I don't need to eat them just because a) it is weekend b) everyone else in the house/social gathering is eating it c) it is available and accessible. I do eat tasty/dirty food once in a while when I want to as a conscious choice or take a bite from something which looks very appealing but just because I took a bite does not mean I need to eat the whole thing even if the leftovers ends up in the garbage.
- Believe the process: Contrary to what is pushed and promoted by most influencers/trainers and fitness/weight loss industry weight/fat loss is a simple process (unless one has some medical condition) but very slow and boring process. Eating pretty much the same food and doing the same exercises and things like walking, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water etc is and can be very boring but on the flip side the good part is once I got the hang of it, I was on autopilot almost all the time.
Overall, I learnt that fitness is not about chasing a number a on scale (the goal will keep changing) but a lifestyle commitment.
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