Around this time last year - I was here. But then my weight then spiked up to around 130kg. I remember the exact moment, standing in my kitchen around midnight, where I took my eye off the ball and let my bad habits slip back in - I'm a comfort eater with problems. At ~130kg I was just shy of cat II obese.
I was eating ice cream for breakfast, a common dinner was a Large Big Mac Meal, Oreo McFlurry, Cheeseburger, with diet coke. I didn’t do any exercise beyond walking to work, where I was working huge shifts. I remember some miserable nights drinking with friends - knowing that my confidence in my appearance was spiraling so low that I was just spinning my wheels re going on dates. Around spring this year, I had a burning platform moment - where I realised I was getting to the point beyond which exercise (and many other things - like sleeping) would become extremely difficult. One of the main catalysts for changing was opening up to my close friends about some problems in my life, and rationalising them (but that’s not a story for here).
This community has some amazing advice and is pretty supportive. Here are some observations, weight loss hacks, and data from the past few months to add to the body of knowledge:
A few ‘fat people problems’ I encountered:
- I snored very loudly (sleep apnea) - to the point where I couldn’t share a double room with someone. This became an oddly limiting factor in my life. I like traveling and it made me self-conscious about going in hostels, taking trains and planes, sleeping over at peoples’ houses.
- Clothes look a lot worse when you are fat - this is particularly true for unconventional clothes; apart from the rare exceptions where it goes full circle (think Biggie Smalls in a Coogi sweater).
- You spend a lot of money on food - from a volume perspective. It appears like less because junk food binging doesn’t require you to plan beyond the next binge. If I buy a whole week’s worth of stuff for $75 - it feels like a big purchase, vs me dropping 25 dollars every other day.
- People generally aren’t attracted to fat people as much as they are to thinner people. There was a near linear inverse relationship between me gaining all the weight back and romantic interest.
Things I noticed on the way down:
- Working out at lunch is a fantastic use of time. I go to the gym, come back showered and refreshed (albeit a little tired on arrival) and eat lunch at my desk.
- My IBS reduced significantly.
- People generally react positively to weight loss. Some people might not have experienced this (and had to deal with the envy of others). But, generally, I think it creates positive reactions. This can only be a good thing, it represents a net increase in positivity in your life in a fairly wide area - your interactions with others. 8As you build momentum your identity begins to shift and you experience ‘stickiness’ around going to the gym/eating well. I can summarise this by saying: I like being someone who regularly goes to the gym - I don't like someone who eats family sized tubs of ice cream.
Weight loss hacks:
- I can confirm all the basics work: CICO, with IF (and ADF specifically) to help boost it.
- I found that not being worried about eating unconventionally (like eating a bunch of protein bars one day, or eating strange meals like slices of ham) really helps with CICO. One day I ate cereal without milk - over the course of 5 months all of this adds up
- Walking meetings - taking meetings outside and walking and talking has added about 45m of walking time per day for me. They are also generally more productive.
- If you hate cardio - just do weights. I don’t hate it, but I don’t terribly enjoy it. I do enjoy free weights and as long as the heart rate is up it becomes cardio too. FitBit - or other fitness trackers - are great for showing you how little you are moving per day. Totally cut out alcohol -- alcohol is a true nemesis of weight loss, in my opinion. Log your weight every day. I was originally going to log calories in and out. But I just made sure I had a deficit of 1500, or had consumed 1500, every day.
Weight loss so far (breaks are business trips or holidays where I had no access to scales):
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