So this did not start as a new years resolution.... been there, tried that. I've "yo-yo" dieted quite a few times in my life but none were ever successful for any long period of time. At best, around 10 years ago I managed to lose about 50-60 pounds and kept it off for about a year. But I did get some value out of those attempts, little jewels here and there... so they weren't as bad as most people think when they hear "yo-yo" diet.
Anyway... no, this was no new years resolution. This was a bout of diverticulitis to start off this past new years eve. So when going to the doctor and the hospital for my $3000 scan, I weighed in at 333 pounds. The highest my 5'8 32 year old male frame has ever been by about 13 pounds.
The TL;DR is I decided enough was enough and since Jan 1st I've been doing Intermittent Fasting (fasting up to 20+ hours each day) and tracking my food intake meticulously with a food scale, measuring cups / spoons and the loseit app on my android phone. I've done zero exercise, and I'm sedentary to the T in terms of activity. So far I'm down to 304 pounds from 333. Not too shabby for one month, a 29 pound loss. I'm staying "around" 1800 calories a day... I've found it very hard to eat more than that basically only eating one meal a day plus a snack soon after (or before).
The long version.... my health was getting poor. Blood pressure borderline high, resting heart rate above 80... would get fatigued SO quickly. Even just 10 min of physical labor would usually require me to stop. My body would hurt, my arms, my legs and my back. I ate 4-5 times a day and was always hungry about 2 hours after eating no matter what the size or composition of the meal was (usually pretty shit though). Being someone who does "office work", I had become aware I was heading for 400 pounds before long if I kept it up even before I decided to make this change. Barely fitting on air plane seats, not being able to go to walmart and find pants to fit me... splitting my one pair of pants from the seam of the crotch half way down the leg while at work trying to get down on one knee to do something. It's sad, embarrassing, and defeating.
I've always been "bigger". In grade school I was half a foot taller and usually a good 60 pounds heavier than anyone else. This lasted clear up until 9th or 10th grade. I got passed up by about 1/3 of the class height wise and quickly became one of the heaviest in the entire school. I played football, I did track, I powerlifted... I went hunting with my family... even at 300 pounds I could still do nearly 30 pushups. I was strong, I was active, I was in "decent" shape for a guy my size. And I left that continue to justify being over 300 pounds for over 15 years past highschool. What a load of crap. So what... your a very strong, moderately active obese man. Your health doesn't care. Obese is obese. THATs when the lightbulb went off. I uttered these very words to myself at the hospital this past new years before getting my very expensive CT scan done. I saw that 333 pounds and thought.... "I'm going to kill a fat man, and it's going to be me!".
So that is exactly what I've set out to do. I'm going to kill the fat, obese, lethargic, always hungry, always tired version of my self forever. So far all I have been doing is adapting IF, which I took too almost instantly thanks to my clear liquids diet and have very minorly began to clean up my diet. I try not to drink any calories, if I do have any drinks beside water I try to limit to 4 oz or so at a time. I have basically adopted one meal a day, usually eaten between 6 PM and 8 PM. It's HARD to over eat in that short of a time, but I use a food scale, measuring utensils, a tracking app, and honesty to make sure I don't. It's hard to over eat in that short window.... but not impossible. Most days I'm right on the cusp of a moderate caloric deficit. Somewhere between 600 and 800 calorie deficit a day, and usually that means I've eaten right around 1800 calories. Some days I really have to force myself. Other days I find myself needing to be careful not to go over 1800. A day here or there I let myself go to 2000, I found myself very full those days. I feel if I actually ate the 2400-2500 in the two hour window that I'd be pretty sick and way over full.
So far I am down 29 pounds. I started at 333 pounds, again being a 5'8 32YO male. I'm now at 304 as of yesterday and this morning. My size 48 jeans are now way too loose. Even using a belt and wearing them up above my belly button I find them literally falling off of me. I don't want to buy new jeans yet, but I will most certainly have to buy a pair or two in the next few weeks. I fully expect weight loss to slow a bit, I don't expect or intend to continue losing 30 pounds a month. I would however like to maintain at a minimum 10 pounds per month and would feel pretty good at 15 pounds lost per month in these next few months then later this year have it slow down to 10 pounds a month. Either way, I don't care if it slowed to 5 pounds a month right away. That's still 5 more pounds each and every month. It wouldn't be long before I was in much better health, much better shape and was looking a heck of a lot better.
As time goes on I do intend to clean up my diet more. I plan to move to more of a keto diet. A lot of people really benefit when combing IF and Keto. I think keeping carbs low and avoiding the refined, fibreless carbs will really help me in terms of keeping my insulin levels low. A cleaner diet couldn't hurt. I don't eat "bad" right now and am eating less overall than before, but it still isn't "clean" either.
After I get the diet cleaned up, I plan to start doing moderate amounts of strength training and cardio. I have a bowflex in my basement and I will use that plus doing cardio outside as soon as the basement becomes warm enough to do that in and the weather outside improves. That gives me at least another 2 but more like 3 months to work on just shedding whatever weight I can. Seeing as how I'm already down 30 (and yes I realize some of that is water) I see no reason why that 30 can't be 60 or more by the time march rolls around.
All in all I'm pretty jazzed. Things have finally clicked for me. I realized this needs to be sustainable in the long term (which I did already know). The thing that has been the difference maker this time is the IF. It's the absolute truth that it becomes easier to manage hunger, and you are less hungry when you eat less often. That was probably what has made things the hardest on me before. I was just SUPER hungry ALL the time. It was like every other thought going through my brain. It was torture. Now, I eat when I decide. Not when my body has me screaming for mercy. I also find that I am way less tired overall now that I'm on IF. I used to be tired and hungry all the time, like make me a sandwich and tuck me in 24/7. That has gotten so much better. I'm rarely tired outside of bed time, and I'm rarely hungry outside of my 2 hour meal window.
My ultimate goals are to get my body weight under 200 pounds (aiming for 180) and to get my resting heart rate and blood pressure down. Resting heart rate I'd like to be under 60 BPM (would love down into low 50's or high 40's). No specific number goal on blood pressure, it just needs to come down. I'd love to be back into an XL (or even L) shirt again and be in size 36 or 38 jeans. I'd love to run three 7 minute miles as my uncle was in the marines and told me they had to be able to run three miles in 21 min with full gear. I'm willing to make the exception on the gear part and just try to work to that. But I don't plan to start running until I'm much much closer to my goal weight. I already have a spine issue where mine isn't curved as much as normal and a disk starting to degenerate. I don't need to push my luck by trying to run miles at 300 pounds.
Ramble aside, heres to the new me! To the rest of you reading, you can do it! Find something that works for you. That's the best plan, the one you can stick with. Even if you only lose 5 pounds a month, in a year or two you'll have made GREAT progress. Find other people who want to achieve the same thing you do. Work with each other, help each other be accountable. No better time to start than right now. I spent 17 years of my life being very overweight / obese. I WILL spend the rest of it in better shape than probably 80% of the people in the US. 30-40 years of being in very good health can surely make up for some of the 17 I've spent being very unhealthy. Good luck!
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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2HKNuDy
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