Here’s to CICO

(6’0” 28M | ~350 > 252)

I’m probably that annoying guy everyone knows that constantly spouts CICO when someone asks about weight loss. Not necessarily here, but IRL and other places. Here’s why.

I started around 350 in Aug 2015. I remember stepping on the scale and almost breaking down in tears. How had I let myself get that overweight?

Don’t get me wrong, I had tried losing weight before with mild success. The issue was my motivation. I was always doing it for whichever girl I was interested in at the time. Once there were no reciprocated feelings, what was the point? This time was completely different. I didn’t want to be that size anymore. Not for a girl, but for me.

Before I even stepped foot in a gym, I simply cut my intake. Sodas and drinks with calories? Gone, non negotiable. A few weeks of that and I was already seeing some progress. I wasn’t restrictive on anything but how many calories I was eating.

Fast forward a month or so, I work up the courage to go to that purple, judgment free zone. I started on the elliptical for 15 minutes a day. I slowly built my routine.

Fast forward again to Aug 2018. Three years in and I’m down to 237. Sure, three years is a long time to lose 113 pounds, but I had some struggles. There were times I dealt with binge eating. There was a period of 5 months where I had all but given up due to complications from a knee injury in high school years ago. However, I ultimately had changed my lifestyle and got back to it. Then I decided to get a personal trainer.

I had been lifting for a few years and knew, mostly, what I was doing. My biggest problem was I seemed to have plateaued at 237 and I wanted help. So, I had upgraded gyms and decided to use their personal training services. Now, I do want to caveat, I still use this trainer and he’s great, but initially, this did more harm than good.

He wrote me great workouts and challenged me mentally and physically. I loved it. When it came to my diet, there were some issues. His advice was to stop counting calories, reduce my carb intake to as little as possible, and eat mostly protein, fat, and veggies. If I felt hungry, eat protein and fat. He’s the trainer, I listened.

Because the workouts were so intense, my metabolism was none stop. I could eat big meals and be hungry within 2 hours. I followed his advice though. I downed protein and fat with no regard for calories. I also went from 237 to 250, and it was mostly fat.

We talked about it and he agreed I should go back to CICO. Since then, I’ve been right back on track, so long as I’ve stuck with it. Over the holidays in 2018, I got up to 261, and have had some trouble getting back to it, but I’m glad to say I’m back at 252 and dropping fast.

All this to say, CICO works. It’s the basis for all weight loss programs, even if they don’t recognize it. If you want to do keto, that’s great. Make sure you count your calories to. Want to do IF, low carb, whatever? Do what fits your lifestyle, and count your calories.

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