This week marks two years that I’ve been using Lose It! so I thought I’d share my weight loss journey. I’m a 5’-11” male and will be turning 37 this summer.
I’m going to go back about four years to fully tell the story. I weighed somewhere around 195lbs and wanted to “get in shape.” Now I’m not going to sit here and say I was vastly overweight, but like a lot of guys, I tended to gain all my weight in the belly. I didn’t feel good about myself and always talked about doing something about it, but never did.
In July of 2015, I started lifting weights to try to get in shape, but I did not change my eating habits. I was absolutely against doing anything cardio because I had asthma and it was difficult. I continued with this method for about two years with minimal results.
In January of 2017, I convinced myself to incorporate cardio into my routine. It was extremely tough at first as I was only able to run a half mile or less. It was hard to breathe and just generally sucked, but you know what…I stuck with it. I actually started to enjoy running and built up my endurance to the point where I could run 6 miles at an 8:15 pace. Surprisingly, my asthma became a non-issue while running too.
In April of 2017, some friends were talking about Lose It! so I downloaded it to see what it was all about. I decided it was finally time to face the music and start getting serious about losing some weight. My weight around this time was about 180lbs, and I set a goal to get down to 170lbs. I purchased a Fitbit so I could start tracking my runs and bought a food scale. I created recipes in Lose It! to really analyze the source of calories in my meals. Over the next few months, I faithfully logged my food and tracked my exercise. I admit I’m a numbers guy and tracking everything became somewhat of an addiction.
By the fall of 2017, people were noticing that the pounds were literally melting off. I easily hit my original GW and just kept cruising because this was my new lifestyle and not a temporary diet.
In December of 2017, my most satisfying moment came when I went to the doctor. I weighed in at 158lbs and the last time I saw him I was in the 190s. He asked me if I saw the scale because he thought the nurse mis-wrote 158 instead of 185!
Today, I’m in maintenance mode and my current weight is in the low 150s. During the week, I try to be diligent and really control what I eat by eating home-cooked meals and minimizing eating out. Doing so allows freedom on the weekend to eat what I want and partake in consuming adult beverages without much worry. I make myself “earn” the freedom to do these things by getting in some good cardio exercise on the weekends.
A few closing thoughts: Knowledge is power and losing weight really does come down to numbers – CICO. A food scale is probably the most important tool for weight loss as it is all about portion control. I still eat the things that I want, just less at a time. I never take a bag of anything to the couch with me anymore. I always weigh out a serving size and that is usually enough. As for cardio exercise – If you can’t or don’t want to run, then walk! I don’t always run, but do try to get in at least 30 minutes of walking each day.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far and I hope someone out there can find some inspiration in my story!
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