April 3rd marked one year since I took my very first (pre) Progress Picture. It's the only really concrete date for me really starting down this road, so I'm calling it my 1 year. One Year
I started at 230+lbs (104 kg?), standing 5'8" on a good day, with terrible posture, a growing hunch, an ever persistent depression and a crawling anxiety that never used to exist. I had a number of false starts along the way, but none of them really had a directed purpose. Just eat and/or do things "better" or "healthier" was some of the worse advice I had ever received.
I started working out (running little circuits with dumbbells I had), bombarded myself with fitness videos, which very quickly turned into learning about TDEE, Macros, and Calories, and within like a week, I was tracking calories.
I lost my first 30 lbs (13.5 kg) relatively quickly (4-5 months), and maintained at 200 when I started taking strength training more seriously. I found the exercise sucker punched my depression, and really helped flush away a lot of the anxiety. I had a few big things happen this past year that if they had happened a year before would have crippled me mentally and emotionally, and I was actually able to handle in a healthy way.
I just started the process again a couple weeks ago, and am down around 5 lbs (2.25 kg). Between that and my gf starting to count right after I shared what a year looked like for me, I've been taking stock at all of the things that made it work the first time. I thought maybe someone else might be able to gleam something as well. (I get wordy so uhh... sorry)
Here's what I learned/what works for me:
Do it for yourself - There are so many amazing things that happen along the path, (easier to tie your shoes. your center of balance changes, heat tolerance totally changes, etc.) and you are going to be the one that notices 95% of them. Don't give someone else the power to derail you by not living up to an expectation they did not know you had.
Learn & Engage your brain - I knew calories were a how much energy was in food, or something like that, but didn't really understand any of it. It wasn't until I found myself down a rabbit hole on youtube, learning about TDEE, and Marcos, and all of that, that it really came together for me. Like I felt like I had discovered the secret to everything wasn't 42, and here is the real tangible equation. I know the way my brain works, if I surround myself with something, I can get excited about it. Youtube gave me that. Old Obese to Beast videos had a ton of information, and fitness channels like Jujimufu got me excited to workout. Game your brain. Find a way to get it on board.
Weigh Yourself Regularly: Personally, I like weigh myself every day. I can see why it is not for everyone, but I found it really enlightening. Heavy on sodium one day, weight would be a little up the next day. Got a good workout and feeling stiff and sore, probably see another 2lbs on the scale. Little dehydrated? Going to be a little lighter. If found it helps me get a bead on where my baseline is, and understand how my body responds to things.
Track Calories- Even if you don't do it forever, really understanding your eating habits and the calories in things are so important. I discovered I was probably flirting with a binge eating disorder after a year of eating "better" by skipping seconds, and eating lighter during the day. A large iced cap is like eating a simple sandwich calorie wise, but that sandwich will have some staying power.
You can make anything work: You can fit almost anything into your diet, especially if you're just looking for weight loss.Don't over do it, and find a portion you can fit into your calories for the day. Over time, I think its pretty natural to get away from certain foods that make it difficult to balance it, but if you want beer for breakfast, and tatertots for supper you can make it work. You're gonna be hungry, and probably miserable, but the option's there.
Find a system that works for you: I find I want to eat more food at night, so I structure my days (breakfast/lunch) to be around half my calories during the day, and the rest around supper. It also gives me more wiggle room if something comes up, a last minute dinner, etc. My gf is the complete opposite, and loves that big breakfast.
Bad Days: There will be some. But it actually takes a lot to undo the work you have done. Like you'd have to go over your target calories something like 4000 calories in a day to put on a pound. Have the bad day, dust yourself off, get back to it the next. Realistically you probably only just ate over maintenance.
Plateaus: are you body catching up. You asked a lot of it, it'll be ready to go again soon.
Exercise: It was probably one of the biggest things for me. It knocked down a ton of bloating, the act itself makes me feel good, and as an added bonus it allows me to eat more food. Biggest of all was the mental health benefit that came from it. Like when our dog is acting a little crazy our first reaction is to go take them out to burn some energy, but if I'm feeling a little crazy I'd go about as far in the other direction as possible. Burning energy in a positive way is important.
Rest: Your body needs to rest after exercise. Especially in the beginning. It's sooo easy to feel like committing to it means you have to do it every day, but you need time in between for your body to build up. Especially if you're reawakening long forgotten muscles. I tried jogging every day, I tried walking every day, and my body just fell apart. Very nearly repeated it again when I started at the beginning of the year. Give yourself a day between.
My biggest take away from the year:
Doing things that make my body feel better has a massive positive affect on my mental health. Trying to get to bed on time so I get a solid 8 hours, drinking 3+ liters of water a day, strengthening my body, burning energy, drinking less alcohol (who would have thought, drinking a depressant less might make you feel better lol). Weight loss removing the little annoying things like chaffing for little to no reason, or belly weight making it uncomfortable to sleep on one side. They don't always take bad days away, but man do they not crash ashore as hard when your foundation doesn't feel cracked.
Edit: Oh! And progress pictures.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2Uhx8bq
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