I've posted here before but now that I've been in the "normalweight" category for exactly 1 month I'm going to share my findings of this whole weight loss thing. I'll also share progress pics, but since I didn't take any until I lost 30lbs I can't show the full transformation. I started my journey on February 6th of 2018, so this has all taken place over roughly a year and a half.
I'm now 33 years old and 5'10". I started this whole journey when I realized I had a PROBLEM with eating. I'm not here to shame anyone for eating what they want, when they want. If you are legitimately happy doing what you're doing that is 100% your business and nobody else's unless you are causing harm to others.
That said, it took a wake up call for me to realize that my "status quo" was not healthy. In my head, I was fine. I might have been a "little chunky" since grad school, but that was fine. I might have cravings for food at strange times, but that also was fine. I was just hungry, people get that way right? It wasn't until my wife thought I was cheating on HER because she found a receipt for two breakfasts (in the same sitting) in my pocket that I had deliberately not told her about when she was looking for my truck keys. At that point I had to sit back and ask myself "why did I not tell her about having breakfast that day?". The answer was simple. Deep down I knew I had a problem with eating too much and too poorly.
So despite my early statement saying that what, when and how much you eat is not anyone's business but your own. MAKE IT YOUR OWN BUSINESS. I was objectively overweight, had poor blood pressure a general lack of energy and my love live was suffering for it and had my wife not been loving and supportive regardless of my size she may well have left me since I struggled to do any of the activities she fell in love with me doing.
That day I sat down and researched weight loss. I found Keto, Atkins, Veganism, IF, Weight Watchers and a whole pile of free, paid and restrictive plans. I know for a fact I wouldn't stick with Keto. I like carbs, and I don't stick with stuff I don't like doing. I am fine eating a plant-based diet, and 90% of the time I do simply because it's cheaper, healthier and easier than cooking meat, but I do like a steak and I didn't want to "fall off the bandwagon" everytime I wanted some meat. I also often work remotely for weeks on end, so a plan like WW or JC would probably not work out for me. That left IF and counting calories. IF is simply a way of restricting calories. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to eat in the same window every day so I decided plain old vanilla CICO was the ticket. I downloaded my app and set a goal of 1.5 lbs per week. This is a slower goal than most but I wanted to minimize the impact on my life and reduce the chance for loose skin. I still have a little, but not bad considering a weight loss of 80lbs.
At first, it was easy. At 260lbs my base calorie intake was still pretty high to hit my target. It was easy to still have 1000+ calorie treat meals in the day while still having 1200 other calories throughout the day. As I dropped below 200lbs I really had to be more selective about what I ate and have consequently begun eating healthy as well as lower calorie, almost by accident. Once I hit 190lbs I dropped my goal to 0.5 lbs per week so that I would gradually transition into maintenance rather than bounce off the bottom so to speak. It gave my body time to acclimate to increased intake without starting up cravings.
Throughout this journey I have gotten back into cycling in a big way. I'm actually faster than I ever was in my early 20s. I've competed in 3 races this summer with another one scheduled in September with over 1400m of climbing in a single day. My bike actually works properly now that my suspension doesn't have to be inflated to the max pressure just to keep from bottoming out on every little bump and I have SO MUCH ENERGY. Like, I'm one of those people I used to despise. I used to be "tired" after riding 15 minutes to the store and back for a pack of candy, last month I rode Silverstar bike park 3 days in a row, drove home to Calgary and rode another bike park for 2 hours before going home. Then proceeded to drive back out to the mountains the next day to go for a 30km ride with a buddy and haven't missed a day of riding since. I've gone and pedaled up Moose Mtn 3 times in one day, then just as I was about to leave a friend showed up and asked if I wanted to shuttle for another 4 hours and I while I was exhausted afterwards, I still felt good.
People I know don't recognize me anymore, and I've gotten some snarky comments from overweight friends and family. They all shut up quickly when they realized I just simply don't care what they think. I'm happy, healthy and energized and eventually that just sort of wins people over. A few of them have decided to start their own weight loss journeys and I'm all for it. I provide help when asked and support when needed but I will never push my own ideas on anyone.
I'm lucky in that I never had a back slide. I credit this to finding a sport I love again and to setting very conservative goals. To say I was targeting "healthy" over "weight loss" is incorrect. I absolutely wanted to lose weight first and foremost. But I wanted to do it in such a way as to improve my performance in every aspect of my life. I wanted to be a better rider, a better geologist, a better husband and a better dog owner.
So, long story short: do what you can do to get healthy and lose weight. But if my experience is any indication it might be easier to make it stick the first time if you are OK with the long-game. Crashing a bunch of weight in a short period of time may feel awesome, but never having a back-slide feels pretty stellar too.
Progress pics (I'm a pudgy topless dude in this so be warned).
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