So I started at around 168lbs in early January, and I am currently at 154lbs 3 months later. I am a 21M and am 5'7". I have always been pretty healthy and active but all of my life I have loved to eat. I played high level soccer all through my teens and was in good shape and the lowest I reached was around 146lbs. I think I naturally have a bit of a bigger/thicker frame and can put on muscle pretty easily. My legs have always been pretty bulky so I carry quite a bit of muscle mass in my legs. Despite playing soccer at a high level at least 4 or 5 times a week, I was never able to get really lean and have always carried a little bit of fat around the waist, which I know is due to poor dieting.
When I went to college I pretty much stopped exercising completely and I didn't really change my dieting habits. I didn't step on a scale for around a year and a half (this past christmas) because I knew I had gained weight and was scared to see how much. I was almost up to 170lbs and I made it my main new years resolution to lose weight and get back into shape. Started with eating better at the beginning of January and then my girlfriend at the time broke up with me, which REALLY kick started this whole journey. She never had a problem with my weight or anything but it was kind of just made for the perfect opportunity. I had a strong desire to improve myself (look better/feel better/improve confidence...), had a lot more free time, had a lot of stress/emotional energy to burn and most of all had a real decrease in my appetite for a little while. I went to the gym for the first time the next day and I was definitely not eating enough at the time (I realize/d it was unhealthy but just didn't have an appetite), but it was the first time that I was seeing real results which got me really motivated. I was down almost 10lbs in the first month. I regained my appetite after a few weeks but I saw just how important my diet was for weight loss.
Since then I have been eating more/better and continued to lose weight but definitely not as fast as at the beginning, which I expected. Then the quarantine happened and I moved back home, where I have been fore the past 2-3 weeks. The first week was pretty bad because there was so much more food in the fridge at home then I was used to when I was at school. After that week I knew I had to do something about keeping on track and fixing my diet. I set some rules/guidelines for myself to follow and I feel like I have a pretty good thing going but since coming home I almost feel like I have plateaued or at least things have really slowed down. I am going to include what I have been trying to do to lose weight below but I would love if anyone has any advice/opinions/tips to keep things going.
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A Fitness/progress Instagram. I actually had this idea before I even started really getting into things but I think it has been really important for me. Basically, I made a new private Instagram account for myself where I track my progress. Every time I work out I will post a progress picture of my body, and in the description put my weight, the day/workout number since starting and a brief summary of the work out and any little comments I have. The account is private and has 0 followers because it is a personal thing for me to track my progress. I also follow a bunch of other fitness instagram accounts which give me exercise and dieting tips and motivation. It's really awesome to see my progress and would definitely recommend doing this for anyone trying to lose weight.
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Dieting. I have adapted a few diets/dieting tips into guidelines that I follow everyday. It's not super strict but I feel like it really works for me in that it does not make dieting dreadful. Like I said, I have struggled with my diet in the past but the guidelines I set still allow me to eat what I want, just in moderation. I realize calories are the most important thing about losing weight and try to "estimate" my caloric intake but I am nervous to really use a calorie tracker because I don't want eating to become to much of a chore and feel like it could make watching my diet to much of an annoyance to the fact that I just give up with trying to watch my diet and lose any progress. Here are the basic guidelines I follow:
- Intermittent fasting/One meal a day. I wake up around 11am now that I am home and I dont have any meal until around 6pm and try not to avoid eating outside of the 6pm-12am window. Sometimes I will eat more than 2 meals but it will be in this window.
- If I am hungry outside of this window I can snack a little bit, but for the most part I snack on vegetables/fruits or other low calorie foods. I will also drink a cup of water before I snack to try to suppress the hunger until i'm in the window
- I don't drink my calories. Only water or diet sodas when I am craving one. I drink a black coffee in the morning with just a splash of chocolate milk to try to get my metabolism going
- Drink a cup of water before every meal. Drink a cup of water throughout the meal.
- Cut out most carbs. I avoid eating most carbs but If I am craving something in particular I let myself have some but always drink a cup of water before
- Prioritize vegetable first. Every meal I have I will load up on the veggies first and finish them before I move on to the other stuff.
- Prioritize proteins second. After finishing the veggies I go for any protein
- No calories from sauces. I try to avoid any sauces with calories. I'm a big fan of hot sauce which helps a lot.
- Avoid junk food. I try to keep any junk food out of sight. If I am craving something I will have some but I try not to think about them and load up with a glass of water before I go for it and will only have a little bit.
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Exercising. I have been exercising a lot, especially since coming home the past few weeks. I always start with a run that's around 4.5km and takes me around 20-21 min. After that I will do some pull ups, chin ups, push ups and I have started doing some core exercise more recently. I will sometimes throw some squats or other simple body weight exercises once in a while too. Other than that I'm not really doing too much weight lifting although I have been thinking for a while that I should start. It's hard being at home now but I do have bench press and some free weights but I'm not really sure where to start with that stuff. My goal is to get down to around 145lbs by getting rid of extra fat, and then putting on some more muscle once the fat is gone, so I know I will need to start taking weight lifting more seriously eventually. On top that I will also play around with a soccer ball for around an hour or so when I'm working out by just dribbling around or juggling the ball which I assume is as good as some cardio? Since I was playing at a high level before college there was a lot of pressure when I was playing/training so I was kind of not enjoying it as much back then and kind of glad to have a break from the sport for the first time in years, but I have been having fun and really enjoying kicking a ball around since working out again with none of that pressure I had before which I am really happy about because I realize I kind of lost touch of that in the past. I do this kind of workout around 6 days a week pretty consistently and all together usually takes 1.5-2hrs a day, which I don't mind since the quarantine has me bored anyways. Other than that I am not really doing to much moving around during the day.
So that's pretty much what I have been doing for trying to lose weight. Like I said I feel like I have kind of stalled/slowed down in my weight loss so what I am asking for is any advice or tips or opinions on what I am doing or could be doing. Should I be stricter with my diet and counting calories? Should I do more weight lifting? Should I be adding more variation? Am I just being impatient?
You guys are really inspiring and amazing people and it's so awesome to see everyone's progress!! Any advice would be appreciated
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