Cut The Low Hanging Fruit

So, let me start by saying I’m a long time lurker that has found a lot of inspiration/motivation by reading the stories shared on this sub.

I’ve had some moderate success this year dropping some lbs, so thought I’d share my current experience with those here should any of the following advice help out others.

First, some background on me: I’m 44, M, 6’4” and as of Dec 31, was weighing in at 288. While most people would probably say that I carry my weight well, I knew damn well that 288 was not healthy and that at my age, it was time to slim down. Problem is, I’ve tried before with a predictable process and results that would go as follows:

1. Stop or reduce drinking for a month or two
2. Exercise more
3. Eat a bit cleaner
4. Drop 10 pounds
5. Declare victory, go back to old lifestyle and put all the goddamn weight back on
6. Replay for 10 years around January of each new year

This year I decided I was sick of that and had an honest assessment of my lifestyle. Essentially, that boiled down to this:

When I drink, I tend to drink a lot which equates to empty calories. Drinking also translates to shitty eating, which often presented itself in the form of late night burgers via my pal UberEats. To compound things, several drinks often means lousy dietary choices in the morning, lethargy and missed workouts.

Taken all together, it was clear that successful weight loss starts with cutting something out that is so obviously detrimental to weight loss, that it would be a fools errand to attempt to lose weight whilst still engaging in that behavior. For some it might be fast food, for others it might be 2 liters of soda, but for me, it was booze.

So, I decided to to quit for 6 months.

Once the booze was eradicated, I found that my eating naturally started to clean up. That said, it has been far from perfect. Even so, by cutting out something that you know is accumulating tons of empty calories, you give yourself some leeway to not be so stringent with other areas of the diet.

Once diet became a bit more clean, it was time to add some exercise. I started with long walks, which totaled anywhere from an hour to hour and a half at night. Those led to some progress, but then Covid hit, so I shifted to workouts focused more on being inside. Those currently look like the following:

1. Body weight circuits (w/ some kettle bell and resistance band work) 5 days a week
2. Yoga (been using DDP, which I never thought I’d do) 3 to 4 times a week

Results: As of this week, and since 1/1/20, I’m down 23 lbs to 265. Goal is 245 and I hope to be close by Sept/Oct.

Parting words: 1. If you’re trying to lose weight, be honest about where the majority of your empty calories are coming from and what domino effect they may be having on the rest of your fitness/activity. Once you identify, cut it out. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a stalemate with your progress vs habits

1. Don’t lose site of the fact that there is more to just lbs on the scale. I used to get pissed if I didn’t see major drops on the scale after a week or two of logging major miles walking. However, had to remind myself that even if I didn’t lose weight, that didn’t negate the fact that walking and not drinking were certainly having positive impacts on my body beyond just weight

2. You may be missing the gym or outside activities. I know I do. However, there are ways to get excellent at home workouts and now is as good a time as any to explore those options to see what works for you

Good luck. And thanks for the motivation 👊

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