[Height: 6'3.5 (192cm); SW: 255lbs; CW: 232lbs; GW: 200lbs]
Hi, all!
I've been on my weight loss journey for 11 weeks now with some moderate success (not as much as I wanted but my mistakes have given me insights into how to be successful) and I wanted to share what I've learned. But first, a little background into me:
I was always a sporty kid. I grew up in a rural community where most of my time was spent outside being active. That changed when I became a teenager and we moved into the city. I never watched what I ate, and now as a teenager I ate whatever I wanted in whatever quantity I wanted. I rather quickly ballooned into the 200s while I was in high school. When I finished high school and through my first 2 years of college I was in the 300s, peaking at 314lbs. My sophomore year of college I was treating myself to a birthday feast of cake and cookies when my best friend at the time made a remark about how fat I was. His words hurt my feelings so much that I decided right then and there that I would never be called fat again. Over the next 8 months I lost over 120lbs through diet and exercise to get to the 190s, which is where I sat for the next 2 years. About 4 years ago (when I was around 194) I underwent a fitness transformation where I got into the best shape of my entire life. I still weighed around 194, but I felt absolutely incredible and the feedback I got was incredible, as well. For the first time in my life I was getting attention from people, strangers would compliment me, the world treated me so much better, I started working as a personal trainer. It was around this time that I met my current girlfriend. We fell in love and I became so content with our new relationship that I stopped exercising and stopped watching what I ate, as well as beginning a new career as a bioinformaticist (my bachelor's was in molecular biology and math), which involved a lot of sitting around. Fast forward 4 years and I had gone back to around 260. I felt so enervated and frustrated with myself, work sucked, and it started to take a toll on my relationship. And then about 2.5 months ago I decided that I had enough, and I wanted to get back to the shape and form I felt happiest. I still have a long way to go, but this is what I've learned so far:
- Setting out for massive losses every week is a mistake. When I started, I cut my calories to 1200kcal/day so that I could lose as much as possible (remember, I'm 6'3.5"). The result? I lost nothing. Why? Because I was so hungry all the time that I was often sneaking in calories without any awareness; a handful of nuts here, some crackers there. At the time my mind would say "this is such a small portion, it's effectively no calories" but I was very wrong. Those small snacks add up and can completely cancel out your efforts.
- I realized that I consumed many more calories than I thought I did. After setting my calories higher for modest losses each week (1900kcal/day), I stopped snacking and switched to eating healthy foods. The only problem? Because the foods I was consuming were "healthy", I ate them until I felt completely full. Again, I lost no weight. Frustrated, I decided to use an app to track the caloric content of my food, and found out that I was getting through more than 3000kcal/day. Even though the foods were "healthy", my portions were still far too large.
- The scale is not your enemy. I weigh myself once weekly (every Saturday). Some weeks I hit my weekly goal. Some weeks I crush my weekly goal. And some weeks I miss my weekly goal. After every weigh in, I mentally replay my behavior and habits throughout the week. On the weeks where I miss my goal, when I revisit my behavior I can see that I honestly was not as disciplined as I thought. This lets me know what to change for the next week and get back on track. If you miss your weekly goal, be honest with yourself. The process of looking back allows you to succeed moving forward.
- Lastly and most importantly: be patient. Your patience is your biggest drive to success when it comes to weight loss. I know that from experience of having succeeded and having to work my way back after a long slip-up. For me, being originally 50lbs away from my goal with weekly ambition of 2lbs/week meant I was 25 weeks away. Almost 6 months. Even now, at 32lbs away from my goal, that's 16 weeks away. That's a long time. But you know what? If I got discouraged and quit because of the duration of my project the only thing that would happen is the 16 weeks would still pass me by, and when they finished I would have nothing to show for it. Time never stops passing, so when I feel discouraged I remind myself that whether I continue trying or give up, my "goal date" will arrive and I'll either be where I want or remain where I am. I choose the former. Also, knowing that this journey is a long-haul gives me the time to work on my other goals, like muscle development and tone, so that when the weight is off I look exactly how I want. We can do this!
I know that this is a long post and I want to thank you if you have taken the time to read it all! My biggest advice after all of this is that when you get to your goal weight or physique, do not let up. Because the second time around always seems so much longer than the first!
Best,
Wolf
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2V5CkOp
No comments:
Post a Comment