Hi reddit!
I've done a few of these in the past, but took a break during Covid when fitness stuff was harder to access for me. Now I'm back for another round, including updates on how lockdown went for me fitness wise at the end.
As a teenager I was ~250lbs at 6’0”. Around 2005, when I was 19, I decided to make some changes. Through some careful (but not super drastic) diet and exercise I lost nearly 90lbs over the course of one year, and I’ve kept it off ever since.
Since most stories you hear about are immediately after, or during, someone's weight loss I thought people might be interested to hear from someone who’s maintained the change over a long period of time. Overall (lockdown aside) I’ve kept a pretty consistent level of fitness since the initial weight loss, which I mostly attribute to emphasizing safe, enjoyable, and sustainable changes. My overall goal is to stay fit for many years to come, so I enjoyment and injury resilience in my routine, over over putting up the biggest possible numbers right now.
I found a long-term mindset, as well as getting educated about nutrition and exercise, to be very important to losing the weight. I really cannot over-state how important education has been for me - it makes everything so much easier if you have a basic understanding of nutrition and exercise science.
Since dropping that weight I have tried to maintain balance in my life, striving to stay healthy and fit without devoting hours and hours of my time to doing so. I typically spend 5 hours per week exercising in the off-season, and 7+ when the weather is good. I do a mixture of cardio and resistance training, and my diet is sensible but not amazing.
Below you can see where I started off, where I've been over the last few years since I started these AMAs, and where I am today:
- 2002 @ ~250lbs (apologies for the poor picture - not many pictures of me exist from this time)
- 2014, most muscular @ 165lbs
- 2016, side @ 165lbs
- 2017, most muscular @ 172lbs
- 2017, side @ 172lbs
- 2018, side @ 170lbs
- 2019, most muscular @ 175lbs
- 2020 pre-lockdown, most muscular @ 175lbs
- 2020 pre-lockdown, side @ 175lbs
- 2020 mid-lockdown, most muscular @ 165lbs
- 2022 post-lockdown, back @ 170lbs
- 2022 post-lockdown, front @ 170lbs
- 2022 post-lockdown, side @ 170lbs
- 2023, back @ 170lbs
- 2023, front @ 170lbs
- 2023, most muscular @ 170lbs
- 2023, side @ 170lbs
- 2023, relaxed @ 170lbs
Post-lockdown update:
Like many, I lost access to any fitness equipment I didn't have at home during the Covid lockdown. I ran a lot and set some run PRs, but the only weight training I could do was with basic kettlebells etc at home. My overall fitness - specifically strength - took a big hit starting in the second half of 2020, until I was comfortable returning to a proper gym in 2022.
Since then my routine has returned to being more effective, though my focus has changed a little bit. I used to only focus on legs and core, for backpacking - but more recently I have been paddling quite a bit too so I added a bit more focus on shoulders and upper back to help with that. For the past few 6 months or so I've also increased my training cadence from 2 out of every 3 days, to 5 days/week. I'll be dropping back to 2 out of 3 days soon, once my last few summer adventures wrap up - until late winter when I'll ramp up again.
I'm happy to expand on any of what I mention above, or to answer any other questions you may have. In other words, AMA!
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/oNwl4FE
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