Hello all. It has been very inspirational for me to read this sub, and I was hoping to contribute to this sub.
Here is my transformation: https://imgur.com/a/3NHOIDt
In summary, I lost 50 lbs, or 24 kg, or 30% of my total body weight over a year, from 81kg to 57kg. From a 27.1 bmi to a 19 bmi.
That works out to slightly less than 1lbs / 0.5kg per week. My waist size dropped from 36 to 27. My body fat dropped from around 26.16% to 13.54%. (album image 2 of my transformation)
This body fat percentage was calculated using the relative fat mass method.
https://blog.cedars-sinai.edu/relative-fat-mass/
However, this is only an estimate, and my body fat currently is likely to be around 16% judging from pictures.
If you wish to stop reading here, the way to weight loss is basically 4 essential elements. Knowing what you eat(calorie info sugar content and fat content). Calorie restriction. Cardiovascular Exercise/Strength training. Increasing activity levels outside of exercise.
I started losing weight since 20 Dec 2017. Today is 17 Dec 2018.
I'm 173cm, 25 years old, male. My ethnicity is East Asian.
Weight loss has been a roller coaster in all fairness, from binging to water fasts and everything in between. Ultimately, it is a test of endurance. So if i were to point to one factor that is essential for weight loss, that would be mental health.
Luckily, a healthy lifestyle and weight loss go hand in hand.
Before I start, I would like to give a brief history about myself. I tried weight loss once, lost 10kg, did not know why, it didn't stay off.
Next, I have all the risk factors for diabetes type 2, as well as for alzhimers(known as diabetes type 3 informally).
In fact, when I started, I was 24, and recently been diagnosed as prediabetic. I also had multiple fungal infections, slow wound healing, and sleep apnea.
This was when I weighed about 81kg. That is basically a BMI of 27.1. It is classified as Obese Class 1, according to the Asia pacific task force.(reference below). My waist was also fluctuating 35.5 to 36 inches. That also falls under a moderate category of getting comorbidities related to obesity.
http://asean-endocrinejournal.org/index.php/JAFES/article/view/80/381
I will split my story into three essential parts. It is mainly separated into the three interventions I did on myself to reduce weight.
First, calorie restriction. Second, my weight loss plateau, and the things i did wrong. Thirdly, how I got over my weight loss plateau, which include exercise and learning the value of NEATs.(non exercise activity thermogenesis).
First, calorie restriction. Calorie restriction, or the Calories In portion of CICO.
There is a wealth of information on this on this forum, so I will not delve into this too much. Essentially, one important element of weight loss is nutrition. According to T Colin Campbell for nutrition studies, 80% of weight loss is nutrition. This is not a scientific source, but I find it to be generally accurate. Again, I am probably not the best at explaining this, so please refer to other posts on this forum for more detailed information.
https://nutritionstudies.org/healthy-weight-loss-80-nutrition-20-exercise/
Nutrition wise, I stuck to eating an average of 1500 calories for a majority of the time.(image 6 of the my transformation post to see my calorie intake for the last 3 months).
https://imgur.com/a/3NHOIDt
This is also recommended by myfitnesspal and this forum.
https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/faq#wiki_is_it_safe_to_eat_less_than_1000_calories_per_day.3F
In the beginning, I ate more Mcdonalds than i did fruits and vegetables, but now, it is the opposite. My diet now consists of lightly salted lean poultry, fruits and vegetables. This helps me to feel full and provides the necessary macronutrients. For me, the most difficult part about this is actually getting the nutritional information from eateries and restaurants. So now, most of my food is whole food(i.e. fruits and vegetables, chicken) or packaged food.
This strategy alone brought my weight down from 81 to 62kg relatively easily.
Secondly, my weight loss plateau. My weight loss plateau started at around 62kg. I was wondering why I wasn't losing weight. The reason is two fold. One, not enough accounting of calories. Two, not enough physical activity.
This is where I made my big mistake. I tried to solve it by further calorie restriction to 1200. This caused me constipation and fatigue for many days.
I also went for a resting metabolic rate test, which came back as 1400kcal a day. (image 7 of my transformation)
https://imgur.com/a/3NHOIDt
This was much lower than i expected. It could have been that my body fat was 23% according to TDEE calculators, but my waist was about 29 inches at that time, which translates to about 17% body fat using the relative fat mass equation. So, an alternative explanation could also be seen in the following studies. Essentially, caloric restriction reduces TDEE and RMR. This is probably what happened in my case.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2204100
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18198305
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/88/1/14/2845989
For ease of reference, here are the results of one study in terms of expected RMR vs actual RMR after caloric restriction.
https://i.imgur.com/Oo0k8p9.png
Thirdly, this is where I learned the value of non exercise activity thermogenesis(NEATS). It means that besides calorie restriction, there must be a change of activity state from sedentary to active.
This is the definition of NEATS: Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, undertaking agricultural tasks and fidgeting.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12468415
From personal anecdotes, NEATS helped to break my weight loss plateau. I recently downloaded the pedometer app to see how much I had walked. From 5 Dec - 17 Dec, I walked 192km, over the course of 40 hours. This is at an average speed of 4.8km/h or 3 miles per hour. That is 14.76km or 9 miles a day.
https://imgur.com/a/nuzrojt
One benefit of walking is improved mental health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4053519/
This in addition to moderate intensity physical exercise, which must be done at 150 mins per week.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2013/11/20/physical-activity-guidelines-how-much-exercise-do-you-need/
Coincidentally, 3 miles per hour is the minimum speed required for it to be considered moderate intensity exercise.
https://health.gov/paguidelines/2008/appendix1.aspx
Information in the Advisory Committee Report lays the basis for expressing physical activity guidelines in minutes. The Advisory Committee indicated that 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity activity per week could be regarded as (roughly) equivalent to 500 MET-minutes per week. In fact, 3.3 METs for 150 minutes per week is equal to 500 MET-minutes per week. By recommending that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week, adults will achieve 500 to 1,000 MET-minutes per week if the intensity is 3.3 METs or greater. As indicated by the Advisory Committee Report, people who do 150 minutes of a 3.0 to 3.2 MET activity are acceptably close to achieving 500 MET minutes. As noted earlier, walking at 3.0 miles per hour is a 3.3 MET activity. Hence, it is appropriate to communicate to the public that a “brisk walk” is walking at 3.0 miles per hour or faster
Anecdotally, it has worked, so as long as you try your best to walk as much as possible, and do at least a brisk walk of 4.8km/hr or 3 miles per hour for at least 150 mins a week, together with calorie restriction, you will have a very high chance of losing weight and keeping the weight off.
