Heres a link of my progress pics for reference: https://imgur.com/XnGUN3d
tl;dr: In attempt to become a Fire Fighter i lost 50 pounds and gain some muscle, over the year i changed myself mentally as well as physically, changing not only me, but my lifestyle. I am now a very happy and healthy individual.
I started my weight loss journey around last year, July of 2018. This month was a hard one for me, i had just broken up within my girlfriend, and i figured out that i was too late to register for Fire Academy that year. I had been dating my girlfriend for 1.5 years and we had broken up at the end of June. Fire Academy was supposed to start in august however i was too late to apply. For anybody wondering what Fire Academy is, its simply the Academy you attend at least in my circumstance where i live, to gain an associates in Fire Science, as well as all the certifications to become a Fire Fighter in your state. The fact that i was too late to apply saddened me, however i also had a sigh of relief. I was relieved because i looked in the mirror and didn't see a fire fighter. When i talked to people i assumed they didn't see a Fire Fighter either.
Many people see a Firefighter and whether it be a man or women, and usually they represent strength whether it mentally, physically, and usually both. They see a responsible individual, someone that any child can look up to. Usually healthy, especially younger in their career. Such as those represented in those "FireFighter Calendars." I was none of these things. Coming out of a decently long relationship with my first girlfriend ever, i had gained all the weight i had lost back in high school. I was just another statistic, x percentage of people who had gained the weight back after losing it originally. I realized it was time for a change, not a physical change, not a mental change, but a change in who i am completely, a change in lifestyle. A change in lifestyle would mean i would never go back to being obese.
I realized that if i dedicated myself to a diet for a short amount of time, eventually i would hate it and quit it. I dedicated my time to finding the lifestyle that i am happy with living. Originally it was difficult, as anybody can imagine. Anybody on this subreddit who has gone through a similar weight loss knows how hard it is to start. I started going to the gym, and i started my "diet." Originally i had a very unhealthy diet. I was eating maybe 700 calories a day. I started intermediate fasting with a cup of coffee, granola bar, a chicken thigh, and a protein shake. That was my whole days worth of food. It stayed this way for a while. While i lost a lot of weight i started realizing it wasn't healthy. I would be tired every day and every second of my life. I would eat next to nothing, and workout and do 3 miles of cardio. While the scale went down, so did my mental health. I realized this was not substantial for living. After a few months on this terrible diet i started doing some research. I realized i wasn't gaining any muscle at all because i was eating too little. I spent all that time in the gym lifting weights but i never got stronger. It was a combination of bad workout techniques and poor diet. I realized this shortly into my research. I decided to up my diet calorically as well as protein wise. I eventually got it up to 1,200 calories a day. I stayed on this diet for a month or two, but again, i realized i needed more food. While the 1,200 calories was better, it still wasn't good enough for living off of, at least for me, someone with a very active job, ran 3 miles of cardio, as well as worked out every day.
I realized at this point i had all the research done, about gym technique, and what was needed to gain muscle. I could go on a rant for hours just thinking about it currently. I dived deep into research and knew almost everything almost to the point where i could make a career out of the knowledge. So i realized the issue, the mental barrier. At this point is was most definitely mental issues i was suffering from. My last weight loss journey i also basically was just starving myself to start, last time it was also around 700 calories. While the numbers on the scale went down, i repeat, doing this is not the best option for losing weight. Any bit of science can you tell you so, and you can hear it from someone who suffered from it. With a multitude of eating disorders and body image issues, i realized i needed to break the mental barrier. This is when i started to bodybuild "seriously" It was roughly 6 months into my transformation, and i had only a little bit of muscle. This is when it seemed i started to find the healthy way to lose weight. From someone who performed the transformation, starting off healthy is the best way to go. I regret not starting my journey off in this fashion. I started eating 1,700 calories a day, 190 grams of protein per day, and working out a push pull leg workout routine once a week. I started to feel a lot better, yet i was still tired most days. Yet i could see my muscles getting larger, and my waist, smaller. For the first time, i started loving myself, this has never happened. I have never looked in the mirror and liked what i saw, for the first time i did. I dedicated every lift to Fire Fighting, my biggest fear is not being fit enough to do my job, or save someones life. I knew i could never be strong enough. At this point i realized i developed the lifestyle.
My lifestyle consisted of lifting, and healthy eating. I ate at that diet up until 11 months. Through those 5 months i would continue lifting, and my lifts would increase. People would start complimenting me, one fellow at work said i should become a boxer because "look at those arms." Everyone complimented my weight loss, and id love to tell the story. There is no better feeling than receiving a compliment, apart from fitting into those old skinny jeans i got too big for. For anybody reading this looking for inspiration to lose the weight, i can truly say for those things alone, do it. There is nothing that made me happier than those moments, i have never been more proud of myself. A nice side dish of looking in the mirror and enjoying what you see, is priceless. After 11 months i realized i had lost enough weight, i considered myself at a healthier fat percentage and decided to commit fully to building muscle. I changed my diet yet again. 2,400 to 2,600 calories a day. With 5 core workouts, 5 cardio sessions, and 3 to 4 full workouts a week. Sided with the fact i walked an extra 15,000 steps a day due to work. For the first time ever i felt i was eating more than a normal amount of food, however i wasn't scared anymore. I wasn't scared of becoming that fat kid again, because i knew that i changed my outlook and lifestyle, and it wasn't just temporary, i would do that forever. I realized that i might gain some of the fat back in the process of building as much muscle as possible. However that just means eventually i can cut the fat off with a cut cycle. Building the muscle was necessary for the Fire Fighting aspect of my life, of which i had dedicated my last year of my life too. So here i was, a different person the right, while i went through a huge change mentally as well as physically, i considered myself a brand new person, for the better.
I was no longer afraid to tell people i was becoming a FireFighter, as they would often times say "youre fit you look like a fire fighter" That would always put a smile on my face. I continue to lift, and diet, and this august i am attending Fire Academy, and i am not scared, i think i am very well prepared and i will try my best to be the best cadet i can be. I look in the mirror every morning and that puts a smile on my face. People stare, but not like back in the day. This time when they stare its a good thing, its a good stare. If you never felt what a good stare feels like, its a very good feeling. I was no longer ashamed of my body, i was no longer insecure.
For anyone reading this looking for some motivation in this long story, i hope you do. If you've never transformed, or if you have but failed, or you have already lose the weight, maybe you can relate to some of the things i said, maybe you can't. I can't put it into words how i feel now, everything is just better. I went from depressed last July, to the opposite, a mania, this July. There is nothing better you can do for yourself. If you havn't convinced yourself after reading some posts on this subreddit, or even this one, i seriously hope you reconsider. If i had do it all over again i would gladly do it, knowing that the outcome would be where i am right now. I am a happy, healthy, well rounded individual who is excited to start academy, not scared too. If you are starting to attempt weight loss, or even recomp with fat loss and muscle gain. Please make sure you do it in a healthy manner. Start to understand your body, when it tells you something is wrong, fix it, whether it be diet or something else. Please choose a healthy way to lose weight, and a healthy way to gain muscle. If i had started out on the 1,700 calorie diet i would have had much better progress, so please find the best diet for you before you fully commit. If there is one thing you can take away from my story, its that your journey won't always be a straight path. You might have to make adjustments, you might have to cry some nights, some nights you will love yourself, coming over mental barriers might be necessary, however you will come out of it a completely different and happy person, and it is very worth it.
For anyone going through the journey or considering doing it, please for the love of god do it and stick with it. If you have any questions please feel free to fire away, i will respond through the day when i get the time. Good luck on your journey!
