First off, sorry for my poor grammar, I am not a native english speaker.
Okay, so let me get started with the usual facts - 28M, 6'4" (193 cm), SW 308lbs (140 kg), CW 210lbs (95 kg), OGW 220lbs (100 kg), NGW 200lbs (91 kg). Upon reaching my original goal weight I felt like needed to lose a bit more pounds, so I set a new goal weight.
I want to preface my story by saying that I do not recommend the methods I used and there are far easier (albeit slower) ways. Remember to not get discouraged if you notice no progress for a couple of weeks - if you keep up a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight. Your goal should be a long term sustainable lifestyle change, or you will simply lose all progress eventually.
Now, to get the story of my weight loss journey started. I was always the "chubby one". My height helped hide this a bit but it was certainly not something I'm proud off. Although I was always quite active (about 240 minutes of light to medium cardio (mostly walking) every week, my diet was crap and I often found comfort in food. It didn't help my family always had a quite poor diet - big portions of food which was often high in fat and sugar content. This added up over the years and I reached my peak weight of 140 kg (308lbs) on november 2019.
What got me started with my weight loss journey is quite funny, actually. I was watching a comedy that revolved around three obese Japanese cops - the usual stuff, most of the jokes revolving around their weight. But then came the moment where were decided to "get fit". This was prefaced with them stepping on the scales. I expected some absurd amount, but it showed around 100 kg (220lbs) for each one of them. Granted, they were quite short, but here I was, laughing at the jokes on the account of someone who weighed 2/3 of what I did.
I don't want to keep this too long, but I will say the start was not easy. I lost the first 25 kg (55lbs) by consuming around 1200 calories per day with a TDEE of around 4000. I didn't know a lot of what I do now about nutrition, but due to having a strict 1/1/1 method (1 hour of running, 1 hour of brisk walking and 1 hour of cycling 6-7 days per week - I called it the spartan way) I lost around 2-3 kg (4-7lbs) per week. It required immense mental effort and was far from optimal (I was hungry all the time, had to completely give up sweets and junk food and my leg muscles hurt like hell on most days) but it worked. I later on eased up a bit, learned a lot about healthy nutrition and weight loss (I mostly listened to podcasts during exercise). I slowly switched to a more sustainable routine of 1 hour of intense daily activity six days per week and a daily calorie intake of around 2000-2500 with a TDEE of around 3000. It took a bit less than a year with weight lifting thrown in during the last 6 months, but here I am now at 95 kg (210lbs) and happier than ever. I still have a bit more to go, but I want to share some fundamental tips of what I learned during my journey.
- You definitely CAN outrun a somewhat bad diet, but you really shouldn't. Exercise however is a great motivator for days when you really want something caloric (wanna eat that bag of chips? Go for a long walk first and earn it). Seeing how much it takes to burn off a snack can be a great motivator for keeping snacks on the down low
- Low calorie density food options are going to keep hunger at bay as they fill you up. Fruit (don't listen to people who say you can't eat fruit, however still don't overdo it) and vegetables are great, but you already knew that (same goes for low fat greek yoghurt, popcorn, eggwhites and chicken). Most calorie dense foods have a healthier option that might not 100% replace them, but will keep you satisfied regardless
- Fitness watches are a good way of keeping track of your TDEE but don't rely on them too much. I've tested different watches from Suunto, Garmin and Samsung at the same time (I work as a reviewer) and they ALL showed completely different values of burned calories for the same 1-hour run (from 500-1500 calories)
- Listen to your body, but learn to distinguish between what it needs and what it wants. You might NEED rest or a snack in which case just have it, but you might also simply WANT an excuse to be lazy or get something in your mouth
- Always keep hydrated. Water is best, but diet soda will not hurt your weight loss journey. Just don't take this as a reason to only drink soda as it can have other consequences
- This might be a bit unorthodox but I developed a bit of a coffee addiction as coffee helped me deal with hunger cues. Tea is another good option
- Learn to read food labels. I never counted calories but if there is an opportunity and you can afford it go for a low calorie option and you might not even spot a difference. Goes especially for sugar, there are multiple no-calorie options that you can learn to enjoy to replace it
- Weight lifting and similar non-cardio exercise burns hardly any fat, but building muscle will increase your TDEE
- Having a bad day is normal. Even if you go off track, tomorrow is a new day. Learn to live and forget, but don't take this as an excuse to binge every day. Every now and then a bad day won't however hurt your long term progress
- Learn your trigger foods. For me, those were grapes (could easily down 2kg of them in a single sitting) and watermelon, but also chips, homemade apple pie or Cremeschnitte, and chocolate cookies. Some, you will have to leave out of your diet. Some, you can enjoy in moderation. And some, you can replace with "better" options or enjoy every now and then as a special treat.
- Always look for ways of exercising that you won't even notice. Things like parking at the far end of the parking lot, taking the stairs, even taking a 10 minute walk during lunch will all add up at the end of the week. Just don't expect too much
I hope this will help anyone else, if anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Photos:
Start of the journey: https://i.imgur.com/MlEVeqq.jpg
Now (slight NSFW): https://i.imgur.com/398PJoP.jpg
