I don't know about you guys but I'm one if those people that likes to set goals around New Year's. Following through with them is a whole other story though.. Last year my resolution was to lose weight and I did it! In my previous post I was asked to put up some before and after pictures with my weight-loss suggestions.
This picture is from 3 years ago where I was around 240lbs being 6ft tall.
(I'm in the gray t-shirt)
I felt really heavy, had shortness of breath, very high cholesterol levels, pre-diabetes etc...
I got really fed up with it. And promised myself that I would exercise every single day for at least 30min to an hour. I got myself an elliptical that I would do for about 30 min every morning before work. Then after work I would come back home and depending on a day, I would go play basketball, volleyball, go jogging, bike, or do ballistic kettlebell exercises for about an hour. On top of that I started taking a vitamin B complex (that gives me little more energy) while cutting down on sweets and carbs in general. I tried going to bed earlier as well so that I can get my 8 hours of sleep every night, or at least get close to it. The basic idea was to consume less calories than I was burning.
(November 2016 - ~230lbs.. 10lbs down)
Applications like Strava and MyFitnessPal, and other types of fitness tracking devices are very helpful as well. I used Samsung gear fit2 for a year and now im using a Garmin Forerunner 935 (which is amazing) I highly suggest getting a Garmin watch for anyone regardless of your fitness level.
Link to my Strava account: https://strava.app.link/nGpwo2k9sJ
(2017 year in numbers- 438 hours of working out)
So in August 2017 when I was getting ready for my big volcano climb (see my Mt. Adams post) I weighed in at 187lbs (53lbs loss over 3 years and ~20lbs lost in 2017 alone) I also gained quite a bit of muscle mass so the numbers do not represent the full picture.
(Burning up 7000 calories on a 100 mile bike ride Sept 2017)
(Canoeing in Banff, Canada. Summer 2017. Weight- 190lbs)
(Hiking with my gf on my shoulders- October 2017 - 185lbs)
In other words, the main thing is to change your mindset. I had to promise to myself (and trust me, it took a lot of will power) to exercise 420 minutes per week (~1 hr per day). That promise along with motivational gadgets was what made this journey doable. You just have to make sure to bring the element of fun into your workout routine- then you'll never want to stop!
Wishing you all happy and healthy year!