I started this blog back when a bad series of events in my life inspired me to lose weight. A lot of it in fact.
Like a lot of people, I kind of let myself go in my 30's and this didn't really dawn on me until most people probably would have considered it "too late." I was around 250 lbs and it didn't happen overnight.
I was very active as a youth and continued lifting weights once I had jobs but something just happened and I got complacent and this lead to me being nearly 115 kg. One day after something traumatic happened i looked in the mirror and I didn't like the person that was staring back at me. I hated him in fact.
How could I let it get this bad?
I think a lot of people have felt this way but I decided that day that I was going to succeed. I didn't say "i'm going to try to lose 5kg" I developed a plan that I know would work of establishing a caloric deficit and sticking with it.
The weight just kind of flew off of me at the start even though I wasn't really capable of much in the way of actual exercise. I already knew the rule of 70/30 where trainers say that weight loss is 70% what you put into your body and 30% what you do with your body. I set up a plan and bought a food scale and from that point forward aside from cheat days all of my meals were planned.
This was absolutely crucial. You see, a lot of people that I know think they are going on a diet but they still rely on food made by restaurants. Do you really know what they are putting in there? you don't. Often the places intentionally conceal the horrible ingredients that they are putting in there.
If you buy a food scale and make a plan with good Whole foods involved in them, you are going to lose weight. It really is that simple.
Weight loss isn't some convoluted thing like a lot of influencers make it out to be. It's a very simple formula of calories in / calories out. If you have a 300-500 per day caloric deficit your body has NO CHOICE but to drop weight.
I never really set out to get below 80kg, certainly not at the start of this all. The idea that I could lose 70 lbs or 35 kg was just an outrageous pipe dream at the time of my ultra-fatness. This was when I discovered that these things take time, a lot of time actually. Most people fall off weight loss because they want a quick fix. Almost all of the people I know that had some sort of crash diet failed badly and are actually larger now than when they started.
I've maintained after my success in this weight loss of mine that the key to victory is small and manageable changes that you STICK WITH. Fasting is not manageable for most people, neither is drinking only juice, neither is going for a 10k on your very first day of running.
For me, going from 115kg guy who was tired and drunk all the time to a guy that actually has energy and looks forward to going for a run to break through to below 80kg for the first time since he was 16 was something that I had to work on every single day. I couldn't cheat even though I wanted to if I wanted to stay on track. All the parties I missed, all the pizzas I didn't have, all the beers that I wanted but skipped, these started out as difficult sacrifices but over time became simply how I live my life.
It can be for other people as well but you have to make that choice to not be part of a fad diet, not be a part of a quick fix that doesn't work for almost anyone, but to change how you view life entirely. The "sacrifices" that I made around 7 years ago are just normal day-to-day existence for me now and I am happier because of it.
Now my trip to south of 80kg was a bit of a cheat on my part. I sweat a great deal when I run and this scale measurement was taken immediately after a particularly brutal and hot 1 hour run, but my fingers were crossed as I stepped onto the scale and managed to make it under 80kg by a mere 50 grams. As soon as I rehydrated i was back at 81 or so, maybe 82.
The fact remains though that this has been something that took the better part of a decade to accomplish and this is something that people trying to lose weight need to realize and accept. The only fast-track to weight loss is liposuction and then you are going to have to deal with fat flaps that are gross and probably require additional surgery to get rid of.
It can be done though and I fully believe that anyone can do this. You just need a plan and the dedication necessary to make these changes a permanent part of your existence. I drink beer y'all. I eat pizza. But I do this in sensible moderation now which is how we all should be doing it right from the start.
I don't plan on losing more weight. 80kg is a good place for me to be. That doesn't mean that I've hit the finish line and now don't have to work anymore but here is the kicker. I actually want to do the maintenance things that I do such as lifting weights and going for runs. It was murder for me when I first began.
If it was easy everyone would do it but it isn't as tough as a lot of people think. You need a few tools such as scales to get started, then you just need dedication. There are people that could probably do this a lot faster than the 7 years that it took me, but my method was one of sacrificing just enough to still be happy with my life, but in the interim also making my life a lot better.
I'm lighter now than when I was in high school and I plan on staying this way.