Weight loss and fitness: A milestone for me

I'm not trying to brag here but I have just crossed into a territory that I have not known since more than 10 years ago. I traveled into territory south of 85KG (190 lbs) for the first since I was in my early 30's.

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I was one of those guys that seemed to have magical genes until i hit right around 33. I ate whatever I wanted, I drank whatever I wanted, I rarely exercised intentionally, yet i was fit and trim and even had abs. This all changed due to the magic that is the brick wall of 35 or so. Over the course of the next 5 years I didn't change my habits. It took a while, but one day after some pretty traumatic stuff happened to me, I looked in the mirror and hated the guy I saw there. I was 106kg (235 lbs).

The thing is my transition to a healthier dude hasn't been anything momentous. I don't wake up early to go jogging before I work and I don't even do very much cardio. At the advisement of a personal trainer who happens to be very good at their job and also a close personal friend, I tried something that ended up working very well for me. It really isn't that hard either.

no more sugar

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This was actually the easiest part of the program for me because I haven't had a sweet tooth since I was a kid. However, it includes thing that I was actually unaware had a bunch of sugar in it such as boxed juices. Those things are devils in disguise because while they say 100% this or 100% that, they are mostly water and sugar, much of it processed. Obviously you gotta get the sodas out of your life right away.

high protein, low carbs

I have to admit that I was far more dedicated to this at the start than I am now. I have returned to eating bread and rice and what not, but I just don't go crazy with it. When I have time I will go out of my way to make a big bowl of chili con carne, which depending on what you put in there is friggin awesome, easy to store, and contains very little in the way of carbs. I also never really get tired of it.

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According to my personal trainer / nutritionist friend and a vast majority of sensible people on the internet will agree that "the best diet is one that you can stick to forever" and trying to say that you are never going to eat carbs again or the latest trend of fasting, is not practical. As many as 2/3 of people that use these tactics end up putting on MORE weight than they originally lost and most of these people utilized impractical diets that are tough to stick to.

Beer

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This was the toughest one for me and is likely the main reason behind my (and most other men's) weight gain in the first place. I think I can honestly say that I consumed more calories / carbohydrates in the form of beer than all other forms of food combined over the past 10 years or so. When I owned a bar it was completely normal for me to consume 12-15 beers a day and that is just absurd.

What do you suppose the fix for this was? To stop drinking beer? Absolutely not, I am never going to do that. I transitioned to a low carb beer and I still drink it nearly every day. However, I also stopped drinking 12 beers a day. For the most part I still drink every day, but rarely will I have more than 4 as this seems to be my hangover threshold anyway. Win / Win.

Weights are key

Most people assume that you have to do a load of cardio in order to lose weight but according to my $500 an hour friend and a vast majority of fitness / nutrition specialists, weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. This is fantastic news to anyone out there because most people who give up on a "life change" hit the ground running in a very literal sense. This is extremely easy to quit. Most people who go from "zero to hero" fail and revert to their old ways.

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However, for most people that i have met that hate cardio, they don't seem to mind lifting weights. I recommend starting on machines that enforce proper form and are easier, it can be quite difficult to know what to do with free weights and they are also a fantastic way to hurt yourself. Take it easy when you first start going because if you overdo it, you are going to be seriously sore the next few days and this will only encourage you to not go back.

There are so many studies out there, many with conflicting information. However, one of the proper studies had strict controls and the people were selected without any bias or objective towards a particular product - this is a good way to see to it that the results are less biased.

They had 3 groups and all groups were on the same strictly controlled diet of high protein and low carbs

• 1st group did ONLY the diet
• 2nd group did diet and cardio
• 3rd group did diet and weight-training

Guess which group lost the most weight? Well, it was the 3rd group. All of them lost weight but the 3rd group was significantly higher. Something quite obvious was discovered also: The people in the weight-training group felt a much higher sense of pride because of the more visible results. one of the articles in question can be seen here, but there are many

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tl:dr

This is one of the longest articles I have ever written. Sorry about that. It started out as a "yea me!" post and spiraled out of control. Basically I am trying to say both "yea for me!" and to say that it doesn't have to be as hard as you think to make a major life change. Many people think they need to start running 5 miles a day and that simply isn't the case. For many people, especially people carrying a bunch of extra weight, this can actually be very detrimental to your knees and back and ankles etc. It is also the easiest program to abandon.

The trick is to make small, manageable changes to your lifestyle and eventually turn them into what your life is simply like. Diet is the most important thing but the changes you make don't need to be something horrible that you know you aren't going to stick with. Cutting out carbs is key and it doesn't have to be as crazy as some people make it out to be. Honestly, anyone who thinks they are just going to never eat pizza or bread again is nuts... maybe start by eliminating full-flavor beer binges and eliminate Coca-Cola... The changes you will see there, just from those two things, will be immense.

When I started on my journey from 106KG (nearly 2 years ago) to now at 85KG, I didn't think i would stick with it or achieve this goal. I had already accepted the fact that I was a 200 pound + guy. However, here i am two years later and I am happy to say that I now have my sights on 80kg at which point I will stop and simply maintain. So yeah... yea for me!