Back in August 2016, I weighed, at some point, 90Kg. I’m 1.75 m tall, so you can imagine, that 90kg would make look really chubby. Back in 2012-2013 when I finished college, before I moved back home (different story, for another time), I had somewhere around 65 kg. In a matter of 2,5-3 years I’ve gained a little more over 25kg.
I didn’t like this weight. It was uncomfortable, my clothes didn’t fit me properly anymore and overall gave a weird feeling. It was like it wasn’t me in that body.
So I’ve decided to make a change. I think this is the most important thing you need to make. To make that decision and that commitment to start losing weight. That you will do what is necessary, that you will stick to the program. Because if you start doing and you do it for only a few days, it won’t help you at all.
The first thing that I did was to buy a scale. If you want to lose weight, it’s important to keep track of your progress. Buying the scale I found out that I had that 90 kg in the first place, so if you’re not sure what your starting point is, buy that scale.
Seeing that I had that weight, I’ve made some decisions. That I will be more careful about what I will eat and that I will exercise more.
Regarding the eating habits, I start to cook more. I looked online for recipes that I liked and I cooked them myself, rather than buying fast food or take out. This helped me balance my money a little bit as well, so it was a win-win situation.
I started to take walks as well. When I was coming back from the office, I dropped a bus station, or two, earlier than my station and take a walk. It wasn’t much, just a 30 min walk, or less depending on my speed. But it helped a lot. Not only I started to make some kind of physical activity, which I didn’t do in a long time, but it helped me relax after a hard day at work.
I think this was my strategy for the whole month of September. Of course, I didn’t stop cooking for myself or doing my walks (I stopped with the walks when it got colder). But I wasn’t happy with my results. I was still over closer to 90 than my desired weight of 80.
So I’ve started to do some research online about different kind of diets or ways to lose weight. I’ve discovered intermittent fasting, which is eating pattern, not a diet. You have a video below that explains about this method.
Basically, intermittent fasting is having a period of time where you don’t eat. I used a 12h timetable. I ate breakfast at 7:00 AM and dinner at 7:00 PM. It’s challenging, it’s a little bit weird and your stomach will growl in the beginning, but it my case it worked. I’m not sure about how long I’ve done this. There were days when I ate 3 meals, days when I ate only 2 (keeping that 12h window) and sometimes I liked to skip eating for the whole day.
The thing with not eating for the whole day was more like a challenge. I wanted to see how my body will react if I didn’t eat for the whole day. I used to do this on Saturdays. I ate my dinner on Friday and I didn’t eat anything until the breakfast on Sunday. For the Saturday I only drink water and tea, without sugar of course.
In November I did a “No meat” month. For the whole month of November I didn’t eat any meat. I like from time to time to make kind of challenges for a whole month. It changes the status quo a little bit and it makes me do new things. I had to think and look for a new kind of recipes to eat. With meat, it’s very easy to make the breakfast, for example. You throw some bacon, some eggs in the pan, et voila!, you have your breakfast. But without the meat, I had added broccoli, spinach and other veggies to the mix.
And so the year soon had come to an end. If I remember correctly, in January I was around 83-82 Kg. I didn’t do intermittent fasting anymore, but I worked out a little more instead. I started a small program of pushups and sit-ups in the morning. I started to prepare for a semi marathon that will take place on 23rd of April.
Then on February I did a “No sugar” month. For the whole month of February I ate no sweets, I didn’t make any pancakes (the only sweet thing that I know how to make), no chocolate. No sugary things at all.
And with the start of spring I’ve started to run. As much as possible, 2-3 times a week. You can read on Steemit about my Running Chronicles.
And this is how I lost weight. Of course, I will continue to do what I did until now. I don’t want to ever go back to 90 kg. In fact, my goal is to go to 75 kg this year. I find it the best weight for a guy my height. And I think it’s a goal that I will achieve very soon. At my last weigh in, during this weekend, I had 79 kg.
Basically, I lost weight changing my lifestyle a little bit. More workouts, more home cooked meals, taking care of what I eat.
There are many ways to lose weight, you just need to find the one that is suitable for you. And, of course, you could ask for suitable help, from a nutritionist or a fitness coach. I’m more of a crazy person, and to be honest, I don’t have the money for neither of them. And this is why I’ve done this by myself.
Intermittent Fasting – A Beginner’s Guide
A comprehensive guide to intermittent fasting. First 50 viewers will get three meals off their Blue Apron order FREE: Click Here: http://cook.ba/2mPJ6nx Inte…