My journey to begin losing weight has a long history. I honestly can't say when it started because I had wanted to lose weight for such a long time. Like many others I tried several diets and strategies. Most had short term gains but didn't last long. I always ended up dropping off the diet and gaining the weight back, sometimes more than I started with. My successful attempt at losing weight began on 7/31/2017 at 230 pounds.
Setting Course
As I have gotten older I have finally learned to analyze my behaviors, listen to my body, and understand what works for me. At the top of my list of requirements is simplicity. Having 3 kids and a demanding job I need to introduce change in simple easy to manage steps. When I first heard about intermittent fasting I was immediately intrigued. No diet is simpler than restricting the time of day I can eat. Intermittent fasting can be implemented in many variations but is extremely simple at its core. Set designated times frames for eating. I chose a 16 hour fast with an 8 hour window for eating which started at 12 PM with lunch and ended at 8 PM with a snack. Essentially I was skipping breakfast and not eating too late at night.
The only other change I needed to implement was tracking progress. I had never weighed myself regularly or logged it anywhere. At my day job I am a data professional so I understand the value of good data. To keep me on course I decided to weigh myself every day and track it with the Google Fit app on my phone. With this information at my disposal I can easily see progress and mistakes will stand out.
Walking the Path
Going into this change I set the expectation that this would be a slow process. My aunt once told me that I needed to "wade through the shit to get to the water". In my career I have held this concept very closely and have seen much success. Applying it to health and wellness I expected to see the same.
Starting out with this plan I discovered very quickly I could not follow "fasting" as strictly as some folks say it should be. I liked coffee and it needed to have some cream and sugar in it. This was something I knew I couldn't change right away so I rolled with it. In the morning I allowed myself a cup or two of coffee with cream and sugar. Not perfect, but it worked for me. This was actually a huge inflection point. Allowing this bump in the road to exist and sticking with the rest of the plan proved I didn't have to obey my desire for perfection.
Logging weight each day proved to be a fantastic idea. When a bad decision was made and over indulgent eating occurred it was blatantly obvious. Seeing the data move in the wrong direction started to impact daily decision making. This is where nutrition really started to become a core part of my life. It had finally gotten its foot in the door and would prove to be a game changer.
By the end of 2017 I had lost 10 pounds and was weighing in at 219 pounds. 10 pounds in 5 months may not seem like a lot, but it is progress. With the start of the new year coming my motivation was renewed and I decided to make healthier food choices as a part of my diet. Nothing complicated, just not having so many sweets and eating out less. Another 3 months went by and I lost 10 more pounds.
As the year went on I made no further changes. Instead of going down my weight was fluctuating between 200-206. I ended the year at 206 but decided to stay the course. Without any further changes this continued until July of 2019. I realized if I wanted to see more progress I needed to implement more changes. I had hit a plateau with the current plan.
The Next Step
I felt I had mastered my diet and was following it fairly well. I didn't want to make the diet more complicated so the best option was to add exercise. With my job requiring me to sit at a desk all day I was not the most physically active person. This seemed like the most logical direction to take. The problem with exercise is the same as anything else, it gets complicated quickly and is sometimes expensive.
For years I had watched my brothers run races and have a lot of fun doing it. They had been running all throughout high school and really enjoyed it. What finally clicked with me is how simple it was. There was no barrier to entry. I just needed to go outside and do it.
I entered a 5k obstacle course race with my brothers and did terrible. After that I started running almost daily. I had kept it simple and made a 5k route that started outside my front door. All I had to do was put shoes on and walk outside. After several months I finally mastered the 5k route and was able to run it without stopping.
Fruits & Vegetables of Labor
By the end of 2019 I was down to 183 pounds. I was overjoyed to have lost almost 50 pounds in two and a half years. A long term commitment but the rewards were well worth the wait. I had never felt better and had really taken to running. It had become more than just a part of my weight loss strategy. Running morphed into an all out hobby that I enjoy and can't imagine being without.
As I began my journey as a runner I started to learn a lot more about nutrition. I was also feeling very hungry all the time with all of the running and limited window for eating. On top of that my weight loss had hit another plateau. I needed to make another change. That change turned out to be ditching meat. Becoming a vegetarian had been on my radar but never felt right.
I made the switch to being a vegetarian, stopped intermittent fasting, and never looked back. A big shift in diet like that may sound complicated but it really isn't. Simply don't eat meat, anything else goes. Figuring out what to eat can be a pain in the beginning because you have to search the menu at restaurants a little harder, but I promise it couldn't be easier. You get used to the flow of things and more limited food choices. So many unhealthy items fall off your options of what you can eat and its a wonderful thing.
By May of 2020 I had lost another 13 pounds and weighed in at 170. My waist size has gone from 38 to 32 and now I'm wearing medium sized shirts instead of XL. As of this writing it is October 2021 and my weight has fluctuated between 165 and 175 depending on the training I am doing for the last year. This spring and summer I spent the bulk of my time training for a marathon that I ran a couple weeks ago. I have decided to go vegan and have targeted an optimal body weight of 160 pounds.
Lessons Learned
- Simplicity is amazing, don't overlook it. When plans are complicated there are so many points of failure. Introduce small changes slowly and you are sure to master them.
- Constantly evaluate your progress. Acknowledge the mistakes you make along the way and keep moving forward. When you hit a plateau but have further to go, evaluate changes that can be made. Don't settle for where you are, chase the goal you want.
- Roll with the punches. If there is an immovable object in your path figure out how to make it work. Perfection is the enemy of done.
- Patience is key. Celebrate the small wins you make and feel good about it. If you accomplish your goals to quickly you haven't set your sights high enough.
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