On January 26th 2024, I was 111kg (244lbs) and made a decision to not only sort out my weight, but a few important things in my life. Today, less than 6 months later, I am 90kg (198lbs) on the scale.
Losing 21kg (46lbs) turned out to be really simple and easy once I made the decision. I was dedicated and motivated. There was no grand plan or diet put in place from day one. I made gradual changes that led to better educating myself that resulted in a lot of weight loss and new goals. I had been attending a personal trainer with my wife for roughly 6-12 months before this date so I had built muscle but my weight plateaued.
Today I feel like I understand my body and food better. I realised that I had a terrible relationship with food. I'd just eat what I wanted, as much as I wanted and made sure I didn't eat too much "bad stuff". Little did I know that the types of food I put in my body would have such a huge impact on my physique (how many calories in rice for instance blew me away). I thought you had to be a gym bro working out 7 days a week to have a good physique. But I learned, it was mainly diet with a touch of lifting heavy weights.
Here's my journey.
Cutting out snacks and alcohol
I was snacking in between meals, and after dinner prior to my decision. So that was an easy item to go first. I'd also been dabbling with alcohol free beers and gin which made it easier to just stop drinking altogether. I had a goal and decided I didn't need it.
Carnivore diet
I ran into an old friend who was telling me about the carnivore diet so I figured I'd give it a go. For about 3-4 weeks I only ate rib eye steak and eggs. It was glorious. I wasn't really tracking my weight at this point but I was losing weight by eating much cleaner.
Calorie counting
After being on the carnivore diet, I realised I wasn't sure how much food I was eating and how much I should be eating. I was getting hungry more which led to increasing intake sporadically. So I started tracking my calories in the MyFitnessPal app. I learned about macros and how much protein intake I required to keep my muscle mass that was starting to reveal. I started weighing my food so I could learn to one day eyeball food and know roughly how many calories it had.
Calorie deficit
I was starting to crave other foods and decided the carnivore diet wasn't the best for me long term. Plus it was expensive! I played with some different "diets" and settled on none of them. Rather, I determined what types of food I liked to eat and customised my own meal plan. I switched to eating whole, unprocessed foods. I also used an online calculator to find out what my daily caloric intake should be.
Increasing physical activity
I started walking more to increase the calories my body burned without exerting too much energy. I added more workouts at home and found a sweet spot where I wasn't too tired from working out too much (yes, I was a little over zealous for a bit). I found a type of exercise I enjoyed and I changed my mindset from working out so I can eat more, to eating better foods so I can workout well.
Achieving my goal, new goals and tracking
I'd made it. By now I was in the low 90kgs (high 190lbs) which was my goal weight. Most of this came from my diet with the increased physical activity giving it a bump. I'd made huge leaps forward and started getting even more focused on getting lean, going beyond what my original goal was. The discipline I had built made this possible. So I started tracking my stats weekly to better understand my weight loss, how much food I was eating, my body fat percentage and so on.
What I learned from this experience and what next
I learned that diet is HUGE in both weight loss and physique. Exercise is still super important but is less about weight loss and instead building strength and muscle so I can have a better life, especially as I age. I've learned about lean bulking and balanced cutting to ensure that fat loss and muscle gain are more under my control.
My next goal is to get below 90kg (198lbs), build more muscle and get to 15% body fat, hopefully revealing my abs! I've never been there before. I'm excited over the next 5 months to really hunker down and go for this goal.
Whatever happens, I don't mind. I'm willing to be patient and to learn from mistakes. No body is the same and I'm sure my first attempt will be full of lessons.
The biggest things is that I have energy and I'm excited to feel the most in control of my body I ever have. It's so empowering.
Losing 21kg (46lbs) turned out to be really simple and easy once I made the decision. I was dedicated and motivated. There was no grand plan or diet put in place from day one. I made gradual changes that led to better educating myself that resulted in a lot of weight loss and new goals. I had been attending a personal trainer with my wife for roughly 6-12 months before this date so I had built muscle but my weight plateaued.
Today I feel like I understand my body and food better. I realised that I had a terrible relationship with food. I'd just eat what I wanted, as much as I wanted and made sure I didn't eat too much "bad stuff". Little did I know that the types of food I put in my body would have such a huge impact on my physique (how many calories in rice for instance blew me away). I thought you had to be a gym bro working out 7 days a week to have a good physique. But I learned, it was mainly diet with a touch of lifting heavy weights.
Here's my journey.
Cutting out snacks and alcohol
I was snacking in between meals, and after dinner prior to my decision. So that was an easy item to go first. I'd also been dabbling with alcohol free beers and gin which made it easier to just stop drinking altogether. I had a goal and decided I didn't need it.
Carnivore diet
I ran into an old friend who was telling me about the carnivore diet so I figured I'd give it a go. For about 3-4 weeks I only ate rib eye steak and eggs. It was glorious. I wasn't really tracking my weight at this point but I was losing weight by eating much cleaner.
Calorie counting
After being on the carnivore diet, I realised I wasn't sure how much food I was eating and how much I should be eating. I was getting hungry more which led to increasing intake sporadically. So I started tracking my calories in the MyFitnessPal app. I learned about macros and how much protein intake I required to keep my muscle mass that was starting to reveal. I started weighing my food so I could learn to one day eyeball food and know roughly how many calories it had.
Calorie deficit
I was starting to crave other foods and decided the carnivore diet wasn't the best for me long term. Plus it was expensive! I played with some different "diets" and settled on none of them. Rather, I determined what types of food I liked to eat and customised my own meal plan. I switched to eating whole, unprocessed foods. I also used an online calculator to find out what my daily caloric intake should be.
Increasing physical activity
I started walking more to increase the calories my body burned without exerting too much energy. I added more workouts at home and found a sweet spot where I wasn't too tired from working out too much (yes, I was a little over zealous for a bit). I found a type of exercise I enjoyed and I changed my mindset from working out so I can eat more, to eating better foods so I can workout well.
Achieving my goal, new goals and tracking
I'd made it. By now I was in the low 90kgs (high 190lbs) which was my goal weight. Most of this came from my diet with the increased physical activity giving it a bump. I'd made huge leaps forward and started getting even more focused on getting lean, going beyond what my original goal was. The discipline I had built made this possible. So I started tracking my stats weekly to better understand my weight loss, how much food I was eating, my body fat percentage and so on.
What I learned from this experience and what next
I learned that diet is HUGE in both weight loss and physique. Exercise is still super important but is less about weight loss and instead building strength and muscle so I can have a better life, especially as I age. I've learned about lean bulking and balanced cutting to ensure that fat loss and muscle gain are more under my control.
My next goal is to get below 90kg (198lbs), build more muscle and get to 15% body fat, hopefully revealing my abs! I've never been there before. I'm excited over the next 5 months to really hunker down and go for this goal.
Whatever happens, I don't mind. I'm willing to be patient and to learn from mistakes. No body is the same and I'm sure my first attempt will be full of lessons.
The biggest things is that I have energy and I'm excited to feel the most in control of my body I ever have. It's so empowering.
-Ben