The following is a personal blog post, and has nothing to do with web development, or tech. Thank you.
How did I get so fat?
After Christmas 24, I reached the heaviest weight I’ve ever been in my life, a whopping 136(ish) kg setting off all sorts of internal alarm bells. How did I get so fat? When did that happen? I used to be fit, active and hey - I used to fit in those clothes!
Well, the easy answer is mindlessly shoveling gob full after gob full of food into my mouth whilst living a lazy lifestyle consisting of work, work, video games and well work. I’d routinely spend 12+ hours glued to my desk, not even thinking about the calories I’d consume or what damage it was doing to myself, both physically and mentally.
After Christmas, I told myself something needed to change. I no longer liked the look of myself in the mirror, I’d wince and sigh and tell myself all kinds of weird little lies - to avoid the truth. I had let myself go.
Was I always fat?
I was a ‘large’ child in primary school and was teased and mocked by others for it - but it didn’t bother me. I ate a lot as a kid and I think on some level - my mother saw me eating well as a sign of good health! Who was I to argue?. As I grew older my relationship with food ebbed and flowed. Luckily around the age of 12-14 I had what can only be described as a massive growth spurt, sprouting up to my current height of 6’2. The weight melted off me, I was no the longer fat kid, I had become ‘Average Teenager!’.
In my late teens and early twenties, I’d routinely skateboard, I took up jogging religiously at one point. The best physical shape of my life was when I spent those two years as a digital nomad. I walked everywhere, danced the night away and lived off instant ramen noodles. I’d also say that cigarettes made up one of my main meals of the day.
The point is, I’ve been fit and have been for the overwhelming amount of my life, but hitting 31 and being that weight disgusted me. So something’s had to change.
Ditching food and ditching smokes
It all comes down to routine really. Well, that’s a lie. For me the only thing that works when I achieve a personal goal is to direct myself towards that ‘future image’. Essentially I have to train myself to think about the decisions my ‘future, happy self’ would make. In the case of food, my ‘future self’ only eats healthy, well portioned and calorie tracked meals. He also works out six days a week, with a free day for pure relaxation.
Around the same time as I decided to get healthy, I decided to massively cut down on my smoking by telling myself “I’m not a smoker anymore, so why would I smoke?” and it worked. I’ve not had a cigarette on a week day for, two or three months now. I still occasionally social smoke, but that’s because I enjoy doing so and not because I have a crippling addiction to smoking. It feels good. I feel good. Though, truth be told - those first three weeks smoke free were not the most enjoyable time for me or anyone around me.
What’s the secret, pray tell.
Easy pease, I track my calories. That’s really all there is to it. I do the whole weighing my food, meal prepping a few days at a time. Yes I eat my veggies and my proteins - but the key for me has been keeping it simple. I’m not tracking macro’s or worried about over complicating things. I find it far too easy to just not buy any temptations, so I don’t.
I work out every day. I started off on a static exercise bike and could barely get past twenty minutes of low intensity exercise, on reflection this most likely because of the smoking more than the weight. Now I average a 40 minute workout of varying intensity, but I always ensure to get a good sweat on. Sometimes I’ll do a workout before work and even one after work ( I would have never said this sentence four months ago, it’s hilarious to me). The past two weeks I’ve started incorporating an ‘Isometric’ working routine on alternating days, nothing too fancy to report there.
I find working out not only gives you the positive dopamine hit but you feel genuinely good for doing so but also a genuine sense of pride and progress. You feel productive and proactive. Like you are building something. Working toward a real goal. After the first three weeks something clicked in my mind and my body would regurgitate if I hesitated to work out. It also just makes ‘eating right’ so much easier. The desire to eat anything after a long workout is null.
So how’s it going, future plans?
My current weight, as of now is 119.5kg and I’m very happy with my progress. I absolutely could have shed more if I kicked off the social drinks on the occasional weekend - but, I’m going to be honest here, I’m in no rush. Eating well and working out has to go hand in hand with a social life for me, or I know I’ll just fall off the wagon again.
I’m attending a close friends wedding in May and I’m hoping to look moderately better than at the start of the year. The company I work for gave all of us vouchers to celebrate a milestone, the voucher can be used to pay toward ‘Experience Days’ and so far I’m leaning towards using it for a skydiving trip - because why not.
Ultimately I still have a long way to go to my target goal of 90kg ( with some muscle definition ) - but I’m extremely proud of myself and just wanted to make a note about my accomplishment.
Does this have anything to do with tech at all?
Kind of. When I started losing weight I was tracking my intake and exercise each day, along with my weight. I had the idea to put this as an online rest api that would display those stats on my ‘about me’ - as some kind of punk/rebellious statement about personal privacy. Ultimately I just don’t think I want to update something like that for the rest of my life.
Anyway I was reminded of that project and thought ‘You know where I can write about my weight loss and not feel embarrassed for doing so?’ it’s here. This blog. Cause it’s mine.
Thanks for reading!
The next post SHOULD be code related!