The Battle of Losing Weight
I write this as a personal blog, and not as a professional writer like E. L. James – laugh out loud.
I decided last year (roughly), or maybe it was the year before (I do believe I lost some phone content from previous year). So, let us just say I have content from 2022 in which I discuss the connection between mental health and physical health. For, I have consistently been in a battle with myself to lose weight. I say battle because, it has been going on for years now. The highest I’ve weighed in at is roughly 20 stone and 8 pounds, which in the US measurements works out roughly 292 pounds. In The Simpsons, the episode where homer is declared disabled to allow him to work from home. He gained weight so that he was 300 pounds. Now, 292 pounds is not far away from that.
I have tried some of these fad diets, which I’ll go into in another blog someday. But they all had the same outcome – they all didn’t last.
The Low Point
After many years of struggling to lose weight down from 20+ stone to 19 stone, which for years was the lowest I would get to before putting the weight back on and being 20 stone or over.
They say, “you have to hit the bottom before you make a change”. Towards the end of 2021, was when I reached my bottom. Being tired from walking just a few steps or during sex. I would feel chesty, like my heart would implode. I decided that I had to make a change for myself and for my wife. At the beginning of 2022, right after New Year’s, I started going walks. But as it was still winter, the early walks were in the morning. I felt this was unsafe. So, I stopped walking in the early morning (in the dark) and done short walks after work and just a lap round the block of where we stay.
When the clocks changed in March, and I the days were lighter in the morning. I made sure to try and get myself up and go walks. Starting with doing 2-mile walk (1 mile out and 1 mile return), then extending it to 3 miles when I felt my legs and body could handle it. Building my way up to doing 5-mile walks.
Weight Lost
I continued to do the walks and built up some running. Running between lamp posts, walking the next to create a pattern that would allow my body (legs, stamina etc) to adjust. When it got too much, I would extend the lamp post walks to 2 or 3 posts. By the time our holiday to Greece in August came round. I had weighed in at 18 stone 6 pound (261 pounds roughly), so essentially losing around 2 stone.
We went on our all-inclusive holiday. I was not there to be careful and to ensure I enjoyed myself, which we certainly did. I had assumed that when I came back that I would have gained weight to put me back up to 20 + stone. To my surprise, I had only put on roughly 7 pounds to bring myself up to 19 stone on the nose. This is not a big deal for people, but myself this was a milestone in that I enjoyed our all-inclusive holiday but didn’t put too much weight on.
For some reason, I did not jump back into walking or exercising. In fact, I became lazy and chilled out most of the times. We had a Halloween party, then Christmas came round which we enjoyed also. By the end of 2022, I had weighed at 19 stone and 6 pounds. So, another milestone in not being over 20 stone.
The Beginning of 2023
Same as last year, I went back out as soon as New Year was over to get back into walking. It was dark, so again, I kept my walks during the times it was light.
When March came and it was the lighter daylight. I made sure to get out every day and have since brought myself down to 18 stone 6 pounds. So, back to the lowest level of weight I had lost in years.
I am continuing my progress and will update along the way.
Forward Plan
I decided that since I was 18 stone 6 pounds that I would give my weight loss program something to aim for. When an actor like Chris Hemsworth is training for a role such as Thor. The actor is usually given a length of time to train and prepare their body to look like the build the directors have in mind. The actors are normally given anything from 8 months plus to train and get themselves ready for the role. As I’m not an actor, I’ve decided to still aim for the same scenario, only I’ve given myself until October 2024.
The reason being is, I’ve never been lower than 19 stone in years. So, I don’t know what my body would and should look like. So, I am taking my time. Losing weight going out and doing 10000 steps each day, x5 days a week and at the weekend. Doing minimal exercise but still something every single day that benefits myself and my health. My current routine has me get up before 6am and going out my 5 plus miles until I have done 10k steps before I start work at 8.30am. I try my best to get a quick round the block walk in at lunch and then another walk with my wife before I go in and do some weight training.
I will upload a blog that details my weight training routines. I have done 1 routine already and have switched over to another.
Diet
As I have said before, following fad diets have resulted in not following them. Wasting money on information that you can get for free – if you know how.
So, what worked for me to lose the weight that I did. Intermittent Fasting. I followed the 16/8 intermittent fasting. As I have been working from home. I’ve not had any stress or urges, so being able to not eat for 16 hours from 8pm until 12pm the following day was the easier option.
Now, if you haven’t read up on it properly. It does advise to be careful of when you start eating, so that you don’t overindulge, and the diet become pointless. Get into a habit of eating properly, making sure that the meals have sufficient nutrients in it. If you aim for reasonable high protein and drink plenty of water. If like me, you are bored of plain water. Get any flavoured water that you like and drink 2 litres of that each day.
Following this intermittent diet with high protein meals and walking miles each day played a massive role in helping me to lose the weight I have so far. I will do a blog about the food later, so folks can see for themselves what worked for me that can be incorporated into your own diet.
The battle continues…