Disclaimer: If you are looking for a magic solution for fat loss, go somewhere else. I am not a fitness guru. I am just a regular guy who lost weight.
This Story is long overdue!
Summary
At 6’2 & 115 Kgs, I never had a real plan for losing weight, it was only a dream for me. One day in 2018, a friend asked me to try out a gym that specialized in 9 round circuit training & after one extremely rigorous workout, I decided to commit. The sessions were fast & highly intense. I knew this was it for me. If this was not going to get me on the right track, nothing was. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Standing in front of a mirror 2 years later (yes, it took me that long), I could not believe what I was looking at. Once, a physique that was only a dream for me, was now a reality. I still don’t know why I had waited this long to start, but I guess it’s better late than never.
For those of you who landed on this page & intend to start this such a journey, I hope the rest of this article provides you with some sort of advice, motivation, or comfort to help you along. I wish you all the very best.
2018
2020
Here are some of the things that helped me:-
1.
Know Your Goals
Why are you doing this to yourself? Be clear about that. You have got to have your reasons. Nothing else will motivate you quite like them.
For some of you, it may be aesthetic. Just to look good for that upcoming event maybe. But for me it was health.
I come from a family where diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease are the norm. Everyone’s had them. I know that someday I’m going to get it too. At the age of 31, weighing 115 Kgs, it was only a matter of time before diabetes kicked in. I decided to push that time further away. It became my driving force, and it still is today. At 34, I’m still not diabetic.
Find your goal. It does not have to be fear-based. It can be fun.
Let me help you.
Answer this: Why are you on this page, why have you read this far, it’s got to be something, right?
Find that something, Use it!
2.
Start
Now, maybe you’ve managed to find your goals. But, even if you haven’t, just fucking start. Don’t overdo things by planning too much, don’t wait for anyone else to push you along. The only thing standing in the way of you & those goals are the fucking excuses you tell yourself. There’s no “right time” to get started. Don’t wait for New Year or your birthday or anything else that will delay your progress. At the end of the day, it is “YOU” who you are working on.
I had started working out on some random day in March of 2018. I rode my Vespa for 20 minutes through treacherous traffic & sometimes horrid weather just to make it to my workouts. Even on Christmas eve, I found the time.
If you are truly serious about this, find the closest possible free time that you have & go for it. You don’t need a gym or a trainer or equipment. If you’ve googled far enough to land on this page, I’m sure that the Gods of the internet will send you adverts for some half-decent Fitness apps that will provide you with home workouts that don’t require any equipment. There are also multiple websites that will provide you with free fitness regimes.
But please take my advice on this, Just Start!!!
3.
Make It A Part Of Your Day
So you managed to start working out, Great!!! Don’t let go. Don’t stop.
We live in the real world, with real jobs and real personal responsibilities. Most of us have our day-to-day routines, some sort of schedule that keeps us going along. Fit your workouts into that schedule.
For 3 days a week, I set aside 2 hours per day for my workouts, which’s a total of 6 hours per week. Easy, right? The actual workout was only 1 hour, but the other 1 hour was set aside for travel time (real-world remember?). If you work out from home, you obviously won’t need the travel time. Boom!!! now it’s only 3 hours per week. Fit it into your schedule.
Most of us work 40 hours or more per week, it’s only fair to find 3 to 6 hours towards our physical fitness.
4.
Stick To It
Progress may seem slow. It took me 3 whole months before I started to see any real aesthetic changes, and even then, they weren’t much.
Yes, My weight did keep dropping. That was quite exciting, every few weeks or so I would notice myself a kilo down. I went from 115 Kgs to 108 Kgs during that period. My clothes size did get smaller too. In those first 3 months, I went from XXL to XL. It’s those little things that kept pushing me along.
After some long & strenuous days at work, it can be difficult to push yourself to start working out, but you have got to. Just start by getting yourself ready & walk out the door. For me, that’s all it took.
Don’t let excuses get in the way. Even if you are extremely tired, dejected, de-motivated or whatever, just get to your spot & start. Have a low-intensity work-out, do fewer reps, it’s ok. But GO!!! don’t give it a miss.
I have gone to the gym, injured and sometimes in pain. I’d speak to the coach & not put too much stress on my injury, but I would work out the other parts. No Excuses!!!
Consistency is Key!!!
5.
Diet!!!
Well, this topic was somewhat inevitable.
Those of you who read the summary at the top would have noticed that it took me almost 2 years to drop 26 kgs. Why so long, I hear you ask? DIET! I had not paid attention to my diet.
None of this is possible if you don’t pay attention to your Diet. When I started working out, I didn’t really pay attention to what I was eating or drinking at the time. Yes, I lost those initial 8 Kgs due to intense workouts, but then I just plateaued, I would not go below 108 kgs. No matter how hard I tried, I was stuck at 108.
So, I did the following:-
- Kill my intake of sugary drinks – all the coke’s and pepsi’s, they needed to stop. That really helped me out. In the months to follow, my weight dropped down from 108 Kgs to 101 Kgs. Give yourself alternatives, I would pickup a club soda or sparkling water instead (I don’t know the difference).
- No more desserts – when you’re working out, its easy to feel ok about having a sweet tooth. You’ll just makeup for it in the next workout, right? Don’t count on that. You’ll only make things worse. Sugar is the wrong kind of carb, you don’t need it. It’s ok to give up once in a while, Give up on sugar.
- Manage your carb intake – this one was the most difficult to get under control. Carbs are everywhere. If you don’t pay attention, they will be there in all your meals. Bread, Rice, Pasta… you can’t avoid these foods, but you can control how much to take in. At a buffet, don’t go for that second serving. Be ok with saying No. For a while I had completely switched to Multigrain Bread. I allowed myself only a few slices per meal. This is what got my weight over the edge & for the first time in more than 15 years, my weight had dropped down to double digits, from 101 Kgs to 95 Kgs.
- More Protein – This one was so easy to do. Protein helps build muscle & also keeps you feeling full for longer (I have been told). I’m a carnivore, so I piled on the meat. Yes, obviously it was the good kind. Chicken breast!! it’s available everywhere (real-world remember). Even if you’re not a fan of that, any other kind of meat or dairy product will do. And for my Vegetarian and Vegan friends, there are always protein alternatives. I’m sure there are some lovely vegan friendly protein shakes out there. But there’s no food like real food.
I really can’t stress enough how important your diet is to your entire plan. Everything you are doing would be for nothing if you didn’t focus on it.
6.
Go With A Friend
This isn’t the most important part of everything. As I had mentioned earlier, don’t wait for anyone to get yourself started, but if you can find a like-minded friend or group of people who share common goals and are equally motivated, in my experience it helps a lot.
Over my time working out, I had a small group of friends who accompanied me. We kind of made ourselves accountable to each other if we ever missed a session, we all the similar goals, we motivated and roasted each other at the same time, but we kept going. We enjoyed the same exercises & also dreaded a few. The whole process was a lot of fun.
In case you find yourself alone in your endeavor, it’s fine… sometimes you and your friends may share common goals, but not always common schedules, routines, or area codes. This is not a reason to stop.
Remember your goals & keep going.
If you made it this far, you now know some of the basics. Here are a few more tips to help you accelerate your progress.
7.
Boxing
The Boxing routines were some of the most intense and fun parts of my workouts, they are a real stress buster. If possible, incorporate it into your workout sessions.
Find a gym with a punching bag, invest in a cheap set of gloves and hand wraps, and go for it. If you can’t find this stuff, just shadow box in front of a mirror at home. You don’t need a boxing coach for this, any youtube video will give you decent advice. Remember, you are doing this to burn fat and get fit, you are not going to be fighting Floyd Mayweather any time soon.
Learn some basic punches and movements online. It’s important to get the right movements when you throw a punch, so you don’t end up injuring yourself. Focus on your footwork and hip movements, and once you’ve nailed those, you can start hitting with speed and force.
The Jab-cross combos are a great start. Then you can upgrade to hooks & uppercuts. Keep mixing them up, but pay attention to your footwork, hip movements, and shoulder rotations. I once injured my right shoulder because of a badly thrown hook. It was one of those life lessons.
Keep a few 1-minute sessions per workout for boxing, you will find yourself burnt out really fast.
8.
Supplements
I understand that this is a touchy subject, but just like Diet, we have to talk about it.
In my time of working out, did I use Supplements??? Yes…. but I only started using them at least 4 months after I began my workouts.
Did they help me? I don’t really know. I didn’t see a massive change after I started using supplements. Not the kinds of changes I had seen when I changed my diet.
What supplements did I use? Well, here’s a list:-
- L-Carnitine – Into my first 6 months of working out, my coach recommended this. I tried it in liquid form, but honestly, it did not assist my performance or accelerate my weight loss. I honestly never felt it anyways. There’s a lot of reading material out there that will suggest otherwise and some of you might have different experiences, but it did nothing for me.
- Protein Supplements – I got onto this 18 months after I started working out, and I was diligent in the way I consumed it. I would monitor my daily protein intake & only use the supplement if I felt it was required. I also used it after intense weight workouts. Did it help? I can’t say that it didn’t. This was the most intense period of my workouts and it must have done something good. I had reached my peak performance at this point and my weight had dropped down to 89 kgs as well. If you are using it, monitor your intake.
- CLA – I have no idea why I bought this, also I have no idea what it did for me. Some guy at the gym suggested that I use it. This too was during the most intense period of my workouts. I felt I needed all the help I could get. I used the gel cap version of this. I have nothing more to say about it. After i had consumed bottle, I didn’t really invest in more.
- BCAA – After I increased my weights workout, I had started to feel a lot of muscle soreness, especially in my chest & shoulders. Some online reading pointed me in the direction of BCAA’s and I went for it. The post workout pain didn’t really decrease significantly and after about 1 month I stopped using it.
- Energy Booster & pre-workouts – This, I still use. The energy booster that I use are high in caffeine and give me just that little bit more energy during my workouts. I’d also like to think that mix of crushed herbs and roots in the pills do good things for my body. But again, I don’t much rely on them for weight loss support.
You have got to take into account that most of the websites that advocate for supplements are also the ones that sell them to you. You don’t have to believe everything that you are told or sold.
Please do not go to the Supplement Store right after getting a gym membership. Go to the supermarket instead & buy healthy foods.
9.
Know Your Stats
Checking your weight every day is not going to work for you. When people don’t see a drastic drop in their weight, after a few workouts, they normally quit. But it’s always good to know some of your other stats.
Yes, before you start working out keep a note of your weight & your Body Mass Index, but stop after that. There are many free BMI calculators online to help you with this. Check your weight once a month. If you are diligent with your workouts, you will see a decrease.
I have been using a Samsung Galaxy for a while now, and very early on I invested in a Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 Pro smartwatch. Paired with the built-in Samsung Health app, I was able to monitor some stats, which really motivated me along. Most of you probably already have a smartphone, you don’t need to invest in expensive gear for this.
Here are some more stats you can monitor other than your weight:-
- Step Counter – This is always fun and easy. Set a daily target & try to reach it. The Samsung Health app also has a monthly global step challenge, which is free to join. The aim is to do 200,000 steps per month.
- Heart Rate Monitor – This is still super fun for me. I check it after every workout. A simple selection on the smartwatch will have it consistently monitoring my HR for the duration of my workout. My aim is to reach anywhere above 90% of my maximum heart rate for a few minutes during each workout. I push myself harder every time, to see how high it can go. I will take into account that it may not be wholly accurate all the time, but it’s good to know what you can do. Keep in mind that this can also be quite dangerous at times, so if you are unsure, please consult your doctor.
- Active time – This goes hand in hand with the step counter. It tells you how many calories you have burnt by being active.
- Calories – This one, is for the more diligent athlete. If you have a rough idea of how many calories you have consumed, you will also have a decent idea of the number of calories you need to burn. You are looking for a calorie deficit. Burn more than you consume.
- Size – This will happen naturally. As you progress, you will notice your clothes sizes decreasing. At some point, I needed a whole wardrobe change because all my old clothes got too baggy. But trust me, you will love this.
Its never only about your weight
Monitoring some of these stats can be fun & motivational. Keep hitting your targets and over time you will see the weight disappear.
& Fat Again…
Yes.. this happened. Not super fat tho, just a little pudgy.
I don’t know if you guys remember, but in 2020 there was this pandemic & subsequent lockdown. I found myself far from home, but comfortable. Very comfortable!!! So I decided to take some time off from working out & relax.
I guess I took too much time with this & ended up having stopped for a cool 18 months.
It’s ok tho. I’m back at it again. The goals, the motivation, the daily process, the diet, the friend, the boxing (Fuck yeah!!!), the supplement & the fucking stats. They are all back.
I have been here once before. I know the way out!!!