This is my first post to the blog and I thought that I would talk about losing weight as the first topic. This year, I managed to bring my weight down from 99kgs (218lbs) to 89kgs (196lbs). Technically I’m still overweight with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 25.9 (for normal weight it needs to be under 25).
Before losing weight (0.1 Tonne)
In this photo, I was at my maximum weight of what I jokingly referred to as 0.1 tonne.
Now I am close to normal weight, but my target is 83kg where I used to be about 10 years ago. So, I’ve made good progress and maybe by blogging about it, I can get to the end goal more effectively?
I see many bloggers starting weight loss blogs or posting videos to YouTube when they are fat, resolving to lose weight, but giving up, just a few weeks later. This is especially embarrassing when they made promises to commit to losing weight, and failed. Are these people good to learn from? I don’t think so.
And then there are the multitude of blogs run by fitness professionals. Have these guys ever been fat and lost weight to become thin? Well, in a way some of them have bulked up to appear fat and later became ripped to prove that their “system” works. Or they decided to pursue a carreer in health and fitness so were driven to get the body required to get credibility within their industry.
My angle is from the perspective of an ordinary guy that became naturally overweight and one day got shocked into action to lose the weight, and succeeded. I think the turning point came when an extra digit popped up on the weighing scales, and I saw the christmas photos of me after the turkey dinner. I was shocked at how big I looked, and my double chin.
I am sure that many people will be in the same boat as I was after this holiday period. So hopefully I can explain how I managed to reverse the weight gain to start losing weight. It’s a great feeling when you can wear clothes that used to fit before you became fat. Also, I found some clothing is now too big for me to wear.
Like many people I got fat over the course of years, gradually gaining weight little by little without hardly noticing it until bam! One day it hits you how heavy you became and something has to be done about it.
The solution for me was simple in theory: start gradually losing weight. I didn’t really care how long it took, I just wanted to reverse the trend. The first target was to never see a 3rd digit i.e. the 1 in 100kgs on the weighing scales ever again. As you know, your weight varies from day to day, so you need to get a comfortable margin clear away from the peak weight to achieve this first goal. Simply by drinking a litre of water or sweating a lot, I can vary my weight by 3kgs.
So, initially I didn’t feel like I was making great progress until I was consistently seeing 95kgs on the scales. Then I knew for sure that I was winning the weight loss battle.
The next target was 90kg, after a few months I started to hit this target after sweating out fluids but being dehydrated should not be confused with burning fat. But it is kind of fun to get a glimpse of the target weight being hit even though you are not quite there.
As I write this, I have achieved the goal of being under 90kgs and mostly seeing my weight measurement starting with the digit 8. This is a great feeling of satisfaction for me, but I am concerned that I am so close to going back into the 90+ range.
So I need to work hard to stay in the 80s and get towards 85kg and my end goal. This will probably be the hardest phase of my weight loss journey since I have a lower body fat percentage than before, and it’s more difficult to exercise given the bad winter weather outside.
But I hope that by posting about my progress here, it will help both you and I in motivating ourselves for losing weight.
