Seeing as how the new year has finally arrived
Many people will be seeking motivation to reduce their weight. On top of that, I decided it would be selfish of me to advantage over the rise in Google search traffic and tell you the narrative of my struggle to lose weight, which is still going strong after two years, and how I have been able to keep the weight off. In addition, I intend to impart some of the knowledge that I have acquired, provide some advice, and maybe inspire you. In addition, I will, for the sake of entertainment, point out some of the lies that you could have found yourself believing.
I would like to think of myself as an experienced dieter because I have tried every fad diet and quick fix that is currently available. I have tried everything from the infamous and disgusting "cabbage soup diet" to the extreme and irresponsible Cambridge Diet (sorry, Cambridge dieters, but it's true), keto, paleo, Slimming World, Weight Watchers, and Jane Plan. I have tried all of these diets.
A Turning Point: Deciding to Take Weight Loss Seriously
In 2022, specifically on Boxing Day, I was sitting in a hotel in Mexico with the person who would later become my wife. I told him, "We really need to lose weight, and we have to keep it off." I was feeling dejected and ashamed of how I looked. We had initially planned to fly to Mexico with the intention of creating travel material for YouTube, but after the first day of our trip, I decided to put the camera away. My weight had increased to more than 21 stone, and despite the fact that I believe I am a happy person the majority of the time, I was experiencing a great deal of anxiety around my looks.
I decided this was the time to finally start taking weight reduction seriously, and as part of that decision, I came to the conclusion that the most effective plan would be to take it easy and make only adjustments that were both little and significant. I knew from previous experience that if I made too many changes to my daily life, such as going to the gym three times a week, getting up at six in the morning, practicing meditation, eating well, and reading more, I would give up in two minutes after becoming completely overwhelmed. This is why I made the conscious decision to refrain from making significant and far-reaching changes to my routine. Believe me when I say that you should get to know yourself, begin where you are, and work your way up from there. Therefore, I decided against signing up for a membership at a nearby gym. Attending a gym for a single session, let alone on a regular basis, was a disastrous idea. Given their high cost and the constraints of my work schedule, I was apprehensive about the possibility of looking foolish. It was definitely not going to take place.
Looking back, I realize that I was simply hesitant to make that adjustment. I had tried going to the gym and going on diets in the past, but I had been unsuccessful each and every time. I realize that fear was the driving force behind my actions. On the other hand, and I feel this to be an important side note, I continue to believe that the decision I made to forgo going to the gym and instead incorporate exercise into my life was the best one for me. At the time that I am writing this, I have been attending the gym for a total of 18 months. During the first six months of my membership, I did not engage in any exercise that involved strength training. In regard to working out at the gym, and more specifically personal training, I would want to make the following statement: The investment that I did finally make in my body and in working out is quite simply the best investment that I've made in myself. I am just referring to the physical changes that have occurred; nonetheless, my concentration, mental health, and even mental clarity have all significantly improved, and I could go on for thousands of pages explaining why this is the case. However, I will not do so on this blog.
Additionally, I would want to begin this pretty lengthy essay with a disclaimer, which is that all of the advice that is provided and the testimonies are based on my own personal experiences. I realize that this is a bit late for a prelude, but whatever comes to pass. Every person is unique, with their own unique biology and specific health requirements. Aside from that, I am neither a medical professional, a dietitian, nor a bogus Instagram fitness influencer. My sole qualification is that I have a General Certificate of Secondary Education in Drama, so that's all.
What Really Matters Is Not Which Diet You Choose. (Merely make use of some common sense.)
On this day, which is Boxing Day, Glen mentioned the "Jane Plan," which is yet another of those diets that are delivered to you in the mail and consist of pre-prepared meals. We decided to go "in for a penny, in for a pound"—well, in reality, we were in for more than two hundred pounds every month—but we believed that this would really work out to be a little bit cheaper than what we were paying for food. As a result of the fact that the meals were somewhat tiny, we found ourselves needing to supplement them with more protein. Consequently, the plan did not proceed as expected. One thing that should be brought to your attention is that, in my opinion, the Jane Plan is especially designed with the female body in mind. Because of this, the number of calories consumed in a day is reduced, which implies that I, as a male, could get away with consuming more protein.
Counting Is a Crucial Issue
On the other hand, despite the fact that we were following the Jane Plan meals on a regular basis and increasing the amount of food we consumed, we were meticulous about keeping track of everything.
Track everything
In light of this, I would like to introduce you to the first not-so-secret to successful weight loss: TRACK EVERYTHING. Really, purchase some scales from Amazon that cost ten pounds and make it a habit to keep track of everything you eat. I make use of the NutraCheck app on my iOS device (this is probably the best app if you reside in the UK, as it has a vast database of foods that are available in the UK), but there are other options available. In any case, sauces and all those other tiny extras that you don't give much thought to have calories, but if you make it a habit to keep track of everything, you will discover that you are a little less careless when it comes to meals that will hinder your progress. An excellent illustration of this is the fact that 15 milliliters of light mayonnaise has forty calories, but if you weigh out 15 milliliters of mayonnaise, you will see that it is not very much at all. This is especially true if you have a problem with condiments, as I do.
At first, counting calories may seem like an overwhelming task. However, I believe that one of the cornerstones to success when it comes to any journey toward weight loss is to make sure that your weight loss is based on evidence and science. This brings me to my second vital piece of advice for successful weight loss.
There are a lot of fitness influencers on social media who are trying to sell you some bullshit PDF with the advice that I am going to offer you for free. You have come across the concept of a calorie deficit, which is something that you have heard about.
the Golden Rule
Any diet that is now available, any diet that is worth following, should be one that is well-balanced, simple to keep up with, and eventually should simply result in a deficit of calories. To put this another way, this is the ratio of the number of calories consumed to the number of calories burned off. We've determined that keeping track of the calories you consume and measuring your food can assist you in gaining a better understanding of the calories you take in, but what about the calories you take out? This is where your basal metabolic rate, often known as your BMR, comes into play. In order to sustain our lives, we require energy, and the amount of energy that we require is measured in calories. Eating provides our bodies with fuel, and we utilize this fuel to keep us alive. Your age and weight are two of the elements that impact the number of calories that you burn when you are at rest. This quantity is governed by a variety of factors, including your age. This number may be determined with the help of a number of different calculators that are available online; I have provided one of them here.
If you overestimate or underestimate this number, you may discover that you are putting on weight or experiencing very low energy levels, both of which can lead to overeating. It is vitally crucial to know this number since it is the beginning point for your decision-making process. (If you, like me, have struggled with weight loss, I'm sure you're well versed in the late-night trip to the refrigerator.) This is the reason why I don't like heavily restrictive diets, because, even though going to bed with hunger pains isn't going to kill you, how long will it be before you give in to that hunger, and suddenly you're diving headfirst into a cake like Robin Williams did in Mrs. Doubtfire? While I don't advocate for the catastrophic consequences of a single mistake, I question the rationale behind making life more challenging for yourself. However, I'm straying from my original topic.
Following the calculation of your basal metabolic rate (BMR), regardless of the amount of physical activity you want to engage in, remove 10% (and ONLY 10%) from your total calories. This should be your objective caloric goal. Actually, ten percent is not that much, and as a result, you will discover that you might not even realize that you are dieting. This is the goal that we truly want to accomplish with any diet, so that it does not seem like you are making an effort to lose weight. Even while you won't lose more than two pounds each week (and there may be some weeks in which you don't lose anything at all; more on that later), you will be able to maintain your new diet, and this, my friend, is where your new and healthier relationship with food truly starts to take shape.
When I first started the Jane Plan in 2023, I strictly adhered to the diet, excluding all additional foods, resulting in complete starvation. I had been overeating for a considerable amount of time, and as a result of my weight gain, I had a hard time avoiding feeling hungry. There was a time when I was so hungry that I went to McDonald's and sobbed over it. This led me to abandon my diet. I mean, give it a go. It is not necessary for weight loss to be really dramatic. Additionally, this is the point: all you need to do is maintain a balanced approach and consume a substantial amount of protein. Throughout this blog, I will not be advocating for any particular diet; however, I do want you to discover a diet that you are able to adhere to.
Take a drink.
Look, staying hydrated is of the utmost significance in any diet. If you have a smartwatch, you should utilize an application such as Watermeter, which will remind you to drink water in a manner that will irritate you to the point of violence. In all honesty, it is a good nuisance to have since maintaining proper hydration and drinking a lot of water is the most essential thing there is. The idea that you should drink a lot of water in order to prevent yourself from eating is, to some extent, accurate. However, a pint of water is not going to be enough to satisfy my need when I am hungry. Water, on the other hand, is essential because it enables your body to assimilate and circulate food through your body, and it also ensures that our biology is functioning at its best. Drink water. (Or as optimum as feasible, because we can't all be Arnold Schwarzenegger.) Refresh yourself. The takeaway here is that. Take a drink.
Diet drinks are perfectly OK, and anyone who tells you differently is completely incorrect. Just keep in mind that consuming fifty cans of Diet Pepsi daily will leave you feeling extremely gassy.
Although scales are reliable, you should never put your faith in them.
When success is measured by the scales, it can bring us enormous quantities of joy, but it can also bring about enormous amounts of misery. I will walk you through the reasons why the scales only give a portion of the story.
Despite being honest and accurately depicting a specific moment in time, the scales fail to offer a comprehensive view of the situation. If I were to weigh myself right now, on the 20th of December 2024, as I am writing this, I would very likely weigh a great deal more than I would have if I had measured myself the morning before. The reason for this is because I am currently on my third cup of coffee (and it is only seven in the morning), and the night before, I drank a couple of whiskeys, and we had takeaway food. A widespread misunderstanding is that you should avoid eating after a particular hour because it will "turn into fat while you are sleeping." This is a frequent mistake. In this moment, I am stating unequivocally that this is not the case. I haven't done any significant exercise, and it's that period between Christmas and New Year when it seems difficult to figure out what day it is. The chicken shawarma that I ate yesterday night is still making its way through my system. I haven't done anything meaningful. With that being said, it does not make a difference if I ate my supper at five o'clock or eight o'clock; it was still around three thousand calories of Turkish Regret (no regrets required). That being said, if I were to weigh myself tomorrow after consuming a reasonable quantity of calories in relation to my age and weight, I would most likely weigh a great deal less. Your weight reduction will always be a dynamic process, just like the scales themselves. Ensure that you do not undervalue the significance of a nice poo.
I have been using Microsoft Excel to record each and every reading that I have taken from the scales over the course of the past two years in order to track my progress in terms of weight reduction. It's true that I'm a spreadsheet nerd. To put it simply, I have a spreadsheet for everything, and I even started working on the ultimate training spreadsheet a year ago, but I was never able to get it to function correctly. Well, let's look at the graph before I go on to the next important point I want to make regarding losing weight. It is going to go up and down (and that is perfectly acceptable), but if you are consistent, the trend line will decrease over the course of time.
As you can see, my own personal quest to lose weight has been a bit of a roller coaster, with Christmas 2023 being the large spike in the center of the chart representing my weight reduction journey. If I weigh myself tomorrow before I resume my workouts, I anticipate seeing a bump of the same size as the one I just experienced. There were also occasional setbacks, such as vacations spent overseas and weeks in which I probably just had food making its way through my system. The fact that the line is constantly moving in a downward direction is, however, the most significant feature. The software Happy Scale is incredible, and it does display the process of weight reduction as a trend line. If you are interested in purchasing yet another app, you should consider using it. It works wonderfully and makes it simple to import all of your data.
Considering that weight reduction—weight loss that is both safe and sustainable—is not a fast cure, this is exactly what you are searching for. You can put your faith in me; if you lose it very quickly, you will most likely wind up putting on with interest. It is perfectly OK to weigh yourself once a week; however, I would recommend that you compare your weight every three to four weeks so that you can track your improvement.
Additionally, I would like to mention that in order to achieve my own personal weight reduction, I have been actively working to increase my muscle mass. This means that even if the scales are not consistently indicating that I am losing weight, my body composition has been shifting on a consistent basis. The only time that all of that hard effort began to provide some cosmetic rewards was when I performed my last cut eight weeks before Christmas.
I made sure to measure around the diameter of the tummy in addition to weighing myself every week in this particular scenario. This was a momentous day for me personally since I was nearing the conclusion of my second year, and it was the first time that I could truly observe the difference that had taken place in my body.
A point that is noteworthy to consider in relation to the change in body composition is that I shed a total of one kilogram between the months of July 2023 and July 2024. I had a new appearance, and my waistline had shrunk from 44 inches to 38 inches, but the scales did not take it into account. They have just measured my mass, and I have only shed one kilogram. Now, the scales do, in fact, give you the truth, but you should not put your faith in them.
On Christmas Day, I indulged excessively. By the end of Boxing Day, I had definitely consumed half Baileys and half Quality Street. My mother kept making comments about how much I was eating, and I simply responded by asking, "What is the point in going to the gym and being on a diet for the past twenty-four months if I can't enjoy food like this from time to time?" Although some people may consider this to be poor advice, the reality is that you can enjoy food; the key is to restrict any excess calories to vacations, special occasions, and events. However, it's crucial to be mindful of yourself; if you stray from your routine, how challenging would it be for you to regain control on your own? When you embark on a new course of action, it is essential to be truthful with yourself; you should not put yourself in a position where you are destined to fail. This is true for any change in lifestyle. The transition from altering the way I ate to incorporating physical activity into my life took me a period of six months. I understood that if I made numerous changes and then veered off course, the consequences would escalate. Consequently, why don't we begin with two things, as I already stated at the beginning of this? The monitoring of your diet and 2. Reduce your basal metabolic rate by ten percent in order to achieve a little deficit. Then, when a few months have passed, reflect on where you are and make the subsequent adjustment that is required. On the other hand, I will let you know that each opportunity you have to walk more is an opportunity to truly assist your efforts to lose weight and improve your health. It is not strength training or running a marathon that is the most effective method for weight loss; rather, walking is the most effective of all the methods. Start moving at a rate that is comfortable and get those steps in. Whenever I've been away from home, I've used Audible to listen to a great deal of books. It rains often in Manchester, which is one of the reasons I want to leave the city, despite the fact that there are wonderful walking grounds close to where I live.
So, let's get back to the Christmas that just passed. If you, like me, have overindulged in food, consider taking a walk to burn off the excess calories (unless you live in Manchester, where walking in the rain is a common occurrence). Another option is to try to burn off some of the calories by going for a run. However, you should not feel guilty if you decide to take a break from the diet that you are currently following. When it comes to training, it is not a good idea to be always on a "cut," which means that you will lower the amount of calories you consume in order to lose fat, but you should continue to train in order to prevent losing muscle mass. On the other hand, a "bulk" is when you do the opposite, but you want to grow muscle by consuming additional calories (often in the form of protein). This is the reverse of what you would normally do. Cycling back to maintenance calories, which is your basal metabolic rate (BMR), as was said previously, is actually a smart method to reset for a couple of weeks or a month, and then you can go back to lowering the number of calories you consume. This is true for all diets. Proper meal monitoring is crucial for achieving success during both the dieting phase and the maintenance phase of weight loss.
The Predicament of Carbohydrates
You may not be aware of this, but your body requires four grams of water for every gram of carbohydrates that it stores. Because carbohydrates are stored in the body as glycogen, which is composed of four parts water and one part carbohydrate, this is the reason why this is the case. Because of this, when we start a new diet, we frequently discover that we consume fewer carbohydrates. Similarly, when we embark on a ketogenic diet, which involves a major reduction in carbohydrates, we see a big decrease in our water weight. (Also, why we could have feelings of bloating if we consume a lot of bread after we have restricted our consumption of carbohydrates.)
You shouldn't be frightened of carbohydrates because they are an essential part of any diet that is well-balanced. On the other hand, you shouldn't be disheartened if you discover that your progress slows down after the first week. Due to the fact that your body's composition is beginning to alter, it is adapting. One of the issues with carbohydrates is that they are so very delicious. When you get home from a night out, there is nothing more satisfying than making loaves of sourdough. I'm joking, but I really hope you won't do that.
Whenever your body has an immediate need for energy, it will make use of the glycogen that is stored in your body. It is for this reason that those who engage in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or runners "carb up," but for the most part, if you have four slices of toast with butter and marmite, you have very much exceeded the amount of carbohydrates that are suggested for you to consume. Carbohydrates are not your adversary; yet, it is possible to consume an excessive amount of something that is beneficial. I suppose that is the reason why we arrived at this location in the first place.
Good luck with your health and weight reduction objectives for the year 2025, and I hope you have a wonderful new year for yourself.
Leave a positive comment to encourage us to deliver the best.