Got some pretty exciting news to share with y'all today. But first ...
As you know, for the past 5 months (20 weeks) I've been on a fat loss journey with the goal of losing my old man love handles and body fat, going from 35 percent body fat to about 15 percent. When I started this journey, I weighed a hefty 240 pounds. I hoped to be able to get that down to 210. That's the equivalent of a 30 pound weight loss.
Weight loss isn't rocket science. Here's what you need to do to lose body fat in a reasonable amount of time:
- Hydrate with water.
- Stick to mostly unprocessed, whole foods.
- Prioritize protein with every meal.
- Train 3 times a week.
- Walk at least 10,000 steps daily.
- Sleep at least 8-9 hours a night.
- Eat in a 500-calorie deficit.
Doing this while losing fat is called body recomposition. And the neat thing is that you don't need to do anything crazy here. I just did 3 full body workouts each week, focusing on maybe 20 basic exercises, taking each set relatively close to the point where you can't do any more high quality reps. If you do this consistently, over time you're going to make amazing progress. You don't need to be a bodybuilder to build muscle. You don't need to be perfect. You just need to be consistent. As for my diet, I didn't restrict myself to any specific diet plan or food groups. And I enjoyed treats (like Doritos) in moderation. I also got more active overall in order to burn off extra calories. The reason I chose walking as my cardio was that it's an activity I enjoy and actually look forward to. Hitting your daily step count is probably the most underrated habit for losing fat.
During this time I acted as my own coach. This meant:
- I treated myself like someone responsible for his own health and fitness.
- I was compassionate with myself when things got difficult.
- I was firm with myself when I knew I needed to work harder.
- I brought myself back on track when I fell off the wagon.
- And I gave myself the recognition I deserved when I hit a milestone.
Well, today was such a milestone for me. Today, for the first time since I had malaria, the scale read 210 pounds -- my target weight. I'm pinching myself. I can hardly believe it. The number one piece of advice that I always say is that you just have to start. Just get the ball rolling and I promise you that you will learn so much doing it versus trying to be prepared for it. The biggest benefits are going to come from literally just starting.
My fat loss journey was a very gradual thing. I started out losing about 2 pounds every week. But the longer my fat loss journey continued, the harder it was to maintain that pace. For the past few weeks, fat loss was still consistent, but I had gone from losing 2 pounds per week to about 1 pound per week.
Nevertheless, after 20 weeks, I finally achieved my goal.
Friend, if you can give your best effort today and wake up tomorrow and do the same thing, you'll eventually get as lean as you want to be. Thanks to the grace and enablement of God, I was able to do a decent job at dealing with the excess body fat I've carried and building some muscle on my skinny frame. Yes, I realize that there are literally billions of people on this planet who don't care much about the body fat they carry. Like them, I believe there is more to life than your appearance or your musculature. But I'm here to remind you that if you want to make some changes, that's totally cool too. You don't have to do something amazing with your body. Just go and do something. Go for a walk. You're going to feel a thousand times better. Sure, you'll have tough days. But success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. No one is coming to do this for you. No one is going to tell you to get out of bed. No one is going to push you forward. This is entirely your responsibility, and you shouldn't expect anyone else to be doing it for you. This is often how I speak to myself. I believe in you and you should believe in you too.
I hope you have a beautiful day, and I will talk to you soon.
 |
| For the first time in years, I weigh 210 again. |