Damn, it felt good to type the title of this post: The First 62lbs. It’s hard to believe I’ve lost so much in the last 5 months. I feel absolutely gutted that it’s taken me so long to do this, so many wasted years of coping when I could have easily done something about it. It really isn’t rocket science: cut out the processed foods, cakes, chocolate and eat “clean”; now do a bit of exercise.
In the last five months I’ve started walking to work (1km each way). That’s pretty much been my “exercise” routine, most of the loss has come from the change in diet. I have now started going to the gym. I had 2 weeks pre-Christmas of 6 workouts per week, and I’ll be kicking that off again on Monday (Christmas + being sick is my excuse for the break). Who’d have thought it, but I already miss it! I’m entering the transition from wanting to workout so I can lose weight, to wanting to lose weight so I can workout better; I’ve been reading up on and watching CrossFit videos and I really like their concept – I want to be fit enough to do all that stuff.
About 6 months ago I got a work contract in Sheffield (UK) and decided to rent an apartment there rather than stay in hotels all the time. The place I picked could not have been better. I live 50-metres from both the gym and a supermarket and 1km from work: it’s a holy trinity of awesome. I buy my food about every 2 days so that my cupboards are not full. At the beginning this was a great way to stop myself from snacking or eating too much because there would literally be nothing to eat (it’s much less of an issue now). It also helps when I want to cook a new recipe: if I’m missing an ingredient it’ll only take me 10 minutes to go get it. With the gym so close I cannot come up with a single good excuse not to go, and being able to walk to work can only have helped me. All in all, this pad was a great decision.
My day-to-day lifestyle hasn’t changed much: I keep better sleeping hours (although it’s 2am as I write this), I drink loads more water and I don’t buy crap at the supermarket. There’s no doubt that I notice the loss: my clothes are much looser, to the point that some are too big for me (woohoo); I don’t log my measurements but I’m down 4-5″ on my belt, including 2 new holes (the plan is to keep the belt and keep adding holes, even if it goes around me twice 
). I’ve bought a couple of new garments deliberately too small so that I can shrink into them: one is a 3XL rugby shirt and the other a 2XL hoody. The rugby shirt is close to fitting. The change that gives me the best feeling however, is when I get my hair cut. Sitting in the chair with a zillion mirrors makes it impossible not to take a good hard look at yourself, but now I smile at the guy looking back at me instead of cringe.
Thinking about it, perhaps the most substantial change from 5 months ago is that I’m looking forward to and planning for my future: I can see how well my progress is going and if I project it forward then I get excited. In another 5 months time I want to be another 60lbs down, and in a year’s time I want to be at 250lb (or less, please!). At that point I’m confident my weight won’t be an obstacle in enjoying life. So far I’ve researched spending a couple of months in Costa Rica learning Spanish and doing a ski-season at Lake Tahoe – even with a million bucks I wouldn’t do either of those things today.
I haven’t read many weight-loss books or diet regimes, but from my experience they all focus on the food and not on the psychology. If I’ve learned anything so far it’s that the psychology stuff is key. My silver bullet is a thought experiment: if I was given £100m, how would I live my life? My answer: “No matter how much money I have or how great my career is, my life is fucked if I don’t lose weight”. There are all these things that I want to do in life that I can’t right now, forget the career or money or anything else: my number one priority is to get fit and healthy.
And it’s working.
I’m so proud of you! Your really have it together.
Another one of my blog followers told me “losing weight is simple but it’s not easy.”
We all know what we have to do to get the weight off (simple), but it’s hard (not easy). You are doing it and making the best of it.
I also like that you are going to the gym. For me that was so hard. I still hate looking at myself in the mirrors there, but it’s getting better.
WOOHOO! That is ALOT in 5 months, and I bet you are super excited now about the what the future holds.
Keep up the good work, WooT!
Good job!
Awesome effort. Life is looking up!