Thought I'd share, so started at somewhere just north of 114KG in August, I quit smoking and started a pretty firm diet and upped my exercise significantly, as of today I'm 89KG at 6'2, body fat around 21%. I'm still wondering what to aim for in 2021, but would like to look a little more 'buff' so maybe try and get body fat closer to 15%, but my goal before was a healthy BMI so it's a good time to share. I've been reading this thread even though I've not been commenting and well done to all those trying to lose weight and become more healthy, props to you all.
Stuff I learnt in case it helps:
[1] Make it really easy to be healthy - if you can make your meals in as little time as you would when eating less healthy that is really useful (for me at least). *this was totally key for me*
[2] Routine, and patience - at the start I had to force myself into a workout routine, straight when I got back from work - cycle weights dinner (quick heathly one as above), after a couple of weeks I just got used to it and it was easy.
[3] Try not to worry about within week fluctuations, at the start I did get a little worried nothing was happening, because when weighing myself every day there'd be 2KG differences all the time :0
[4] Change yourself. As you get more used to eating right or exercising more, you'll feel the desire to do more of the same, embrace it, go cycling do the things you might have been embaressed to do (E.g. swimming) or never before thought you'd want to.
[5] Watch your mood for signs of deficiencies. About 2 months in I started to feel pretty down (which isn't like me) and (I think) it was down to a lack of protein (as soon as I added a little more things where fine also a daily multivitamin helped too).
[6] Don't give yourself excuses. The internet is full of threads where BMI is wrong or body fat calculators are rubbish or some other none sense. Deep down we all know when we're bigger than we should be.
[7] Treat yourself - there are times during this where it was hard, and motivation was pretty low, that seems to be when a lot of us give up and go back to old habits, I found giving myself mini goals and *GOOD* rewards helped, E.g. when you get to a new clothes size treat yourself to some new threads, even if no one notices you feel great in new threads at a lower weight. I know there's a trend for 'cheat days' but I honestly feel that's a bad path to go down.
[8] Watch your stress. This is the one that took the most resilience, unlike the celebs of this world we have lives and jobs, and a lot of stuff will try and push you back to old ways, and stress is a major trigger. First bit is recognising when you're feeling stressed and the second is to come up with alternative strategies to cope without ordering a Dominos.
[9] Don't think you need shiny stuff to lose weight. I'm terrible for this, as a defence mechanism to actually doing what I know needs doing I'll invent a need for a million different devices that I need before I start to train / lose weight. It's all none sense, linked to [6]
Ultimately, if you do commit to change yourself rather than just diet for a while, when you come out of it your health will be something that is a positive in your life and will really help you out.
Just a final comment again to say well done to those going down this path and best of luck to you all in the future.
UL.
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