Back in 2016 (I was 28), my family played this game where we all guessed how much each other weighed. I knew I was a little heavier than I wanted to be and so myself and the rest of the family guessed somewhere in the early 90kg mark. When I got on the scales I was shocked to see I had topped out at 103kgs (227lbs). The reactions weren't kind either. My family, who are very kind people, couldn't hide their surprise and disappointment and there were audible gasps of "jeez!". Didn't feel great. The worst feeling though was thinking what the only person who didn't react thought, my then 6 year old daughter. I didn't want to be THAT Dad to her. A Dad she would be embarrassed to be seen with if it continued on in the trajectory it was going. Not only from a visual perspective though, I had felt before that I was lacking the energy to play with her a lot of the time. If we went to the playground I more and more found a place to just sit and watch her play, and when I tried to run around with her I just got worn out quickly.
So I decided to change, and to do that I made 3 decisions on where to start. First, I needed to keep myself accountable - weekly weigh-ins and monthly body selfies. Second - dieting, what could I cut out straight away? All soft drink (honestly I prefer icy water anyway, it was just habit), switch to skim milk, no snacking between meals. Third - exercise. I didn't have a FitBit then, but I set myself to do around about an hour of light jogging or a long walk and a few sets of crunches about 5 times a week. 12 months later, and I was seeing great results. Although not that toned yet, I had definitely slimmed down considerably, down to about 80kgs (177lbs), and was feeling a lot better and more energetic.
I stayed at about the same level for about a year, just keeping the same exercise and dieting routine. For my birthday in 2018 I got a FitBit, and I thought this was a great opportunity to push myself even further, because I didn't really want to stagnate in case it led to any of the bad habits creeping back in. I have no intention of ever joining a gym because I very much believe you can do any work on your body without going to one (and I have social anxiety, so don't really like being in crowded public spaces much). So I set my goals on my FitBit to ensure I was meeting the cardio I wanted. Gradually over the next few months increasing the steps from 10,000 to 20,000 and later introducing some of the cardio to be done with weights (usually 5kg dum bells). This became a pretty good target to meet each day, I was doing it for usually about 90mins while watching tv or a movie, perfect! I changed my diet slightly, nothing too drastic, just a bowl of muesli in the morning and 1 or 2 slices of wholemeal or rye toast for lunch and then a pretty generous portion of whatever for dinner (I probably had junk food like a burger or pizza once a week or 2 weeks). The weight once again dropped off and I actually started to get definition. Abs I had never seen before, rock solid legs, no excess skin on the chest. The only drawback was a few months ago I had re injured an old knee injury when I tore my ACL about 10 years ago. That limited what I could do for a few weeks, and then straight after I got the flu and so that limited exercise for a further couple of weeks. So the couple of months before Christmas I eased back into it again, halving my goals so I don't injure myself and gradually working my way back towards that 20,000 steps a day mark. I'm now at a very trim 70kgs (154lbs).
It's only taken til this spring and summer in Australia where I now feel comfortable enough to swim shirtless at the pools and beaches with my daughter, which I thought I never would have gotten to that point. I think now at 31, I'm comfortable with where I'm at and if I can continue looking and feeling like I do for the next 10 years, I'll be more than satisfied :)
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/eoiqgs/3_years_of_grinding_worth_it_pics_included/
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