Lost almost 30 kgs in last year, went from 105.7 kgs to 75.6 kgs, Here are some learnings, thoughts and observations

Hello all, I was thinking of writing this up for some time, as the title says I lost 30 kgs in last year, I am 166 cm tall, 36 year old guy, with not much going on.

Anyways I thought I would share some of my thoughts, learnings and observations with everyone –

• First of all I have gone through this cycle of gaining and losing weight around 6 times in life so far, however this was the highest amount of weight loss that I achieved.

• What I did different this time was that I totally gave up. What I mean is that I convinced myself that I will never achieve my goals, and even if I do, nothing significant will ever change in my life.

• Above step was very important for me, doing that made me focus on the process and not on results, but it’s a very depressing way to go about it. Now I will talk about process

• Well, weight loss, is not a mystery, it is eating less and moving more, and repeating that cycle for a long period. After struggling a lot with myself I decided to buy a whiteboard, so I can count days on which I have followed diet and went to gym, it was so stupid

• Every day I used to make a mark on the whiteboard when I followed the process. Buying a food scale was single greatest investment, even more important than gym membership.

• My goal was to eat 3 meals of 500 calories each. Needless to say this is a stupid goal to achieve and each meal was probably between 500 to 700 calories.

• My breakfast has not changed in last 10 months – it’s oatmeal, with 30-40 gm oats, 150 ml milk, 30 gms of seeds (could be chia or sunflower), half scoop of whey protein, blueberries (6-8 pieces), you can choose to make adjustments if you wish to.

• Breakfast played a vital role, in this transformation. I prepared oatmeal night before, and kept it in refrigerator. Point was very simple, if I can start my day with one good decision, there is a chance I would not screw the rest of the day.

• Lunch was simple – rice or roti with some sort of egg dish, eating protein with every meal kept me from being hungry. And dinner was boiled chickpea or more of lunch. Sometimes I would eat idlis but not more than 2, and without peanut chutney.

• If you are more than 20 kgs overweight like me, please do not run on treadmill, protect your knees and lower back. After 10 days of working out without break my lower back had serious pain, I took 2 weeks of break. Usually I would give up at this time, and funnily it was those marks on whiteboard which kept me going.

• Most important learning – weight loss is mostly being hungry, it sucks, in order to get accustomed to it, I have been having no food after 7 pm. Somedays I would even eat as early as 6 pm.

• I used my gym sessions solely so I can move, I had zero intention of building any muscles, so I would use elliptical machine, use 5 kg dumbbells, and not do anything excessive. And take breaks whenever I felt like it, goal was to go 3 days a week.

Above was what worked for me now some things which I have learnt about myself since this transformation –

• I am still the same guy, and have same problems, weight loss, although great, has not solved all of my issues.

• I used to envy people who would follow process with smile and positivity, but I know now that I am not that person, I can be happy at some points, but I will never ever love the process.

• My patience with being hungry has improved significantly, I don’t feel the need the eat all the time anymore, and this has been the biggest gift.

• How I eat, significantly impacts my mood, so I try not to bloat myself with every meal now.

• I thought this transformation would solve other problems of higher salary and loneliness, but higher salary needs switching jobs or side gigs, and loneliness problem can’t be solved without having enough courage to show people who I am and let them decide if they wish to be with me or not.

• Best gift is that my knees they are so happy with me now, and that is enough for now.

Anyone trying to achieve this goal in their lives, I wish you all the best and if you wish to follow any of my advice, I would recommend following –

• Have early dinners, it would be good starting point in building practice to be hungry.

• Figure out a way to start your day with a good decision

• Don’t make weight loss as some cure all, it’s not, maybe if you give it less importance, you may just be able to do the boring work which will actually help