Weight Loss

“Some people want it to happen. Some wish it would happen. Others make it happen.”

Michael Jordan

My weight has always been in the back of my mind. It has been something that I have had to work at a lot. I wanted to write down the struggles with weight I’ve had, the long process I went through to improve my weight and now the relationship I have with weight. Hopefully, this may help anyone with similar issues to those I’ve faced.

Gravity was not my Friend

I like to eat, always have done and always will do. I can tuck away a three course meal or a XL Dominos + sides without even blinking. After the blink I’ll probably be looking for snacks. This kind of appetite on a child with no hunger for exercise (if you’ll pardon the pun) didn’t end well.

I can’t blame anyone else for this apart from me. I remember in sixth form going to Tesco and getting a triple (egg, bacon and sausage) sandwich, McCoy’s crisps, a full sugar coke and a double pack of custard creams or a pack of Sainsbury’s cookies… for lunch. This wasn’t an irregular occurrence either and would happen at least once a week. Food sadly dominates a lot of my thoughts and if I want something I literally can’t think of anything else until I’ve eaten something.

As I said in my original post the largest I got to was 86kg (BMI of 28.7) which is getting towards being obese. So, how did I turn is around and start the process to where I am today?

Shreddage

My first attempt before I started uni to lose weight was to cut out ‘mindless eating’. You know the “oh hello there crisp, get in mah belly,” just because you want rather than need kind of eating. So, to curb this I created a ‘Bad Food Chart’, basically all the crap I liked was listed in the kitchen at home and if I ate one my brother could slap me every time. It worked and help me shed a little bit.

At the beginning of 2017 I had decided enough was enough. I was now at uni and making all dietary decisions myself so could make major changes. But only one at a time, I didn’t click my fingers and change everything in one go. That would have been too much of a shock and there’s no way I would have kept up the progress. The main thing I did was download the app ‘Myfitnesspal’. Being a numbers guy, setting calorific limits and tracking my eating started me off really well. Once I knew I’d hit my limit set by the app then for some reason I wasn’t hungry in the evenings when I usually would be. I also didn’t buy junk food to take home so when I was hungry it wasn’t an option.

A good rate I found of weight loss for me was 1-2lbs (roughly 0.5kg) a week. It was enough to see steady progress but not so much it felt like starvation. If you try and starve yourself you will lose motivation and you’ll pile the pounds straight back on again! The next thing I did was up my water intake… a lot. I was drinking around 3-4 litres of the stuff a day. This aqua intake kick starts your metabolism, makes your organs function more efficiently and reduces those hunger pangs.

I also tracked my progress with pics like above and also with a “Fat Boy Chart” which was a line graph so I could see if I was hitting my goals. The visual progress really helped as it kept me motivated to see how far I’d come. This in itself is important as the end goal can seem so far away, but that’s forgetting the progress it took to get there.

As I have said, I have an appetite so I loaded up on low calorie foods. Like switching pasta with couscous, bulking up meals with peas or an extra tin of tomatoes. Vegetables on the whole though will be low in calories and will help fill you up.

Where I’m at Now

Having used Myfitness pal a lot I am better at judging how much I need to eat. Also, having cut out crap I have learned to know I don’t need it. Having lost the weight I can see how it has made me into a faster athlete. But, I can see sometimes if I push it too far how that negatively impacts my running. I have felt sluggish and slow on a cut which is definitely due to low energy levels. So it is good to remember that yes, weight will have a pretty direct correlation with speed, but also to remember that you need to fuel your engine.

I’m still struggling though…

My shitty relationship with food still isn’t over. I have to be careful. I recently went on a one week holiday, I ran 60 miles that week but ate what I wanted when I wanted. I gained 2kg. I have to talk myself out of wanting food and I can take a while to choose what to eat as I am thinking the content of the food. I sometimes change my mind several times when picking food I don’t know the nutritional information for. Not because I don’t think I’ll like the food, that’s never an issue. More because I can get anxiety for what it’s going to do to me. I am yet to find a good balance between looking after myself but also not caring so much. I will get there though.

This isn’t my normal jokey post as for me this isn’t so much of a joke issue. I hope it helps somebody though. If anyone has got any questions feel free to comment or message me if you know me!

Lots of love,
Will xx