For our last mini-adventure holiday, we stayed at Tore Tore Village (hobbit Japan?), just outside of Shirahama City. We rented bikes from the local train station and toured around on those for a couple of days. It was cheap, really enjoyable and hugely calorie burning (better than any gym).
I’ve just weighed myself and three months after hitting my fat loss goal, I’m very happy to say my weight remains stable. And because I’m not doing anything “special,” I’m starting to believe this time it will be possible to maintain it.
After years of struggle, I’m actually still surprised by how basically effortless the whole thing has been. Or maybe that should be “semi-effortless.” Anything worthwhile takes some kind of initiative and commitment.
Just for the record, I lost over 16 kg (35 lb) in about six months. I understand for many people that won’t seem like such a big deal. It probably wouldn’t even move the needle on The Biggest Loser.
But I did it without any trips to the gym or dramatic changes in my diet, and during a major family crisis and often insane work schedule. I still enjoy plentiful amber beverages and snacks and eat out regularly. My exercise is evening strolls and a few bodyweight movements.
These are all good things. But probably the best part is, as I said, it looks like it is going to last this time. Sustainability is essential.
A little background
Body type-wise, I’m a classic ectomorph, very lean with limited muscle. Despite this, my weight started to balloon in my thirties as I eased into a comfortable, desk jockey lifestyle. Believe it or not, at first, I was happy to finally gain a bit of size after years of being skin and bone.
This lasted until the weight started to pile on. And on. And on. Since then, I’ve been through several cycles of hard fought, do or die weight loss followed inevitably by massive rebound. Pretty standard stuff it seems, according to most research.
Over the years, my weight has varied repeatedly by more than 30 kg (66 lb), which is close to 50% of my body mass before I started to pack on the fat (ectomorph, remember). Apart from the physical and mental stress, this plays havoc with your clothing situation.
I was still huge even during the first couple of years of my degree in nutritional and dietetic medicine. Knowledge may be power but that’s only one part of the story. Understanding how to put that knowledge to practical use each day is the key.
A new approach
I finally started connecting the dots using two sources: Dr. John Berardi and Leo Babauta. Major gratitude, guys. To avoid any idea this is a sales pitch, I won’t provide links but you can track down JB at precisionnutrition.com and Leo at zenhabits.net.
I’m actually doing Leo’s Sea Change program (seachange.zenhabits.net) at the moment and plan on doing JB’s PN certification courses if I can find any time during my college study.
Obviously doing a degree contributes a lot of science but it was JB and Leo that triggered a series of light bulb moments for me. One of these flashes helped me connect fat loss and debt management. Not so sexy but it became the basis for losing the weight.
That probably sounds a little bizarre but I’ll explain myself over the next few posts. I definitely don’t have all the answers. This is still a journey for me as well but what I’ve learned so far has been really valuable and I want to share. If it helps you… outstanding!
I would like this site to be about more than fat loss. The skills to do this – and they are just skills anyone can learn – can be used for so many other things. No one part of your life exists in isolation. But for now, fat loss. One step at a time is how you get things done.