Thursday, May 14, 2020

[845] Thoughts on My Weight Loss Journey

The heaviest I can remember myself weighing was around 236 lbs or 107kg. This was back in 2016, during an annual physical check-up I had with a previous company. I was advised by the doctor to start losing weight for my own good. They even had me attend nutrition seminars, that I appreciated at the time but also didn't pay much attention to.

You see, discipline and self-control were never my strong suits before. I love food, and I would eat food I loved a lot. Sure I could curb my eating for a few days or so, and my weight would drop by one or two kilos, but it always used to hover in the 105kg to 107kg range until some unfortunate events in 2017.

It was during 2017 that I decided to go walking almost every morning. That was the year I managed to drop my weight below 100kg for the first time since around 2012 (I won't go back to this in too much detail, let's just say I lost weight but since I loved to eat you know what happened after). I was perfectly happy with my final weight fluctuating between 96kg to 98kg. Occasionally it would go to 95kg but again, love of food and eating.

I managed to maintain that weight until 2019, when during one random weigh in I saw that my weight had ballooned up to 99kg again. I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Determined (for probably the first time in my life, health-wise) to not go back to over 100kg I decided to try intermittent fasting. And it worked. I powered through the first few months, increasing the frequency of my weigh-ins daily just to remind myself that I did not want to get heavier again.

It is now the 14th of May 2020. I am proud to say my weight now fluctuates between 86kg to 88kg. I've been doing a minimum of 16:8 IF almost everyday, and since this quarantine started last 15th of March I've been doing it non-stop. Yes there are times I'd like to have breakfast (I usually eat lunch and dinner plus snacks) but when I see where I've gotten it's easier to just say I can just wait a few more hours.

While I still refuse to set a concrete goal, right now I'm sort of trying to get below 85kg. And this is the funny part, I also said that near the end of last year. I was hovering between 92kg to 94kg at the end of the year and told myself if would be nice to at least get to 89kg so that when I reach one year of doing IF I can say I lost 10kgs and look where I am now.

I still don't believe in setting a concrete goal for myself. I can challenge myself to reach a certain weight, but I know that with the way I think I get frustrated if I don't achieve something with a deadline. And that can be counter-productive to what I've reached so far. So I'll still gradually push myself to lose weight, but as of the moment I'm happy with where I am at weight-wise.

Out.