[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.

[830] Intermittent Fasting Update

I started intermittent fasting during the last days of June 2019. The reason I gave it a shot was because my weight had slowly risen to 99kg. To give a bit of context, before 2017 I was averaging maybe around 105kg. After some life-altering events in 2017 I started walking and got my weight down to maybe 97kg in 2018. I promised to keep myself below 100kg and hopefully even reach 90kg.

That never happened. I disliked dieting and during the "winter" months was too lazy to regularly go walking. Plus my eating was still relatively out of control. I love to eat, and I've posted about it so many times.

Until that fateful day in 2019 when I saw I was borderline 100kg. I decided enough was enough and impulsively chose to do intermittent fasting. None of the gradual, start at 14 hours and ease my way up fastings. I did 16 hour fasts every other day. I noticed I did lose weight and that was great.

Pretty soon I went below 95kg. I think that was around September or so. By that time I had gotten used to IF that I was doing it almost everyday. I had gotten an app for my phone to help track my fasts. And I was doing portion control for my rice more religiously.

2020 has started and I am proud to say I am hovering between 90kg and 91kg. This is even after the holidays when I did eat a lot more than I'm used to. I'm happy to say I was able to maintain my weight.

I never really had a serious goal for my IF. I just wanted to change my lifestyle and see where that would take me, and it has taken me to this. I'm also partially motivated to start losing more, but as usual I will not be setting a target weight. I'll just keep trying to improve my lifestyle and hopefully the results will arrive. If it doesn't, no worries.

I just don't want to go over 93kg anymore. That's my cap for myself. Maybe I can lower the cap if I lose more weight, but I will not pressure myself.

Out.

[818] Ramping Up

I've decided to do my best to intermittent fast everyday. Past few weeks I was successfully doing my 16:8 IF weekdays with Saturdays and Sundays being my "cheat days." There was something I noticed.

Around Friday I would be at around 95kg. After the weekend I would be around 97kg. That meant whenever I ate breakfast (plus eating out and enjoying it) I would gain what weight I lost.

This weekend I'm trying to maintain my IF even during the weekends. More importantly I'm trying my best to stick to my portion control. I'd rather gain one kilogram of weight and lose two a week rather than just moving back and forth. Two steps forward one step back is acceptable, though I would rather just keep moving forward. So we'll see.

It took me quite a while to make IF a habit, and hopefully I can keep it up and make the weekends part of my IF and portion control habit. I don't expect to be able to do this immediately but hopefully in a week or so I'll be able to maintain my weight and finally normalize at a weight well below 95kg.

Out.