SV - SW 260lb CW 248lb, day 31. How I’m trying to lose my COVID weight, and achieve a healthy body composition.

Starting: 260lb, 31.6 BMI, BP 140/85 Current: 248lb, 30.2 BMI, BP 124-130/75-82 Target: 14% estimated body fat / 210LB, BMI ~25, BP under 120 / 80.

New here, thought I’d make a post to share my experience, and to motivate myself and hopefully others. Sorry it’s a bit long, but it covers how I got here, what I’m doing to lose weight, as goes over some of the diet and exercise goals I have, and how I’m keeping myself honest.

I (30M) have struggled with my weight for years. I’m pretty tall (6’4), so some of my weight is normal and healthy for a person with such a large frame, which I’m told also makes BMI a bit less useful for me. I know that I have too much android and visceral fat, and my body fat percentage is too high ~ 27%, a lot of it in “beer gut” and “love handles.

I, like many, gained a lot of weight when COVID hit and disrupted all of my routines. I had literally just gotten into a good gym schedule for the winter (I have a much easier time being active in the summer, as I like biking), and suddenly gyms go on lockdown.

“Shit, guess I’ll drink.”

After a lot of convenience food, drinking, and other was to “deal with covid”, I finally was able to dial things back in December, but couldn’t bring myself to weigh myself until this January. I had put on 20 lb, and that was after cutting back for a month, so pretty certainly wasn’t my peak weight. So, starting weight was 260 lb, with a starting BMI of over 31.6 - obese.

After some initial self pity, I decided even though I was already motivated, I had to face more harsh numbers to get a better idea of my starting point. I strapped on a Bluetooth blood pressure cuff, and was devastated when I saw 140/ 85. Pre hypertension phase 2, the app spat out. Not good. This made me really panic, and I decided to measure it every day to keep an eye on it now, which is a good motivator for other health habits: I really don’t want to need blood pressure medication, and even more than this I really don’t want to fucking die young.

I knew in needed to change my habits, and I needed to start immediately, as I was already at risk for some serious cardiovascular issues. Being the millennial and techie that I am, I decided to see if technology could help me through this.

To start with, I bought a habit changing app called “Streaks” as well as the workout version of the app. I really like it when an app doesn’t have a subscription, and this bundle cost me less than $10. I set some initial goals in the app, like “weight yourself, take your BP every day”, and “don’t drink” and “don’t eat junk food”. The way the app works is you have to be honest with yourself, and can set positive tasks (eg, do 10,000 steps) as well as negative tasks (eg, don’t drink beer. If you successfully complete a positive task, you can start a streak. If you fail a negative task, you break a streak when you make it as failed, but otherwise it continues. The app was able to read some things from Apple health, which really helped me with steps, water intake, blood pressure, and weight. I’m sure there are other apps that do this, and a journal could be just as effective. This works for me.

As a bonus, my partner also got both apps (we have a family plan with Apple) and she is naturally competitive (including with herself) so she engaged with the app right away. Having her also use it helped keep us both motivated to stay healthy, and she was already trying to do some things (like go for a walk) every day.

I’m currently on my longest ever no-drinking streak, 29 days, and have completed one workout of some form every day for 29 days as well. I’ve been tracking all of my calories with “MyPlate”, to ensure I have a (healthy) calorie deficit each day, but also to track my nutrition and make sure I get enough calories, and am mindful of the nutrition in the food I eat. I also got an Apple Watch to help with counting calories and monitor cardio fitness, but it’s not all that essential to my routine, though it is a good “physical reminder” that’s always with me, ie, a sort of metaphorical “string tied around my finger”.

For fitness, I have been alternating between a 30-60 minute bike ride on a trainer (with Zwift, to make biking indoors less boring), and 20 minutes of body weight (may as well use it for something!) exercises. When I started, I literally couldn’t do a single push-up. Now I can at least do a single set of 10 push-ups, but following sets I still do with my knees while I’m building strength. I’ve been doing tricep dips, which helped to build arm strength until I had the core and bicep strength to do actual push-ups. To build core strength, I have had planking as part of my routine.

I plan to expand my fitness routine to add some more variety. I ordered a rowing machine and a barbell/dumbbell set from Amazon, and plan to introduce weight lifting and rowing to my routine, alternating between weights, rowing, biking, and body weight exercises.

As for diet, I’m currently cutting out comfort foods with extreme prejudice. No chips, no beer, no ice cream - absolutely nothing with highly refined sugar or empty calories. I know I can’t keep this up forever, but until I’m closer to my target I’m trying to stay “cold turkey”. For a snack, I let myself have 1.5 servings of mixed nuts per day (to help with satiety, and as a source of monounsaturated fat), and 1 serving of popcorn in the evening. I’m also supplementing with whey protein and psyllium fibre, in order to increase satiety, keep regular, and ensure I have protein for recovery when I’m doing exercise. I’m targeting 1.6g/kg for protein, but even with whey this is difficult to hit. I am drinking 3.5L of water per day, also to help with satiety, as well as numerous other benefits from staying hydrated.

I have been watching an Amazon Prime “Great courses” series called “changing body composition through diet and exercise” which I have been using to guide myself in terms of nutrition, and as a source for nutrition facts. For instance, I starting increasing my protein through supplements based on what I learned about studies that show it can lead to increased metabolism, and helps with feeling full. I’m also introducing weight training, as it also seems to help increase metabolism, and having more muscle can help with burning more fat.

I’m hoping I can keep my streaks going for a long time, and plan to relax some of them a bit, once I’m closer to a healthy weight and body composition. I’ve heard it said that if you can stick to something for 40 days, it’s become a habit. I certainly feel this with certain things, for instance, where I used to “need” several beers a day, I don’t crave beer at all now that I’ve gone almost a month without it. I’ve found the time to set aside 30-60 minutes for exercise in my day, and go for a long walk on my lunch break to listen to audiobooks or podcasts, helping to make it fun.

Now that I have built up some healthy habits, the hard part will be to stick with it. I’m sure there will be ups and downs, and plateaus. But at least I’ve gotten started!

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