Things I wish I knew before weightloss

My Fitness Story

As recently as a couple years ago, I was about 110lbs heavier. To be clear, when I was that heavy I didn’t listen to anyone of the many friends and family members that encouraged me to manage my health. I can remember a time when a close friend sat across from me in a drunken bachelor party moment and pleaded for me to change my life. I was offended at the time and frankly, even providing these notes here makes me feel a bit like a hypocrite. That being said, enough people have asked my advice that I would like to describe some of the choices I made after the point I decided to prioritize my health. While motivated and driven to succeed, I made a lot of choices that ultimately slowed down my progress and led to me getting discouraged at times. Below I’ll discuss what I’m doing now and why.

I feel obligated to mention that all of my knowledge is from Youtube and trial/error. I’m in no way claiming to be a nutritionist and in fact it seems (I learned from Youtube) most people digest things very differently and I highly recommend consulting an actual professional. 

accept Imperfection

At first it seemed very complicated but in the end it was super easy for me to be healthy. It’s all choices and I try to make more good ones than bad. I’ve heard things like the 80/20 rule, eat 80% of your meals on plan and 20% of the meals relax the rules a bit. For me, I try to make the best choice possible at that moment. 

Initially, I tried never eating foods that I enjoyed and completely removing every ingredient that I perceived to be “bad” for me but now I have a more relaxed approach. I found that being too strict did not allow me to experience some of the more rewarding experiences of life like enjoying an ice cream cone with my kids. Some things are worth the calories. YOLO

Whole Foods > Processed Foods

A lot of influencers use this term but don’t explain clearly what it means. Early in my efforts to be healthier I was overwhelmed with Youtubers and influencers and their dogmatic approach to nutrition. This guy loves meat and hates vegetables, these people love vegetables and hate meat, this guy eats raw liver and steroids for breakfast, etc. … One thing that all of the influencers seem to agree on is “Whole foods” are better than “processed foods.” Through all the bullshit, this seemed like something to note but “Whole foods” is not described very clearly. I have come to understand this to mean foods that require very little to no preparation. For example, a banana is a whole food but a banana in a smoothie (even if you make it at home) is not. Blending the food is processing it and essentially allowing your body to skip some of the digestion process. 

However, here I often practice accepting imperfection. Processed foods come in a lot of different varieties and seem to have varying degrees of negative properties. Processed foods from the grocery store also tend to contain a ton of ingredients that may or may not be wanted. Also, did you know that they can have a 20% wiggle room on the nutrition label? When I eat processed food, I try to process at home but often that is impossible. Of course, sometimes I just eat a cheeseburger because they are delicious.  

Prioritize Protein

I wish that I had prioritized protein earlier. While learning about health and nutrition I spent a long time losing both body fat and muscle. I wanted to lose weight by any means necessary but I should have been focusing on Protein. For me it’s the most satiating thing to eat. Prioritizing protein keeps me full but also keeps me looking better in the mirror. I can fill up on chicken breast and I don’t feel like I’m starving all day. I have no problem with meat so I eat a lot of eggs, steak, and chicken.  I aim for about 1g per lb of body weight because it seems to be universally recommended by nutritionists, youtubers, and influencers. 

Prioritize Strength Training (Lifting Weights)

I did too much cardio at first. I wish that I had taken more time to preserve the muscle I had at the beginning of my journey. Too much cardio and not enough food led to a weight loss plateau and eventually I actually started putting weight back on despite constantly being hungry and running several miles per day. Once I started strength training and drastically lowered my cardio, my weight loss started again but only for a short while. I actually haven’t lost a pound in over 6 months and yet many people comment on physique. The reason for the mirror gains is because I’ve been building muscle while simultaneously burning fat. For me, the scale is pretty unimportant and I’d much rather focus on looking better in a bathing suit not to mention, I’m eating 3000+ calories per day. I can enjoy any food I want and largely stay within a maintenance caloric intake. 

Carbs aren't All Bad

I went low carb early on and I lost a lot of weight but ultimately for me it didn’t work out that way for long. I enjoy being athletic, running in races, and playing sports. This lifestyle is best fueled with carbs for me. Going low carb led to me feeling lethargic and often burning more muscle than fat on my longer runs. Carbohydrates are a very efficient way to get energy in my body and while I am careful of my servings with carbs overall I’ve found them essential. I wanted to note this point because I found a fair amount of influencer/youtube content demonizing carbohydrates and I don’t think overconsuming them is a good idea but I do need some to keep up with my lifestyle. 

Salt Helps Me Run Faster

The more whole foods I ate, the more I had to deliberately add in salt to my food and often to my water. Quality Pink Himalayan salt has electrolytes and with some lemon it tastes pretty good. Sometimes I’ll use LMNT packets or a brand of dissolvable powder called “hydrate.” I do not recommend Gatorade, Powerade, or their commercial sugary counterparts but even those might be better than nothing if homemade drinks aren’t available. In those cases, I will be very careful about having only a small serving. Throughout my day I need a bit of salt or I will feel noticeably lethargic and drained. 

I do not have any call to action here other than to say to the reader that made it this far, I have never once regretted making a smart choice for my health and happiness. Sometimes that looks like chicken and vegetables and sometimes it’s pizza with my family and friends.