At the start of this year I jumped on the scales at the gym and weighed in at 109.8kg. In a lot of ways this isn't a notable weight other than the fact that I was thinking about entering a powerlifting competition and the threshold for my weight class was 110kg. I was getting a bit close to the threshold and the next weight class up (under 125kg) is filled with monsters. I felt that it was a good time to get a bit leaner. The weight class below me is the under 100kg class. Ironically, the top competitors in that class are actually stronger than the under 110kg group but I'm not a serious competitor and there would be health and aesthetic benefits to losing the weight.
In 4 months I have dropped 11.6kg to 98.2kg. So how did I do it?
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-tape-measuring-on-clear-glass-square-weighing-scale-53404/
If you have ever tried to lose weight you will know that many people have a lot of "helpful" advice (which varies from useful to ridiculous). My description below is what worked for me. It's not the only way to do things but I found it easy and effective.
The first step was to establish what my calorie intake should be using a TDEE calculator like https://tdeecalculator.net/. Most use the same set of formulae although it is important to remember that these are average figures from studies. You might not be an average person so you may need to adjust your figures if you don't make progress after a couple of weeks. I wanted to keep things simple so I used calories rather than macros, with the only macro constraint being to get at least 100 grams of protein. I let the fat and carbs vary depending on what kinds of foods I felt like. As a statistician I saw this as a constrained optimisation problem. Consume 2300 calories per day (my target to lose 0.5kg per week based on a light level of physical activity) and get at least 100 grams of protein per day. Whilst I wanted to lose weight I also wanted to minimise muscle and strength loss from being in a calorie deficit so I set the loss per week low and didn't try to rush things.
I installed the MyFitnessPal app on my phone and have tracked my calories since January. The app is fast to use, has a barcode scanner, and a good database of foods that you can search for. Sometimes I would need to estimate or find a similar sounding food but if you can't find the exact item there is normally something pretty close. I found that it didn't take long for this to just become part of my daily routine.
Food. My approach was that there are no good foods or bad foods (food is neither moral nor amoral). I ate mindfully but provided I met my calorie and protein requirements I didn't deny myself. When Domino's introduced vegan pizza I tried each different type (although a few slices rather than the whole thing). At social occasions if I felt like a beer I drank a beer. Having said that you do quickly appreciate the additional quantity of food you can enjoy with lower calorie choices. I have only been over my target a couple of times and each time was a special occasion (like an amazing 3 course Valentine's Day dinner) it was well worth it. Because I was so consistent the rest of the time, consuming some extra calories on a special occasion was not a big deal.
Exercise. This didn't change much. I continued to lift weights 3-5 times per week, usually following powerlifting style routines like 5x5 and 5/3/1 or modified versions of these. I would occasionally add some resistance work like farmers walks or sled pushes to the end of my workout but this was more for conditioning than fat loss. During summer we would go swimming or ride our bikes or play some basketball but these were fun activities so any calorie burning was incidental. At no point did I engage in any kind of non-fun cardio or activities that were solely for fat-loss.
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bodybuilding-close-up-dumbbells-equipment-260352/
Important tips
I only really have a couple of recommendations for people and those are:
- Track what you eat - it makes such a big difference
- Be patient - losing weight takes time and slow weight loss is more sustainable and is better for your body
- Ensure you are monitoring your weight and if possible body composition. If you aren't heading in the right direction you might need to adjust your diet and/or exercise regime.
Probably the only thing that I would do differently is to get a Dexa scan (or equivalent) to track my body composition more closely. I did consider it but they are a bit pricey so I decided not to.
The benefits
- I dropped the weight with what felt like minimal changes to my diet and lifestyle (which made it feel easy).
- Chinups are much easier. I can't do all the tricks that
can but I have many more bodyweight exercise options (and sometimes have to add weight to my chinups).
- I have a much lower appetite. It takes less to feel full and I feel full for longer.
- My jeans don't fit. This isn't really a benefit because the shops only seem to have skinny leg styles at the moment and I have big quads, but it does show that the weight came off the right places.
Where to next?
- I want to try to lose another few kilograms and then I want to experiment with some periods of intense powerlifting training and calorie surpluses (and then back to the slight deficits that I have been using this year). I don't have any particular goal weight now other than staying below 100kg and feeling good.