This is going to be a little bit of a different post compared to what I normally put here. This isn’t tech related, even in the slightest, but something I get asked about quite often.

This past summer (from March to July) I lost over 50lbs of body fat.

Why?

Surprisingly, I get asked this question more than any other question. Why did I want to lose weight? I have a few reasons:

1. First & foremost, my wife & I welcomed our daughter into the world last November. Having another life to take care of really puts things in perspective. I often wonder how good of an example I am setting for my daughter. My relationship with food was clearly broken - I gained in excess of 100 lbs in the last 6 or 7 years. Obviously there were issues there.

2. Secondly, I worried about my long term health. Having just gotten life insurance for the first time in 2021 I had to face the reality of my situation. I have to pay more to insure my life because I am more likely to die an early death simply due to my excess body fat. I’ve read study after study that shows excess body fat is associated with a host of medical issues that I don’t want in my life.

3. Lastly, I didn’t recognize myself anymore. Looking in the mirror was like looking at a stranger. I don’t want to be embarrased to remove my shirt to get in the pool. I want to be clear that I don’t have to be skinny to love my body- but at the same time I want to live in a body that reflects my desire to be healthy, not my desire to eat McDonald’s.

I want to be clear here - your body is yours to love the way it is. I don’t think anyone should feel uncomfortable in their skin regardless of their weight. However, this is my reality.

How?

This required some real mental fortitude. When you try to lose weight your body fights you at every step because it is biologically wired to do so. Think about this - if our ancestors were losing body fat that could only mean 1 thing. They hadn’t eaten in quite a while & need that fat to capture the next meal.

Calorie Deficit

The one and only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume. Full stop.

So, I ate in a calorie deficit. I found my maintainence calories (around 3,000 calories/day to start) & started to eat less than that. With the exception of people with medical conditions that effect their fat retention, this will 100% work for you too. The problem is figuring out your maintainence calories is difficult. You must experiment with your caloric intake to determine where your personal baseline is. And as you lose weight, your maintainence calories will most likely lower, meaning you must eat fewer & fewer calories as you lose fat.

The number 1 thing you need to do here is just keep track of how many calories you’re eating. Over the span of 3 weeks are you gaining or losing weight? If you are gaining weight you are eating above your maintainence calories, if you are losing weight you are eating below your maintainence calories. This assumes you keep the level of excersize consistent throughout the 3 week period.

I use an app called Lose It to track the calories in the food I am eating, but there are dozens out there. You will not need to keep a detailed track of your caloric intake forever, just long enough for you to be able to do the mental math on your own.

You’ll want to keep your deficit to around 500 calories per day which will net you 1lb of weight loss per week on average.

Some quick tips I have for eating less calories:

• Do not drink your calories.
  • If you drink soda, go sugar free. Or stick to water.
• Eat a lot of protein.
  • Studies show that protein helps you feel fuller for longer.
• Eat less cheese.
  • Sometimes you spend an extra 70–100 calories for a slice of cheese that doesn’t add all that much flavor to your meal. Just remove the cheese.
• Watch the sauce.
  • Some sauces can really add up. Any mayonaise based sauce will be extremly high in calorie density - stay away from these. 2 tbsp of mayo is 180 calories.
• Pay attention to serving sizes.
  • Sometimes a nutrition label will appear to be low in calories but the serving size is significantly less than what you would eat. Keep an eye out for this.
• Eat whole foods.
  • Whole foods are less calorie dense than processed foods. You can eat a higher volume of food for less calories if you are eating the right things.
• Find low calorie snacks.
  • Keep some snacks around that you can eat for 80–150 calories to satisfy you. I’ve had a handful of Hershey’s Kiss’s several times for 160 calories because I had a sweet tooth.
• Keep eating the foods you love
  • You will not be successful if you don’t continue eating the foods you love. I continued to eat pizza, hamburgers, and other fast foods during my weight cut. Just get creative with how you can fit a meal into your diet.

Weighing Myself

I weigh myself daily. Every morning pretty much as soon as I wake up. It is important to weigh yourself if you’re trying to lose weight. Your bodyweight fluctuates daily naturally so don’t get too caught up in a single days weight. If you are getting obssessive over the number on the scale, only weigh yourself weekly.

Excersize?

Notice how I didn’t put anywhere that I go to the gym daily? That’s because in my first 50lbs of wieght lost I didn’t enter a gym once. I didn’t excersize at all actually.

Excersize is good for your overall health & a possible contributor to weight loss, but diet will most likely be the greatest contributor to weight loss.

To be clear, you should do some excersize to ensure the weight you are losing is fat & not muscle.

Final Thoughts

The most important thing you can do to lose body fat is not give up. It is a marathon. In your first few weeks you will be dropping weight like crazy, then it will slow down. You’ll start to lose about .5lb-1lb per week.

The important thing is to keep moving & build a lifestyle around eating better.

Any differences?

There are a whole host of differences I notice in my life now that I am lighter:

• My old clothes are starting to fit
• I have significant energy above what I had before
• My resting heart rate is down from 78bpm at its peak to around 58bpm now
• I don’t feel nearly as hungry anymore. I’m able to eat at or below my maintainence calories without feeling the urge to eat more.