Ask yourself: Would you like to be fitter and stronger?
Even if you aren't overweight now, with sitting desk jobs it's easy to forget about health.
Understand that if you don't take matters in your own hands now, when will you do it?
You won't be given a new body in forseeable future.
Excess weight will make every aspect of your life worse, for how long? Forever until you die?
If that resonates with you, read on. Because I have stories to tell.
I've lost 37.5 kg in 2.5 years, from 38% body fat to 25%, BMI 42 to 28 as a 165 cm short king male (lol).
The first getting fat phase happened when my main focus was work - it was exciting, so I forgot to take care of my body.
Went from 65 kg to 78 and then WFH happened, and a couple of years later I've found myself at 115 kg without the ability to push, pull or do dips even once (previously I could do a decent amount, about 10-20 pull-ups and so on).
You obviously have to have motivation to change yourself.
I've lost weight because I got terrified of seeing three digits on a scale, then eventually this desire transformed to be more attractive to others.
From the start, I've accepted that it will be almost impossible.
But even with my subpar discipline and mental toughness, I've achieved a lot.
Not that I lack those completely, but would it be better - the process would be faster and easier.
On one side, yes, that was and is very hard. That's why you NEVER never creep in the direction of being fat.
On the other, it was either than I thought it would be.
Once, a friend of mine told me that he lost 10-20 kg "just bicycle riding, eating rice and drinking water".
Unfortunately, I don't know what to do with that info - but great for them.
# The steps to get fit:
1. Sign up for the gym. Hire a coach.
2. Walk 10k steps a day.
3. Eat less, move more.
4. Lift weights.
5. Do cardio before AND after workout.
7. Don't skip leg day.
If you think you don't have the time for weight loss and you don't have people which depend on you:
QUIT YOUR JOB altogether and dedicate your life to weight loss.
If your job is more important than health for you, I don't know what to tell you.
Some people on the internet may say that gym coaches are not interested in your improvement and they just want to continue to revenue off of you.
Even if that is the case, that's PERFECT for us!
WHY?
You need consistency and accountability.
You need to make a habit of going into the gym.
The 50% of weight loss is work OUTSIDE of gym - your diet.
The 49% is SHOWING UP to the gym and doing the work.
The 1% is lifting heavier - making progress.
Even if you have a greedy coach that doesn't want you to progress - it doesn't matter.
YOU have to want that.
If you exercise, you tone your muscles, they'll still grow.
Eating at calorie deficit alone will show results, but the more muscles you have, the more calories they burn, even at rest.
Eventually, you'll WANT to lift heavier just for the sake of it, because the natural instincts will kick in, and that's what we want.
So, start weightlifting. Why?
Heavy people have lots of lean mass to support them: can lift heavy and see good gains at first;
Running and some other sports in the beginning is not optimal - too heavy on joints, and you don't want to injury yourself and revert your progress back.
Master The Basics: Squats, Deadlifts, Rows, Bench Presses, Leg Presses, Pull Ups.
There may be some other approaches out there, but YOU have to lift.
Yoga or some other thing may look cool for mobility and stretching and meditation.
We're focused on losing weight, building muscle. Period.
What I do right now instead of complicated programs for push- and pull-ups is doing 1 more each time, and trying to rep max at first set.
Right now I'm at 37 on first set and 105 push-ups total per session, next time I'll do 38 first and 106 total (or more if I can), and I track it in Google Sheets.
Can't walk 10k steps? Why?
Bored of your city and don't want to walk?
Walk to visit all bookstores in your city or find something similar.
Move to the other city which you'll find interesting, where you'll have to go up and down the hills, stairs, just walk long distances due to the size of it.
You may also travel, but if you don't have a habit of travelling - you won't be consistent at it.
I've walked 40k steps in Japan each day, didn't eat a lot and only MAINTAINED my weight.
But that's still better than gaining it.
I've probably missed out on tasty Japanese food, which I haven't tried yet.
Don't care. I'll try it some other time.
Unexpected benefit of training: it makes you ILL-less.
You may get tired and ALMOST get sick after a heavy session.
That's normal due to your body being extremely exhausted, but again, your body won't let you down - because it senses that you really have work to do (at the gym).
When you train, you become healthier even from that standpoint.
In my experience in these two and a half years I've never been sick. That's nonesense.
# Your Weight Loss North Star
If you take fitness and health seriously, you should strive to reach 15% body fat for males and 25% for females, eventually.
This is the healthiest body fat percentage.
It may be a bit unrealistic, doesn't mean you shouldn't strive for it.
Why such an extreme number?
Because humans (you & me), are lazy.
If we think enough is enough and stop at 25%, we'll quickly get fat again.
This extremeness serves as a buffer.
It is something to strive for. Don't you want to look the best?
Side note: Depending on what sports you want to pursue, this number CAN be different.
But my focus here is weight loss first and foremost.
DO Run this prompt in your favorite AI assistant:
"Calculate weight at 15% body fat for [your height] height [male/female] without much muscle (not very active person) at age [your age]"
The number it outputs is your North Star.
Bear with me here, and don't butcher it.
Why the prompts says "without much muscle" and "not very active person"?
Because the number you'll see will be your baseline.
You're likely to lose muscle in the process of losing weight, hopefully not a lot of it.
If you'll be able to achieve an ideal body fat percentage with higher weight - great!
It means you didn't only lose weight, you've also kept (or built) muscle during weight loss. That's perfect.
For me, the "magic" number is 60 kg.
That also aligns with what my coach told me intuitevely.
# So Why Strive For It?
It's best to lose every inch of excess fat first, and focus on it heavily.
Lose weight, lose body fat percentage. That's your goal.
This is the final goal of the weight loss phase.
If and when you achieve that goal, another phase starts - careful bulk, maintaining and monitoring that body fat percentage.
If you would try to bulk at a higher BF %, you'd risk slipping back to being fat very fast, AND without any margin for error.
Focus on getting to being fit first.
Getting fat is easy, losing weight is hard.
Bonus Tip:
Look at your friends - which physique would YOU like to have?
Who looks shredded?
Ask them about their height/weight, just for the sake of real world comparison
Are there people who are objectively fitter than you, but you wouldn't be satisfied with that physique still?
If you're fitter, challenge them. If they are, try to beat them. Turn it into a game.