Diary of a Fat Man. How to lose weight for life? Losing weight - the beginning

“Hi, my name is Dima, and I’m fat,” I would say if I were sitting in a circle of the same guys, like a character in an American comedy. But with every pound I gained, I wanted to laugh less and less, especially when approaching the scale or the mirror. I’m 28 years old, and I’ve worked in the sports industry all my conscious life. Having watched athletes, I never thought I could put my body in the same order. I’m not completely sure even now, but sports experts have a different opinion. So, as of today, I am part of an adventure called “lose weight for summer – once and for all”.

This is an editorial project “Championship.Lifestyle”, in the framework of which I and a beautiful girl Maya will work on ourselves day and night. Follow Maya in the parallel materials, and I am planning this transformation.

Photo “Now” – “Goal: When I’ll be good”

Why am I doing this?

You’d think from the “Now” photo that things aren’t so bad. In fact, things are very sad. Today, I weigh 96 pounds. Almost a centner at a height of just over 170 cm is not a tragedy, but the crisis lies elsewhere. It’s a weight that can be tolerated. When you are fat from childhood, in the future you can stop reacting to it as a disadvantage. And that’s partly the right thing to do, it builds psychological resilience to attack. You have to accept yourself as you are, surround yourself with the right people – it’s all true, I did it. However, in adulthood you worry not only about external beauty, but also about internal health.

You can accept that you were, are, and will be fat. Yes, one who is able to bend over to your shoelaces and not fall over.

You can accept that you were, are and will be fat. Yes, someone who can bend over and not fall. Yes, the ones who can play soccer with friends, gasp, but not after the first attack. Yes, to those who are just a fun guy, why lose weight, it’s fine as it is. But it’s all a compromise we’ve learned to make in life. It doesn’t matter how tall you are or how many pounds you are overweight. If, when you go to the mirror, you honestly say to yourself, “I’m fat and I want to change that,” then it’s time. That’s why I’m writing these lines now.

What did I do wrong? Don’t repeat my mistakes

Of course, I tried to lose weight even before the Championship Project. 10-12 times exactly. I managed to do it during the military training camp in the cadet corps. I also lost a lot of weight after working as a salesman in a sports store. In 2013 I purposely lost weight for the summer. Fall 2015 seemed to be okay, etc., etc. It’s not hard to guess that the weight caught up with me and even put a couple more pounds on top. I didn’t skip gym class, really loved sports, but I stayed fat.

I had four annual fitness subscriptions in my life! And within the first one, I immediately made the classic mistake of simply not going to the gym due to laziness. Second pass and another popular scenario: working out without a program and eating an unbalanced diet. I came at 22:00 after work and worked out on the machines that were free or I just liked. Just a little bit at a time. You can’t eat anything in the evening on pain of death. And in general it is better to consume a minimum of food. The third visit to the gym convinced me that laziness can be fought, but two more problems were added to the other ones. I didn’t drink water while working out. Moreover, I stopped working with iron altogether and focused on cardio. I was running for 40 minutes, exhausted, sweating and purposely not drinking water so that the fat would come out with sweat. I lost 2 kg a week!

I lost 8 kg and was happy… for a couple weeks. Then the weight started to come back quickly. The result was the same.

Before the fourth time, I got smarter. I read a few topical articles, listened to the opinion of experienced friends, downloaded a couple of apps, gave up on amateurism and took 10 classes with a trainer. He taught me the correct order of work in the gym, told me about exercise equipment, corrected my nutrition and kept track of it. But as soon as the classes ended, my approach became unsystematic, knowledge began to erode, self-discipline dropped to zero, and my weight went up to 100 pounds. A new serious challenge was needed.

Where to start? Where to run?

You don’t have to run anywhere. In any important endeavor, there is no need to rush, but to look around and understand the starting positions. This is what I did at the very beginning of the project.

Andrei Semeshov, wellness coach, columnist of “Championship”: “In the first week your main task is not to burn out. You do not need to run to the fitness center twice a day, seven days a week. Equally if you have been walking a day well if 2-3 thousand steps, immediately wind up 12-20 thousand. All changes should be smooth and gradual. The result will be the one who can monotonously, from day to day adhere to the plan, rationally spending forces, including mental. Do not worry, closer to the end, when you will not be enough just to be slim, and want to count the abs, will come to the hard-core. But you will be ready for it. All of the above is true to the full extent and for nutrition. If you are used to eating eclairs for breakfast, don’t start changing them for cucumbers and spinach right away.

The first stage is bioimpedance analysis

Simply put, a method of diagnosing a person’s body composition by measuring the electrical resistance in different parts of the body. As the experts themselves say, there may be questions to the technique, but for now it is one of the most effective ways to learn more about your body. The best part is that some of your guesses may be confirmed in the results. For example, I always guessed that I had a low basal metabolic rate. Voila: only 1688 kcal, with the norm being 1956-2309. This means that I burn fewer calories at rest than the average person.

Bioimpedance analysis

When working with iron, I have always liked to work my legs more than my arms. The result of this is clearly seen in the lean mass analysis, where the legs are above normal and the arms are imbalanced in favor of the right. The left does get tired quickly and is less developed. And there is also a lot of water (44.6 liters with the norm 35.7-43.7), protein (12.1 with 9.5-11.7) and most importantly – fat (35 kg with optimal 7.6 -15.3). The main figure is known – it is desirable for me to burn 24.2 kg of fat mass! The result is a total score of 63 points out of 100 for the composition of body tissues and physique, provided that in a person with developed musculature it can exceed a hundred.

The detailed results are here.

Interpretation of results.

The second stage is testing the body for endurance, flexibility, etc.

I was lucky to undergo a comprehensive functional study under the guidance of doctors of Crocus Fitness Kuntsevo fitness club, which consisted of classical medical tests, stress test under ECG control and determination of body composition on the InBody machine. I was lucky, because for more than an hour of complex examination I was studied from head to toe. They measured my blood pressure on the exercise bike and were not very happy with my recovery. At the same time, my heart rate didn’t let me down and didn’t show any scary numbers. Unlike the flexibility factor and seconds on breath holding. Not even under a minute, and preferably confidently more. But the most frightening figure in the report is 58 years old. No, this is not the maximum age. It’s the state of my breathing capacity. At 28, I breathe like a man in his 60s. It’s a great motivator to develop the whole body.

But the most frightening number in the report is 58. No, that’s not the maximum age. It’s the state of my breathing capacity.

What’s next?

Realize that nothing is impossible. Next, you should take the results of research and go to an experienced trainer who has repeatedly turned flabby young men into ancient heroes.

Beforehand, take photos of the body from different angles. The proverbial “before” photos.
In the morning on an empty stomach with a centimeter measure your waist a couple of centimeters below the navel.
Buy floor and kitchen scales. With the help of the first you should weekly at the same time to monitor changes in body weight. With the help of the latter you should weigh your food at least at home.
Enter the results into MyFitnessPal, FatSecret or any other application. This way you can control the amount of calories consumed.
In turn, a phone or, even better, a smartwatch can help you keep track of your activity and calories burned.

All these are important attributes that will simplify and make the weight loss process easier and clearer. But the most important thing is the new menu and exercise program from the trainer. This is something I have yet to familiarize myself with. I wonder how it will be and what awaits me next.

Exercise bike