I set myself the task of losing 23 kgs (50 lbs) on the 16th of February. At that time I hit my record high weight at 108 kgs (238 lbs) and felt that it was a now or never situation to change my life. I thought about what and I wanted to do and wrote a blog post about my plans. Now, 38 days later I have some progress to report.

I’m happy to report that I greatly exceeded my own exceptions and lost 8,3 kgs (18 pounds) in just 38 days. To do this I didn’t do any extreme cardio and didn’t have to become a vegetarian. The key was solely calorie restriction.

Intermittent fasting

I followed IF religiously from day one. Of course I couldn’t always hit exactly 16 hours with the fasting part, sometimes it was a bit less, sometimes a bit more. I must say, IF is the easyest form of diet I tried yet. It is way easier to eat less than to resist eating what I desire. The first week was a bit tough, but after that my body realized that It won’t get food after 4pm, so it stopped the craving.

After the first week I could also focus on eating smaller portions. This, in combination with the 16 hours of fasting is what really helps to lose weight. It was extremely hard not to eat the usual portion, but by now I can easily stop at half of what I used to eat.

Since last week, I tend to stop eating before 2pm, which elongates my fasting period closer to 18 hours. This was not planned and surprisingly it is also not a big deal. On such days the evenings are harder as the feeling of hunger is stronger at about 7pm. I try to eat something just before 4pm, to avoid this.

No S Diet

I didn’t take this diet too seriously, but I did decrease the number of sugary drinks and snacks a lot. I think that in combination with IF I can allow myself to eat chocolate or drink a Red Bull occasionally.

Healthy habits

Did I do these?

• Healthy snacks
  Tried some veggie chips, there are a few that do taste good. Not a fan to tell the truth.
• No sugary or energy drinks
  Had way less, but didn’t cut them out completely. I’m also still drinking coffee with sugar.
• 8 hours of sleep
  No 🙁
• Active lifestyle
  Does walking count?
• Drink more water
  Maybe…
• Eat more fruits and veggies
  No 🙁
• Choose the stairs
  Did it for a few day, but I’m not motivated enough at the moment.
• Cooking experiments
  Didn’t have time for it.
• Soups
  No 🙁

Exercise

I started to take a one hour morning walk each day since the begining of March. I’m not doing anyting else at the moment as I’m swamped with work and lack the motivation to get off my ass. Still, that one hour 5 km walk does onders to my well-being, I highly recommend it even if you do more strenous activities.

I do plan to exercise more, but my life is a bit too turbulent right now for that.

Motivation

As I see tangible results, keeping up the motivation is no problem at all. I stand on the scale each morning after my walk and like clockwork, every 3-4 days it shows about 0.5 kgs less.

I also have accountability as I have a weight-loss buddy that I’m reporting my progress to. There was no need yet, but if I ever relapse to my old habits I expect my buddy to intervene and rebuke me.

Thankfully my friends and coworkers also support me by showing interest in my progress. This too motivates me to perform well.

Conclusion

I do believe that I found the perfect weight-loss method… at least it is perfect for me. I’m on the right track way ahead of schedule with no suffering on the way.

Do you want to see my marbles?

This is how I visualize, how much weight I lost (on the left) and how much weight I still need to loose (on the right) to reach my goal.