So I am 20 years old as of right now and let me rewind 6 months of my life,
Starting my third year in an engineering college I was disappointed to see what my body had turned into. Although I had been a little plump up until 10th standard ,I had spent quite some time in the gym after that trying to get in better shape I dropped from 84 to 71 kgs and had pretty good muscle mass as well when I joined college but now all I could see was 86 kgs of loose fat poking out of all my slim fitted clothes.The last full semester had been spent surviving on pizzas,chips,soft drinks and instant noodles. I was at my life's unhealthiest.
Then one day I just decided that I wanted to get back in shape, and not just back into my former shape but the best I had ever been.
So what did i do?
Where did I start?
The internet and common sense helped ofcourse and so did my father(Professionally a Lawyer but has been bodybuilding since he was 13)
Where did I start?
1. Completely stopped junk food and sugary drinks and everything for the first month i.e. until I got my body into a rhythm.(Later on would allow a cheat meal or two a week)
2. Got active- Just got up and moved and by moved I mean really moved. I would have days where I would clock over 43000 steps in a day simply walking in circles in my room while doing random stuff like watching YouTube or Netflix or talking on the phone. Since I knew I would not be able to follow through a proper gym routine while being stuck with college I moulded my activities around just walking a lot. To be perfectly honest I am still typing this while walking in the same very room.
3. Didn't try to stick to a diet or a strict workout regimen because I knew I had tried and failed at least three times in the last year and this time had to be different.
In the first week I started by doing rounds under my building and cutting out carbs completely (Rectified this later). I had to fight the urge to eat and also the sloth.The first two weeks were the toughest as my body wanted what I denied it.
I was undergoing a carb deficit to promote weight loss but it didn't last longer than a week and a half when I realized that this approach wouldn't work as I felt way too tired all the time and was loosing my strength.
A couple of Google searches later and I realized that a calorie deficit would be better for me as I would still get some amount of carbs and would still promote my weight loss.
The first month was filled with these small trial and errors but I was on the right track and the approach was very simple eat less and better and burn much much more.
To put this into context, this is how much I walked in the next two months:
On a light day I would walk anyway from 10000 to 20000 steps and on a good day close to 40000 steps. My personal best was 53000 steps that were attained by walking all throughout binging on the whole season of Mirzapur in my room.
(A trick that I use is to walk in a figure 8 i.e. trying to write the number 8 while walking end to end in your room, it helps maximize the space and helps prevents dizziness).
The next two and a half months was me just following my own advice. I ate relatively clean (I didn't strictly omit anything except sugar) and I walked and was generally active a lot. Initially I would work on approximation i.e. I would take a rough idea of my calorie intake and a rough number of hours I would walk but after a month and a half I used an app called MyFitnessPal to help me track my caloric intake and got the MiBand 3 to track my daily steps. Now I am simply not mentioning the exact number of calories I consumed because I don't want that to be a point of reference for anybody reading this as everyone has different body thresholds and should tailor it with their own judgement. Also MyFitnessPal would give you attainable targets on your body inputs.(I personally set my own targets and used the app to log the number of calories.)
So three and a half months later what were the results?
I went from 86 Kgs down to 64.7 Kgs
I was now in the best shape of my life. Granted I had lost significant muscle mass as well but the results were a shock to me as well. For me personally the weight loss happened at a pretty rapid pace, maybe it was the bodybuilding genetics or maybe it was just the being active 24*7, I was now pretty happy with the overall outcome.
Here is a before and after for everyone:
As of right now I am currently 65.3 Kgs as I have slowed my daily cardio and upped my caloric intake so as to maintain my weight and not loose anymore. Now my primary focus is to pack on the muscle I have lost and to chisel down the remaining loose fat.
Bottom line for me would be that it really just depends on the willingness to get up and get the extra weight off of you.No particular way is the perfect way,just get up and do something about it. It doesn't necessarily have to be sprints and pumping iron
This is what I look like while typing this: