One Year In - Partial Success Story

 TL:DR MFP is a fantastic tool but like any tool needs to be used correctly and consistently to get the best out of it.

 
One year in and time for my first post – sorry if it’s a long one!
 
April 2013 – male, 48 yr, 6’0” – comfortable lifestyle, not as active with each passing year resulting in weight slowly creeping up to 224lbs (102kg) and just creeping into the obese zone, 37” waist, approx 26% body fat, resting pulse 67 bpm. Decided (again!) that I ought to do something to lose a bit of weight and get a bit fitter.


 
11th May 2013, 3:42pm – “My Moment”, inspired by a work colleague that this time I was serious and promised myself that I would be fit by the time I was fifty. At the time I didn’t have a clear idea of what I actually meant by being fit but I did know that would involve losing some weight. For the weight loss I did have a “happy with” goal, a “dream” goal and a “miracle” goal. So Fit@50 was born!
 
10th May 2014 – Still male, still 6’0”! 49 yr, maintaining weight for several months at around 172lbs (78kg) (+/- 2lb range), 31” waist, approx 14% body fat, resting pulse 45 bpm.


 
Calorie Intake – currently now at 3500–3600 per day. Whilst I try to stick to it daily I do average it out over the week if necessary. Early on I switched to TDEE-20%, calculating via several online calculators, but tracked every thing I ate on MFP. I find it easier and simpler as I tend to have routine patterns. No foods were off limits but I have always eaten reasonably well; some I just had to eat less of a portion and less often. The online TDEE calculators turned out to be quite a bit under for me so I was a bit aggressive with the weight loss at first and the losses were pretty even week by week with no real stalls. By the time I hit maintenance I was able to work out my own TDEE based on my own empirical data. I probably need to start eating a bit more as my 4 week moving weight average is just very slowly dropping again as I’ve recently added another exercise session.
 
Exercise – Exercise has built up over the year to the stage where I now usually run 20-25 miles pw, cycle 40 miles pw and do some form of bodyweight exercises most days, particularly using the “Greasing the Groove” technique. That has enabled me to do a 10 minute plank, 1 min crow stand, handstand push up and 5 sets of 15 pull ups 5 days a week amongst others.
 
To me it’s all about keeping promises made to myself. It’s about choices – every time you decide to eat something, every time you decide whether to exercise or not, you make a choice, each and every time. I would like to think that I made the right choice 95% of the time. Even the 5% wrong choices (whether eating too much or not exercising) I chose that outcome.
 
Best £12 ever spent – digital food scales to weigh everything.
 
Moment of Clarity – how calorie dense some of my favourite foods are and how relatively little exercise contributes to weight loss.
 
Best Motivational Tip – For every weekly pound of weight lost I bought an equivalent weight in bags of sugar and put them in a sack. Each week I took a picture of the bags of sugar and carried the photo on my phone. If my motivation was waning or I was thinking about making a bad choice I would look at the photo first – I usually made the right choice! As the sack got heavier it was a frightening realisation to think that I was carrying that around each and every day.


 
Second Motivational Tip – set small goals and exceed them, set new goals, rinse and repeat. Repeated success breeds further successes and keeps you motivated towards bigger long term goals.
 
And if I make it sound as though it was easy, well yes in a way it was once I had made that promise and commitment to myself. There have been times when I could have quit, one in particular. At the end of May 2013 some 3 weeks after I started my wife was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer with a 12-18 month prognosis. What she has to deal with is a true test of resolve, commitment and determination – getting fitter and losing some weight doesn’t even begin to compare.
 
So why is it only a partial success story? I can’t believe how far I’ve managed to come in a year (my weight is steady at 10lbs under my “miracle” weight goal) and I have totally changed my lifestyle around. But I’m not fifty until August. I have a demanding 15 mile hill run in mind planned for that day – only when I’ve run that will I consider myself Fit@50. Then, who knows what next.