100lbs in about 8-9 months

Unfortunately not the first time I've lost 100lbs (this is, literally, my fourth time). I've done it much differently than times past. In the past my primary mode of exercise was just weight lifting and solitary cardio. This time around, while I'm still lifting weights and doing cardio, I also take martial arts classes and compete in martial arts tournaments frequently. It's my assumption that including an actual sport in my routine will help making maintenance more realistic.

My diet is a little unconventional because I don't have much time for meal prep. During the week I mostly drink shakes, people criticize on fitness forums, but it works for me, and the macros are good (45/25/30 p/c/f) and the brand I drink is composed primarily of seed like flax, sesame, and chia, on weekends or days I'm actually home after work I eat primarily steaks, green veggies, eggs, etc.

Sometimes I *do* meal prep, and those lunches consist of chicken breasts and steamer bags of green veggies. I eat breakfast lunch and dinner at the office and do around 2 hours of exercise between the gym and martial arts after. M-Th I'm typically only home to sleep. So again, lots of criticism anytime I've brought it up on forums, but this is what works for me and what makes me happy, so fortunately I don't have to be them and they don't need to be me.

I eat 2100 calories on the dot every single day.

I'm still overweight. I'm 6'. At minimum I have another 30lbs to go to get to a healthy bmi.

But 100lbs down... pretty sweet. I'm almost back to my college weight of a muscular 190lbs. I doubt I'll be so muscular this time around at 190lbs, as time has a way of robbing a man of his testosterone, but I do intend to get the leanest I've ever been in my life.

There may or may not be loose skin problems. Still too early to tell. There's a couple of trouble spots that krinkle like paper. If I need surgery, there's plenty of money for that.

I do this on my own. I have no "SO" to support me. I have no weight loss or gym buddies beyond my martial arts class mates. I have no family to speak of. Sometimes I hit a rough patch and have learned that online forums are outright nasty towards men who struggle with their weight, so I've learned to internalize as much as possible.

I'm not even sure why I'm posting this here. I'm not particularly "proud" of my weight loss, because I SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN THAT OVERWEIGHT TO BEGIN WITH. Unfortunately I'm a stress eater. I can blame the bad events in my life all I want, but it was me who picked up the fork.

Not only do I do this for me. I do this in spite of me. I do this in spite of others. It's a chore the same as doing the dishes. It's a personal responsibility.

If you are struggling to lose weight, or feel like the road is unbearably long. Hold on. Hang in there. Willpower and dedication will take you to where you need to be. All things take time. If it was easy you would have already done it.

Current goal is to be between 175lbs and 180lbs at 6' by August. That gives me about 6 months to lose another 40lbs.