How I got in the best shape of my life
One of my first posts was "How to get in shape". https://notepd.com/idea/how-to-get-in-shape-192
After a lot of trial and error, I did manage to get in the best shape of my life, literally looking better than I even imagined it was possible. It took a lot of effort, but here is what I did to get the results.
- Losing weight
- Maintenance
- I work out at the gym 5 times per week where I do weight training for around 45m to 1h
- I walk at least 10k steps every day, going up to 15k when I have more free time/need to make more progress
- 7500 steps take 1h, so that's quite time-consuming
- I do 30m of elliptical 3-4 times per week
- Breakfast: Protein pancakes and berries. 350cals, 50g protein
- Lunch: chicken breast and cheese sandwich 500cals, 60g protein
- Dinner: Big salad (200 cals), Chicken and cheese sandwich (500 cals, 60g protein)
- snack: Apple (100ish cals)
1. Accountability and Planning exercise and food for the next day.
This is perhaps the most helpful thing I've learned from this experience.
I am committing to what I'll do the day before and sticking to it no matter what is very powerful.
I should apply the same technique to other things as well. Likely planning what I want to get done the next day and then get it done.
Also, this made me more aware of how to adapt my schedule for social activities and routine disruptions. For example, if I'm going out to dinner tomorrow night, I'll make sure that either today or tomorrow during the day I will either eat less or exercise more to make up for the dinner out.
2. Going hard is better than trying to balance change.
I found that trying to make small changes in my routine is not good enough. Progress is too slow and it does not help at all staying motivated.
What works well for me is to go extreme. Make a plan that will bring great progress, even at the cost of being challenging and having to give up stuff. But the progress will make it worth it.
So I structured my getting in shape journey in 2 parts:
3. My workout plan
This takes up 2.5-3h per day, even at maintenance. It seems like there's no way around it.
4. My diet Plan
I have the exact same food every single day. With the exception of when I eat out.
This comes out to being around 1650cals and 170g protein.
This is definitely lower than my maintenance, however, this lets me eat out 2/week and make up for the outside food.
5. The body does not want to change
This is both bad and good.
BAD: change in a rapid timeframe requires constant action and focus
GOOD: once you get in shape it takes a lot to get out of shape.
For example, I traveled for 10 days, worked out 0 times, ate anything I wanted, and only gained 1kg. So a short time does not make a big difference. But had to get back to my usual routine right after
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