If you're considering weight loss or fat loss, here's one thing you have to know:
If you set too extreme goals and have a huge sense of urgency, it’s not going to be healthy.
To illustrate this point, I'm going to share my weight loss journey with you, so you can learn from it and maybe even recognize yourself in some of these patterns.
After that, I'm going to share with you what really worked for me, and has helped me to arrive the healthiest, fittest body with much less effort than before. Sounds like it's impossible? Years ago, I would have thought so too but no — it's been totally doable.
Here’s my weight loss and weight gain history… You get a much better picture and more details when you watch the video, but here are the main points.
𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟳
Weight Watchers
▪️Run🏃♀️70-100km every week
▪️Almost no fat diet, net calories ~1200
▪️Binges every 2 weeks
▪️Lost: 15kg/33lbs in 5 months
▪️No period, insomnia, super irritable
Gained all back around 2012 when I moved to the USA.
𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟯, I read a book about a detox program and wanted to try it. ▪️A detox program, 2 smoothies and 1 solid meal a day
▪️Cals ~1500-1600 (I'm guessing)
▪️Running+some group classes
▪️𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲 after the program
▪️Lost:~5-6kg/11-13lbs in 4 wks
▪️No period, but sleep was better which I think was cuz very low calories left me with zero energy
Gained back all+more 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀, and I'm not surprised — easily went, easily came back too!
𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟰 — moved back to Estonia and was insanely ashamed by how much I had gained, so I decided to lose it all as fast as I can.
▪️Super strict Paleo
▪️Crossfit 3-4x/week+🏃♀️2-3x/week
▪️Other stress: writing 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗣𝗵𝗗 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗣𝗧 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁+𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 😳
▪️Lost ~15kg/33lbs in about 6 months
▪️Awful binges ~2x/month
▪️No period, 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 was the only way I was able to sleep. It was horrible!
All my weight loss efforts had always been
✖️Rushed
✖️Extreme
✖️Urgent
✖️Involved overtraining
✖️Achieved via severe calorie restriction, and there was never an end point, eating less and less
✖️Unhealthy
𝗚𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟳 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 — 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺.
In 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 I wanted to see if I can lean out a bit after being fully recovered for 3 years…
My goals were: No major weight loss but put on more muscle, reduce some body fat, with no urgency, overtraining, starving.
Here's how I went about it:
✅Mild caloric deficit using macros
✅High protein diet, 0.8 grams per lbs of bodyweight
✅Mostly healthy diet but all foods fit
✅Daily walking + 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟯-𝟰𝘅/𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 – that’s it!
✅No cardio, HIT, or Crossfit
✅Periods ok, sleep 10x better, no binges
✅Maintaining where I'm at, no fat loss goals currently. I'm feeling happy here instead of forcing myself to lose more and more!
Here are the main takeaways:
Don't chase just numbers, focus on your 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 and body composition
Less cardio, more weight lifting!
REST a lot more
It's your right to change your body!
It can be done responsibly.
What questions do you have about healthy weight loss/fat loss?
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