lessons learned

Hello and welcome back to Tobias Talks.

It's been a very good week for self-discovery. From last monday to now I have lost 4lbs in 4 days, then put back on 2lbs in 3 days. Drinking on the weekend is just no longer feasible. I had a great time with friends, drinking beer and tequila and eating steak and monkfish tacos. It was incredible, but it definitely hindered my progress. The next day I was a bit sore headed but mostly OK, but I felt tired, anxious and just less happy overall. As you may or may not know, alcohol is a depressant and I definitely felt that.

I am very proud to say that last week I went to the gym every weekday, working a different muscle each day, the classic bro split of Legs, Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms. Including a daily 20 minute stint on the cross-trainer (elliptical) burning a minimum of 200 calories. I then showered and went to work having already achieved something.

Diet wise I am happy with my performance during the week. I ate between 1800-2000 calories a day with a high level of protein each day, somewhere between 170-210g. The exact figures can be found here. This increase of exercise and strict adherence to an IIFYM diet meant that by Thursday I had lost 4lbs. This may have been a bit too fast as 2lbs of this weight loss was muscle mass. The science says that I should have gradually reduced my calories, perhaps to 2500, then 2200, then to the lower level of 1800-2000. This causes less of a shock to my body that must now assume that there is some difficulty in me getting enough food, obviously in this modern age this is almost never true and in fact being surrounded by high calorie hyper-palatable and ultra-processed food is easier than avoiding it.

Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, I wasn't able to go the gym this morning as I had no clean gym clothes to wear. This will be remedied tomorrow and I'll continue the week as normal, missing leg day is a rite of passage for any gym goer.

The plan of action for this week is as follows;

• Continue the low-calorie/high-protein diet, perhaps aiming to finish nearer 2000 calories than 1800.
• Go to the gym, the remaining 4 week days of this week.
• Go on a long hike either Saturday or Sunday this weekend. (at least 2 hours).
• Adhere to the diet over the weekend as well, at least calories if not macros.
• Do not drink any alcohol this week.
• Weigh myself midweek to monitor progress.

With this plan for the week, I am hoping to finally dip below 280lbs. Once I do this I have promised to by myself a new pair of earphones as my old pair are now completely broken. I have set various gifts for myself after each 10lb of weight loss but I will talk about this more another time.

Thank you for your support as always.

Your Friend, Tobias