Progress and tips on losing a lot of weight

I posted this in response to Todd in the introduce yourself section but I thought I’d post it here to help inspire others.

I am a male turning 50 this year, but despite my heft people think I'm in my 30's, full head of hair that’s not grey and a youthful approach to life and work. I use the app religiously on an ipad but I try to achieve at least 10% less than the app calculates, especially in calories.

I have researched keto and weight loss extensively, including the good and the bad and importantly, for those with a lot of fat to lose, how to tackle the dreaded excess skin while losing weight. I think afterwards, its probably too late.

I have a busy high output/stress desk job, need to lose a total of 40kg and have bad knees from being over active when young. I have been very fit in the past and want to get back there.

Here are my observations:

  • I started 10 January 2020 and as of today have lost 20kg. It took 2 days to get into ketosis then another week to get over the 'flu'. 
  • As of the last 4 weeks, I have been keto adapted and I stick to the macros but do struggle to get the fat levels higher than protein but a difference of 10% or so doesn't seem to affect my progress.
  • I am also intermittent fasting 18/6 with a bit of warrior fasting as well (to promote autophagy and collagen production to give the skin a chance to adapt, among other things)
  • I do not get hungry during the fasting and sometimes struggle to get my calories up overall.
  • I weigh myself only once a week. I weighed myself at the start, then didn’t touch the scales again for  4 weeks.
  • I keep net carbs to less than 20g
  • I still drink low carb beer on Fridays and Saturdays, and occasionally some gin.
  • I stay determined and focused, this is a life change not a short term thing.

My daily routine consists of:

  • Breakfast - 1 ginger/turmeric 'tea', 1 fish oil tablet, 1 multivitamin (all vital when in autophagy to produce collagen for the skin).
  • Lunch (2pm) - 2 boiled eggs.
  • Exercise (6.30pm) Exercise bike 15 minutes (fat burning not aerobic), low weight high rep upper and lower body muscle conditioning 15 minutes (vital to condition and tone muscle to help the skin).
  • Dinner (7pm) - a balanced clean low calorie meal (chicken, fish pork etc) with steamed veges and home made cheese sauce (an air fryer for the meat is your god here).
  • Fast from 8pm until 2pm the next day.
  • Throughout the day I drink roughly 7 litres of water, I will have the ginger/turmeric tea a few times while fasting and to get my caffeine hit I sip on a 600ml sugar free Coke throughout the day.
  • I take frequent walks to keep up to 10,000 steps per day.

Results in a nutshell:

  • 20kg down since 10 January 2020
  • skin is adapting and hardening up
  • muscles are returning to what they should be
  • I walk and think faster and I'm less stressed and more focused at work
  • I sleep better
  • clothing is an issue, I'm down one size, probably should be yet another size down, but suits are expensive!
  • don't become a slave to the scales, let the clothes, mental health and overall well being inform you of progress - but it is good to know progress!
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  • Very thorough post. And incredible results. It sure seems like very little food - how many calories are you taking in a day?  

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    • Brian
    • Brian.17
    • 4 yrs ago
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    Kristibell422 

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    • Brian
    • Brian.17
    • 4 yrs ago
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    Set my threshold at 1204 but averages between 1000 / 1100.  Very hard work but I keep myself focused on the prize (me lol). Had my weigh in today 9 days since my last and down another 7 lbs :)  That makes 22 lbs total lost. My set Goal is 90 lbs but  “Aim low” “Shoot high”   so I’m going for an even 100

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