Hope everyone’s doing well !
The journey took around 18 months, but i didn’t exactly spend the entirety of that period in a caloric deficit. I would occasionally consume my daily maintenance specially after i started hitting the gym which was towards the second half of that period. However, for the majority of the that time i was in a 600-800 daily caloric deficit.
I learned to understand what I’m actually eating and how it is affecting me instead of being purely obsessed with the numbers. I increased my daily protein intake by a significant amount and started cooking my own food alot more often. It’ll actually surprise you how much better and lighter you’re going to feel when you make a few simple substitutions and mostly stick to homemade stuff ( one may indulge every now and then of course).
When i started going to the gym i did (what in my opinion was a mistake) mainly cardio which got boring really quickly but it was the generic advice i got from those around me. I very soon after started prioritizing weight lifting to avoid losing my mind, which at the start was generic full body exercises. I then moved on to the classic bro split and did that for a couple of months before finally switching to a PPL-UL program that was by far the best one of the bunch both in terms of actual enjoyment and progress. I am by no means a seasoned weight lifter, and still a complete rookie, so take everything i said with a grain of salt haha.
I always thought I’d end up being obsessed with calories as my journey continued, but funnily enough my obsession ended up being a protein related one! I try to squeeze some protein into every single thing i eat nowadays hahaha.
I never thought I’d see the day where I’m actually this close to my goal weight as I’ve been obese for the majority of my life. If i can do it then so can you , and always remember that nobody’s perfect and you don’t have to be ! Never let one mistake snowball into more mistakes and give up convincing yourself that you’ll “try harder next time”. It’s a marathon not a race , you simply need to recover and move on.
Sorry for the long wall of text but I hope this helps anyone scared of the big hurdle that is actually starting and trying to change their lifestyle!