2020: Hey, it was less than 19 (percent)
Somehow, this year’s weight loss update is not as much fun to write!
I started 2020 at 246 lbs and ended the year at 283 for a net gain of 37 lbs. This puts my total weight loss since May 2017 at 61 pounds. That really stinks, but I’m not too discouraged when I look at how that happened.
I spent the first 10 weeks of 2020 continuing my three-pronged attack on fitness: Cardio exercise (walking/jogging), strength training at the work gym, and a low-carb intermittent fasting diet. I was firmly plateaued in the “mid-240s” and trying to tweak things to make more progress. I did have at least 1 weigh-in at the “down 100” milestone of 244 pounds, which was cool.
THEN SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED
The COVID lockdown did indeed wreck most of that. The gym was closed, the fridge was closer, and my overall “natural activity level” was abysmal. My weight shot up by about 25 pounds to 270 by the middle of May as a result. For the rest of the year, I bounced pretty wildly from the mid-270s to the mid-280s and ended on the high end of that.
WOMP WOMP
Looking back at how this went down (a rapid ~10% tick up after an abrupt stop to diet and strength training, followed by ~5% variation in weight the rest of the year), I’m actually not very surprised or discouraged by this. Obviously I’m disappointed that I couldn’t “push through” as I would have liked — I’m envious of all of you who managed to pull off your fitness goals in this “unprecedented” year!
My approach for 2021 is to find a way to do strength workouts at home (with bodyweight and some light equipment) and to re-introduce a few more restrictions in dieting to get things slowly going back in the right direction. Like many of you, I’ve started strong in the first 4 days of the year … but I’ve got a long way to go. I hope to have a 2021 update a year from now which is much more encouraging.
I hope that everyone is enjoying a safe and happy new year! Thanks for your continued support and encouragement in my weight loss journey.
