How I Lost 25 Kilos During the Pandemic
The thing I liked about the pandemic is that it gave us plenty of time to take care of our health. Even though gyms were closed for a few months, it provided us with a reasonable amount of time to research the topic and experiment with our diet and lifestyle. And I know the title feels like clickbait, but if you calculate the time it took me to do so, you wouldn’t be surprised.
Lockdown in India began in Feb 2020 (at 88 kilos and 25–30% body fat), and now it’s March 2022 (was at 63 kg and 13–14% b.f. in Feb 2022; currently bulking). So, it took me almost 24 months to get rid of that weight. I lost around 1 kilogram of body weight per month, which is achievable and relatively healthy, to be honest. By healthy, I mean I didn’t do any type of diet which guarantees super-fast weight loss. My long-term plan was to lose weight and not regain it again (or even more sometimes); hence, no Yo-Yo diet was involved.
My goal in this article would be to make you understand the basics. I will not go into detail regarding my diet or workout splits. You can find everything on the internet with a quick search. Here, I’ll be sharing what I learned through the process.
Also, a quick note here: your diet preference doesn’t matter. I am a vegetarian, and I can proudly say I had a good amount of protein in my diet (2.2 g of protein per kg of body weight) during the initial stages of higher calorie runs. As I started cutting back on calories, my protein intake dipped as a vegetarian diet has fewer lean protein sources (low-calorie foods with high protein). Yes, more protein does help with body recomposition (the process of losing weight and gaining muscle simultaneously), but it is not necessary. I didn’t build a lot of muscle. Still, now that I am pretty lean, the process of bulking (gaining weight predominantly as muscle with a bit of fat) will be a bit longer before I go on a cut (losing weight primarily as fat and not muscle) again (can go up to 19–20% body fat).
You need to experiment
Knowledge without practice is useless. Experiment with your diet, and narrow down the foods you can eat regularly. Also, learn basic cooking. You should know how to prepare dal, oats, rice, etc. And by doing so, you can look after the calories that go into preparing them and accurately track them. Your diet and exercise routine should be sustainable. It takes months/years to lose weight/build muscle, so buckle up. It’s never too late.
Strength training is a must
Yes, you can lose weight without lifting weights, but your goal should also include building muscle, or you will end up skinny fat (less muscle with a moderate amount of fat) or skinny. I turned skinny fat 5 years ago at around 75 kg. Trust me, you don’t want to end up there. I lost a lot of weight, but my body’s areas of stubborn fat (belly in my case, can be hips or even chest for others) remained the same. And to lose that last bit of fat from your body takes months. So, it is better to start lifting, as it leads to better body composition, making you look better naked.
Unpopular opinion: satiation > protein
There was a phase when I used to chug down protein powder twice a day. Not that it’s wrong in any way, as more protein will help you build muscle. But, I used to be hungry at night, with no extra calories left in my diet. Instead of the second protein shake, I ate something more satiating, such as boiled potato/lentils or popcorn. Protein, in general, is a satiating macronutrient, but when it comes to food, you need to feel full for longer. That brings me to my next point: avoid drinking your calories. To stay hungry for longer, ditch liquid calories, including soups, juices, smoothies, etc. Also, I consider protein shakes as liquid calories, but because it is a lean source of high-quality protein, you should include them in your diet. You can have multiple protein shakes a day, but if you feel hungry, consider replacing it with a satiating food source (which may or may not be protein-rich, keep in mind).
Pump is important, but rest is importanter
You are killing it in the gym with your heavy compound lifts (exercises that involve multiple muscle groups: squats/deadlift/bench press/military press), completely annihilating your muscles, and eating a ton of protein. Nothing could go wrong, right? Well, if you are doing so while ignoring getting enough sleep or not having enough rest days, then bro, I hate to break it to you, but there won’t be any good progress. Remember, exercising is catabolic, and rest is an anabolic process, which means you technically build muscles during your sleep. Both these processes are essential, but since most of us like to “work hard”, I thought it is necessary to mention it here. So, your 5 am workouts are doing more harm than good if you didn’t sleep well last night. Instead, sleep a little extra and go to the gym late in the evening after work.
Diet breaks are crucial
Being on a calorie deficit every day sounds promising in terms of weight loss, but the reality is, just like rest between sets, our body needs a break from a diet too. During that break, you eat at your maintenance calories. In my case, my diet remains the same, and I eat the same number of meals, but the portion size increases. For example, I add a chapati for my lunch. Also, diet break can be an entire week after 4–8 weeks of dieting or can be 1–2 days in a week. I prefer having a week-long break, but you can try and see what suits you the most.
Track your food, weight, steps, and workout daily
I call them the “4 horsemen of weight loss tracking” (yeah, I made that up). On a serious note, you need to track them every single day. To track food, I use the HealthifyMe app, fitness band for steps, composition scale for the weight (standard weighing scale works but use digital as it is more accurate), and FitHero app for workouts. Weigh yourself each day after waking up before you eat/drink something. Tracking food is easier if your diet predominantly contains whole foods such as fruits, milk, paneer, oats, etc. You can track them more accurately than cooked food. That’s why you should learn how to cook because you can keep track of all the things you add to it quickly.
Here’s a link to my spreadsheet where I used to track my weekly average weight.
Yoda once said, “bad too much cardio is”
Cardio tops the “most boring things to do in the gym” list. But most of us still do it as a punishment, because no pain — no gain, right? Well, before we discuss cardio, let’s understand the meaning of maintenance calories first. Also called TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), it is the number of calories you burn every day. A calorie calculator shows TDEE as your daily maintenance calories, taking into account various factors such as age, gender, height, weight, activity levels. TDEE consists of 4 components: BMR, EAT, NEAT, and TEF. Let me quickly explain what each of them means:
- BMR (basal metabolic rate): Number of calories you burn daily while resting.
- EAT (exercise activity thermogenesis): Number of calories you burn during your workout sessions.
- NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis): Number of calories you burn outside your workout sessions.
- TEF (thermic effect of food): Number of calories you burn to digest food.
Pretty logical and straightforward, if you burn more calories than your TDEE every day, you lose weight (good ‘ol calories in v/s calories out). Bump up any one of them, and you shall lose weight. But, if you look closely, it is pretty challenging to increase your BMR voluntarily (depends on your body composition), TEF cannot be increased either (unless you eat a lot of food, which is counter-productive), EAT is pretty low in general (200–250 calories when you strength train). So NEAT is your go-to for weight loss. Hence, we do cardio in the gym.
But you also need to realise NEAT includes anything you do outside of your workout: sitting, standing, doing dishes, fidgeting, walking, typing a paragraph to a friend explaining why Eminem is the greatest rapper of all time etc. So, you don’t have to necessarily do cardio in the gym. You can… drumrolls… WALK. I pretty much adopted walking as a form of cardio 80% of the time and still kept losing weight. The best part is, you can walk outside the gym. Cardio doesn’t have to be boring. Also, you generally feel hungry after a gruelling cardio session, but not after walking. It keeps your appetite in check (which is helpful during your +500 calorie deficit days) and is joint-friendly too.
Constant-ify a few variables
I recommend keeping the following things constant every day for effective weight tracking: water, food, and sleep. Calorie tracking is quite apparent, but I recommend keeping water constant, too, because water weight is something that you will come across as you try to lose weight, and keeping it constant will help you get it out of your head. I have discussed sleep earlier, and you should aim for 7–8 hours and have a regular bedtime.
For cardio, follow the FITT formula (frequency, intensity, time, type). Keep any 2–3 factors constant at a time. For example, walking as a form of cardio usually keeps intensity and type components steady. You can work up your frequency or time every day/week.
Note: To lose weight, you either cut down your calories or increase activity (NEAT). In my opinion, the latter is a better option because it doesn’t hinder your weight training progress, leading to better muscle gain/retention. But you can only increase your activity to a certain extent. If you hit a weight loss plateau (during which your weight remains the same), cutting down your calories is the only option. Go slow and decrease 100–200 calories at a time. Take care of your hunger and make necessary adjustments to your diet.
Use caffeine as a tool, and don’t be an addict
Ah yes, who doesn’t like a scoop of pre-workout/cup of coffee before a workout? My buddy Eric used to have caffeine before his killer workout at night, but he didn’t see any gains. Do you get my point?
Caffeine addiction is real. Use it as a tool, and you will see its difference in your workout. Don’t get addicted to it. Drinking 5 cups of coffee just to go through your day is something you shouldn’t be proud of. If you work out at night, stay away from it. Better sleep will lead to better gains, and your pre-workout isn’t nearly as effective as a good night’s sleep. I don’t generally recommend this, but I did it, and it worked: using caffeine to suppress your hunger during low-calorie days. Chai was my thing. Coffee may be yours. I was a caffeine addict and had to go through a 3-month long caffeine-less phase twice just to get my body to function normally without it. Take care of your tolerance to it and add a few weekly breaks.
Never stop learning
There are plenty of online resources through YouTube, articles, and books. But don’t follow anyone blindly just because they look good shirtless. Anyone can achieve that celebrity physique using performance-enhancing drugs or growth hormones (I am not saying that it’s wrong, but that usually means they don’t have enough experience in the industry to guide you). Don’t worry, you don’t need any of that. Patience, regular exercise, a good diet, and rest are all you need. There are tons of science-based fitness YouTubers. I follow YouTubers such as Jeremy Ethier, Jeff Nippard, and Jeff Cavaliere (Athlean-X) for training and Rujuta Diwekar and Vivek Mittal (Fit Tuber) for nutrition-related advice. YouTube was my only source of information during my first year of serious training. Now I refer to other sources, but it is still my primary source of learning.
Trust me when I say this: you just need to start and figure out everything through the process. It makes me sad to see a bunch of so-called nutritionists and trainers spreading false information or not teaching the basics (they do so through paid consultation) and making the already complicated landscape of fitness quite scary for beginners to step into.
Just like brushing, eating right, exercising daily, and getting enough rest becomes a habit, and it automates itself after a while. 99% of the time, you don’t even have to struggle; instead, you enjoy doing all these things. Getting better is addictive and is something you look forward to every day. As cliché as it may sound, it is 100% true: fitness is a JOURNEY, not a destination.
“I don’t lose weight because I don’t lose. All I do is win” — DJ Khaled
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Have a great day!
