I Lost 40kg In 12 Months And I Don't Feel Like I Worked For It. Here's How!

Who am I? Why should you care?

I am at heart a massive nerd and tech enthusiast. Meaning I spend most of my spare time sitting down in front of a computer. I never was much of a sports person, and absolutely hated going to the gym, and still do. I was genuinely unhealthy, chugging energy drinks like water, and pizza was acceptable for every meal on any given day.

I'm a tech entrepreneur, with likely undiagnosed ADHD, meaning you'll either find me doing way too many things at once, or doing nothing at all to avoid burnout. My stack of unfinished side projects is ever growing, and finishing anything out of sheer willpower feels impossible.

So why is this all relevant in an article about weight loss? I'm one of the least likely people to ever commit to a long-term process that requires grit and strong willpower to accomplish a goal. So of course, I never did. I'll tell you how I worked around this limitation.

The catalyst that sparked my change

A year ago, I was 25 years old, 143 kg heavy, and generally hated myself. I knew I had to do something , but had no idea where to even begin making changes. By pure chance and a recommendation, I picked up the book “Atomic habits” by James Clear, and i can not overstate how good this book actually is, genuinely a life changer for me! It gave me the puzzle pieces and mindset I needed, to build a change framework that works for me.

The entire goal was to get to a point where I could identify with the identity proposal and say "I am a healthy person" and actually mean it.

What didn't I do?

Before we dive into the specifics of how I actually achieved my goals, let's first talk about what I did not do, and why it wouldn't work for me.

1. Never did anything that requires massive effort or willpower to make the right choices. I am lazy, I like comfort and following the easy path. Screw actively making choices that gives me extra work.


2. I never started on a special diet. Never “low carbs”, “no sugar”, “vegan”, or anything like it. I know I would be absolutely miserable, and I wouldn't stick to a diet for more than a week.


3. Never started with a major exercise routine. No “going to the gym 7 days a week” or following plans to “get fit in 30 days”. Fuck that! I hate the gym, and I won't commit to stuff I hate.

I found that writing down an activity after I got home was a great dopamine source

So… What the heck did I actually do then?

In short, small adjustments, done consistently over a long time gives big results.

I made a process, and I'm about to give it to you completely free! I'll give you the lite version of it here, and will go more in depth on the process in a different article. The focus in this one remains on the health changes.

1. Define an identity proposal

I started by defining an identity proposal for myself that I wanted to be true. In this case it was a simple statement; "I am a healthy person". The entire goal was to get to a point where I could identify with this statement and say "I am a healthy person" and mean it.

Why is identity important? We're working on a mindshift. If you're a person who identify as healthy, smoking is an idiotic idea.
Inversely, If you're "quitting smoking" you still identify as someone who enjoys smoking, but tries to not do what you enjoy.

2. What should I be doing? What am I doing wrong?

When this identity proposal was established, I got to the second step of the process, which is finding a short list of habits that “healthy people” do. Followed by a list of bad habits I do that are actively “not healthy”.

Habits of healthy people:

• Exercise regularly
• Eat meals at consistent times
• Sleep enough and at regular schedule
• Eat proper portion sizes
• Plan meals and exercises
• Seek consultations with doctors and professionals

Bad habits I did that are unhealthy:

• Eat huge portions (cooking often meant eating dinner for two)
• Regularly skip meals
• Excessive consumption of sugary energy drinks
• Choose unhealthy snacks over fruits

3. Choose what you want to work on improving

From these lists, I chose a few things I felt I could actually work on and fix without massive disruptions to my daily routines. Usually 2-4 actionable things is what I will recommend. The 4 actionable steps I ended up with were as follows:

• I will sleep by midnight every night
  Sleep is way more important than we think. Getting enough sleep, and at semi-regular times will give you a lot more energy, and your health will generally improve. I would recommend reading “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker to get a better understanding of why sleep is important.
• I will eat healthy portions, and at good times during a day
  I think one of the changes that had the biggest impact on my weight loss is this. Get a grip on how many calories you put into your body, eat at regular times, and don't skip meals.
• I will eat healthy snacks in the afternoon
  I was way too used to eating some kind of candy, or drinking sugary energy drinks while sitting in front of the computer. Replacing this with some good fruit or nuts was a great contributor to the point above about portion control and calorie balance.
• I will go for a walk after dinner
  This was literally my only ambition when it came to physical exercise. Go for a walk after dinner, every day. There's no goal about length or speed. Get out the door, and you've done it.

That's it. Those are all the commitments I set for myself. That should be doable, right? Absolutely!

4. Make it attractive to do the right thing

But keeping up these commitments seems like a bit of work, no? It does! That's where the final step in the process comes in. Make environmental changes to make it easy to do the right things, and to make it rewarding. I found 2-3 things I could change to make each of my habits more attractive to perform.

* I chose 2500 because it would put me in a calorie deficit, which is what i needed, as well as not being low enough that i would have to massively change my eating habits outside of portion control and cutting down on snacks.

When these environmental changes were made, it was usually easier for me to just choose the healthy option. For example it is easier to just grab a handful of nuts from the kitchen counter than it is to walk to the store and buy candy.

Followthrough

I would be lying if I said I haven't had days or periods where the habits break down and I reverted to old bad habits. The most important thing is not to beat yourself up for the bad days, but to get back to it as soon as you realize you're not doing your part.

The most important thing here is to understand that we want to make sustainable changes that we can follow through on for years to come, they're not quick fix solutions we have to do for just a while.

On top of these commitments, I also naturally became more active as I got more fit. I started playing some football once a week, and replaced the daily walk with hiking on some days. After a while I also adjusted the calorie target down to 2200 as I saw that as doable when I was well within the routines.

Other things that has helped me achieve change

• Get a hype squad, tell your friends and family about your progress, and tell them you're proud of the progress you make. They should cheer you on to boost your energy. Fuck accountability, hunt for positive energy and encouragement!
• Use professionals, and pay them some money if you can. I paid for 8 PT lessons, only to realise I genuinely don't like going to the gym. I still don't regret it for a second, and think it was money well spent. (May become a separate article at some point, let me know if you want to hear more about it)

Could I have done more, to get better results?

Yes! 100% yes! I truly believe that if I wanted to actually put in the work to get fit, I could have achieved the same weight results in 8 months, and build muscle at the same time. But for me, it wasn't just about losing weight or getting ripped. It was about being able to say “I am a healthy person” and mean it. Goal achieved, and I couldn't be happier with how the process has been.

Now that I can say I'm a healthy person, I have reviewed the process, and found new identity proposals to work on over the next year. More on that in a separate blog post.

Want to know more? Follow me on twitter!