For most of my adulthood my weight has been yo-yoing between 205-220 pounds (or 93-100 kg). Never having had a very active lifestyle, I also never had much motivation to lose the extra weight because I knew it’d eventually come creeping back.
Three years ago my second daughter was born. She was very different compared to my first daughter in that she absolutely hated being in a stroller, but loved traveling in a baby sling. So for her naps, I’d wrap her against my chest and go for walks. It became our thing. And you can probably guess what happened: I started losing weight. Between April 2017 and April 2018 my weight had gone down from 207 lb (~94 kg) to a more moderate 196 lb (~89 kg).
So I seized the moment and upped the ante. Our walks became longer, my daughter still napping in her sling (or more frequently accepting to sit in the stoller as she started spending more time awake). More often we’d go for 4-6 miles rather than the 2-3 miles we did before. I think our record for most miles in a week that year was a little over 62 (~100 km).
By the end of 2018, I’d lost another 28.5 pounds (~13 kg): I was now down to 166.5 lb (~75.5 kg). For those of you keeping score, that’s a total loss of 40.5 lb (~18.5 kg) in 20 months.
At the start of this journey I’d half-heartedly decided that if I ever managed to lose so much weight (I still had my doubts), I’d join the gym to build up some strength. A place that I’d previously visited only a few times. So in the fall of 2018 I bought a half-year membership to the local gym, managing to go regularly for about half of those six months. In the summer of 2019 I bought another half-year membership: I went there twice.
So going to the gym still wasn’t my thing. When my membership expired last December, I’d also put on 8-9 pounds over the year. The old me reared its ugly head, telling I was slowly but steadily becoming obese again. I wanted to fight back, but how?
Enter Fitness Blender. In mid-January of this year I started googling for home workout routines. I bought a set of dumbbells. After the first week of trying to figure out a new routine to stick to, I stumbled on one of Fitness Blender’s YouTube videos. I was instantly amazed. It felt like suddenly having a pair of personal trainers in my living room, no extra-gimmicks and no hidden costs. Talk about a motivation booster!
And sure enough: After two and a half months of working out with Kelli & Daniel, I’ve made more progress than I ever did while going to the gym. I’ve never lifted this heavy before! And I now realise that it was never the workout part of working out that made me quit before; it was the tediousness of working out without proper guidance, form or a community to turn to.
I’ve added some photos to go along with this post. I’m massively self-conscious about sharing them (particularly the ‘before’ ones) as I’ve never posted them anywhere before, but this post wouldn’t be complete without them. The first one is from the same spring my 2nd daughter was born; the second one was taken a little over a year later. The third one is from earlier this year when I joined Fitness Blender, and the final one I snapped just this morning.
By no means is my journey complete, but I’m more confident than ever about having reached the point of no return. Thank you for reading!
A Dad’s Journey
Wow, this story turned out a bit long. Oh well!
For most of my adulthood my weight has been yo-yoing between 205-220 pounds (or 93-100 kg). Never having had a very active lifestyle, I also never had much motivation to lose the extra weight because I knew it’d eventually come creeping back.
Three years ago my second daughter was born. She was very different compared to my first daughter in that she absolutely hated being in a stroller, but loved traveling in a baby sling. So for her naps, I’d wrap her against my chest and go for walks. It became our thing. And you can probably guess what happened: I started losing weight. Between April 2017 and April 2018 my weight had gone down from 207 lb (~94 kg) to a more moderate 196 lb (~89 kg).
So I seized the moment and upped the ante. Our walks became longer, my daughter still napping in her sling (or more frequently accepting to sit in the stoller as she started spending more time awake). More often we’d go for 4-6 miles rather than the 2-3 miles we did before. I think our record for most miles in a week that year was a little over 62 (~100 km).
By the end of 2018, I’d lost another 28.5 pounds (~13 kg): I was now down to 166.5 lb (~75.5 kg). For those of you keeping score, that’s a total loss of 40.5 lb (~18.5 kg) in 20 months.
At the start of this journey I’d half-heartedly decided that if I ever managed to lose so much weight (I still had my doubts), I’d join the gym to build up some strength. A place that I’d previously visited only a few times. So in the fall of 2018 I bought a half-year membership to the local gym, managing to go regularly for about half of those six months. In the summer of 2019 I bought another half-year membership: I went there twice.
So going to the gym still wasn’t my thing. When my membership expired last December, I’d also put on 8-9 pounds over the year. The old me reared its ugly head, telling I was slowly but steadily becoming obese again. I wanted to fight back, but how?
Enter Fitness Blender. In mid-January of this year I started googling for home workout routines. I bought a set of dumbbells. After the first week of trying to figure out a new routine to stick to, I stumbled on one of Fitness Blender’s YouTube videos. I was instantly amazed. It felt like suddenly having a pair of personal trainers in my living room, no extra-gimmicks and no hidden costs. Talk about a motivation booster!
And sure enough: After two and a half months of working out with Kelli & Daniel, I’ve made more progress than I ever did while going to the gym. I’ve never lifted this heavy before! And I now realise that it was never the workout part of working out that made me quit before; it was the tediousness of working out without proper guidance, form or a community to turn to.
I’ve added some photos to go along with this post. I’m massively self-conscious about sharing them (particularly the ‘before’ ones) as I’ve never posted them anywhere before, but this post wouldn’t be complete without them. The first one is from the same spring my 2nd daughter was born; the second one was taken a little over a year later. The third one is from earlier this year when I joined Fitness Blender, and the final one I snapped just this morning.
By no means is my journey complete, but I’m more confident than ever about having reached the point of no return. Thank you for reading!