Have been lurking on the forum a while now and decided to make a post…
First off some details regarding me and myself …
I am a 30 year old male and have basically been obese all my life, gradually getting bigger and bigger, sadly like many others. January 2. this year I decided to change the trend and turn my life around. At that time I weighed in at 168.4 kg (~371 lb), and I am only 178 cm ( ~5.84 ft) tall, so I was kind of a big fellow…
Anyhow, over night I changed my diet to healthy, non pre-processed food and cut back on salt, snacks and sweets. It is not like I don’t eat stuff like that, but if I do I make sure to keep it within acceptable limits and within the weekly kcal budget. I am logging all my meals to ensure that I reach my kcal goal and correct amount of complex carbs, fat and protein.
This was a struggle in the start, but after a few months it was a routine, and to be honest, when eating healthy food it sometimes was a struggle to eat enough to reach my daily goal of 2500 kcal, because that is a lot of food! Yes, I know I could have lost more weight faster by lowering my daily kcal goal, but I want to keep as much of my muscle mass as possible, so then I need food
, also – I have no rush, and the diet I am doing now is something I can and want to live with after I have reached my goal weight. Anyhow, being me, I like to do things properly, so I wanted to start exercising as a supplement to the diet changes. I do believe that most of any weight loss journey is in the diet, but if you want a healthy body you need to do some kind of exercise. Also, increased muscle mass = burning more calories
Well, I did not want to join a gym at that time, so I was looking for exercise I could do at home, I started walking a lot, but living in Norway it can get quite cold and snowy in the winter, so it was not always ideal to take a walk outside. I started looking into buying an erg.bike, but I decided to get a C2 instead, as I learned that rowing is a superior exercise to biking due to engagement of more muscle groups…
I got my C2 in mid. Januray, and the first week I could only manage sessions of like 3-4 minutes… with the typical fatman form (knees out to make room for the belly) but it got better, next week I could mange 10 minutes sessions… Tried to row 6 days a week. I remember I did my first 2k after about 3 weeks of rowing, I clocked in at 11:42.6… hehe, not the best time, but hey – we all have to start some place… I started doing longer sessions, some slow and steady pace, others with intervals, before I knew it I could easily do an hour long session and my 2k time was improving, so I was happy.
After about 3-4 months I was down about 18 kg (~40 lb) – I then decided to join a gym to do some strength training as a supplement to the cardio I was getting from the C2 rower… I wanted to keep, or if possible increase my muscle mass, so I started lifting. I had 20 hours with an personal trainer to learn the basic, get a good program, correct form and learn how to push myself and track my progress.
Since I joined the gym I have been going to the gym 4 times a week, for 3 lifting sessions and one yoga session (WTF! Lol
). I am still trying to get 5-6 60 min sessions on the C2 a week, with a good mix of slow and steady, high intensity and interval training. I do also like to do long walks / hiking/ tracking in the weekends in the mountains here in Norway, which can be a good workout!Anyhow, I am now down approx 47 kg (~104 lb) and I love my new way of life. I still have a long way to my goal weight, but I know I will get there and I know HOW to get there. There is no doubt in my mind, the C2 was my ticket to getting into exercising, and I would highly recommend it to anybody, in any shape and size – it is awesome (if you can manage the first few weeks of pain).
Btw. I joined the 1 Million Meter Club a few weeks ago and today I hit an new 2k PR, 7:20.2, I know it is not an exceptional good time, but I am happy as it shows that I have progress. And all in all, I am only comparing my results up against myself…
Thanks for reading and keep rowing!
