I’m a fan of data & numbers. Give me a spreadsheet with loads of values and I’ll spend hours gleefully pulling out the story.

Before the wave of “New Year New Me” posts flood everyone’s timeline, I want to share my journey of shedding 35 pounds. The idea of writing this is if it helps even 1 person start their weight loss journey (and keep going) it will be worth it.

TL: DR : I lost 35 pounds tracking my performance on exercise, food & drink consumption using apps and found some interesting insights along the way.

Here’s a Before & After! Hopefully it’s not too difficult to guess which is which :)

This chapter of my life starts in late 2017, when I stepped on to a weighing scale after ages and saw the number that broke me - 221 pounds(100.3 kilos).

I was stunned. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise since I ate out 4-5 times a week, drank heavily on the weekends and had absolutely no exercise. I know, shocking!

I knew from the beginning that whatever I did had to be sustainable, not a crash diet that will show quick results only to become worse than before. Whatever came off had to stay off.

Measuring the right data points:

Food & drink

My early research showed diet accounted for a big share of the weight loss journey. So the first data point I captured was food & drink on MyFitnessPal. I learned I was consuming way more than the 2000 calories an average male needs a day. I set myself an upper cap on calories and gradually started reducing the caloric intake. Within a couple of weeks, I started seeing a small difference on the weighing scale.

Workout

As I started training for the Half marathon, Nike Run Club came into the picture. With it, I observed how my running pace and distance gradually started to go up. (9 minutes per KM and 1.7 KM to 6:45 minutes per KM and 5.3 KM)

Holistic tracking

I needed to track my daily consumption and my daily exertion. As long as most days my exertion exceeded the consumption, I would see the drop in weight I so badly needed.

I bought a Renpho weighing scale which I love because it captures a ton of data - From BMI to metabolic age! The scale and app together gave me access to a lot of interesting data points. For eg: Since I started tracking, my metabolic age went down from that of a 29 year old to a 26 year old. I physically got younger by 3 years. That is something I find ridiculously cool!

Rest & Recovery

Rest is as important as the workout. As a graduation present to myself, I bought a Fitbit and started tracking a bunch of metrics like my sleep, resting heart rate, the daily number of steps, etc.

I became obsessed with the numbers and started exporting them into spreadsheets wherever I could!

Between tracking my diet and my activity, I was able to guesstimate the number I would see during my weekly weigh-in.

I set small goals. To drop 2 kilos from 100 to 98. Once I got there, another 2 down to 96. Slowly but surely the numbers (and the fat) started dropping.

Falling off the wagon is okay as long as you get back on:

Consistency is the hardest thing. To keep going after your goals with the same energy and zeal every day is difficult. Every day is not the same after all. As my weight trend shows, I fell off the wagon multiple times. I didn’t like seeing all my efforts go in vain but somehow I managed to scramble back on.

When I started analyzing the numbers I realized, every time I fell off, I would take roughly 11 days to get started again. I also learned that I fell off the wagon roughly every 60 days. Once I saw the numbers, I learned to go easy on myself, that it was a recurring trend and it’s okay for me to take that break because I returned back to it with more rigor than before.

If you measure it, you can improve it:

It’s the same as your work KPIs. You’re measuring and monitoring your work to improve performance. Do the same with your body. Slowly but surely the results will begin to show.

You got this!

If you’ve been contemplating getting started on losing weight, I hope this article pushes you to get started. You’re not alone, we’re all in this together! If you drop me a note, I’m more than happy to check in on you regularly and motivate you!

Current position:

As the headline says, I’ve lost 35 pounds so far and intend to keep going till I lose another 20! My goal for 2020 is to be able to break through these 20 (very stubborn) pounds and get to my dream weight of 165 pounds (75 Kilos) Will I get there? Yes absolutely! Will I fall off the wagon? Every 60 days apparently but that’s okay because 11 days later I’ll be back on.

What are your go to apps and gadgets? I’d love to hear from you!

Shomik Roy is a Toronto based revenue expert specializing in scaling up revenue and operations in Toronto’s exciting startup ecosystem. He stops to pet every dog he meets because he thinks it is absolutely crucial to do so.

Thumbnail Courtesy: Catherine Melo

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