For most of the past year I have been doing cardio for the sake of improving my cardio but also because over the years involved in weight training and the diet that comes along with that, I managed to put on some unwanted weight. It is kind of inevitable when you are lifting unless you are hyper dedicated and I call myself "normie fitness" because I am not hyper dedicated.
I was always going to end up with extra body fat although my muscle definition is and has been for years, pretty good.
So I set out to lose 10 lbs and ended up losing more than 25 and this is a good thing. In the past I had gone on a weight loss streak that resulted in me losing more than 50 lbs and just like they always say, this is more about diet than it was about the exercise although the exercise is a very important part of it.
Lately, I have reached a point in my weight of under 190 lbs (86 kg) and this is about as small in weight as I am going to get and now, it is becoming more "fun." let me tell you why.
When I first changed my workouts from weights to cardio focused, it was a very frustrating time because I wasn't good at it. I could barely run a km before feeling like I needed to stop and stop I did. I was nearly 220 lbs (100 kg) and while my upper body was seriously strong - I warm up on 80kg for bench - my overall fitness towards real-world exercising was pretty poor and this was evident to anyone that would watch me try to run.
Now here we are 6 months later and I rather effortlessly can run a 5k without stopping. With some level of difficulty I can do a 10k as well provided I pace myself at a level that isn't going to over tax my breathing. This was something that would have been impossible a year ago or even, 4 months ago.
I think that exercise becomes fun when it is no longer an issue of losing weight, but instead it becomes and question of performance improvement.
I have seen my per km pace on 5k runs or greater go from around 9 mins per km to 6 and a half and getting closer and closer to being able to get past that milestone of a sub 30-minute 5k. I can do this without completely draining the tank too. I believe that if I really pushed myself that I could do a 5k in under 30 minutes but then I would be spent. The idea is that I run 5k quickly then run 3-5 km more at a slower pace after that. I am training for distance running after all.
To be able to get home and look at how my stats have improved over time is really nice to see and I am no longer doing it just for the calorie burn. Some days I actually don't get enough calories and I can't believe I am saying this, but when I look at my food log I will actually get out of bed and go and eat more because I am not giving my body enough fuel.
I'm at the point now where I am burning more calories than I intake almost every single day. I have the odd day here and there where I will get together with friends and drink 2000 calories but for the most part I stay dedicated.
I think that around 85 kg (180 lbs or so) is where I belong and what I would be happy with so for me it is actually more fun to try to shape this 85kg's that I have right now into what I want it to be and that is shredded muscle. This can be accomplished and that is my current state. I weight around 86 in the morning and will go down to around 84 or 83 after a run. I am losing a bit of the muscle that I had in my upper body, but I am gaining it elsewhere. The goal that I have now is making sure that I get enough protein in order to maintain my muscle mass and honestly, this isn't that tough. We have protein shakes for this if you don't feel like cooking and eating 2 steaks for every meal.
I also enjoy the fact that doing some sort of exercise doesn't gas me out right away and I have a lot in the tank...certainly a lot more than friends of mine.
Fitness was torture when I first started doing it, but I am now at the point where I am pushing myself to be faster, not to see if i CAN do a 5k, but how fast I can do the 5k. Just 6 months ago it wasn't possible for me to run this distance without stopping and I am enjoying the fact that my body is in a lot better health right now than it was, even if my muscle mass has shrunk a bit.
This is where fitness becomes and addition of sorts. The refining of your body's strengths and weaknesses. What a great obsession to have!
from elite athlete, to fat ass, to muscle guy, to overall healthy guy. I've done it all and it's one hell of a journey