How I lost 43 lbs in 6 months

In a previous blog, I talked about how I lost 25 lbs in 2 months (August to October 2019).  From 233 to 208 lbs.  Then, in a follow up blog I wrote 2 months later, I wrote about how I lost another 8 lbs and was hovering at 200 lbs.  And oh, how I’d love to see my scale showing me a number with a damn “1” for a change.  Well, fast forward 2 months later, and here I am staring in awe at a scale that says 190 lbs.  Wait… what?

I keep checking the scale to make sure it’s not busted.  I ask the wife and kids to go on, one at a time.  Yes, it’s working fine.  Wowza!  I’m buying size 34″ pants now (happy shopping time!).  Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night to see if I still look like me or that much bigger guy (that I sure as hell don’t want to turn back into and won’t!).  And let me say that I haven’t reached my goal yet.  I’d like to be ~180 lbs and wearing size 32″ pants.  At 5’11”, I think that’s a good weight for me.  I’m giving myself 2 more months to get down there (whereas when I was bigger, I could have lost this in 1-2 weeks) because, as I’ve learned in my weight loss journey, it gets harder and harder to lose weight when there’s less of you to lose!

So, looking back, here’s how my journey started and transformed and what has worked for me.  Please keep in mind that I’m doing this on my own and I accept the risks; you should always consult your family doctor about whether you should be doing some or all of this stuff.

Losing the First 25 lbs in the first 2 months:

• I was fortunate enough to be in Grenada last August, running my outreach dental charity program, so I have to give that a lot of credit for lighting a fire under my big butt.
• Basically, I would wake up at 6 am, hit the gym for 30 minutes with my roomie Dr. Ming Yau doing HIIT (high intensity interval training).  I figure I burned close to 500 calories during that 30 minute workout.  I used my Polar Beat app and my heart rate monitor to figure this out.
• We would also change up the workouts.  Weights some days.  Running up and down a hill on other days.  Your body adapts, so you gotta keep it fresh.
• Breakfast would be something like a SMALL plate of veggies, fruit, nuts, and fish.  That’s it.  No bacon.  No eggs.  No hashbrowns.  I figure there was about 300-400 calories in my breakfast.  Again, small plate.
• Skipped lunch.
• Burned about 3000 calories running around and sweating all day in the clinic (never sitting still).  8 hours of running around and sweating will do that to you.
• Back at the resort, would wait until about 8 p.m. to have dinner.  Dinner would be some veggies and meat.  Booze would be one cup of Tito’s vodka (sometimes 2) on ice.  That’s it.  No dessert.  No starch.  No sugar.  So dinner and Tito’s probably accounted for 1000-1500 calories.
• So I was likely consuming 1,300-1,900 calories for the day.
• Dancing at night on the dance floor.  Probably burned another 1,000 calories at least doing this.
• RESULT: I was consuming 1,300-1,900 calories and burning 4,500 calories (500 + 3000 + 1000).  Now, in order to burn 1 lb of fat, you need to have a deficit of 3500 calories in a day.  Which means you need to burn 3500 MORE calories than what you consume.  So I likely had a deficit caloric intake of -2,500 per day, which is why I was dropping 1.5 lbs every 2 days.
• But here’s the thing: I knew this wasn’t going to be sustainable.  I was only going to be in Grenada for 16 days and when I got back home, I would have to be smart about keeping the weight off and even taking more off… but how???
• Got home and started doing 30 minute HIIV exercises, combined with intermittent fasting (eat from noon until 6 p.m. and that’s it), and do Keto (put coconut oil in my coffee and eat brussel sprouts, bacon, nuts, certain hard cheese, veggies, meat, etc.).
• This kept me going and dropping weight until I hit a plateau (I stopped losing weight) 2 months into my weight loss journey.

Losing the Next 10 lbs over the next 2 months:

• OK, time to take it up a notch.
• I started to measure everything I was consuming using the My Fitness Pal app.  I limited myself to 1500 daily calories.
• I cut out booze entirely.  Wasn’t that hard actually.  Because I had already cut out sugar; and booze was pretty much just sugar and / or calories, and how dare it intrude on all my hard work?  Screw booze…  I’d rather have abs.
• At the same time, I would try to burn 3,250 calories.  How?  I’d burn 500 calories doing my 30 minute HIIV workouts.  And then I figure I was burning about 2000-2250 calories just by walking around and living.  And then I’d often come home and do another 30 minute HIIV workout.  Yes, I was obsessed with these quick little workouts.  I was doing “Insanity Max 30” a lot.  You can subscribe to the BeachBody App (I think it’s $130 / year) and you’ll get access to ALL of their workouts (there’s hundreds).
• I kept doing intermittent fasting (eating only from noon until 6 p.m.).
• I bought Goli Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies.  You buy them online and there’s a code from the Ellen show if you’re interested for a discount.  It’s typically like $20 for a bottle that lasts about 2-4 weeks, depending on how many you take.  I take 2-4 a day.  They taste great and they suppress my appetite.  Apple cider vinegar has lots of benefits but it’s not ideal to just drink it because it ruins your teeth and it’s a little harsh on the stomach.  The gummies are great though!
• I started doing bone brothing (boiling beef bones all day in a pot with peppercorn, bay leaves, celery, onion, carrots and apple cider vinegar) and substituted food with broth.  Eventually you get used to bone broth and start craving it.  I make it at least once a week and I love it.

Losing the Last 8 lbs:

• I limited myself to 1250 calories now.  Maybe a bit extreme, but I felt I had to take it up a notch to get past this new plateau I was facing.
• I would wake up, drink coffee (black) with whip cream (which I made myself so no sugar).  And have my Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies.  That’s it.
• Then I’d go to the gym for 1 hour and 17 minutes.  This is the time it would take me to burn 1,000 calories.  Instead of doing 2 x 500 calorie workouts, I just did the 1 x 1,000 calorie work out.  Keep in mind that at this point, I felt ‘light’ and my body was allowing me to do long workouts and I was also very agile.  The only thing I had to keep in mind was that I was really pushing my body to new limits and I did get quasi-injured a few times (strained ankle or shoulder or lower back).   So I listen to my body a lot more because of this quasi-injuries.  If I’m not feeling it, I don’t push at all.
• I kept changing my routine up.  Some days yoga; some days weights; some days HIIV.  Shock the body.  2 days off of working out; 5 days on.
• Have my first meal at around noon.  It typically consisted of 4-6 hard boiled eggs (whites only) and hot sauce, greek yogurt (3%), veggies (like an avocado), 90% dark chocolate (about 2-3 squares), and some nuts.  P.S. you need to get your body to get used to eating the bitter dark chocolate; what helps is if you mix it with nuts and then eat it (yummay!).  Dinner was typically veggies, very limited fruits because of the sugar (handful of grapes or blueberries or strawberries) and some kind of meat.
• Some days (a lot of days actually) I didn’t eat meat at all.  I didn’t miss it.
• Make beef bone broth all day and then drink about 4 cups a day of that.  No salt.  You gotta get your body to get used to drinking this stuff without salt.
• Stay very active throughout the day.
• I would try to do a 24-48 fast.  It’s simply incredible all the health benefits that are associated with fasting for this period of time (improved immune system, burning fat in your liver, tightening skin, focussed mind, etc.).
• I would be drinking about 2-3 litres of water a day.
• I would sleep when my Oura ring app told me to sleep.

What Helped Me Stay Motivated?

• I took a lot of progress photos.  I am happy to report that, on my best days, under the right lighting, my wife can clearly see 4 abs.  It’s those last 2 abs that are sitting under some stubborn fat that need to finally come out – soon enough!
• Buying new clothes was a huge deal. I never thought I’d be smiling profusely while putting on a pair of size 34″ pants.  I had a love / hate affair with a size 38″ inch grey golfing shorts; I loved them, but could never fit in them so I hated them because they reminded me of how big I was.  And when I finally fit in them, I wanted to keep wearing them but then they got too loose because I kept losing weight.   So I wore belts until it got ridiculous and then I finally got rid of them.  See… love / hate!
• I was addicted to that damn scale.  I would do everything you can think of (short of cutting my hair) to get that damn scale to go lower.
• I was addicted to my technology (Oura for sleeping, Polar for calorie burn, My Fitness Pal for calorie intake).
• I was going to be in Aruba last December and I wanted to look my best on the beach (and I did!).
• I challenged my brother to an “Ab” challenge after 6 weeks.  I won 😉
• I got lots of compliments from everyone who’s ever known me.
• I posted my journey publicly so my community gave me support.
• I got a lot of support from some of my dentist friends who were also into health and fitness; they constantly gave me new ideas (like fasting, Oura, changing up the routine, Keto, etc.).
• I came up with a lot of sayings to help me get through temptation like: “F*ck Food – I have enough food on my ass”  or “I don’t do sugar” or “I’d rather have abs” or “I’d rather wake up and go to bed with abs”.

So that’s my weight loss journey so far.  6 months and 43 lbs later.  I’m giving myself 2 months to lose the last 10 lbs.  And I’ll let you know how it goes.  Feel free to email me at michael@dentistlawyers.ca if you’ve started your weight loss journey and if you find this kind of blog helpful.