Health and Fitness
Here is a Glimpse of My Fat Loss Journey.
I was overweight when I was not doing these things
This is my short story of how I naturally shed 30 pounds of fat when I focused on health rather than weight loss. For many years I struggled with weight management. It was a challenging journey.
Losing fat was the hardest thing in my life. So many things I learned from textbooks during my school years conflicted with my body and genetic makeup. I had to unlearn old knowledge and create my experience by listening to my body.
In this post, I want to share a few key areas that require improvement for weight management. The biggest lesson learned was not making weight loss the ultimate goal but improving health and fitness goals. Weight loss was a product of several healthy habits that I developed.
The first and most important area was my diet. I was on a diet that did not align with my genetic makeup. I was eating foods that created intolerance for my body. I did not know about them in my younger years and adding fuel to the fire. The best finding was my intolerance to carbs. High carb meals were causing discomfort and unexpected weight gain. I suffered for many years due to not knowing my intolerance to carbs.
My body did not tolerate carbs and did not like fiber either. Therefore, cutting carbs and removing fiber entirely through my elimination diet substantially impacted my health, fitness, and, consequently, healthy fat loss. I say fat loss because I did not want to lose muscle and bone density.
I used to feel a lot of bloating, and my body was holding liquids.
Bloating caused a lot of water retention and digestive issue for me. I found two natural ways to resolve my digestive issues. The first one was to clean my gut from heavy metals and other harmful substances. To this end, the use of simple activated charcoal made a huge difference.
Another natural way was introducing gut-healing gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen from bone broth. My diagnosis from naturopathy consultants was showing leaky gut syndrome.
For me, the main symptom of a leaky gut was excessive allergies, food intolerance, constant bloating, high inflammation, mild arthritis, and skin disorders.
I used to take many anti-acid supplements that ruined my digestive health and probably caused me other health issues.
My stomach needed more acid to digest food. I was stupidly reducing the acid to feel comfortable. Drinking a few cups of bone broth considerably impacted improving my gut health.
Heavy metals and toxins were in the gut and in other parts of the body. To great rid of these toxins, I started taking dry sauna sessions regularly.
After a few months, I noticed remarkable changes in my body. My skin got more transparent, and fluid retention was considerably reduced. Here is an article about how I benefit from the dry sauna to remove toxins from my body and reduce inflammation.
Inflammation was a significant barrier for me to lose weight. It was not only causing water retention but also preventing me from exercising to my total capacity.
In addition, the pain caused by inflammation was unbearable. Due to pain and not recovering quickly, I gave up weight lifting, resistance training, and high-intensity interval training. When I found ways to reduce inflammation, my fitness dramatically improved.
I used several methods to reduce inflammation. The most crucial factor in beating my chronic inflammation was going into ketosis. When my bloodstream showed around 1.5 nmol ketones, I noticed a reduction in chronic inflammation.
When I got checked my CRP (C-reactive Protein), ESR (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate and PV (Plasma Viscosity), these blood markers normalized.
As evident in my inflamed body, my cortisol level was too high due to chronic pain and stress. Having a high cortisol level in the bloodstream prevented me from tapping into my abdominal fat.
Even though I was losing fat from other ends with cardio, my belly fat was staying stubborn. So, I learned ways to reduce cortisol.
Improving my sleep quality played a significant role. Deep sleep helped me recover faster and better. I struggled with poor sleep for many years. It was one of the culprits for retaining fat. I shared my sleep improvement experience in this article. Replacing coffee with cold showers made a massive difference in improving my sleep. This simple hack also provided many more benefits.
The last but not least contributor to my weight loss was my joyful exercises. I developed a bespoke exercise program aligning with my body type and age profile. I reduced long cardio sessions and replaced them with short HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) sessions. I gave more focus on resistance, calisthenics, and weight training.
The best addition was using the trampoline every day. Jumping on a trampoline not only increased my fitness but also removed toxins from my body easily and quickly. I used to travel a lot. So I developed some exercise regime for traveling.
After substantial weight loss, I ended up with excessive loose skin in my abdominal area. However, I found effective ways to get rid of loose skin. I shared my experience in this article: How Did I Get Rid of Loose Skin After Weight Loss? The techniques I used for losing excessive skin also increased my fitness and health.
As a bonus, after 50 years of age, I observed definitions in my belly for the first time in my life. This remarkable experience was validation for fitness being on track. I shared my experience in this article: How I Gained Six-Packs After 50 Years Old.
As I mentioned in this story, in my experience, fat loss was nothing to do with calories but had a lot to do with hormones like insulin, cortisol, leptin, ghrelin, and testosterone. And learning to turn off my hunger switch was a remarkable achievement in this journey. Checking my blood glucose and ketone levels kept me motivated to stay in the fasted state.
To summarize, my diet changes from glucose to fat as my energy source were the most critical one for weight loss. The difference in my diet reduced inflammation, removed toxins, and empowered me to do more effective workouts. Using a few safe supplements such as N-Acetyl-Tyrosin, N-Acetyl-Cysteine, and Alpha Lipoic Acid also slightly contributed to gaining more vitality.
In addition, with reduced emotional stress, reduced inflammation, normalized cortisol, glucose, and insulin, and boosting testosterone, I felt more lively with increased energy, gained super motivation, and enjoyed every moment of my life. Fat loss is a by-product when physical, mental, and emotional health is balanced.
A similar protocol that I used also helped my friend Eliza to shed 30 pounds. She is an inspiration to many friends in our circles.
This bumpy journey helped me go above and beyond in achieving my health and fitness goals.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
We all have different stories about health and fitness. I’d love to obtain your comments related to your challenges, tips for readers, and thoughts about sustainable fat loss. Your comments give new perspectives, and we can learn from each other.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
I aim to educate, create awareness, and empower my readers to take control of their health and well-being. To raise awareness about health issues, I have written around 2000 articles that present holistic health from my research, personal observations, and unique experiences.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
Disclaimer: Please note that my posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 17K+ writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background. You may join Medium with my referral link.