My 100lb Weight Loss Journey

The Photo That Changed Everything

If your anything like me you dont have that many pictures of yourself from your weight gain years, I mean you might have some but I bet you dont look at them often, maybe ever for that matter. I have years where I have no pictures of myself, its kind of sad to be honest. And it's literally just from being embarrassed of how I looked at the time.

The old saying that the camera adds 10lbs...I could only wish, to me it felt like it added 50, I couldnt even smile in a picture, knowing if I did my cheeks would look enormous, my double chin would seemingly grow to twice its size.

I became the photographer, whether it was family gatherings or just outings with friends, if we wanted a picture Id volunteer to take it, simply to avoid being in it, when it was impossible to avoid and I ended up in one or two you can bet I never actually saw these pictures, I avoided them like the plague. I was hiding from my own reality, what I did not see, I was not.

Foolish I know, reminds me of people choosing not to go to the doctor, they know something is wrong or could be wrong but are too afraid to find out what, and sometimes its too late once they get checked out.

Looking back on it now I can actually see how this affected people around me, I mean not negatively per se but the way I would hide in the back of family pictures, or simply refuse to take any with my partner, I can definitely see how that would hurt them, especially my Mom, she would always want nice family pictures, we have so few and I would always fight tooth and nail...lets just take one later, "not right now, later though!" hoping everyone would forget, and sometimes we actually did forget. I definitely feel bad about it and regret it immensely now.

The same with my partner, when I gained the weight I would refuse to take pictures with her, she always would want them taken and I just wouldn't do it, ever...we have been together going on 14 years now and not a word of a lie there is like a 10 year period where we dont have pictures with each other. We have pictures of places we have been together, and pictures of just her (me taking the picture) but literally none with us...10 years...sad really.

About 5 years ago we moved provinces, I was probably around 270lbs at that point, I cant know for certain as I avoided the scale typically, and certainly wasnt in the habit of tracking my weight back then. But thats besides the point...my parents visited for a week, my Mom wanted to take our picture in front of our house (you know the kind, one of those cutesy first time home owner pictures) reluctantly I agreed, (at least im wearing a black shirt I thought to myself - lol).

What followed sent me in a spiral my Mom sent me the picture after taking it, I was an absolute monster, dwarfing my partner, a beast of a man lol, my Tall XL tshirt wrapped tightly around my torso, my beard did its best to cover the fatness in my cheeks and hide my double chin (thank God for beards). This picture actually started a 5 year journey of ups and downs, losing and gaining, gaining and losing. The crazy thing is it wasn't even my peak weight...that would come around 3 years later...

How I Got There

To have you understand how I got to the spot I was in I'll start where most of us start gaining weight...after highschool, actually on second thought lets start with my childhood, my Dad was obese around 270lbs I would guess at 5'10" my Mom about 5'9" was not obese, however growing up she had mentioned she was, my dad growing up played sports and was in good shape right through University (Ive seen the pictures), regardless it kind of gives you an idea of what was working for me and against me.

My childhood I was always thin, tall and skinny actually, you would probably describe me lanky (I am now 6'4" and I've always been the tallest in my class growing up). It was rep soccer in the summer, and rep hockey in the winter, that was my life from around 7 years old up until 18. I ate what I wanted when I wanted, you would probably describe me as someone with a fast metabolism...maybe that was true, I dont really know the science behind that or if its even real, but looking back on it objectively now, I think I was just an active kid growing up in the era without cell phones and social media...there weren't really any "heavy" kids, what I mean by that is it was more rare to be heavy back then, then it was to be fit looking.

Okay, now that you have that bit of background, back to where it started...I went from a very active High Schooler, playing competitive sports to a college goer who would play some intramural sports now and again. My level of daily activity decreased substantially, while my food intake at best remained the same if not had gotten worse...its hard to know or remember for that matter as this was around 22-23 years ago now.

One thing I do know for sure is I never weighed myself back then, it actually never even crossed my mind that I was getting heavy. I didn't even have a beard back then, something I cant even fathom right now, my chin hasnt touched the sun for around 15 years now lol.

Anyway this was the first 'change' I had, essentially just less movement. By year 3 of University I had noticed in some pictures I was looking quite large, and had a noticeable double chin, I didnt at this point have a massive belly like I would later on (spoiler), but the weight gain in my face lead me to grow a beard (thankfully I had half decent beard genetics in my early twenties and it did a great job at hiding my second chin in pictures), because why would I even think of exercising back then or reflecting on my diet when the beard could do the trick for me lol...

Looking back on this I honestly dont even remember ever thinking, oh I should lose some weight, or oh maybe I should work out, or try eating healthier, I was looking for a short cut and I found a temporary one, that probably cost me an extra 20lbs of fat and a trip to the Doctor for severe acid reflux.

I would wake up in the middle of the night with essentially vomit climbing up my esophagus, and you know my remedy? Theres a zero percent chance you'll guess what it is...but I'll give you a second to try...nope wrong answer, my remedy was literally head to the kitchen and get a big bowl of Frosted Flakes with milk, i'd eat that, and head back to bed, I guess it would push my reflux down until morning...crazy actually.

So anyway I was diagnosed with Severe Acid Reflux after taking some chalky drink (also known as the Barium Swallow Test) and was put on prescription pantoloc (a proton pump inhibitor (PPI)) but it stopped my reflux cold in its tracks...great another short term fix (see beard for double chin fix above, also a classic quick fix).

From here my weight slowly creeped up for the next year or so, and by the time I was around 23 my weight had shot up to a peak of 268lbs. I was engaged to be married and in the worst shape of my life...time to enter my yo-yo years era...

The Yo-Yo Years

268lbs...poppin' pantoloc daily, engaged to be married, I had hit my first breaking point, there was no way I was going to be rockin' a double chin at my wedding...

My first foray into weight loss was getting a gym pass, for the first time in my adult life, I had a student one in high school, but it never really stuck, and once out of highschool my parents obviously weren't going to pay for a pass for me, so off I went. I signed up and immediately hit the stairmaster...looked easy enough, there was a guy bigger then me on one and he seemed to be sweating good so I hopped on a machine beside him...glancing over I noticed he had been going for just over 15 minutes or something along those lines...easy peasy I thought...I made it 1 minute...lol

Its pretty crazy what happens to your body cardiovascular wise after a period of not doing anything, I had gone from a relatively fit (I would probably say above average fitness) teenager to someone who couldnt go for more then a minute straight on a step machine, talk about humbling (and a wake up call).

Thankfully I was at a high motivation point in my journey, treating the 1 minute on the step machine as a 'warm-up' I headed to the weight room did some weights and finished off the session with a 10 minute ride on the recumbent bike. I remember going home and typing into google a question about the stairmaster, and thankfully I saw in the answers lots of comments along the lines of "its a torture machine, but it makes me sweat the most out of all pieces of cardio". It's actually incredible how quickly the body can adapt to exercise, the second time I was at the gym I was able to go for 10 minutes on that same stairmaster and after a couple weeks I was only limited by the amount of time I wanted to stay on it.

My first phase of weight loss was going quite well, back then I was able to make great gains simply by exercising, I wasn't focused on diet at that point, although I must admit I found myself naturally making better choices simply due to the fact I didnt want to ruin my "gains" I made in the gym for no reason. The weight literally melted off of me, easily losing around 2-3 pounds a week just from the excessive amount of cardio I was doing.

Something strange happened as well, over the course of the year or so I was losing weight I stopped taking my pantoloc, I was sleeping through the night without any reflux, I remember going to the doctor for something and him asking how my reflux was, I mentioned that it was gone and I had stopped taking the pills...he wasn't overly surprised by this as he noticed the 45 pounds I had lost and mentioned that losing weight usually takes care of it especially if the weight gain is what caused it in the first place.

I didn't really do any programmed strength training at this time, I think I actually got addicted to the sweat the stairmaster brought, by my wedding I was down to around 220lbs if I recall...It wasn't a body anyone but your mom might be proud of, but my face looked slim and I didn't have to worry about a double chin.

Looking back on how I lost the weight it wasn't going to be sustainable, who can do an hour of cardio every single day, if you would have told me that back then I would have shrugged you off, I felt like I did it, I figured it out, losing the weight was the hard part...keeping it off would surely be easy, and was going to continue on, losing more weight, maybe even some strength training. Looking back on this I had it completely backwards...losing weight is definitely the easy part, keeping it off is the hard part. Enter my honeymoon...

It's crazy what can happen after months of exercising, you can lose the weight pretty fast, whats crazier though is how fast you can rebound the second you stop doing what was working. After indulging for a week at an all inclusive in Mexico (I believe it was 'The Royal Hideaway' in Playacar Mexico), I came back and took a 'break' from working out...this break lasted approximately 2 years...I was 25, sitting at a desk, back up to around 265lbs and going through a separation...(yah I know...2 years of marriage...lol not good, but thats a different story, for a different time).

Going through a separation seemed to kick me into gear (mentally at least)...I knew I had let myself go, back to the gym I went, looking at the stairmaster, "hello darkness my old friend" playing in my headphones, I hopped on, knowing what to expect, I was back, I dedicated myself to the gym for the next couple of weeks straight. What I noticed was strange though, I wasn't losing the weight as fast as I had the first time, my cardio came back fast, that wasn't an issue at all (thankfully) but I was perplexed with the lack of fat being lost.

Round two: my divorce era was going to require more then simply outworking my diet. I'm not sure how but I stumbled into a book on the 'atkins diet' and my carbs are evil phase kicked off, for good reason too...weight melted off of me, I was consistently going to the gym, I was an expert on the stairmaster, even upgrading from time to time to the stairmill, doing unstructured weight training when I 'felt' like it. I was avoiding carbs and watching my body transform before my eyes, I was in the best shape I have been in since my wedding, it didnt take long either, in fact it was very fast probably like 4 months to go from around 265lbs down below 225...if GLP-1's were around back then surely I would have been accused of being on them. I felt great, looked half decent physique wise and found myself in a routine that was somewhat sustainable. Enter my current partner...lol

Its happened a thousand times to a thousand people...you leave a relationship where you gained weight, you lose the weight to meet someone new...you get comfortable with said 'new' partner, and well...the rest is history...welcome to the most predictable weight gain thats out there...the I'm comfortable with my partner weight gain...

She loves you no matter what, she doesn't mention 'hey your clothes are fitting a little tighter, or hey my arms cant really reach around you and touch when I hug you anymore...she just simply loves you unconditionally, strangely though you have stopped loving yourself at this point...you've let yourself go, again. This in my opinion was the hardest time to lose weight for me. Without a 'reason' I had to motivate myself to lose again, it was harder this time, I didn't have the same drive to get to the gym daily (whats the point), I was tired...desk jobs will do that to you...thankfully I was able to find some motivation, enter my keto phase.

At this point I started becoming obsessed with weight loss forums and reddit specifically. I stumbled upon a subreddit called r/keto...the transformations I saw were insane, people 300 pounds starting out were losing 100lbs and fast...the diet seemed similar to the atkins diet I did to lose weight my second time around, however stricter and even more limiting of carbs...I dove straight in, I became a keto ZEALOT.

I actually became disgusted with people who ate carbs, I couldn't believe they were 'harming' their body by doing so, they weren't optimized for burning fat, no wonder they were fat, how is your body going to burn fat if its not in a state of ketosis. I was bought completely in. And quite frankly keto worked, and it worked fast. I didn't need to go to the gym for hours on end each week, and the weight was melting off...I found a cheat code.

I'm not going to lie though, eating keto was tough, and I felt like a failure the second carbs entered my mouth...my relationship with food was not something to be proud of, and my attitude towards "non-keto" eaters was even worse...I literally looked down on them, and not because I'm 6'4" lol...thinking back on this is so gross to me, but it was such a big part of my life that I would have been remiss not to mention it. I've actually written about why I moved away from strict diets like keto towards a low fat approach if you want more detail on my diet evolution.

I dont really remember what happened or when, but I fell off the keto wagon and I fell off hard, I went from a low weight of around 218lbs and ballooned all the way up to 275lbs. I wish I could explain what happened, I wish there was something I could pinpoint in terms of cause, but I can't think of anything looking back at what caused it, if I had to guess it was a cheat day that turned into a cheat weekend, that turned into a cheat week, that turned...you get the point...

Over the next few years my weight fluctuated from that high of 275lbs to a low of around 245lbs, losing and gaining that same 30lbs over and over again. Id have periods back at the gym, periods of doing keto, heck I even calorie tracked at one point...this all worked for me to a certain extent, most diets seem to for me thankfully. Whether it was atkins/keto/or calorie counting, I always had something to fall back on to kick start some weight loss.

This time needs to be different...I remember saying this to myself...I didn't like who I had become when I was on keto, I was smug, I had an air of superiority about myself...this time HAD to be different...enter intermittent fasting and time restricted eating.

I cant pinpoint how or when but my algorithm brought Dr. Jason Fung into my life. Author of "The Obesity Code" among other books. He was a huge proponent (still is) of fasting. The 'diet' seemed different to me, essentially another cheat code to weight loss...what do you mean I can pretty much eat whatever I want including carbs and still lose weight? Seemed too good to be true, again I headed to reddit...there were multiple subreddits, I joined them all, the transformation pictures I saw were amazing, inspiring in fact.

This diet worked just like the others, I lost weight and I was able to lose it fast, I found the answer, I was addicted to telling people about fasting, how easy it was, how I could eat anything I wanted as long as I fasted through breakfast, sometimes even skipping lunch.

I also felt I started growing as a person during this phase, I started to have some real introspection. It wasn't lost on me how I was starting to have the same thoughts in my head that I did while I was on keto. I made sure to analyze these thoughts I was having, and I came to the conclusion that it might not be a specific diet that works better then one or another, but it might just simply be the discipline of sticking to a diet...as surely if I was still on keto at this point I would have at the very least not gained all the weight back that I did when I fell off the wagon.

I'm sure youve heard it before...but i'll say it anyway as I think its important...and its what I started to realize...the best 'diet' or 'exercise' plan for that matter is the one you can stick to.

A lot of times you will hear things like 'that weight loss isnt sustainable'...I never really understood that phrase fully until recently, even during my yo-yo phases I had heard the phrase but it didnt really mean anything to me. As surely if I could get down in weight over the period of 6 months its sustainable by definition.

Looking at the phrase now, in my mind it makes more sense to think of it like driving a car...if your driving a car 100mph everyday is that going to be as sustainable as someone driving their car 55mph everyday? Yes the person driving their car 100 is going to get to their destination faster, but lots can go wrong on the way there, and if a crash happens, you know what they say 'speed kills' and I think this can be said about weight loss as well, the more steady you lose the weight the slower the 'rebound' happens, the crash isn't as 'deadly' you have more time to react (I wish I knew this back then).

I probably would have saved a lot of heartache with myself and disappointment if I didnt have such bad diet dogma. And I wish I could say intermittent fasting solved my issues with rebounding, but I think it actually made it worse...and was a gateway for me into extended fasting.

Extended fasting was the last big phase of dieting and yo-yoing for me, the most extreme of all weight loss fads (I dont mean that derogatorily either, lots of people swear by it and there are lots of studies and stories showing just how powerful it is for autophagy and getting unwanted weight off). So when I say its a fad...I meant it personally...just the next be all that ends all in my ongoing weight loss journey. I became obsessed...maybe theres something about this type of obsessive personality in terms of overeating, and going from one extreme to another. I simply didn't want to put in the required work that was going to be needed this time to lose the fat, call it what you want, I was desperate again...

Just like all my other attempts at losing weight this one worked as well (kind of funny how that works), I lost the weight again, not all the weight mind you but I probably got down to around 235lbs. Deep down I knew it wasnt going to last, I can admit that now, if you asked me back then I would have said its a lifestyle and just part of my routine (come on though, would you believe that? lol, imagine a routine being eating every other day (Alternate Day Fasting, ADF) sometimes actually going 72 hours on water alone, the longest one I ever did was a week straight (proud of that one to this day).

I was bought in...until I wasnt...another diet, another 'failure' all the diets worked, yet they all failed, when your in the middle of it you dont think to ask why, you just kind of figured it would...

Even now as I write this post knowing im down near my lowest weight and have been sitting at it for months now, maintaining (kind of, we will get to that later) instead of a day or two like in the past, part of me is just waiting, just waiting for the shoe to drop, wake up look in the mirror and im back up to 250lbs...or worse...its always in the back of my head now, and I know its not healthy, but its there, I live with it...who wouldnt after 20 years of yo-yo dieting.

What Finally Clicked

My most recent weight loss success, kind of puts everything I learned together. I knew I could lose weight, I knew I could gain it back just as easy, if not easier, I think most people reading my weight loss journey would agree that gaining weight is far easier then losing it...I cant even imagine being a 'hard gainer', I guess they have, and go through their own struggles themselves. Okay, Im rambling, lets get to the point, the reason you've read this far, or maybe just clicked the table of contents for this section...lol

Its not ground breaking, Im not here to sell you the latest fad diet, or weight loss gadget. I cant even guarantee if you follow what I did that you will be successful yourself, some people will just not be at this point in their journey yet, it requires in my opinion some real honest conversations with yourself, it took me many years (~20) to understand that Im not some special case, Im not living a life thats more unique or difficult then someone else, I dont have a 'slow metabolism', everyone has their own story yes, its impossible to deny that, and at the end of the day the majority of us on this weight loss journey are able to lose the weight, one way or another, whether its through keto, low fat dieting, calorie counting, fasting, most of us do it simply through sheer will and determination, I know that is how Ive done it every single time, there isnt a magic bullet when it comes to weight loss, some might argue that GLP-1's are, but thats for another story.

And its the fact that most of us lose the weight through this sheer will and determination that the majority of us gain it back, working so hard for months, sometimes years to lose body fat and then finally getting down to your 'dream weight, dream physique' leaves me every time feeling strange, I say strange, because its hard to actually describe and put into words how I feel every time Ive lost the weight, its typically anti-climactic if we are being honest.

Along the journey we all get the compliments, "wow, youve lost so much weight, how did you do it?" "wow you look amazing!!" "OMG I wish I could do what your doing" it feels good, validation, your hard work is paying off. The compliments slowly fade, before stopping completely, the motivation slowly wanes, youre no longer working towards something, your entire identity has been weight loss, it has been fitness, living your healthiest life, you literally lived and breathed it daily, it consumed you completely, and one day, seemingly out of nowhere youre there.

Youve reached the 'finish' line, there isnt a huge party being thrown for you, you havent won some kind of grand cash prize, its just 'over'. This feeling of finality...what now?...is typically where I fail, where my rebound has always began.

The hardest part of weight loss isnt losing weight...its keeping it off...this is what I finally realized, what finally 'clicked' in my head, its been there the entire time. The weight loss journey is just beginning when we hit our goal weight...the compliments have stopped, your not weighing in to see what youre 'down' this week over last, you've stopped taking progress pictures, the dopamine rush of seeing yourself blast through a plateau that youve been on for weeks isnt happening anymore. This is truly the most important part of the journey, your journey needs to begin, it needs to start over once you've hit your goal weight, not once you have gained it all back and then some.

This is what I have been focusing on since I got to my goal weight. Setting new goals, making sure to weigh myself every single morning, making sure I continue to take 'progress' pictures of myself, the mirror can tell you a lot about whats happening before the scale does.

Ive been trying to forge a new identity, you have to, at least I do, Ive actually started a 100 day challenge to get abs, depending on when you are reading this I'll have either succeeded or failed (Challenge started near the end of February 2026 and there is an entire blog series on it) the challenge on the outside seems to be purely vanity related, and yah sure who doesnt want abs, but it plays a bigger role psychologically for me...it gives me a new finish line, something to work towards, something that is tangible.

Its a short term fix but it does its job bridging the gap at the point I usually start to rebound...that point of nothingness, the point where your kind of in purgatory, wondering whats next...the dopamine hits long gone, you need a purpose...my purpose as I'm writing this is to complete the challenge...give it an earnest attempt, start training myself and my new identity that 'weight loss' isnt everything, its the lifestyle that comes after the loss that im focused on now.

What I Did to Lose the Weight

Phase 1: The First 30lbs

When you have 100lbs to lose the first 30 typically melts off, essentially the honeymoon phase of weight loss, everything is easy, it can even be exciting, any diet works, any amount of exercise certainly feels challenging, but it all compounds. It's important not to overdo the exercise here...even though you want to, you are, I would say at your peak level of motivation in this beginning phase of your journey.

This time around I focused more on sustainability in the beginning, I knew it was going to be a grind and I was topping the scale at around 290lbs. Instead of having a strict plan like in the past, I decided in the beginning just to focus on my daily activity levels, not specific workouts, workouts were going to be a bonus, at the risk of sounding cliche, in the beginning this time I just started getting more active, I consistently tried to hit 10,000 steps a day (by the way, the amount of people that say 'just do 10,000 steps' lol they make it sound like its so easy to do, its actually not something your going to get to 'naturally' this changes of course if you have an active job. However, if you dont, you have to put in the work to get there, a 20 minute walk once a day with your dog isnt going to get you there).

During this initial phase of weight loss I will caution you not to compare yourself to others, lots of different factors going into the speed of loss, losing 30 lbs in 2 months isnt going to be impressive for long if you gain all the weight back in 1.5...

One tip I will give though is ensure you are weighing yourself consistently, personally when im losing the most weight consistently I was weighing in every single morning, no matter what, you cannot be afraid of the scale, its going to go up sometimes when you have the 'perfect day' the day before, its just how it is. The more you weigh yourself the more data you will have to go with, you will learn how your body reacts to certain foods/exercises/stresses, its all important especially when inevitable plateaus come.

Secondly just because your body is not dropping pounds does not mean what you are doing is not working, dont get me wrong, the trend is very important, but short term sometimes even over a period of a couple of months the scale wont budge, you might lose a bit, gain it back, even though youve been doing everything right.

This is where the next non-negotiable comes into place. Get in the habit of taking progress pictures, I literally have hundreds on my phone (in the hidden folder of course, lol). Not only is it a great feeling having these pictures side by side in a before and after pic, but it gives you actual feedback, I got in the habit where I was taking photos every single day, I became obsessed with it, it gave me the confidence to post some pictures online, stretch marks and all, plus it stops you from being discouraged when the scale isnt budging. If you want to make a quick before and after comparison, I built a free collage maker that lets you do exactly that.

Phase 2: The Plateau and The Grind

This next phase is where we lose a lot of people along the way, the dreaded plateaus. Your body is literally fighting against you to stop you from dropping more weight. The easy gains you experienced in the beginning are now gone, youre still weighing in every single day, the scale isnt dropping though, your pictures you are taking look the same.

You wonder what your doing wrong, you feel like a failure, whats the point in doing all this if you are just stuck at this weight, I might as well go get some take out and at least be fat and happy as opposed to miserable and fat. I wish I had a magic bullet for this phase, there is no real answer though. You must stay consistent, you must continue to build habits that will shape you into the person you will be when you do lose the weight.

There are some things I would recommend if you are stuck in a plateau, start taking an honest inventory of two things.

1/ What you are putting in your mouth on a daily basis...yes I know, calorie counting...just as a baseline though, get a food scale they take up no space and can be found on amazon for quite cheap.

2/ What is your activity level like, start tracking what your doing, whether you have a smart watch, phone, paper journal, it doesnt matter, just take an honest look at what you are doing.

When you have a week or so of data take a look at it, analyze it, give it to AI if you need to. After this week or two of data collection start adjusting, if your working out and getting 10,000 steps a day in, your issue might not be exercise, it might be diet. If your diet is on point (even after counting sauces properly), it might be your exercise. The good thing is both of these can be adjusted.

If you think both are on point and you still have 40-50 pounds to lose I hate to say it but I think you need a second opinion...most people unless they have a metabolic disorder are able to get quite close down to their goal weight before drastic measures need to be taken...theres a reason the last 10lbs are typically the hardest to lose, there is also a reason losing that last 10 pounds makes a good looking transformation into a spectacular one.

Phase 3: Breaking Through

Put in the work. This is where you find out how serious you are about getting down to your goal weight. There are no short cuts here, its one of the main reasons I lost and gained weight so many times from 20-40 years old, I just wasnt prepared to go that extra mile, what I thought was enough wasn't even close to being enough, its humbling to think of.

You know your putting in hard work, you feel good doing it, your more active then your skinny friends...it doesnt matter though...your simply not doing enough. You have to force your body to lose the weight. Everything has to be dialed in at this point. Yes your diet is on point, tighten it up even more, yes your getting your 10,000 steps in, get in 15,000, start tracking your sleep, start mixing things up, shock your body into blasting through the plateau, if you can afford a trainer go for it, maybe set a goal to run a 5k, increase the intensity everywhere.

There are some people blessed with amazing genetics, youre most likely not one of them, you have to work for EVERYTHING, it makes the payoff that much sweeter, its just you against you.

There were times I was literally on my exercise bike (Zwift) for 3 hours straight, competing against myself, in my garage in the middle of summer, my mindset was unbreakable. I could tell what I was doing was starting to pay off, the second you start getting the comments "Dont you think you've lost enough weight yet", "are you sure this is sustainable?" this is when you know your almost there, remember who youre doing this for, and the reason your doing it, no one knows your struggle more then you know yourself. Keep going at all costs, you deserve it. You deserve to look at a picture and be happy with what you see.

If you put in the work during this phase youre going to wake up one day and the plateau you were at will simply be a thing of the past, bodyweight that you never thought you could hit (onederland for me) will be your new set point, you will stare at yourself in the mirror, in a state of shock, you've been so locked into the process you actually forgot about it for a while, you cant help but smirk...you did it. There is not a better feeling in the world then feeling that, being proud of yourself for actually doing it.

Phase 4: Keeping It Off

This section is a tough one for me, where I'd consider myself an expert at both losing weight and gaining it back, id consider myself an amateur at best when it comes to keeping the weight off and maintaining it. I'm not going to give any 'real' advice here because I dont think Im in a position to, Im in this new territory where I'm at a goal weight and Im trying to keep it off. Im learning what works for me and what doesnt.

One thing that I know for sure is my pattern of weight loss and weight gain corresponds greatly with the amount of tracking I do, the more consistently I weigh in and take progress pictures, the more I stay 'locked in'. For the last couple of weeks Ive been making it my goal to weigh in every single day and take a progress picture afterwards. I find it keeps me in that right mindset.

I also know for me personally I need something to work towards, too many times in the past Ive reached a goal, or came close to a goal only to lose my 'purpose'. Over the last year or so losing 100lbs my entire identity was weight loss, when you lose that identity its tough to navigate through life to be honest.

I dont really have a new identity or something Im extremely passionate about but Im cognizant of the fact my new weight isnt just my 'new weight' moving forward, there are countless stories and people who have lost the weight, even more then me for that matter who end up gaining it back, Im early in my maintenance phase...probably 6 months in at this point, so Im nowhere near in the clear of gaining it back, and thats okay, its actually important to be aware of this. The last thing I want to do is become complacent...

Where I Am Now

Im around 6 months currently past what I would call my peak lifetime physique. Im not going to sugar coat it...exercise wise and strength training wise I fell off the wagon hard, Im around the same weight as my peak physique but I dont look nearly as good. Objectively speaking based on my history this is a massive win for me, as in the past I probably would have gained around 25lbs over that 6 months without even blinking an eye.

When I hit my goal weight/physique I simply didn't know what to do. I lost my purpose, winter hit, and I gradually stopped going to the gym (while still paying for it, lol their ideal client), my outside runs stopped (Canadian winters will do that to you). I stopped weighing in, and taking pictures...I was afraid again, actually thinking about this now, its a mini miracle im still sub 200lbs.

Unfortunately I cant pinpoint exactly what got me back on the wagon, but it was a few weeks ago now where I recommitted to working out (slow and steady right now), similar to that initial weight loss phase actually...just building on the habit, Im trying to move more again, Im more conscious of what Im putting in my mouth, notice something?

We are coming full circle, Im at my 'goal weight' but have started to treat things like im in that beginning weight loss phase again, it is bringing back some of that excitement and joy, some dopamine hits, making new goals, excited about what the future will bring, this time feels different...

Thanks for following along. Please leave a comment, questions, advice for others below, I would love some advice specifically on maintenance.

What I'd Tell Someone Starting Today

The odds are if you read this you are starting your own journey, or in the middle of one. I'd like to first off thank you for making it this far. If youre looking for specific advice from me please feel free to ask a question below. Of course you might not be looking for specifics so I'll give you some tips here that you can do with what you want.

Thanks again for following along, my plan is to have this be a living and breathing 'diary' so I will be updating it from time to time. Hope to see you around. WE GOT THIS!