Losing a significant amount of weight such as 10 stone in 2 years is no walk in the park. It’s been a long, but rewarding journey and a lot has changed in such a short amount of time.
The fact is, when you put your mind to it anyone can lose weight. To help you along with your fitness journey I’ve written this article on what happened when I lost 10 stone in 2 years. Hopefully this helps you on your fitness journey if you’re on a similar path and looking to read about someone else’s experience.
Wait! Tap if you’re looking to read the longer version of 👉 my weightloss journey.
First Experiences With Weightloss
Without getting too deep, in the early days of my weightloss journey I didn’t experience much. Due to me being quite short - 5ft3, yes I was pretty low down in the gene pool 😂 - and really big for my size, it took a bit of time for me and everyone around me to start seeing a difference.
It’s important to not get disheartened when starting out on your journey. Your body is still getting used to a new routine, new eating habits and various body changes. As a general rule of thumb, it’ll take about 3 months for you to notice a change in your body and around 6 for anyone else.
The truth is, everyone wears their weight differently. Along with that everyone’s body will react differently to changes.
If you’re training with friends try to avoid comparing your success with theirs.
Tips When Starting Weightloss:
- Download a calorie tracker
- Get something to track activity
- Take progress pictures
- Weigh yourself
The points above may seem very small, but they certainly help along the way. No one method will work as a motivator on its own. For example, your weight on the scales may not change a lot, but if you’re lifting weights, eating clean and mixing in some cardio, your body will be changing.
This is why it’s important to have a range of success trackers to keep you on track and for you to stay motivated.
Another great way to stay motivated is by joining our fitness discord community.
Clothes Getting Bigger When Losing Weight
A blessing and a curse. One of the first things I experienced when losing weight was my clothes starting to feel a lot looser. Whilst the baggy hoodies made great pump covers, I noticed that people weren’t seeing the true gains of my hard work.
The clothes got baggier and baggier until it was pointed out to me on a progress picture. “Probably time for a new hoodie mate”.
I didn’t want to buy new clothes as I was still on my journey. But the truth is that you should. The journey is never complete and it’s okay to treat yourself to show off your gains and be proud of what you’ve achieved.
This brings me onto the next thing I experienced, this was about 6 months to a year in.
Body Dysmorphia When Losing Weight
This is something I still experience now and I’m going to start out and say it’s okay to feel off some days. Avoid getting into a mindset of beating yourself up because you haven’t achieved a goal as quickly as you’d planned to.
In fact, beating yourself up over it and stressing out will keep you from achieving your goals for even longer.
But yes, body dysmorphia is something that I’ve experienced throughout my weight loss journey. Looking in the mirror and feeling like you haven’t achieved much. And again, this is going to go back to the point of keeping track of your progress.
Whenever you feel a bit down, take a look back at the calories burnt and the before and after shots. If you’re still only just starting out, take a look at the item of clothing that you’re aiming to get into to help keep you training with a smile on your face.
Body Composition When Losing Weight
I spoke about this briefly on my blog about the best steps to losing body fat. The reason I bring it up is because it’s only something I’ve noticed very recently and it definitely plays a bit part when losing weight.
For a while, the numbers on the scale weren’t moving. No joke, for at least a month I felt as though I was just hitting a brick wall. Once I started to look back at progress pictures and analyse my body I noticed that there was a huge difference.
When doing any intense exercises such as lifting weights, martial arts and just about anything that’s keeping you active. Your body is building muscle and adapting for the exercise. Over time, you’re building muscle, losing fat and your body composition will change. Things tighten up, skin starts to lift and more. (I’m not an expert in body composition and how the body/skin changes, this is just based on my experience).
Building Confidence During Weightloss
We’ve all been there. The first day at the gym, walking in is very daunting. Throughout my weightloss journey I have constantly been building up my confidence. It’s definitely something that builds slowly over time, it’s that subtle you don’t even notice it happening but as you develop more, you become more comfortable with yourself.
Better Sleep
To lose weight effectively it’s important to have good sleep. During your weightloss journey, as you start to lose more weight you’ll begin to develop better sleep habits and patterns.
Before I started I’d be awake until 3-4AM, those late night trips to the fridge and tossing and turning trying to get comfortable.
It’s so important for your body to get rest as it helps with your recovery. As I started to lose a significant amount of body fat my sleep started to improve. Now, I have to go asleep before the main card of the UFC. 😂
Better Mood and More Focus
When I was at my largest my mood and focus was pretty poor. Fitness and mental health are very closely related. How I felt was related hugely to how I perceived myself and how I felt other perceived me.
Because I felt weak, uncomfortable and not very confident, I always had my defence up. As a result, my mood was terrible.
The same goes for focus. I was still able to get into a creative mindset but when I was overweight, my concentration was really off. I’d struggle to sit and focus on something for the length of time required and would get easily distracted.
As you lose weight, your confidence builds and you’ll start to develop a healthier mindset. You’ll begin to put less focus on the irrelevant things and focus more on developing and seeking positive resolutions to everyday problems.
Loose skin
Loose skin isn’t something I’ve necessarily suffered from, but I know a lot of people do. I have noticed certain parts of my skin starting to have a ripple like effect where my body is starting to pull in and tighten.
The reason I haven’t suffered from it so much is because I’ve steadily lost weight over time through a severe lifestyle change, improvement to my diet and lifting weights.
If you start to experiment with crash diets or try to lose too much weight too quickly then that’s where you’ll start to suffer from loose skin. If you just make gradual changes to your lifestyle over time and lift what you can then you’re much less likely to start developing loose skin.
What’s Next for my Weightloss Journey
The truth is when you’re losing weight, all aspects of your life are affected, 99% of the changes being good.
Keeping a log of progress pictures is very important to your weightloss success. Find find out more about my weightloss journey and the best steps to losing body fat.
Have you experienced anything mentioned in this article? Or maybe something else that hasn’t been mentioned? Share your journey with us in the comments below.
