Welcome back! I’ve been wanting to share more about my weight loss journey with you and I’m excited to dig into that today. If you’re reading this tomorrow, I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend and enjoy the time with your loved ones.
In this week’s issue:
More details on my journey with weight loss. Sharing out my lifelong journey with my physical health and the patterns I’ve recognized over time.
Moments that made me smile. Ate at another Texas-style barbecue joint, tried out some different clothing combinations, and continued exploring the peninsula.
Inspiring links I’ve discovered over the week. A hilarious video on adding “patina” to new clothing, an e-bike announcement I’m drooling over, and my favorite little big updates from Figma.
My Life’s Journey With Weight Loss
I held off sharing this until now, mainly because I feel self-conscious sharing out progress photos.
I’ve always struggled with the way my body has looked over time.
I’ve experienced a variety of emotions, ranging from frustration and anger to happiness and satisfaction.
As of right now, I couldn’t be happier with how far I’ve come and I don’t ever want to go back.
I’ve noticed a pattern in how I’ve gained and lost weight over my lifetime.
Childhood
It all started when I was born.
I was a big baby, coming in over 9 pounds, and if I remember correctly, I was actually closer to 10 pounds.
Then, fast-forward to 10 year-old me, I was at my heaviest, being “chunky” and definitely over weight—I even made my own comic book with a superhero called “Chunky Boy.”
At that time, I was eating very unhealthy.
My family and I had moved to a new house, where my parents decided to renovate the kitchen, which, if I remember correctly, took close to 9 months to finish.
I remember eating Burger King and Del Taco almost every night, which explains why I was overweight at the time. To this day, I still can’t eat at either place. You know that feeling when you eat somewhere so much that you never want it again?
I want to say I was overweight until I was 14 years-old, when I started high school and made the freshman basketball team, after not making it either teams during junior high school—another story for another day.
In that four year span, I grew about six inches which helped “thin” me out, a little.
Looking back at high school pictures, I can still see I was holding on to some “baby” fat.
Adulthood
When I was 18 years old, I felt like I was at the peak of my physical capabilities, weighing 185 pounds on graduation day.
It turns out I was wrong.
Just a few months later, I was overweight again, coming in over 200 pounds, mainly because of my eating habits.
I had started attending a junior college, out of reluctance, because I couldn’t afford to attend one of the expensive colleges I had gotten accepted to.
I gained weight during this time, mostly due to the depression that came with not being able to leave my hometown for college. I was eating out almost every night, became a regular at Red Robin, where the entire staff eventually knew both mine and my wife’s name. I was even given a pitcher of soda with a straw once, which should’ve been a huge red flag to my health at the time.
I kept that weight for almost another four years of my life.
It wasn’t until I was 22 years old, when I was working at Trader Joe’s, where a few co-workers of mine mentioned they were running in a half marathon, and they invited me to join them. I started training, running a mile at first, then eventually working my way up to 6 miles at the peak of my training. I was also playing basketball three to four times a week, which helped with the training for the marathon.
I ended up dropping down close to 175 pounds, almost a 30 pound difference.
That was the first time I went through a significant period of weight loss.
I ended up losing even more weight after moving to San Francisco that year, to pursue my dreams of attending college away from home and getting into the world of fashion.
I hovered around 170 pounds for the next few years until I finished school and moved back home to get married.
Once I moved back home, I hovered around 175-185 pounds for a few years until we moved back up to San Francisco for the second time.
I kept a pretty active lifestyle, walking as part of my commute to work downtown, playing basketball three to four times a week, and running around the city, checking out new restaurants and coffee shops.
It wasn’t until 2020 where I experience another period of weight gain.
This was largely due to depression, losing my job, struggling to find another one during all of the layoffs, and moving back home. It was at the peak of COVID, which I’m sure many people also experienced something similar.
Over those two years during the pandemic, I had gained almost 40 pounds, eating out almost every night and weekend, not exercising and not prioritizing my health.
Last year is when I started to get back on track.
Gyms re-opened. My wife and I moved back to San Francisco. And, things in the world were starting to feel like they were getting back to “normal.”
I got really serious about my health once we got back from living abroad.
In September, I began making real changes and kept those up ever since.
Here’s how I was able to lose over 30 pounds:
Tracked my weight weekly — I weigh myself every week on Monday morning at 7:00 am. I like starting my week off accomplishing this small task and it helps me understand if I should make any dietary changes if I weigh more or less compared to the previous week.
Worked out 2-3 times a week — I follow a simple workout routine based on this YouTube video, which shares a progressive three month workout plan. I’ve been following a variation of the last month’s plan for most of this year.
Reduced my caloric intake — I try to eat around 1,800-2,000 calories per day, mainly through salads, nuts, granola bars, and limiting carbs. I found almost removing carbs altogether dramatically improved my weight loss. I highly recommend checking with your doctor before deciding to make a dramatic dietary change.
How I’m Continuing The Journey
One of my goals in life is to continue pursuing good health and wellness, both physically and mentally.
It requires sacrifice, commitment, and fortitude.
I’m not at all perfect in any of those aspects, but I’m trying.
Building habits, both small and large, to help me reach that goal is one way I’m trying to achieve that.
Whether it’s reading each day for 30 minutes, stretching at night before bed, not missing more than one workout per week, and monitoring my caloric intake; all of these little things add up to the overall result of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, for me.
I’m happy to share more about my experience or answer any questions you may have.
Download My Notion Weight Tracking Template →
Highlights
Ate at Capello’s Barbecue in Redwood City
We tried another Texas-style barbecue restaurant, and brisket has become my new favorite type of meat. I just love how it melts in your mouth, and has a texture unlike anything else. I ordered the brisket sandwich, and grabbed some of their many sides of sauces. I can’t wait to go back.
Links
A collection of things I’ve found inspiring this week.
VanMoof’s New S4 Electric Bicycle in Foam Green — This green color way is gorgeous. I haven’t owned a bicycle since 2012, however, I’m heavily considering one of these new e-bikes. I’ve been a long-time fan of this brand and the design of both their online site and physical products. I’m looking forward to stopping by the shop in San Francisco and checking these out.
Trying to Get My New Carhartt Jacket to Look Vintage — This video is hilarious. If any of you are fans of vintage Carhartt clothing, you’d totally get a laugh of out this. The temptation to buy some new Carhartt and do this is surprisingly high. One other tactic I learned from my friend this week: rub yourself with baby oil and then put on the jacket (either denim or canvas) and wear it out while doing your “daily activities” (if that means jumping down a skateboarding ramp).
Figma’s Little Big Updates Announcement ahead of Config — Each year Figma shares out 30+ quality of life improvements to their applications, which is something I always look forward to. The team over there continues to absolutely crush it, shipping updates as frequently as they do is amazing to see, even after being acquired by Adobe. My two favorite LBU’s from this batch: Hanging Punctation (Slide 6) and Rich Text in Comments (Slide 10).
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*Also, last call if you’d like to grab coffee or hang out in the city. I’ll soon be done commuting to San Francisco and would love to meet up if you’re there!
Nicely done, Vic - you look ripped, Dude! It's nice to see a member of one of the younger generations (Millennial, Gen Z) recognize that there's an incredibly positive payoff when you choose a healthy lifestyle. I like the concept behind the "people should accept me for who I am" philosophy, but that doesn't mean we should accept less of ourselves. Let's all choose to be the best versions of ourselves, especially when it comes to health & fitness, so we can enjoy life and be awesome parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and mentors to the next generation!