"I bet it's been hard?" That's what I have been asked many times over the past few months when meeting people and talking about my fitness reboot, weight loss and body transformation. My honest reply is "No! It's been pretty easy" and it really has!
How did it start?
On Wednesday 19th July 2023 I went to bed. The following morning I awoke and just knew that things needed to change in my life. More importantly I wanted things to change. There was no single thing that triggered this decision. It was just something I realised I had to do. An absolute epiphany! If I had to identify one trigger it would be my mate Ken who I had met at a Jaguar car event a few months earlier in March 2023. Ken was into fitness and our conversations must have seeped into my brain.
So, I asked Ken for some help, support, motivation. "Download an app called NutraCheck. Start calorie counting. Calories in versus calories out. Calories are king." said Ken. So I did. I ordered protein shakes from Huel, but Ken recommended Protein Works products instead. So they were ordered as well. It was just down to which would arrive first. Friday 21st July 2023 - Day 1 - and a delivery from Protein Works arrived just before lunchtime and with that my first diet meal replacement protein shake was consumed - Millionaires Shortbread - and I liked it! I really wasn't sure how it would go as I have never been a fan of milk shakes so didn't know if I could "get on" with a diet including them. I knew I had to do things differently, though, as I had been on diets many times before but never managed to stick with it for the long term and the weight would always go back on. This time had to be different. This time would be different.
For the first week or so my diet consisted mainly of meal replacement shakes, salads and fruit. Overnight I had cut out everything bad. Sweets, biscuits, takeaways, fast foods, ultra processed foods, bread, cheeses, etc. All gone, and I didn't miss them. At this stage my only goal was to lose weight. I had no sense of where this journey would lead me.