Going to 400+ days in a row, what I've learned

Growing up I was always an overweight kid even though I played sports my entire life soccer, swimming, football, and squash for 18 years of my life at least 4 days a week there was nothing that worked to lose weight, through the project that I am undertaking I have learned how to correctly lose weight and therefore everything I did wrong before.

My freshman roommate took me to the gym for the first time spring of 2022, my starting weight was around 180 I am 162 today, that summer I got my first gym membership and started going consistently, on February 5th 2023 I started my streak with the objective of going 365 days in a row. Very early on I learned that weight loss was simple thermodynamics, all one had to do was expend more energy than one took in by either eating less or burning more calories. To start everyone should use a calorie calculator that estimates how much your maintenance is based on activity level, height, and weight. What has helped me track my calories is MyFitnessPal to track my calories and an excel sheet that tracks my weight, takes an average each week, and calculates how many calories I in deficit or excess I burned or ate a week based on the fact that a pound of fat is 3500 calories. It is important to be honest when tracking these since the only person you are lying to is yourself. The reason I take an average is that your weight fluctuates rapidly and if you look at the scale too often and take it at face value you might get frustrated or confused when you see the number go up but in reality, it is probably just water so taking an average over a week of your weight every morning will give you a more accurate picture.

when organizing a training schedule the most important thing for weight loss and muscle gain is consistency and intensity, so you should plan a schedule that is manageable and won't lead you to skip days since you have pushed yourself too far or negatively impact the rest of your life. most people should start off going 3-5 times a week for weight training and doing cardio since it will lead you to be more healthy and is an easy and quick way to burn calories. There is a saying that goes "A person who enjoys walking will walk further than the person who enjoys the destination" In the context of training this means that you should make training enjoyable, making it enjoyable for me was easy since I enjoyed the training while listening to music it was my form of meditation, but I have friends who made it enjoyable by going with friends, or "tricking" your body to enjoy it by associating training with the only time you drink caffeine which releases endorphins when drank. To avoid training becoming boring I add new exercises so it doesn't become repetitive.

The three C's of training for me are cardio, consistency, and a caloric deficit, as long as you remember these and don't stray from them success is inevitable, best of luck.