Schedule in a daily walk of 120 Minutes (like the old MTV show).
- Find a walkable spot in your city (college area, etc.).
- Load up some Drum and Bass or Ambient mixes.
- Start today. This doesn't require some huge planning session. Get going!
Tip #1: What you eat is a bit overrated (but also underrated). The word "nutrition" is often misapplied.
Something I realized while visiting Europe where the population is generally healthier but the gym bro culture isn't really as a heavy as it is in the US--they don't eat a lot of fast food or processed nonsense, but they still eat good...and they walk, alot!
I was eating whole pizzas and downing beer. I was eating large burgers and portions of fries, and downing beers. I was eating desserts, and downing beers. In the end, I felt better than ever and lost 7 pounds without even trying to. Reasons? Almost everything I ate was made fresh right in front of me, the food actually filled me up so I didn't think about eating often, and I probably averaged 4-6+ miles of walking per day.
Once I returned to the states, I started replicating that life as much as possible. Started walking more than I had been (went from 40min to 120min) and cut down on the fast food and unnecessary snacking, focusing on "fresher" foods made in front of me. Instead of Olive Garden or Pizza Hut, hit the local pizza spot where you can see it being made. It's difficult, even in places like Santa Monica or DC, but doable.
The point. I don't focus on counting calories or any of that so much as avoiding situations where I would need to.
Tip #2: Understand the goal and what it takes to get there (less than you think).
Daily walking and being "mindful" of what you eat will get you there. Utilizing an eating window can be beneficial because it imposes a hard limit on when you should be eating. Tracking your food can be beneficial, blah blah. Do what works for you. But figure out something and stick to it.
Tip #3: Ignore all of that gymbro shyt (unless that's what you want).
All these videos where guys are sprinting hills, doing backflips in the gym, doing crazy circuits. All of that is noise. Measuring carbs/protein/fat, nonsense. Are you trying to be a bodybuilder or are you trying to lose the 100lbs you gained? Focus on the goal. If the gymbro shyt works, great. But if listening to that noise does not work for you, be unapologetic about finding something that does. When I was on that gymbro shyt, I gained alot of strength and some muscle, didn't lose a lot of weight. I also found much of it to be superfluous echo-chamber nonsense that caused me to focus on the wrong things. fukk all that talking and theorizing, do what works!
Tip #4: Find a routine and stick to it (also, find people to walk around and explore with).
When I was living in SoCal I would walk the beach every morning, or walk around UCLA or UC Irvine in the evenings. There was NO EXCUSE. It was like daily meditation.
In NorCal I would walk around Stanford every evening, or hit up Foothill College and walk all around there.
In AZ I would walk around UA every evening.
In NYC my boy and I would walk around Columbia, Fordham Law, and Juilliard.
When I was living in DC friends would come visit and I would just walk around DC with them. We might walk around Howard University, or park at the Capital Hill club and walk to Capital One Arena to watch a Wizard's game. Or park at Georgetown U and walk around Georgetown/Foggy Bottom. People will look back and be like, "yo, we walked 10 miles today like it was nothing."
The point. Find what you enjoy (in my case, Universities) and stick to it. No matter where I am, I'll set my timer to 120 minutes, find a university and walk around it. I could be traveling for work or vacation, I'll find a university and walk it without thinking.
- signed, a dude that lost 150lbs during the pandemic.
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