Around 13 months ago I've found out that I was overweight and wanted to change something

Staying slim and fit is hard. Especially if you sit in the front of the computer ~12 hours per day and have a family of 4 (me, amazing wife + 2 awesome kiddos).

Road to obesity

Around 13 months ago I've found out that I was overweight - having 93kg while being 183cm tall was not the form I've ever dreamt of. It was even more disturbing, because for the most of my teenage years I was known amongs my family members as that more than an average sporty guy - playing footbal, running or training acrobatics was on my regular weekly schedule.

Yes - that was me in ~2009

When I started my IT journey at the Tech University things has changed - learning, freelancing, not-so-much-but-still-a-bit-partying and lots of junk/fast food lead me from ~75kg to 90kg+ state.

Years has passed, more and more kilograms has come. There was ups and downs with short-term diets and trainings but after couple weeks I was coming back to starting point (90kg+ weight).

But last year I've decided to change this. Permanently.

Road to success

My first step was to change eating habits. Nothing fancy though: just reduced amount of junk food per week and daily dose of candys. It doesn't mean that I've got rid of them totally, oh no - just takes 1-2 small sweets instead of 5-6 - you can easily notice the difference.

I have also switched from Coca-Cola / Pepsi to Cola Zero / Pepsi Max (no sugar). Yes, I'm aware of sweeteners used in them, but it's like coffee for me (especially during summer time) - I drink at least 1 glass of it per day.

After this change I've found out that I've stopped gaining weight. That was enough motivation to start working out.

So the next step was to start running. Not daily, not even every other day - having a full-time job and family takes tons of energy & time.

I've started running when I can. During my lifetime I've learnt that I take most of the training (if I want to lose weight) if I perform it on an empty stomach, in the morning.

The key is to start small - my first tranings were around from 3 to 6 km (at its best) long, with average pace around 8-9km per hour.

Comparing it with my current distances (7-10km) and speed (9-11 km/h) shows some progress that I'm totally satisfied with. My main goal was to be able to run through 10 km distance - I don't aim for running marathon or half-marathon, just wanted to achieve this distance and then just improve my time.

Road to results

During 13 months I've ran ~200 km and burned ~20408 kcal. The fact that I've lost 13kg in total (and to lose 1kg of fat we need to burn ~7000 kcal - found this info somewhere on the net) proves that we're burning calories long after we stop working out (and also it greatly boosts metabolism).

Losing weight is not rocket science. But it also doesn't happen without dedication and some planning (nothing fancy, just to find free time to go out -> train -> go back & take a shower). Support from family members helps a lot (thank you, my dear wifey ;*)

I encourage you to take a first step for a healthier life. Spend some active time outside, breathe fresh air and You'll find yourself in better mood in no time. Changing wardrobe from Large size to Medium/Small can also make you smile as it did to me :)

I've decided to create a new category here: Busy Geek Training. I'm gonna share here my thoughts and insights from my adventure to live a healthier life

-- ł.