It’s easy to glance at a before and after and think, wow, that looks amazing.
I can’t believe they did that.
But how long do you think it took, really?
I’m often asked by friends and prospective clients how long until they see results.
Results as in anything at all?
6 weeks with consistency.
The results you want to see?
Years with consistency.
I’ve been lifting weights in some form since about 13. I was lucky enough to have a gym in my house. Even though we weren’t well off, my dad enjoyed weights enough to have a small little home gym (power rack, Olympic barbell, etc). Through high school and college I lifted a bit. I didn’t know what I was doing really. Not like I do now at least.
Then around 25 years old I grew tired of hating my body and got to work counting calories.
I cleaned up my diet and went from there. I was 220 lbs.
I quickly dropped to 185 and was so happy. I couldn’t have been more proud. I went on a hard binge of working out too hard and eating very little (an unhealthy way) and got to 165 in 2017.
But then I couldn’t lose any more. Then I gained about 20 lbs back. I grew unhappy again and struggled for a long time.
A long time in this case was from around the end of 2017 to 2019.
I remember sitting at my dining room table in North Carolina in tears because I never thought I’d ever see what I wanted. It was so deferring. It had been at least 3 years of work and I wasn’t close to my goal at all. It was easy to sit and ignore the progress I had already made. I was down 35 lbs but I couldn’t see it. I could only see how far I had to go.
Going through a big life change in 2019 I had extra time, energy and motivation to focus solely on my diet. I cut like it was my job. All I did for 4 months was lift six times a week and diet hard. I ate an average of 2200 calories a day during this time.
It was both wonderful and torturous. There were moments when I was so tired and hungry I would simply fall asleep in the middle of whatever I was doing. It was hard but the weight came off. I dropped from 185 to 150 in 3 months. It was extreme but the extra control and focus gave me a way to work through personal troubles.
I finally started feeling accomplished. This hard cut gave me an opportunity to learn even more about diet and training and I rolled that into an even better training career.
But this was incredibly hard. Maybe even too hard. I was only able to live this monk life for so long. Returning to being normal (dating, friends, hobbies) cut into all that. And that’s healthier overall.
Recently I finished up a nice 8 week calorie reduction. I didn’t use the word cutting with myself – I don’t know why, I just didn’t. I didn’t think of it that way. I didn’t push too hard and I just followed a plan. It’s been the easiest and the healthiest weight loss block I’ve ever had.
And it took me 6 years to figure this all out.
Six years of trial and error and learning and studying and failure and success. No one can just get this in 6 months. I’m still not done. I don’t know if I’ll ever be where I want to be. I couldn’t even tell you where I want to be. That’s what happens when you get involved in all this. You continue to just grow and push.
And maybe that’s the point I’d make with all this. I’m incredibly blessed to love this. I love it all so much. Today’s a rest day from lifting and I can’t wait to get back in there tomorrow and go at it again.
And I want to point out that all of this is simply about dieting. I’m not talking about the hardships and failures in training. The injuries and the triumphs I’ve had with a bar in my hands.
None of this easy. None of this comes quickly. But if you can accept that, you can accomplish anything in the gym.
Anyone can.