For most of my life, I was never really conscious about my weight & fitness level. I’ve always been on the chubby side, and I enjoyed eating just about anything. However, last year in July, I was given an opportunity to start a regular exercise schedule in the morning. To help jumpstart my regimen, I got a trainer who would guide me twice a week.
At first, it was very difficult since I haven’t been exercising in years. I struggled with basic cardio & resistance exercises, and my body ached after every workout. However, slowly I noticed the steady progress of my workouts & felt somewhat fitter. After a few months, I moved to a workout schedule of every weekday instead of just 3 weekdays every week. My clothes started fitting better & by the time December came around, I felt much lighter & more energetic. I was very happy with my progress, but I knew that I could still do better.
Starting January this year, I weighed myself & my family regularly. Since this was the first time I weighed since I started working out, I wasn’t keeping track of how much weight I actually lost. Based on my best estimate given the last time I weighed before I started working out, as of January this year, I’ve lost around 16 kg.
However, my weight loss started slowing down during the next few months. From January to June, I only lost 8 kg. So, I decided to start tracking how many calories I consumed in a day. I did some quick research & downloaded the Livestrong MyPlate app to help track my food intake. At the same time, I started to vary my workout during my “off-days” (when my trainer wasn’t guiding me) based on a couple of articles on Livestrong.com.
Because of these steps, my weight loss started becoming consistent again & I had more control over what I ate, and could determine when I could cut myself some dietary slack. Since then, my weight loss started becoming more consistent again: as of today, I’ve lost 12 kg. since I started using the MyPlate app. So, all-in-all, since July last year, I’ve lost around 36 kg. More importantly though, I feel much healthier, more energetic, and my mind is clearer; I also feel much younger than my age.
Of course, I know that I still have a long way to go before I reach my ultimate fitness goals. What my fitness journey has taught me is that a lot can change in a year as long as you put your mind into it. Patience & hard work do pay off — plus a little luck, of course. To this point, I think unintended intermiitent fasting helped as well. Since I usually ate a late breakfast after my workouts, I was unintentionally practicing the 16-hour fasting rule between dinner & breakfast.
At the same time, my trusty Apple Watch helps me track the number of calories I burn during workouts. I’m still using the Series “0” I bought back in 2015, and it’s definitely been an essential part of my fitness journey. So yeah, I owe Apple a debt of gratitude for this fantastic device. To help pay it forward, I’ve finally started to build Veeda, an app idea I’ve had ever since I started using my Apple Watch regularly.
Even though I’m not developing Veeda as a fitness tool per se, I think that it can still be useful in the fitness journey of your loved ones. By using Veeda to keep track of how many calories they burn & steps they take in a day, you can encourage your loved ones to eat smarter & be more active. After all, health is wealth.
Veeda for iOS 