Almost exactly five months ago, I wrote about how I resolved to finally start taking care of my body again, joined a gym for the first time in four years, and was about to meet with a new personal trainer for the first time. Well, I did that. And if you’ve been following me on Twitter, you probably know that I’ve gone through somewhat of a lifestyle transformation the last few months. But for those of you who haven’t, or want more details, boy have I got a blog post for you.

DISCLAIMER/WARNING: There’s going to be some stuff in here some of you might not personally agree with, but this is me talking about my own journey to feel better and keep the specter of an early grave at bay, so if you’re not down with talk of body fat percentages or carb restriction, I totally understand. Just stop reading and thanks for stopping by.

I did end up having that meeting with a personal trainer in January, at which point I found out I was a bit heavier than I thought I was (173.5 pounds, to be exact), that my body fat was at 25.9% (considered the high end of average for my age), and my waist was up to 34 inches (explaining why my size 32 pants no longer fit). If you believe in body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of anything real (most people don’t; there are too many spurious factors to rely for a simple weight/height ratio to mean anything substantial), I was slightly overweight. None of this was really news, of course. Yeah, having the hard numbers in front of my face was new, but I knew I was out of shape (for me).

Smash cut to five months later: I just clocked in at 161 pounds yesterday, with a body fat percentage of 21.4% (low end of average, approaching “ideal”), and a waist down to just over 32 inches. In fake-ass BMI terms, “normal.” I bet right now you’re asking yourself, “Pj, what did you do to achieve these entirely reasonable results in five months?” Well, reader, you knew I was going to answer that…

Hitting the Gym + Doing the Work

As mentioned previously, I not only got a gym membership, but I have actually been using it. My employer offers a subsidy for wellness-related expenses, so I wasn’t going to let that money go untapped. In addition to hitting the gym to do weights or cardio three-to-four times a week, I also started running regularly, doing three-mile runs a few days a week.

But it wasn’t just exercising in the gym or hitting the streets. I also tried to incorporate healthier behaviors into everyday activities. For example, I stopped using the elevator at my office. I’m on the fourth floor, and it’s a double-flight of stairs per floor, so going up and down those multiple times per day has added to my overall step count and fat burning efficiency.

And amazingly, none of this interfered with my ability to get done creative work, which was a fear of mine. Having the structure of work-gym-meal-work actually helped provide a balance to my life, and as I’ll get to later, I had more energy thanks to all these changes.

Personal Training

Yeah, this is not an option everyone has access to, although honestly, I could only justify the expense temporarily thanks to a short-term boost from a contract gig. After my initial meeting with the personal trainer, I took advantage of the introductory deal offered by 24 Hour Fitness, which was something like 5 sessions for $250. Then I signed up for another 12 weeks, basically, at a price that sounds like a lot, but in retrospect, is worth it when you consider how much I might (would) have spent eating out.

FitBit

I initially bought a FitBit watch/fitness tracker just to keep an eye on my heart rate. My trainer was concerned that a dizzy spell that took me out at the end of a particularly intense leg day was related to my heart rate. But it was helpful for also counting steps (even though the model I have is inaccurate as heck), sleep monitoring, and oh yeah, telling time. But most importantly, it gave me access to FitBit’s fitness dashboard, which tracks all that activity, plus (if you choose to) food and drink consumption. So I started tracking everything I ate, at first to make sure I was not consuming more calories than I was burning, but eventually to also track my macros when I instituted a…

Diet Change

I was doing fine with the training regimen and calorie restrictions (which weren’t really restrictions, because as active as I have been, I was still able to consume 2,000+ calories a day while staying at a deficit), but I wasn’t seeing any physical changes, and I still didn’t feel any better (just tired and sore all the time). I had actually gained a few pounds, which probably was just new muscle weight, but still. So, beginning May 1, I cut out (most of) the crap. Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, sugar—all nixed, for the most part. No more pastries at the coffee shop. No more lazy bagel breakfasts. No more pizza dinners. No more office donuts. No more French fries.

I flipped my macros from a diet that was like 50% carbs, 20% fat and 30% protein to one that was more like 25/50/25. This was done mostly by eliminating excess carbs from certain meals (like getting a protein bowl without rice or a salad without croutons), or by switching out starchy, high-sugar ingredients with healthy fats or fibrous veggies (using avocado in a smoothie instead of banana).  Basically, some weird combo of keto and paleo without being too restrictive. A lot of fish, eggs, nuts, leafy greens, healthy fats, augmented by some minimally processed vegan products. No fruit except low-sugar berries. Occasional cheese and yogurt (of the plain variety).

I also shifted from spending a lot of money eating out to spending a lot of money grocery shopping. When Sara and I would eat out, I’d stick to variations on what I was already eating at home: vegetables, fish, eggs, nuts. Not that I was drinking much alcohol anyway since moving out to California a few years ago, but I kept that to a minimum, obviously, and only had a one-shot spirit or dry wine on occasion after a few weeks.

The physical benefits were almost immediate. I went from 174 lbs at the start of May to 163 lbs by the end of the month. I was able to fit into pants I hadn’t in years. I bought new clothes at the size I always assume I am, and they fit with room to spare. I’ve had more energy overall, and have been more creatively productive than I have in recent memory.

What’s Next?

By no means am I done. I’m still carrying around about 34 pounds of fat, and although I’ve been told I’m noticeably leaner, I have neither gotten to the “OMG abs” nor the “swole” stage of this fitness journey. And although my overall health seems fine, I’m still waiting on results of blood work I had done last week as part of my annual physical. But I saw a cardiologist who said my heart sounds solid, my EKG chart looks good (I actually have bradycardia, or low resting heart rate, which is typical of runners and people who do a lot of cardio), and he doesn’t think my dizzy spell after a heavy workout was anything but overexertion.

For now, though, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made, and to be frank, proud of myself for putting in the work and committing to making real lifestyle changes that seem sustainable and not nearly as difficult as I thought they’d be.