the reformation: 1.5 years later

It's been a year and a half since I started tweaking my lifestyle to get away from the "Dad Bod" I'd accumulated over my years of fatherhood. While I have a ways to go to hit my goals, I'm happy with the progress I've made. I went from 185 pounds down to 155, then slowly rolled back up to 175 pounds (where I'm at now). Because my clothes fit looser at 175 than they did at 155, I'm thinking most of the added weight is muscle. At least that's what I like to think! This whole journey has been a learning process. As much as I would like to have a smaller stomach, I decided a year ago that I would focus on a very minimal fat loss strategy. My ultimate goal has been to build strength while losing fat; if my goal were rapid weight loss, it would happen at the expense of muscle gain. While some people like to alternate between "bulking" and "cutting," I'm convinced that the turtle wins the race. I'm eating at a slight deficit but pounding protein and good carbohydrates to lose a little bit of fat while building a little bit of muscle. It's the best route in the long term, but it takes long term thinking and determination. Most guys I read and follow admit that it's taken them four to six years to get where they want to be, and I'm right on track. It's the long game, and that can be frustrating at times, so I'm glad to see the distinct changes in my Before and After pics (though a better turn-of-phrase would be Before and During pics, because I'm nowhere near the end of my journey). 

This side-by-side is me from January 2015 and me from earlier this month, so it's just over a five year difference. Granted that this picture from 2015 is right before I started packing on the pounds, it nevertheless shows the progress I've made in the muscles department. I'm twenty pounds heavier now than I was then, and though I still have my belly (my dad runs marathons twice a week and still has a belly, so there may be a genetic component here!), there's definitely better toning.

This side-by-side compares me from January 2019 to earlier this month (though the pic may actually be from early winter 2018, now that I'm thinking about it and wondering if I mislabeled it). Anyways, I'm ten pounds lighter now than I was back then, but you can see there's a decent amount of fat gone and muscle added on. The angle of the shot in the second picture makes my left arm look like a twig, but I guarantee it's the same size as my right (well, almost the same size; the dominant side is generally a little bigger). These two collages encourage me, in that I can see I've made progress and am continuing to make progress. We'll see how things are looking in another six months!