I've tried a number of different fitness and diet regimens since my metabolism hit a brick wall around 20. Some worked better than others, but in the end I never ended up sustaining any of them long term. The closest I previously came to success was simply controlling portions and strength training at least twice a week; no supplements or any fancy shit. That's probably what I would have tried again before the pandemic hit. Losing work, staying indoors, and doing lots of home cooking caused me to gain a ton of weight in a short amount of time. Decided to recommit when I found that I could barely even put on my good slacks any more.
But what to do in the middle of a pandemic when you love food, hate deprivation, and mostly relied on the gym to stay in shape? After some tweaking it seems that - at least for me - the answer is intermittent fasting. I tried a more extreme version in the past to little success, but this version is doing wonders so far. Basically I don't eat until I get home for dinner and dessert. It's counterintuitive to everything you're told about lots of small meals and breakfast being the most important meal of the day and all that, but it's working great so far. I find my stomach mostly stays 'asleep' and doesn't bother me until I wake it up with food, so putting that off until the end of the day saves me a lot of calories. This way I'm able to eat what I want until I'm full, go to bed sated, and still lose weight. Been doing it consistently for about two months now without issue. We'll see if anything changes when I get lean but so far my cravings are minuscule and I'm much less lethargic than if I were eating normally. It's the easiest diet I've ever been on by far.
I've deliberately avoided constantly weighing myself this time but those same slacks I could barely get on before now barely stay on without a belt. I plan to keep this going indefinitely if possible. I don't plan on going back to the gym until next year but fortunately I seem to be holding on to most of the muscle I gained in the meantime. When I do go back, maybe I'll add an extra meal on workout days to reward and fuel myself. Regardless, I think I've got a system I can actually stick with this time.
