NSV - “new” pants finally fit, 5 months later

35M 5’8” SW199.4 CW180.2 GW164, 16:8/occasional OMAD, CICO tracking, moderate exercise

Longish post, posting for accountability and to mark a NSV.

Back in August ‘21, I realized I needed a new pair of khakis for my normcore business casual work environment. I found a pair of Dockers on sale for a decent price and bought them in my “normal” business casual size 34x30, which was not a size I was particularly happy with to begin with but things are what they are.

When the pants arrived, they barely fit. They were uncomfortably tight around the waist and there was no way I was going to be able to tuck a shirt in or anything else normcore business casual related. However, since I’m a “path of least resistance” kind of guy (probably one of the many reasons I ended up in this mess in the first place), instead of returning the pants for a different size, I just resigned myself to being uncomfortable while rarely wearing them. They quickly ended up in my closet and I actually ended up buying some different pants a size up like 6 weeks later in a moment of begrudgingly accepting reality.

This was a wake up call and kickstarted a quickly aborted effort to lose weight, in which I attempted a Couch to 5K program that I unfortunately had to quit due to injuring myself, most likely because I was in the worst shape of my life (not that I’ve ever been “in shape” to begin with, just varying degrees of “out of shape”) and was in no condition to start jogging, even something as easy (“easy”) as a Couch to 5K.

Needless to say, this left me pretty pissed and disheartened. I was too fat to lose weight. I was mad at my body for betraying me yet again (though that’s a whole other issue). I was mad at myself for letting things get so out of hand. Basically I was just mad and dispirited, and outside of a few tweaks to my behaviors here and there, like going back to taking walks on my lunch break and making an effort to pack lunch more often, I spent the next few months more or less having given up.

Four months later, mid December, I buy an ebook about IF, skim through it, and decide that I think I can work this into my life and around my family, at least for a little while, and see how it goes. Worst thing that happens is I give up like I always have in the past.

This morning, after 2.5 months of IF, CICO, PT for running related injury and riding a cheap ass used exercise bike for an hour most nights a week while I play video games, I successfully and comfortably zipped up the offending (inspiring?) khakis with a dress shirt tucked in, with room to spare.

The past couple weeks I’d felt like I’d plateaued, and while I was happy with my progress thus far and the comments I’ve gotten about apparent weight loss, it’s honestly been a bit difficult to keep it up and to resist the temptation to ease up a little, just this one time, c’mon man the donuts are right there in the break room.

But this was all the motivation I needed to keep going. I don’t know if I’ll ever hit my goal weight, but I’m not giving up yet.

Browsing this sub has been a real inspiration, and even though I don’t post much or have many insightful things to say, y’all have been more help than you know.