100 Days of Consistency - my journey of losing 30 lb. in 3 months

I have lost over 30 lb. in 3 months and have been consistent for 100 days in an attempt to create habits for a lifetime. I wanted to share my story not only to record them for my own sake, but if this can spark an inspiration to someone, so be it. 

I will start with a couple of quotes from actor Denzel Washington that have inspired me in this journey.

"Without commitment you'll never start. But more importantly without consistency, you will never finish" - Denzel Washington 

"I don't care who is doing better than me. I am not in competition with anyone else. The only rival I have is the person I was yesterday. Last year I was different. I have grown, I have learned, I have improved..." - Denzel Washington 

How it started?

I ran the New York City marathon on November 3rd, 2024. While I have run many marathons and ultramarathons, I haven't been training consistently. Nor did I watch my health, what I ate or how I felt.

For over four years, I have trained inconsistently, and have been winging the marathons since the beginning of Covid in 2020. However, just because one runs marathons or generally tries to be healthy, it doesn't translate to real healthy lifestyle. 

I had many excuses like family, kids, work, travel, etc. etc. But it all came to a head when I thought I am going to die while running the NYC marathon when I had a discomfort in my chest area. I won't go into the details here but consider this as my wake up call. 

I hired a coach the week after the marathon and got serious. 

Things I learned to do consistently:

- Drink water (ideally half your body weight in ounces).

- Sleep 7 - 8 hours a night (this is one thing I struggle to get quality sleep).

- Avoid added sugar (man! this was hard).

- Eat complex carbs and avoid simple carb (another hard thing).

- Healthy portions of proteins, carbs and fats (don't deprive).

- 30 minutes of movement 5 days a week (30 minutes of resistance training Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 20 minutes of Core and Cardio Tuesday and Thursday).  20 minutes of mobility training on Saturday. Rest on Sunday.

- Experimented with intermittent fasting and other types of fasting. (this might depend on each person).

- Deep breathing for stress management (this was new to me, but enjoyed learning it).

- Learning more about multiple vegetables, meat options, reading labels, proteins, etc. 

So, basically nothing drastic but everything in moderation. The key was to create habits in 3 months that will last a lifetime.

Find your WHY?

I started this journey with thinking about what is my WHY? WHY do I need to do that. What do I want to achieve in 12 weeks, and in 12 months. 

Whenever I didn't have motivation, I went back to my WHY.