Making a Decision
In the articles where I talked about learning judo, I mentioned that during that period I tried to eat more and gain some weight to get a slight advantage—or at least reduce some disadvantage—brought by weight differences in judo sparring. After I stopped judo and boxing, and later moved on to learning snowboarding and swimming, my eating habits didn’t change. I still ate whatever I wanted, and as much as I wanted. So my weight gradually rebounded to what it was before April 2023, which was around 163 pounds. It didn’t go higher than that, and although my waist had become noticeably thicker, I could still wear my pants with a waist extender. Because of that, I didn’t really think about losing weight.
It wasn’t until recently, when I went hiking to explore the province and take photos, that I noticed my face and stomach looking round. More than once I felt, “I really should lose weight.”
If you’ve read my previous articles where I talked about my fitness habits, you might know that I once mentioned how people often complimented my physique in the past. I think that was how I supposed to look like. And if I want to be a complete version of myself, my appearance is also part of that. I want to return to how I used to look.
Muttering in My Mind
My original plan was the same as the one I had before last year’s trip: simply reduce my overall food intake, then add some cardio, while keeping my regular weight training unchanged. I followed this plan for about two weeks and lost around 3–4 pounds. Most likely that was just water weight, but theoretically, if I kept going, it would still work. Since my weight had always stayed stable at around 163 pounds, it meant my energy intake and expenditure were roughly balanced. So even if I just stopped eating junk food and snacks, my weight would naturally go down a bit.
But deep down, I wasn’t fully satisfied with this plan. Because, to put it bluntly, this approach is basically relying on eating less—almost like forcing myself to be hungry—and then using emotional momentum to push through. It’s simple and straightforward, but exactly because of that, it has limitations. Relying purely on hunger can indeed lead to weight loss, but you lose not only fat; you’re also very likely to lose muscle. Yes, muscle does have memory and can regain its previous size faster. But “fast” is relative—it just means faster than gaining it for the first time; it doesn’t mean you can get it back casually in two or three weeks. So the trade-off doesn’t feel worth it to me.
Besides, I don’t have the same emotional state I had back then. So trying to rely on emotional momentum doesn’t seem possible. And if I try to depend solely on willpower, I’m not confident it would work, because the process itself is not enjoyable at all. This concern has been lingering in the back of my mind, but since I was already following the plan, I hadn’t gone deeper into it—until I received that notice.
Does This Count as Giving Up Halfway?
Almost three months ago, my work schedule shifted back from the completely opposite hours to my original schedule. And about three weeks into my weight-loss plan, I received a notice that my work would undergo some changes. Although the schedule itself didn’t change this time, the workload increased because we were temporarily short-staffed. This situation would last for about three weeks. Since work became more demanding and I also had other things to take care of outside of work, my already-shaky weight-loss plan was shaken again. I thought, maybe I should put this weight-loss attempt on hold for now and continue after these three busy weeks are over. Soon after having that thought, I simply just went with it.
“Does this count as giving up halfway?”
I often have this question whenever I stop a somewhat carefully planned plan while I’m still in the middle of executing it. But not this time, because I knew the drawbacks of this plan—the ones that I mentioned earlier. The process wasn’t enjoyable, and the chances of fully executing it and achieving the results I wanted weren’t very high. So I felt very little pressure about putting it aside. During those busy three weeks, I kept eating as usual, and even lowered my training intensity a bit in order to “survive first.” All I wanted was to get through those weeks smoothly.
“Does this count as giving up halfway?”
Another reason I didn’t have that doubt is because—of course this wasn’t giving up halfway! Not only was that previous weight-loss plan put on hold, it was essentially terminated. But that doesn’t mean I gave up on my decision to “return to how I used to look.” And during those three busy weeks, precisely because I stopped the weight-loss plan, I actually had more room to think about it clearly. Sometimes it really feels like you need to step outside the “circle” to see things from a better perspective. I still want to continue losing weight and get back to the shape I had before, but just in kind of different way.
The New Direction
So what method should I use this time?
First, I want a method that I can stick with consistently, rather than one that relies on the emotional drive of “I’ve had enough.” Second, I don’t want to sacrifice muscle just to make the number on the scale go down—that’s not worth it. So the answer becomes quite clear: fat loss. I need to reduce body fat while keeping as much muscle as possible, and do it without starving myself—just by creating a slight calorie deficit.
Even though I’ve been training for many years, to be honest, I’ve never really done a proper cutting phase. I mostly just kept doing strength training and ate whatever I normally ate. Back when people used to compliment my physique, I did check nutrition labels before eating, but I didn’t strictly restrict my diet. It was more like I had some awareness and a loose control in eating. I’m actually quite curious about the process of fat loss itself, and what kind of results I can get from it. This is a good opportunity.
There are still about three weeks left before the end of October. I want to use these three weeks to rest, recharge, and create a detailed fat-loss plan. This will be my last period of relaxation before officially starting. The specific plan will be mentioned in “That Guy is Back, Part I.”
And just like that, October passed with me resting and preparing the plan, waiting for November to arrive.