I gave up on sports halfway through high school. I let myself go in college. And I mean really let myself go, like starting out at 180lbs when I stopped growing at 6ft and ending at 240lbs with about half a pound of muscle mixed in there somewhere. When you look at those numbers on their own… that’s significantly overweight.
I struggled with that weight, fluctuating endlessly for a decade. I ran, I tried to work out, I ran some more. Eventually I ran consistently. I didn’t really lose much weight (I’d go back down to 220lbs or so, but then find my way up above 240lbs again before you knew it).
When I turned 30, I knew things had to change. The thing was, I’d never believed change to be all that possible. I thought I was doomed to stay fat forever.
I also really didn’t want to change how I ate.
It turns out that eating is the most important part. Even though you can burn extra calories, this levels out pretty quickly. If you go from couch to 5k, starting from sedentary and getting intense out of the gate, you will see some pretty quick results as your body demands more calories to make up for this sudden change in energy spend.
The crazy thing is, your body will adjust. In a now famous study of hunter gatherer societies, we now know that our bodies kind of level out at a set calorie burn that falls within certain ranges, but seems set to the individual. If you naturally burn 2,100 calories a day, and then you start running 10k per day, you will definitely burn closer to 2,700 calories that day.
The crazy thing is that if you keep running 10k’s consistently, over time your body will drift towards your baseline 2,100 calories/day.
Running a calorie deficit is still the simple and surefire way to lose weight. But I was disappointed to discover that exercise wasn’t as big of a help as I wanted it to be. Ultimately I just needed to consume fewer calories.
There are a lot of more qualified people out there to help you figure this out (my trainer @_bjward is a great find if you’re looking for someone online), but it was the key I turned when I hit 30 that changed everything. It was also the hardest part.
It still is the hardest part (I really like to eat - I live in Paris after all). I don’t know that I can make it any easier, but sometimes acknowledging the reality is enough to lighten the burden. Even if only a little.
This is a special series for Jay’s 40th year. To receive all posts straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe.
