Some context

Weight. At my heaviest, in 2016, 315lbs. Mid-2024, about 265 (and that was back up after getting as low as 199 in January 2021). January 2025, when I started tracking numbers more publicly on my blog, 190. Mid-February 2025, my lowest weight so far of 173 (technically normal BMI! though only for a single day). Then I went back to a calorie surplus a couple weeks later when I wasn’t having any more success losing and my body was really run down by the months of calorie deficit, and got back up to 210 (putting on 35lbs in just 28 days!), using that surplus to kickstart a resistance training regimen which I’ve kept up ever since. And now, in late August, I’m back down to about 178, but with a much smaller waist and more muscle mass than back at the beginning of 2025.

I started resistance training at the beginning of March 2025. My specific exercises have evolved and changed as I’ve experimented and researched. I’m currently doing about 18 or 19 different exercises, one set of each per week while on a deficit (as I’m doing now) and more sets when I go back to a surplus. The once a week regimen is less about building muscle than preserving the muscle I’ve built while trying to lose weight.

I started BJJ at the end of June 2025. I go to one class a week (my rule is that I won’t let two full weeks pass without a class). For now my only focus is on showing up and building consistency (and letting my body adapt to the unique stresses of BJJ). It’s an eco/CLA gym, so high cardio, lots of anaerobic exercise every class.

Currently, I’m trying to lose weight (see if I can get back down to normal BMI and stay there longer this time), and keep up my weekly resistance training and weekly BJJ. I don’t have any plans to add new goals on top of these three anytime soon. Right now I just want to keep making these habits more habitual and easy to stick to by keeping consistent.

My weight loss regimen boils down to the content of the food (big bowl of berries every morning, smaller bowl of greens, currently kale, mid day) and the timing (ETRE, early time restricted eating, trying to frontload calories and eat as little as possible in the second half of the day. There are lots of other smaller details, but those are the biggest things. They have been remarkably effective so far, more so than anything else I’ve ever tried. At this point I think this is something I could stick to for the rest of my life, and at this point I hope to do so, though I know my weakness and know there’s every chance that I will not continue to eat like this for decades. But eating like this has been amazing for my health; my cholesterol numbers, in particular, are miraculously, unbelievably low. ChatGPT tells me that I can be more worried about getting struck by lightning than suffering any sort of heart disease with the numbers I’m seeing.