Inspirational Quote Goes Here

So recently, I've been on a bit of a personal journey that has involved losing a lot of weight and getting into shape.

I've gotta say, it's working pretty well.  I've had issues with body dysmorphia for as long as I can remember,  I've never been able to look at myself in the mirror and be happy, or even tolerant, with what I saw.

This all changed in January of this year when my cerebrovascular system, fed up with years of abuse and neglect, decided to seize up while I was interviewing a graphic designer in a Yokohama Starbucks.  I had a minor stroke and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital learning how to walk and use my left arm again, then another few weeks dealing with the clinical depression and such that inevitably comes as my brain tried to rebuild itself and reroute its circuitry.

The doctors were able to easily identify the source of my problems: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type I diabetes brought on by obesity.

I had to lose some weight.

I had plenty of time, lying there in bed with an IV in my arm, body monitors taped to my chest, and occasionally rolling over on to my side to pee into one of those humiliating plastic pitcher things, to think about my next step.  For the past four years, I'd been throwing all my OCD at doing well at university; having graduated, I was ready for a new challenge.

So, I decided this would be it.  At 52 years of age, I would get into the best shape of my life.

I post photos every day on Instagram and Facebook mostly as a way of showing my progress and documenting my work, and also because I'm slowly starting to be happy with the way I look and I want to share that growing confidence, which is, to me, just as important as my new health.  Every day I post these photos, and at least once a week, somebody sends me a message, and they all ask variations on a single theme:

"What's your secret?"

There is no secret.

Here's what I did.

1. The diet aspect is really simple: I just count calories, and log them into MyFitnessPal.  I eat between 1200-1400 calories a day, which maintains enough of a caloric deficit to lose weight.
Now, because that's admittedly not a lot to work with, I try to make each calorie count.  I eat a lot of protein, but I make it mostly vegetable proteins, because those digest more efficiently and keep the hunger pangs down.  This also helps keep me from losing muscle mass.
This also means that certain foods are just, as it were, off the table.  No booze, no potatoes, limited sugars, no breads.  I wind up eating a lot of grains, seeds, and vegetables.  I make a week's worth of lunches in the slow-cooker on Sunday and get through those.  I use a lot of chickpea (besan) flour, quinoa, and chia seeds.  On rare occasions I'll have a bit of fish or chicken, but I basically eat vegetarian most of the time.  I also have a protein shake after my workouts.

2. The workout: join a gym.  Go to the gym.  Go every day.  Actually, five days a week should cut it.  I don't go on Tuesdays and the gym is closed Wednesdays, so those are my two break days.
I do a simple, really simple, workout.  Every session, I do one exercise to work each of the five basic groups: core; arms; chest/shoulders; back; and legs.  Because I really need to lose around my stomach, I do a lot of ab exercises.  (Abdominal muscles, I'm told, are also different from other muscle groups in that they can handle daily exercise and don't require lengthy recovery times.)
I switch off every other day between two types of exercise, so in effect I have a Day A and a Day B workout.
Day A
Crunches
Planks
Helicopter Crunches (my name; not sure what they are actually called)
Chest or Shoulder Press
Bicep Curls
Back Extension
Leg Curls
Cardio 45 minutes

Day B
Crunches
Planks
Helicopter
Fly
Tricep Extension
Lat Pulldown
Leg Extension
Cardio 45 minutes

I also ride my bike to and from the gym.  This all together takes about two hours a night.  I get caught up on podcasts and news while I do the cardio.  Bluetooth headphones and an iPhone are your friend.

3. I ride my bike as much as I possibly can, especially on weekends.

That's pretty much it.  Just a complete and utter paradigm shift in diet, ten to twelve hours a week of exercise, and no excuses.  There is no secret.

Every single person I have talked to regarding this has said the same thing: "That sounds really hard."
It isn't.  For reference, here is a partial list of things that are difficult:
-Trying to walk a mile back to your office after having had a cerebral infarction;
-Lying on your back wide awake in an emergency room not knowing if your head is going to literally pop a blood vessel and bleed out, killing you;
-Learning how to walk again;
-Occupational therapy to regain basic motor skills;
-Climbing stairs when fifty pounds overweight;
-Not being able to directly look at yourself in the mirror.

These things are all hard.  What I'm doing now is simple.

I detest inspirational quotes.  But here's one, courtesy of the late Sir Terry Pratchett:

"The dwarfs figured out how to turn lead into gold by doing it the hard way.  The difference between that and the easy way is that the hard way works."