I was never the skinniest guy; neither was I the biggest guy. None of those mattered to me at the time. As I grew up, it suddenly clicked! I don’t want to be the skinniest guy! Neither do I want to be the biggest guy. I just want to have abs, chest, shoulders, thighs in proportion that I can feel comfortable in. Yes, I wanted to be ripped.

To be ripped, I tried most tips fitness instructors and bloggers would provide. Tips such as ‘cut out the carbs in your diet’, ‘eat less fast food’ ‘watch what you eat’, ‘do cardio’ blah blah blah. I am sure many of you have come across these types of advise at some point in your search for being ripped or loosing weight.

Now don’t get me wrong, those tips can benefit you but only for as long you continue to keep up the discipline. Literally, if you stop the regiment, you will revert back to what you used to be like. So what is the alternative?

Well, it is a good thing I know myself. One thing I sure do enjoy to do is eat and I eat every time I see food that interests me. To keep this post short, I will delve right into what I did and still do to maintain my physique.

No.1 THING I DID - Fixed how frequent I ate

I did not fix what I eat, I fixed how frequent and the portion of my food. Yes! I decided to cut down on my portions. From a young age, I was known for eating huge portions (usually rice).  Now, I eat 5-6 times a day in smaller portions. So I would eat breakfast at 9am, then eat again at 12pm, then at 3pm, at 6pm and finally at 9pm. I do try not to eat any later than 9pm because that’s when my body is less active.

However, I realised that eating so frequently throughout the day was somehow increasing my metabolism rate. Here is how it works. You eat less frequently, your body isn’t constantly breaking down molecules to obtain energy and thus, remains weak and takes longer time to break down molecules. Eat more frequently, your body is constantly breaking down molecules and thus, your metabolism proves strong to do its task quickly. Therefore, all energy from each food is being transferred to your cells when you are the most active. This way, excess nutrients does not get stored up as fat.

This is a long term solution to maintaining a great physique and it is something you need to understand.

No.2 THING I DID - Signed up to a gym

I signed up to a gym. Took me a while to get into the working out spirit. After countless number of losing motivation, I stuck with it with determination. Thing is, when I got through the initial obstacle of no motivation, I realised that I felt uncomfortable not working out. The initial stages of you working out would feel really hard but you just have to stick with it and get through that first barrier to the promised land (flowing with milk and honey) where you begin to enjoy working out and beating your personal best every now and then.

I signed up to a gym and only did weight training. My goal was to build muscle and stay shredded. I don’t enjoy cardio but I do enjoy playing football (perhaps that helped, but I haven’t played football in about a year now). Here is my routine: - Monday (Chest), Tuesday (Back and Abs), Wednesday (Legs), Thursday (Shoulders) and Friday (Biceps and Triceps).

NOTE: When lifting, you put pressure on your joints. therefore, it is crucial to use a good form when lifting or use some support sleeves and equipments. I would recommend using some of these; Knee Sleeves, Knee Wraps, Elbow Sleeves or even some Weight Loss Bands for an optimised result.

No.3 THING I DID - Surrounded myself with support

Finally, I surrounded myself with people with similar minds. The popular saying says ‘show me your friends and I will tell you who you are’. The people you surround yourself with daily influences you in one way or the other.

By surrounding myself with people who had a goal, people who signed up to a gym (preferably the same gym), by people who eat frequently but in little portions, by people who didn’t eat out much of the time. By surrounding myself with these personalities, I was able to receive encouragements and motivation indirectly. This was crucial most especially at the early stages of my gym routine. 

Losing weight isn’t all about eating less, in fact I believe that eating less is merely a quick solution to the problem and for a long term solution, training your metabolism proved to be the best way to go. The three things which I did to stay in shape worked hand in hand and none is more important than the other. You need the mental and the physical aspect of fitness in order to overcome your deficits.