20 years of gym rat!
Just for reference here is a before and current picture. In the left picture I must be 16 years old with 85kgs(187lbs) and in the right picture I am 55.5 kgs(122lbs) taken on 15th Sept 2024 - straight out of bed with no pump. I am a short guy at 164cm (~5’5”).
When I had just started out, someone told me that this is pointless. Because once I stop working out I will regain all the lost fat. I never forgot that comment, I still remember the exact location of this conversation today and the person who said that to me. To me it was a challenge - I wanted to prove him wrong and in a way I have. At the same time I told myself this is a lifestyle change and there is no going back!
Today I am 41 and I am in the best shape of my life. That said, I know the reality of life, at some point I will look worse and I have to accept that. I also know that I cannot lift the same weights I used to 15 years ago, and it will only get worse. The worst part is that I have been diagnosed with a bone condition that has already prevented me from doing my favourite exercises (dead-lifts and squats), but that hasn’t stopped me. At some point I will lose more muscles than I would like, and I will have more fat than I would like - that is just aging. My goal is to delay it as much as possible and yet be ready to adapt to a new body and new workouts as I transition! Eventually I have to die but nothing would make me happier if I could workout even on the last day of my life :).
About 4 years ago, I realized that I was having chronic back pain - when it pained it stayed for about a week and later everything was normal - but that one week was excruciating pain. I ignored it and once I accidentally mentioned it to my doctor who recommended some tests. I kept delaying those tests too until I finally did. I found I had an extremely rare condition called polyostotic fibrous dysplasia and it was all over my pelvis with several holes in the bones. I had to undergo bone biopsy (which was quite painful) to rule out it wasn’t malignant. Thankfully it isn’t (at least so far because there is very slight chance it could turn malignant anytime) - but I have to live with this problem now because I have several restrictions - no running, no lifting heaving weights, certainly no dead-lifts or squats. I had to go back to the drawing board and figure out all new exercises - new weight training routines, new cardio exercises and most importantly I had to pick something that I can do for the rest of my life. In fact, this was a turning point, because up until then I used to hover around 65 kg (143lbs) and with some modification to my eating and working out habits a few months later I was at 55 kg (122lbs) and stayed around that since then :)
