Some of you might have already seen the category in the sidebar and thought: What the H*LL is a “Reacher” category doing on this personal blog?!
Well… about six weeks ago, I made a decision — one that might just change my life. But before we get to Reacher, let me give you some background first.
Here’s the obvious part: I’m overweight. To be completely honest, I started this journey with a BMI of 32 — which, according to standard BMI classifications, puts me in the “obese” category.
I’m 1.92m tall, thats 6 foot 4 inches. ( 6’4″ ). Jack Reacher is 6’5″, so I’m pretty close to his height. That is the first reference :-).
And as I mentioned earlier, I started my journey a few weeks ago at 118.2 kg with 32% body fat. That’s nowhere near the physical resemblance of Jack Reacher — who’s muscular, lean, and built like a freight train.
I think I’ve started 397,288,973,247,982,394,78 (give or take) different weight loss challenges over the years — and lost just as many of them. Oops. 😅
Then, a few weeks ago, the pieces started to click into place. It began with a colleague at work — someone I hadn’t seen in person for a few months — who had lost a considerable amount of weight. Shortly after that, I ran into a fellow member of my community garden. (Yeah, I’m into gardening too — next to all the tech stuff… weird, huh?) And he had also dropped a serious amount of weight. Both told me how they did it, and basically it was only a very minor change in their eating habits, and it involved less carbs, more protein.
I remembered a conversation I had with my cardiologist (no, nothing serious is wrong with me — it’s just a precaution!). She told me I needed to lose weight to stay healthy — and to do it before it’s too late.
That got me thinking.
Then I came across an article about weight loss and the impact of sleep. And basically… my sleep routine was the exact opposite of what it should be. Instead of a steady rhythm, my sleep was all over the place — with one thing in common:
I was dealing with a chronic lack of high-quality rest.
Then the final piece clicked into place. By chance, my wife had just started watching a new series called Reacher. She put on the first episode right before I was about to go to bed — and, as usual… way too late. I watched it with her, and that’s when everything clicked.
Yeah… it sounds corny, but I want to look like that guy.
So what did I change?
And to be honest… not that much!
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I now follow a consistent sleep routine — the same seven days a week.
I go to bed around 10:00 PM and wake up somewhere between 5:30 and 7:00 AM. -
I eat fewer carbs and a lot more protein!
I used to eat only ~50 grams of protein per day — now it’s 150 to 200 grams. -
I track my calories using an app…
And yes, I weigh almost everything with a scale. No guesswork. - I skip all useless calories in drinks including all alcoholic beverages, so basically its water, tea and coffee ( caffeine! )
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I skip all snacks. (More on that in a minute.)
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I changed my gym routine.
Instead of starting with cardio, I now end with cardio. -
More importantly: I upped my game.
I train to failure — and if I can hit 10 reps, I increase the weight. -
And last but not least: I started walking again a few times a week.
And that’s it!
And about the snacks:
After two weeks of adjusting to this new rhythm — and tweaking my calorie intake a bit — I never feel hungry. And yes, when I say never, I really mean never.
And the not hungry part? That makes this whole journey as easy as it gets.
And that’s the reason why this new journey not only feels different — but is different.
Part 2 soon 🙂