#13 How'd they do it?
Joel Anderson
The How’d they do it? interview series is designed to share how members of the Alfred community lost weight and gained energy.
This week, we chatted with Joel Anderson, Founder of Well-being platform Foremind about getting caught in a vicious cycle and making simple changes.
Note: Joel uses another food tracking tool, which is great as we want everyone to feel great. Regardless of what tool they use.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I've been active my whole life, playing high-level sports from a young age and developing a love for the gym in my 20s.
But despite regular workouts, I never kept close tabs on my diet. This led to major weight swings whenever I took a break from training, whether due to injury or holidays
It wasn't until I was 30 that I attempted a different challenge at a local gym that took a different approach to tracking and lifestyle than the F45 style challenges that encouraged maximum calorie deficits and frequent workouts.
It was a pretty simple philosophy- set a small weekly goal or habit, and build from there.
From your heaviest, how much weight have you lost?
Nearly 10kg, however the more important thing is I’ve put on muscle mass and halved my visceral fat level, which was the aim of my tracking journey.
Why did you want to lose weight?
I wanted to eat better because I started noticing a common trend between eating poorly, and feeling lethargic and unmotivated, and starting to put on weight.
It was a vicious cycle of getting stressed, then eating poorly because it was convenient, which then led to poor sleep because I had eaten something really greasy and unbalanced, which led to more stress and tiredness etc etc.
Was there anything holding you back from losing weight in the past?
I think just a lack of education and knowledge about what I was consuming because I didn't know I was eating poorly.
In my 20's, I felt invincible when it came to eating and drinking whatever I wanted, and as long as I was going to the gym and playing social sport each week, nothing really came of it.
But this changed when I entered my 30's, when everyday stresses like work started reducing the time I had to exercise and be conscious of what I was eating.
This made spending time tracking meals so arduous that I just couldn't keep motivated to do, and then as a result I started putting on weight.
One of the things we’re trying to do at Alfred is to help people take control of their health. What’s been the biggest change to your health you’ve noticed from losing weight?
As soon as I started eating better, I started sleeping better.
Sleep has always been something I struggled with and seeing any improvement has a flow on effects to the rest of my day including:
Needing less caffeine during the day
Having more natural energy for work and socialising
And being in a better mental mindset to manage situations on a day-to-day basis.
What’s your favourite meal?
Protein pasta with pesto chicken
How often do you have it?
Once a week. It's quick, easy and allows me to increase my protein for the day.
It is remarkable how something as simple as swapping out normal pasta for protein pasta or bread for high-protein bread has impacted my weight.
If you could go back, what would you tell yourself at the beginning of your weight loss journey?
Don't go all out immediately. That is the quickest way to get overwhelmed, which then inevitably leads to burnout and going back to old habits.
Make a plan, set achievable weekly goals, and then stick to them each week
Then add in new micro goals each time to make the habit stick.
It's also ok to splurge and treat yourself every now and then. If it makes you happy when you are out with friends at a restaurant to just smash a big bowl of pasta and a few beers, then do it!
But be conscious of what that means for your next few days of eating.
Got a message for the Alfred community?
Meal tracking doesn't have to feel like a chore.
It's also something you might only need to do for a period of time until you get in a good natural rhythm where you can listen to your body to know what it needs.
The main outcome of managing what I eat is a massive improvement in my mental health.
Now that I am in a good rhythm with diet, exercise and sleep, I have more energy to do the things I love.
And that's what it's all about.
Thanks Joel!
If you’d like to share your story, please get in touch here.