Back when I turned 30 (25 years ago...ugh), I got fed up with my undefined, borderline “doughboy” physique. I started walking every morning, then gradually progressed that into running. I set small (difficult but achievable) challenges for myself to keep me interested and engaged. Then I joined a sports facility in my area - it had a decent gym, a natatorium, and other facilities. I started going there damn near every day. I liked the gym because they had great equipment and a clientele that didn’t make me feel intimidated or self conscious. So, my routine was to run in the mornings, go to work, come home, take the dog out, go to the gym, work out on weights for 45 minutes, then swim. People at work were amazed. One woman asked me if I was sick because I lost so much weight fairly quickly.
I had built up so much stamina and I felt great.
It took a large investment of time which was fine for me at the time because I was single and I had to find little motivators to keep me going. Queer as it might sound, when I started to run, I really wanted to get to the point where I was comfortable running in just shorts without a shirt. With a hairy, doughy body, that seemed like a pipe dream, but I did get to the point where my only reservation was my hairy chest and tummy - I was extremely self conscious about that at the time. Now the queer part, not only did I overcome the worry of losing the shirt, I altered my running route so that - from time to time - I could also loose the shorts for about half a mile. What can I say, nudity was a big motivator for me...
Time, dedication, prioritization, achievable goals....