Co-founder of My Name is E, a service that brings your online identities to the real world, STIKK, an entrepreneurial collective of Dutch startup founders, and Postmachina, a multi-disciplinary creative agency based in Amsterdam.
Renato holds a Master of Arts in Interaction Design, with a focus on design aesthetics. He is an entrepreneur, designer, speaker and borderless citizen. He loves hats.
You can get in touch by checking out eee.am/renn, his online business card.
It’s amazing that in many fields people dream of having a career, the prevailing advice is “Just do it” – to which I can only say: “amen.”.
Promising start, Renn!
Good for you for sticking with it.
On a side note, I would change your style sheet if you want more people to read your blog. Your font is so small it is almost microscopic. My LCD monitor is set to 1280×1024. Most people are moving to LCD monitors these days and use the monitor’s native resolution which is at least 1280×1024. Second you chose the worst colour combination that you could in a black background with white text.
Thanks for all your comments!
Currently in the process of modifying a CSS theme that suits my liking. Have encountered a couple of Wordpress quirks involving themes I need to solve first.
It’s nice reading this. I’ll think twice before I start my own company. And if I do, you’ll be the first I ask for advice!
Sleepless nights, no money, getting paid after everyone else – still wouldn’t change it. You’re doing it for yourself.
Drools @2UNFOLD
That may just be the best looking bag I seen in years.
Though the price is more then my average outfit.
But it was a nice read, keep it up.
I think the guys at Hard Graft liked this post as well:
“RT @renn: new blogpost: Ode to a Bag – http://renatovaldes.com/?p=53 Respect to Renn for such a heartfelt post, it means a lot to us.”
Respect!
I like your advise and the last article especially.
Keep up the good spirit!
Can’t agree more with Jerry Houtman!
Indeed, much respect to you man!
I think stay disciplined is the best tip. Not also in this case but also in general.
see, this is why I love the web so much where you can stumble upon a page like this and think I better read this and sure enough there’s a sparkle of inspiration and a sense of connection that I will remember forever more and pass on to others and respond to as well.
(arrived here via Twitter, left here thinking of HAL
If you can reach a goal like this, you can do anything! Congrats!
Any suggestions about not mentally slowing down after cutting out all of the calories? Switching to Americano’s/Espresso/Unsweetened Tea (hot and cold) can cover the caffeine, but I’ve found my brain was very slow all around.
@Scott: Definitely. Enough liquids will keep your brain hydrated, so I combined a glass of water for every espresso I had. 2 espressi in the morning, then switched to green tea. One espresso at 3 and a final one after dinner. Fresh fruit like bananas also helped, and simple non-food related things like reading.
Wow – this is impressive. Well done!
Respect!
fantastic. impressive determination and awareness – probably what most people lack.
my mantra is simple: a little bit of everything (natural) is the perfect diet. Cooking also helps being hungry when you need to and appreciate the food you eat. Processed food, like sandwiches from Tesco’s, is rank.
I’m intrigued about your surnames! you can’t be Dutch… en serio!
no need to say you do look great now.
@georgina_g Thank you! Truth is, I love cooking nowadays. One of the little things I actually free up some time for (on Saturdays). Not completely Dutch, true!
Wow! In one word.. Knowing you from the ‘before’ phase I really had to look twice to recognize you on the ‘after’ picture. But what a great achievement!
Very impressive. How did you keep your motivation and discipline? That’s the main question I have after reading this.
Wow, the before/after pics are pretty shocking. Respect to you sir.
Wow. I salute you.
Whenever someone asks me about you, I tell them your weight story as an introduction to your perseverance, discipline and ambition. You breath it.
First darlings you killed were the burgers….
Very healthy to step on the scale sometimes
rock on!
Wow man, thanks
Love the way you write. It’s humble and honest.
Fits the name of the blog perfectly. It tells it all and sets heigh expectations. Thanks for sharing.
Hey man,
I’ve said it before, but major kudos to you on this.
Thanks for sharing the insight. Most of the stuff translates directly to my big struggle at the moment: no smoking…
U rawk dude, respect
After you stopped from being a Cartman fan and threw away the WeightGain3000 you have become an Adonis. No wonder your girlfriend wanted to marry you quickly after that. Claim what is yours she most have thought!
No serious man, I have great respect for you achieving this!
wow
lots of respect for the achievement AND for this post
very good read and im glad you managed to get healthy
petje af
een vb voor vele denk ik
Awesome achievement, it’s great that you took the no excuses route to reach your goals. And respect for telling it like it is and not pulling any punches, you’re an inspiration!
Congrats on the weight loss but the afterburn thing is a myth.
“To their surprise, the researchers found that none of the groups, including the athletes, experienced “afterburn.” They did not use additional body fat on the day when they exercised. In fact, most of the subjects burned slightly less fat over the 24-hour study period when they exercised than when they did not.”
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/phys-ed-why-doesnt-exercise-lead-to-weight-loss/
Props to you for the toughlove approach!
My story may have some value for others interested in changing their body to a healthier weight.
During college I was always a skinny distance-running guy of around 150 lbs / 5′ 11”. Since graduation I had packed on about 65 lbs through a combination of reduced exercise and eating too much high-fat / high-sugar junk food.
Starting at the end of 2007 I decided that I needed to get a handle on this part of my life and switched to a 100% plant-based, mostly whole foods diet. After some ups and downs, I’ve eaten this way for a full year (since November 2008) and dropped to 170-175 lbs which appears to be a healthy weight for me.
Initially it took a lot of thought and discipline but now it’s just a way of life and I don’t have to think about it very much. This path is not necessarily for everyone, but it worked well for me.
“Fuck that. You’re fat. Punish yourself until you lose the weight. This ain’t no picnic.”
Awesome. This is how it’s done. Fuck those lardasses with their ‘gland problems’.
Congratulations to you. That is an inspiring article so thank you very much for sharing it.
While I’m glad to hear that worked for you, that sure seems like an awful experience
Going to the gym for 2 hours a day, when you admit you detest the gym? That sounds downright terrible. I’d like to think there are some things you can do to combat that.
First, congratulations for sticking to it, and fighting to achieve your goal. If the world had more people like this, it is scary to think what we’d be able to do.
I’m a security consultant in chicago, and have had numerous jobs in IT along the years, so I understand well the difficulty in getting to the gym. Unfortunately, those of us with desk jobs really need that exercise on a regular basis to make progress. I was a personal trainer in college, and have been training for about 10 years now, so I hope I can offer some worthwhile ideas:
1. Goals. Renato hit it on the head with this point. If you don’t know what you seek to achieve, how will you know when you have achieved it? Set goals that are measurable, and attainable.
2. Reform your thought process on the gym. Granted you don’t have to like everyone at the gym, but I can assure you a good deal of people there are nice, outgoing and energetic people. Its something of a litmus test meeting people in this setting, because if they’re there often, they likely have some dedication. If they are reasonably dedicated, they’re probably experiencing some positive results. When that happens, most people get happy
Try to anchor positive feelings for getting there, training hard, and getting out. Its also a good place to seek to meet new people, especially when moving to a new area.
3. Get a personal trainer! I cannot recommend this enough, but before you run to your local gym for their on-staff trainers, do your research. Probably greater than 80% of the trainers out there aren’t worth their weight in dumbbells (and that number increases drastically for those who work at local gyms) Do some research online, and seek out some trainers who give measured results to their clients. They’re not cheap, but you don’t have to incur this cost forever, you learn everything you can from the quality trainers, and implement it in your workout routine. You might want to reinvest every couple years in different styles of training depending on your goals.
4. Learn. One thing I really liked about Renato’s post was that he stuck it out and regardless of what the dietitians would say, he stuck to his guns. There is something to be said for that. This is evidence that hard work and determination will get you success in this area of life. That being said, you can drastically improve the success/work ratio if you become a student of nutrition and training. I really can’t think of something more important than understanding what you put in your body, and how it influences your life. Its something you do multiple times a day every day, no matter what. You really are what you eat.
Nicely done, sir.
I lost 7 stone (44.45kg, 98lbs) in just under 8 months.. Atkins FTW \o/ Could have as much seconds as I wanted.
Rock star!
[...] and did not even remotely look like the handsome chap who I was getting drunk with.13 months later, Renato wrote down the story for his blog. It’s only his third article so far, yet it already attracted 30 comments from visitors.So [...]
Amazing achievement and great story!
A very, very good post on losing weight. I think almost everything is spot on, however I like to add something I learned from myself.
My top weights was 97kg. I’m 1.75cm, so that’s a BMI 32,4. Nowadays I weigh 75/76kg. Still some small KG’s to go there.
But this is how I do it.
I take my time. Not just to take it easy, but to learn. Having a healthy weight is about balance. For every person this is difference. Depends on your routine, kind of job and above all what you eat.
My weight loss hasn’t been steady, it goes down 5kg then up 3kg again. Then I loose again. etc. This is because I experiment with the balance between eating and exercise / daily routines. For example there is a big difference for me when I use the car or public transport. The lines are that thin.
Before I didn’t like gyms too. I still don’t like them that much, but it’s heavily depending on the gym you go to. I have now a small gym with a lot of social people and I love going there to work out. However my schedule is killing me too. So it’s not that often right now. Need to free more time for that.
Loved the no reward advice. My husband and I just started our journey to loosing weight we both want to loose over 100 lbs each. Your story was enlightening and real, loved it!! Will keep you posted on our success!
man, you WERE fat. damn. what an amazing transform, its like something from an unbelievable american ad on tv.
Loved the advices, you are real inspiration!
What an amazing Transformation!
You rule!
Eres una inspiración…
Gracias
Very inspiring, thanks! Have to remember these guidelines for I’m trying to start a company myself.
Thanks for this Renato! Very good read.
Thx, nice info and learnings Renn, hope I can put this into practice at the Next Web should I win one of the two available wildcard spots on stage.
Great story! Discipline comes from within
Interesting view on internal startup dynamics. Never founded a company myself, but have seen relationships of co-founder of startups I’ve worked for. Varied a lot from really stressfull situations, to awkwardness to plain no-talking. That was the worst, imho.
Couple on holiday metaphor is very well found.
Great write-up, and thanks for the mention. I especially like the picture where Wouter gives me the death stare and looks like he’s about to strangle me to death.
To answer your closing question: I bumped into my co-founder through my blog. We where both writing about startups and bumped into each other in person at a local event. I told him about the idea of starting a startup and he responded ’send me an idea if you have it’. After sending the idea he made the prototype in a weekend. For me that was a good signal of somebody that has a similar style of working. Only later I discovered that we also have complementary skills, so I lucked out. Big time.
This puppy has been posted as a guest article on The Next Web Blog as well.
wow. this is great. i’m so glad i read this.
i haven’t the same hill to climb, but i’m on the last (or 1st) 25 lbs of my hill- and they’re going slow.
i love the straight talk.
this just reminded me why i paid $50 for the bicycle i just bought. i can guilt myself into riding harder and farther reminding myself that my dumbass paid for it, so i better make it worth it!
thank you a MILLION TIMES OVER for sharing your experience and your strength!
In my opinion, working out regularly and eat sensibly.
Thanks for the inspiration and the pep talk. I’m a fat bastard and need an ass kicking to get motivated and stay disciplined. Oh and thanks for the laugh too ( I thought I was the only one who felt weirded out by the Narcissus cult that seems to hang around the gym not really doing anything mouthing ‘i love you’ to themselves in the mirror). I simply avoid eye contact a gtfo as soon as I’m done. Not to mention the annoyingly self-righteous tossers who work at gyms. Sorry for the rant. Congratulations with your weight loss success.
thank u for that useful piece of info i was going to reward myself wit ah ah yummy treat at the end of the day but if i really need to lose the weight i guess am going to have to forget that yummy treat