2025 Wrapped: A Year of Reinvention
Some years just drift by. Others grab you by the collar and say “we’re doing things differently now.”
2025 was that second kind of year.
This was the year I went from “couldn’t code a single line” to shipping three production apps. The year I went from overweight and resigned to it, to dropping 20kg and completely transforming my relationship with food.
The year I turned 50 and realized: better late than never isn’t a consolation prize—it’s a battle cry.
Let’s unwrap it.
Weight Loss Journey
March 2025 - December 2025
By The Numbers
Some highlights from a year of two simultaneous transformations:
- 20.85 kg lost (97.1 kg → 76.25 kg)
- 2.8 billion AI tokens used in Cursor (mostly coding, some existential questions)
- 3 apps shipped: ExeCode, ChatLima, Skip & Fuel
- 12 months of consistent progress
- 1 life, completely rearranged
What I Built
When you’re learning to code with AI, you don’t just learn syntax—you learn to ship. Fast. Here’s what made it out the door in 2025:
ExeCode - Run Code Instantly
The idea was simple: sometimes you just want to run a script without setting up an entire development environment. ExeCode lets you run JavaScript instantly, search npm packages, handle file I/O—all from the browser. The Pro tier? Full Python/Node servers with live previews.
What I learned: The best tools scratch your own itch. I built ExeCode because I needed it. That’s usually how the good ones start.
ChatLima - Multi-Model AI Chat
One AI model is great. Multiple AI models with tools and web search? Even better. ChatLima gives you access to various AI models, Remote MCP Servers (Model Context Protocol from Anthropic) for tool integration, and built-in web search capabilities.
What I learned: AI accelerates everything. What used to take weeks now takes days. Converse with an AI, iterate, ship. Repeat.
Skip & Fuel - 36-Hour Fasting Made Sustainable
This one’s personal. Skip & Fuel was born from my own fasting journey—36-hour weekly fasts, low-carb/keto/carnivore eating, and the realization that tracking your wins builds momentum. Skip Saturday (fasting day), then fuel up on Sunday with keto-friendly meals.
What I learned: Turn your pain points into products. I built the app I wished I had when I started fasting.
The Health Transformation
Here’s the thing nobody tells you about being 50 and overweight: you think it’s too late.
By April 2025, I was at 97.1 kg. Not quite “morbidly obese” by medical standards, but definitely carrying more than I should. The wake-up call wasn’t dramatic—no health scare, no doctor ultimatum. Just a quiet realization that I’d tried seven other diets over the years with limited success.
This time had to be different.
The Protocol
- 36-hour weekly fasts: Start Friday night at 8pm, finish Sunday morning at 8am
- Diet progression: Low-carb → keto → carnivore (found what worked through experimentation)
- Exercise: Morning fasted training, synced with circadian rhythms
- Metrics: Tracked weight, blood glucose, ketones, fasting insulin
The first two weeks were rough. Fatigue, hunger spikes, questioning every life choice. But around week three, something clicked. The hunger disappeared. Mental clarity increased. Energy stabilized.
By December, I was down to 76.25 kg. 20.85 kg gone in 9 months.
But the numbers aren’t the real victory. The real win was learning that consistency beats perfection, that small weekly wins compound into massive transformations, and that my body is capable of change if I just get out of its way.
The Coding Journey
Mid 2024, I literally could not code a single line of code.
Fast forward to the end of 2025, and I’ve used 2.8 billion tokens in Cursor alone for the year. That’s a lot of conversations with AI. A lot of “how do I…” and “why isn’t this working” and “oh, THAT’S how React works.”
The learning curve was real. But AI changes the equation completely:
- Cursor AI became my primary development environment
- Conversational coding — I started by Googling tutorials and trying to follow them, watched YouTube videos (which was hard), but Udemy courses worked best. This journey eventually led me to create my own Cursor course
- Iterative development—AI helps you move fast and break things, then fix them
The biggest lesson: You don’t need to be a traditional programmer anymore. You need to be good at asking questions, iterating, and shipping. AI handles the syntax. You handle the vision.
AI Tokens Used in 2025
Powered by Cursor AI • Mostly coding, some debugging, a little bit of magic
Challenges
Let’s be real—it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Physical Adaptation
Those first 36-hour fasts were brutal. I wasn’t exercising initially—just weekend fasts that didn’t affect work. But man, the first three fasts were rough: headaches, fatigue, sleeping a lot. My body was screaming “what are you doing to me?”
Once I figured out electrolytes and my body adapted, everything flipped. Less issues, more energy, mental clarity through the roof. Navigating holiday season while fasting? Let’s just say Christmas dinner was… different this year.
The Learning Curve
Beta features breaking. Missing UI elements (thumbs up/down in chats—where did they go?). Rapid AI changes that made yesterday’s workflow obsolete today. Balancing coding with real life, family responsibilities, and the occasional moment of “why am I doing this again?”
Turning 50
There’s something about hitting half a century that makes you confront your regrets. “Should have taken health seriously at 25.” “Should have learned to code sooner.” The emotional weight of realizing you wasted decades not prioritizing the right things.
But here’s the thing I learned: regret is useless unless it fuels action.
Lessons Learned
If 2025 taught me anything, it’s these truths:
1. Consistency Trumps Perfection
I didn’t fast perfectly every week. I didn’t code every single day. But I showed up consistently. Small efforts, repeated consistently, beat heroic efforts that burn out after two weeks.
2. Start Before You’re Ready
Waiting for the “perfect time” is just fear in disguise. Start now. Start messy. Start scared. Just start. A good time to start was twenty years ago. The second best time is today.
3. AI is a Force Multiplier
Learning to code with AI isn’t cheating—it’s adapting. The same way calculators didn’t ruin math, AI won’t ruin coding. It’ll just make it accessible to anyone with ideas and determination.
4. Turn Pain Into Products
Skip & Fuel exists because I needed it. ExeCode exists because I was tired of setup friction. ChatLima exists because I wanted better AI tools. Build what you need. Chances are, others need it too.
5. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
I spent years telling myself “I’m not a coder,” “it runs in the family,” “it’s too late now.” Most of what we tell ourselves is complete fabrication. Stop believing your own BS.
6. Community Accelerates Everything
Posting progress (even when it’s scary). Seeking beta testers. Sharing the journey. Finding others on similar paths. Community turns solitary struggles into shared victories.
What’s Next for 2026?
The year of maintenance? No thanks.
2026 is about:
- Building more: SaaS apps, mobile apps, CLI tools, all kinds of tools. Also updating my Cursor course with everything I’ve learned
- Scaling existing apps: More features, better UX, growing the user base for ExeCode, ChatLima, and Skip & Fuel
- Continuing the health journey: Building on what works, experimenting with what’s next
- Learning more: Deep diving into AI models—how they work and how to build them. Also exploring mobile development
- Helping others: Sharing what I’ve learned about health, coding, and AI-assisted development
The Final Word
2025 was a rebirth. New body, new skills, new mindset.
If you’re reading this and thinking “I wish I could do that,” here’s what I want you to know:
- I was 50 when I started
- I couldn’t code a single line
- I was significantly overweight
- I had zero time (who does?)
And yet.
The only difference between me and the version of me from 2024 is that I finally started. Not perfectly. Not gracefully. But consistently.
Your year of reinvention is waiting.
The only question is: what are you going to do about it?
Want to follow along? Check out my projects ExeCode, ChatLima, and Skip & Fuel. Or just start your own journey. The world needs what you’ll build.
