Bear Down Wildcats

Didn't see a thread on this topic get migrated from the other forum, so I figured that I would start a new one here. Weighed in this morning at 264.4lbs, which is the lightest I've been since 1992. Still have another 60lbs to go until I reach my target weight, but it sure is a long way from the 450lbs that I was carrying around 5 years ago. Now I just need to figure out how to get back into the gym and start working on building my body back up. Any suggestions are certainly appreciated.

Congrats on the weight loss! I would start simple with body weight workouts to build some strength before heading to the gym. Push ups, squats, lunges and planks - do couple weeks of those, then go to the gym and start loading with dumbells. Alwyn Cosgrove has written a version of the New Rules of Lifting for middle age people - that might be worth checking out.

Keep on Truckin!

Love it. I'm on the weight loss plan as well. My wife's pregnancy hasn't been good for me.

Hit a high water mark at 195, 3 weeks ago, now down to 190 with portion control, taking the stairs, parking far from work entrance, cutting out unnecessary carbs. My goal is to get to low 170's by Thanksgiving, and will starting working out more once this months schedule lightens up. But i'm attempting to change behaviors which is the key. Generally takes about 3mo for something to become a habit.

Congratulations!

If you know how or are ready to learn to do squats, DL and bench, look at the Wichita Falls Template:

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/ ... ce_Program

It will build a solid foundation of strength across the board. Personally I'drecommend steering away from powercleans if youre just beginning given your age. I'm 32 and can't do them any more. Hard on the joints. Just keep solid form, as with all lifts. It's the fastest route to muscle and strength, and that will assist your weight loss goals. Good luck.

Just hit the 60 day mark...down 21 pounds.

I shouldn't be giving this away for free, but here's how to keep the weight off once you've lost it all:

1) Look in the mirror. That's you.

2) Go to a restaurant filled with people your size.* This will cost you a lot of money. With tip, the check for two people will likely be over $200. Then, eat there and at restaurants like it repeatedly until you get it. That's what normal food portions look like. That's what being full feels like. After a while, portions bigger than that will look gross, and what you used to understand as "full" would feel like you're going to die right there on the sidewalk.

3) Learn how to cook and plate food just like that.

* Three exceptions: 1) Restaurants filled with immigrants from depressed foreign economies. Those people may be your size, but they've burned a lot more calories than you did today. 2) Chinese restaurants. The Chinese people there are your size, but they aren't ordering the same food there that you are. 3) Publican in Chicago. Yes, they're your size, but they only eat there three times a year.

The key word is food. What most of us eat today I wouldn't even classify as food. They are a list of chemicals that looks like food, or "processed food". One piece of advice I read that if you couldn't buy it 100 years ago don't eat it.

Down to 257lbs as of last night, but was down to 254lbs over the holiday weekend. Not sure what I did to gain 3lbs so far this week, but I'm guessing that my body will figure it out and adjust fairly quickly. Still haven't found the motivation to start working out

I lost about 5 lbs during May/June and have fluctuated back and forth but I still am not controlling some of my impulses to eat all the sugary and fatty food that gets presented to me for free at work.

I'm starting a new budget plan to help control some of my excessive spending lately (thanks to the per diem and overtime I have been getting at work lately) so I think that will help me shop better and healthier.

I can lose the weight, easily in fact, I have done it before. I just gotta control myself. I want to get back to under 200lbs by the end of this year.

Down 75 lbs right now. Trainer is upping my cardio tomorrow. Clothes that haven't fit in years are now fitting.

My guacamole and bacon diet seems to be working great. I'm 10 pounds away from my goal weight.

CalStateTempe wrote:Love it. I'm on the weight loss plan as well. My wife's pregnancy hasn't been good for me.

Hit a high water mark at 195, 3 weeks ago, now down to 190 with portion control, taking the stairs, parking far from work entrance, cutting out unnecessary carbs. My goal is to get to low 170's by Thanksgiving, and will starting working out more once this months schedule lightens up. But i'm attempting to change behaviors which is the key. Generally takes about 3mo for something to become a habit.

Its not much, but down to 187 from 195 in mid-June. Really I'm happy for maintaining an average 1500 calorie diet throughout the week and 30min of cardio 3 days a week. Even with baby and labor and everything.

Hoping the good habits will pay off. I still have an occasional beer about 1-2x per week. No sodas though.

Hoping to be under 180 by october.

1500 a day? I lost weight more slowly at 1700 a day. My wife tried to put me on 1500 a day, but on the third day everything got blurry and I got on a bus to somewhere I didn't know, forgot who I was, and eventually got off in a weird area of town where I smelled barbecue and proceeded to order a half slab of ribs, half a chicken, an order of burnt ends, fries, bread, slaw, and apple pie. Then I found my way home and went out to dinner.

Quit going to the gym and started training on my bike again. 2-3 group road rides during the week. 1 or 2 long mountain bike rides on the weekends. All early before anyone in the house wakes up and gets going.

Down 14 pounds.

Gato Salvaje wrote:Quit going to the gym and started training on my bike again. 2-3 group road rides during the week. 1 or 2 long mountain bike rides on the weekends. All early before anyone in the house wakes up and gets going.

Down 14 pounds.

Wow! I'm staying even with my daily bike regimen. Then again, my daily bike regimen is 8.6 miles on the plains of Champaign. At least my 1970-something Fuji bike and billowing cape don't lighten the effort.

I'd love to be living your life longhorned. I cant imagine how beautiful of a ride that is. Post some pics.

edit**
wait a second. You're talking France right?

As an aside, I want to sing the proponents of breast feeding.

After one week wife has dropped 20lbs of her pregnancy weight is only about 8 lbs off her pre-pregnancy weight. Granted a lot of this is water weight, but I'm very pleased (as is she) with the results.

I'd love to be living your life longhorned. I cant imagine how beautiful of a ride that is. Post some pics.

edit**
wait a second. You're talking France right?

Yes. Sometimes I feel sorry for the rest of you. Here are those pics of mon petite jaunt:

Down from 215 to 168 since May 1.

Only chicken and salmon with a mix of veggies, rice, beans and fruit and the occasion intake of alcohol...well and Nico's from time to time.

I can also run roughly 2.5 miles, I just started lifting this week and I do a lot of full body workout exercises. Don't think I've weighed this less in my adult life. Most people who haven't seen me in a while are shocked.

Wow, that is awesome cats101.

Thanks for posting, its really inspiring to me. I haven't been under 180 since prior to 2004, but I really looking forward to being there again.

My diet is similar and my running is the same. Want to drop about another 10-15 before I start lifting again.

For all of you that have lost weight I've found it. Send me a PM and I'll get it right back to you.

I'd be inspired too if I didn't feel like a beached whale right now after a huge breakfast and lunch.

Good job on the weight loss everyone...

blah. I still am stuck. i have really limited some things the last couple of months but I'm not good about it all the time. I am at 235 right now (6'2") and I've been hovering around that after losing 10 lbs over the summer. Unfortunately I see fall and football/basketball/chicken wings/beer season looming over me and that's never a good sign. I'd be happy at 200 lbs and to maintain that.

Finally found the motivation to join a gym and I've been working out almost everyday since October 1st. Nothing major right now (30 minutes stationary bike, 45 minutes walking around inside track and some abdominal machine exercises), but I'm working towards increasing the intensity of the workouts and adding more weights to my routine. Down to 234lbs as of yesterday evening and I have about 30lbs left to reach my target weight, which I'd like to hit by the end of 2014.

SGIT wrote:Finally found the motivation to join a gym and I've been working out almost everyday since October 1st. Nothing major right now (30 minutes stationary bike, 45 minutes walking around inside track and some abdominal machine exercises), but I'm working towards increasing the intensity of the workouts and adding more weights to my routine. Down to 234lbs as of yesterday evening and I have about 30lbs left to reach my target weight, which I'd like to hit by the end of 2014.

That's great. I wish that were an option for me, but it turns out that I every time I join a gym, I exercise in a non-gym way to make up for the money I'm wasting on a gym membership while refusing to go to the gym. I stick with my biking commute, yard work (which in my case is monumental), shoveling snow. When I run out of those things, I close all the curtains and dance alone until I twist my ankle and fall into the coffee table.

Total cholesterol: 255
HDL: 71 (which is kinda awesome)
LDL: 153 (which is kinda worrisome)
Triglycerides: 155

I could lose 10 pounds and that would help. I'm doing lots of bicycling, so the exercise is in place.

My new "eat more food diet" to lose weight will include something I've been neglecting: dessert. I'll now include dessert every night. And snacking. I didn't snack today, which means I cheated. I'll do better and snack tomorrow. It involves pretty much non-stop cooking as I rev up kitchen to run in this new way.

I'm not counting calories because I'm pretty much eating to capacity. Whatever that equals in calories, I'm not sure I care enough to add it up.

Here's my completed eating for today:

Breakfast:
- Bowl of oatmeal with maple syrup and banana. Actually it was rolled rye flakes today instead of rolled oat flakes. I like it maybe more than oatmeal.
- Coffee

Lunch:
- A potage of roasted butternut squash with lentils
- A big helping of spaghetti squash, salted
- A big helping of steamed broccoli dressed with apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper

Dinner:
- Smoked trout from Trader Joe's dressed with dill, capers, and lemon
- Buttered roasted fingerling potatoes
- Roasted beets dressed with sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper
- A big helping of steamed cauliflower dressed with apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper
- A rocket salad dressed with Balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper

Dessert:
- Roasted acorn squash with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and then drizzled with maple syrup

I'm going to start working more sandwiches into the diet as well.

Down 4 lbs in the last 9 days...slowly but surely I hope...

Gonna start the couch to 5k program for running too.

Weighed in at 228.6lbs on 12/17/2014, which is the lowest I've been since high school. I'm down 175lbs since October 2013 and have about 25lbs to go in order to hit my target. Still need to get back in the gym...

Amazing!!!

You must look and feel like an entirely new (1/2) a person!!!

Congrats and awesome work SGIT.

Way to go SGIT! That is awesome!

SGIT wrote:Weighed in at 228.6lbs on 12/17/2014, which is the lowest I've been since high school. I'm down 175lbs since October 2013 and have about 25lbs to go in order to hit my target. Still need to get back in the gym...

Very inspiring. Way to go!

I'm down to 205 after a high of 238 at the beginning of the summer. I've lost the fat I wanted to lose, not to put some of that weight back on the right way.

SGIT wrote:Weighed in at 228.6lbs on 12/17/2014, which is the lowest I've been since high school. I'm down 175lbs since October 2013 and have about 25lbs to go in order to hit my target. Still need to get back in the gym...

Congrats!

I had to lose some weight I had put on again. I'm at 155 and holding. I find it harder to maintain than to lose especially because my body is stubborn and I have to keep to about 1400 calories or so a day to maintain even if I've played 2 or 3 hours of tennis.

So, when I started my journey I was at 72% body fat. Yes I shit you not, 72% body fat. Yesterday was my 9 month measurement. I have gone from 72% body fat and I am now at 38%. Been a hard ass journey. I am running again, I am playing basketball again. I am playing softball. Skin complexion has improved. Confidence is coming back. I am just all around happy. It's time for me to push even harder now. The picture of me on the right was me in February.

KCF wrote:So, when I started my journey I was at 72% body fat. Yes I shit you not, 72% body fat. Yesterday was my 9 month measurement. I have gone from 72% body fat and I am now at 38%. Been a hard ass journey. I am running again, I am playing basketball again. I am playing softball. Skin complexion has improved. Confidence is coming back. I am just all around happy. It's time for me to push even harder now. The picture of me on the right was me in February.

I don't like like math, KCF, but I know enough to know that's amazing. Congratulations. In all sincerity, you're opening a new universe. Who does this? It's a rare achievement. You look great. Not to change the subject, but you also have great hair, and that can't be taught or earned.

That said, get your act together and do as they do on planet the call earth: "Before" pics go on the left, "After" pics on the right. Who didn't learn this while watching TV ads? Do you wear your underwear over your pants as well? I hope you never offer to make me one of those meat-on-the-outside sandwiches.

Good work KCF!

Good job man.

I've lost about 8 lbs so far. Another 30ish to go and I'll be happy. Trying to get down to about 190.

Well done man! Keep it up.

April 22nd of last year is when I started my journey. 13 months later here I am. Tons of loose skin. I started off at 72% body fat. Last time I was measured I was at 38%. As of my Dr's appointment today I am at 31% body fat. I have 8% more to go to reach my goal and to be considered healthy. 8% more to go and I can start looking at skin removal options.

That's amazing! Holy cow, nice work.

I just started a 30 day program today in fact. Going to try and get down from 205 to 185. So far all I really keep thinking about is eating a Gyro. That's probably a bad sign for only 8 hours in...

I want to get off about 30 lbs before I get married next year. Don't wanna see any chubby cheeks in the wedding pictures.

Great job KCF!

Last summer was my high point. 220 at 5ft 10in. Down to 175 now. I'm on the no breakfast, big lunch, small dinner, less booze, more weed, diet. No additional exercise or the food changes besides portion and intervals.

I've said this before but if I just cut back the beer and eliminated all sugar/soda/junk food from my diet I could lose 30 lbs in like 3 months or so. I generally eat healthy for meals but in between is my problem with snacking and a candy bar here or there etc. I wouldn't even need to exercise.

I didn't gain weight but I figure it's a good time to return to my old "more food diet." No calorie counting or limits on portion sizes. The only rule is that everything I eat has to be recognizable as food, and prepared from scratch. You end up getting full before you've had a chance to "over eat."

Longhorned wrote:I didn't gain weight but I figure it's a good time to return to my old "more food diet." No calorie counting or limits on portion sizes. The only rule is that everything I eat has to be recognizable as food, and prepared from scratch. You end up getting full before you've had a chance to "over eat."

that's more or less my approach.

scumdevils86 wrote:

Longhorned wrote:I didn't gain weight but I figure it's a good time to return to my old "more food diet." No calorie counting or limits on portion sizes. The only rule is that everything I eat has to be recognizable as food, and prepared from scratch. You end up getting full before you've had a chance to "over eat."

that's more or less my approach.

It helps remind me where the wasted calories are. Like seeing how many calories are in bread, in exchange for no nutrients or fiber. I've certainly had times of my life when everything I've eaten was a calorie waste with nothing in return.

Longhorned wrote:I didn't gain weight but I figure it's a good time to return to my old "more food diet." No calorie counting or limits on portion sizes. The only rule is that everything I eat has to be recognizable as food, and prepared from scratch. You end up getting full before you've had a chance to "over eat."

Kind of a whole foods approach. Shop for ingredients, not meals.

Better late than never, but congrats KCF!

Keep it up and meet that goal!