[Homeless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Hey, cool. Two days in a row and plans already for a 3rd, plus an unexpected weight loss without even trying. That would be encouraging, for sure!

It is, I have spent the last while believing I was somewhere between 225-230 pounds...but when I saw that I was 218, it made reaching my goal way more managable. As far as a real goal goes, I'm not sure what weight I want...and I really don't think I care. I just want to be healthier, more trim/slim, and a little more cut. If that means I'm 195...fine, if it means I'm 205...that's cool too.

 

[The Actual]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homeless So I'm kind of happy that my first almost 10 pounds are already lost...without any exercise! I'll be back to the gym tomorrow...I have a feeling I'm gonna be hooked again...

Ha, at that rate you'll be back at your goal in no time!

Really though, good luck with your workout schedule and I hope this thread and whatever else you find can aid in your motivation.

One thing about diet and eating light, coming from someone who has never had issues with gaining too much weight: I am vegan. I chose this lifestyle for environmental reasons. This means I eat no animal products at all. No dairy, no eggs, no gelatin, no honey. And of course no meat. This makes it easy (or hard) to get healthy amounts of calories, and since I'm already paying attention to what's in the food I eat it's not hard to look at the nutritional values as well.

I don't want you guys to view me as coming into your thread and just trying to preach my philosophies; I understand that there are a lot of different life styles that are appropriate for a lot of different people. Our society would get no where if people did not specialize in what they are good at, and because food is less important to me than some others, veganism is the best thing I could be doing at this point in my life.

But for people who do want to subscribe to the kind of diet that Asr was mentioning, perhaps it could be helpful to get a philosophical incentive in addition to any physical ones you have. I could never eat beef again because when I see a steak or whatever, I just can't stop thinking about rural sprawl and slaughter houses.

There is a lot of anti-meat stuff out there, so if you think that attempting to eliminate desire instead of repudiating it, give it a try. PETA and organizations like that have a lot of pretty convincing propaganda on their websites.

 

[Homeless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Actual Ha, at that rate you'll be back at your goal in no time!

I think I overestimated my weight and was suprised because I haven't been to the gym lately...but the more I think about it, I usually lose a little weight in the summer because I eat less. I have also been playing hockey weekly, and now that the nicer weather is here I get out and do things a lot more...

As far as the vegan thing goes...I say do whatever works for you. Personally I don't think I could give up meat. I don't eat a ton of meat, but I do enjoy it whenever I do...

 

[Orpheus]

just found this thread, and i didn't bother to read any other posts other than your first, Wmcmanus. but i figure i'd share my little story too:

welp, you probably still remember what i looked like wayne, but it's been about 1 year since i started my weight loss / superman program. it all began as a bet really: greatest percentage change in fat / lean body mass percentage by december wins. the loser buys the winner a frickin nice suit, cause you know, your whole wardrobe is gonna have to change.

so, we went to get the baseline figures--hydrostatically measured fat %. and personally, i got the metabolic test too. at the time, my stats were 230lbs, 25.7+% body fat. metabolic testing showed i was 10% above norm (which is good.) when we started the bet, i had already lost 20lbs though--i originally weighed 250lbs at my heaviest.

now........ the kicker... my opponent: 10% body fat, baseline!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so, how the hell can he win? he's already in perfect shape. i mean, the guy is RIPPED. pure muscle, and BIG muscle too. anyway........... he wanted to do it, so i'm like, okay dude... cool, I'm getting a new suit!

well, anyway, 5 months of torture rolled by. 5 days a week i wake up around 5am and go to the gym and do the elliptical / bicycle @ 140-150bpm. when i started, this means i would consume 650cal after 1 hour of exercise. at the end of the bet, i could do 930cal in 1 hour. and for those that haven't done this before, 900+ cal/hr is insane.

after the morning exercises of cardio / stretching, i go to work. then after work i go back to the gym for 2 hours of weight training. when i started, benching 140lbs was kinda hard. at the end of the bet, i think i was benching somewhere around 220lbs... and now i can do about 240-250lbs. almost doubled my strength.

i wasn't too particular about my diet though. i pretty much ate a decent breakfast. lunch was usually a hamburger (or something else with protein). never ordered combos though--no fries. dinner was usually some kind of meat (fish / steak / chicken) + vegetables / salad. no carbs. now... this sounds like a standard diet, but i assure you, i was eating very little overall, and i was essentially in a perpetual state of hunger. it SUCKED. but the diet was balanced... none of this atkins crap. that junk just screws you up. dunno how doctors can possibly get away with advertising these stupid diets.

anyway....................... WEIGH IN DAY!!! we come back to the facility to do the final hydrostatic testing. my opponent has already finished by the time i arrive, and he looks DEAD. i mean, he couldn't even formulate sentences correctly. he's frickin DEAD. that's how far he took this.

welp, i did my test: 12.5% body fat. ~190lbs. metabolically i actually got slower--the tech told me it's cause of the amount of muscle i lost. and yes, i bench 2x as much, but i still lost muscle. go figure. he said it's inevitable--it's impossible to lose so much weight so fast without losing muscle. but i was still like 10% above norm.

my opponent? 5.0% body fat. he won by a frickin fraction of a percent!!!!!!!

and let me tell you, he deserved it all. you would not believe how insane he took this. he would wake up at 3am. do cardio for 2 hours. weights for 1 hour. go to work. then come back and do cardio for 2 hours and weights again. then go home and do "cardio boxing." somewhere around 6 hours a day. i think he does this 6 days a week, with one "splurge" day where he pigs out on ice cream and crap. the rest of the time he eats an extremely strict diet of meat + vegetables + fruit.

that day, after the testing, we went to the mall to walk around while we waited for my ex to join us for lunch. he could barely walk. i mean, he looked like he was about to die.....

anyway, nowadays i go to the gym every day. once in a while something comes up and i can't make it... and that's kinda like my break. i weigh around 185lbs, aiming for 180. that's going to be about a 70lbs lose. i probably am around 10% body fat right now (i've gained muscle since december and lost a little weight.) and will end around 8% i think.................... and i tell you, i feel amazing. i have incredible amounts of energy and strength, and i never get tired when i play sports. it's like i'm superhuman. feels great.

anyway, that's my story wayne. a different approach. but it worked for me.

OH... forgot the best part: my prize. okay, so i lost a bunch of money. but, to give myself at least something, i ordered a Sparco Evo racing seat for the car. and for those who haven't tried sitting in race seats, you gotta be pretty dang skinny to fit. i think they say 36" waist tops, but really you won't be comfortable unless you're around 32..... and i dropped from 38 to about 30 now. i'm so stoked! seat will arrive end of this week i think........ i finally fit!!!!!! (leaving my passenger seat stock for other fat asses... and other cute girls with abnormally large but sexy asses... ha ha)

 

[/\w+/]

The human body, like most things, operate on the laws of physics; specifically the first law of thermodynamics. Energy added to the system (in this case the body via food) is either expended in its entirety or stored.

Energy in - Energy out = Net energy stored/lost.

Losing weight is not a complicated science. Simply consume less energy than you expend. Losing fat and only fat however, is a bit more complicated.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orpheus Another amazing story!

Thanks for sharing, Dean. I do remember meeting you and you did have a couple of extra pounds! Congrats, man. It sounds like you're totally stoked about life these days.

I'm now about 1/2 way there in terms of my weight loss, but haven't really started weight training in any significant way. I know fomr experience that it can be a tremendous high if you stick with it, so I think for me the key will be to gradually ease into it as my weight drops more and more.

I've actually tried your approach before and it worked wonders while I stuck with the plan. My biggest worry is to come up with something that will work for me on a long term basis.

 

[Orpheus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Thanks for sharing, Dean. I do remember meeting you and you did have a couple of extra pounds! Congrats, man. It sounds like you're totally stoked about life these days. I'm now about 1/2 way there in terms of my weight loss, but haven't really started weight training in any significant way. I know fomr experience that it can be a tremendous high if you stick with it, so I think for me the key will be to gradually ease into it as my weight drops more and more. I've actually tried your approach before and it worked wonders while I stuck with the plan. My biggest worry is to come up with something that will work for me on a long term basis.

yes, keeping it up is hard. most my friends thought i'd gain it all back cause i dropped it doing the extreme, and extremes usually don't last. but alas, here i am. but honestly, i think the real reason i can keep it up is a simple and sad fact--i have no life.

i dunno if you heard, but i got my car messed up around new year's and thus had no car since then (getting it back next sat, hence the new seat

). so, all i've been doing is going to work and going to the gym. once i get my car back and have a social life once again, we'll see how long this all lasts.

beyond just having nothing better to do, i think what really keeps me going is just realizing how incredible the end result is. i mean, without sounding like a narcissist, i does feel great to see your body in top shape while all your friends are porkly. it's especially evident where i work--300 engineers in my building alone. we all sit a lot, so needless to say, lots of people that can barely walk up the flight of stairs. to live life like that is punishment nearly as bad as death. will never go back.

now that you have your life settled, i think you'll come to the same realization. i'm betting you lost your motivation before because you found something "better" to do. but now that you've found what you want to do, should be no problem to add one more item to the list, and do it indefinitely.

 

[pabbi1]

Well,

Having hit 200 at 16, and ~250 my entire adult life (with one year at <180 due to illness), I've taken a totally different path. At 5'10", on May 11, I weighed in at 280, with 34% body fat.

On May 25th, down to 262 (pre-op diet), I had lap band surgery for a (more or less) permanent solution. Guessing I'm currently just under 250, and have my first 'tightening' appointment Monday, so we'll see what the exact measures are. Even though a scale to measure would only be ~$50, I am just totally against temporal micro measurement. I don't need daily affirmation that I'm dropping weight.

Bottom line is I have 3 more weeks of liquid diet (vitamins, 1 cup of yogurt, 3 cups of tomato juice, and 60g of protein in shake form a day), with an ongoing target of 10-12lbs of weight loss per month, with a goal of 190. At 48yo, this is about as aggressive as I can plan for.

Gym? Not in this lifetime - walking, yes, recumbent bike (abandoned by the wife), maybe, but even at $15k out of pocket (damnit, no R-10s this year), the payback (after tax impact) in avoided Rx costs is still about 3 years - not bad at all.

We'll also see if I can keep up without needing plastic surgery for the 'sagging skin' effect, so common with other gastric surgical procedures...

 

[Orpheus]

hi man. congrats on your current success. unfortunately, yeah, you will definitely need the surgery, if you plan to look "normal." i weighed 250lbs before my weight loss, but i don't think anyone would have said i looked fat. i have a pretty big frame, so still looked proportional. now that i weight 185lbs, i can tell you my skin is very loose, and i feel really bad that i worked so hard but don't have killer looking abs--believe me, i work out more than enough to have that model look if it weren't for my loose skin. so yeah, even for me it's a small problem, but large enough to annoy me. guess it comes down to how insecure you are. if you are happy enough with the health benefits (and you will really love how much better you feel at the end)... then cool. but it just sucks to work so hard and hurt so much without at least looking great at the end.

anyway, again, congrats for making it happen. most people are either too scared or too lazy to take the first step... and if you got kids, that's the greatest--you'll get to live long enough to see your grandkids!

Quote:

Originally Posted by pabbi1 Well, Having hit 200 at 16, and ~250 my entire adult life (with one year at <180 due to illness), I've taken a totally different path. At 5'10", on May 11, I weighed in at 280, with 34% body fat. On May 25th, down to 262 (pre-op diet), I had lap band surgery for a (more or less) permanent solution. Guessing I'm currently just under 250, and have my first 'tightening' appointment Monday, so we'll see what the exact measures are. Even though a scale to measure would only be ~$50, I am just totally against temporal micro measurement. I don't need daily affirmation that I'm dropping weight. Bottom line is I have 3 more weeks of liquid diet (vitamins, 1 cup of yogurt, 3 cups of tomato juice, and 60g of protein in shake form a day), with an ongoing target of 10-12lbs of weight loss per month, with a goal of 190. At 48yo, this is about as aggressive as I can plan for. Gym? Not in this lifetime - walking, yes, recumbent bike (abandoned by the wife), maybe, but even at $15k out of pocket (damnit, no R-10s this year), the payback (after tax impact) in avoided Rx costs is still about 3 years - not bad at all. We'll also see if I can keep up without needing plastic surgery for the 'sagging skin' effect, so common with other gastric surgical procedures...

 

[Wmcmanus]

I just had to dig this thread up tonight to give a report of success (for an old FF) today.

I made the foolish decision earlier this week to enter the 14th annual 1-mile sea swim here in Cayman. The main sponsor is a friend of mine who some 20 years ago (or some I'm told) weighed in at nearly 300 pounds, but he's now as skinny as a rail. He ran for years and years, and then started to swim when his knees gave out. He's in his mid to late 50's now and is in the best shape of his life. He's actually the person who recommended the SportsArt exercise equipment to me, and never stops bugging me about swimming.

So feeling like a big fat fool, I showed up this afternoon after a quick trip to a scuba diving store to buy a pair of swimming goggles. Mind you, I'm 43 years old and haven't swum more than one lap in a pool since I was in high school. Plus, even with my weight loss, I'm still 6'0' and 240. Not exactly a role model physique for the junior swimmers in the crowd.

But guess what? I finished at #63 out of 512. My time was 26:43, just a little more than 7 minutes behind the winner, who is a 20 year old Olympian (from the 2004 games). In fact, there were about 20 "ringers" in the crowd including a bunch of swimmers from Cayman's national team and those who are away in college swiming for schools like Texas A&M and the U of Miami. Out of 158 registered in the "over 40" category, I finished 9th. Dang! I was pretty proud of myself.

I've been building up endurance by spending an hour or more on the treadmill or elliptical trainer at least 3 times per week. So as I was swimming, I just kept telling myself to take it one stroke at a time and to keep my heart rate in check, which is pretty much what I do under "dry" conditions.

The other thing that really helped was following right behind this sexy young 24 year-old "chick" that I met the other day. Kind of like the electric rabbit they use at the dog tracks! She beat me, but not by much, and rewarded me with her phone number afterwards. Then she disappeared, but I stuck around for the raffle prizes and actually won a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant. Maybe she'll be up for it. We shall see.

 

[Borat]

That's awesome! Congratulations!

I haven't done anything to test my physical abilities since high school. And I've never tried to swim a mile before. That sounds rough. Why is it that when I'm trying to picture this race in my head I'm getting images of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer swims in the river to fix his back problems?

You should be able to hit your weight target in no time if you can accomplish something like that.

 

[usc goose]

Good story. Nice work.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borat That's awesome! Congratulations! I haven't done anything to test my physical abilities since high school. And I've never tried to swim a mile before. That sounds rough. Why is it that when I'm trying to picture this race in my head I'm getting images of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer swims in the river to fix his back problems? You should be able to hit your weight target in no time if you can accomplish something like that.

Speaking of back problems, I'm having some real tenderness in my lower back tonight. In fact, I'm pretty much sore everywhere. It way pretty funny, but when I finished and then started looking around at the people in front of me and behind me as we checked in at the "officials" tables, they were all young, tanned and skinny people! I was so tired that I could hardly stand up, and they were all acting like it was no big deal (and it probably wasn't for them).

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus The other thing that really helped was following right behind this sexy young 24 year-old "chick" that I met the other day. Kind of like the electric rabbit they use at the dog tracks! She beat me, but not by much, and rewarded me with her phone number afterwards. Then she disappeared, but I stuck around for the raffle prizes and actually won a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant. Maybe she'll be up for it. We shall see.

Great story, Wayne!! I had a similar experience one summer when I was a teenager at ski racing camp. They took us on a run up the mountain the first day there...at altitude somewhere around 8,500 feet!! Well, even though I was in good shape back then, I was dying!! Fortunately, one of the coaches was a very attractive redhead from the US Ski Team, who coaxed me all the way up that hill. I did stay behind her the whole way, but I wasn't going to stop, and the view (of the mountain, of course

) was certainly inspiring.

I had an interesting moment in my fitness quest last week: I went down to lift over lunch, and there were some regulars in the gym. They were doing some heavier benches, and I joined in with them. I found myself working out with 205 lbs, to my surprise. The next time I ran into them, they were donig max lifts. I popped in, and put up 255 lbs!! Frankly, I was VERY surprised...that's 20 lbs more than I've ever done (and that was when I was lifting regularly and for a long time). I'm not sure what that says about my overall fitness, but it certainly means that I'm getting stronger (and building more muscle mass)

 

[Spyro]

The biggest mistake I always see people make when trying to lose weight is inadequate protein intake. Yes, fruits and vegetables are important and should be a big part of the picture but when you are in a caloric deficit and don't get adequate protein, you will lose lean body mass (muscle) in addition to the fat. This is a nightmare for most guys as muscle is hard enough to attain. Protein will also keep the bloodsugar levels in check.