Brian's road to ~200lbs

[dodgeman967]

Well I've had enough of being overweight. I'm closing in on 300lbs and that scares me. Its like I just opened my eyes this morning, stepped on the scale and wala I'm 293 lbs. I used to be on this website almost everyday, lost a bunch of weight and felt amazing. I lost my best friend almost 2years ago in a workplace accident, and am mildly depressed. Now, I'm turning 25 and getting married in October 2014 and plan on being in the best shape of my life for that.

My goals for the next few weeks is to start eating healthier and exercise more. The last month I've managed to cut my serving size down. Now I'm going to get rid of the bad foods I've been eating and start exercising in the mornings before work. This is going to mainly be a journal for myself and others to see to help me attaining my goals. So wish me luck cause this journey starts today.

[Spanishdream]

The stickies. Read them.

Good luck.

[Nosepull]

Good luck, man! With a long-term goal like that, you can absolutely do it.

What's your daily calorie goal? If you don't have one, set one - having a number to shoot for makes it a lot easier.

[matman1813]

Good luck, man. It looks like you were making some good progress last time before you stopped judging by your sig, I'm sure you can do it again. I know what you mean about 300 scaring you. Here in the UK we use stone, I got up to 20stone (280lbs) and that was what did it for me. When I picture somebody who is 20 stone it's probably the same image you see when you picture somebody who is 300lbs and nobody wants to be that person. If I were you I wouldn't do keto this time round, try to stick to a regular calorie deficit whilst getting enough fat and protein, fit some of the foods you like into your macros, that way it is much more sustainable in the long run.

[nicklyne]

The stickies. Read them.

Good luck.

this

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=136691851

[ohara95]

I'm also starting today Brian. Best of luck to you mate. Looking great on your wedding day is going to be powerful motivation.

I currently weight 240lbs, 5ft 11 and 18 years old. It's disgusting, I've tried before and kept falling off the wagon but this time I'm sticking to it. Nothing worse than being fat, depressing to say the least.

I've heard that going for a walk for an hour in the morning on an empty stomach is a great way to kick start this weight loss so I'm going to try and do that and stick to a calorie deficit of 7000 per week which equals to losing 2lbs per week.

Keep us updated!

[nicklyne]

I've heard that going for a walk for an hour in the morning on an empty stomach is a great way to kick start this weight loss

you heard wrong haha


good luck thou!

[dreamingat30fps]

I started at pretty much the exact same weight at the end of Sept. Get the myfitnesspal app and track all your calories. Then start making small adjustments to bring your calorie intake down to a deficit. Actually being able to see how many calories you are consuming and where they are coming from will make a huge difference.

[ohara95]

you heard wrong haha


good luck thou!

Ok... Could you elaborate?

[Spanishdream]

Ok... Could you elaborate?

Weight lose is down to calories.

If you want to look good naked, lift weights whilst you're losing weight. Read the stickies man.

[nicklyne]

Ok... Could you elaborate?

yeah...


having a walk in the morning on an empty stomach does not have an outcome of loseing weight that day.... the outcome of weight lost on that day comes down to EATING LESS calories then your body BURNS a day

[Infidell]

Good luck man!

[dodgeman967]

So I've started reading and getting my mindset back into a healthy lifestyle. I've calculated my BMR per the Harris Benedict equation from muscleandstrength.com and it came up with ~3700kcals/day. That seems like a lot to me. But with that being said I'm going to try for around 2500kcals/day. I have a moderately active job which includes me running around a warehouse all day for 8-10hrs. And now there's snow I can start snowshoeing again. Also, I have the dvd "insanity" I may try.

[nicklyne]

So I've started reading and getting my mindset back into a healthy lifestyle. I've calculated my BMR per the Harris Benedict equation from muscleandstrength.com and it came up with ~3700kcals/day. That seems like a lot to me. But with that being said I'm going to try for around 2500kcals/day. I have a moderately active job which includes me running around a warehouse all day for 8-10hrs. And now there's snow I can start snowshoeing again. Also, I have the dvd "insanity" I may try.

Best advice id say is pick a number and stick with it for 2 weeks and make changes from their

so stay with 2500 for 2-3 weeks, if you drop at a desired rate, keep it, if not... make changes


good luck!!!!


thanks for reading the stickies to!

[SCinHB]

Brian, I was in your same shoes exactly a year ago. Weighed in at 295 and felt like a complete and total slob. I kept putting off my decision to join the gym as a new years resolution, but eventually caved in mid February and went and joined. That's where it all started.

There were countless days initially where I would cheat myself--by saying that I could "skip" todays workout if I eat light or, conversely, eat whatever I wanted because I was working out. That didn't work, as the scale indicated. I told myself that I needed to work out five days a week, with both weights and cardio, as well as get my diet right. And then, with both of those in check, the weight started to come off. Having a trainer at the time was great for me just to put my mind in the right place and build up my confidence at the gym. I think for us big guys, it can be an intimidating place. Now, even though I still have unused training sessions, I can go into the gym and feel confident that I'm not looking like a fool in there--I'm one of those regulars who I looked up to and was somewhat intimidated by when I first joined.

Each day I'm in the gym at 6am for usually an hour, sometimes more--half cardio, half weights. When people call it a lifestyle change, that's exactly what it is. You need to commit yourself and overcome the initial feelings of wanting to quit. I know how strong they were for me, but I kept my eye on the larger goal--a goal which I still have my eyes on today. Surely there were bumps along the way, but I've come a long ways losing 75 pounds and sitting here today at 220. I'm hoping to reach my goal by May--though I know that as someone who has battled with fat for their entire life, the journey will never be over, but the days of being that fat slob I saw myself as in January of 2012 will be.

Best of luck in your journey.

[dodgeman967]

So the past couple days have been good. I live on a farm so I have tons of chicken I can get for cheap. Found out I can take a 2-3 lb bird and slow cook it in the crockpot for 10hrs and it falls right off the bone. Tasted amazing on the salad I had for lunch yesterday. Like I said I'm slowly eating better and since this thread I've done great. I had a bagel with lf creamcheese for breakfast yesterday. Salad with chicken and ranch for lunch. And supper was subway footlong. Which I found out I can no longer eat an entire footlong in one sitting. That about wraps it up till now. Well exercise has been moderate. Was busier then usual for this time of year at work. And today should be just as good. I'm going to post weight on mondays so cross your fingers I'm going in the right direction.

[ohara95]

Weight lose is down to calories.

If you want to look good naked, lift weights whilst you're losing weight. Read the stickies man.

yeah...


having a walk in the morning on an empty stomach does not have an outcome of loseing weight that day.... the outcome of weight lost on that day comes down to EATING LESS calories then your body BURNS a day

Sorry that sounded cheeky asking like that. I now have a better understanding of this. It was from strengthchamp on youtube that I heard that.

I've realized it's all about the calorie counting, having a deficit which I have been sticking too for the past 2 days, going well.

Cheers!

[dodgeman967]

So yesterday was even better. Breakfast was 2eggs on 2ameeican cheese squares with 2pieces wheat toast. Lunch was same. Salad with chicken. Supper was 1red hotdog and 1/2 cup baked beans. Did more lifting at work then anything else yesterday. Going to be doing same thing today. Off to work I go now.

[dodgeman967]

The past few days have been good. Weekend went good. Ate like I should. Went to the Doc's yesterday. Everything came back good except for my weight. So we talked a bit about it and she was telling me to try to cut out some of the carbs that I eat as they tend to keep the weight on me longer. So........ I'm going to try it out. I can't eat much at a time now which kinda sucks but is also good. This morning for breakfast I ended up have 2eggs overeasy, on 1 slice of wheat toast and a slice of cheese with a glass of milk. That right there made me full.
I've been noticing that mornings are easiest for me as far as control and amount. But it seems like from 2pm-5ish~ I start to get hungry. Which makes sense due to my lunch being at 11am. I will have to try to bring in a snack for that time so that I can get through and not grab a candy bar or bag of chips.

Found a pretty good app for my phone that I've been using. It's called "MyFitnessPal" I put in what I eat and it breaks down all the macros right there on my phone!! Beats the heck out of having to go to a computer every time I eat to do fitday. A neat feature on it is I put in my age/weight/height and let it know how much I'm looking to lose, and at the end of the day with the amount I've eaten it tells me how much I could lose in 5 weeks by eating that same stuff.

Well that it for now. Oh BTW I weighed in this morning at an even 269lbs. That will be the last time I see that number under me!!!!

[dodgeman967]

So I know its been a little while since my last post. Things have been a little hectic lately. My fiance is pregnant! Known known for a few weeks now. But finally got into the docs. She is almost 10wks. I'm pretty excited . Gives me even more motivation to lose weight!!!! So I'm still losing. Down to 266 this past Monday. Getting harder and harder to eat more then an English muffin sized amount of food at each sitting. Bout it for now

[lunchboy]

As a word of caution, don't cut out carbs, your doctor is wrong. Hit a solid calorie target everyday. 2500 is a good place to start based on your stats. It doesn't look like you are tracking protein, carbs or fat. You should start focusing on these sooner rather than later because you won't like the end result at 200 lbs. 30 lbs in 4 weeks is quite a lot.

[olebuck]

Good luck. My goal is also the 200 pound mark. 63 pounds more to go until I get their.

[scohen158]

First off I wanted to say good luck and you can do it period. I started on Feb 26th at 317 LBS last week I was 202.8 LBS. So 114 lbs in just under a year. I am closing in on the 200 lbs mark either this week or next I will get under it. Stay consistent and get your diet in check once you find the right deficit it's just consistency and time. Weights help but diet is most of the battle. Develop an Iron Will that this is a priority in your life and you will eventually be fine being around people eating crap as you eat your food. I rarely get cravings now I do cheat occasionally but it's planned cheats like Superbowl with my kids had some pizza I am in control though and I could have gone without.

I haven't been perfect and **** will happen the most important thing is don't let a slip up turn into multiple days or weeks of abandoning your diet. If you have any question feel free to ask.

Sam

[dodgeman967]

As a word of caution, don't cut out carbs, your doctor is wrong. Hit a solid calorie target everyday. 2500 is a good place to start based on your stats. It doesn't look like you are tracking protein, carbs or fat. You should start focusing on these sooner rather than later because you won't like the end result at 200 lbs. 30 lbs in 4 weeks is quite a lot.

I understand what your saying. But I agree with the doctor. I've done KETO/Atkins, and it worked great for me. I lost 60lbs, and was able to keep it off for quite some time. But...... as I reintroduced myself to carbs my body started to gain again. So this time I'm going to eat less carbs, but not cut them out completely. I am using a tracker on my phone since starting this thread. It helps me as I know if at the end of the week I'm losing or not.

[camdensdaddy]

I understand what your saying. But I agree with the doctor. I've done KETO/Atkins, and it worked great for me. I lost 60lbs, and was able to keep it off for quite some time. But...... as I reintroduced myself to carbs my body started to gain again. So this time I'm going to eat less carbs, but not cut them out completely. I am using a tracker on my phone since starting this thread. It helps me as I know if at the end of the week I'm losing or not.

The weight gain from carbs is probably just water. That said, protein is more satiating so carbs are usually where I make cuts, unless I'm feeling particularly lethargic.

[drbrunswick]

Good luck on your transformation! It is amazing what a little motivation will do for you.

Personally, I decided to get serious about my diet for the first time in my life about a month ago. For me, my wake-up call was ending a 2+ year relationship. I decided that I was going to get my diet right, and start working out harder than I ever have. Since then I've seen good progress too. I was around 240 pounds over the winter break this year, and am getting close to 225 now. I've been pseudo-following the Warrior Diet mentality. During the day I focus on eating raw fruits, vegetables, and cashews or peanuts. Then at night I have a meal consisting of a protein, vegetable, and carbohydrate. I've tried this before and burnt out pretty quickly. This time I allow myself a "cheat" day on Saturday. I still eat a lot less than I used to, but I don't focus on the diet like I do the other 6 days of the week. The thing I've found is that pretty quickly my appetite for "junk" food is going away. I don't crave pizza and fried chicken anymore. I'm much more excited for a grilled chicken breast or a salad. Today on my cheat day for lunch I decided to have a grilled chicken salad because that's what sounded good.

Keep up the hard work and stay dedicated and I'm sure you'll get the results you want.