Dropped 60 lbs this year @ 36, starting to lift regular now. Here's my story.

[trk204]

Hey guys, been lurking around for a while now and finally decided to create an account and start some kind of a journal. Thought maybe I'd throw down an into post and let everyone know about the last year I've had.

Growing up I had always been a larger athlete while playing pretty much every sport other then hockey . Wasn't any kind of super elite athlete, but played on several provincial teams for rugby, football and baseball. After high school, work and school took a higher priority then sports and i slowly stopped being active and largely sedentary. Ended up getting a pretty good desk job, then watched the years tick by. It happens just that fast.

I don't think I stepped on a scale between the age of 22-36. Other then being a large fella, I was (or at least appear to be) relatively healthy and didn't even need to see a doc for anything other then the flu in those years. Why get bad news you know you're not going to like right? Wrong. I sure wish now I had known how bad it was. A PT buddy of mine spit balls my 2013 summer weight at around 340.

Ironically, this whole time my best friend has been a pretty decent gym rat since his early 20s. Training very regularly for years. He had often tried and managed to get me to come out for a few lifts, but muscle soreness would overwhelm me and/or I'd find some other excuse to stop going. Also he had managed to stick it out on our rugby club all these years trying to get me to come back. Again I would always be able to come up with some bs excuse that was good enough for me to not go back and play. Well for the 2014 season, my buddy dropped the news on me that this was going to be his last year, and that if I wanted to get some time in before he pulled the pin, time to man up. Oh and the added tidbit was that he was going to be the coach this year, and the new club motto was going to be fitness, fitness, fitness. yay... In may of 2014, I was 295 lbs.

It's funny when you can look back and see what it takes for you to make that decision, but that's really all it was. He called me the day of the first practice, and i was there that night with I'm pretty sure were the same running shoes I had in the closet since bloody highschool. I probably hadn't sprinted/jogged or done any intense activity in years. The first day was brutal, but it only got better from there. We were training twice a week with the rugby club and i made myself a promise not to bs myself with excuses to cut out on training. After a few weeks and starting (yeah starting lol) to get over the whole body soreness, I took up riding my bike to work. 11km each way ended up for a pretty good 25m cardio session in the morning.

But maybe i had started taking on too much too quickly. I started getting little hurts that would hang around. **** I don't think I could really sprint properly for the first couple of months, my quads were always sore. Getting twisted around in full speed contact drills when you're not really fit/flexable enough to do them properly was taking it's tole. Then during a match I ended up getting folded up in some contact, felt a pop and totally thought I had tore my hamstring. It zipped all the way up my back and scared the hell out of me. Took a couple of weeks of rest before it felt pretty decent, and after that I had decided to hang up the boots for the season and just concentrate on getting fit. I was definitely feeling better and could start to see the changes finally. I had lost around 35 pounds in the 2 months since starting to get active, and to be honest was more concerned about giving myself some kind of excuse to quit via injury. So made the hard decision to just train with the boys the rest of the season and avoid contact. I felt pretty ****ty about letting everyone down, but to be honest, this felt like a once in lifetime opportunity that I was this excited about getting fit and I had to take it.

At that point i went out and bought my first ever pair of running shoes. My jogging/running had been pretty much limited to cleats while at practice, and if I wasn't doing contact i might as well get comfy and use some proper shoes. Shockingly after that, I went for a jog for no reason, for the first time. Another one of those moments where you look back at it and it was like why the F!#% didn't I do that before? It's not nearly as hard as I thought 5k was. I even managed it in one shot. Pretty much died, but made it. Damn that was a good feeling. And I didn't have any music the first few times, which made it 10x worse LOL

Everything was going great until the beginning of august. I had started doing some meandering in the gym. Just staying active and working up a sweat but never really with any purpose. Then I ended up going over the handlebars on my mountain bike going at a pretty good clip. While I was doing very well with the weight loss, down around 40-45 lbs now, sadly the laws of physics dictate when you have a 250 lb man flying upside down and backwards, somethings gotta give. Me, being too cool for a helmet wrapped one hand around my head and landed on my other hand. Saved my head, but jacked my wrist up pretty good. Not sure if I broke it, but she was pretty loose for a few weeks. I was just too embarrassed to go to the sports clinic to get it checked out, I'm just stupid like that. So no more gym. But if I taped it up while running it wasn't too bad. So I started running everyday during lunch at work. Started at 6k in about 50m. So wasn't breaking any records, but again getting over that hurdle where you would find an excuse to NOT go running was such a great feeling. Not too mention the rest of the afternoon after you came back!

My co-workers would always cheer me on when I got back from running, and one of them suggested I sign up to do the last 10k run of the year towards the end of October. Rugby had just ended, and I needed something to train for as my wrist was still funky. Started running 7.2k at lunch, and trying to keep a little more pace, and was impressed with how hard I could go if I tried. A month later i ended up running my first 10k @ 1:06. Wasn't my best pace, but I hadn't run for probably 10 days prior. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year I would have run in a 10k event, I would have laughed in your face. But there I was finishing the run with a couple of friends and more friends and familiy at the finish line cheering me on.

Unfortunately, I lost a little activity momentum after October. Told myself I'd take a couple of weeks off in Nov, that turned into all of Nov. Around the start of December I started swimming laps at lunch. Also started meandering around in the gym again. I kind of told myself I would start focusing on lifting after a few weeks of messing around in the gym getting over the initial soreness, and figuring out where I'm at. Xmas break happened, swam a few times in the new year but didn't get back in the gym for the first couple of weeks of 2015. Ended up hopping on the scale, first time since probably early Dec and I was still at 244. At that point wasn't sure about being happy it wasn't worse, or upset it wasn't it less and I had pissed away time. That night I saw a post about some guy named Greg Plitt had died. I ended up clicking on some compilation on youtube and was like WOW. A couple of his quotes were pretty applicable and I had decided to start really putting some effort into getting strong and fit.

During Dec I had started watching a ton of deadlifting and squatting vids, and working on improving my hip mobility. Reading up on compound lifts and thinking about starting stronglifts 5x5. I was concerned about my back being a big fella for a lot of years and I had my share of "fat guy" back pain. But it was feeling really good these days. I didn't want to hurt myself with squats. Before Dec I had started doing some wall squats, then goblet squats, trying to get that movement comfortable and working on stretching. While I haven't had anyone formcheck my dls or squats yet, I feel good in the motion and will probably post a vid shortly. i still haven't come close to hitting a max for DLs or squats.

This week I decided to see what I could do for all 5 core stronglifts exercises just for ****s and gigs and to kind of see where I was at.

Bench warm up with 95lbs
5x5 with 135lbs. Last rep on 4 was greasy. Last rep on 5 was real greasy. But they all went up solo.

Military press
5x5 with 80lbs

barbell row
5x5 with 115lbs

Deadlift
5x5 with 235lbs. Grip strength was the bigger issue I thought. Sweaty hands make it difficult aswell.

Squats
5x5 with 145lbs. They all went up pretty clean, slight loss of form and forward lean on the last rep of 4/5. With my squats I put my heels on 10lb plates. My right ankle is slightly froze up after a couple of surgeries. Need to work on loosening it some.

In the gym these days, I guess I'm kind of all over the place still. But for the last 2 and a half weeks I've been in there 6 days a week. With a bunch of noon cardio sessions thrown in there to boot. Generally something like this though.

Squat
DL
barbell row
mil press
bicep curl
skullcrusher
hams
quads

next day

bb bench
db bench
side/front/rear shoulder raise
narrow grip bench
lat pulldowns
bicep curl
abs.

Stepped on the scale pre-superbowl weekend and clocked in at 236. I'm sure alot was water loss from running track the night before, but that was pretty cool! This writeup kind of got away from my and I'm usually a bit wordy, but was definitely neat putting it together. I'm pretty excited but getting stronger and plan on using this form quite a bit for all the great help there is! Thanks for reading guys!

Ryan

[mtpockets]

I'm not reading all that!

but, kudo's on the weight loss,

good for you!

[philipj]

Good for you young man, I'm not sure if I am jealous or just envy you. Last year I dropped 20, and hoping to do it again in 2015. Keep it up.

[Jtbny]

Nice write up and Grats on the journey thus far.

[MJETX]

Way to go dude. I have similar story, I am down 67lbs in the last couple of years and am now running and lifting. Stick with it!!

I feel so much better than when I was fat. I figure exercise just has to be a way of life for me now.

[Jbizzlechizzle]

Couldn't read the entire post, but congrats on finding your way back to fitness. I have a similar story, but to a lesser degree. Find a good program and stick to it. The first year of gains is pretty remarkable if you're working hard and being consistent.

[tank316]

Thanks for a great read and the insight on your journey, keep at it!!

[Plateauplower]

Great work so far, just make it part of you and part of your everyday lifestyle. To me that is the overall long term goal, give it your best and stay consistent. If you do those two things and eat sensibly you cannot really end up in the same spot. My story and many others on here are similar to yours. The hard part is overcoming the inertia of not being active. I feel weird now if I don't do something towards my overall fitness goals now.

[JungleBoots]

congrats, man - I started off tipping the scale at 300# in October - Im down to 240 now. Just keep working.

[louie0939]

nice job op...keep up the good work. youve made a nice start now keep the journey going

[CHILDOFGO12]

awesome job

[superb74]

Congrats on the weight loss. I too have a very similar story as you. Keep at it!

[ColoDano]

Good job, and it is amazing how getting back into a sport can show you all those flaws from lack of proper exercise!

I decided last year to start playing lacrosse again after 18 or so years. Damn near killed myself in training camp for a competitive 21+ team, so I decided to re-learn the game and get in shape playing with the older 30+ non-contact guys. While training with the younger guys, took a hard hit that laid me out, and got me in to the chiropractor. He also does physical therapy and has helped me along through all of the various injuries, to strengthen weak areas of my body and get balanced.

This was after I had gone from ~250 down to 205, then back to around 215 once I gained more muscle in the gym.

My diet has taken a hit recently, but I am running hardcore with the younger guys again twice a week right now, and getting to the gym when I can. Should be able to drop back close to 210, and have much more stamina and speed for this season, since I will be playing with the 21+ competitive league.

Hopefully you can keep your journey up, and I am trying to do the same on mine!

[Powerkicker]

Good work! Now, post pics.