Before pics - as promised

[bigbola]

I went to the gym and had my bodyfat and measurements taken. I also reluctantly had my wife take my pics. I am shocked! I can't believe she still makes love to me! I knew i had gained 10 lbs. over the Holidays but this was much more than i expected. I guess when your standing in tight shorts practically up my crack with no shirt on, these photo take on a whole new dimension.

These pics and measurements are from today. Please note that I started my new way of life New Year's Day and have lost roughly 7-10 lbs. My weight as of now is 240 lbs. @ 23% bodyfat <-- ouch! I'm 6 ft. tall. Less than 3 1/2 years ago I had a 33 inch waist and weighed 195 with solid symmetry and now this? I'm so motivated to sculpt and lose the weight now. Here are my new measurements:

Waist - 44
Chest - 46 1/2
Hip - 47 1/2
Bicep - 17
Thigh - 26 3/4
Forearm - 12 7/8
Calf - 16 <-- majorly undeveloped
24% Bodyfat
My goals over the next 12 weeks are to lose 36 lbs. while gaining lean muscle mass. I'll stick to high protein and low glycemic carbs with my PWO shakes always having fructose or dextrose. I'll post my meals and my workout for today.

[Fluids]

Good Luck man...keep at it strong.

[r0ckyb4lboa]

good luck hit the weights major hard and do an hour of cardio every other day or so

[skelooth]

damn you're a sexy beast. Your traps are huge bro.

[bigbola]

Well Skel,

If I can have your arms along with Matt M's waist line I'll be happy. Here are some details on my supps and today's workout.

Typical Day:

Shake
1 Scoop Whey Isolate
1 Scoop Muscle Milk
2-3 Tbsp. Powerbutter
1 Tbsp. Flax
1/2 Cup oats
4-10 oz. Skim Milk

Or

4-8 Egg Whites
5 Slices Boar's Head Turkey
2-4 oz. Part Skim Cheddar
2 Mission Low Carb Tortillas
Hot Sauce


Protein Shake Or Protein Bar (Trioplex/Detour or Labrada)


Grilled Chicken
1 1/2 Cups Brown Rice
Tbsp. Slivered Almonds
FF Yogurt


2 Cups Kashi Go Lean
1 Cup Skim


Tuna Fish
2 Cups Fresh Broccoli
Brown Rice



PWO Shake
2 Scoops Pro Complex
10 oz. Skim Milk
8-10 Frozen Grapes or banana


Steamed Chicken w/ Vegetables w/ Ginger Sauce


Supplements:
Aminos 2222 Caps
No-Explode Preworkout Drink
Irontek CLA - I'm taking 6 caps a day. Is this enough?
2 Tbsp. High Lignan Flax Oil
Pro Complex
Bars
Muscle Milk - Tastes unreal

I have a question about supplementing Glutamine. Is this effective for weightloss? It seems like there is two schools of thought.


My workouts:

I'll be doing cardio 4 times a week. Jogging/HIIT/Elliptical. Anywhere from 25-45 minutes keeping my heartrate above 155.

My workout today

Traps

Shrugs
75's X 15
75's X 15
85's X 12
85's X 12

( I have rotor cuff issues and I have been getting two massages a month which helps/ My shoulders and chest I must warm up more in the future)

DB Side raises
10's X 20
12.5's X 25
15's X 12
15's X 12
20's X 12
(painful)

DB Flat Bench

65's X 15
65's X 15
75's X 12
85's X 10
Drop Set 55's X 7

Fly Machine

120 X 15
120 X 17
135 X 12
135 X 12

Incline DB Press

65's X 12
70's X 12


Tricep Skull Crushers - first time and i feel like a puss!

60 X 10
60 X 15
60 X 17
I will warmup more next time.. Ouch!

Tricep Cable Pulldown

70 X 20
70 X 15
70 X 12

15 Minutes of Cardio on Elliptical keeping heartrate above 150

I'll have to tell you, When I first starting lifting 4 weeks ago I was lifting 20 lbs. less on every given exercise. Before I get flamed away and accused of steroids, understand that (A) I had not lifted in months (B) I'm a Mesomorph and gain muscle easy. I was always the buff kid on the football team. (C) I was not lifting until failure. With that being said I feel unbelievable. I know i'm fat as hell, but I'm drinking 2 gallons of water a day while maintaining healhty eating habits. One thing about me personally is that everything seems to suck in my life when I don't feel good about myself. I don't know if anyone can relate, but knowing i'm improving is having a dramatic affect on my work and marriage.

[AnewME]

bigbola
First congrats on having the guts to post your beginning pic, measurements, and personal thoughts here for ALL to see. That in itself puts you ahead of most.
You appear to be a 'thick' guy. Like myself, you shouldnt have problems gaining strength or lean mass.
Im sure it wont take you too long to reach your goal. You seem to have the right attitude and the moral support at home.

Keep up the great work!
AnewME

[AnewME]

Sorry, I forgot to add...
You should also get a side shot of yourself. From the 3 angles your continued improvements will be obvious.

Best of Luck
AnewME

[bigbola]

I was able to finally upload my original Before pics I took 4 weeks ago. Take a close look at the first pics and these. I'm roughtly 7 - 10 lbs. heavier here and these are my TRUE before pics. Even more embarrassing. Can you tell a difference? Look at traps and love handles. I think I can tell. At this point it would be very small. Today a jogged/walked 3 miles. Feeling great!

[bigbola]

Thanks for the encouragement. Lord knows I need it! I still get very tempted to eat the wrong foods and my biggest weakness is a beer with the buds. I'm learning that the taste of the bait, ain't worth the pain of the hook.

[AnewME]

bigbola
How do you split your walk/jogs?
Do you time them? By markers? Distance? Or just a feeling?

AnewME

[bigbola]

I go on feeling. Sometimes it's when my favorite song starts but I usually just wait until my hearrate goes down then I'll start jogging again. I always end my jogs with a heavy sprint on the way back to the house.

I think I need to do more cardio. I'm so wrapped up in gaining muscle that I forgot that losing the weight was far more important! After a hard day lifting weights most people would say the LAST thing to do is do strenous cardio cause it would melt away your muscle. Well I don't care, I'm going to do cardio 5 days a week now. I want to lose 2-3 lbs. every single week

[budking]

Bola,

I saw your thread and thought "that's MY story!" If I uploaded pics they would be very similar. I'm 43 and have always added muscle easily. I've let myself go to the tune of about 35 lbs too much. I have trouble with my right delt which is hindering my ability to bench. I've been back to lifting since christmas when I got my smith machine. When you start to see results in a few weeks you'll be motivated to keep it going. Your story has motivated as I'm not the only guy out their trying to get buff again. I'm not well educated on the diet stuff so I have to learn. I hope to learn from your progress. Stay the course! I'll check in now and then for more inspiration.

Budking

[bigbola]

Amazing how similar. My right rotor cuff takes 30 minutes of warming up before pounding away. This board is great and they'll be able to teach you much of the basics of nutrition/supplementation. I know I've learned a ton. Knowing you need to change and deciding to change is where it all begins.

For the last year or more of my life I've simply rolled with the punches. I've settled for mediocrity and that is not who I am. There was something inside all this time telling me to get my act in gear. I've accomplished more in my work and life since the New Year than I did in all of 2004! It's a mindset of not settling for failure. Life will throw you twists and turns, it's how we react to those circumstances that ultimately tells how strong you are. Like my coach use to say: "What do we do when we get knocked down?" WE GET BACK UP. " What do we do in the 4th quarter?" GET TOUGH.

[oojoe24oo]

Amazing how similar. My right rotor cuff takes 30 minutes of warming up before pounding away. This board is great and they'll be able to teach you much of the basics of nutrition/supplementation. I know I've learned a ton. Knowing you need to change and deciding to change is where it all begins.

For the last year or more of my life I've simply rolled with the punches. I've settled for mediocrity and that is not who I am. There was something inside all this time telling me to get my act in gear. I've accomplished more in my work and life since the New Year than I did in all of 2004! It's a mindset of not settling for failure. Life will throw you twists and turns, it's how we react to those circumstances that ultimately tells how strong you are. Like my coach use to say: "What do we do when we get knocked down?" WE GET BACK UP. " What do we do in the 4th quarter?" GET TOUGH.

yeh thats the attitude to get through anything in life....you gotta understand there is always light at the end of the tunnel - some tunnels are just longer than others.....

good luck bro and keep us updated....understand its going to be a long and grueling process both mentally and physically but the results will be amazing.

[bigbola]

Well I'm definitely packing on the muscle. I may only be losing 1-2 lbs. a week but I'm getting buff. My shirts are getting tight in the arms and my shoulders are getting broad. I'll put pics up in 2 weeks on my latest progress. I think moving forward I'm going to cut out carbs after 10p.m. I normally go to sleep around midnight in case your wondering. Sometimes I workout late so in that case I'll eat carbs.

I'm trying to pay much more attention to what goes in my mouth! The first 4 weeks were tough. I went from eating like **** to eating healthy which was a total shock. I'm able to eat more hardcore now that my body is use to this way of life. I'm taking out processed foods like Lean Cuisines and adding Chicken, Broccolli, etc. I still cannot let go of my protein bars, even though everyone here says they are bad. They are so convenient.

My confidence is way up! I'm getting cocky at work and i feel a hell of allot better than I did 4 weeks ago! I would tell anyone whose sitting on the fence putting together a plan of success, to start tomorrow! The sooner the better. The sacrifice of not drinking with the buds, eating like **** (and i'm a chef ) are FAR WORTH IT!

Moving forward my goals are to lose no less than 2 lbs. and shoot for 3. I'll play with my diet a bit and probably cut carbs just a little. I'm not doing low carb so no flaming! HA HA! Anyway, I'm getting stronger than an horse. I'll keep you updated.

[bigbola]

2 steps forward, 1 step back. I'm currently in fort worth (near Dallas) for a week of training with my company. I'm stuck in a convention/hotel center with terrible food with virtually no healthy choics. For lunch I was forced to eat real mayo and white bread w/ sun chips. DOH! I asked the Chef to get some flippin fat free dressings for the salad bar. That is how bad this is. I'm meeting a bunch of new, cool people from various parts of the U.S (New England, Los Angelos etc. They'll be going to the bar everynight egging me to go with them. Damn this is gonna be hard. I'll try to hit the cardio EVERY FLIPPIN day and train with weights. I'll make better bad decisions At least I have my gym card to 24 hr. fitness which is nationwide and my car!

[Gabrielle]

Hope you don't mind some input from the feminine side::::
Your body looks to be the perfect type to build muscle well.
Your workout looks like way too much volume. Try to lift heavier and keep your reps lower.
You are doing your bench presses first, right? That is generally recommended.
Good luck, I am sure you will do great!

[Meatman]

I'm in the same boat as you man! Good Job on the workout and weight loss. My worst problem is bad food, so I TOTALLY understand how hard it is. As far the rotator cuff, I had my left rebuilt in 1992 (Posterior tear doing flat bench) and I have been afraid of re-injuring it, but I have to get strong...I'm sick of being a fat tub of crap! Good Luck in Dallas, if they ask you to go to the Bar, order water with ice, and tell them it's some sort of Vodka drink...how will they know it's not...Heh.

[bigbola]

Hey,

I appreciate your post and I don't mind a feminine suggestion. Yes I have been able to add muscle and lose fat rather easily in the past. I'm hoping the same applies for me at 28. Eating up here is a huge challenge but I can wing it for the most part. I'm uping my cardio to compensate for extra calories and fat (i.e., cream sauce, fat from eggs, chips). I'm very limited up here but tomorrow plan on taking a couple of bars to my meeting. I get a little selfconscious about eating healthy, especialy since my colleagues notice and give me a slightly hard time. But oh well, successful people in this world are almost always eccentric and different, right? I don't mind standing out and I'm not going to let it bother me.

I think my massage lady doesn't know what she's doing cause i'm always in pain after our treatments. lol. No pain, no gain!

[cardiodan]

I really dont surf this board a lot, but i just read your diet and let me tell you, its terrible.
Way too many wrong choices.
Go read a diet sticky, and stick to it, otherwise, youll be in a plateau soon enough. Are you even counting calories?

1 Scoop Whey Isolate
1 Scoop Muscle Milk
2-3 Tbsp. Powerbutter
1 Tbsp. Flax
1/2 Cup oats
4-10 oz. Skim Milk

This is an incredible amount of calories for breakfast. Way too many. 3 tbsp power butter?? 1 tbsp flax? thats already 400cals!+ plus the muscle milk whey and oats and milk!
Thats too much my friend.

A good diet:
The Cutting Primer
By rambo @anabolicreview.com

It’s about time we had a decent full length post on cutting…

Let’s get a few things straight…
1. All of the insights I’m about to provide are not person-specific. What that means is that it is a general guideline, not a bible.
2. I truly do believe that bodybuilding is 80% diet. You can lift your ass off daily, and still look horrible if you aren’t eating right.
3. You are what you eat. It’s just that simple.

The BASICS-
1.Postworkout Nutrition- I’m a firm believer that PWO nutrition is hands down the most important aspect of dieting. It is within the 15 minutes after a workout that your body is in dire need of nutrients. It is a completely anabolic state, and what you take in can be optimized to ensure maximum results. A general rule of thumb is 40-60 grams whey protein, and double the amount of whey in carbohydrates (50% dextrose/50% maltodextrin).

2. Carbs- You are **** right, carbs. In a strict cutting diet the majority of your carbs should come in the form of PWO nutrition, and the remainder in breakfast. Fibrous veggies are a staple, but keep in mind that they don’t count towards intake, as they have negligible impacts on blood sugar levels. (Exceptions: Carrots, Peas) All high glycemic carbs outside of PWO should be avoided. The best sources of low GI carbs can be found in oatmeal and brown rice, as well as yams.

3. Protein- You need tons. 1.5-2.0 grams per pound of lean bodyweight is a good general rule of thumb. You should take in a good portion of your protein in the source of real meals, avoid intaking too many shakes, as real food comes to a better benefit. The list foods with high protein bioavailability is extensive, and I will only cover a few, (Egg whites, Lean steak, Chicken breast, the list goes on forever….).

4. Fats- Guess what? You need fat to lose fat. We are talking about the granddaddy of fats, the EFA (Essential Fatty Acid). Good sources of fat are ( Flax Oil, Nuts, Salmon, Olive Oil).

5. The separation of Carbs and Fats- This is a hotly debated issue, but again, in my opinion, an important aspect nonetheless. Remember that it is often when you eat items and with what you eat them that is more important than what you are eating. A mouthful, I know, but stay with me. Remember that when you take in certain carbs, you can spike your insulin levels. If you are taking in fats when your insulin has been spiked, you are allowing the basic laws of physiology to act out, and you allow for a higher propensity for fat storage. Separation is key. The sample diet will give a good example of how to separate them.




6. Supplements-

Glutamine: Helps prevent catabolism when cutting. Best used in dosages of 10grams daily, 5 grams before cardio, 5 grams at another interval, but not after workout as it fights for absorption with the glutamine peptides in whey.
ALA/R-ALA- Gets my supplement of the day award. R-ALA is effective in lowering the spike of insulin when certain carbs are consumed. I could give you a dissertation on the stereoentisomeric properties of the R, but all you need to know is that it has been found to shuttle carbohydrates away from adipose and into myocytes. Translation: Away from fat cells, into muscle cells. It’s a supplement, however, not a miracle worker. It’s not a crutch, and won’t do anything about fat intake. ALA and R-ALA can also aid in the expedition of the ketogenic state. Remember that if you buy R-ALA that you supplement it with Biotin. Glucorell-R is prepackaged with it. If you can afford it, go for it. As far as dosage, with the R, you are looking at 1-2 pills of Glucorell R for each 30-40grams of carb intake.
Protein and Carb Shakes: I’m not going to cover protein, because even if you can’t afford it, you should sell a kidney to get some. Carb drinks are rather convenient, and companies offer pre mixed dosages, (CarboHit, Glycoload, UltraFuel). Dextrose and Maltodextrin can be bought from most supplement stores or online.

www.allsportsnutition.com

7. Cheating- Cheating is essential. Why? Remember, the body runs on homeostasis, it likes to keep balance. After eating so well after a week, your body begins to adjust, and fat loss over time will not be as rapid. The other extremely important aspect is mental sanity. So many diets crash and fail because people don’t give themselves a chance to breath. Remember, cheating is not an opportunity for you to pillage the entire mall food court. Shoot for a cheat meal, not an all out binge. A fast food value meal can be 2,000 calories. Eat that 3 times on one day, and you’ve consumed 6,000 calories. And that’s not good in any case.

8. Cardio- Cardio and cutting usually go hand in hand. I won't go into specifics about length, other than cardio shouldn't be excessive. 45 minutes to one hour daily should be sufficient, and should be performed on an empty stomach.




Sample Diet:
Note: This is a sample diet for a 200 pound gentleman who is wishing to cut. We can assume his BF to be around 15%. This diet will NOT work for you if those criteria don’t apply to you; however it is easy to customize the below diet to take in account your own statistics. It is the principles that are applicable.. I am not going to post the total amount of calories, only the carb, protein and fat macros for the whole day.


Meal 1:
Lean Protein, 1/2 cup oatmeal

Meal 2:
Protein shake/Lean Protein (2 tbsp flax

Meal 3:
Veggies, Lean Protein

Workout

Meal 4:
PWO Nutrition

Meal 5:
Veggies, Lean Protein, 1/2 cup rice or oatmeal.

Meal 6:
Shake with Flax

That turns into approximately 300 grams protein, 130 grams Carbs, and 50 grams of fat.

*Reminder: This is a PRIMER. It’s not mean to be comprehensive.





Here comes the fun part: Question and Answer….

Q: What about dairy?
A: If you don’t mind a soft look, fat free cottage cheese is an excellent caseinate source, but as for milks- way too much processed sugar. NO.

Q: Should I do a keto diet?
A: Unless you are morbidly obese, or would like to drag your wilted muscles behind you, stay away from keto. Again, that’s my opinion. You can see my previous posts for my anti-keto ranting.

Q: What about cycling carb intake?
A: Obviously on non workout days you will be without a shake, so you will be auto-cycling. It works well that way.

Q: Is sodium an issue?
A: Outside of the bloating issue, or if you have high cholesterol, no.

Q. How do I make my meals not taste like cardboard?
A. Be creative. Mix in some sugar free jam or splenda in your oats, some hot sauce or soy sauce on your meats, or pick up some sugar free ketchup.

Q. I don’t like old fashioned oats. Can I eat the pre mixed oats with fruit?
A. No. Be a man. Those mixes have ridiculous amounts of sugar.

Q. What about fruit?
A: Fruit replenishes glycogen stores in the liver, and in my opinion, is not to be a staple of a strict cutting diet, with a few exceptions.

Q: Can I eat steak while cutting?
A: Definitely. Make sure it’s a leaner cut.

And with this post I take a sabbatical. I’d like to thank ~Swolecat~ for his influence, and to thank all of you who may have indirectly annoyed me enough to result in this elongated post. If I missed anything, or am horribly wrong on anything, feel free to PM me, and I will edit it in. Best of luck, and remember…

“Obsessed is a the word that lazy people use for dedicated.”


Happy Holidays,

Rambo

* This was edited to reflect a few changes, and change the title to UN official, as was my original intent

---------
I hope you change your diet. I use to look like you. I made a change and now i look great. Its because I dont pretend I eat well. Stop pretending youre putting good foods in you. Too much of a good thing is bad too, you know, especially when it comes to calories, which in your case is simply over the top.
I know youre just starting out , and thats why im barging in cuz no one in here seems to know that youre overeating.

Oh and your postworkout nutrition , change it. It sucks.
You NEVER want fructose in pwo nutrition. Change it to something that might actually give you a higher insulin spike, and wont store glycogen in the liver(which fructose does) and instead in the muscles. Dextrose and whey is the best choice.

Anything else pm me.

[skelooth]

Whoa yeah, I just got done looking over that diet, how many calories is that? 3000? more?

[Just_Ali]

hey big nice going good luck with the workout and diet i will be waiting to see you cut and i am sure you really gonna look great after your weight loss

[bigbola]

Thanks. I appreciate your inspiration and I also agree that my diet may be to high in calories. For some reason a high calorie breakfast never real causes me to gain weight as long as it's high in protein and under 700 calories. After 6 p.m that is a different story. Moving forward, hell i'm gonna cut my calories down. I know people here would tell me to spend 40 bucks and go get my basal metabolic or whatever the hell you call it checked so i'll know how many calories to take in. But honestly, I'm so use to righting my **** down and counting portions and protein. If I'm working out like a gladiator I think inevitably I'll come out on top. Maybe I'm just not that hardcore yet.

Also, I thought the calories Flax oil wouldn't hurt you? I know that sounds crazy but people tell me Flax helps you burn fat. Waz up here?

[cardiodan]

No, if you take in more calories than you expend per day, be it from lifesavers or donuts or flax oil, youll gain weight. Doesnt matter.
You need to search for your AMR. Search for it online. Its the active metabolic rate. Its your calories burned per day considering youractivities, search for it, its free. Google.com is good.

Flax 2 tbsp, separated by different meals should be your max unless youre going low carb. Never mix carbs and fats. Otherwise youre setting yourself up for fat gain, as insulin levels are up (allows for nutrient uptake and whatnot), and thats worsened with the presence of fats - leading to fat gain.

You need insulin postworkout to give your muscles the nutrition they need right after a grueling workout, hence the dextrose (for the insulin spike) and the whey.
Oh, and throw away the muscle milk, or save for bulking.

Flax has 120cals and 14g fat per tbsp about.
For you Id suggest carbs in the morning, and completely cut out carbs in the evening and replace them with proteins and fats.
Do cardio 4x a week. 45mins minimum at 140-150bpm. do weights 3-4x a week.
Cheat on 2 MEALS, separated by at least three days. No entire cheat days, notice I said not cheat DAYS. It tends to bloat you too much and dissapoint you.
MOST IMPORTANT: Water. Without at least 4L or 1Gallon of water, you will be dissapointed, and hindering your results, as you will burn less fat and look worse. Water is a diuretic, and helps you look fuller, less bloated, and helps burn fat, and flushes out toxins etc.

You might want to take as supplements some vasopro (ephedra) and caffeinne and aspirin, all found at bbing .com 's superstore. I think this stack sucks and all fat burners suck, if you dont workout.
It does elevate your heart rate though by 3%. Very minimal. If you do 4 weeks of working out with the plan i gave you your metabolism will be revved up by nearly double for sure.
You have my bodytype, i used to look like you. For us, the key is exercise. If you dont exercise, you dont lose.
Diet is very important and cannot be neglected, but if you skip on the exercise youre doing half the equation.
Keep at it, keep me posted.

[cardiodan]

EFAs, found in flax do help you burn fat btw. Just dont overdo it.

[subby]

I started down this very road January 2004! I would say I am halfway there Just take it one step at a time, and don't let things gets you down (like your convention!)...just jump straight back on the horse and carry on stronger than before Good LUCK!!!

[mondesi02]

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does deodorant - that's why we recommend it daily...

So if you are every in a rut - think of the reason why you are doing this and the main thing nutrition & consistency.

Good luck!

...

[bigbola]

I've tweeked my diet and having huge success! My first 5 weeks of my transformation only allowed me to lose 2 lbs. per week. However, I've done nothing but gain an incredible amount of muscle. People at work can already see size in arms, traps, shoulders. I'll be concentrating more on losing weight over the next 7 weeks and less on muscle gain, which means i'll cut calories. I'll be able to retain current gains by keeping protein over 220 gms. a day. I've not hit my legs hard but have been doing tons of running which is increasing lean muscle mass. I naturally have muscular thighs as you can see in my before measurements but that will be a major goal of mine in the following weeks. Here is what i've changed and why.

* Increasing whole food consumption
* Tapering carbs after 8:00 ( Unless I'm lifting late )
* Increasing intensity in the gym ( using supersets, dropsets)


Areas of improvement moving forward

* Getting more sleep. I avg. 6 hrs. per night except on weekends.

I appreciate that posts and can honestly say I need a little direction! I'm pretty damn motivated. Why? Because I'm two belt notches down, 12 lbs. lighter and strong as hell. Wouldn't you? I've got 33 more lbs. to lose and there is no doubt I'll complete my task. Most importantly, my attitude has changed. I should have done this a year ago.

[jerufonix]

great job man! it feels good, doesn't it.

[armz_ha]

I went to the gym and had my bodyfat and measurements taken. I also reluctantly had my wife take my pics. I am shocked! I can't believe she still makes love to me! I knew i had gained 10 lbs. over the Holidays but this was much more than i expected. I guess when your standing in tight shorts practically up my crack with no shirt on, these photo take on a whole new dimension.

These pics and measurements are from today. Please note that I started my new way of life New Year's Day and have lost roughly 7-10 lbs. My weight as of now is 240 lbs. @ 23% bodyfat <-- ouch! I'm 6 ft. tall. Less than 3 1/2 years ago I had a 33 inch waist and weighed 195 with solid symmetry and now this? I'm so motivated to sculpt and lose the weight now. Here are my new measurements:

Waist - 44
Chest - 46 1/2
Hip - 47 1/2
Bicep - 17
Thigh - 26 3/4
Forearm - 12 7/8
Calf - 16 <-- majorly undeveloped
24% Bodyfat
My goals over the next 12 weeks are to lose 36 lbs. while gaining lean muscle mass. I'll stick to high protein and low glycemic carbs with my PWO shakes always having fructose or dextrose. I'll post my meals and my workout for today.

don't worry about gaining lean muscle mass, focus on keep them instead. It seems like you got a good amount of muscle already.... train with reps of 6-8 reps....