Burmese Bodyweightloss Bonanza

[ManinMandalay1]

Well guys, I've finally decided to go ahead and start to document my weight loss journey.

I would like to think that I can bring alot of insight and thoughts and detail into this, so here goes.

Some info about me firstly.

I work and live in Mandalay, Burma[Myanmar] , assisting people in either working abroad or helping students to apply to UK and US universities or high schools.

I've previously done the same job in China and Morocco and I will probably end up doing something similar in Thailand [more later].

I'm 28, originally studied as a lawyer but hated it and ended up doing English teaching abroad and kind of combined my skills together. One of my proudest achievements in life is being fluent in Chinese without any study. I literally just talked and talked and talked. The lifestly is fairly good, I live in a hotel and cost of living is cheap, but there are downsides.

No kitchen, for instance.
Early early starts, for instance,
50 degree heat for half the year.

Zero medical care here, if you get sick, get on a plane and get to Bangkok.

Anyways, moving on to my weight loss, I was always big, and it stems from being a diabetic since I was 6. My parents controlled my eating really well and everything went amazingly, until I hit 13 and was more independent, then I started to chow down on the foods I loved and craved, sweets, high carb food, etc. Stuff I was restricted from eating originally, and it just got worse and worse. In university it was just eating out and pigging out and drinking heavy and doing no exercise.

In China I was about 110kilo [242 lbs], and through working out and eating well I got down to about 90 kilos, looked and felt alot better. But then my work kicked me in the ass hard, eating out constantly, entertaining, drinking, KTV, clubbing etc. and I ****ed up.

I was the same 110 when I was last back in the UK before Morocco, and in Morocco I crept upto 120 kilos, which for a guy who is 5'9/5'10 is shocking.

When I finally settled here after a month I bought myself a scale, saw 120 and was like 'Damn, time to get into shape.'

Joined a gym two weeks ago, hired a personal trainer[$100 for an entire month for gym+trainer, not bad] and finally got round today to buying a rice cooker and a coffee machine to help me get myself off eating out constantly [remember no kitchen.]

Anyways, the plan:

Eat around 1900 calories a day.
No calories from liquid [save for say 30 calories in one creamer for the coffee]
No snacking on the free **** the hotel give away [candies, peanut cookies, these crunchy things, marshmallow squares given free everyday etc.]
Limiting alcohol intake [not hard, I don't like to drink but customers will often invite me out to eat.]

Anyways, my weight last time I checked at the gym was 116.5 kilos, and I'm hoping to burn through the 6.5 kilo part pretty quickly. I'm done with eating western food everyday here or greasy local curry.

I've got a Burmese gf who insists on me not losing weight [calling a 'bear'] and she doesn't entirely understand why I'm doing this journey, but for me it's me against me. It's the angel on my shoulder saying 'don't eat that!' against the devil saying '**** it, we start eating well tomorrow.'

Another factor is that when I see results in the gym other areaqs pick up, I am more disciplined, enjoy my time more, sleep less, not be as lazy etc. and it's all a big part.

I will fill in more bodyspace stuff tomorrow when I'm finished in the gym, however my plan is as follows:

Everyday I woke 5am - 4pm, hit the gym at 4:30, come home, eat, have an hour to myself and sleep. Yeah, not fun, but I do give myself fri/sat/sun off.

Breakfast: [5am]

Apple
Yoghurt
Strong strong coffee with one creamer and sugar replacement tablets.'
1l of water
Total - 350 calories

Lunch:
1l of water
Curried chicken/pork without any rice.
Total - no idea, provided by employer, but probably around 400.

Dinner:
300 calories of white rice
Head of brocolli
Two chicken breasts
Total - Around 900

So, because the lunch is prepared for me I'm not sure, I guess I'm a tad low on protein but we'll get to that later.

Routine will be:

Exercise bike for 20 minutes.
Whatever the trainer insists.

In terms of lifts, I'm weak as **** in everything but legs. Years of playing badminton left me with strong ass legs but weak as **** upper body. I have noticed improvements on arms and chests in the two weeks I've been working out.

I will update everyday and update weight once a week.

So.

Starting weight: 116.5 [ 256.3lbs]
Calories: 1900
Workout: 6 days a week with a trainer

Aims:

Leg press of 550+lbs
Deadlift of 330+
Squat? No idea
Chest of above I guess 130 lbs

Anyways, that's the introduction done and I hope to update everyday. Tomorrow I will 'flesh out' my bio.

I hope to not only throw in the facts of my body morphing change but also attempt to give some feedback on what it's like living in one of the worlds poorest and most developing countries.

Thanks,

Adam

[ManinMandalay1]

Right guys, day one down.

Weight was the same but I ate **** yesterday so it'l take a few days to bring the weight down.

Diet was 7/10 I think, pretty much happy with how it went.

Woke up at 4:30, showered, made coffee [creamer, no sugar] and drank that, got wired off that for a few hours, lasted until lunch [which is early in Burma] and then had no problems lasting until I got home at 7.

My diet today:

Coffee with 2 creamers [30 cals]
Didn't eat anything, wasn't hungry at 5 am.

30 cals

Lunch:

Packet of 'pizza flavoured snacks' my student gave me - 225 calories
7 pieces of chicken taken out of a curry bowl, no rice. - 300 calories [guess]
1 Lollipop [don't ask why] - 90 calories

Total: 615

Dinner

400g of chicken breast - 440 calories
75g rice - 300 calories
BBQ sauce - 150 cals

790 calories

790 Dinner
615 lunch
30 breakfast

Total : 1435

Fairly happy with it, the huge chicken breast tanked up my protein intake, and considering it was just cooked in a rice cooker it tasted great. Put three large teaspoons of BBQ sauce on for flavour and it was great.

Because I waited to eat a largeish dinner I REALLY appreciated it when I got back from the gym. Plus it saves money too!

Workout went well, I wrote it down as follows:

15 minutes bike [moderate, hit it hard at the end]

Leg press

100kg x 20 [warm up]
115kg x 20 x 3 [could have done more but I didn't know where the other heavier weights were]

Chest press

36.5kg x 20 x 1
36.5kg x 15 x 3

Chest raise[not sure what this is called]

40kg x 20 x 2
62kg x 20 x 2

Shoulder pulldown

30kg x 20 x 4

Flyes

25kg x 15 x 3

Only 5 exercises but I pushed myself, I've always had a really weak chest so I'm happy that the 36.5 kilos felt light, I'm not sure what I would be able to do in the 8-12 rep range.

Anyways, hope tomorrow to cut out the garbage snacks that I ate, and really focus in the gym.

I'm hitting up the dentist tomorrow directly after the gym, so I won't eat my evening meal until about 7:30, I guess I will be starving!

Here's hoping the weight starts to come down.

[ManinMandalay1]

Well day two done, what a day.

Left my hotel at 5am, came back in just now at 8:15pm. Shattered and exhausted. Worked 5:30-3:15, came home, put bag down, changed, went to gym, finished gym, went to dentist, had my root canal check up and found out the nerve regrew, so he injected and pulled out the nerve and other stuff in there.

Got home really late, wanted to eat something, but now I've got zero hunger. Working out for me reduces my hunger. So I think I'll have anice cold drink and go to sleep.

Eats today were:

Cup of 3 in 1 coffee mix [30 cals]

Fried rice [no idea, let's say 700]
4 slices of pork curry [Say 300]
A handful of tiny cookies offered in the office.

Probably not more than 1300 calories today, probably way less. But I'm tired and have zeor hunger. I will have to throw away my chicken and rice that's been cooking since I left the hotel again at 4pm.

In the gym, weighed myself, 254 lbs baby, heading back to those 240's.

Gym was:

15 minutes HARD on the bike, my legs were burnt.

Did:

Leg extensions

Reverse tricep pull downs

Leg press [ new PB of 200kilos [440 lbs] couldda gone a bit heavier but I felt tired today]

Preacher machine

My legs were toasted after the leg presses, oh well.

Didn't have a whole lot of energy today but still hit everything hard as I could go, surprised I got 30 kilos [66lbs] up on the preacher machine. I've already seen my strength increase alot in the 3 weeks I've been working out.

So weight down, not alot of hunger and strength up.

Let's hope I can keep it up!

[ManinMandalay1]

Well yesterday was strange, got home and slept almost immediately at 8:30. Woke up at 10 as the local pain killers had run out and my tooth hurt, then spent 5 hours on the toilet [Asian sensation!]. Called in sick to work and slept until about midday.

Went to the gym but had no real power or energy because of sickness.

Still pulled out,

Intense cardio
Chest press
Flyes
Chest push down
Tried to do lat pulldowns but I was just fatigued and had nothing left. However, I went and weighed myself in my full gym gear:

250.2 lbs -> 113.7 kilos.

I began this journey in the gym About 3 1/2 weeks ago at 120 kilos, so I'm already down 6.3 kilos, almost 14 lbs.

Gotta keep it up.

Today my eats:

1 apple
2 yoghurts
1 small packet of cookies

Then for dinner:

Pork with chilli
2 litres of water.

I probably drank about 5 litres of liquid today to try and rehydrate after the toilet incident in the night. We will see tomorrow if I'm really sitting around 250 or if that is mostly dehydrated weight.

Other than that, I'm pleased that I might be seeing the 240s soon.

Tomorrow I'll take some pics to show myself at 250 and then pics every 15 lbs until I get to about 170.

[SP1987]

I'm in for your progress mate!! stick to it and more importantly, have fun doing it!! Go for that ''best me''

[Amoxicillin]

Interesting situation you have there. I was in Laos last year, and wanted to drop over to Burma but ran out of time.

If Burma is anything like Laos, then I understand where your GF is coming from. I'd expect lots of third world mentality where being fat is a sign of wealth. In Laos, the only half decent gyms I could find where in hotels, but I couldn't even find a squat rack.

Good luck!

[ManinMandalay1]

Hey.

Thanks for the support guys.

I absolutely love living here.

The internet is a joke [download speed of 15kbs anyone?!] but the people are amazing, cost of living is great and right now with my schedule I wake up, get free breakfast in the hotel, free lunch in a partner school and then come home. I have zero living costs because internet, bills etc. are included in the hotel. My salary is tax free and right now I make enough on overtime to be living a high life and then I save my entire base salary.

Yes, the base salary is not that great, but when I think of my brother who is living in London who spends 1/3 of his salary on tax and 1/3 on rent and another 1/6th on bills, I'm doing ok.

Today I just felt exhausted, maybe from being sick the night before. I literally just wanted to get home, eat and slouch. I've done 4 straight days at the gym and I don't think it's too bad.

Today I consumed the following:

1 apple
1 sachet of instant coffee mix

That was it before dinner, got back to hotel and met my friend in the western cafe.

I had:

Cheese sticks [badddddd choice]
1/2 a plate of chips with gravy [urgh]
Chicken burger
2 diet cokes

I couldn't even get onto the chicken burger after the first two. I guess not eating all day left me with a shrunken stomach. I would guess about 200 calories for the apple and coffee so as long as my dinner was around 1500 [half a plate of chips and some cheese sticks, plus a thin slice of chicken] I'm ok.

Scale in my room is ****ty, it's like a needle one, not a digital one and it seems always 1 or 2 kilos above the gym one which is big and digital.

So, no workout today, but I did manage to eat just one large meal and then an apple and a cup of coffee.

tomorrow I'm working 6-8 am, which is my only work and it sucks. A single class to teach and it's 6-8 is grim.

Anyways, here's hoping I can smash through 110 kilos soon.

Tomorrow I was contemplating hitting the gym in the afternoon, but my colleague messaged that she wishes to go in the morning, so I'll work, have a quick meeting then hit up the gym.

I'm also trying to save as much money as I can. I spend the following as a 'base' per month, and then a per day cost.

So:

Insulin [$50]
Gym [$16]
Personal trainer [6 days a week 90 minutes per day] [$75] Yup, I couldn't believe it either
Taxi to take me to gym [$50 a month] Also use him to navigae around, drop off shopping or pay bills on the way to the gym etc.
Burmese classes - [$75]
Phone [$10]

That's it, apart from that I spend about $1.50 a day right now on rice and chicken to eat. Eating out at local places is $1 a meal and I can get a fried rice dish for $.50

Anyways, enough about that. My Burmese gf is heading out to the severely flooded areas of lower Myanmar and I won't see her for ten days. God damnnnnnn.

I'll re-update tomorrow when I actually go to the gym.

Checked my weight pre shower before hitting bed, about 113kilos, so I might be 111-112 after workout.

Thanks again guys,

Adam

[ManinMandalay1]

My appetite is still not there because I think I've shrunken my stomach, but things are good.

I slept 4 hours, went to work for 2 hours, came back, had a meeting then slept for 5 glorious hours until 3pm. Took my driver to the gym and worked out, consisting of:

Cardio

18 minutes on the bike

Leg press

330lbs x 10 x 4

Chest press machine

79lbs x 20 x 1
79 lbs x 15 x 1
79 lbs x 11 x 1
70 x 15 x 1

My chest is still weak as hell.

Chest pushdown

110 lbs x 20 x 4

Tried to do flyes but the machine was broken

Preacher curl machine

50 lbs x 3 x 12

Lat pulldown

65lbs x 20 x 4

Rows

65 lbs x 20 x 3

Well, not too much volume but I'm being quite intense on each one. Whenever I leave the gym I am soaked in my own sweat and juices.

Weigh in today [drum roll please].... 243.2 lbs - 110.5 kilos

I told my trainer if he gets me to 100 I'll buy his flight, and the weight right now is flying off.

Last week my weight was around 257-259 area, since I REALLY tightened my diet the weight has flown off.

When I began my journey a month or so ago I was 120 kilos , 265 lbs, so it's encouraging it's coming off.

It's nice on my own scale that when I step on the needle flicks towards the 110 not the 120.

Anyways, my diet for today was poor[not enough rather than too much]

Had 3 small glasses of juice before I napped.

At gym I had a bottle of some sports drink which is only 60 cals.

Came back from gym, had a hamburger and fries [small portion]

A packet of nuts

I will have an apple later today.

That's it. One main meal and then snacks around it. Not finding myself hungry at all.

Here's hoping to break through 110 soon and then surge on towards 100!

Yeah baby.

[ManinMandalay1]

Well this weekend was a little grim.

Saturday I ate almost nothing in the day, but refeeded with some nuts and fruits. Went to the gym but wasn't really feeling it at all, busted out 20 minutes of cardio and pushed myself hard, then put up a PR on the leg press of 240 kilos[520 lbs]. Not bad but it drained me. Did a few weak ass attempts at other upper body stuff but had my mind in other places.

Saturday night BBQ and then going clubbing with students, got hammered on vodka nad sprite, no idea on cals, god damn.

Hoped it would wipe out water weight, it didn't.

Today I had corned beef and potatoes, then some snacks of yoghurts and fruits, and then I had a small portion of rice with BBQ chicken, which was good.

I'm hoping that tomorrow doesn't show too much gain on the scales, we will see if I can match my 245 I put up.

Normally Mon through Friday I'm really good, so we will see.

6am start tomorrow, and I have another dentist appointed, damn.