My Journey: 310 to 225 lbs

[DKRanger22]

Long time forum member, mostly inactive from a posting perspective, but I have come here often over the years for guidance/information. Like many that come to the "losing fat" section, I have a story - nothing flashy or overly unique (perhaps a bit typical?). Most good stories start out with everything being "good". However, the plot line thickens, the main character is dealt some adversity and is given a choice: to respond or not? Per typical Hollywood standards, most overcome the scripted adversity and live happily ever after. In real life, we know it's not always that easy.

Growing up, I was always a "big kid". I was the tallest kid in my class through middle school (I was 6'2" in 8th grade), and a bit on the chunky side. I got involved in athletics - specifically football and basketball, which helped me to lean up. I was a pretty decent basketball player, lettering in varsity 3 years and playing a bit of division 3 college basketball my freshman year (intramurals the latter 3 years). I worked out frequently and was simply put "in good shape" - 6'4", 225 lbs and athletic. Upon college graduation, I found myself settling into a sedentary office job, and over time, "good shape" slowly transitioned into more of a "round shape". I came up with (bad) excuses for not being active, and as the script goes, ballooned up to a peak of ~310 lbs. Many say that I carried the weight "well" and would never have guessed that I weighed that much, but truth be told - that's where I was. I woke up DAILY ashamed to be in my own skin. This inhibited my ability to interact socially, and frankly, I was depressed. One day earlier this year - middle of June, 2018 - I woke up feeling lethargic, my heart was feeling out of rhythm and I was "out of breath" for a good portion of the afternoon. I'm thinking to myself, "I'm 34 years old - the past few chapters isn't where I envisioned my life going, and at this rate, I'm going to be dead well before I want my story to be over". Long story short - I got religion.

I decided that day that I was going to change my lifestyle. The day was Sunday, June 24th, 2018. I logged into Bodybuilding.com and searched the "losing fat" forum as well as some of the "diet" forums - specifically the KETO section. I found a few posts very similar to this one, in which folks were sharing their own success stories. I took some notes and started to formulate my own battle plan. I had decided that day that I was going to give KETO a shot, and I would see what the coming weeks would bring me. I spent the following day - Monday, 6/25 doing more research and getting a shopping list together to hit the grocery store. Later that night, I watched the documentary No Magic Pill (Keto related), and couldn't wait to start my own journey on 6/26. After the first week, I had dropped 8 lbs. By the second week, I had broken below "300", and I was hooked. The weight loss became addicting and it continued to come off - rapidly at first, and then slowing to 2-3 lbs per week thereafter. I couldn't stop now that I've got some momentum. I can actually do this, right?!?

Fast forward ~5 months, the fact of the matter is... I DID do this! Through essentially diet only (KETO), I've managed to shed a little over 70 lbs in the past 5 months. As I write this, I'm weighing in at 237 lbs today. I've gone from a 42-44" waist down to a 34-36" waist (depending on the brand)! I last wore a 34" waist when I was a sophomore in college! I've found KETO to be much more than a diet for me: this is my new way of life. I've given up bread, sugar, pasta, potatoes, etc. - and I'm not looking back. I've come to like and prefer the foods that are part of my meal plan, and I've actually found this to be "easy" to follow. Maybe I'm a bit of an exception in that regard, as most people have a bit more of a struggle getting onboard with this diet/way of life. However, I'm hooked. These aren't the greatest "before/after" pics, but here's a snapshot of where I came from and where I'm currently at today:

310 to 237 lbs.jpg

The first ~70 lbs have all been lost through diet. At this point, I will be getting back into the gym to help tackle the last ~15 or 20 lbs. While many choose to do diet and exercise together, I decided to focus initially on diet - I didn't want to do "too much, too quick" and find myself burning out and giving up. I needed for this to be realistic and achievable, and I was getting the results that I wanted through diet alone, so I chose to keep going down that path. Frankly, I've missed the gym and am excited to get back into it. I've been doing some light cardio over the past few weeks to start getting my body "ready". But I'm eager to get back into some weight training.

I will be using this thread to post some updates as I start Phase II of this process, which is the shift from "losing fat" to gaining some muscle/better definition. I am hoping this thread will be motivating to at least ONE person. It was a post similar to this that helped push me over the edge to start this journey, and for that, I am very thankful.

[MadsMadsen]

Hey man, awesome job! We had a similar path and we're actually at similar weights now, that's crazy. You should definitely post some progress pictures, people (including me) would love to see that.

Do yourself, and me, one favor: Make sure you keep a watchful eye on your eating habits, and your calorie intake when you come off of Keto. Afaik, Keto isn't mean to be a permanent thing (Although some claim it is), and when you eventually 'come off of it', you may fall back in to the same old habits - be mindful of this my dude.

If you want any advice in gaining muscle, or beginning a program, this forum will always be your best guide. Feel free to P.M. me if you want some advice or just wanna shoot the ****

Great progress dude!

[Dorich]

Congratulations. KEEP IT UP!

Keep setting short term goals.

Read the stickies in Losing Fat and Nutrition.

Also, Keto is not necessary for fat loss.

[HotDogManB]

Good job!

[DKRanger22]

Hey man, awesome job! We had a similar path and we're actually at similar weights now, that's crazy. You should definitely post some progress pictures, people (including me) would love to see that.

Do yourself, and me, one favor: Make sure you keep a watchful eye on your eating habits, and your calorie intake when you come off of Keto. Afaik, Keto isn't mean to be a permanent thing (Although some claim it is), and when you eventually 'come off of it', you may fall back in to the same old habits - be mindful of this my dude.

If you want any advice in gaining muscle, or beginning a program, this forum will always be your best guide. Feel free to P.M. me if you want some advice or just wanna shoot the ****

Great progress dude!

Thanks for the kind words! Will definitely be posting in here with some progress pics as I go along. I've taken a few along the "fat loss" portion of my journey (fortunately/unfortunately, I don't have any at my "peak" weight, as I was too embarrassed to take any such photos, but I did grab some once the weight started coming off). I'll compile those shortly.

As to Keto not being a long-term solution, that's contrary to everything that I have been reading in my research. Quite the contrary actually: most of the Keto "purists" argue that it should be a "way of life" rather than a short-term "fad" diet. I'm far from an authority on the topic, but rather, a novice so take my comments with a grain of salt. If you have links to any articles/studies that are to the contrary, I'd really be interested in reading them.

Again, really appreciate the kind words and positive feedback!

--Andrew

[DKRanger22]

Congratulations. KEEP IT UP!

Keep setting short term goals.

Read the stickies in Losing Fat and Nutrition.

Also, Keto is not necessary for fat loss.

Again, thank you for the kind words.

As to Keto not being "necessary" for fat loss, I know that there are other ways to go about achieving the same goal. However, I needed something that was viable... for me. I've tried other methods (i.e. eating a reduced amount of calories / calorie in vs calorie out while weight training), have lost some weight, but for various reasons, was never able to sustain things long term. Not only has this been working far better than I had imagined it, I find it very easy to sustain (as I really like the foods that I am eating). I am feeling great, I have more energy, a reduced appetite, etc. I have not been to a doctor since I started this, so my plan is to go for a checkup here to make sure that my blood work (cholesterol, BP, etc.) is normal. If all looks good there, I plan to continue "keto'ing on" for now. I'll be curious to see how my body reacts once I start throwing in some weight training. I'm sure I'll have to play around with calories/macros a bit.

[DKRanger22]

Hey man, awesome job! We had a similar path and we're actually at similar weights now, that's crazy. You should definitely post some progress pictures, people (including me) would love to see that.

Added the attached progress pic. I believe the one on the left is somewhere around 275 lbs ish? I wish I was a little more diligent about taking these and logging them more precisely, but again - the thought of taking a shirtless picture @ 310 lbs was a bit daunting. As I started making some progress, I started getting a little more comfortable in my own skin. Picture on the right was right around 240 lbs.

Comparo Pic.PNG

[ampire]

Good job buddy now the next step you need to start building up some muscle so your metabolism stays high and it will fill out your skin a bit. Put the same effort into the gym that you put into your diet and you will be a winner. Good luck to you.

[DKRanger22]

Just weighed in today at 235 lbs. When I started this journey ~5 months ago, I would have KILLED to be at 235 lbs. In fact, it was my original "goal weight" (although truthfully, I still have another ~15 or so lbs to go). Regardless, this marks 75 lbs lost in total. Feeling pretty pumped to hit this milestone. There is definitely light at the end of what once seemed like a very long, dark tunnel.

[DKRanger22]

It's been about 2 months since my last check in. While not a whole lot has changed for me on the scale, I still feel that I am making good progress. Today's weigh in had me at 229 lbs - 81 lbs lost in total since essentially July 1st. While only down 6 lbs over the past ~60 days, there's definitely some points worth noting: First and foremost, breaking into the 220's is something that I didn't think was possible ~7 months ago when I started this journey. Frankly, I thought it was a pipe dream and I'm still in disbelief that I've come this far in such a short period of time. I haven't been in the 220's since high school / freshman year of college. I have gone from a 44" waist down to a 34" waist (I'm actually wearing 36" today that I bought ~2 months ago and they're incredibly loose - note to self, don't buy new clothes until you get to the end of the journey!)

Secondly, getting through the holidays without any cheats is a milestone in itself. While I stuck to the premise of my Keto diet plan, I have to admit that calorie intake has probably been a bit higher than it could be (hence the slower weight loss). However, I feel very comfortable with the slow/steady loss that I am experiencing, especially as I am now within 10 lbs of my goal weight. I'm at a point where I'm satisfied with what I am eating, have good energy, etc. I may play with the notion of a slight caloric reduction to see if I can't get there a little bit quicker, but if I do so, it will be very minor.

Since the December update, I have been going to the gym 3-4X per week, spending about 1-1.5 hours per session focused on weight training. I'm starting to get into a nice routine, and if/when I miss a day, I really can't wait to get back to it. I am also joining a rec league basketball team, which starts tonight! I used to play basketball at a relatively high level in high school and college, but haven't played in ~12 years. There will be tons of rust to shake off, but more than anything, I am looking forward to adding in a little bit of cardio activity. This is only 1-2 nights per week, but I'm excited to see how I progress here. Our team played for about 2 hours of open gym over the weekend, and aside from needing an oxygen tank, I was pleasantly surprised with how well my body (knees/ankles/joints) held up and how I felt afterwards.

Long story short, slow and steady progress but still moving in the right direction! 220 lbs has been the target and I'm now within 9 lbs of that goal. I may end up pushing a little further (210-215 lbs?), but trying not to get super obsessed with the number and focusing more with how I look/feel in my own skin, overall health, energy levels, etc. Nevertheless, things are getting exciting as I'm closing in on what seemed like an impossibility just ~7 months ago. Here's hoping that my story helps to inspire at least one other person to make a positive change in their life for their overall health/well being.

[tx8pt]

Congrats on the dedication and hard work. Keep it up

[georgevictor07]

Congratulations man!

[DKRanger22]

So since last week’s update, I decided to do a slight reduction in calories. I’ve scaled breakfast back by about 250 calories and have left everything else the same. Weighed in today at 226 lbs, down another 3 lbs. I’m thinking a combination of the caloric reduction along with the addition of some cardio via basketball is helping the cause. Will continue with this approach for a few more weeks and see where we end up!