TC's Road to 100lb Weight Loss

[DoMoreWeighLess]

I think a log will really help hold me accountable when things get tough.

Keeping things short, I have lost about 60 lbs since January of 2020 with an increase in fitness and healthier diet. I count calories and try to eat more veggies and fruits to curb the hunger. Currently trying to avoid being on medication for longer than a year.

I have hit the low 250s and stalled for various reasons. Overall, it's because I am tired. I've been going at this thing for a long time, and the past couple relaxed weeks have helped me get my drive back. People don't really talk about how mentally draining it is to lose weight, but I am working on that. I know that I'm really close to a body I will love, and I'm excited to get there.

So this is basically part 2 of my journey. I'm about halfway to my original big goal marker(hitting 210lbs would put me at 100lbs lost) and I plan to really be active this summer. I want to be around 225 by my next doctor's visit(September) because if I have a good visit they will start to move me off these pills. After September, I plan to be 205 around December/January. After that, I will reassess my goals.

Please hold me to it

Edit: 5/4 254lbs

This week I will focus on increasing eating at home and cardio. Will continue current strength training regiment.

[EliKoehn]

Subbed. Great job with your progress so far and good luck in continuing it.

What is your current strength training regimen?

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Subbed. Great job with your progress so far and good luck in continuing it.

What is your current strength training regimen?

Thank you!

So I currently use something similar to my college days with my roommates

I focus my training around the big 3: bench, squat and deadlift. Once I finish, I work through 2-3 accessories.

Typically I can get 3-4 days of lifting a week, and my routine is normally 3-4 weeks before it resets.

Week 1: high reps, lighter weight
Week 2: inbetween
Week 3: heavy weight, low reps

For Example-

Week 1: T - Squat 3x20 Bench 3x10
W- Deadlifts 4x5 stiff leg 4x10
Th- Pause or Front squats 4x10 Incline Bench 4x10
F - Bodybuilding day. Normally hit anything missed during the week
S and S - Light/Medium Cardio

Week 2: T - Squat 4x10 Bench 10-8-6
W- Deadlifts 5x3 Romainian 3x10
Th- Pause squats 4x8 Pause bench 5x5
F - Bodybuilding
S and S - light/medium cardio

Week 3: T - Squat 10-8-6-8-10 Bench 4x3
W - Deadlifts 6x2 Ab/Adductor work 3x10
Th - Squat 5x5 pause bench 6x2
F - bodybuilding
S and S - light/medium cardio

Week 4: T - Pause squat 5x3 Bench 6x1
W - Deadlift 6x1
Th - Front squat 5x5 Pause bench burnouts
F - Bodybuilding
S and S - light/medium cardio

This is roughly what I stick to. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. It's weird not having my old roommate telling me the daily plan.

Edit: I should probably also mention I am currently using a limited home gym

[EliKoehn]

That does look like a pretty good routine. You'll want to concentrate your lifting as well, while you're eating at a deficit, and do mostly intensity efficient compound lifts with less total volume. What kind of weights are you at now (just for easy reference, your 1RMs for each of the Big 3)?

[DoMoreWeighLess]

That does look like a pretty good routine. You'll want to concentrate your lifting as well, while you're eating at a deficit, and do mostly intensity efficient compound lifts with less total volume. What kind of weights are you at now (just for easy reference, your 1RMs for each of the Big 3)?

I'm getting my old gains back pretty fast.

I haven't maxed recently. Been really careful not to hurt myself coming back. I'll give you my heaviest low reps right now.

Bench: 6x1 315
Squat(pause): 5x5 275 (tweaked my ankle. haven't had a chance to go heavier)
Deadlift: 415

[EliKoehn]

I'm getting my old gains back pretty fast.

I haven't maxed recently. Been really careful not to hurt myself coming back. I'll give you my heaviest low reps right now.

Bench: 6x1 315
Squat(pause): 5x5 275 (tweaked my ankle. haven't had a chance to go heavier)
Deadlift: 415

Hey that's pretty good! I can't put up multiple singles of 315 on the same day with the bench and sounds like you've only got about 10-15 pounds on me, if you were to get that again now after eating at maintenance and refueling. That's a huge base of strength and if you can keep it as you slim down you'll be in a small pond for sure.

Certainly don't lose sight of your goal to continue losing, just hope that's some encouragement for you.

GL and I'll follow along

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Hey that's pretty good! I can't put up multiple singles of 315 on the same day with the bench and sounds like you've only got about 10-15 pounds on me, if you were to get that again now after eating at maintenance and refueling. That's a huge base of strength and if you can keep it as you slim down you'll be in a small pond for sure.

Certainly don't lose sight of your goal to continue losing, just hope that's some encouragement for you.

GL and I'll follow along

Thanks man! I'm glad to see a fellow lifter. Was worried this forum was dead. When is your next max day?

I'm going to try to lose slow but consistent in hopes I keep most of it. Hold me to it! The goal for may is to lose 5-10lbs. Will post some progress pics on June 1st.

[EliKoehn]

Thanks man! I'm glad to see a fellow lifter. Was worried this forum was dead. When is your next max day?

I'm going to try to lose slow but consistent in hopes I keep most of it. Hold me to it! The goal for may is to lose 5-10lbs. Will post some progress pics on June 1st.

You bet! And this forum is more active in some boards than others. The nutrition subforum is probably the most active of the non-misc boards, but this should be the right place for something like this.

My next max attempts will be in 5 weeks as I am running the Candito 6 Week program. I'm actually keeping a competition log here, if you want to follow along: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...9930763&page=8

[rspinetti]

Pretty solid lifts! Congrats on the progress so far!
Subbed

[DoMoreWeighLess]

You bet! And this forum is more active in some boards than others. The nutrition subforum is probably the most active of the non-misc boards, but this should be the right place for something like this.

My next max attempts will be in 5 weeks as I am running the Candito 6 Week program. I'm actually keeping a competition log here, if you want to follow along:

Dope! I'm gonna check it out man. Competition is a lot of fun. I went to one and watched a one arm'd dude deadlift well over 225! You meet some pretty awesome people. Haven't watched Candito in a while but I'm sure he's still giving great info.

Okay I guess I should log my progress this week.

This week has been mentally and physically hard. Not sure why but I haven't felt like myself. Couldn't hit my bench set on tuesday, and ankle is still tweaking. Took Wednesday and Thursday off to regroup(just my lazy excuse). This is really the first bad week I've had since February. I think I'm burned out a bit between work and training.

Will do an hour of steady state cardio Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Maybe I can cut a few lbs before trying again next week.

[RandyMcFlab]

You clearly have a great strength base, im sure you will smash this!

[DoMoreWeighLess]

You clearly have a great strength base, im sure you will smash this!

Thanks man!

I retained more than I thought, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I don't like having strength without the muscles, seems like it'd be easier to get injured. I'm working on it though.

I was a bit ambitious this weekend. Ankle finally feeling better, but gout snuck up on me. Took meds before it got bad, but didn't want to risk making it worse with walking. I've been slacking for about 2 weeks now.

Lost another pound. Woke up at 250. Long as I'm not gaining I'm happy with the results.

Don't want to jinx it, plan to steady state cardio for an hour today. We'l see how it goes.

[EliKoehn]

Mind clarifying what specific form your difficulty takes?

If it's just hunger, one thing that I discovered greatly helps is how good and voluminous certain protein sources are relative to how few calories they comprise overall. They can be made to taste pretty good too.

One decent-sized chicken breast, for instance, is about 400 calories but it's quite hefty. Bake it with some seasoning of your choice and you've got something far more filling and satisfying than a big slice of pizza or whatever else would count for as many.

Egg whites are pure protein and cook up to huge portions. I have a big appetite, so when I am particularly hungry while eating at a deficit this is a reliable go-to. Cooking a dry-measured cup of rice and then maybe half a carton of egg whites and mixing them together is loaded with carbs and protein you'll need to keep training and recovering properly and adds up to less than 1,000 calories, but you'll find it ends up being like 3 large bowls.

Fat free Greek yogurt tastes virtually the same as regular IMO and is an excellent base for sauces (I like to stir it together with hot salsa but you can make whatever you want). It too is basically pure protein.

So if you're wanting to feel full, maybe that will help.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Mind clarifying what specific form your difficulty takes?

If it's just hunger, one thing that I discovered greatly helps is how good and voluminous certain protein sources are relative to how few calories they comprise overall. They can be made to taste pretty good too.

One decent-sized chicken breast, for instance, is about 400 calories but it's quite hefty. Bake it with some seasoning of your choice and you've got something far more filling and satisfying than a big slice of pizza or whatever else would count for as many.

Egg whites are pure protein and cook up to huge portions. I have a big appetite, so when I am particularly hungry while eating at a deficit this is a reliable go-to. Cooking a dry-measured cup of rice and then maybe half a carton of egg whites and mixing them together is loaded with carbs and protein you'll need to keep training and recovering properly and adds up to less than 1,000 calories, but you'll find it ends up being like 3 large bowls.

Fat free Greek yogurt tastes virtually the same as regular IMO and is an excellent base for sauces (I like to stir it together with hot salsa but you can make whatever you want). It too is basically pure protein.

So if you're wanting to feel full, maybe that will help.

That's part of it. Really just sticking to eating at home in general. I've found that if I don't already have something cooked, or easy to make, I end up eating out 9/10. I love fast food and that's how I gained the majority of my weight. Definitely ate too much of that the past week or two.

I'm prepared for that this week.

After work I am going to get more microwaveable veggies(my go to hunger killer) along with chicken and beans for my crockpot.

I was also planning to make crockpot spaghetti, but I don't know how to tweak that to be a bit healthier. Any pasta/sauce recommendations?

Thanks for all the advice and interest folks. The motivation of knowing other people are following my progress helps a lot with sticking to things.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

This week hasn't been great. Walked on Monday, gout flared on Tuesday. Got it under control today, so I'll try to get my cardio and bodybuilding done over the next few days.

Maintained my current weight which is always a win for me.

[EliKoehn]

This week hasn't been great. Walked on Monday, gout flared on Tuesday. Got it under control today, so I'll try to get my cardio and bodybuilding done over the next few days.

Maintained my current weight which is always a win for me.

Are you actively monitoring and tracking your daily calories?

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Are you actively monitoring and tracking your daily calories?

Nah I just ballpark it tbh.

BMR is around 2100 so I just try to eat close to that. Discipline hasn't been great the past two weeks(definitely ate too much fast food), but this week has been better. I have been eating at home more often than out, which helps me tremendously with my calorie deficits. I suspect cardio will shed some water off by Monday, and then next week I'll be back on my regular schedule.

[EliKoehn]

Nah I just ballpark it tbh.

BMR is around 2100 so I just try to eat close to that. Discipline hasn't been great the past two weeks(definitely ate too much fast food), but this week has been better. I have been eating at home more often than out, which helps me tremendously with my calorie deficits. I suspect cardio will shed some water off by Monday, and then next week I'll be back on my regular schedule.

Speaking from not even all that distant experience, do your very best to get out of the mentality that fixates on things like water retention, poop weight, carb cycling, or anything else that isn't strictly part of the energy equation of calories in and calories out.

It's tempting to associate a reduction in the number on the scale for any reason as progress, but every reason except for actual fat gain/loss is going to be very volatile and ultimately insignificant to your end goal. The fat gain or loss is entirely a question of calories.

For instance, if you enter ketosis and drop a huge amount of water weight (a lot of which will be healthy glycogen storage, contributing to the fullness and strength of your muscles), eating a single dry-measured cup of rice (650 calories) will add to that weight considerably, in the form of glycogen and the weight of the food itself (which should be part of your healthy weight anyway), but if it's within your caloric budget - very easy to do with rice, you won't gain an ounce of fat from it, despite potentially a handful difference on the scale.

From your stated goal, you still have 40 more pounds to lose. At least 75% of that pure bodyfat, not water weight, not the stored energy of your muscles, and trying to attack that, in addition to being volatile, will shoot yourself in the foot because then you will be less full and have less energy to train effectively, and if you stop consistently training hard it will be detrimental to protecting your impressive strength levels as you continue to lose weight.

I would go so far as to recommend eating as many as 3,000 calories a day and keep training like a fiend. With that, I think you will continue to make surprisingly fast progress. You obviously have been going in the right direction having made so much progress already, but I wouldn't want you to reverse course halfway there.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Speaking from not even all that distant experience, do your very best to get out of the mentality that fixates on things like water retention, poop weight, carb cycling, or anything else that isn't strictly part of the energy equation of calories in and calories out.

It's tempting to associate a reduction in the number on the scale for any reason as progress, but every reason except for actual fat gain/loss is going to be very volatile and ultimately insignificant to your end goal. The fat gain or loss is entirely a question of calories.

For instance, if you enter ketosis and drop a huge amount of water weight (a lot of which will be healthy glycogen storage, contributing to the fullness and strength of your muscles), eating a single dry-measured cup of rice (650 calories) will add to that weight considerably, in the form of glycogen and the weight of the food itself (which should be part of your healthy weight anyway), but if it's within your caloric budget - very easy to do with rice, you won't gain an ounce of fat from it, despite potentially a handful difference on the scale.

From your stated goal, you still have 40 more pounds to lose. At least 75% of that pure bodyfat, not water weight, not the stored energy of your muscles, and trying to attack that, in addition to being volatile, will shoot yourself in the foot because then you will be less full and have less energy to train effectively, and if you stop consistently training hard it will be detrimental to protecting your impressive strength levels as you continue to lose weight.

I would go so far as to recommend eating as many as 3,000 calories a day and keep training like a fiend. With that, I think you will continue to make surprisingly fast progress. You obviously have been going in the right direction having made so much progress already, but I wouldn't want you to reverse course halfway there.

Wish I could rep. You're absolutely right man.

Actions speak louder than words. I'll have some good updates here soon. I can guarantee that.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

We back on the wagon boys!

[DoMoreWeighLess]

It's 5/17

Weekend went great. Got a bunch of steady state cardio in, and mainly ate meals cooked at home. Ankles feeling great when I walk, so maybe I can finally get back to squatting.

Today's Workout:

Bench 4x10 @ 245(testing where my 10 rep should be)
Incline Bench 3x10
Squat 4x10 @ 265(testing where my 10 rep should be)
Abductors 4x10

[EliKoehn]

It's 5/17

Weekend went great. Got a bunch of steady state cardio in, and mainly ate meals cooked at home. Ankles feeling great when I walk, so maybe I can finally get back to squatting.

Today's Workout:

Bench 4x10 @ 245(testing where my 10 rep should be)
Incline Bench 3x10
Squat 4x10 @ 265(testing where my 10 rep should be)
Abductors 4x10

Looks like an excellent session!

A 4 x 10 bench at bodyweight is something to be proud of, especially when you're not a lightweight.

Were those squats after jogging/leg cardio?

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Looks like an excellent session!

A 4 x 10 bench at bodyweight is something to be proud of, especially when you're not a lightweight.

Were those squats after jogging/leg cardio?

My bad this is what I will be doing today once I get off work. I'm trying to reassess where I am because I failed 3x10 @ 255 last week.

Squat I'm nervous about. It's been basically 3 weeks since I've been able to squat. I was expected to have a large jump before my injury, but I'm gonna start back a bit lower to be safe. I'll post my results once I finish my workout.

[EliKoehn]

My bad this is what I will be doing today once I get off work. I'm trying to reassess where I am because I failed 3x10 @ 255 last week.

Squat I'm nervous about. It's been basically 3 weeks since I've been able to squat. I was expected to have a large jump before my injury, but I'm gonna start back a bit lower to be safe. I'll post my results once I finish my workout.

Good luck.

If anything begins to hurt (acutely, not just fatigue/difficulty of course) on those squats, I'd stop immediately. I think I pinched my sciatic nerve last year and it would occasionally flare up so bad that I couldn't even stand for a few seconds, and that wasn't even a "serious" injury.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

245 for 10 benchpress
265 for 10 squat

remove the space in the links. only way i can figure out how to share videos and they dont like it for some reason

Rusty ass day but I expected that. Basically got all my first sets then repped to failure on the rest. Have a good idea where I need to start next week. Will deadlift today and then spend the rest of the week with variation lifts.

Not walking today because i expect my legs to be dead tired as is since I've been doing that since friday. Ill pick that up again tomorrow.

[rspinetti]

Nice lifts!

[DoMoreWeighLess]

Nice lifts!

Thanks man. If I worked half as hard as you they'd be flying up. Your logs are fun to read.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

4x3 @ 365 deadlifts

Felt very good today. Hit all my sets. Probably could have went a bit heavier, but I'm not trying to get hurt since I just started again. Will be interesting to revisit this.

Tomorrow will likely be cardio and some bodybuilding. Haven't gotten the recommended 8-9 hours this week but I will try when I can.

[DoMoreWeighLess]

I'm so sore lol. About to do my SS cardio this morning.

Afternoon workout will be:

Pause bench 5x5 @ 265
Pause squats 5x5 @ 285

Squats depend on how I feel. May go heavier if I can hold my form. Aill finish with some accessories.

[safcpaul]

Strong lifts mate. If you can maintain that strength while cutting then you'll be a beast