225 by Thanksgiving

[EliKoehn]

This is a modest goal.

I have regained a few pounds of the recent weight I've lost and tend to hover at 242, which I woke up weighing this morning. Keeping a log for the home stretch of my desired weight for the foreseeable future. 225 likely won't see me to respectable bodybuilding leanness, but I have a big frame and expect to be quite happy with it for my purposes in the long term.

I will post an entry weekly and neutral photos every two weeks for a visual reference. I'll choose Monday as this is likely to mitigate some of the noise of weighing in as far away from any libertine weekend meals as possible, if it were to be Friday morning for instance. There's no point omitting something which will be added back immediately off the cut and when overall calories are what matter.

There are 10 weeks and 3 days to lose 17 pounds (1.62/week). This isn't a stretch, but feel free to help keep me accountable if you'd like, and if not, simply writing it down publicly serves that purpose as well.

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th:
Sep 27th:
Oct 4th:
Oct 11th:
Oct 18th:
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

[EliKoehn]

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4 (-2.1)
Sep 27th:
Oct 4th:
Oct 11th:
Oct 18th:
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Logging yesterday morning's numbers. Went out shooting with some friends and we had a big meal on the way back which would goof the number up. Appropriately-paced progress this week, besides.

[mtnmama]

we'll miss you in the cut - but glad to see you have a plan - seems like a good one!

[EliKoehn]

we'll miss you in the cut - but glad to see you have a plan - seems like a good one!

Yeah, I probably just should have joined the collaborative thread... Oh well, I might double it up, anyway, even if I leave early. Re-benched 315 today and it felt great. Since I don't seem to be losing strength I'm tempted to try and get aggressive with the weight loss.

[mtnmama]

ya - the more the merrier - come back to us!! but do this too - i keep a separate one too - nice to be able to see the long form you do for yourself.....

awesome on the lifts, btw!!

[safcpaul]

In on the beasts thread...















P.s. I'm coming for your lifts

[EliKoehn]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

@Safcpaul, we'll see...

--

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8 (+1.4)
Oct 4th:
Oct 11th:
Oct 18th:
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

I am currently quarantining from a covid exposure and have stayed put at home most of this entire week. A day or two I felt like I might have been sick, but not the past few days. 100+ pullups and pushups on Wednesday (and I re-benched 315 on Monday before the exposure), but I've taken a break since then. I got down to 238.5 on Friday and had one meal this weekend which was excessive, but not crazy, so hopefully the weigh-in difference is noise and I'm still on track. The purpose of doing this on Monday is to get a truer number from calories over time and not as susceptible to manipulation as fasting for a day to get a low weigh-in number and then immediately regaining it. If a big weekend meal or night out throws it all off, that might as well be the number gone off of, since I don't intend on forfeiting that once the deliberate weight loss is over.

The break/refeed might have done me well this time, however. Feeling strong and looking pretty good, IMO.

[EliKoehn]

Yep, looks like it was a blip on the radar. 238.8 this morning having eaten plenty yesterday and full of coffee now.

[WestAfrica]

What are your macros?

[EliKoehn]

What are your macros?

2,700 calories per day on the week, eyeball a moderate surplus on the weekend. 180g protein per day minimum. I lose on this every time I actually follow it. No preference really between carbs and fat.

[safcpaul]

Good job. You don't seem to be carrying that much fat for the weight you are. Plenty muscle on the frame

[EliKoehn]

^^Thanks, although true enough, the more success I've had, the more I realize how much I actually have needed to lose, and I'm only about halfway to where I want to end up, overall.

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4 (-4.4)
Oct 11th:
Oct 18th:
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

[safcpaul]

^^Thanks, although true enough, the more success I've had, the more I realize how much I actually have needed to lose, and I'm only about halfway to where I want to end up, overall.

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4 (-4.4)
Oct 11th:
Oct 18th:
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Have you not got the temptation to get ripped? You've got the lbm to do so if you wanted

[EliKoehn]

Have you not got the temptation to get ripped? You've got the lbm to do so if you wanted

I'm considering attempting it... however, even if I do, I think it would be best to maintain my current target weight over at least the winter, to keep my strength up and habituate myself to the lighter bodyweight before even trying to dive in headlong with less stability.

Also, getting completely ripped, aside from the dedication it would take to get there, would take away a lot from a balanced life to maintain. The con would be truly having to live the life of a bodybuilder; routinely being hungry, having to interrupt daily life activities to make sure I'm getting evenly spaced portions of protein, etc., and at some point it just doesn't seem like a desirable tradeoff. I suspect 225 in a fed, hydrated state will land me somewhere between 18-20% which is I think a healthy body composition to hold through life.

[Flex3d]

2,700 calories per day on the week, eyeball a moderate surplus on the weekend. 180g protein per day minimum. I lose on this every time I actually follow it. No preference really between carbs and fat.

Damn. I have to eat at 1800 calories / day to lose 1lb/week. 5’7 about 220lb. Do you do a lot of cardio as well or demanding job?

[EliKoehn]

Damn. I have to eat at 1800 calories / day to lose 1lb/week. 5’7 about 220lb. Do you do a lot of cardio as well or demanding job?

Desk job actually, and sporadically I do distance running (3-9 miles or so at a fairly slow speed if still continuously without lapsing into a walk) when I am cutting. This time I haven't yet but I am planning to as it's about to be fall and I enjoy being in this weather a lot. I'm somewhat slow but seem to have good endurance.

And are you sure you're counting carefully? That sounds rather low. While these are only estimations and you can only establish a reliable TDEE by your own accurate counting, this one does have a good reputation and a lot of the regular posters here find it to agree with their own count: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp/

Assuming you're 30 years old (a number I just used generically) even if you're semi-sedentary, it has about 3,100 a day just to maintain, and about 2,500 to lose a pound a week.

[Flex3d]

Desk job actually, and sporadically I do distance running (3-9 miles or so at a fairly slow speed if still continuously without lapsing into a walk) when I am cutting. This time I haven't yet but I am planning to as it's about to be fall and I enjoy being in this weather a lot. I'm somewhat slow but seem to have good endurance.

And are you sure you're counting carefully? That sounds rather low. While these are only estimations and you can only establish a reliable TDEE by your own accurate counting, this one does have a good reputation and a lot of the regular posters here find it to agree with their own count: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp/

Assuming you're 30 years old (a number I just used generically) even if you're semi-sedentary, it has about 3,100 a day just to maintain, and about 2,500 to lose a pound a week.

Yup, I’m weighing everything and tracking. I do 6x a week at 1800 calories. 1x a week at 2800 calories.
I took a 10 year stint at not weight lifting. Recently got back into it 3 months ago. I’ve went from 238 or so to 220 so far. Factoring in creatine water retention and muscle gain from muscle memory I’ve probably lost more fat than that. I’ve recently purchased a new scale as my old one would change by 4-8lbs just stepping off and so I’ll have a more accurate representation soon.

Training 4-5x a week, 60-75 min per session. Hitting most body parts 2x a week. Unable to do cardio due to CECS In my lower legs.

[EliKoehn]

Yup, I’m weighing everything and tracking. I do 6x a week at 1800 calories. 1x a week at 2800 calories.
I took a 10 year stint at not weight lifting. Recently got back into it 3 months ago. I’ve went from 238 or so to 220 so far. Factoring in creatine water retention and muscle gain from muscle memory I’ve probably lost more fat than that. I’ve recently purchased a new scale as my old one would change by 4-8lbs just stepping off and so I’ll have a more accurate representation soon.

Training 4-5x a week, 60-75 min per session. Hitting most body parts 2x a week. Unable to do cardio due to CECS In my lower legs.

I see. Sounds like a pretty good approach to me. Sorry it's an uphill battle, though.

[EliKoehn]

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4
Oct 11th: 236.8 (-0.6)
Oct 18th:
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Waist measurement: 38"

Nice modest progress this week, but the pace is a bit slow and falls short of even for my target. I am going to begin adding running and cardio rowing to my training again, and with this upcoming fall weather the running is likely to be recreational, even.

One thing I've got to watch and fell somewhat short on this week, is getting enough protein. I find it easiest to protect the deficit by eating fewer meals, sometimes just one a day. That makes hitting the protein count difficult, and a few days this week I was moderately short. THAT's how you shrink... so I'll be vigilant against that going forward.

EDIT: In lieu of biweekly photos (which I took, but they look pretty much the same as last time), here is an upload from this past week which I did on account of another thread. Going forward, I think I'll post photos with controlled lighting and both a neutral and flexed posture. Not sure it really matters that much for a short term stint, however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XjhL_Zgd1o

[EliKoehn]

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4
Oct 11th: 236.8
Oct 18th: 237.7 (+0.9)
Oct 25th:
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Waist measurement: 38.5" (+0.5)

I suspect that this is noise weight and am not concerned about it, as I was 235 only a few days ago and my family invited me to a big lunch with them just yesterday. I hadn't seen them in a while and decided to enjoy the meal without being too restrictive. Mostly sushi anyway, and the rest of my food for that day was very minute. Couldn't realistically have gained multiple pounds, so I think it's sodium and food volume, but we'll see. This is the advantage of weighing on Monday, because more often than not the weekends have meals like these and this accounts for that sort of volatility.

Either way, time to be a bit more restrictive to keep pace, even if I do drop back down over a few days of my own meal-prep. I've begun incorporating cardio training as well and my lifting has been excellent.

[EliKoehn]

Weighed in 235.0 after returning from the gym, having eaten a fairly generous breakfast this morning, matter of fact. Just updating to comment that it looks like I was actually right on track but just needed to take a dump this morning.

Saturday, I walked for about four or five hours continuously, so that might be factoring in now.

[JamalFit]

Weighed in 235.0 after returning from the gym, having eaten a fairly generous breakfast this morning, matter of fact. Just updating to comment that it looks like I was actually right on track but just needed to take a dump this morning.

Saturday, I walked for about four or five hours continuously, so that might be factoring in now.

You got this my dude! You're gonna hit that milestone by thanksgiving with ease!

But i have to ask, how and why did you walk for 5 hours on sat? 0_0

[EliKoehn]

Thanks, and good luck to you as well.

It was a really nice day and most of my friends were out of town, so I decided to take a walk through my park and around my city for most of the day. It's kind fun to go do that every now and then.

[EliKoehn]

Not my designated weigh in day, but weighing 234.8 coming home from work normally hydrated with a normal breakfast in me. I did skip lunch so that probably lowers the reading a little beyond what it would be if I wasn't aiming to lose weight.

Also, time to buy new pants. My regular pairs are now baggy and poofy looking. That's kind of a nice milestone when losing weight I think.

[JamalFit]

Not my designated weigh in day, but weighing 234.8 coming home from work normally hydrated with a normal breakfast in me. I did skip lunch so that probably lowers the reading a little beyond what it would be if I wasn't aiming to lose weight.

Also, time to buy new pants. My regular pairs are now baggy and poofy looking. That's kind of a nice milestone when losing weight I think.

Time for the slim fit pants already my g? Haha!

Well done on this weeks progress!

[EliKoehn]

Hopefully soon!

--

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4
Oct 11th: 236.8
Oct 18th: 237.7
Oct 25th: 236.8 (-0.9)
Nov 1st:
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Waist measurement: Forgot to measure this time.

Was 234 a couple of days ago, as noted. Either way, I didn't carefully portion a few meals this past week and this looks like maintenance. Good to temper the existing progress with time, but I've got to keep going down. Only 10 more pounds and I'm where I want to be!

[coachcalande]

Good stuff!

Once had a journey down to 208
But it involved alot of running….


Keep at it!

[EliKoehn]

Thanks! I'm finally getting into the territory where definition is starting to show up more quickly pound for pound which is exciting.

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4
Oct 11th: 236.8
Oct 18th: 237.7
Oct 25th: 236.8
Nov 1st: 233.5 (-3.3)
Nov 8th:
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Waist measurement: 37.5" (-1.0) *previously taken two weeks ago

[EliKoehn]

Still going well. Consistently waking up in the low 230s. I'm due for a progress photo so in lieu of that, here's a side-angle lift upload. Still have a ways to go but it's coming along well:

[EliKoehn]

Sep 13th: 242.5
Sep 20th: 240.4
Sep 27th: 241.8
Oct 4th: 237.4
Oct 11th: 236.8
Oct 18th: 237.7
Oct 25th: 236.8
Nov 1st: 233.5
Nov 8th: 233.2 (-0.3)
Nov 15th:
Nov 22nd:

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25th:

Waist measurement: forgot tape again