LIVIN' LARGE: Minimizing yourself and maximizing your life!When you have over 100 pounds to lose it can seem impossible to get started in the right direction.
Gardener, thanks for your post. As you pointed out and I already mentioned, the question is not the best. I wanted to see just what sort of responses I would get and get people to start thinking. Introspection doesn't have to be a not-so-good thing. There are many contributors to obesity and each person's are different. True there are some collective "coincidences" (as the groups you spoke about would have us believe) and there are some definitive solutions. The task, once the problem has been identified, is to begin applying a solution....
My top measured weight was 227, but I know I weighed a good deal more than that at one point -- but I didn't want to get on a scale and find out what it was. I'd guess 240 or so.
When I actually seriously began to work out, I weighed 225 so that's what I count as my "starting point." I got down to 179-180 but typically stayed around 183-185; with the Christmas treats I'm up to 192. I intend to bring that down soon.
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
I'm lost 75 lbs so far, down to 260. My goal for 2007 is to drop at least another 60-80 lbs. At my heaviest I was about 350lbs, but I lost about 15-20 lbs about a couple years ago, before I really got serious last spring.
I was 233 and am now 162. This has been over two years. I was always very overweight so I'm pretty happy about this transition.
I continue to have fat loss as my main goal and am working on it daily. I've developed a good amount of muscle mass over the years (very cool, by the way since it really makes me look different than a 162 lb woman with no muscle).
I"m now focusing more on my diet. At my age, 40, this seems to be where my efforts should be.
Thanks for this thread!
Then up to 225lbs (Bulking with weights this time).
Now down to around 190lbs (loss of 35lbs).
I will end up loosing 40-45lbs by the time im done. Ive lost 35lbs twice. Not very hard for me, just drop the cals/carbs and wait.. Metabolism takes care of the rest.
I've lost and kept off about 20lbs since about 2000. Working and going to school at night kept the exercise away and drivethroughs nearby
Still think my body finds a way to naturally regulate itself to about 140-145ish, although I've been down to 132. More muscular now, so I guess it's a trade off.
Growing up, I was always heavy (think the fat kid in elementary and high school). When I got to college, I definitely lived the college life, eating pizza, drinking soda and beer, and getting really fat. By the time I graduated, I was up to 270 lbs (probably more, as I didn't have the courage to get on a scale until a month after graduation). This was June 2004.
I started my weight loss adventure on 7/1/04. I started by picking up The Abs Diet. Since then, I've picked up a bunch of different books, including TAP, Book of Muscle, NROL, Precision Nutrition, and Turbulence Training. I've tried to pull the best ideas from each one, forming my own nutrition and training principles (and the more nutrition information I pull, the more it looks like Adam's Diet). My low weight was 180lbs in November 2005 (90 lbs lost). As of today, I'm sitting at 190lbs (net of 80 lbs lost).
Today I've moved beyond "weight loss." Maintaining my weight loss is still a primary goal, but I'm trying to accomplish more. Currently, I'm trying to increase my strength and athletic conditioning (and maybe even leaning out a little in the process).
The primary thing I have learned is that this is a life long journey. One day being less than perfect isn't going to kill your progress, but you also must be cautious that missteps don't become habit.
I've been through a lot and am continuing to learn about different aspects of training and nutrition. If anyone has any questions or wants to discuss anything, feel free to PM me.
Right now I am at (or close to) my top weight, 373 at 5'9". I have lost up to 90lbs at a shot, but untreated depression and sleep apnea contributed to regain. Those things are being dealt with now, but like Lost Dog, I'm an emotional eater, and learning to do something with the emotions other than paper them over with a sugar rush is a slow process.
I can't say how much over time I have lost since I have yo-yo'd more times then I can count. I always start strong and with good intentions but it life gets crazy and the workout and diet get pushed to the side.
As for how much I am down now, well, my scale says about 0.6 pounds , so I am just beginning my transformation. Overall I plan to lose about 50-70 lbs total. I am 5'8" 245lbs at the moment. This time I am more focused, more knowledgeable, and more motivated then ever before. I have set up some accountability through my blog and I have recently found out that we will be going to a wedding in Mexico in a year so I have to get in good shape so I don't end up fat in Mexico 2 years in a row and feeling so self-conscious I can't really enjoy myself.
On new years day I weighed myself for the last time just accepting that I was big. I weighed in at over 416lbs at 23 yrs old.. I vowed that this would be the last time. i have lost some weight before ~40lbs(320-280), only to gain back almost 140 in a period of about 4 years. Ive been huge for as long as i can remember, despite being an active child. i played baseball, football and wrestled as a teenager, i even wrestled my freshman year of college(when i lost the 40lbs). I have a huge frame and have pretty much tricked myself into thinking it cant be changed. luckily i have realized this is not the case and am on my way to changing it. I weighed myself this morning at 399.5lbs haveing lost ~17 lbs in about 10 days i can finally say im under 400lbs for the first time in months. I am going to the gym doing cardio for about 45-60 minutes a day about 5 days a week. i have drastically changed my eating habbits as well.
I used to drink close to 2 liters of coke a day, ate huge portions of some of the most fattening foods you could find. When i ordered chinese food, i would get a pup platter for 2(of whihc most i ate), a hot and sour soup and more often than not a fried rice. if i had a sandwhich for lunch, i always had chips with it, and of course mayo on the sandwhich.
i have changed what and how much i eat dramatically. i am eating more fruits and vegetables than i ever have. when i went to a resteraunt and you got a choice of potatoe and veg i got fries and subbed my veg for rice. i am now eating roughly 1300-1700 calories a day depending on how hungry i am. i eat in the mornign which i never did but typically a piece of fruit or something small to start my metabolism.
my goal is to be somewhere around the 250lbs range, which i havent been in close to 7 years.
AC885, good to have you aboard. Sounds like you've turned a corner and have truly resolved to make some changes. Thanks to wrestling and my own self-consciousness, I went from 275lbs to 155lbs in just over a year's time during high school, and I did it in a horribly unhealthy way (some days only a few hundred calories, limited fluid intake, ingesting laxatives and such, sweats and trash bags in a 120F practice room, etc). It's good to see you're keeping your daily caloric intake in the 1500/day range. Just make sure you're getting an adequate amount of protein in your diet (~1.2g per pound of bodyweight, I think), especially with the amount of cardio you're doing. Your body will use anything it can for fuel while you're on a caloric deficit, and protein is a lot easier than fat for the body to breakdown. I lost a lot of muscle mass during my weight crash, and here it is ten years later, and my body (just getting back to some sort of weight and hormonal balance the past year or two) still has a heckuva time putting on lean mass. However, I still look and feel better than I did (after leveling out around 190lbs), and from the sound of it, your situation can only get better. Good luck and feel free to holler if we can help.
AnimalC, welcome. You will have to keep us posted on your progress. Please, ask us questions when you have them. One of the important things I learned about losing weight is that you have to enjoy some of the process. Yes, I said enjoy. There is a lot of it that isn't enjoyable, but find those things that you do like...and make sure not to leave those out of the plan.
BTW, I have you beat on soda. I was drinking 3ish liters a day. I look forward to hearing more from you...don't you disappear now.
Newman
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"Branch chainz, bro. Leucine in the sky with diamonds." - Alan Aragon
Welcome, Animalcracker! Looking forward to hearing more from you.
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
Welcome AC and congratulations on making the decision to improve yourself. Feel free to join in on all discussions even if you don't feel you are that knowledgeable.
__________________ Beginning is Easy - Continuing is Hard
猿も木から落ちる Even monkeys fall from trees
- Japanese Proverb
Since May of last year I have lost 40lbs. I took about 3 months off of my diet plan but maintained my weight. I am now going to start back up. School is back in session so it should be easier to get a routine going.
Routines are useful but there is something to be said for being ready for anything. Welcome Z-lightightning. I am glad you joined us. Keeping the weight off was quite an accomplishment.
Now that I think about it, a thread on Damage Control Strategies might be fun. We have posted some ideas to help prevent tough situations and a few ideas about what to do when we find ourselves in difficult eating/training situations....but I know this group is a gold mine in this area...
Newman
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"Branch chainz, bro. Leucine in the sky with diamonds." - Alan Aragon
I have also been up and down most of my life...more ups than downs tho! It's been a pretty consistent gain for he most part. Over the last 2 years I have lost about 35-40 lbs and in the past 2 weeks, on a new regiment of clean eating and training I recently lost 10 lbs!! Which now brings me to a total loss of about 50lbs and I am finally under 300! I think this is the final fantastic down I've been trying for!
I have also been up and down most of my life...more ups than downs tho! It's been a pretty consistent gain for he most part. Over the last 2 years I have lost about 35-40 lbs and in the past 2 weeks, on a new regiment of clean eating and training I recently lost 10 lbs!! Which now brings me to a total loss of about 50lbs and I am finally under 300! I think this is the final fantastic down I've been trying for!
Hey, a milestone. Kick ass and congrats. Keep it up.
__________________ No Magic Pill (the log)
My Movember page (yes, I'm slacking on pictures)
Thanks! It does feel real good!!!!!!!!!!!!! Back to some spinning tonight...it's my new addiction!
You bet it feels good! Congrats on some great progress!
I did Kaiser's spin class at the last Summit (my claim to fame is that I was on the bike next to Lou . We were his two newbies.). That was tough, but I can understand why it becomes addictive.
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
Right now I weigh about 225@ 14% bodyfat. Those of you who read the husband project (which is still going on by the way, it just took a small hiatus ) all know that I went down to 211 at one point. I have since, though (the 211 was on my birthday, November 7th) gone up a little, but I have packed on some serious meat, especially in my arms. I'm pretty happy about that.
The highest I think I ever got was 257, so that would make me around a 32lb. loser (hehe) and a 46lb. max lost. My goal now is to see my abs once it is pool time again. For those of you that have been loosely paying attention, now I am working with Mike Robertson (remotely) on a program designed to fix the myriad old injuries and compensatory things that I do. Once that is done, I hope I can really hit it and make my goal of being below 10% bf!
Awesome job dude!! I can really see the difference in your stature and face.
keep hitting the weights hard. not only is it something i regret not focusing more on when I lost weight but this past week there was a t-nation article showing just how much of an impact it can have on weight loss in general.
Awesome job dude!! I can really see the difference in your stature and face.
keep hitting the weights hard. not only is it something i regret not focusing more on when I lost weight but this past week there was a t-nation article showing just how much of an impact it can have on weight loss in general.
Outstanding results, BigD. Its really cool that in the second picture you are smiling! Really makes me believe you are happy with your results and the progress will continue. That or someone behind the camera said something silly. Either way....congratulations.
__________________
"Branch chainz, bro. Leucine in the sky with diamonds." - Alan Aragon
, so I am just beginning my transformation. Overall I plan to lose about 50-70 lbs total. I am 5'8" 245lbs at the moment. This time I am more focused, more knowledgeable, and more motivated then ever before. I have set up some accountability through my blog and I have recently found out that we will be going to a wedding in Mexico in a year so I have to get in good shape so I don't end up fat in Mexico 2 years in a row and feeling so self-conscious I can't really enjoy myself.
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