Diary of a man and his weight loss.

Poisonhearts said:
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question.
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Anytime.

Yeah I really do feel that I'm too skinny. My ideal would involve having loads more muscle. You're absolutely right about the muscle loss, there's no denying it. I probably should of maintained my muscle better but I really thought I didn't need too, I guess we learn from our mistakes.
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Some of us do.

Many of us don't.

But you seem to be of the kind that will and that's all that you need in life to progress with consistency.

It's cliche but I rarely see something as a failure in my life. I see it as a learning experience that I can carry with my forward helping me be wiser.

I was thinking the same about losing more weight, that's why I was hoping someone was going to give me feedback on what I was about to do, thankfully you did. That skeleton look is definitely not what I'm after lol.
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I assumed not but you know know.

The media has a lot of guys chasing this look that's new to me. No longer is it the rugged look of a man... it's turning into this, what I consider a frail look almost.

It's not flooding the media but I am starting to notice it more and I've seen guys chasing it.

Here it's winter alright, -30 Celsius weather outside lol. Bulking up would require a calorie surplus of healthy foods and weight lifting? I'm already having trouble eating max 1500 calories a day, I feel full all day. Might be hard to get over 2000 calories but I'm sure I'd get use to it.
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You will get used to it.

And eating a surplus is not something you'd want to do right away.

If I were you I'd systematically work my way back towards what should be your maintenance intake. Raise calories every week or two incrementally. Maybe 20ish%.

I'd take the first week off while doing this, then start lifting while you're working your way toward maintenance.

There's a good chance you'll add some muscle without being in a surplus on paper.

Once you're at maintenance, you'll have to touch&feel your way through what comes next. If you're supposed maintenance has you gaining weight, obviously you don't need to increase intake. If you're not, bump it up 10% or so every week or two.

Hopefully you catch my drift.
 
Steve said:
Anytime.



Some of us do.

Many of us don't.

But you seem to be of the kind that will and that's all that you need in life to progress with consistency.

It's cliche but I rarely see something as a failure in my life. I see it as a learning experience that I can carry with my forward helping me be wiser.



I assumed not but you know know.

The media has a lot of guys chasing this look that's new to me. No longer is it the rugged look of a man... it's turning into this, what I consider a frail look almost.

It's not flooding the media but I am starting to notice it more and I've seen guys chasing it.



You will get used to it.

And eating a surplus is not something you'd want to do right away.

If I were you I'd systematically work my way back towards what should be your maintenance intake. Raise calories every week or two incrementally. Maybe 20ish%.

I'd take the first week off while doing this, then start lifting while you're working your way toward maintenance.

There's a good chance you'll add some muscle without being in a surplus on paper.

Once you're at maintenance, you'll have to touch&feel your way through what comes next. If you're supposed maintenance has you gaining weight, obviously you don't need to increase intake. If you're not, bump it up 10% or so every week or two.

Hopefully you catch my drift.
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I've noticed the same thing actually, I don't mind the look if it's not to an extreme. That's just not what I'm after. Not only do I want to build muscle but I need to for my future as a Police Officer.

Looks like some sound advice. I'll work my way up this week while I'm home with the family for Christmas. I'll head to the gym next week with a couple friends of mine so they can show me around some lifts. Then when I get back to College I can do things on my own in the gym.

It's really exciting to have a new goal. Will be awesome when I start to see some results. I was sick and tired of people telling me I've lost to much weight anyways lol.
 
Just keep this in mind.

Bulking is all about finding the sweet spot, calorically speaking. You can't fast forward muscle growth by eating more and more. You need just enough extra calories to facilitate growth of muscle tissue, but not so much where you have excess calories going to fat.

A pound a week is about right for most who aren't too advanced.

For me, I'm lucky if I see a pound a month.
 
I thought it was important to post a picture of what my body looks like now to see the kind of muscle loss that occurred. Looking at it now I can't wait to bulk up, too skinny :p. I need a tan as well lol.
 
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I managed to eat 1700 calories today but boy was it hard, I feel so damn full lol. I'll try to aim for around 1700 calories a day for the next week then hopefully move up to 1900-2000 if I can handle it. I'll be in the gym by next week trying to get my bearings on everything because I honestly have no real idea what to do in the gym pertaining to weight lifting.

Tracking my weight gain will start in a couple weeks when I get back to my place where my scale is. I left there at 140 lbs, maybe I'll come back a pound or so heavier if all goes well.

It's funny how this diary started with weight loss as my end goal. A few months later and I'm now trying to gain weight, muscle though :p.
 
Steve said:
I'd probably move my cals up slower than that.
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Okay I will do that then, any particular reason though?

I was already eating 1500 calories beforehand if I could sometimes less but I'd aim for 1500. 1700 calories is only a 200 calorie jump and still below maintenance. You saying I should stretch out the period of time making my way back to maintenance? Once I felt good at 1700 I was going to go for 1900-2000 if I was able too, see a week of gym results or so then move from there. Maybe you're saying I should then move up the calories above maintenance slowly?
 
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Okay, I thought you were eating 1200.

Ramping up slowly allows your metabolism to 'catch up.' When you diet, especially aggressively like you did, your metabolism downregulates. If you simply jumped calories up too high, you'd gain fat faster than would otherwise be expected b/c of the depressed metabolism.
 
Yeah okay I was eating 1200 calories before but I had already bumped it up to 1500 for a while now.

Haha now the problem of what to do in the gym...hitting different muscle groups 1 day a week or doing a full body workout 3 days a week? I read around the Internet a lot today but I really couldn't find any information that would determine what I should do. I came across a program called "RIPPETOE-STARTING STRENGTH", it looks decent but I'm not sure if it's the type of weight lifting that will give me results. It's all pretty confusing right now but I'm sure I can figure it out...lol.
 
I've been reading some more and it seems like Rippetoe is what I'll be trying out. I've made an account on the forum over at Bodybuilding.com and started a journal there to help me out, mainly because it's a more specific forum where I'll hopefully get some good feedback and information. I'll still be updating this diary regularly, I've come to love this community to much to stop :waving:.

I'll give a more detailed update tomorrow. For now it's sleep time lol.
 
I'd ditch the bbing.com account.

That forum is pure shit.

There's some decent information floating around over there b/c you're bound to get a few decent members when you have hundreds of thousands, but for the most part it's shit.

Rippetoe actually communicates with members on a forum found here.



He has his own subforum there.

His starting strength workout is just fine for you. If you haven't read the book, I HIGHLY suggest you do as well as his other one called Practical Programming.
 
Oh, and that forum is more about strength training... there aren't a lot of people who are solely interested in physique. They're more interested in performance.

That said, if you want the address of some decent physique oriented forums, let me know.
 
Steve said:
I'd ditch the bbing.com account.

That forum is pure shit.

There's some decent information floating around over there b/c you're bound to get a few decent members when you have hundreds of thousands, but for the most part it's shit.

Rippetoe actually communicates with members on a forum found here.



He has his own subforum there.

His starting strength workout is just fine for you. If you haven't read the book, I HIGHLY suggest you do as well as his other one called Practical Programming.
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Pure shit...lol. There is a lot of spam and useless posts there so you're probably right.

Thanks for the link, I made an account there. I'll ditch the other one for the most part, might come in use sometime.

I just skimmed over the book, I'll read it in its entirety. I'll check out Practical Programming as well.

Steve said:
Oh, and that forum is more about strength training... there aren't a lot of people who are solely interested in physique. They're more interested in performance.

That said, if you want the address of some decent physique oriented forums, let me know.
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I think strength training is perfect for me. I'm sure with the training comes a somewhat improved physique, not hard to improve on skin and bones lol. Performance seems right.
 
I'm wondering if I should start the gym routine this week. My parents live in a very small town of only 5500 people so there is only two gym facilities here. I was planning to do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But I'm confident I wouldn't be able to make it on Wednesday because it's Christmas Eve and I work 10 AM to 6 PM, the gyms are probably only open during those hours...I could just go on Thursday but it's probably not open at all on Christmas day lol. Friday its hours are probably also limited and again I work 10 AM to 6 PM that day. Maybe it's just best if I start it up next week?

I'll definitely confirm the what the hours of operation are for these days but I'm not expecting them to be flexible enough to work. I'm really not trying to make excuses here, I'm really pumped to go tomorrow it's just I don't want to fuck up the program not being able to lift on Wednesday and Friday. Any input? Should I start next week or just go tomorrow and Saturday since these are most likely the only days I'd be able to go. It might work. Do Workout A tomorrow, Workout B Saturday, Workout A next Monday, Workout B Wednesday, Workout A Friday etc. It might even out. Hoping for Steve to give me some input on this one lol.
 
Poisonhearts said:
Holy fuck, Starting Strength is jammed with information. This book is marvellous.
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Yup.

Practical Programming is even better IMO. But they both compliment each other marvelously.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it.

EDIT: I'd just hit the gym starting next week.
 
Okay then, I did decide to hit the gym starting next week. Missing a day in the gym would be a very stupid idea so it's best to just wait and start off good.

Steve you told me to take the calories easy when first starting out the program which is my plan. I submitted the question to Rippetoe just to see if he had any input, maybe he's seen a similar situation before. I have a feeling that he might tell me to eat like a mother fucker and drink my gallon of milk a day...lol.
 
That book sounds like a must-read.

I must say, sliding filament and the theory of muscle contraction is a bit difficult to grasp for me :(
 
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