New here. I did post in the intro section.
Anyway, I'm usually the odd-ball, and I'm kind of thinking that my weight loss story is probably not normal either.
Here's what I mean;
I'm 45 years old. 6ft, wide shoulders, large framed, big chest.
I actually have a very good metabolism, which is why I only weighed 268 lbs, 10 months ago. And when you consider that I was eating a horrific amount of fat, processed sugar, and toxic garbage (honestly, approx 6000 to 8000 calories worth of it) per day, for the last 20 years, it's amazing I didn't weight 500 lbs ! I do have an active job, and I'm sure that helped, but still, that extra 70 lbs of fat, was really starting to drag me down.
So, about 9 months ago, I started having some really serious stomach problems.... like, I could not digest my 3000 to 4000 calorie, after 8 or 9pm food binge dinner, before I had to go to work the next day. Hmmmmm. I wonder why ?
It got so bad..... let me put it this way... I can't say I was suicidal, but I can honestly say, I felt so bad, I didn't really care if I lived or died.
On one particularly bad day, I got an idea;
What if I just replace my 3000 to 4000 calorie food binge tonight, with a bowl of bran flakes, 1% milk, splenda, and some strawberries ? From 3500 cals to 350. So I tried it. Sure I went to bed a little hungry... and woke up freaking starving ! But geez, my stomach sure felt better ! After about a week of this, I was feeling SOOOO much better, I decided to just stick to it for a while.
After 5 weeks, only changing my horrendous dinner (still eating a lot of garbage the rest of the day) I felt night and day better, and lost 25 lbs !
That got me hyped ! So next, I started fine tuning the rest of my diet. Cut the fried food. Cut the fast food. Went from whole fat mayo, to almost zero fat mayo. More fruits and veggies (or should I say finally eating lots of fruits and veggies (hardly ate any before).
And the weight just kept dropping !
I lost about 45-50 lbs, with healthy diet alone, and felt great about it ! Both physically, and mentally. But then I hit a plateau for about 6 to 8 weeks.
That's when I started doing my hard-core, hill climb / jogs. They are 2.6 miles, with 1100 feet of vertical climb. The first time I did it, I was seriously afraid I might die of a heart attack... or at the very least, pass out. Took me 36 min, and 34 sec my first climb. Luckily though, I survived
And ever since then, I've cut time off of the climb nearly every time. Yesterday I did my best time yet of 26m 34s. I still go on and run on flat ground, to keep it to 30 mins though.
Oh, but the point is, the addition of the cardio smashed that weight plateau, and as of last week, I have lost 72 lbs From 268, in Oct. 09', to 196 in June 10'
That was easy
So anyway, that's my story, but if anyone is still reading this novel, I do have a question....
Phase 1 (losing the weight) is basically over. Of course after all of that loss, I've still got some serious tightening up around the waist to do. And in reality, my body fat % is probably still around 18%.
But now, I'm starting on phase 2, which I know will be 10 X's harder than the weight loss....
I want to gain 30 lbs of lean muscle mass, and get my body fat to below 10%. So, I'm at 196 lbs right now, with about 18%, and I want to weigh 215 at say 8%.
I'm getting a Bowflex in 2 days. Lest anyone believe that won't be enough, I might have to post a photo of my buddy who has gotten me all stoked on the Bowflex idea.
Oh.... so the question......
Should I cut my current fat intake even tighter (from say 50gm's a day, to 20 gm's) to try to shave off some of this loose garbage on my sides ? .....or, should I just stick to the same diet that got me here, maybe just increasing my proteins with whey powder (already taking about 60 gm's a day) a little more.
And after starting out moderately, get myself used to working out like a mad man (in a smart way, of course. I have a really good trainer), and worry about knocking that 18% bf down to 8% bf later ?
I know this might sound kind of goofy, but I'm more concerned / self conscious, about the inch or two on my sides now, than I was about the bucket fulls of fat on me 9 months ago ?
If you have read all of this, wow ! Thank you very much
Peace,
Fish
Anyway, I'm usually the odd-ball, and I'm kind of thinking that my weight loss story is probably not normal either.
Here's what I mean;
I'm 45 years old. 6ft, wide shoulders, large framed, big chest.
I actually have a very good metabolism, which is why I only weighed 268 lbs, 10 months ago. And when you consider that I was eating a horrific amount of fat, processed sugar, and toxic garbage (honestly, approx 6000 to 8000 calories worth of it) per day, for the last 20 years, it's amazing I didn't weight 500 lbs ! I do have an active job, and I'm sure that helped, but still, that extra 70 lbs of fat, was really starting to drag me down.
So, about 9 months ago, I started having some really serious stomach problems.... like, I could not digest my 3000 to 4000 calorie, after 8 or 9pm food binge dinner, before I had to go to work the next day. Hmmmmm. I wonder why ?
It got so bad..... let me put it this way... I can't say I was suicidal, but I can honestly say, I felt so bad, I didn't really care if I lived or died.
On one particularly bad day, I got an idea;
What if I just replace my 3000 to 4000 calorie food binge tonight, with a bowl of bran flakes, 1% milk, splenda, and some strawberries ? From 3500 cals to 350. So I tried it. Sure I went to bed a little hungry... and woke up freaking starving ! But geez, my stomach sure felt better ! After about a week of this, I was feeling SOOOO much better, I decided to just stick to it for a while.
After 5 weeks, only changing my horrendous dinner (still eating a lot of garbage the rest of the day) I felt night and day better, and lost 25 lbs !
That got me hyped ! So next, I started fine tuning the rest of my diet. Cut the fried food. Cut the fast food. Went from whole fat mayo, to almost zero fat mayo. More fruits and veggies (or should I say finally eating lots of fruits and veggies (hardly ate any before).
And the weight just kept dropping !
I lost about 45-50 lbs, with healthy diet alone, and felt great about it ! Both physically, and mentally. But then I hit a plateau for about 6 to 8 weeks.
That's when I started doing my hard-core, hill climb / jogs. They are 2.6 miles, with 1100 feet of vertical climb. The first time I did it, I was seriously afraid I might die of a heart attack... or at the very least, pass out. Took me 36 min, and 34 sec my first climb. Luckily though, I survived
And ever since then, I've cut time off of the climb nearly every time. Yesterday I did my best time yet of 26m 34s. I still go on and run on flat ground, to keep it to 30 mins though.Oh, but the point is, the addition of the cardio smashed that weight plateau, and as of last week, I have lost 72 lbs
From 268, in Oct. 09', to 196 in June 10'That was easy
So anyway, that's my story, but if anyone is still reading this novel, I do have a question....
Phase 1 (losing the weight) is basically over. Of course after all of that loss, I've still got some serious tightening up around the waist to do. And in reality, my body fat % is probably still around 18%.
But now, I'm starting on phase 2, which I know will be 10 X's harder than the weight loss....
I want to gain 30 lbs of lean muscle mass, and get my body fat to below 10%. So, I'm at 196 lbs right now, with about 18%, and I want to weigh 215 at say 8%.
I'm getting a Bowflex in 2 days. Lest anyone believe that won't be enough, I might have to post a photo of my buddy who has gotten me all stoked on the Bowflex idea.
Oh.... so the question......
Should I cut my current fat intake even tighter (from say 50gm's a day, to 20 gm's) to try to shave off some of this loose garbage on my sides ? .....or, should I just stick to the same diet that got me here, maybe just increasing my proteins with whey powder (already taking about 60 gm's a day) a little more.
And after starting out moderately, get myself used to working out like a mad man (in a smart way, of course. I have a really good trainer), and worry about knocking that 18% bf down to 8% bf later ?
I know this might sound kind of goofy, but I'm more concerned / self conscious, about the inch or two on my sides now, than I was about the bucket fulls of fat on me 9 months ago ?
If you have read all of this, wow ! Thank you very much
Peace,
Fish