I’m New Here.

[Ben_In_NC]

Hi I’m Ben, and I’m new here. I am 5’10” tall, and 53 years old. I live in NC and am married with two daughters, ages 13 and 9., I dropped from 280ish to 180ish in 2021. Since then I’ve intentionally put on some muscle weight, but also let my eating get a bit out of control during the bulk. I’m currently a little over 200 and looking for accountability in dropping some fat, probably to get into the 180s, I think. (Not really sure about the number. I definitely have more muscle now, so I don’t really have a “goal weight.” I guess I’m sort of “I just want to look good naked.” )

First pic was taken on my 52nd birthday, in December 2020 (280ish,) second was around my lowest weight, December 2021 (180ish,) third one was taken this morning at the gym. I weighed in at 203.2.

I’ll likely be starting a diary thread in the next few days. Looking forward to interaction with y’all.

 

[Cate]

Hi, Ben & welcome to the forum. Well done on dropping 100 lbs. You look so fit & well in that 3rd photo! Maybe just eating healthy will get you to where you want to be, without 'dieting" or losing much.

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Hi, Ben & welcome to the forum. Well done on dropping 100 lbs. You look so fit & well in that 3rd photo! Maybe just eating healthy will get you to where you want to be, without 'dieting" or losing much.

Oh, I definitely have some excess body fat that I’d like to get rid of, but thank you! I intend to post weekly progress pics on Monday mornings. That pic from today was taken maybe 45 minutes into my workout, so there’s a fair bit of “extra” pump depicted there.

 

[Trusylver]

Welcome to the forum Ben.

 

[Llama]

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on losing 100 pounds and keeping most of it off! Do you have any idea how much muscle mass you gained or what your current bodyfat percentage is?

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Do you have any idea how much muscle mass you gained or what your current bodyfat percentage is?

As much as impedance body fat can be trusted.

As of this morning...

Withings Scale: 24.3%
Renpho Scale: 17.0%
Hand-held: 22.1%

(Yes, over the years we've gathered three of these. Crazy, I know.)

I’m thinking it’s in the lower 20s. I’m going to be taking weekly progress pics on Mondays for my diary thread (no pump, just straight outta bed and to the mirror.) Attached are the ones from this morning.

 

[Llama]

You have a bit of loose skin, of course, which makes it harder to judge bodyfat (not that I'm an expert, that's @Trusylver 's job). But I agree that the reality is probably closer to the first two numbers. Still: a very healthy weight! Not regaining is probably more important than getting back to your lowest weight but speaking for myself it's usually easier to maintain when I'm trying to lose...