Looking to lose an extra human I apparently picked up along the way
- Thread starter MrVee
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MrVee
New member
Nice time at the game. Ran into a work acquaintance and we chatted for a bit as well.
167.5 this morning so it seems I've cleared out the water weight gained from screwing around. A big marker at the workout today as last time I started dropping down into the 160s last year, my strength evaporated. So this time around I'm focusing on keeping ym strength up and if that means slowing down the losses, so be it.
Strength was absolutely fine today in the pull workout: at least matched all of my previous lifts and even went up a little on a couple. Right now curling 80 pounds for five reps on the EZ Curl bar (with proper form, no wrenching my back or any other type helping movements) and for my pull workout as they're currently structured, that's as close to a benchmark as I've got.
Tomorrow is "push" and the benchmarks are much clearer there. Have been doing 5 reps on the bench press at 155. That means that very likely my 1RM on the bench press is more than my weight (the calculators would all place it above 170), which is a nice little thing. It's my weakest lift, so it would be really nice to maintain or even build strength from there even while losing weight.
According to http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/BenchStandards.html at 167.5 an intermediate lifter would lift a 1RM of about 186 and a novice of about 151. At 155 pounds an intermediate lifter would have a 174 1RM, which is about exactly where I'm currently at. So if I just don't lose anything from here, I'll be good.
I mention this as a means to track my progress. I'm not, technically, interested inlosing weight. I'm interested in "body recomposition" (IE, losing fat and gaining muscle). So while I feel like I do need to lose weight to lose the fat, I have to keep an eye on my strength to make sure my muscle doesn't go down just as much. And so far, so good.
167.5 this morning so it seems I've cleared out the water weight gained from screwing around. A big marker at the workout today as last time I started dropping down into the 160s last year, my strength evaporated. So this time around I'm focusing on keeping ym strength up and if that means slowing down the losses, so be it.
Strength was absolutely fine today in the pull workout: at least matched all of my previous lifts and even went up a little on a couple. Right now curling 80 pounds for five reps on the EZ Curl bar (with proper form, no wrenching my back or any other type helping movements) and for my pull workout as they're currently structured, that's as close to a benchmark as I've got.
Tomorrow is "push" and the benchmarks are much clearer there. Have been doing 5 reps on the bench press at 155. That means that very likely my 1RM on the bench press is more than my weight (the calculators would all place it above 170), which is a nice little thing. It's my weakest lift, so it would be really nice to maintain or even build strength from there even while losing weight.
According to http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/BenchStandards.html at 167.5 an intermediate lifter would lift a 1RM of about 186 and a novice of about 151. At 155 pounds an intermediate lifter would have a 174 1RM, which is about exactly where I'm currently at. So if I just don't lose anything from here, I'll be good.
I mention this as a means to track my progress. I'm not, technically, interested inlosing weight. I'm interested in "body recomposition" (IE, losing fat and gaining muscle). So while I feel like I do need to lose weight to lose the fat, I have to keep an eye on my strength to make sure my muscle doesn't go down just as much. And so far, so good.
Cate
Long term member
, which is good. I'm glad you're happy with the way your form is going Vee & hope that one day you will be happy with your body. You set very high standards for yourself. You should be very proud of what you have achieved xo Cate
Quercus
New member
That last paragraph makes me happy. The only nit I'll pick is that you may have to lose weight to lose fat, but you don't have to lose fat to get leaner. Every bit of muscle gained is a lower body fat percentage. That's assuming you don't go hog wild with the calories.
Bodyweight bench is an outstanding achievement! I need to get the weights moving again when my body is up for it.
Bodyweight bench is an outstanding achievement! I need to get the weights moving again when my body is up for it.
MrVee
New member
Thanks Q,
167.5 again this morning.
Today is push day, so bench is the leadoff hitter. I'm thinking about maybe asking for a spot and putting 170 on there to make it "official." The 1RM calculators all say at minimum 174, and some say as high as 180, so this should be doable.
As far as the fat loss/muscle gain, theoretically I might still be able to do both for a bit: IE, lose fat AND gain muscle, so that's the ideal goal at this point. I feel like since I'm still carrying over 20 pounds of body fat, I could still use to lose some of that. Quite obviously these are vanity pounds at this point; my weight right now otherwise carries zero health risks. My BMI of 23.4 is lower than 79% of American men my age.
Weird cold front has moved in and the high today is only getting up to 67. Very strange for this time of year, but not entirely unwelcome. It's a temperature range we don't tend to get a lot of: usually the high temps are either warmer or colder depending on the time of year.
167.5 again this morning.
Today is push day, so bench is the leadoff hitter. I'm thinking about maybe asking for a spot and putting 170 on there to make it "official." The 1RM calculators all say at minimum 174, and some say as high as 180, so this should be doable.
As far as the fat loss/muscle gain, theoretically I might still be able to do both for a bit: IE, lose fat AND gain muscle, so that's the ideal goal at this point. I feel like since I'm still carrying over 20 pounds of body fat, I could still use to lose some of that. Quite obviously these are vanity pounds at this point; my weight right now otherwise carries zero health risks. My BMI of 23.4 is lower than 79% of American men my age.
Weird cold front has moved in and the high today is only getting up to 67. Very strange for this time of year, but not entirely unwelcome. It's a temperature range we don't tend to get a lot of: usually the high temps are either warmer or colder depending on the time of year.
MrVee
New member
But 170 on the bar. Unracked it, lowered it and back up it went, though admittedly with significant effort. Almost certainly had another full rep in me.
So yeah, I've officially benched more than my weight for the first time in my life. Less than 5 months before my 45th birthday.
The good news ends there unfortunately. Have my cardio workout in a half hour and have just decided to move on from last night's debacle and forget about everything that happened (don't feel like getting into it) except an important lesson that may finally be sinking in: I need to stop worrying so much about the world around me, and focus on the things I can directly affect. Whatever else will be, will be I guess.
So yeah, I've officially benched more than my weight for the first time in my life. Less than 5 months before my 45th birthday.
The good news ends there unfortunately. Have my cardio workout in a half hour and have just decided to move on from last night's debacle and forget about everything that happened (don't feel like getting into it) except an important lesson that may finally be sinking in: I need to stop worrying so much about the world around me, and focus on the things I can directly affect. Whatever else will be, will be I guess.
MrVee
New member
Laptop is much fun. Basically I went to a bar to watch a couple of soccer games (and to have a boozeless dinner), and I unfortunately picked a bar that had a belligerent drunk who decided I'd be a good person to pick on.
This wound up having a very bad effect on my mood for the rest of the evening and I basically failed to get any sleep.
This wound up having a very bad effect on my mood for the rest of the evening and I basically failed to get any sleep.
MrVee
New member
170 this morning. The added weight is a result of the late night food binge on Tuesday. Mostly water weight.
Anyhow back from my morning workout. It's the end of the month, so I decided to go old school and do a picture comparison. I was kinda interested if I looked like I'd made any progress.
Anyhow, these are shirtless so avert your eyes if you have a weak stomach. Three pictures, one from July 1, 2012, one from July 1, 2015 and one from this morning:
View attachment 23639
So anyhow those last two pics are virtually the same weight 171.5 for 2015, 170 for today. Maybe it's wishful thinking but it looks like maybe I've made a little progress between the two. I wish it had been more, but I've done quite a bit of back sliding at times. It doesn't look any worse at least.
Whatcha think?
Anyhow back from my morning workout. It's the end of the month, so I decided to go old school and do a picture comparison. I was kinda interested if I looked like I'd made any progress.
Anyhow, these are shirtless so avert your eyes if you have a weak stomach. Three pictures, one from July 1, 2012, one from July 1, 2015 and one from this morning:
View attachment 23639
So anyhow those last two pics are virtually the same weight 171.5 for 2015, 170 for today. Maybe it's wishful thinking but it looks like maybe I've made a little progress between the two. I wish it had been more, but I've done quite a bit of back sliding at times. It doesn't look any worse at least.
Whatcha think?
Better lighting in the last picture, which makes it hard to compare, but definitely less excess skin, which is pretty amazing. Hard to believe you´ve ever had so much padding! Is that scar relatively recent, btw? It looks so much better now! More definition on the arms I think, a bit more on the stomach and I´m pretty sure I can see your serratus muscle there. Ok, now I´m starting to feel like a creep so I´d better put the magnifying glass away 
Daniel Egan
New member
Hi people been reading through this thread and think I may be able to help. To get lean and maintain muscle mass the only sure fire way is macro nutrient. Keeping a good balance between carbs protein and fats. You need carbs and fats so you have the correct energy and amino acids for protein synthesis. 1g of protein per lbs of body weight is what you want to aim for. Keep the carbs slightly higher and the fats at 25% or under I am currently doing this at a 800 calorie deficit so still loosing around 4-6 lbs of fat per month whilst holding/increasing muscle mass and strength
MrVee
New member
The scar is from summer of 2011 when I had my gallbladder removed. Was supposed to be a small tiny little incision and then a laproscopic procedure. They gave me the anesthesia, I went under and when I woke up they'd practically sawed me in half like a magic trick. Oh and i did not feel good at all.
Apparently because I was so huge, the laproscopy was hard to do and he couldn't figure out which "tube to cut", so he had to go in and see for himself. It's amazing everything I went through just because I was fat.
One advantage guys have is that scars (except maybe facial ones) don't really detract too much from our appearance, they just give us more "guy cred." In any event it's faded in color and obvious shrunk a ton along with the rest of my gut.
I think from now on I'll just say I got the scar in a knife fight trying to stop some thugs from kidnapping orphaned puppies...
Apparently because I was so huge, the laproscopy was hard to do and he couldn't figure out which "tube to cut", so he had to go in and see for himself. It's amazing everything I went through just because I was fat.
One advantage guys have is that scars (except maybe facial ones) don't really detract too much from our appearance, they just give us more "guy cred." In any event it's faded in color and obvious shrunk a ton along with the rest of my gut.
I think from now on I'll just say I got the scar in a knife fight trying to stop some thugs from kidnapping orphaned puppies...
Daniel Egan
New member
Today I ate...
Breakfast:
Oats 60g
Protein shake
Morning snack:
(Juiced)
2 cups of kale
2 cups of spinach
1 banana
40g of blueberrys
50g of black seedless grapes
80g of plum tomatoes
1 rice cake
Lunch:
1 can of tuna
40g Steamed broccoli
40g steamed cauliflower
30g carrots
With siracha hot sauce
Afternoon snack :
3 bbq chicken legs
1 rice cake
Lunch:
Kilm roast salmon fillet
1 cup of lettuce
1 cup of kale
1 cup of spinach
100g plum tomatoes
1/2 yellow pepper
1 cup of white mushrooms
1/4 cucumber
Less than 1600 kcal
Macros in attachment
I'm 156lbs and 5'7"
Breakfast:
Oats 60g
Protein shake
Morning snack:
(Juiced)
2 cups of kale
2 cups of spinach
1 banana
40g of blueberrys
50g of black seedless grapes
80g of plum tomatoes
1 rice cake
Lunch:
1 can of tuna
40g Steamed broccoli
40g steamed cauliflower
30g carrots
With siracha hot sauce
Afternoon snack :
3 bbq chicken legs
1 rice cake
Lunch:
Kilm roast salmon fillet
1 cup of lettuce
1 cup of kale
1 cup of spinach
100g plum tomatoes
1/2 yellow pepper
1 cup of white mushrooms
1/4 cucumber
Less than 1600 kcal
Macros in attachment
I'm 156lbs and 5'7"
with what LaMa said. You look great Vee! Def. more definition.- Status