At 31, I'm dropping from 265 to 175. Tips?

This journey began in earnest around April 1 - I'd developed some bad oneitis with a girl and decided to finally better my physique.

I was big in high school, and after getting down to the 190s in my first year of school, I've gotten steadily heavy since 2011. Doctors yelling at me and concerned friends & family did nothing...but this chick launched me back in the gym.

I pretty badly want to achieve this, but am trying to pace myself. At the moment, I am 252. I'm shocked I dropped so much weight initially.

So far, I've just been eating far less, and going to the gym three days a week. I'll throw in weights once I reach 230, my 2012 weight.

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The best tip anyone can give you is this: it's about the duration of motivation, not the degree of motivation.

All you have to do is keep doing this, and the only moments that matter are the moments where you don't want to do it but you still do.

best of luck

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What's your height? I recommend intermittent fasting in between workout days. Lots of walking.

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Time restricted eating or intermittent fasting will 100% help you achieve your goals

(01-03-2018 10:41 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  I believe this is a bit different then intermittent fasting as its a longer eating window...

I'm a big fan of Dr. Rhonda Patrick



She says mice gained more lean muscle mass eating in a ten hour window and they didn't even go to the gym!!

I started eating during a 10 hour window after listening to this podcast. I actually only eat meals in a 7 hour window. I don't eat anything after 7pm or anything before 9am. However at 9am I only have some bullet proof coffee and a banana, I don't eat my first meal of the day until 12. Then I usually have turkey sausage and eggs, sometime around 2-3 I will have a sandwich and then around 6 I have a decent dinner.

I've only been doing this for 3 weeks and I have seen some solid loss of fat stored in my belly area. I haven't been hitting the gym like I should do to a injury so I don't know how amazing the gains will be. I think the combination of the time restricted eating and gym could produce some impressive lean muscle miracles.

But don't take my word for it, check out the testimonials from my rep points(typed in my cheesiest infomercial voice)
"Even though we have bumped heads in the past. I have to give him props on introducing the forum to intermittent fasting. I have lost over 30lbs due to following the program."

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Consistency is key. Weigh yourself every day, track it weekly on a graph, take progress pictures every month, know that this is a journey of miles - you’re going to plateau, you’re going to backslide, in a month, a year, when a girl breaks your heart, when your dog dies, it happens. Having that record will show you just how easy it is to turn it around, to turn it on again.

Buy new clothes every 30 pounds. Slacks and a couple shirts, not a new wardrobe. Personally, I tried to hold out until I’ld lost all the weight I wanted to. It bit me in the ass - I lost out on a lot of positive reinforcement (swimming in clothes two sizes two large leaves you looking like shit) and I fell off the wagon, hard, a couple times. Now when that waistband starts getting a little snug I get the signal to start on it.

Also, start lifting as soon as you can - just to get yourself used to the movements, the routine of it, build up that momentum so when you’re ready to bulk you can turn it right around.

Good luck Brother - we’ll probably never meet, but I’m hoping you get it.

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If you really want to push your weight loss, you could go to the gym every day by simply walking on an incline on the less intense days. Something low intensity like walking on an incline for 30-60 minutes wont wear out your muscles and is easy on your joints, unlike jogging.

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I'd suggest doing keto, your first few months will have the fastest progress. You should probably be able to drop 10lbs of fat per month on average at your weight.

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Set a strict calorie limit, and walk an hour a day - 1-3 kilos a week will fall off.

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All good tips so far. Intermittent fasting has worked for me.

In addition, a few of tips that have also worked for me;

Fitbit or equivalent: tracks calories, exercise, heartrate and steps. It's a fad for some, but if you like looking at graphs and stats and stuff it can keep you motivated that way. I've had mine years and it works for me.

If feasible (distance-wise) start biking to work. The weight will drop off just from your daily commute. I only ever get decent visible abs when I'm doing a lot of cycling.

Install a punchbag in your garage/spare-room. Hitting the bag is hard work but fun and you can get a few rounds in every day.

Lift weights too, obviously.

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Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. Consistency.

It can't be said enough. These things are a marathon not a sprint. The biggest tip is to find things that help you stay consistent. You a nerd who likes to play video games and build up character stats? Track your meals and calories and treat it like a game. You a goal oriented person who lives off of seeing results? Continually set mini-goals for yourself. "Lose 15 lbs. this month" "Fit into a size 36 par of jeans by august" etc.

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That's an aggressive albeit attainable goal. Running and diet are the actions with the biggest returns in my opinion. Diet will likely be the toughest part in all this. Cutting back on beer, sugar, and empty carbs would be my recommendations to start. Keto basically.

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Regarding time-restricted eating, I'll only pass on what my doctor (who believes fasting is worthwhile) told me - don't do it every day. Mix things up. Otherwise your body adjusts/compensates and then your metabolism decreases.

I found after some initial weight loss that I actually started gaining weight using that protocol.

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(04-12-2019 02:54 AM)stugatz Wrote:  This journey began in earnest around April 1 - I'd developed some bad oneitis with a girl and decided to finally better my physique.

I was big in high school, and after getting down to the 190s in my first year of school, I've gotten steadily heavy since 2011. Doctors yelling at me and concerned friends & family did nothing...but this chick launched me back in the gym.

I pretty badly want to achieve this, but am trying to pace myself. At the moment, I am 252. I'm shocked I dropped so much weight initially.

So far, I've just been eating far less, and going to the gym three days a week. I'll throw in weights once I reach 230, my 2012 weight.

First of all, don't wait with the gym. Start lifting right now. Focus on ALL the compound movements EXCEPT SQUATS (you are too fat for them - start doing them when you lose some fat). Those aforementioned excersises burn A LOT of calories - much, much more than running. If your diet is good (more about that later), and if you don't catch a disease called Fuckarounditis (like 70% of the folk in the gym), you'll lose weight like mad - guaranteed. Once you are finished with the compounds (I suggest 5x5 program of some sort), do some low intensity cardio. 20-30 minutes will do.


Second thing is food. Replace all sweets with fruit. If you body is carving chocolate (mine does), use chocolate milk or chocolate protein drink instead. Limit alcohol (beer especially, full of estrogen) and bread. Eat whole food - less pizza, more meat and fish.



And finally...feast! In my case, I alternate days. I do it like this:


Right now, it's Monday, and I always lift on Monday. That means that I can eat until 9PM. After that time, I feast 19 hours - I do not eat anything until 5PM next day (Tuesday). I am only allowed to drink water, and coffee.

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1. Drink nothing but water for fluids. No alcohol, soda, or juices. It's all bullshit empty calories. Drink mineral water if you need something with a bit more taste.

2. Eat larger meals in the morning and smaller meals at night. Gives you more time to burn off excess calories.

3. Try to sweat everyday. Jump rope and sprints uphill on grass are good ways to get some quick effective cardio in.

4. Walk everywhere when possible. Take stairs vs elevators.

5. If you don't do a lot physically, don't eat a lot. Eat what you need to function. The portion sizes you THINK you need, even for healthy food, are usually not correct. What looks like a kids meal is often times all you need to function. If you are trying to build a lot of muscle, that's a different ball game.

6. Stick to veggies, fruits, skinless chicken breast, and the odd seafood like the occasional salmon. It's pretty much impossible to get fat if you strictly stick to the aforementioned.

7. If you do any sort of intense exercise, take it easy the first few weeks. You are the most prone to injuries like stress fractures the first few weeks.

It's not rocket science. Don't eat shit and move around everyday. If you can't lose weight doing the above, something is seriously wrong.

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Just going to lay out what I'm doing so far, this will be a lengthy post. Feel free to carp all you want, as at this point nothing is going to stop me from reaching this goal...I want every last bit of help I can get.

I am now 249 - the pounds are still melting off and some people who haven't seen me in a while are all commenting on it. I've never felt so driven by something in my entire life. (It's becoming an obsession. I have hanging on my wall now a picture of me partying in 2010 at about 190 - I looked GREAT and had no idea, and if this is when my diet was terrible...the sky's the limit. Underneath it, in Roman numerals, is the exact mid-March date I decided to finally do this.)

For food, I am not really watching what I eat *that* much, I'm just eating far less of what I'm eating. (I'll allow myself maybe one bad meal a week if I'm eating out, and I do put light unsugared cream in my coffee. I don't drink soda all that often other than club soda - but I drink diet sodas often enough where it's something I want to stop. I hardly ever drink anyway, and I've so far replaced beer with gin seltzers. When I hit the 230 milestone and start lifting, I want to begin keeping a food diary and getting very serious about what's in it. At some point the honeymoon period will be over, and there will be far less excess fat to burn.)

On days I'm not fasting, I'll usually have a breakfast that's a bowl of steel cut oats/buckwheat/cracked wheat & flax seeds, a serving of yogurt and hard boiled eggs. I'll for lunch have a few snacks spread out - usually tuna, almonds/walnuts/pecans, and whole wheat crackers. Dinner is some pot roast & vegetables reheated in the oven with spices - sometimes it's a serving out of a large batch of casserole or chili I made. If I'm desperate, something out of a can - trying to avoid frozen pizza and takeout like the plague.

On days I'm fasting (maybe three days a week), I'll just eat the top two meals and skip dinner.

For the gym, I'm still not touching weights quite yet - I don't know why 230 is becoming my magic number, but I want to reach that before I start lifting weights and (presumably) confusing myself by gaining muscle and not knowing what to see when I step on the scale.

I am going three days a week for now. Two days of aggressive swimming (laps followed by treading water for 15 minutes, or sometimes I just hop in the pool and tread water for thirty minutes straight). The third day is usually about 15-20 aggressive minutes on a rowing machine, as I hate running/jogging and am too fat right now to get comfortable in a cycling class that's mostly attractive women. (That will probably be what I do in the fall to mix it up.)

I am ordering a push-up bar off of Amazon, as I want to at least do some light body-weight strength training before I hit 230. This will be a comfortable way to give my fat ass no excuses to skimp on form.

That's it for now. I'll probably be at 230 in early to mid-May at this rate, and then I'll see what the summer brings. What suggestions would everyone have so I can maximize my results?

EDIT: Just need to add this - this is turning into the greatest month of my entire life. I'm in a constant good mood and women are noticing. When I achieve this I'll feel like I can literally do ANYTHING if I just work hard enough and have a consistent dedication to it.

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My 2c: don't wait with the gym. Start going to the gym 3x a week, start making this a lifetime-habit asap.

Mainly focus on the compound movements: squat, deadlift, bench press etc. The first months you should do them with low weights, practice on learning good form. Try to find someone to give you advice on form. Find a trainer, training buddy, or ask some guys who know what they're doing to advice you. Maybe do some HIIT (on the bike, low joint impact) afterwards. Start very light, gradually build up the intensity.
The other days you should try to walk 30-60 minutes (mainly for overall health, obesity is a killer).

Document your progress (weight, pictures), and try to build good habits (healthy eating/cooking, time-restricted eating, working out) that you can sustain afterwards.

Good luck.

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(04-14-2019 05:08 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  I'd suggest doing keto, your first few months will have the fastest progress. You should probably be able to drop 10lbs of fat per month on average at your weight.

I second Keto with intermittent fasting. Water or coffee (whatever bullet proof variety you prefer, I like coconut oil) only before noon. A couple eggs with a fiber/protein shake at lunch and a full keto supper around 6/7 pm. As much as you can eat. You will be surprised how little it takes to make you feel full. Rinse and repeat. Try lots of herbs and spices at supper, it helps. I eat a ton of Mexican, Italian or SEA flavors, just no carbs. You will lose 10 ish lbs a month.

If you stall out, do a 2-3 day broth and egg fast to reboot the weight loss. it works.

If you drink, switch to Tequila or Vodka with lime juice and carbonated water.

Good luck, but most importantly stay disciplined with your diet, it's surprising how much friends and family will try to make you eat carbs. Maybe not maliciously but they still do it. Stay resolved.

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I agree with the recommendations for hitting the gym, but alongside that, mobility and flexibility is an area that most likely also needs attention.

A lot of guys try to go hard on lifts and then get injured since they're not preparing or maintaining their bodies properly.

To help, I would suggest reviewing the squat, shoulder, etc. routines in this data sheet:

/thread-38372.html

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Truly the fastest way to burn a lot of calories is the 90 minute hot yoga bikram sequence

Also stop eating sugar, sodas, processed foods.

Sure you could starve yourself every day but much healthier to burn calories. If you starve down you will just balloon back up later.

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Since you gonna be losing a lot of weight I highly suggest you to take it slowly in order to avoid unnecessary wrinkles and/or loose skin.

You are probably eager to lose weight in shortest period of time, but in your case it's definitely better to take it slow, which means around 2lbs per month.

If I was you I would definitely include lots of collagen in my diet (chicken feet soup and beef bone broth) which helps skin elasticity.

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Follow this thread exactly. Do not cheat.

/thread-49176.html

I am mid 30s and I am on month 4. Dropped 15 pounds of fat. Muscle is getting leaner. I look more cut. Everyone is telling me that I look great. My waste line dropped 4 inches and my back has gotten bigger thus making me look more v shaped. Sort of sucks because my thighs are getting bigger so my jeans are tight on my thighs and loose on my waste.

FWIW. I quit drinking on top of the diet.

My routine has been the same for 3 years. I am doing cardio 3 days a week (running 20 miles a week) and lifting heavy 3 days. Like the thread says- track protein, carbs, and fat with a scale. Use the MyFitnessPal app to track your macros. Eat anything within your daily macros. I eat mostly trimmed chicken breast, fish, and steak to fill my protein macros. Homemade beef jerky really helps fill protein macros. I hit the wall and the diet changed my life and appearance. I highly recommend. My body looks like it did in my early 20s and I have more energy and stamina.

Tip- If you travel, use holidays and travel days as fasting days as you will quickly blow your carbs and fats when on the road. Being on this diet will make you see how much shit is out there and how many hidden fats and carbs exist.


Good luck and enjoy. The cut is tiring.

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Be sure to get some instruction once you begin lifting.

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