Good for you man, glad to see you hopping on the get-healthy train!



I have hit a bit of a plateau as far as weight loss goes. I stopped dropping weight once I hit 170lbs (was hoping to get down to 165 and fluxuate around there). However, my muscle mass is building at an okay rate, so my body is obviously converting the fat to muscle.

However, the inches do continue to fall off. I am now wearing clothes that I haven't worn since college (thank god I'm a pack rat and don't throw anything away ). These are clothes I never thought I'd wear again, and now they're baggy.

I am still hoping to dip into the 16# range at this Friday's weigh in, but am in the mindset that if I don't see those numbers, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

The main focus now is building and toning my midsection, as that is proving to be the hardest part to get "right."

In a couple weeks I may actually switch to a muscle building supplement and ditch the fat loss supplement, we'll see, lots of research to do there..

 

Digging this old thread back up.

I was going strong for a month, then got sick, then quit my old job and was LAZY, then was sick again while starting a new job (desk job). And almost 4 months later, I'm just now getting back on track. I'm worse off than I was. (I hit 290 on the scale. Couldn't believe it.)

So, I'm getting back on track. Multivitamins every day, no sodas, water like crazy (in tea form). Sick of being heavy, sick of only having 3 pairs of jeans that fit anymore.

So, ITT: Ways to lose fat effectively.

I'm gonna do cardio on the treadmill and elliptical. That's a given. Intervals and hard intervals. Once I get in better shape, I'll hit the streets and jog. But I want to work on upper body strength since I have none. Protips? I can barely do one pushup right now.

 

If you dont have a lot of time to devote, you might wanna read up on isometrics. I find them to be pretty effective for pecs, lats, shoulders, and legs. and very easy. Most of the time I dont wanna drag out my weights and bench, so I just do some isometrics in a door frame (obviously make sure its a sturdy one)

For pecs, stand in the doorway with a foot on either side about arms length from the side frame. fully extend your arms and try to crush the door frame together as hard as you can until your muscles wont allow you to anymore, it shouldnt be more than a couple minutes. If you do this at a downward angle you will work your lower pecs, straight for central, and upward for upper pecs. These excercises help a bit more with inner pectoral definition compared to standard bench presses, so you will get more defined separation

For shoulders, same concept, but stand with legs straight and spread shoulder length and push upwards on the door frame.

For legs, extend arms fully to upper doorframe, but this time your legs should be bent, use the legs alone to push upward.

for lats, stand outside the doorframe facing away, with your arms spread out behind you like wings while gripping the door frame. Try to push each side of the frame farther apart from one another. same concept as pecs, upper:upwards, lower:downwards etc...
If you turn around and reverse this, you will be working your outer pecks to get more wide flaring at the sides.

For biceps, you can just do pull ups on the doorframe, or if you cant do many just do a partial one and hold it half way until you cant.

If you do this 5 or 6 times a week, it will probably only take like 10-15 min per day and you will be surprised at how effective it is compared to training with weights which takes more time and money.

 

Bringing this back again, lol.

I've been doing a lot better on the diet part (except for the guinness.) But my weight has been holding steady in the mid to high 280s. I'm still taking a daily multivitamin and still eating more fruits and veggies while staying away from sodas. I've found that I can't really stand cokes anymore. They're too sweet, too sugary.

I want to do P90x, but I know I'm in no shape to even attempt it. I can't even do a single pullup. That's why I started a program called Couch to 5K. It is a plan of interval training, broken up into 9 weeks. You have the ability to tailor the plan to your needs. I, for example, am on week 4 but have had to repeat week 2 and am just starting week 3. I don't know if I can handle a hard run (or jog) for 3 minutes straight but I'm going to find out today.

I need to build lean muscle first, while burning a few calories along the way. I need to get my stamina up so I can last through tougher workouts. I do my intervals on a treadmill, but I sometimes go outside and run around on the river trails here in Little Rock. (There are over 200 miles of them.) I have found that it's harder to do them outside in the world, versus on a treadmill. I guess the difference is really in your mind though.

If you need a plan that's laid out for you week by week, check out Couch to 5k. It's stupid easy, and it only takes 30 minutes a day. There's an android app (C25K) out there that will help you keep track of your intervals. It chimes when you need to switch from walking to running, and it keeps track of what day and week you're on. There's probably an iphone version.

I also found an app called My Fitness Pal (both droid and iphone) that helps you track calories. You can scan bar codes from within the program to quickly bring up nutrition information. It helps you set a weight loss goal and stick to it by counting calories.

 

Well Ill start into mine. My mom pushed me my whole life to lose weight, I played sports like Soccer and Football, but just always ate too much to lose weight. I was a fattie when I was born and just progressed until about 3 months ago when I weighed myself and said enough is enough!:

5'11 270lbs.

270 is just ****ed up to my standards and couldn't believe I let myself go that bad not to mention Im only 20 yrs. old and was 19 at the time I weighed in. Too ****ing young. ya my metabolism is like 2 snails ****ing, but no excuse for the amount I ate. The doc said I had to have been averaging 5000 calories A DAY and was a great risk of diabetes in my 20's.

Well Since I have a free gym at my college I got at it. I begin by counting calories on my iphone, my goal is to lose 2 pounds a week and to do so I can eat 2,500 calories, but not is at 2000 since I did lose weight (ill get to that at the end.) And I kept to my tracker and not a day has gone by in 3 months where I went over. Second I go to the gym 4 days a week and burn 500+ calories a day there doing ALL cardio. I run on the track for 15 minutes and try to do 30 minutes on the treadmill, Bike, or Elliptical.

Still have till may 7th till Im done with school and will have to buy a gym membership and my goal weight is 200 maybe 180 and Im doing pretty damn good so far.

From 3 months ago being 270 I am now about 239ish sometimes up to 240 tops. 30 pounds down and 40 to go I hope I can get to around 210ish by the end of school and just run once a day at home, but it's def. paying off!

 

Guess it's time to dust this thread off and bring it back from the dead.

Last year, I was doing the whole cardio and elliptical thing. But I got shin splints soooo bad... And then my 'give a ****' broke and I just did whatever, ate whatever, sat in front of the computer, played a lot of xbox, ate lots of fast food, etc. Depression kicked in, ADD didn't really help, and things were generally crappy.

TL;DR - Well Fed Hobo lived up to his name.

In December, I stepped on the scale and found that I had gained everything back, plus more. I weighed 298 lbs. and was holding steady at that weight. That led to one of those 'oh HELL NO' moments. I went online and bought P90. (Just Power 90, since I know P90x would kill me.) I started January 14 and have only missed 2 days in the last month (for good reasons, at least).

January 14 - 298 lbs.
February 12 - 279 lbs.

I'm still 5'11 and 279 lbs. That's not good. But it's an improvement over where I was. My diet is great. I enjoy fruit and veggies, and I can't really stand sodas anymore. Water is perfectly fine. Overall, I've got more energy and feel better.

There have been downsides. My knees will likely never forgive me. But I've gained some muscle mass like I've never had before. My shoulders are actually toned now. I have biceps and triceps that almost push through my flabby arms. I have some 6 pack abs that are starting to show. My calves are bigger now than they were when I was doing college marching band.

But it's not enough. I'm still fat. And I still wanna lose about 60 more lbs of fat. It's hard to see the progress on the scale because muscle weighs more than fat. But I know there's progress. It's subtle but its there. And for once, I feel like I can stick with a plan and see it through to the end, and maybe beyond. I got on an antidepressant and got some meds for my ADD. I can focus more on getting my **** together and actually doing something about my life instead of complaining about it.

I think I'll finish P90, then do an extra month of it. Then I'll "graduate" to P90x and keep the results coming.

 

No one else doing some self improvement?

I hit 269.4 on the scale today. Had to recalibrate and weigh myself on other surfaces to confirm because I didn't believe it. I haven't weighed anything close to that since high school.

 

I wish I could contribute, but I eat like crap and never work out and can't get over 155-160. I am like a hair shorter than 6'.

I DID do some sit ups and push ups for fun last week, or maybe two weeks ago. Oh and I have been forcing myself to drink water more often since I never do.

 

I'm 6'2" and just weighed in at 314. I eat healthy at home (my girlfriend of two years is vegan and loves to cook) but when I am at work, I eat awful disgusting crap. Bagels, chicken strips, you name it. I've lost weight over the past couple years, being with my girlfriend. But I need to take it a step further and shed some of this weight. I'm 25, and if I dont do something soon, I'll end up like my dad with diabetes.... or worse.

I can't get myself motivated to run or exercise. I've always been heavy, even when I was younger. I started doing karate when I was in elementary school and stopped when I went to college because I knew I wouldn't have time. I've never been skinny, even though I received my black belt in high school.

I love to go on walks - I love nature. But running is not my thing. I just can't do it.

I desperately need to start lifting weights again. I've got no upper body strength anymore.

I don't drink soda. Can't stand the stuff anymore since I stopped drinking it a few months back. I drink tea, water and a little bit of coffee here and there. I eat fast food probably once a week and, like I said, I eat terribly at work (work at a grocery store).

Obviously, I need to stop with the fast food and start eating salads at work. But, 100 lbs is a LOT of weight to lose... so...what do you guys suggest?

PS - I'm glad I found this thread. Perhaps it will help keep me motivated in eating healthier. You guys can't even being to imagine how horribly I ate while I was in college (fast food/beer/shots/repeat)

edit - I thought I should mention that my goal weight is 320/330. Thats about 100lbs that I need to shed. My problem is, I want to live a healthier lifestyle, not just shed the weight fast... I want to keep it off, which means I have to completely change my whole lifestyle.

 

^Hopefully you mean 220/230. I have pretty much the same goal. I started doing P90 so I could work my way up to P90x. The results so far speak for themselves. 298 lbs to 269 lbs thus far. Diet is HUGE. You are what you eat. Feed your body some quality food and see how much better you feel.

Think of it like building a house. You eat fast food crap and it's like using cheap materials. Sure, it'll work and you end up with a house. But it won't last as long as quality materials would have. And it won't be as strong. Same with the body.

It takes around 7 years to replace all of the cells in your body. Cells don't live forever and eventually die and are replaced. Right now, your cells are all built out of poor quality materials. Start feeding yourself good food, high quality proteins, etc. Start building up some lean muscle with good nutrition. You won't turn your life around instantly because it took you 20 years to get here. But look at me for example. January 14, I was 298. March 19, I am 270. I lost a LOT of fat purely by changing my diet. I worked out 6 days a week, alternating between cardio and strength. I have had to stop working out for 3 weeks now due to minor surgeries on my foot and hand, but I kept eating right and I'm still losing weight. I haven't completely stopped being active. For the past few weeks I've been helping renovate our new office for work. That's some pretty hardcore stuff, all things considered.

The crazy part is that I've been bulking up by eating a lot of extra protein and I'm STILL losing weight. Muscle is heavier than fat so I've really lost a lot of fat already, but replaced some of it with muscle. That's the cool part about doing both cardio and strength training. Build up muscle so your body uses more fuel (fat). Don't eat before working out so your body has to use stored energy instead of whats in your stomach. Don't eat 3 hours before going to bed so your body will spend 8 hours using stored energy.