antimike

Hey guys, I'm just updating letting everyone know that I didn't join the Rebellion and then drop off of the face of the earth. I've been doing the 4 workouts a week for Rank 1. I've been battling some injuries but keeping at it. I heard a pop while getting up off the floor when doing Turkish getups and then another pop about a week later when I was getting up off the floor near my thumb. Both are getting better, but definitely still have some soreness. I'll post some numbers when I have them easily available. I also altered the finishers with something more in line with what I want to gain a better grasp of...running...generally for a mile or two. I've increased my weight as I've gone along and am definitely looking forward to getting a change of pace with Rank 2. This 4 workouts a week with my mountain and road riding has been getting a little hectic. I hope everyone is sticking to their lifts and eating. One note on eating Paleo, I've been doing fairly well with this but I don't deny myself something non-Paleo if I really want it. I tend to eat 85-90% Paleo but sacrifice at certain times just to satisfy the wife if we're out and there aren't really great options.

Cody, Glad to have you around. Just posting is a great first step and realizing that you want to change you. I hope that you have much success! The thing about exercising in public will possibly fade with time, but until it does the great thing about a lot of the workouts is that you can do them in the comfort of your own home/garage or whatever with the addition of some dumbbells or a weight set. If you have specific goals in mind it helps with progress. Don't get discouraged because not only is every week is a new week, but every day, hour, minute, second is new and a chance for you to become more awesome!

Are sweet potatoes paleo? I'm just curious because I've been doing some reading and some say yes and some say no. By no means am I EXTREME paleo man, but I was just curious. I'm sure if it isn't that is okay as well. Just curious and not trying to cause any ruckus.

I went to use the code, and it was a no go .

The only things that I've heard that actually do any good are time or excess skin removal surgery. The natural elasticity of your skin does have some bounce back, but it can be said that depending on how long you were larger the skin may not be able to shrink back up that much. I hear it can take years. I'm just going to wait it out to see what nature has planned for me as far as shrinking goes. Best of luck!

I'm in Huachuca City, AZ down in deep south eastern AZ. It is about 1-1.5 hours south of Tucson pushing up on the Mexican border almost . I'd be down for meeting up with some folks at some point in the future. What would we do is the real question?

The particular person that I called a pancake ass is an older - in her 40s - woman that is in pretty decent shape. She is always talking about how these pants don't fit and those pants don't fit after a weekend/week of bad eating and drinking and she now has a need to wear her stretchy pants. I feel like she probably could have the body that she wanted if just focused on her goals. She talks about she used to be this way and used to be that way but she just can't get it how it used to be. I'm a 98% positive that if she put in the work she would have anything that she wanted and more. She also said that it isn't her preference to have a man as thin as me...but then she added "I don't have to share a bed with you so..." my sentiments exactly. My wife likes the way that I look more now than before when I was a huge beast and she is working on her body as well!

Honestly calorie counting worked for me and weight loss. I used MFP for months and dropped a good amount of weight and prior to that I was using livestrong.com's app for iPhone. My goals and focus have changed, but I still enter in my food but don't pay so much attention to the calories as opposed to the what I am eating, protein count, carbs, sugars..etc. Paleo has put me off of processed stuff which is laden with sodium. Dropping all that weight counting calories and exercising actually allowed me to get off of my high blood pressure meds for the first time in 4-5 years.

Okay so this has been something that I've had happen to me multiple times recently and within the last year regarding my weight loss. "Oh you're too skinny" "You look emaciated" - I responded with "you have a pancake ass" which wasn't nice but it shut the lady up "Are you sick"...etc and the list goes on. No one ever told me that I was too fat when I was 290, no one ever said that I looked overfed, nor did anyone say I looked healthy when I was pushing 290lbs. As of this morning, I weighed 191.2 lbs. I've been working on building my strength and eating as close to Paleo as I can allow myself (A1 sauce for my eggs, and protein drinks post workout are my only vices thus far) Yesterday I had a great workout and felt really strong in comparison to two workouts ago. I'm doing dumbbell division currently. I was able to do more pull ups and push ups than I could in workout A and this was only workout C of the first week. I feel like I'm making strides. I'm awaiting my body fat caliper as well as the one handed tape measure thing that I ordered off of Amazon to start with additional measurements and calcuations to see where I'm making muscle gains and body fat % losses. For the record, at my heaviest ever I was 340+ and I am 6'0". I feel like I'm doing just fine!

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I will have to check out that 30 day Paleo challenge. I actually was going to start on the 7th which coincides with my pay date! Gotta have some cash to get my foods! Right now, for me, is an intro to Paleo to see what I do and don't like and what is feasible for me to keep up. I want to be successful! My avatar...oh where to start. Basically I am a fun loving guy who likes to be silly. Most of the pictures that I take never have a straight face. I believe some of the only pics that I have when I have a "normal" face are my wedding photos or random no expression photos!

Hey everyone, My name is Mike, I'm 27 and I've been working for the past 10 months on decreasing my weight and attempting to increase my strength. I like hiking, biking (road and mountain), running (kinda) and strength training. Since February, I have been watching what I eat (counting calories) fairly religiously and had good success with dropping weight. To date, I have dropped 95 lbs this way. Within the last few months I have gone from a more cardio based exercise regiment to a strength training one. I have seen some fairly impressive gains, for me, in the size and definition of my musculature. Most of the muscle gains have been through trial and error and I am looking for a more structured approach. I, today, actually purchased the Rebel Strength Guide and am looking for advice from people who have delved into it as well as people who are starting their journey. I also plan on going Paleo. I eat pretty clean as is, for me, but cutting out the non fruit/veggie carbs is something that I struggle the most with. Hope to learn some things, gain some muscle, and drop this body fat %. As an FYI, going from 290 to sub 200 in 10 months left me with some extra skin in areas that isn't sexy but I'd rather put up with that than to be hopped up on prescription drugs for one ailment or another. I am definitely healthier now than I was and I plan on continuing my journey. Best of luck to everyone!