"It'll be an adventure, we're going on an adventure Charlie!"

[flashpan1020]

Greetings, NF!  I've been a lurker for the past month or so, and your stories, along with those at r/fitness and r/loseit, have inspired me to join and introduce myself.  First off, here's my obligatory progress album: http://imgur.com/a/MNLWI#0

 

I have been lifting off and on for the past 3 years, ever since I started and completed P90X in 2011.  I was very fit, active and strong in college.  However, a little over a year ago I graduated and moved to a new city away from my friends and support group and worked a shitty job, which unfortunately led to a period of depression and drinking too much, and then dealt with unemployment for almost 2 months, which didn't help either.  This led to general laziness and weight gain.

 

I just re-started my fitness journey a few weeks ago after an honest look at the scale and needing to take breaks during flag football revealed that I am just not in good shape.  I was up to 235 pounds at 6'0", almost 50 pounds from my most fit weight of 180.  So I bought a planner, started meticulously counting my calories to a significant deficit, cut down my alcohol and carbohydrate intake, and started working out 4-6 times a week.  I've already dropped 10 pounds so far, so something is working!

 

My goal is to lose 30 pounds by March 29, which is the date I'm getting married.  My fiancee has been incredibly supportive through my depression, unemployment and current state of "could be better" physical health.  We'll be going on a delayed honeymoon in July to somewhere sunny and gorgeous, so I am trying to get in great shape before then.  I know I can do it; I dropped similar weight in 3 months in 2011 with P90X after I broke up with my high school girlfriend, and now I have a little over 7 months.  The honeymoon is going to be something I want to remember for the rest of my life as a wonderful, joyous experience - not one where I was worried about love handles and posing for the camera just right.

 

My goals:

Cut down to 190lbs by March 29th, then bulk for 9 weeks, and cut for 4.

Fit into my old 34/32 jeans

Run a 4.60 40yd dash again

Join the 1000 lb club (currently at 885 lbs between the big 3 lifts)

Complete The Witcher 2 on Dark Mode

 

How I'll do it:

Weight lifting 5x/week: emphasis on high weight, moderate reps (8-12)

HIIT Training 3x/week: 2x gym, track, hills, biking, or rowing; 1x football, ultimate frisbee or other sport on Saturday.  Sunday is a rest day.

Count Calories: Consume between 1500-1800 kcal/day

Limit Alcohol: Beer is allowed only on weekends, and then only in moderation (1 of my favorite beers packs 255 kcal/12 oz!)

Home cooked food: Cook everything on Sunday to meet macros (45/30/25 Pro/Fat/Carb)

 

Happy to join the Rebellion!

[Wondertje]

First of all, congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding! Secondly, welcome here and best of luck with your journey

 

The only thing that worries me, about the things you wrote, is that you will be on quite a high calorie deficit, at least from what I understood. Generally speaking, the calorie needed for a man are somewhere between 2000 - 2500, whilst girls are slightly lower (not accounting training). Generally speaking, it's also not recommended to use a calorie deficit higher than 500 - maximum 1000 calories. So, seeing the fact that you're only planning on eating 1800 calories or less + adding that you plan on working out 8 times / week, I do worry that might be a too big of a deficit for it to work out. Granted, I'm by no means an expert on this and people are free to disagree if I'm way wrong on this point, it's just what I've been told.

 

Again, good luck

[Basement Cat]

Welcome Flashpan!

 

Good on you for wanting to improve your life! Good luck with your goals, and good weather for your upcoming wedding!

[flashpan1020]

Checking in after the wedding!

 

It has been a bit of a rocky journey; Wondertje was correct in that my calories were way too low to sustain. I made it to about mid-January before feeling lethargic and scatterbrained, and stalling on my weight loss and lifts. After that, I started ramping them up to a more sustainable 2K. Turns out this was a key turning point. I started adding more carbs back into my diet instead of downing protein shakes and immediately started feeling more energetic, and carrying that energy into my workouts.  Lifts started improving, I started getting faster, and the weight started coming down again. I am not where I wanted to be when I first set out in December, but I feel like I've lost weight in a more healthy manner, and I've made gains that I didn't think I would be able to make while cutting.

 

25 y/o M, 6'0"

Stats (Starting/Current)

Weight: 235/212

Bench: 195/235

Squat: 275/355

Deadlift: 275/385

 

My workout plan was pretty inconsistent; HIIT didn't happen with any frequency, and I suffered from some fuckarounditis in the gym. I started with SS, then got distracted for several weeks with a BB split with unsustainable volume given my caloric deficit and lost some strength gains. I got back on SS for the last month leading up to the wedding, and I plan on sticking with it until the end of my cut on June 1. It turned out beer was pretty easy to cut out; I went from drinking almost a 6-pack per day on drinking days and feeling terrible about it, to not beating myself up over the occasional 22oz bomber of something tasty when I felt like it.

 

One of the best feelings was getting comments from my now-wife and our family about how much better I'm looking, and being able to wear jeans I wore when I was 22. I've lost 23 pounds on this cut, and while it isn't very much over 4 months, I feel healthy.  I've stopped obsessively scale-gazing and instead I'm focusing on cooking good food, drinking less, improving my lifts, and doing cardio of a different sort

 

Here is a pic of where I am now.  I apologize for the different lighting, I understand that makes comparison a little different; I moved into a different apartment and this shot was actually taken at my work.

 

I will check in here again at the end of my cut!

[ARock10]

Congratulations on the wedding. I'm glad you're happy with the gains you made with your lifts and your speed while losing 23 lbs.  We'll be looking for your next progress post. 

[flashpan1020]

First off, here's a picture after this weekend; exhausted from two performances of Pirates of Penzance, and a little sun burned from fishing, but feeling pretty good! I clocked in at 203 pounds, mostly done with my cut. The reason I'm checking in again is because I recently hit a huge personal milestone; after failing the lift several times, I finally hit a 4-plate deadlift to push my powerlifting total over 1,000 pounds!

 

Lifts:

Bench - 245

Squat - 365

Deadlift - 405

 

Total: 1015 pounds

 

I'm also down another 9 pounds, having weighed in on Saturday at 203 - the lightest I've been since November 2012. A quick eye-test says I probably have another 8-10 pounds to go with this cut, which coincides nicely with my upcoming Costa Rica honeymoon in mid-July. My friends keep making remarks that I'm slimmer and looking better every time they see me, which feels good, man. I feel like the last 9 pounds have all come from my face and neck.

 

The thing that has had the biggest impact on my fitness so far has been cutting back on drinking. After my wife moved in, I had a few nights then and again when I had one or two too many, but those have been less and less frequent. I'll have a drink or two a night, but overall I feel much healthier, my mental acuity is sharper, and it frees up the calories to eat a little more; I've been a bottomless pit, and am still losing weight! My first advice to anyone trying to lose weight would be to make sure they're getting their vices under control; it's so much easier to make healthy diet and exercise choices when you're making wise, moderate lifestyle choices.

 

I will check in again after the Costa Rica vacation; I should be all tan and at the end of my cut! I'll be transitioning to 5/3/1 BBB while slowly eking up the calories with the main focus on strength, with hypertrophy secondary.

 

Also, fellow nerds, is anyone else super pumped for Dragon Age: Inquisition? I can't wait...