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[ninetyfivem38]

Ok...so I am aware some people read everything that gets posted, others just keywords they can relate to.

I am new to the site; however, not new to lifting, etc... But after plateauing on some lifts and trying out different dietary options, my wanderings have led me to nerd fitness.

What a great place--most people are of the same attitude with generally similar goals in mind. I love it here. Anyway way... my journey:

Skinny Fat. And looking to lose it. After researching (and calorie counting) for most of the summer, I settled on the Four Hour Body starting end of August. Around Thanksgiving, I was very impressed with my results, especially since I wasn't 100% committed to the changes. I also, really, really missed milk, which consequently led me to consuming around 8 gallons of it last week or so of November.

Since, I've been somewhere in between a Paleo/primal and the 4HB. On the one hand, giving up legumes has been great, on the other, i struggle to meet my fiber needs. My veggies are still pretty consistent with 4HB. I don't eat spinach and broccoli by the bucket, so hopefully, you get what I mean.

Also, I've been lifting for roughly 2 yrs. In the end of November, I committed to Mehdi's stronglifts program and have started low for just about everything (mainly because i'd never worked legs before and wanted to start with squats, dls etc...

Things are going slow, and I'm really worried that I'm going to lose strength on my bench. At the same time, don't want to discredit a program that appears to be very well-respected and successful.

And like Steve's site reads, I was strong enough to bench a 1 RM of 235 but didn't feel like I could apply that to an every day situation. And I care A LOT more about being strong than looking strong. So, having said that, my weight dropped from about 176 in August to 156 in November. Here are some pics of the progress. I still want more fat % loss and more love handles gone. I've been incorporating planks and leg swings for the past 3 wks. It's hard to stick to just the stronglifts program as for 2 yrs I've been doing 2 hours of isolation exercises. I've added a lot of pull ups and the occasional set of curls to satisfy my insecurities.

August: Weight: 176; Body Fat~27% Waist: 38 by tape

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1210[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1212[/ATTACH]

End of September: Weight: 162; Waist: 35 by tape

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1213[/ATTACH]

End of November: Weight: 155; Waist: 33.5 by tape

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1211[/ATTACH]

Since Thanksgiving, I've been in dietary limbo in between 4HB and primal. Those 8 gallons of milk prob had something to do with my waist returning to 35 by measuring tape, as did eating out and going a little crazy some days on cheat foods. BUT, what it all made me realize is how much I missed the 4HB, yet wanted something more for my daily consumption. Intro: nerd fitness. I took out my nutiva coconut oil, got some ghee and began adding baby spinach and kale to my morning whey shakes. This has been good for about 2 wks. I have small sugar cravings but the whole food cravings def out weigh the bad food consumption mostly thanks to the voracious appetite after any squat workout, that I never had before after a 2 hour isolation stint at the gym. Plus, the speed in my running has increased. And I like that

Any tips, suggestions on the love handles? Do I just need to give the paleo more time? I'm holding at 158 right now; a little leary to go full primal. My cholesterol is down for the first time ever in my life (35) and all the sat fat has got me a little spooked. I want to believe so badly.... lol Let me know.

Thanks for reading and thanks for being of like-mind. The support is more than anyone can imagine....

95M38

[ETFnerd]

I think we have similar stats except that I'm 5'9". How tall are you? Currently I am at 158#s (from 255#s at the beginning of the year) and a 30" waist from 40". I'm working my abs but they don't pop out as prominently as yours, so it looks like you've done some work strengthwening your core. I eat a pretty clean diet (not paleo) with ~40g fat and 200g+ protein per day. I do a lot of cardio so I lean out and have dropped from ~27% bf to ~14% according to my imperfect measurements. I used to lift a lot on a bodybuilding protocol, but stopped whenever back issues flared up, usually 8-10 months in when my core was not keeping up with leg and upper body development. For me the diet, cardio and strength conditioning, in that order seem to be taking me in the right direction.

Welcome to the nerd village and I look fwd to reading what works for you.

[ninetyfivem38]

Thanks! I am 5'11; have never been "over-weight". Would consider myself a hard gainer except I have always had this abundance of skinny fat that I've finally decided to do something about. It's sad that what motivated me to get fit and work out was I became fearful in my job that I might not be able to defend myself against one of my students should that unfortunate occurrence ever take place! I don't work in a prison yard, but having an officer on campus is reason enough to think its possible... lol

Anyway, I started working out, mostly off of a pyramid and plateaued at BP 215 4x and incline BP 185 4x. My dumbell lifts on flat bench were 90lbs each hand 6x so I thought my barbell BP should have been higher, but it wasn't. Regardless, I put on about 20lbs of monster milk and processed whatever, certainly not following any sort of dietary guidelines during this time of epic consumption. Additionally, (gasp--people won't believe this when they read it) I don't really like to eat. So, while on 4HB, I seldom got 2000 calories in. The 1750 goal I set for myself was under what it should have been but still a stretch on most days. Squats have very nearly solved this problem for me.

I run about 2x a wk and that's all the cardio I do. 3 miles on tuesday and 4-5 on saturday or sunday. Not sure where my body fat is now...I do know that the only place still holding considerable extra skin is in love handle land. :/ So, we will see...

Thanks for reading!

[ebm1224]

welcome to the community! you can really see the difference in the last picture. don't you just love it how your body holds weight in certain spots? for what it's worth (a female perspective) i don't even notice the love handles being a problem.