In reply to bagger05

bagger05 said:

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Whoa man that's some rapid progress! Congrats!

How much were you boozin before you got started on this thing lol?

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On a path to cirrhosis.

did dry Feb '23. Then was "good" and only drank Miller Lite and Mich Ultra for a while. By December '23 I was knocking down a pint of vodka from 6 to 10 p.m. and about 2-3 high gravity beers. Sometimes more, sometimes less but a pint was the usual. (I'd only buy a pint at a time to prevent more.)

according to myfitnesspal:
a pint of vodka is 1024 calories
a Hopsecutioner is 211 calories.

That's at least 1,500 calories a night. On the weekend it'd be more. Not really feeling great the next morning or day, so cardio was usually out of the picture or hungover cardio weak sauce. That's 300 calories not burned. Also, throw in the late night buzzed snacking on garbage chips, kid's pizza, or more food. That's at least 200 calories for a guestimate.

I figure it's a daily 2,000 calorie swing from December.

In reply to GeorgiAg Damn dude, glad you got it sorted out.

In reply to aggiegolfer03

aggiegolfer03 said:

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I weigh myself every day on an impedance scale, and some of the variations it can spit out are just laughable.

I ALWAYS lose day to day water weight as muscle mass and "gain" it as fat. I finished off some soup we had (chicken breasts, green beans, carrots, small round potatoes, broth and SALT) yesterday and did a back workout. Retaining water like crazy and was up like 4 lbs over yesterday even though I know I only ate like 2800-3000 cals (should be a slight deficit). Scale registered it as 3lbs of fat gained...

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I never even stayed on the scale long enough for it to tell me what my body fat was. Just had no faith. I went to a simple $15 scale from Amazon and it is MUCH more consistent than my fancy one ever was. I used to step on my fancy bluetooth scale with all the measurements and the weight would fluctuate up to a pound or so if I got on and off a few times.

The simple one shows the same weight over and over every time. Sometimes I try weighing myself a couple times in case I get a reading I don't like as much.

Quote:

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If you're strength training with attempted weight loss you are 100% guaranteed to get something positive out of any "true" variance. You're either gonna get stronger/more muscle faster or lose weight as body fat as you get stronger/retain muscle. Either one is acceptable progress.

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I will caveat this SLIGHTLY. You gotta be challenging yourself in the gym and you need to be eating enough protein. Lightest I ever got in recent years was when I went through my divorce and I stopped taking very good care of myself. I couldn't eat much and what I was managing to get down wasn't very good for me. I wasn't tracking but I bet I wasn't getting more than 50 g of protein a day.

I dropped a ton of weight really fast but I also got a lot weaker despite going to the gym and following a pretty good program. It was very frustrating.

In reply to bagger05

bagger05 said:

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Damn dude, glad you got it sorted out.

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Thanks. 4 lawyers I was relatively close to died from alcoholism or related or alcohol-exacerbated health problems (one suicide but I count that in there too), one last year and all within the last several years. All but the suicide was 5 to 10 years younger than me. My law school roommate just went sober for a year (and counting) and was encouraging me to do the same. I also have a good buddy ortho who had to go through rehab. Great stress reliever for about 4 hours, but then it makes everything much worse. I had a good run, but I need to hang it up unless I want to become a statistic.

And you can't get in shape when you are drinking 1,500 liquid calories a night.

In reply to bagger05 That suit looks really interesting and cheaper than I'd expected. I'm curious to find out what you think.

Today I learned one scoop of protein is much less than I thought it was. Today I added by weight and it was almost three scoops to get what the package says is two scoops.

In reply to bagger05 That's weird and a significant difference. I use a food scale religiously and always weigh my protein powder. One scoop / serving is 36 grams according to the label (for what I am currently using). It's generally pretty close in my experience.

In reply to jtraggie99 I think something about my scooping method leaves a lot of empty pockets.

In reply to CFTXAG10

CFTXAG10 said:

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I still have not implemented my lunch workouts but I have packed a bag and bought a master lock (I don't usually take enough to the gym to need a locker). The freeze combined with dad duty kept me home and occupied. I was able to fit in a couple of my Mind Pump workouts in my garage gym.

I can say that my eating choices have taken a complete 180 and I feel great. Getting lots of protein, eating fruits and vegetables, plenty of water, basically shocking the system post-holiday season.

Lets keep it up!

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Update: Went to the gym during my lunch time and it was fantastic. Not super crowded. Got in a solid bit of stretching, and a 30 minute lift. It actually forced me to be more focused and intentional instead of lollygagging and taking my time knowing I had to get back to the office.

After two weeks on the struggle bus (hormone fluctuations are no joke), two new hip thrust PRs today:

6 reps at 335# and 4 reps at 355#. Previous PR was either 4 or 6 reps at 325#.

Motto today: Just pick up the damn weight.

UPDATE:

Steps last week: 82,772 (11,825 avg)
Calories last week: 15,002 (2,143 avg)
Protein last week: 1,253 g (178 avg)
Lifting sessions last week: 4

7 day average weight: 222.91 (-1.49 lbs vs Jan 15)
Total weight lost (7 day average) since Jan 11: 5.03 lb
Total weight lost (raw number) since Jan 6: 5.2 lb

Big spike this morning. Sometimes that happens. Overall things are trending in the right direction. Aiming for 1% a week so this week was a little light. But all things considered I've done pretty well considering I was out of town for a few days last week. Behaved myself but it's hard to eat really healthy going out to eat all the time.

Overall I'm still on track. I'm trying to keep my average below the line.

In reply to bagger05 How's the suit? I've seen ads for this and am very curious.

In reply to Ryan the Temp Hell yeah!

In reply to Tonyperkis I still haven't used it yet. I took it with me on my business trip yesterday because I usually have some time to kill in the hotel. But that didn't turn out to be the case this time.

In reply to JAW3336 Holy smokes man that is fantastic! Keep it up!

In reply to Ryan the Temp Congrats!!!

In reply to Ryan the Temp That's awesome! I've experienced the same thing. Number one way for me to limit calories and feel full is shoot really high with protein (I target 1g per lb of weight - so 200g). It's also critical for adding muscle if you have a lifting routine

January 1 - 240
February 2 - 229.8

I made it a point not to check the scale much until the last 3 days and 229.8 was about average. The first 10 is the easiest but I am encouraged. High Protein and strength training works for me.

January
Down 16 lbs, 233 --> 217
No alcohol 37 days and counting
Heavy lift program started Jan 21.
- squats, deadlifts, bench, OHP, barbell rows, dips, band-assisted pullups and hangs, curls
Avg monthly steps 185k per month in 2023. Jan 2024 260k steps.
Daily creatine 5g
Carnivore/low carb. (GF ordered sushi delivery - my kryptonite)
Meal prep Sunday night for work week lunch all month.

This week, I slipped off hard cardio but ramped up the lifting. Gotta get more runs/biking and continue the lifts.

In reply to GeorgiAg

GeorgiAg said:

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This week, I slipped off hard cardio but ramped up the lifting. Gotta get more runs/biking and continue the lifts.

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Same. I bought a BOB stroller last weekend to encourage more walking/jogging. I have no problem lifting for an hour or hour and a half but sometimes "forget" to just get out and move.

In reply to CFTXAG10 What's funny is my GF and I are the exact opposite on cardio vs. lifts. She'll run/bike all day but cries like a baby when she has to do any strength training. Me vice-versa.

January totals for workouts. I'll take it.

Side-by-side of the end of October to this morning on the running front. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't really start focusing on "cutting" weight until mid-December, but my times have dropped like a rock in the time I've dropped about 15 lbs.

In reply to GeorgiAg Get a sled, weighted vest, some sandbags, and maybe some plyo boxes and that makes cardio way more fun.

I hate running/biking/elliptical and all that stuff.

In reply to CC09LawAg

CC09LawAg said:

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Get a sled, weighted vest, some sandbags, and maybe some plyo boxes and that makes cardio way more fun.

I hate running/biking/elliptical and all that stuff.

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I am thinking about adding a sled to my home gym. Just haven't found one I'm sold on yet

I've recently noticed something fascinating about my fat loss.

I've tried just about everything there is to lose weight ... even the cabbage soup diet. I've lost 50 or more pounds twice. The first time was a starvation diet (low fat and general reduction in calories) and the second time was keto. I'm 20 pounds into my current effort. All three of these times I have measured my body at the thigh, hips, waist, chest, and bicep. What I've noticed is each effort resulted in different rates of fat loss in each of those areas.

The most striking difference was keto, where my abdominal fat was reduced three times faster than everywhere else. With the starvation diet, I lost fat faster from my thighs and chest. My current effort is a much more balanced diet at around 2,000 kcal, coupled with significantly more physical activity. I am losing fat from my hips and chest at twice the rate of my waist, and almost nothing from my thighs. I suspect my thighs are replacing the fat volume with muscle from high-resistance cardio, but my waist putting up the good fight is kind of perplexing.

In reply to BassCowboy33

BassCowboy33 said:

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BassCowboy33 said:

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12/15/23
Age: 36
Ht: 5'05"
Wt: 174
nFFMI: 25.02
BF%: ~17%

I weighed 174 in mid December when I started my goal to be down to about 160 by mid-March. I have floated between 170-180 since about 2014. I'm built like a tank with a mesomorph body, so BMI and Navy standards always have a problem with me (Was always sent to the "fat" line for weigh-ins).

My progress has been stunning, and I'm crashing through what I thought possible.

1/22/24
Wt: 163
nFFMI: 24.04
BF%: ~15%

80% of this is clean eating. I started ordering daily meals from Factor, which usually are chicken/pork and a vegetable, ranging from 400-900 Calories. For snacks, it's either a fruit (cherries/peaches/apple sauce), a slice of prosciutto, or a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter. The goal is to hit between 1600-2200 Calories six days per week. I do take creatine, using the HCl dosage. It's what we used to take playing football in college, and I got away from it after an emergency surgery in 2014 when my appendix staged a coup. Dinner is usually about 4 oz of steak or a few scrambled eggs with Tabasco, coupled with the aforementioned snacks.

I have a cheat meal each week, where I eat whatever I want, but I usually plan that. For example, Sunday was a Large Wing Combo from Wingstop with +5 wings on the side. A week ago, it was 2 Chipotle burritos plus chips and guac. I've found this keeps me on track and keeps cravings away.

The workouts have become essential as well. It's divided into three parts upper/lower/run, one per day with a rest day. I do each twice per week. I am also a walking fiend. I aim to hit 10,000 steps/day but routinely crush through 15,000/day. I was a walking dude before any of this weight loss started, so I'm on about a 70-day streak of breaking 10,000 steps. I've also lowered my mile time by about 1:15/mile, which is huge for a slow a guy like me. Resting heart rate has dropped from about 65bpm to 57 bpm.

Last week at the office, I had multiple people ask me if I'd lost weight and told me I looked younger. Midsection definition has returned, but abs are not fully formed yet. Upper chest definition has returned as well. Now, that I'm smashing through the original goal, I'm aiming for 150. I ran a marathon in 2012 at about 145.

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01/31/24
Wt: 160.4 lbs

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02/05/24
Wt: 158.8 lbs

Had a couple of superfluous days. I smashed a large popcorn and Coke Zero at the movies the other day and did a story at a sports bar, where I downed some delicious wings. Still dropped for the week, so we're good.