What you can acheive in 4 months

[tier9]

Congrats OP, great progress!

I know you said you're comfortable on the machines now, but if I may suggest something - Have you ever thought about switching to dumbbells?

Dumbbells are very safe. For example, you don't need a spotter to max out on dumbbell bench press. You can go as heavy as you need to go and if you can't do another rep, simply drop the weights.

Bench press, incline bench press, curls, overhead tricep extensions, shrugs, bulgarian split squats, overhead press, and many more can all be safely done with dumbbells that are on some exercises, in my opinion, safer than barbells if you don't have a spotter (like bench press).

Also, do not underestimate the power of free weight exercises. Chin ups/Pull ups, push ups, ext. ext. are all great exercises that shouldn't be overlooked.

I saw a lot more progress when I stopped using the machines and went to dumbbells/free weight exercises. But, to each their own. Your routine is obviously working great for you. Keep up the good work!

 

[Richard Turpin]

We should start a thread for Before/After progress transformations. Not that I think I'll have the guts to do it myself (the accountability scares me)......

....... or would that fear of failure/accountability spur me on?......hmmm.

 

[Montrose]

OP lost 40 pounds in 17 weeks, which is probably the optimal rate of weight loss. While it’s highly commendable in terms of discipline and willpower, I don’t think you can jump to conclusions regarding training programs. There is no evidence that any of the lost weight is due to working out. Most of the fat loss is likely attributable to diet.

If you do the math: 40 pounds of fat is around 140,000 calories. Assuming two cardio sessions of 500 calories a week, cardio accounts for only 12% of the lost calories, and while increased metabolism from strength training certainly helps, most of the 88% remaining is due to diet.

 

[porscheguy]

Uprising- I am beginning to make the transition into using more free weights as they will provide better results.

Richard Turpin- not a bad idea. When I started posting pics on Facebook it wasn’t about showing off. In a way, it was about making myself accountable to others, but mostly, in being accountable to others, it forces me to be accountable to myself. I own all of my successes and failures. I was a bit nervous about posting my fat pic, but what really made me nervous was the first time I posted a progress pic on Facebook.

Montrose- I don’t think anyone is jumping to conclusions regarding training programs. I post my data, and say what I’ve done. Let me give you a little timeline here.
7/20: I’m in the drive thru at Wendy’s and reading the calories on food items. This is when I have my “moment of clarity” and realize that a large baconator value meal and a frosty are at the caloric limit for someone a bit younger and far more active than me. I make the decision right there to begin reducing my daily caloric intake.
7/24: I begin to move to a new house, a process that will take two weeks. I begin to weigh in daily and continue to monitor/reduce caloric intake.
8/07: I am pretty much finished moving and my activity level has dropped off. I’ve lost 10lbs in the process. I continue to weigh in daily.
8/15: my weight didn’t budge over the previous week but daily caloric intake was still restricted. Conclusion: physical activity must be increased or caloric intake must be reduced further. I go to the gym and sign up.
9/01: I lost a few pounds, working out 4-5 days/week. Progress seems slower than it should be. Conclusion: low carb diet.
9/27: I’ve lost 12lbs or so during September. I have my first kidney stone. At this point I weigh 210lbs. My weight will not go down again until Thanksgiving week. I missed 1 week at the gym during the kidney stone.
11/19: I’m down to 205lbs. By the following seeking I’m up to 209lbs.
12/3: back down to 205lbs.
12/7: 201lbs. Then I went on a cheating spree.
12/14: 207lbs. Find out some info regarding some personal things. No more time for BS. Time to go back into full weight loss mode.
12/17: 204lbs. I expect to be back to 201 or below by the end of this week.

How much can be attributed to working out? I don’t know. How much is diet? I don’t know. Does it matter? No. Do I look better than I have in 15+ years? Yes. Am I stronger now? Yes. Do people in general react differently to me now? Yes. Women? Their reaction is mind blowing. I’m getting “OMG Hot!” from girls in their early 20s. Girls I went to high school with are now like “where was this version of you 25 years ago?” The gazes of soccer moms at the grocery store used to go right through me. Now they stop and linger. A month ago I went to buy a new jacket. The clerk who was pretty built himself commented “you’ve got a serious set of shoulders on you.” Next thing I know, the two women in the store shopping are watching me. One has a soyish BF she’s trying to ignore. The other is unattached at the moment and quite frank. She’s telling me “go for the fitted one in large because you really need to show yourself off.” This is a pricey store in downtown Annapolis. These women are high 7s/low 8s. Am I suggesting they wanted to fuck me in the back room? This isn’t penthouse letters. What I am saying is that if either woman got fucked that night, there’s a good chance that I crossed their minds while they took the dick.

I’m not here to proselytize about what’s best or not. I’m here to tell you where I was, Where I am, and how I got here. In 4 months I went from an average guy who was largely invisible, to someone that gets noticed.

 

[Montrose]

I didn’t mean to criticize, your journey is impressive. We all want to be as successful as you, that’s why I think it’s worth analyzing what you did.

 

[AneroidOcean]

Fascinating. That is a BIG change in that timeframe. Very inspiring for me to keep up with my progress. Congratulations on your dedication, keep it going.

I haven't yet added any significant weight training (almost 100% cardio) so the fact that you aren't going that incredibly heavy with the weights and using machines leads me to believe I can make a similar change.

It's a GREAT feeling having people notice how much better you look huh?

I had a guy I play sports with that was out of town for a long time for work come back in this weekend and even with me fully clothed in loose fitting clothing he said, "man have you been working out or something you look way more in shape"

Working earlier in the weekend I had women at a holiday party (not my own) whispering just loud enough for me to hear, "he's hot."

Feels GREAT!

 

[RatInTheWoods]

Well done OP, great work.

 

[Alpone]

This is awesome.

 

[lunchmoney]

Uprising- I am beginning to make the transition into using more free weights as they will provide better results.

Richard Turpin- not a bad idea. When I started posting pics on Facebook it wasn’t about showing off. In a way, it was about making myself accountable to others, but mostly, in being accountable to others, it forces me to be accountable to myself. I own all of my successes and failures. I was a bit nervous about posting my fat pic, but what really made me nervous was the first time I posted a progress pic on Facebook.

Montrose- I don’t think anyone is jumping to conclusions regarding training programs. I post my data, and say what I’ve done. Let me give you a little timeline here.
7/20: I’m in the drive thru at Wendy’s and reading the calories on food items. This is when I have my “moment of clarity” and realize that a large baconator value meal and a frosty are at the caloric limit for someone a bit younger and far more active than me. I make the decision right there to begin reducing my daily caloric intake.
7/24: I begin to move to a new house, a process that will take two weeks. I begin to weigh in daily and continue to monitor/reduce caloric intake.
8/07: I am pretty much finished moving and my activity level has dropped off. I’ve lost 10lbs in the process. I continue to weigh in daily.
8/15: my weight didn’t budge over the previous week but daily caloric intake was still restricted. Conclusion: physical activity must be increased or caloric intake must be reduced further. I go to the gym and sign up.
9/01: I lost a few pounds, working out 4-5 days/week. Progress seems slower than it should be. Conclusion: low carb diet.
9/27: I’ve lost 12lbs or so during September. I have my first kidney stone. At this point I weigh 210lbs. My weight will not go down again until Thanksgiving week. I missed 1 week at the gym during the kidney stone.
11/19: I’m down to 205lbs. By the following seeking I’m up to 209lbs.
12/3: back down to 205lbs.
12/7: 201lbs. Then I went on a cheating spree.
12/14: 207lbs. Find out some info regarding some personal things. No more time for BS. Time to go back into full weight loss mode.
12/17: 204lbs. I expect to be back to 201 or below by the end of this week.

How much can be attributed to working out? I don’t know. How much is diet? I don’t know. Does it matter? No. Do I look better than I have in 15+ years? Yes. Am I stronger now? Yes. Do people in general react differently to me now? Yes. Women? Their reaction is mind blowing. I’m getting “OMG Hot!” from girls in their early 20s. Girls I went to high school with are now like “where was this version of you 25 years ago?” The gazes of soccer moms at the grocery store used to go right through me. Now they stop and linger. A month ago I went to buy a new jacket. The clerk who was pretty built himself commented “you’ve got a serious set of shoulders on you.” Next thing I know, the two women in the store shopping are watching me. One has a soyish BF she’s trying to ignore. The other is unattached at the moment and quite frank. She’s telling me “go for the fitted one in large because you really need to show yourself off.” This is a pricey store in downtown Annapolis. These women are high 7s/low 8s. Am I suggesting they wanted to fuck me in the back room? This isn’t penthouse letters. What I am saying is that if either woman got fucked that night, there’s a good chance that I crossed their minds while they took the dick.

I’m not here to proselytize about what’s best or not. I’m here to tell you where I was, Where I am, and how I got here. In 4 months I went from an average guy who was largely invisible, to someone that gets noticed.

Impressive journey and results. Your willpower is something many don't have, both in changing their lifestyle (gym 4x a week + diet).

Curious as to what diet changes you made? What did you cut out completely, and what do supplement that with? Speaking of supplements, did you take anything during these 4 months?

 

[Shemp]

1) Weight loss has nothing to do with exercise. If anything, weight lifting adds weight in the form of muscle, while cardio increases stress which increases appetite which increases weight. The only way to lose weight is eat less, which is almost always unpleasant. Six packs are built in the dining room, not the gym. This was/is true for both OP and everyone else.

OP lost about 2 lbs per week, or about 1%/week assuming starting weight of 240 lbs. That is about the maximum a person can lose without also losing excessive amounts of muscle. He had to show considerable willpower during those 17 weeks, since fast weight loss like that tend to be painful (depression, boredom, constant hunger). Hopefully, memory of how painful it was to lose all that weight will help OP resist urges to scarf down whole chickens and whatnot and and then have to suffer another 17 weeks of dieting.

2) OP has excellent genetics for adding muscle. I'm not trying to diminish OP's accomplishments, but other people must realize that, while anyone can duplicate OP's weight loss by proper dieting. not everyone can pack on muscle as easily as him. Or maybe he already had lots of muscle under the fat, but that's also genetic. Some fat guys are incredibly strong.

 

[KMK]

^OP said he was a construction worker, so pretty well exercised already.

 

[Borges]

This is really inspiring, thanks for sharing. Makes me think of all the time I've been wasting...

 

[porscheguy]

Impressive journey and results. Your willpower is something many don't have, both in changing their lifestyle (gym 4x a week + diet).

Curious as to what diet changes you made? What did you cut out completely, and what do supplement that with? Speaking of supplements, did you take anything during these 4 months?

The main change I've made to diet is a daily reduction in calories. When I'm being disciplined, I go low carb. The primary thing I look to keep to an absolute minimum is empty (nutritionally empty), sugary calories. Candy, bread, pasta, starchy vegetables, are all things I have heavily restricted or eliminated.

I take a daily multivitamin, and an extra zinc. I take no other supplements.

 

[lunchmoney]

Impressive journey and results. Your willpower is something many don't have, both in changing their lifestyle (gym 4x a week + diet).

Curious as to what diet changes you made? What did you cut out completely, and what do supplement that with? Speaking of supplements, did you take anything during these 4 months?

The main change I've made to diet is a daily reduction in calories. When I'm being disciplined, I go low carb. The primary thing I look to keep to an absolute minimum is empty (nutritionally empty), sugary calories. Candy, bread, pasta, starchy vegetables, are all things I have heavily restricted or eliminated.

I take a daily multivitamin, and an extra zinc. I take no other supplements.

Thanks for that info. I am looking to cut out all sugar (don't each much bread as it is), and know that will be the challenge for me. Any thoughts on a plant based diet?

 

[porscheguy]

I’m not sure how you can do a plant based diet and omit sugar.

 

[LeeEnfield303]

Bottom line..and it's been said before...

There.are.no.excuses.

It's not that we are born this way, that we can't do it, that we don't have the DNA, that...... STFU.

It can be done. It's a matter of self-discipline. How bad do you want it? Do you want the ultimate reward of being healthy? ripped? The man you always wanted to be?

Or....*mmmm that bag of chips looks awesome im so goddamned hungryfuckthisiwantit*

It's short-term versus the rest of your life. Congrats on the OP....you get it. So many don't. I struggled with this for years. I now understand.

 

[BostonBMW]

:clap2:

Amazing results, porscheguy.

If you feel comfortable sharing, what are your long terms goals in maintaining the weight/muscle? Are you planning on keeping the same exercise/food intake regimen?

 

[porscheguy]

Long term goal is somwhere between 185-195lbs. As for the rest I’ll figure that out as I reach my goals.

 

[BostonBMW]

Excellent. I hope you hit it.

 

[MaceTyrell]

This is inspiring.Trying to get back to the 190s so I can fit into my tuxedo for a Fall 2019 wedding.

I fell off over the latter half of 2018, with my weight jumping from 201 to 240. Biggest reasons were 1) not going to the gym, 2) eating like a pig/not eating vegetables. Hoping to get down to the 220s by April, then the 200s by July.