My weight loss tracking thread

[MrDudeMan]

Weight tracking chart

This is somewhat blog-style, but I intend for this to be a weight tracking thread. Even if no one has much to say, which is totally fine, I hope it reaches someone who may be struggling the way I was. I haven't totally won the war yet, but I'm close. I'm keeping track of my weight at the link shown at the top of this post. The red line is the target for the bet discussed below. I actually drew it to intersect 240 pounds instead of 245 to give myself some headroom (more on that below).


I'm a pretty big guy and I always have been. At the end of my senior year of high school, I weighed 225 pounds with a fairly defined six pack (I'm only mentioning this as a data point). I played sports all year and worked out a lot, but I never controlled my eating. After high school ended, that quickly turned into a problem as you probably guessed. I settled into an electrical engineering curriculum, which made it even easier to eat and much more difficult to workout. Fast forward to the end of my first semester and my weight had settled at 250 pounds. Fast forward six more years and I weighed 299.5 pounds.

Part of the problem is that I have a very diverse set of interests and hobbies, so it was always easy to make excuses or simply ignore the problem. The other side of the issue is that I tend to carry weight pretty well, so it's a frog-in-a-pot situation. Most people guess I weigh 50-60 pounds less than I do.

I remember stepping on the scale on April 4th, 2009 and seeing 299.5. I think my eyes watered because I was so disgusted that I let it get that bad. My first child was going to be born soon (September 6th, 2009), which inspired me to fix the issue and get healthy again. By the time she was born, I weighed 276 pounds (23.5 pounds lost in 155 days, or about 1 pound per week). I exercised lightly, but that was mostly due to a dietary change.

After she was born, work became very busy and I made excuses to stop working out again. However, I kept the weight off because I made a maintainable lifestyle change. Side note: I have horrible heart burn when my weight is above 285. I tried every pill in the book, but nothing worked until I started losing weight. My toes also became numb occasionally, which has completely gone away as well.

Fast forward to 80 days ago. I decided I needed to finish what I started. One of the biggest motivators for me is to not waste money, so I decided that's what I would use to light the fire again. I bet a friend at work $1,000 that I would be 245 in exactly six months. That was almost three months ago and my weight this morning was 248. Woohoo!

I have been using a trainer once per week and I'm doing cardio six days per week. I also changed my diet again to something slightly more aggressive, but easily sustainable. I proved to myself that my lifestyle changes are going to work by scaling back big time during the week of July 4th. It had multiple potential problems that would make me stumble if it was ever going to happen. I only ran twice the whole week and I ate worse than I had been up until that point. At the end of the week, I lost 0.6 pounds, which is basically noise. I'd call that a success even though it was admittedly not long ago and relatively short term. I know there's still an uphill battle to fight, but I can at least see the light now.

I'll update this thread every once in a while with my progress. I'm hoping to get to 225 by the end of the year. I don't know what my end goal is yet because I'm not close enough to have a good understanding of what feels right. I don't think I'll ever go below 215, but I could be wrong. Time will tell.

 

[Koing]

Cool thread. I'll follow your progress

I'd recommend hitting weights at least 2x a week.

What are your cals and your macro split or you don't count?

People have asked me what weight I want to get to as well. I'm 86kg now a days and looking great. I think 83/82 and I'll be shredded but who knows? I've never weighed 83/82 and been shredded. I may have to get down to 80? I haven't seen 79.9 on the scales since 2002/03?! Another 11 weeks of dieting to go.

Koing

 

[MrDudeMan]

Cool thread. I'll follow your progress

I'd recommend hitting weights at least 2x a week.

What are your cals and your macro split or you don't count?

People have asked me what weight I want to get to as well. I'm 86kg now a days and looking great. I think 83/82 and I'll be shredded but who knows? I've never weighed 83/82 and been shredded. I may have to get down to 80? I haven't seen 79.9 on the scales since 2002/03?! Another 11 weeks of dieting to go.

Koing

I've slowly been adding weights back into my workout routine. I'm a little hesitant to hit them hard because weightlifting is usually what makes me burn out.

I'm keeping track of calories, but not much else. I eat healthy food as much as possible, though, so I'm not too worried about the split at this point. However, I'm absolutely open to suggestions. My calorie intake has been between 1500 and 2000. My trainer is all over me about this issue in particular, so he's adjusting as needs arise. I actually feel completely full and satisfied when I hit around 1700 as long as I eat correctly. I tend to eat a lot of fruit now, which gives me the full feeling without needing to take in a lot of calories. I don't starve myself or avoid certain types of food because I'll never sustain it if I start doing that. Instead, I eat whatever I want (within reason), but I simply eat far less of it than what I would have eaten in the past. That seems to keep me on track.

 

[Koing]

I've slowly been adding weights back into my workout routine. I'm a little hesitant to hit them hard because weightlifting is usually what makes me burn out.

I'm keeping track of calories, but not much else. I eat healthy food as much as possible, though, so I'm not too worried about the split at this point. However, I'm absolutely open to suggestions. My calorie intake has been between 1500 and 2000. My trainer is all over me about this issue in particular, so he's adjusting as needs arise. I actually feel completely full and satisfied when I hit around 1700 as long as I eat correctly. I tend to eat a lot of fruit now, which gives me the full feeling without needing to take in a lot of calories. I don't starve myself or avoid certain types of food because I'll never sustain it if I start doing that. Instead, I eat whatever I want (within reason), but I simply eat far less of it than what I would have eaten in the past. That seems to keep me on track.

Hit the weights. Just don't go crazy with them. Ease back a bit, but seriously, some weights are better than no weights.

There are 2 ways to diet. One is doing it your way where you eat mainly good foods and things in moderation. The other way is to be a bit anal and track everything.

My bro doesn't track anything, he just eats good clean wholesome food and he has been dieting since Jan, so the best part of 7 and a half months. He is in phenomenal shape but after 4months of dieting it has been a lot slower in terms of weight drop. 82 down to 69 for oly comps but his bw hangs around 71ish shredded.

I track everything though.

1700-2000 is not many calories for a person that is 248lbs! But if you can manage it I'd eat at least 2000lbs. 1700 seems crazy low.

Koing

 

[MrDudeMan]

Hit the weights. Just don't go crazy with them. Ease back a bit, but seriously, some weights are better than no weights.

There are 2 ways to diet. One is doing it your way where you eat mainly good foods and things in moderation. The other way is to be a bit anal and track everything.

My bro doesn't track anything, he just eats good clean wholesome food and he has been dieting since Jan, so the best part of 7 and a half months. He is in phenomenal shape but after 4months of dieting it has been a lot slower in terms of weight drop. 82 down to 69 for oly comps but his bw hangs around 71ish shredded.

I track everything though.

1700-2000 is not many calories for a person that is 248lbs! But if you can manage it I'd eat at least 2000lbs. 1700 seems crazy low.

Koing

I'm lifting weights with my trainer, but not the way I've usually done it in the past. It's focused on both big and small muscles, the latter of which I traditionally ignore. I'm not looking to build more muscle as I'm already fairly big naturally. Tone and fitness are more important, which his workouts are definitely addressing. I can't deny that I want to lift heavier weights sometimes, but I haven't had a reason to start doing that yet.

I agree that 1,700 calories is low, but it's not a long term number. I'm eating healthy and frequently, so I never feel hungry. When I get closer to my lower limit weight (probably around 225), my caloric intake is going to change. I'm in major fat burning mode right now, which is why the calories are so low. My problem is always losing the weight instead of sustaining it. Once I've lost weight, I'm able to stay there indefinitely, but I struggle with getting rid of the weight in the first place.

 

[Koing]

I'm lifting weights with my trainer, but not the way I've usually done it in the past. It's focused on both big and small muscles, the latter of which I traditionally ignore. I'm not looking to build more muscle as I'm already fairly big naturally. Tone and fitness are more important, which his workouts are definitely addressing. I can't deny that I want to lift heavier weights sometimes, but I haven't had a reason to start doing that yet.

I agree that 1,700 calories is low, but it's not a long term number. I'm eating healthy and frequently, so I never feel hungry. When I get closer to my lower limit weight (probably around 225), my caloric intake is going to change. I'm in major fat burning mode right now, which is why the calories are so low. My problem is always losing the weight instead of sustaining it. Once I've lost weight, I'm able to stay there indefinitely, but I struggle with getting rid of the weight in the first place.

Okay man. If you can sustain 1700 when you are 245lbs that is good for you. I'd rather eat more and still lose weight personally, but if your happy losing weight on 1700 that is good for you

You do realise that when you up your calories you will either slow fat loss or put weight back on right? The problem with cutting calories too low is that you have no where to go in terms of cutting calories. You just hope that your metabolism is in a good state to use the extra calories you are now feeding yourself.

Koing

 

[MrDudeMan]

Okay man. If you can sustain 1700 when you are 245lbs that is good for you. I'd rather eat more and still lose weight personally, but if your happy losing weight on 1700 that is good for you

You do realise that when you up your calories you will either slow fat loss or put weight back on right? The problem with cutting calories too low is that you have no where to go in terms of cutting calories. You just hope that your metabolism is in a good state to use the extra calories you are now feeding yourself.

Koing

What you said is definitely true. The major problem I have right now is too much fat. Doing cardio six days per week and reducing my caloric intake has drastically shaved weight off, which was the goal. When I get closer to my target weight, I'm going to start working out harder and eating more. I realize I'll stop losing weight, but I also won't have much weight to lose at that point. The end goal is to get to a healthy weight and then learn how to maintain it. It's happening in two steps if that makes sense.

Right now I'm focusing on step one. I have a plan laid out to up my caloric intake to 2400 once I get closer to my goal weight. I'm not sure if that number is going to work long term, but it's where I'm going to start once the majority of the fat is gone. I fully expect to continue working hard in order to keep the weight off.

I may ask this forum for advice once I get close to my goal weight to help keep the weight off long term. I don't know much about calorie counting or setting up a diet to get calories from the right types of food. I've mainly been focusing on the absolute number at this point because my fitness level was so poor when I started that it really didn't matter. I'm in better shape now, so it's starting to matter.

 

[Koing]

I see.

There is no reason why 2400cal shouldn't work once you get down to 225-240lbs. Unless your bodyfat % is very high and you are very out of shape. BUT there is only one way to find out for yourself. Just eat it for a week or two and see how you get on. It all depends on your metabolism and your muscle mass.

My only gripe is that by the time you get down to roughly the right weight you would have crushed muscle mass and you will want to bulk up to fill out your frame a bit better. More so if you haven't been eating enough protein and not hitting weights properly. But it's up to you though.

Click on the link in my sig for the website I use to track my macros. They have an app for andriod and ios. You can even scan barcodes into it to find the foods you have

Koing

 

[MrDudeMan]

I see.

There is no reason why 2400cal shouldn't work once you get down to 225-240lbs. Unless your bodyfat % is very high and you are very out of shape. BUT there is only one way to find out for yourself. Just eat it for a week or two and see how you get on. It all depends on your metabolism and your muscle mass.

My only gripe is that by the time you get down to roughly the right weight you would have crushed muscle mass and you will want to bulk up to fill out your frame a bit better. More so if you haven't been eating enough protein and not hitting weights properly. But it's up to you though.

Click on the link in my sig for the website I use to track my macros. They have an app for andriod and ios. You can even scan barcodes into it to find the foods you have

Koing

What you're saying makes sense. Maybe I'm not explaining it very well, but I've actually put on a considerable amount of muscle in the last several weeks. I can actually see my biceps, deltoids, and lats again. It's been nearly 10 years since I've seen any definition in those areas.

I'll update this thread every once in a while with my progress and dietary changes. I'm guessing you'll be able to tell if I'm doing it wrong based on results (or lack thereof). As I said before, I'm very open to suggestions. The only thing is I'm burning fat and getting light again with my current method, so I'm hesitant to make any changes during this heavy fat burning stage, but I definitely will if necessary. I don't expect it to last much longer than 6 to 8 weeks because I won't have a lot of fat left that will come off easily.

 

[Koing]

What you're saying makes sense. Maybe I'm not explaining it very well, but I've actually put on a considerable amount of muscle in the last several weeks. I can actually see my biceps, deltoids, and lats again. It's been nearly 10 years since I've seen any definition in those areas.

I'll update this thread every once in a while with my progress and dietary changes. I'm guessing you'll be able to tell if I'm doing it wrong based on results (or lack thereof). As I said before, I'm very open to suggestions. The only thing is I'm burning fat and getting light again with my current method, so I'm hesitant to make any changes during this heavy fat burning stage, but I definitely will if necessary. I don't expect it to last much longer than 6 to 8 weeks because I won't have a lot of fat left that will come off easily.

The act of being able to see your muscles better is more so due to fat loss then actually building muscle mass when you are consuming 1700calories. That muscle you had previously and now you are being able to see it.

Cool. Stick with your current momentum and change it when and if you are not getting your desired results

Koing

 

[Koing]

As a point of reference this is what my bro looks like:
http://instagram.com/p/brBCo1iiLK/

He rarely does any cardio, eats wholesome foods, doesn't count macros, refeeds once a week, 7.5month cut. Most of his gains were in the first 4months then it was much slower as he was working on professional exams and didn't train much. Went from 82 down to 69.5kg in the pic. The guy on the right has a 6 pack and is in good shape, just not the muscular development and leaness of my bro due to lack of training years. My bro has 14yrs as a competitive weightlifter, other guy has about 3.

Koing

 

[MrDudeMan]

As a point of reference this is what my bro looks like:
http://instagram.com/p/brBCo1iiLK/

He rarely does any cardio, eats wholesome foods, doesn't count macros, refeeds once a week, 7.5month cut. Most of his gains were in the first 4months then it was much slower as he was working on professional exams and didn't train much. Went from 82 down to 69.5kg in the pic. The guy on the right has a 6 pack and is in good shape, just not the muscular development and leaness of my bro due to lack of training years. My bro has 14yrs as a competitive weightlifter, other guy has about 3.

Koing

Maybe my goals weren't made clear. I'm not in this to look cut. It would be a nice collateral gain, but I'm much more concerned with overall health. That's why I've been hitting the cardio so hard. Cardio burns more fat than weight lifting and has a ton of other good side effects.

I'll build some muscle mass later, but my primary objective is to minimize risk of disease, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, etc. Looking like your brother would be nice (he obviously knows what he's doing - impressive abs), but it's not a long term lifestyle I want to maintain. There's no replacement for the health and endurance that aerobic exercise gives you.

Edit: One other thing... I'm sure what you are suggesting is a viable strategy that will yield great results. There's also a temporal component, though. I simply don't have enough time to do it all, so I had to pick health over everything else. I hope I'm able to do more muscle building eventually as my fitness level continues to increase. I'll scale down the cardio and replace the time with weight lifting so I can get some of each.

 

[mple]

If you enjoy the excruciating cardiovascular then awesome. I never look forward to cardio and would rather deal with hunger pangs on a cut. Cardio maybe twice a week for about 200-300 calories is about all I'll put up with.

It's also my belief that a solid diet and proven strength training program is superior to diet + cardio for overall health, but to each their own.

 

[MrDudeMan]

If you enjoy the excruciating cardiovascular then awesome. I never look forward to cardio and would rather deal with hunger pangs on a cut. Cardio maybe twice a week for about 200-300 calories is about all I'll put up with.

It's also my belief that a solid diet and proven strength training program is superior to diet + cardio for overall health, but to each their own.

It's not excruciating. I don't think it needs to be, but I guess I'm not sure. I run between 9 and 10 minute miles for 50-60 minutes. The fat loss has been insanely fast if you look at the link in my OP. I've also drastically increased my health in all of the 'important' metrics by routinely going to the doctor and getting blood drawn. I've never heard of weight lifting helping those areas, or at least not nearly as significantly.

I'm interested in your last statement. That goes against everything I've ever read or been told by various people (I'm not saying you're wrong). If you have more information, I'd love to know if there's something I could be doing better. I don't see how weight lifting would work out your heart and lungs as much as running, but I'm by no means an expert.

 

[momeNt]

It's not excruciating. I don't think it needs to be, but I guess I'm not sure. I run between 9 and 10 minute miles for 50-60 minutes. The fat loss has been insanely fast if you look at the link in my OP. I've also drastically increased my health in all of the 'important' metrics by routinely going to the doctor and getting blood drawn. I've never heard of weight lifting helping those areas, or at least not nearly as significantly.

I'm interested in your last statement. That goes against everything I've ever read or been told by various people (I'm not saying you're wrong). If you have more information, I'd love to know if there's something I could be doing better. I don't see how weight lifting would work out your heart and lungs as much as running, but I'm by no means an expert.

Runners are a boisterous folk. Marathons are nationally televised, race for the cures, it is a much larger sport/activity than weightlifting. So it stands to reason that there is a lot of support for the benefits of running/aerobic activity when compared to weight training.

Rippetoe with his snarky comments on Reddit's AMA

Do you actually know anybody who lost a lot of bodyfat through "cardio"? I think you'll find that cardio itself has never worked as a bodyfat loss method. Big muscles burn more calories than small muscles, and eating less carbs reduces fat storage. I know lots of fat runners and cyclists, and you do too. If it works, why doesn't it work?

Obviously what he is saying needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but the way cardio gains work is different than weight training gains. You can set yourself a goal of running a marathon from a couch potato in 6 months, and yes your body will transform, but you'll still be fat, you'll just be a fat person who can run a marathon. 6 months of weight training with the discipline that it takes to go from couch to marathon, will leave you (at least in Rippetoe's and other weight training advocates minds) in a much better physical condition than the marathon training.

I think there is also some personal preference involved in this. I personally don't feel good after running, I don't seem to get that runners high, I instantly want to stop because of how boring it is, perhaps if I needed my head cleared it would help, but I guess I don't. Weight lifting on the other hand is something I look forward to, the goals to me are a little more concrete (5 more pounds vs MPH, I can see the weight on the bar). I like the way it feels after a set, and I like that kind of struggle when I lift vs the struggle of aerobic exercise. To each their own in that aspect.

 

[PenguinPower]

It's not excruciating. I don't think it needs to be, but I guess I'm not sure. I run between 9 and 10 minute miles for 50-60 minutes. The fat loss has been insanely fast if you look at the link in my OP. I've also drastically increased my health in all of the 'important' metrics by routinely going to the doctor and getting blood drawn. I've never heard of weight lifting helping those areas, or at least not nearly as significantly.

I'm interested in your last statement. That goes against everything I've ever read or been told by various people (I'm not saying you're wrong). If you have more information, I'd love to know if there's something I could be doing better. I don't see how weight lifting would work out your heart and lungs as much as running, but I'm by no means an expert.

You keep talking about burning fat. I'm wondering how you are measuring this. I see a good amount of weight loss, but with you eating what I am approximating to be ~600 below your BMR on average, heavy cardio and not much resistance training...how much is fat and how much is muscle?

And, to clarify, you are eating 1700-2000 gross calories, not factoring in the energy expenditure for your cardio?

 

[MrDudeMan]

Sorry for the slow response. I've been out of town and busy for the last two weeks.

I know I've been burning fat because I'm measuring body fat percentage each week. When I started, it was at 33.2% and now it's at 25.1%.

As I said before, I'm more concerned with health than anything else. Being strong and cut doesn't matter to me at all because I don't have time for either of those things as primary goals (I would love to be strong and cut, just to be clear, but I have to focus on health with what little time I have to exercise). I've been making time to stay in good shape, though, because I let that get out of control.

Since I started running and using a trainer, here are my results so far:

The metrics I care about the most:

• Blood sugar (mg/dL): 99 to 79
• Cholesterol (LDL): 79 to 76
• Cholesterol (HDL): 30 to 35
• Cholesterol (Total in mg/dL): 160 to 137
• Triglycerides (mg/dL): 234 to 132
• Blood Pressure (mm Hg): 135/88 to 128/76
• Body Fat (%): 33.2 to 25.1

Misc. metrics:

• One rep max bench press (lbs): 225 to 280
• Max pushups in one minute: 23 to 49
• Max pullups without stopping: 0 to 12
• 1 mile time (min): 12:10 to 7:01
• 5k time (min): 48:20 to 23:50
• 10k time (min): 1:40:01 to 52:30

I've been working out all of my muscles, but I've mostly been targeting the stability and overall strength regions (legs, core). I'll work in more weight lifting as time goes on, but only when I'm happy with my overall health (blood pressure needs to come down a little bit more, but hopefully that will be fixed by losing more weight). I changed the plot in my OP to have more clearly defined weight goals: 245 was my first goal and 225 is my second goal. The countdown is no longer applicable because I won the bet.

Once I hit 225, I will definitely be back to ask for advice about weight lifting routines. More importantly, I'll need to know how to stabilize my diet to maintain a proper weight. I admittedly am not doing something that would be easily sustainable in terms of diet, but it's driven by desperation to no longer be overweight. I'm putting in the work and my diet has improved ten fold, but there's still room to improve. This forum is obviously a great resource, so I hope some of you will be able to help me at that point.

 

[Blackjack200]

• One rep max bench press (lbs): 225 to 280
• Max pushups in one minute: 23 to 49
• Max pullups without stopping: 0 to 12

I'm stunned that you've been able to do this while in a big caloric defecit. When I lost weight earlier this year all my lifts stalled out. Good job.

 

[MrDudeMan]

I'm stunned that you've been able to do this while in a big caloric defecit. When I lost weight earlier this year all my lifts stalled out. Good job.

Thanks. I don't think I'm going to get much more than the posted results until I start making the changes some of you suggested. Those were the initial bumps from not working out in years I think.

 

[t3chniqu3]

Thanks for sharing!
Never lose your goals and keep your motivation as high as possible!

 

[MrDudeMan]

I thought I'd post a before and after picture. I'm not all the way done yet, but I'm getting there. I literally can't believe my eyes when I look at this picture. The amount of fat I lost is unbelievable. The before picture was at 299.5 pounds and the after picture was at 245 pounds.

 

[finbarqs]

nice job, I've actually been on a similar journey, and I joined myfitnesspal to track my caloric intake. I started off @ 265 @ 34% fat, and now I'm 14.6% and 189 @ 6'0". My lifts have actually decreased, but my goal is to hit 180lbs before I start hitting food hard again. I've significantly decreased my caloric intake to about 1550/day, but my workouts are @ 1100 calories per work out (~1.5 hours) -- i use the polar ft7 to track my caloric expenditures!

But keep it up man! looking good!

 

[highland145]

Good job. Did you mention how tall you are?

 

[MrDudeMan]

nice job, I've actually been on a similar journey, and I joined myfitnesspal to track my caloric intake. I started off @ 265 @ 34% fat, and now I'm 14.6% and 189 @ 6'0". My lifts have actually decreased, but my goal is to hit 180lbs before I start hitting food hard again. I've significantly decreased my caloric intake to about 1550/day, but my workouts are @ 1100 calories per work out (~1.5 hours) -- i use the polar ft7 to track my caloric expenditures!

But keep it up man! looking good!

Thanks. 14.6% is really good. I'm jealous. Keep it up.

Good job. Did you mention how tall you are?

Thanks. I'm 6'-2".

 

[MrDudeMan]

Update:

I've been keeping at it for the last few months. It's been tough at times, but I think I've completely changed my eating habits and lifestyle. Hopefully keeping the weight off is simply 'easy' at this point.

You can tell where I hurt my ankle and had to stop doing cardio. I worked out just as hard, but the weight lose completely stopped. Once I was able to do cardio again, it picked up with the same pace for the most part. Those of you who don't believe cardio works probably haven't come from a place where you were severely overweight. Nothing else even came close to it in terms of fat loss. All the stuff I've read on the internet about cardio burning muscle seems like garbage to me. You have to be doing it wrong for that to happen in my experience. My trainer basically said the same thing without me asking him for his opinion.

I'm certainly not saying that I know I'm absolutely right, but my experience and the data in my graph says cardio works for fat loss. My muscles are still developing and I've suffered no decline in strength at any point in this process. People are beginning to comment semi-frequently that I'm looking more ripped as the days go on, so I know there's visible progress even though it's still hard for me to see. I think cardio is probably a big negative if you aren't eating correctly or if you're relying on it to burn fat without changing any other part of your lifestyle. It has to come with other significant changes to be effective, or at least that's how it seems to me.

I built a power rack in my basement to facilitate my new lifestyle changes. It's actually been a huge help having it available all the time. I put a TV on the wall and some speakers, so I can hang out with my kids downstairs while exercising and the time goes by quickly. For me, that was the key: get engaged with my kids while doing this so they see me participating in healthy activities and also to make time fly by for me.