The difference might not be as noticeable for others looking at my progress, but for me - I’m ecstatic. I started this process 30 lbs heavier than I am now with a 43” waist. Now, my waist is at 34.5”! My strength in the gym has stayed essentially the same - I pr’d my deadlift with a 455 lb pull, squats are steady at 350 lbs and my bench is still weak sauce at 225 lbs :( lol. I’ve learned a lot about myself and weight loss along the way and I figured I’d share some of that in case anyone is in a similar spot as me.
I’ll start by saying that growing up, I was always the husky kid. So I did something about it then became the skinny kid. So then I started lifting and became the fit kid. Then I went on a bulk that never truly ended and I was once again the fat guy. The circle of life, I suppose. I went on a dream spring break to Miami back in March of 2018 and while everything was so much fun, my appearance held me back a lot. I was self conscious and didn’t take my shirt off barely at all, even at the beach. I’m from the north so this should’ve been my opportunity to live it up but that definitely held me back. So we decided this past summer that we would go back to Miami again in March of 2019 - I promised myself I would not look like that again.
So what got me here and what will get me to the promised land? 2 pillars to all of this - diet and exercise, of course. My diet was and is pretty straightforward. I know many popular nutrition pundits claim 1 to 2 pounds per week is probably the only healthy way to do it. However, studies do not back this up. In fact, studies comparing small deficits (~5/10%) to large deficits (~25%) showed almost no difference in muscle loss and much more fat loss. So this is the route I went. I began by eating 2,000 calories for the first 12 week “block” of my diet. I say block because this diet has been separated by a phase of maintenance eating - a diet break, if you will - for about 6 weeks. This is another thing that science strongly recommends, showing better compliance and muscle retention when diets are broken up into phases. The best guess now is changes in things like cortisol and leptin production... bringing those back up through a break makes everything just work better. I picked up on a lot of this from Dr Mike Israetel, Barbell Medicine and Renaissance Periodization - all great YouTube channels that I’d be happy to link if anyone is interested. I am now on my last block of dieting and am eating 1,800 calories, however that’s subject to change if I don’t see the results I’m looking for.
The actual foods I ate? My macros are currently 200P/160C/40F . I know keto is popular around these parts, but when I have done keto in the past it compromises my ability to train hard and, thus, retain muscle. With this moderate carb approach, I’ve lost almost nothing in way of muscle or strength.
On a low fat diet, chicken breast was a staple. I boil 4-5 lbs of it and then shred it, and mix in either sugar free BBQ sauce or buffalo sauce, then make sandwiches/wraps with it. It’s very easy to keep in a Rubbermaid container. Also, I relied heavily on protein powder. I prefer Cellucor as it has the best chocolate taste, imo, and tastes good with water. Deli meats are great in a pinch. Salads with fat free Italian, popcorn, Quest bars, egg whites, mashed/riced cauliflower and the occasional grilled chicken snack wrap from McDonalds rounded out the rest. Also, I drank quite a bit of black coffee, diet soda, and flavored water.
The second part of the equation has been my activity. I lift 6 days a week doing a pretty novel split. M/W/F is strictly compound movements - squat, bench, deadlift, OHP. T/TH/S is “bodybuilding” day, basically arm/shoulder/ab work. Just some days to have fun and accumulate volume, really. The idea behind my training has been to train with moderate intensity (60-85% of my max) but not to failure, usually 1-4 reps short of it. This has allowed me to lift with much higher volumes and not get run down, which I believe in combination with the higher carbs has resulted in my muscle mass retention.
I have 25 lbs to go. I have all the tools I need to succeed. I know what my body likes and dislikes. I’m so damn excited to see what I can do. I haven’t had abs since high school, but I can feel them getting ready to make their triumphant return. I wanted to post this to see if you guys can see the progress, to maybe help someone, and to hold myself accountable - I love lurking on here and reading everyone’s successes. Let’s keep it going & I’ll be back at the end of March to show you what I’ve accomplished! 😌
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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2QP2Aao
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