Before and After pics and stories?

[3 & 6 years to go...]

I just recently passed my two year "anniversary" of deciding to stop being horrendously overweight and unhappy.

 

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a329/Gggncar/PhotoGrid_1440350388518_zps7xuiyvnu.jpg

Nice job, man!

[Lucas1138]

Thanks dudes and dudettes. I'm proud of it, and far more willing to speak up about it than I would have ever imagined. Working out is consistently the highlight of my day (might speak to the quality of the rest of my day, I suppose!), and I never thought I'd reach that point. It's fun and relaxing - definitely takes the mind off whatever other crap is going on.

 

10/10 Fully recommended. Would do again.

[3 & 6 years to go...]

Thanks dudes and dudettes. I'm proud of it, and far more willing to speak up about it than I would have ever imagined. Working out is consistently the highlight of my day (might speak to the quality of the rest of my day, I suppose!), and I never thought I'd reach that point. It's fun and relaxing - definitely takes the mind off whatever other crap is going on.

 

10/10 Fully recommended. Would do again.

May I pick your brain? What do you do for your workout? What do you eat, and not eat? I need help.

[Lucas1138]

From the beginning:

 

Well, even before anything - try to find a buddy! Even if it's popping in here and talking about it, that's better than nothing. I had a group of guys I work out with and would really encourage me as I started the process. That was invaluable to me. I drank a ton of pop and we had talked about that, and on day 2 (my first full day "on the program") my buddy texted me and said "don't get a pop at lunch!" I'll remember that little gesture until the day I die. If you can find a partner to work out with - terrific! If not, it'll be harder to motivate yourself on those "off" days, but you can do it.

 

Working out:

I lift weights 5-6 days a week. The last year-ish I've done cardio probably on average 3 mornings a week, but I was about a year (and lots of weight lost) into the process before I bothered adding any cardio. Lifting isn't necessary but it's a fat burner/muscle builder. It helps tone and turn some of that fat into muscle. I recommend a gym membership if you have the time and can commit to going, even if it's awkward or you hate going. I usually work out in my friends basement (they have a full gym essentially), but I also have a membership at Planet Fitness which has spread like the plague lately so I'm sure there's on in your area. If you need workout advice I can offer that too.

 

You don't have to work out, but I think it tremendously helps the process. If nothing else, find 30 minutes and walk around your block or neighborhood or something. Most people are totally sedentary which has a negative effect on your body. Even working out for an hour+ a day I'd still qualify myself as sedentary. I don't move nearly enough during the day.

 

Diet:

I drank an absolutely tremendous amount of pop. I cut that out basically entirely over the first 2 months and replaced it with water. Get a camelbak or some other water bottle like that and just drink it all day long. It helps suppress your appetite and drinking water when you wake up has a similar effect to eating breakfast as far as jumpstarting your metabolism goes. If you feel like you need the caffeine, unsweet tea is an okay option. Coffee isn't terrible, but it can dehydrate you just like pop I think. I'm not a coffee drinker so take all that with a grain of salt.

 

I also had a ton of fast food. I think I went down to weekly or every other week. These are obvious, but it bears repeating.

 

Get MyFitnessPal on your phone and log everything you eat. I did this religiously the first few months before I got comfortable knowing exactly what the nutritional value was of most everything I was eating. You want to keep your fat low low low.

 

This is important: 1 gram of protein and 1 gram of carbohydrates are equal to (only) 4 calories. 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories. So you can see how that can add up quickly. Ideally you want to keep your calories to come from 40-50% protein, 40-30% carbs, and ~20% fats. Keeping fat low is hard because, well, everything that tastes amazing is seemingly high in fat.

 

Always be on the lookout for foods that are high in protein and low in fat. Turkey is your friend. A 4oz serving of turkey, processed or not, usually has 9-11g protein to only 1-2g of fat. Going back to the above ratios that'll be 44 calories of protein (70%), 18 calories of fat (30%). I go through 3 or 4 pounds of turkey a week. I'll eat it as a snack, go grab a handful, put some mustard on it and eat it. 1% cottage cheese is terrific (9g protein, 1g fat). Danon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt is awesome (12g protein, low on fat, some carbs... great for those ratios).

 

As far as what I stay away from, the answer is basically nothing. It's all about moderation. I love hamburger. But it is terrible for you and I never realized it. I still eat it, but maybe instead of 2 I'll have one, stuff like that. Cheese is actually really high in fat too, but I love cheese. Reduced fat string cheese is a great snack. Sargento has a line of "ultra thin" sliced cheese that I put on sandwiches. Oh, one thing I do stay away from entirely is mayonaise. God I loved mayo. But like 1Tbsp of that is like 90 calories!!!! These are the things you learn when you log your food in MyFitnessPal. Mustard and spicy mustard are awesome. I've dabbled in "light mayo" but it's just not the same lol

 

One thing you'll want to do is snack throughout the day. Of course, I mean good snacks and not snickers (unfortunately!). You want to keep your metabolism going. This also helps you sit down at dinner and not eat everything in sight, fun as that may be. Banana, greek yogurt, carrots, celery, stuff like that.

 

Here's a 'shopping list' of things I buy whenever I'm at the grocery

 

 

• Wheat bread - they say stay away from "white" carbs. I hated wheat bread and pasta at first, but that was mostly because I had never had it.
• Carrots/hummus - another good snack
• Apples/Bananas - fruits are good carbs and provide some sugar. Try to limit your intake as the day gets later though.
• FISH - tilapia and salmon. Very high in protein, very low in fat
• CHICKEN - same as above. I'm only somewhat culinarily inclined so I buy the frozen chicken breasts that I can thaw and cook as needed. You can have 12oz of that at a time and it's still not a negative meal. I love chicken. Tyson I think also has a grilled strips frozen brand that I get and put in salads too. (Don't forget to watch your dressing!)
• TURKEY - again, even processed packaged stuff. I eat it constantly.
• Ground Turkey - (99% lean) as a hamburger substitute. It... doesn't suck? I mean it's not good either but, meh. I've made burgers, sausage gravy, and stroganoff with it and you get used to it
• Danon light and fit greek yogurt - These are great for breakfast lunch or dinner. There are some "dessert" flavors, too if you have a sweet tooth.
• 1% cottage cheese
• Eggs - eggs you have to be careful with. If I'm making scrambled eggs or an omelette (I love omelettes) I usually have 2 whole eggs and 3ish egg whites, where I just remove the yolk from the bowl before I mix it up. Egg white - protein. Egg yolk - fat.
• There's almond milk in different flavors too which is actually really good and healthy but it's kind of expensive so I hardly ever get it. There's on vanilla flavor that's so good it could be a dessert drink
• Rice is a good place to find carbs. There are a lot of carbs though.
• Vegetables of basically any kind. They're filling and contain no fats. Spinach, green beans, and asparagus I really like. They can go with just about any meal too it seems like.

The list doesn't stop there though! You can be creative. I'm assuming you have more kitchen skills than I do (not a high bar!) so you can find ways to cook all sorts of meals that are healthy.

 

 

 

You don't have to stop eating some things just because they're "unhealthy" either. You don't want to take this seriously enough to the point that you're miserable. You'll have to make some concessions of course, but there's room in this "diet" for everything. I still have fast food. I still have hamburger. I still have steak. I still have the occasional terrible sweet. It just means you'll have to make up for it in other ways. Flexible dieting is all about hitting your numbers. I think diets that harp on "low carb!" "no fat!" "high fat!" "paleo!" etc etc etc are silly and a great way to make yourself miserable.

 

TL;DR

- Be active in some way

- Get on MyFitnessPal (this very second)

- little pop, little fast food

- MORE WATER

- Be conscious of what you're buying at the grocery. Look at the labels. You'll feel like an idiot standing there picking stuff up and putting it back but whatever, you're on a mission dammit!

[Tex]

Dude! Well done!

[TuskenRaider]

Very well done indeed! I can attest that cutting out the soda and trying to exclusively drink water helps waaaaaay more than you think it should.

 

(update while I'm in here, but It's been about 14 months now since I started and I seem to have settled at the 70 lbs loss area, which is right where I wanted to be! so huzzah! )

[Cashmere]

Congrats on your weight loss, Fozzie! Sucks that it involved medical issues, but it's still awesome!

 

Lookin' good, Lucas. Hottie alert!

 

70 pounds is a crazy lot, TR. Nice work!

 

It's nice to see some good news cropping up round these parts!

[Guest]

Great work, Lucas. Total inspiration.

 

I'm closing in on 50 lbs, and it feels great. I'm actually enjoying exercise. I went for a run yesterday just out of the blue. Did a mile, which is nothing for most people but it's the first time I've gone an entire mile without having to stop in a long, long time.

 

And that was after spending the day helping a friend move. Then today I took my son out for a bike ride, and then mowed the lawn and I still feel energized.

Eating healthier is also a lot easier than I ever imagined. I'm using LoseIt combined with MapMyFitness. I don't have a smart phone, and I'm limited on apps on my Kindle Fire, so I have to use what's available, but I really like both sites/apps. I really haven't given anything up, but it helps to know what I'm eating and make better choices. I need to increase my protein, but in terms of calories, I do really well and rarely feel like I'm really sacrificing anything. Just making better choices. For example: someone brought cookies to my boss, who offered me one. Well within my calorie count for the day, but I also knew that I had some birthday cake left at home that I wanted to eat (homemade coconut cake with raspberry filling - way better than a sugar cookie). So I turned it down and focused on what I really wanted.

 

I'm on track to hit my goal weight in January, and then I'll switch to tracking to maintain my weight for a few months until I'm really confident with it. Then, most likely next summer, I feel like I'll be in good shape to not focus on using apps or anything, but it's great to have the current technology. Heck, I would say the apps are almost like workout/accountability partners for me, and they work better for me than other people. Most of my friends either have 0 interest in losing weight, or are already super athletic guys who run marathons without training. So I'm either not getting support, or it's from people who don't know the struggle. So, those apps make me log it and keep me accountable.

[monkeygirl]

 

I just recently passed my two year "anniversary" of deciding to stop being horrendously overweight and unhappy.

 

Nice job, man!

 

LUCAS!!! How YOU doin'?

 

[3 & 6 years to go...]

From the beginning:

 

Well, even before anything - try to find a buddy! Even if it's popping in here and talking about it, that's better than nothing. I had a group of guys I work out with and would really encourage me as I started the process. That was invaluable to me. I drank a ton of pop and we had talked about that, and on day 2 (my first full day "on the program") my buddy texted me and said "don't get a pop at lunch!" I'll remember that little gesture until the day I die. If you can find a partner to work out with - terrific! If not, it'll be harder to motivate yourself on those "off" days, but you can do it.

 

Working out:

I lift weights 5-6 days a week. The last year-ish I've done cardio probably on average 3 mornings a week, but I was about a year (and lots of weight lost) into the process before I bothered adding any cardio. Lifting isn't necessary but it's a fat burner/muscle builder. It helps tone and turn some of that fat into muscle. I recommend a gym membership if you have the time and can commit to going, even if it's awkward or you hate going. I usually work out in my friends basement (they have a full gym essentially), but I also have a membership at Planet Fitness which has spread like the plague lately so I'm sure there's on in your area. If you need workout advice I can offer that too.

 

You don't have to work out, but I think it tremendously helps the process. If nothing else, find 30 minutes and walk around your block or neighborhood or something. Most people are totally sedentary which has a negative effect on your body. Even working out for an hour+ a day I'd still qualify myself as sedentary. I don't move nearly enough during the day.

 

Diet:

I drank an absolutely tremendous amount of pop. I cut that out basically entirely over the first 2 months and replaced it with water. Get a camelbak or some other water bottle like that and just drink it all day long. It helps suppress your appetite and drinking water when you wake up has a similar effect to eating breakfast as far as jumpstarting your metabolism goes. If you feel like you need the caffeine, unsweet tea is an okay option. Coffee isn't terrible, but it can dehydrate you just like pop I think. I'm not a coffee drinker so take all that with a grain of salt.

 

I also had a ton of fast food. I think I went down to weekly or every other week. These are obvious, but it bears repeating.

 

Get MyFitnessPal on your phone and log everything you eat. I did this religiously the first few months before I got comfortable knowing exactly what the nutritional value was of most everything I was eating. You want to keep your fat low low low.

 

This is important: 1 gram of protein and 1 gram of carbohydrates are equal to (only) 4 calories. 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories. So you can see how that can add up quickly. Ideally you want to keep your calories to come from 40-50% protein, 40-30% carbs, and ~20% fats. Keeping fat low is hard because, well, everything that tastes amazing is seemingly high in fat.

 

Always be on the lookout for foods that are high in protein and low in fat. Turkey is your friend. A 4oz serving of turkey, processed or not, usually has 9-11g protein to only 1-2g of fat. Going back to the above ratios that'll be 44 calories of protein (70%), 18 calories of fat (30%). I go through 3 or 4 pounds of turkey a week. I'll eat it as a snack, go grab a handful, put some mustard on it and eat it. 1% cottage cheese is terrific (9g protein, 1g fat). Danon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt is awesome (12g protein, low on fat, some carbs... great for those ratios).

 

As far as what I stay away from, the answer is basically nothing. It's all about moderation. I love hamburger. But it is terrible for you and I never realized it. I still eat it, but maybe instead of 2 I'll have one, stuff like that. Cheese is actually really high in fat too, but I love cheese. Reduced fat string cheese is a great snack. Sargento has a line of "ultra thin" sliced cheese that I put on sandwiches. Oh, one thing I do stay away from entirely is mayonaise. God I loved mayo. But like 1Tbsp of that is like 90 calories!!!! These are the things you learn when you log your food in MyFitnessPal. Mustard and spicy mustard are awesome. I've dabbled in "light mayo" but it's just not the same lol

 

One thing you'll want to do is snack throughout the day. Of course, I mean good snacks and not snickers (unfortunately!). You want to keep your metabolism going. This also helps you sit down at dinner and not eat everything in sight, fun as that may be. Banana, greek yogurt, carrots, celery, stuff like that.

 

Here's a 'shopping list' of things I buy whenever I'm at the grocery

 

 

• Wheat bread - they say stay away from "white" carbs. I hated wheat bread and pasta at first, but that was mostly because I had never had it.
• Carrots/hummus - another good snack
• Apples/Bananas - fruits are good carbs and provide some sugar. Try to limit your intake as the day gets later though.
• FISH - tilapia and salmon. Very high in protein, very low in fat
• CHICKEN - same as above. I'm only somewhat culinarily inclined so I buy the frozen chicken breasts that I can thaw and cook as needed. You can have 12oz of that at a time and it's still not a negative meal. I love chicken. Tyson I think also has a grilled strips frozen brand that I get and put in salads too. (Don't forget to watch your dressing!)
• TURKEY - again, even processed packaged stuff. I eat it constantly.
• Ground Turkey - (99% lean) as a hamburger substitute. It... doesn't suck? I mean it's not good either but, meh. I've made burgers, sausage gravy, and stroganoff with it and you get used to it
• Danon light and fit greek yogurt - These are great for breakfast lunch or dinner. There are some "dessert" flavors, too if you have a sweet tooth.
• 1% cottage cheese
• Eggs - eggs you have to be careful with. If I'm making scrambled eggs or an omelette (I love omelettes) I usually have 2 whole eggs and 3ish egg whites, where I just remove the yolk from the bowl before I mix it up. Egg white - protein. Egg yolk - fat.
• There's almond milk in different flavors too which is actually really good and healthy but it's kind of expensive so I hardly ever get it. There's on vanilla flavor that's so good it could be a dessert drink
• Rice is a good place to find carbs. There are a lot of carbs though.
• Vegetables of basically any kind. They're filling and contain no fats. Spinach, green beans, and asparagus I really like. They can go with just about any meal too it seems like.

The list doesn't stop there though! You can be creative. I'm assuming you have more kitchen skills than I do (not a high bar!) so you can find ways to cook all sorts of meals that are healthy.

 

 

 

You don't have to stop eating some things just because they're "unhealthy" either. You don't want to take this seriously enough to the point that you're miserable. You'll have to make some concessions of course, but there's room in this "diet" for everything. I still have fast food. I still have hamburger. I still have steak. I still have the occasional terrible sweet. It just means you'll have to make up for it in other ways. Flexible dieting is all about hitting your numbers. I think diets that harp on "low carb!" "no fat!" "high fat!" "paleo!" etc etc etc are silly and a great way to make yourself miserable.

 

TL;DR

- Be active in some way

- Get on MyFitnessPal (this very second)

- little pop, little fast food

- MORE WATER

- Be conscious of what you're buying at the grocery. Look at the labels. You'll feel like an idiot standing there picking stuff up and putting it back but whatever, you're on a mission dammit!

Thanks, Lucas. Awesome information. Very much appreciated for this information and the effort.

[Guest]

Another TL;DR note that I've noticed:

-Don't just eat "healthy."

 

I have a really good diet, and sometimes I've found that it's too healthy, to the point of either not getting enough calories and then I'm really struggling. I've found that if I have something extra here and there it makes it easier to exercise restraint, helps me to feel good about what I'm doing, and I have more success with weight loss.

 

As of today, I officially weigh less than when I graduated high school.

[Lucas1138]

Agreed 100%! That goes with my "don't make yourself miserable" point. You're doing this to make yourself feel better, and if you're depriving your body of energy, or making eating a totally thankless/pleasure-less experience, then that almost invalidates the whole process.

 

Congrats btw! That's awesome. When I got really heavy I remember a few times thinking about my high school weight and just thinking it was so far away. Like how can I ever get back down to that? How did I ever get so far away from it? It was a huge accomplishment for me when my driver's license weight (unchanged since I was 16) became "current" again. And now it's too heavy!

LUCAS!!! How YOU doin'?

 

 

How YOU doin?

[Darth Krawlie]

Jesus, less than high school? That's insane to me. While I definitely need to lose weight, my high school weight is completely unrealistic. I was a twig at 6'6 and 150 pounds. Of course now I'm 260, so you know.

[Driver]

I'm going all out these days and throwing all my money at the problem.

 

I bought a broke and I ride 40 minutes five days a week, usually burning 500 calories. I meet with a trainer twice a week to do weight training and some cardio.

 

After months of that, my weight wasn't changing. I was burning off fat, but replacing it with muscle-- but was still overweight.

 

For me it's all about food. On top of all that, I was still eating what I wanted. Food is really hard for me. I love restaurants. hate cooking, hate shopping, hate doing dishes, hate planning meals. I usually don't think about food until I'm starving and then I just eat whatever is convenient.

 

So a month ago I joined a food service. I tell them I need to eat 2200 calories a day, and three meals plus snacks show up in a bag on my porch in the middle of the night. I eat the meals and that's it. They are nutritious of course since I'm not prepping them.

 

Since starting that, I've been losing about 5 pounds a week.

 

So basically my advice to everyone is to stop eating things that taste good.

[Guest]

5 lbs a week? That's huge.

[Guest]

And it sounds like your advice is really just to be rich enough to have people do everything for you. Which I guess I also do because my wife at least makes dinner for me every night, and I either pack my lunch myself or take leftovers from her super nutritious dinner.

[3 & 6 years to go...]

I'm going all out these days and throwing all my money at the problem.

 

I bought a broke and I ride 40 minutes five days a week, usually burning 500 calories. I meet with a trainer twice a week to do weight training and some cardio.

 

After months of that, my weight wasn't changing. I was burning off fat, but replacing it with muscle-- but was still overweight.

 

For me it's all about food. On top of all that, I was still eating what I wanted. Food is really hard for me. I love restaurants. hate cooking, hate shopping, hate doing dishes, hate planning meals. I usually don't think about food until I'm starving and then I just eat whatever is convenient.

 

So a month ago I joined a food service. I tell them I need to eat 2200 calories a day, and three meals plus snacks show up in a bag on my porch in the middle of the night. I eat the meals and that's it. They are nutritious of course since I'm not prepping them.

 

Since starting that, I've been losing about 5 pounds a week.

 

So basically my advice to everyone is to stop eating things that taste good.

LOL!!!!!!! That is it, exactly. Anything that tastes good, is not good for you. It makes me feel, at times, that I cannot win.

[Guest]

Do you cook, 3 & 6? I know Driver doesn't, but Cooking Light has some really great low cal versions of great things.

 

Of course I also really like vegetables, so last night I was still hungry after dinner so I made myself a spinach and tomato salad without any dressing, so my tastes may not be perfectly aligned.

[Driver]

See, yeah I'd rather get kicked in the nads than eat that.

 

 

I like veggies, but I'm pretty sure I never crave a salad that's only 2 items and no dressing.

 

5 lbs a week? That's huge.

Workout wise, I'm burning 400-600 a day, so as soon as I cut out the pizza and burgers and other things that make me happy, fitness suddenly works.

 

And it sounds like your advice is really just to be rich enough to have people do everything for you. Which I guess I also do because my wife at least makes dinner for me every night, and I either pack my lunch myself or take leftovers from her super nutritious dinner.

 

I know you're being glib-- but the sad truth is that in most of the world, the more poor you are the less likely you are to be overweight. It is actually a thing I struggle with mentally, knowing that I was unhealthy for ages and not having the willpower to fix it, and yet money is making a difference.

 

When I say food is hard for me I mean it. It's a thing that causes me crazy stress.

[Destiny Skywalker]

Driver, is the company you use nationwide?

[Driver]

No-- it's a local LA service. And it's stupid expensive. I can't justify it for more than a couple months, so hopefully I get close to my target weight at the end and get programmed to eat like less of a person who enjoys food.

[Odine]

See, yeah I'd rather get kicked in the nads than eat that.

 

 

I like veggies, but I'm pretty sure I never crave a salad that's only 2 items and no dressing.

 

 

5 lbs a week? That's huge.

Workout wise, I'm burning 400-600 a day, so as soon as I cut out the pizza and burgers and other things that make me happy, fitness suddenly works.

And it sounds like your advice is really just to be rich enough to have people do everything for you. Which I guess I also do because my wife at least makes dinner for me every night, and I either pack my lunch myself or take leftovers from her super nutritious dinner.

I know you're being glib-- but the sad truth is that in most of the world, the more poor you are the less likely you are to be overweight. It is actually a thing I struggle with mentally, knowing that I was unhealthy for ages and not having the willpower to fix it, and yet money is making a difference.

 

When I say food is hard for me I mean it. It's a thing that causes me crazy stress.

In the western world the opposite is true. The poorer you are the more likely you are to be fat/obese. Processed, sugary fat foods that are packaged are a lot cheaper than healthy organic stuff. Couple the fact that poorer people don't have the best access to education or education around nutrition and you put a fried chicken shop on every corner of poorer neighbourhoods (or a mc Donald's) where you can get a greasy meal for £3. Sugar is the absolute worst though.

 

 

Congradulations on the weight loss everyone.

[Darth Krawlie]

I don't know what my afternoon is gonna look like, but I'm gonna try to start working out again today. When I get going I'm pretty good about it for a few months solid, but it's so easy to break the habit. And with a new baby any day now, who knows how it'll work. But my doctor's worried about a couple things, so I gotta try, right?

 

Ugh. Sounds awful.

[Driver]

Lite beer?

[Lucas1138]

Ditch beer (almost) entirely. Hard liquor all the way.