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A little bit of motivation goes a long way...


Lucas1138
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I'll put the TL;DR version up front: I've lost weight!

 

So my senior year of undergrad and first year of law school saw me balloon up in weight. I was pretty much sedentary, would eat out of boredom, all that jazz which generally leads to "not weighing what you used to." I had always been pretty fit, and active, right up until the point where I wasn't then it went down hill in a hurry. I've got pretty broad shoulders which helped, uh, shoulder the weight for a while but eventually not even that helped. I peaked out at around 230 probably (and look even heavier than that in some pictures). The hardest thing wasn't accepting that I was heavy (though I tried to fool myself for a while), it was finding the consistent motivation to do something about it.

 

A friend of mine has a full gym in his parents basement that he, his dad, and his brother-in-law all work out in 5-6 days a week. It really is a full gym, there isn't really an exercise that you could want to do that they don't have the means to do it. A friend of ours lost a ton of weight a couple years ago by working out with them, so I finally decided to get up and do something.

 

Late last August I started working out with them. I had always been athletic and fit, but I was at such a point where I could barely do anything. When we did pushups it wasn't just that I had to go to my knees, they would get behind me and basically spot me on even a few push-ups. This was sad, frustrating, and a whole host of other things. But they stuck with me, so I stuck with them. My eating was a huge problem, I probably had something close to an addiction to fast food and pop. For the first several months I basically cut both of those things out of my diet completely (I might have something every couple of weeks or so). At the law school we had a soda fountain that we could basically use for free refills all day long, so I was drinking a ton of pop throughout the day, and hardly any water... ever.

 

The moment I knew I had their support and they would help me achieve whatever goal I set was at lunch time on day #2. My buddy texted me to ask if I was sore from the day before (God, yes) and more importantly; to remind me to not get pop with lunch. He remembered me mentioning the pop thing and thought to text me. That always stuck with me.

 

Anyway, we basically just did weight training 5-6 days a week for a few months. Then about February or March we started to incorporate cardio 2 days a week (high intensity interval training, none of that psycho "running long distances" crap) to go along with the weights. We've continued on with that up until a few weeks ago when we started the new P90X3 (which is amazing, by the way). For the last 2+ months we've been biking 15-25 miles 4 mornings a week.

 

The weight training was obviously only part of the battle. I did change my diet quite significantly (at least for the first 4-5 months... I'm a backsliding heathen now that I know my "limits" lol). I used MyFitnessPal to track everything I ate throughout the day and I can't tell you what a help that was. I don't use that quite as often anymore since I basically eat the same things and know what my portions are- except for when I know I need to take my diet seriously then I'll start tracking for a couple weeks or whatever. I'm drinking damn near a gallon of water a day; which has helped me with the near constant headaches I used to get that I now know were from dehydration.

 

This family is just a joy to be around. The guy that I'm friends with is one of 10 siblings. The dad is an awesome guy who stays young by constantly being around his kids and whoever his kids drag into the house. They're truly great people, and it only takes about 15 minutes with them before you realize that. They've gone on vacation a couple of times in the last year and have left me with a house key so I could still get in and work out. They've been so good to me and I've tried my very best to let them know.

 

The day I started I weighed in at 225. This morning I weighed 176. I feel as good as I ever have before. I'm incredibly proud of the work I've put into this and the payoff.

 

So, I feel bad about such blatant self promotion but here's my defense to that: I deserve to be proud damn it! And if you've fought for something (whether it's losing weight, quitting smoking, or anything else you've had to commit to) then you do too! You'd be surprised at how supportive people are if you just tell them what it is you're working toward.

 

Part two of that defense is that I seriously am not sure I could have found the motivation to finally get back into shape and commit to working out if it weren't for the "success story" of my other buddy working out in the basement gym or seeing so many friends on instagram posting those cheesy encouraging posts about their own or others' weight loss. So if you need the reassurance that you can do it; trust me when I say: You CAN do it!

 

There's no better feeling than stepping on the scale and almost every day seeing that "Yep, I'm still moving in the right direction" or "Wow, I haven't weighed that for x-amount-of-time!" And you pretty much never stop saying those things. The thrill doesn't wear off!

 

These were two of my "call to action" pictures. Now, they're absolutely terrible pictures and I'd like to think that the angle is bad, and... stuff. But the subject wasn't looking so hot, either lol.

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Birthday dinner (September) 2013

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Random night out, December 2013

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IU law school's "Barristers Ball," March 2014

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April 2014

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At a concert in Indy, June 2014

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Another concert, August 2014

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Okay I went to a few concerts this summer, okay? August 2014

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My best friend's wedding, a few weeks ago.

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Last night, Birthday dinner 2014

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edit: Oh and... this is what I look like, if we're not facebook friends and you haven't ever seen a picture I've posted on NN before lol

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Nice going!

 

My weight yo-yos pretty much constantly. Now that I'm a Hollywood douchebag I have the time and money for a legit regimen and no excuses to not stick to it. I'm actually kicking into gear next week, so thanks for the inspiration!


Also, if the girl in the first pic was all "Hay lose 50 pounds and you can hit it," I'd lose that shit in a week.

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I was that awesome-guy in high school, then once I was buying my own food I became the stereotypical former-jock husband from sitcoms. Around 2006 I peaked at 265lbs while only being 5'10". I'm 236lbs now still have ten pounds to drop to get back to high school jock mode. My doctor says I am otherwise a bull, so no problems. My method for weight loss is slow and steady; Essentially eat better, do more. Specifically I stopped drinking soda like water and stopped regularly eating a Chinese Restaurant.

 

What I'm saying is; I can relate and congratulations!

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Dudes and dudettes, sorry! I didn't mean to post and run. Been a weird, busy weekend!

I'd hit it.

Well it didn't take long to get the compliment I was obviously fishing for.

 

Nice going!

 

My weight yo-yos pretty much constantly. Now that I'm a Hollywood douchebag I have the time and money for a legit regimen and no excuses to not stick to it. I'm actually kicking into gear next week, so thanks for the inspiration!


Also, if the girl in the first pic was all "Hay lose 50 pounds and you can hit it," I'd lose that **** in a week.

The best advice I can give is to find someone else to work out with, hold you accountable, make fun of you when you skip out, etc. And yes, 1st picture girl is a cutie. I studied abroad with her and we randomly ran into each other at the Law School prom in March '13... totally weird.

 

Yay!

 

The toughest thing is the dietary change. I've been also pushing myself. I can do 2.5 miles now at lunch and I'm getting my bike fixed up. I also like that you endorsed that app.

The app was as helpful as having others to hold me accountable. It helps you set a goal and you can actually see whether you are hitting it or not. And you'll be shocked what some of the macros are in some foods you eat. Definitely recommended. The toughest thing might be getting into the habit of logging everything you eat.

 

Way to go!!!

 

Now I feel like Joey Tribbiani and saying, "How you doin'?"

I think the only appropriate way to respond to that is.... How YOU doin'?

 

Congrats! So, next time we meet up, I'm guessing it won't be at Giordano's. :D

Oh, no. Giordanos is definitely still on the menu :D I don't workout to look good - I work out because I like to freakin' eat!

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