Weight Loss Thread

I agree with the gist of Lyrical's posts: most people should lift because the benefits are far-ranging and apply to practically any human's short/mid/longterm goals. He's just got some weird bro-science mixed in.

I just ate a 150g carb breakfast. Am I going to die?

Oatmeal banana pancakes are the SHIT.

Getting under 10% is certainly harder. It takes a lot more mental fortitude and diligence.

Kuriin_sl said:

Crone, you are going to see some results pretty quickly if you keep this up. I agree with Khane that if you are looking to lose weight, then to cut a lot of the protein shakes out of your diet. I would recommend eating plain veggies as well (broccoli, celery, etc.) as it will provide a feeling of satiety but have a calorie deficit.

Also, please do not follow McCheese's advice. Wow, I can't imagine what his labs look like. x_x

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Thanks!

I cut the protein shakes out, as they were giving me stomach issues. Switched to hard boiled egg, raw almonds, and greek yogurt. Carrots and hummus for morning snack, still chicken and veggies for lunch, etc etc.

Still trying to add the 3rd day at the gym, because it feels great. Also threw in 5-10 minutes in the sauna after the work out, and man is that awesome. Something about that extra sweat! I should be taking pictures, but haven't yet!

edit: Oh, and for cardio I'm doing the elliptical, and over the last month, it's gotten easier and easier to do, so I keep increasing the resistance. Many of them can also increase the step "height" as well. I remember that first week, resistance 1, or no resistance was tough. Now I'm at 5. I remember a few years back I was up to like 14 or something for an hour, so I'm getting back to where I was!

Ossoi_sl said:

I've never been more than 180-185lbs but I find that hard to believe. Getting under 10% is really not that hard.

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Everyones got different drive and determination to do it but getting under 10% requires some fairly strict discipline and willpower. You have to have a good idea of what to do to get there and work hard to do it. Losing weight for overweight people is not nearly as hard. It really is consume less calories. The body doesn't fight against it. For you it may have seemed easy but my take away from your posting history is that you work your ass off, nutritionally and physically. Dropping weight when you're 250 requires absolutely none of that work.

A bit late to the thread but I had my 1 year follow up today from the sleeve gastrectomy some before and after pics.

Itlan_sl said:

I just ate a 150g carb breakfast. Am I going to die?

Oatmeal banana pancakes are the SHIT.

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Same here, eating pb & j for lunch lately, did the math and it's about 115g of carbs for two, add in a burrito and potato chips. I love poisoning myself.

Skrigg_sl said:

A bit late to the thread but I had my 1 year follow up today from the sleeve gastrectomy some before and after pics.

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I don't know what any of this means. Do you eat carbs?

Itlan_sl said:

I don't know what any of this means. Do you eat carbs?

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Nah, he probably prefers to slowly poison himself with sugar.

Gratz Skrigg, keep it up.

Himeo_sl said:

I'm the most successful weight loss story on these forums, and I already posted my monthly anti-sugar rant.

Stop eating sugar and starch, lose weight. I just don't understand why this is still a topic for debate. So much science has come out in the last 12 months validating what I and the low carb community has been preaching for two hundred years.

What we were taught in school about weight management and heart disease was wrong. Catch up.

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This isn't really the thread or sub-forum for it, but there was a lot of stuff taught in the 80s/90s in school which was not only incorrect, but the exact opposite of what we "should" be doing. 8-12 servings of carbs a day was the least of it.

Crone_sl said:

Thanks!

I cut the protein shakes out, as they were giving me stomach issues. Switched to hard boiled egg, raw almonds, and greek yogurt. Carrots and hummus for morning snack, still chicken and veggies for lunch, etc etc.

Still trying to add the 3rd day at the gym, because it feels great. Also threw in 5-10 minutes in the sauna after the work out, and man is that awesome. Something about that extra sweat! I should be taking pictures, but haven't yet!

edit: Oh, and for cardio I'm doing the elliptical, and over the last month, it's gotten easier and easier to do, so I keep increasing the resistance. Many of them can also increase the step "height" as well. I remember that first week, resistance 1, or no resistance was tough. Now I'm at 5. I remember a few years back I was up to like 14 or something for an hour, so I'm getting back to where I was!

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remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint, keep up the dedication, even if the motivation starts to fade.

edit: my own progress: I bought some pants yesterday in a new size for the first time in a few years, 34 inch waist. I haven't ever worn 34 inch waist pants since I was in middle school. My entire high school "career" I wore 36x30. When I was in the air force I was measured at 38 in my blues, but it very quickly turned into 40 for my pt tests after about a year...it feels good. They aren't very flattering, so no pictures, since it causes a little bit of a muffin top, but they are actually pretty damned comfortable, and way better looking than the 38x30s that I was wearing before that looked like ghetto thug pants. Funny how much of a gut I still have though, my upper chest is starting to look "shredded" when I get a pump going after a hard workout, but I'd still estimate my BF at way over 15%. The gut is the only part of my body that I don't really like looking at in a mirror now, I imagine that means it will start to disappear soon too, hopefully another 4-5 weeks of IF will make a large noticeable difference there. Maybe the 34s will just be a stepping stone down to 32s even.

Itlan_sl said:

Getting under 10% is certainly harder. It takes a lot more mental fortitude and diligence.

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This. So much this. I have gone from ~44% BF to ~12%. I can say one thing for certain, the closer and closer I get, the harder it is becoming mentally. It is a combination of little things that aren't even necessarily conscious. There are so many jerky things my mind tries to do...

You have lost so much, this one meal isn't going to hurt.
Splurge a bit on calories today, you are working out later.
You lost less than one pound last week, what is wrong with you? May as well have gained weight.
Etc, etc.

This was never a problem when I was larger because losing weight in the beginning was slightly more than zero effort and was substantial. When you reach the land of only being able to lose around one pound or less that is when the discipline that has been cultivated either holds true or fails completely.

On the other hand, I will post the spreadsheet I have developed over the past year to see if it can help anyone. It is just a quick cheat sheet I use to track target weight, estimated date hit based on activity level, and so on. Mainly because I wanted a way to calculate a custom activity level as the jump between each seems large and never quite fits what I have going on.

I think I was a 38 at some point Antarius, during college anyway. 34 waists are too large and my quads don't fit in 32s, so I have to wear 34s and look like I shit my pants.

No, I'm too lazy to go see a fucking tailor.

Itlan_sl said:

I think I was a 38 at some point Antarius, during college anyway. 34 waists are too large and my quads don't fit in 32s, so I have to wear 34s and look like I shit my pants.

No, I'm too lazy to go see a fucking tailor.

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You can tryKeirin Cut Jeanswhen they finally release, reasonably normal looking jeans for track sprinters. I am a baggy thirty waist that wears 32/33s so I know your pain.

I skip leg day... every day, so no quad problems here.

I wore 44s in high school, and I have problems with jeans being too tight in the quads, too. I don't even do a ton of leg work, but I have naturally big/strong tree trunk legs and kind of a pear shape. I'll never get that ideal V shape unless I become a professional swimmer or something.

Cad_sl said:

Fixed

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Well yeah, of course. I just meant it's a lot easier for some people to get that V taper, due to natural body shape. Some people just naturally have broad shoulders and thin waists/legs so it's easier to reach that point. For those of us with huge hips and tree trunk legs it's a lot harder to accomplish. Anyone can sculpt any body they want given the correct amount of weight loss and muscle building.

On the plus side, when you carry most of your fat in your ass/hips/legs, you don't really have any loose skin like people who carried all their fat in a big ol' belly.