At the encouragement of another member, I'm making one of these progress threads that all the cool kids are doing these days. I'm just going to steal Kaotic's format since it worked well for him. There's a whole lot of text here that's likely to be of little interest to most people, feel free to skip it:
Background: I've spent the majority of my life morbidly obese. Let's just say a BMI of 40 or potentially higher (At my worst I was 315 pounds, or hell, maybe it was 325. I can't even remember.) I'm a tall guy, around 6'2''-6'3'', with a very large frame by default, so the weight didn't look quite as bad as me as it would on other people (and due to weird circumstances I was getting laid anyway). But it was still very, very bad. Thanks to the intervention of the "manosphere", if anybody remembers when this portion of the internet was called that, I got into weightlifting, I was able to drop the majority of the weight, and go all the way down to where I was "slightly overweight", with a good amount of that weight being muscle.
Then... there were problems. Catastrophic illness. Really bad injuries. Failed business ventures. Massive stress. The full story is long, boring, and of no interest to anybody, but suffice to say that a good chunk of those hard-won gains are gone now. But after a long period of extremely painful physical therapy, I'm ready to get back in the gym.
Basic Stats:
Height: 6'2'' (It would be 6'3'' but my posture is shit.)
Weight: 246 (It was 243 before I had that late-night grilled cheese and fries with the rest of the RVF crew at the meetup Monday. Knew that was a bad idea, but damn that was a good grilled cheese)
Bodyfat: God, who knows. Way, way higher than it should be.
Goals:
Long-Term Goal: Fairly simple: I'd like to be proud of myself when I look in the mirror. That means not having a giant tire around my waist, and having some muscle on my arms and chest. I would also like to fix my posture, which is in bad shape at the moment.
Short-Term Goal: I'd like to learn to squat and deadlift properly. I never did even when I was a lifter, because I had lots of flexibility issues (Over a decade breaking 300 lbs will do that to you), and I didn't feel comfortable doing the movements with an impaired range of motion. After my physical therapy, my range of motion is where it needs to be to do these exercises, and I am really looking forward to doing them.
Diet Rules
I'm not big into crash diets. I've tried them before, and they don't work for me and I haven't enjoyed the time that I've spent doing them. I also have social obligations that occasionally demand eating unhealthy food (that I can't get out of without jeopardizing valuable work relationships) and so anything that demands 100% adherence at all times, like a ketogenic diet, isn't going to work for me. At the advice of some members (Thanks Linux!) and some people I respect, I've come up with the following diet rules:
1.) Between 250 and 300 grams of protein a day. This is, for me, an absolutely mind-boggling amount of protein, but it's doable. This will come primarily from steak, chicken, and protein shakes, with a bit of sausage because I like sausage. I'm a decent enough cook, and thanks to the magic of sous-vide I can buy cheap steak and have it taste amazing. This alone should do a significant amount for my diet, because I can't even imagine being hungry after eating that much protein.
2.) No carbs past six PM.
3.) A general switch to whole foods as opposed to pre-prepared ones. I am a big fan of apples, for instance, and will be eating a lot of them instead of junk snacks.
Exercise Plan
I will be working with a local personal trainer to develop a plan that I can follow, because I still have some minor injury issues left over that prevent me from just grabbing a plan off the internet and following it.
I expect to be going to the gym to lift 3-4 times a week, and that what I do will involve a good deal of compound lifts at fairly heavy weight, and barbell and dumbbell lifts, as opposed to machines. I personally don't believe that stuff about machines stopping you from developing "functional strength", but I enjoy lifting with a barbell more than I enjoy doing a machine chest press.
I will also be doing HIIT (High Intenstity Interval Training) cardio 5 times a week, with a target heart rate in the high 150s or low 160s. The program will consist of a four minute warm up, 4 or 5 sets of 30 second at full speed followed by a 1:30 cooldown, and then a 4 minute cooldown at the end. I'll just be using the recumbent bike because I have easy access to one, and keeping it set to a difficulty setting of 8 for consistency purposes.
Supplementation
I've been eyeing TRT, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable with it. For now my supplementation regimen will consist of the following:
Whey protein shakes: Obviously.
Creatine: I respond extremely well to this stuff. I don't know why, but I do.
Melatonin: Solely as needed to keep myself on a regular sleep schedule. This stuff is the most effective sleeping drug I've ever tried, but I don't like the idea of taking it all the time. HIIT seems to make me plenty tired without it anyway.
Multivitamin, magnesium and vitamin D: To address existing vitamin deficiencies.
With all that TL;DR stuff out of the way...
7/12/17: This was my first meeting with my personal trainer, and so it was a very odd workout since we focused on learning form. Weight obviously wasn't very high, and the number of exercises performed wasn't very high either, because it was my first time learning most of these exercises and it was a lot of explanation and form checking:
Box Squat: 0lbs (Bar only) x 8, 10lbs x 8, 10lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8
Rack Pulls: 15lbs x 8, 15lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8.
Machine Leg Press: 150x12, 4 sets.
HIIT Training per above. Didn't write down how many calories. (In the future I'll write down the amount of calories the machine says I burned here. I'm well aware that these calorie figures don't accurately measure reality, but if performed under consistent conditions it should provide an accurate measure of relative effort: if one week the same machine says I burned 100 calories and a month after that 200, even if both figures are bullshit it tells me that my cardiovascular system and leg muscles are now significantly stronger.)
Comments are more than welcome, as is criticism and highlighting anything you think I'm missing. This section of the forum has consistently been an inspiration to me, and I respect everyone who posts here and the knowledge that you share.
Background: I've spent the majority of my life morbidly obese. Let's just say a BMI of 40 or potentially higher (At my worst I was 315 pounds, or hell, maybe it was 325. I can't even remember.) I'm a tall guy, around 6'2''-6'3'', with a very large frame by default, so the weight didn't look quite as bad as me as it would on other people (and due to weird circumstances I was getting laid anyway). But it was still very, very bad. Thanks to the intervention of the "manosphere", if anybody remembers when this portion of the internet was called that, I got into weightlifting, I was able to drop the majority of the weight, and go all the way down to where I was "slightly overweight", with a good amount of that weight being muscle.
Then... there were problems. Catastrophic illness. Really bad injuries. Failed business ventures. Massive stress. The full story is long, boring, and of no interest to anybody, but suffice to say that a good chunk of those hard-won gains are gone now. But after a long period of extremely painful physical therapy, I'm ready to get back in the gym.
Basic Stats:
Height: 6'2'' (It would be 6'3'' but my posture is shit.)
Weight: 246 (It was 243 before I had that late-night grilled cheese and fries with the rest of the RVF crew at the meetup Monday. Knew that was a bad idea, but damn that was a good grilled cheese)
Bodyfat: God, who knows. Way, way higher than it should be.
Goals:
Long-Term Goal: Fairly simple: I'd like to be proud of myself when I look in the mirror. That means not having a giant tire around my waist, and having some muscle on my arms and chest. I would also like to fix my posture, which is in bad shape at the moment.
Short-Term Goal: I'd like to learn to squat and deadlift properly. I never did even when I was a lifter, because I had lots of flexibility issues (Over a decade breaking 300 lbs will do that to you), and I didn't feel comfortable doing the movements with an impaired range of motion. After my physical therapy, my range of motion is where it needs to be to do these exercises, and I am really looking forward to doing them.
Diet Rules
I'm not big into crash diets. I've tried them before, and they don't work for me and I haven't enjoyed the time that I've spent doing them. I also have social obligations that occasionally demand eating unhealthy food (that I can't get out of without jeopardizing valuable work relationships) and so anything that demands 100% adherence at all times, like a ketogenic diet, isn't going to work for me. At the advice of some members (Thanks Linux!) and some people I respect, I've come up with the following diet rules:
1.) Between 250 and 300 grams of protein a day. This is, for me, an absolutely mind-boggling amount of protein, but it's doable. This will come primarily from steak, chicken, and protein shakes, with a bit of sausage because I like sausage. I'm a decent enough cook, and thanks to the magic of sous-vide I can buy cheap steak and have it taste amazing. This alone should do a significant amount for my diet, because I can't even imagine being hungry after eating that much protein.
2.) No carbs past six PM.
3.) A general switch to whole foods as opposed to pre-prepared ones. I am a big fan of apples, for instance, and will be eating a lot of them instead of junk snacks.
Exercise Plan
I will be working with a local personal trainer to develop a plan that I can follow, because I still have some minor injury issues left over that prevent me from just grabbing a plan off the internet and following it.
I expect to be going to the gym to lift 3-4 times a week, and that what I do will involve a good deal of compound lifts at fairly heavy weight, and barbell and dumbbell lifts, as opposed to machines. I personally don't believe that stuff about machines stopping you from developing "functional strength", but I enjoy lifting with a barbell more than I enjoy doing a machine chest press.
I will also be doing HIIT (High Intenstity Interval Training) cardio 5 times a week, with a target heart rate in the high 150s or low 160s. The program will consist of a four minute warm up, 4 or 5 sets of 30 second at full speed followed by a 1:30 cooldown, and then a 4 minute cooldown at the end. I'll just be using the recumbent bike because I have easy access to one, and keeping it set to a difficulty setting of 8 for consistency purposes.
Supplementation
I've been eyeing TRT, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable with it. For now my supplementation regimen will consist of the following:
Whey protein shakes: Obviously.
Creatine: I respond extremely well to this stuff. I don't know why, but I do.
Melatonin: Solely as needed to keep myself on a regular sleep schedule. This stuff is the most effective sleeping drug I've ever tried, but I don't like the idea of taking it all the time. HIIT seems to make me plenty tired without it anyway.
Multivitamin, magnesium and vitamin D: To address existing vitamin deficiencies.
With all that TL;DR stuff out of the way...
7/12/17: This was my first meeting with my personal trainer, and so it was a very odd workout since we focused on learning form. Weight obviously wasn't very high, and the number of exercises performed wasn't very high either, because it was my first time learning most of these exercises and it was a lot of explanation and form checking:
Box Squat: 0lbs (Bar only) x 8, 10lbs x 8, 10lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8
Rack Pulls: 15lbs x 8, 15lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8, 20lbs x 8.
Machine Leg Press: 150x12, 4 sets.
HIIT Training per above. Didn't write down how many calories. (In the future I'll write down the amount of calories the machine says I burned here. I'm well aware that these calorie figures don't accurately measure reality, but if performed under consistent conditions it should provide an accurate measure of relative effort: if one week the same machine says I burned 100 calories and a month after that 200, even if both figures are bullshit it tells me that my cardiovascular system and leg muscles are now significantly stronger.)
Comments are more than welcome, as is criticism and highlighting anything you think I'm missing. This section of the forum has consistently been an inspiration to me, and I respect everyone who posts here and the knowledge that you share.
