woodswise
TID Board Of Directors
- Apr 29, 2012
- 4,347
- 1,358
Starting in 2000 or so, while training myself, I read a book about putting on some serious muscle while doing heavy squats, and was inspired to eat a lot more, and to see how much muscle I could gain over a couple of years. I went from about 200 lbs and fairly lean with no belly, to 250lbs and just plain fat. In the process, I hurt my back and had some chronic joint pain, so I stopped lifting for about 4 years and started feeling sorry for myself, thinking I was just getting old and would never be lean again.
I got tired of feeling sorry for myself and in 2009 I joined a karate school and started lifting weights on my own again. I ended up with a second degree black belt after about 4 years. Though I had regained most of my strength (to a level that now seems pretty pathetic) I was still pretty fat, but in much better shape overall.
In 2012 being tired of little progress in the gym, and thinking I might make one last try to get the physique I have always wanted, I hired my present coach for personal training. I started out significantly overweight, at about 250 lbs (I am only 5'9" so 250 lbs is hippo sized for me). I discovered to my dismay that I really knew almost nothing about putting on muscle or about dieting even after reading dozens of books on the subject and after training myself all those years. My coach was very patient with me. He got me on the right track with both lifting form and intensity as well as diet.
My goals with him have been to add mass and strength, while I gradually leaned out slowly so I would be make a permanent change. In the process, he convinced me to compete in strongman, and in 2017 I won a Master's lightweight US title.
My first serious diet around 2013/2014 was not tight, but I lost about 30 lbs over a year, most of it in the first six months. Then i hit a plateau and my weight loss stopped for a while. Since then I have dieted down once to 206#, then another time on a water cut, to 200#, though in between times I bulked back up to 240#, then 220# and more recently to 230#.
Over that time, with my coach's encouragement I have tightened up my diet quite a bit and finally after a lot of urging, about a year ago decided to get as lean as I can slowly and to not let myself get fat ever again.
In my latest cut, I am not eating much junk at all. If I take a day off, I am merely eating more of the food I eat on days I diet (i.e. salted oatmeal, rice, chicken, rice, fish, cottage cheese on carb days, or eggs with cheese, lean meat for lunch, then chicken thighs for supper). The key to consistently hitting my goals, has been weighing and measuring and logging everything I eat into my food log. I use fitday.com which does a pretty good job for me.
Never having had more than a hint of a six pack for a brief time, this time around, I am starting to see my six pack better than ever before. Assuming I continue this slow progress, I hope to be at 210 lbs and about 10% bf before summer, then 200 lbs in single digit % bodyfat before the end of 2019.
What I have noticed with my fat loss, is that I leaned out first in my extremities and am losing the fat slowest and last in my body core. So while I have veins popping on my forearms and calves, I have slight fat on my biceps and upper arms, and quite a more on my chest, belly, around my waist and on my back. I am thinking I probably won't lose the last of my body core fat or my remaining small belly until I hit single digits in % bodyfat.
Once I hit single digit % bodyfat, I hope to switch to a very slow bulk. To do that, I'll try to hold my body weight close to the low point while eating maintenance calories for a few months, then I'll increase my food intake slightly until I gain 1 lb or less bodyweight per month going ahead. If I get over 10%, I'll diet back down to my single digit %bodyfat at least once per year going forward.
I hope this long post didn't put you into a coma! Thanks for taking the time to read it. Cheers! Ww.
I got tired of feeling sorry for myself and in 2009 I joined a karate school and started lifting weights on my own again. I ended up with a second degree black belt after about 4 years. Though I had regained most of my strength (to a level that now seems pretty pathetic) I was still pretty fat, but in much better shape overall.
In 2012 being tired of little progress in the gym, and thinking I might make one last try to get the physique I have always wanted, I hired my present coach for personal training. I started out significantly overweight, at about 250 lbs (I am only 5'9" so 250 lbs is hippo sized for me). I discovered to my dismay that I really knew almost nothing about putting on muscle or about dieting even after reading dozens of books on the subject and after training myself all those years. My coach was very patient with me. He got me on the right track with both lifting form and intensity as well as diet.
My goals with him have been to add mass and strength, while I gradually leaned out slowly so I would be make a permanent change. In the process, he convinced me to compete in strongman, and in 2017 I won a Master's lightweight US title.
My first serious diet around 2013/2014 was not tight, but I lost about 30 lbs over a year, most of it in the first six months. Then i hit a plateau and my weight loss stopped for a while. Since then I have dieted down once to 206#, then another time on a water cut, to 200#, though in between times I bulked back up to 240#, then 220# and more recently to 230#.
Over that time, with my coach's encouragement I have tightened up my diet quite a bit and finally after a lot of urging, about a year ago decided to get as lean as I can slowly and to not let myself get fat ever again.
In my latest cut, I am not eating much junk at all. If I take a day off, I am merely eating more of the food I eat on days I diet (i.e. salted oatmeal, rice, chicken, rice, fish, cottage cheese on carb days, or eggs with cheese, lean meat for lunch, then chicken thighs for supper). The key to consistently hitting my goals, has been weighing and measuring and logging everything I eat into my food log. I use fitday.com which does a pretty good job for me.
Never having had more than a hint of a six pack for a brief time, this time around, I am starting to see my six pack better than ever before. Assuming I continue this slow progress, I hope to be at 210 lbs and about 10% bf before summer, then 200 lbs in single digit % bodyfat before the end of 2019.
What I have noticed with my fat loss, is that I leaned out first in my extremities and am losing the fat slowest and last in my body core. So while I have veins popping on my forearms and calves, I have slight fat on my biceps and upper arms, and quite a more on my chest, belly, around my waist and on my back. I am thinking I probably won't lose the last of my body core fat or my remaining small belly until I hit single digits in % bodyfat.
Once I hit single digit % bodyfat, I hope to switch to a very slow bulk. To do that, I'll try to hold my body weight close to the low point while eating maintenance calories for a few months, then I'll increase my food intake slightly until I gain 1 lb or less bodyweight per month going ahead. If I get over 10%, I'll diet back down to my single digit %bodyfat at least once per year going forward.
I hope this long post didn't put you into a coma! Thanks for taking the time to read it. Cheers! Ww.