Down to 155.2 now at the 4 month mark (as of 7/12) since starting back in March. I believe when I started my goal was 155 and toned. Got the number, now I need to add muscle which is why I started the 5x5 program to ease into the "main lifts" everyone does and get a good foundation before moving on to a more advanced weight training program. Still have yet to fail any of the lifts while doing my 5 sets of 5 reps. Adding 5 pounds to all lifts (10 pounds to deadlift) will make my next workouts: Workout A - Wednesday Squat 5x5 105lb Bench Press 5x5 70lb Barbell Row 5x5 90lb Workout B - Friday/Saturday (whichever night I can make the gym after work) Squat 5x5 110lb Overhead Press 5x5 65lb Deadlift 1x5 140lb I've decided to go for a "clean bulk" now. I determined through multiple TDEE calculators that my maintenance calories are somewhere between 2600 and 2200. I went with 2200, because I don't want to put a ton of work on. In order to bulk, they recommend starting out by trying to eat 300 calories over maintenance, and of those calories, 0.8 to 1.0g of protein per pound of body weight. With that in mind, I am shooting for roughly 2,500 calories per day, with about 150g of protein. I am trying to do this with a "clean bulk" instead of a "dirty bulk" because I don't want it to make me unhealthy, or gain too much fat, or just feel not good. This means trying to eat a lot of meat/fish/eggs to get my protein, and healthy carbs such as something like brown rice, quinoa, whole grain pasta, etc. I hope to be around 165 lbs by the end of the year with a lot of that addition of weight being purely muscle and not much fat. I will probably continue my bulk into early spring next year if I keep seeing progress. Heading into Summer I hope to have a toned/muscular body I can be proud of. So when Spring rolls around I can start a cut down to 10% body fat so I can have that 6-pack I've always wanted, but never had the motivation to grind for. I should also note that I've ordered Creatine to take daily, and Whey protein powder to make shakes with on days that I can't make my protein goals of AT LEAST 0.8g per pound of body weight (so at least 124g protein). On the 3 days that I am lifting a week, I'll also be having a protein shake every day when I get home from the gym). The most challenging part is my wife being on a massive cut right now (following a program that involves going into Ketosis and eating roughly 1000 calories per day), while I'm trying to bulk up and eat 2500 calories a day (for now unless I decide that's not enough/too much). As always - sorry for the wall of text!
Here is today's example of what I am eating to start my clean(ish) bulk. Today Target - 2,543 calories, 155g protein Breakfast - 4 eggs scrambled (286 calories - 25.1g protein) Lunch - Left over 6 oz rib eye steak, 3/4 cup brown rice, 1 cup green grapes (643 calories - 28.9g protein) Dinner - 6 oz Beef chuck roast, fuji apple, green beans, celery, 3/4 cup brown rice (876 calories - 43.2g protein) Snacks throughout day - fuji apple, protein bar, walnuts (570 calories, 25g protein) Total - 2,375 calories, 122g protein. Falling short on both calories and protein on a rest day where I did cardio. I may a couple table spoons of natural peanut butter when I get home from work tonight to reach my calories and get closer to my protein. As long as I'm over 124g protein I won't feel too bad.
Man it’s hard to get to your calories when eating primarily healthy foods. Hopefully 2500-2600 is what I’m actually supposed to be eating, because if it’s even higher I don’t even know how to eat that much unless I make my diet less clean.
damn, i haven't had much time to check in to the forums the past few weeks. just now catching up to some of the posts that i missed. thx a ton for posting your weekly updates @T0rm3nted! it has been a real treat following along your progress in here since day #1! your story is so amazingly inspiring. has really fueled my fire to keep on keeping on! it's highly motivating man. what you have done here, even despite your crazy busy working life is unbelievably impressive! keep up the great work!! and keep those updates coming in! really enjoying reading your progress each week. sorry for my own lack of updates (and no, i haven't fallen off the wagon just yet lol!) but as i had posted the other week i am pretty much going to be on cruise control for the next couple weeks, until i've finally hit my ultimate goals. i completely forgot to post my latest weigh-in update from last week. i'm happy to announce that i have hit (even exceeded) my phase #2 goal...weighed in at 187.2lbs as of this past sunday, which brings my total weight loss since starting this plan in late april to almost 40lbs down. now, onto phase #3 which is 180lbs for me which i'm aiming for by around the end of this summer. they say the last 10lbs is always the hardest to lose, so i'm kind of expecting my weekly progress to start slowing down in a big way from here on out. this week i've taken some additional rest days because i've been feeling a little fatigued from the daily grind the past 3 months. i really don't want to burn myself out, so i'm just simply listening to my body and taking more rest than usual. basically, instead of working out 3, 4, 5 days in a row. i'm doing something like 1 or 2 days, then rest the next day, or even just 1 day then rest. but, will only be doing this for this week and maybe even next week as well. i really just to want to get to my goal and not maintain here just yet. not expecting much results in the next couple of weeks...honestly i'll be happy if i can lose 1lb per week until i've reached my goal. we'll see how it goes! so far so good. again, my updates in here will be kind of infrequent...maybe just posting every other week or even every 3 weeks until i'm near my goal. it's been a helluva 3 months! but, i'm not done yet.
Man, that is incredible Cy, 40LBS! Well done. I thought I was doing good until I saw that! That's tremendous work, not sure how you've done that so fast! I'm sure you'll get under 180 in no time considering how fast you've been dropping weight. Not sure what your ideal bodyweight is for your height, but you gotta be getting close I'd think!
ok, ima just keep this update super short and sweet. did a weigh in this past weekend and came in at 185.2lbs not much change from the past 2 weeks only about 2lbs (and that is mostly my fault because i've been eating a bit more than usual, and haven't been working out as frequently...been blaming the gloomy rainy weather we've been having here lately for not really feeling up to it, thus not going out and biking, etc...pretty shitty excuse i know lol.) anyway, i started off this week with back-to-back killer rides on the greenway in an attempt to get myself right back on track...so far so good. as you guys know my next target is 180 which if i don't overeat too terribly and stay true to my workouts, i hope to get pretty doggone close to that # by either the end of this month or sometime in the beginning of next month. we'll see. i might also be taking a small trip later this month with the fam. again (nothing official as of yet), so that might be another obstacle to have to get through. hope you are enjoying vacation this month @T0rm3nted!!
Nice job Cy! Progress is progress, even if it's slowed down a bit. Gotta find that sweet spot in the diet that you can live with long-term. Either way, keep it up man, love seeing the progress. You'll hit 180 in no time.
just a very brief update here from this past week. so i started to mix up my morning workouts with running instead of just biking everyday...unfortunately the weather hasn't been great here the past couple of weeks and it's been terribly muddy on the greenway trails so it's had me sidelined from riding. i absolutely hate riding in mud. i also hate running as well but i don't want get all lazy and shit and not workout simply because it's "too muddy out to ride". that's a pretty shitty excuse. so i need to make up for it somehow, and running will do for now. it's crazy how sore my quads are feeling. i did not think with all the biking that i've been doing the past couple of months that i would be feeling too sore. but i guess it will just take some time to condition my body for running as well. anyway, i've been maintaining a 4 day workout week, and don't plan to bump that up as the closer i'm getting to my goals the harder the shit gets. as for my diet, admittedly it's been a bit sloppy ever since the week of 4th of july...i have not been able to have a clean week where i've stayed under my calories. that's okay (for now) but soon it might not be as the weight gets harder to come off and progress begins to slow down to a crawl. they say the last 10lbs are the hardest to lose. i'm starting to feel that now lol. and i'm not yet ready to "maintain" my weight here. i'd really like to get to my goal by end of oct. (or before the weather starts turning cooler) if possible. so another 10lbs in about 10 weeks? basically 1lb a week from here shouldn't be too unrealistic if i can stay true to my diet and workouts. we'll see. oh and yeah i hear ya on those trips @T0rm3nted! oh man, it's almost impossible to avoid the inevitable. ii may be headed off for a little mini-trip end of this month with my fam. which is going to be a pretty big obstacle for me to get through (food-wise). i'm in the same boat as well as i think it will be nearly impossible for me to stay on my plan and workout during those few days. i'm almost guaranteeing myself that i will be blowing my diet. if i can just limit the damage a bit then i almost view that as a victory haha. we'll see how that goes. but, i'm almost sure i'll be coming back home a little heavier than when i left. but if i can just get myself right back on track from where i had left off prior to the trip then no harm, no foul. hope you had an amazing time in mexico @T0rm3nted! lookin' forward to seeing ya back home soon. missed ya 'round here!
Finally back from Mexico. It was a good time. Didn't really eat THAT bad to be honest, but made up for that with drinking too much, especially those sugary vacation drinks (margaritas, daquiris, etc.) that I never drink unless I'm on a beach. Got back late Wednesday night, and got back to the grind yesterday. Went and bought a bunch of food, meal prepped quite a bit, and hit the gym up in the afternoon. Amazing how much better I felt after just doing that stuff and eating healthy for one day. Felt so lethargic before that. Did a "de-load" on my workouts (drop roughly 10% weight) since I hadn't been to the gym in 10 days. Wanted to get back in the habit with proper technique so I didn't mess my knee up again. Believe it went OK and I pushed myself pretty hard with some extra assistance exercises after I finished the program. Decided to drop my calorie target from 2550 to 2450 a few weeks ago, and just decided again to lower it to 2350. Trying to find the sweet spot and understand my body and how much I should eat. The first decrease was due to feeling like I was gaining weight too quick. I'm trying to gain about 2lbs/month. That's the healthiest way to gain weight while trying to build muscle and limit fat gain according to most of my research. One more camping/floating trip this month. It's difficult when this all lands in one month. Will be gone Fri 24th-Sun 26th. Gotta try to limit the damage again, but it's a trip with old friends where we just get obliterated while camping and floating down a river... Current weight is 159.6lbs as of this morning. Only up 4lbs from my low, so I guess that's not too bad. Here's what I made yesterday. I have some chicken and salmon as well but those will be made in a few days. I pretty much have one of those for each meal combined with a healthier carb (whole grain noodles, brown rice, quinoa).
wow that's lookin' good @T0rm3nted! you got me hungry man. that's awesome that you're right back to the grind after that trip! i think it would take me a couple days or even up to week to get back into the daily routines again. and hey you're still holding onto the 150s that ain't bad at all! yeah that's a good idea tinkering with the calories to find that sweet spot as you said. i'm trying to do that very same thing as well. haven't found it yet but think i'm getting close. i'm looking forward to transitioning into the weight room a little more. i still have about another 10lbs to go until i think i'll feel comfortable enough to wanting to start doing some lifts to tone up a bit. so i know i said in my last week's post that i was going to be vacationing with the fam. last week of this month. whelp, that trip got shot down for me. something urgent (not serious) popped for me over this past weekend that will require me to stay in town. i'm not too terribly upset by this actually. at least there's a less likelihood of me blowing my diet now lol. and i'll still be able to continue working out which is nice. lastly, i did a weigh in this past saturday. came in down just 0.4lbs now down to 184.8lbs i'm not too bothered by that because i know exactly what i've been doing wrong. i need to clean up my diet bigly. it's been rather sloppy for a while now. my workouts are fine. sticking to the 4-day workout per week. i guess progress is still progress. but, i really do like to reach my ultimate goal by around october-ish if possible, so then i can start transitioning over to more weight training program in the cooler fall and winter months. 1lb a week should not be too difficult to achieve. but, i really do need to stay true to my diet. gonna try to hit it hard these next few weeks, and now that my summer trip is pretty much called off i don't have much excuses not to reach my goal. we'll see. keep those updates coming in @T0rm3nted and keep up the great work!
Progress is progress @bigbear0083. Losing 0.4lbs when you think you're having a bad week (or whatever time period you're referencing) is actually a win in my book! Weighed myself again now that I've been back on track and become more "regular" in the bathroom (damn Mexico), I'm down to 156.7lbs. So I'm only up 1.5lbs from my low. Much less damage done than I thought considering I had 1 week in Mexico all-inclusive resort where I drank daily and ate whatever I wanted, and a weekend in Vegas where I drank excessively. Didn't get to the gym as it's been hectic at home today. Got my camping trip this weekend which should be my last "extended" (more than 1 day) diet/exercise break. Then it's grinding until next Summer. Really cannot wait to start seeing a lot of progress. Even though I'm only up 1.5lbs, I feel fatter and think my stomach looks a little bigger. Maybe I'm losing fat elsewhere and gaining some in the stomach? I know since I'm eating over my maintenance calories (bulking) I will gain weight (muscle AND unfortunately fat as well), but the critic in me thinks I'm not gaining muscle and only gaining fat. Like I mentioned before though, I've already cut my daily calorie intake by 200, so hopefully that'll make a difference and I'll gain weight slower, or even maintain and just add muscle. My goal is to squat 225 by the end of the year, which is going to be challenging and I'm not sure if it's attainable as I'm a real small guy. The most I've done so far is 135lbs for 5 sets of 5 reps, so maybe I'm not AS far as I think? Also hoping to bench 155lbs (body weight) by the end of the year, and deadlift 275lbs by the end of the year. We'll see if any of those are reasonable. I'm still no expert. Long-term goals are squat 315, deadlift 405, and bench 225. That gets me to the 945lbs. I really wanna join the 1000lb club in a few years, so I'll have to add 55lbs somewhere in there. Again, I'm a small guy, so I don't know if those numbers are even possible. If I get real strong and add a ton of muscle, let's say I'm up to 170lbs. That would be squatting almost twice my weight, benching about 1.5x weight, and deadlifting over twice my weight. Time and more practice in the gym and getting to know my body more will make it clear if I need to adjust those goals or not.
gonna just make this week's update super short. to be honest i didn't even feel like posting an update in here this week, but i didn't want to give anyone the impression that i just fell off the wagon or something ok so getting right do it here -- i had my first real setback of this entire weight loss program that i've been on since officially starting back in april. albeit i did not get a new weigh in this week, but i'm almost certain that it's either UNCH'd (which i would actually consider that to be a victory if it was) or perhaps slightly up from the prior weight in. once again my diet (food) has been f'n downright sloppy! i have not been able to get a good handle on it, really ever since the 4th of july. there is seriously no excuses for me not to get control of this shit. that being said, i have been staying true to my workouts at least. getting in 4-5 days per week. shit, if not for the workouts it's very possible i would be putting on weight. so i guess i'm maintaining my current weight, but meh, i'm not here for maintenance just yet!! anyway, after this long weekend is through i am thinking of going back to some extreme no carb diet for a few weeks just to kind of get me back on track again. we'll see how it goes. i guess i won't update again until sometime in the middle of sept. which i will hope to be some better news to report to y'alls haha. hope everyone has a nice long weekend!
Well, I pretty much fell off the wagon the entire month of August. Aug 2-5 I went to Vegas, you know it fell apart there. No gym, lots of drinks, eating wasn't horrible though. Aug 8-15 I went to Mexico. Lots of drinks, no gym, eating not horrible, but worse than usual still. Got back and was ready to get back on the grind, but got hand foot and mouth disease a few days later from the daughter. I got my only 2 gym sessions in August in before this and ate healthy for a few days before just falling apart. Admittedly I could have done some exercises at home after the first few days, because it was really just looking disgusting from the red dots/blisters/etc. and being contagious that kept me out of the gym. After the first 4-5 days I felt fine, but was embarrassed by my appearance and cautious of spreading it around at the gym so I stayed out. It was very crushing to know all the progress I had made is vanishing. Deloaded AGAIN at the gym to re-teach my CNS how to do the lifts with proper form, and work my way back up to the weight I was at. My weight was 155.2lbs at my low and I was trying to bulk (healthily) while adding lots of muscle, so my goal was to add about 1-2lbs per month. Obviously if you don't work out for the month, you would not want to add weight. I've weighed myself a few times in the last week or so and ranged anywhere from 157.8lbs to 162.5lbs. Not sure how the discrepancy is THAT big. I'm going to assume the worst. I've dropped my calorie target down to 2,000. I used an online calculator months ago and figured out my "maintenance calories" are roughly 2250. It seems to have held up pretty well based on how my weight has fluctuated with how much I've eaten. That estimate seems to work pretty well. I'll be eating in a deficit of 250 calories to try to lower my fat level a little bit again and get back into the 150's. I don't really know if I even need to "bulk" since I'm still a novice at the gym, so I should be able to gain muscle a lot easier than I will in a year for example. I'll probably stick with about 2250 calories once I drop a little weight and build my muscle back up a bit. All in all, I'm ready to get back at it. Should take about 3 weeks - 1 month (depending on the lift) to get back to the weights I was at prior to August. Feels great to be eating right again (started yesterday) and felt great to get back in the gym today.
gonna just make this update super brief as i'm kinda running short on time this weekend. no, i haven't completely fallen off the wagon yet ... my apologies for the lack of updates in here ... just been super busy as hell all this month, and i thought it was going to be the opposite where i would have more time. not the case at all. anyway, i wanted to post this quick update since i just got a new weigh in this weekend (my first weigh in of the month! lol) ... albeit not a very encouraging # if you will, but i'm entirely surprised since my diet has been flat out ridiculous all month long. so, i'm up almost 7lbs from my low last month...back in the 190s (191.8lbs) yuck, but actually considering how much junk i have been eating the past month, surprised it isn't even higher...might be because i've managed to keep up with my daily exercise (although recently i've fallen off and have gotten a bit lazy). weather will cooling down around here soon, and i'll have to resort to going to gym all the time again. but, we're not there yet. gonna try to get back on that no carb food plan for a few weeks again. i know i said i was going to get back on that a few weeks back, but it never happened lol. anyway, that's my update for this week, sorry it wasn't very uplifting or motivating or whatever. i haven't thrown in the towel on the year yet, and am still aiming for the 170s (179 is my goal now hah!). i don't mind if it takes me the rest of this year to get there. it'll be hard, but i'm up for the challenge i guess you can say. we'll see how it goes... i will try to update again in here in 2 weeks or thereabouts. aiming for the high 180s again by next update.
September has gone great for me. After that shit month of August where I had multiple vacations, then got sick for a couple weeks, I got back on the grind the beginning of September. WEIGHT/DIET The low weight I hit in July was 155.2 right before the month of August. Current weight is anywhere from 156.X - 161.0. Depends on the day. I'll assume the average and call myself 158. I'm fine staying in this 155-160 range as long as I'm building muscle. My current calorie target is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than it was when I started this whole program. Originally I was "bulking" and had a target of 2500 calories. Was gaining weight too fast, which means too much was fat and not primarily muscle. That's part of learning my body. Dropped to 2300 calories and that was a little better. Then August happened, now I'm eating about 1850 calories per day (maintaining the 0.8g+ grams of protein per pound of body fat). I can't decide between Bulking/Cutting, so I'm going to do a mini cut I think and then maintain? I have trouble sticking to a plan. Not liking having a mini gut and love handles still, but I know at my weight I should be bulking to gain the most muscle mass possible early on. Caught between a rock and a hard place. We're going on a cruise in March, so I know I want to cut before that. Maybe I'll bulk until the end of the year and cut into March. TO BE DETERMINED. EXERCISE Added a lot of volume to my 5x5 program I'm doing. I start every workout day following the same program I've outlined before (3 compound exercises per workout day). I'm getting a little burnt out with the extra volume I'm adding at the end of workouts and I think it will start to hinder my strength gains on the main lifts from the program. I may have to cut back soon. On bench/row days in the 5x5 program I added (3 sets on all - various weights and reps depending on the day - some higher volume, some higher weight): Push-ups Machine Flys Machine Row Bicep Curls Chin Ups Machine Chest Press On Overhead press/deadlift days in the 5x5 program I added (3 sets on all - various weights and reps depending on the day - some higher volume, some higher weight): OHP machine Pull Down machine Pull Ups Dips Rear Fly machine On top of that, on the 1st and 3rd workout day of the week (3 sets - increasing reps by the week) Calf Raises Crunches Planks On top of that, on the 5th workout day of the week (3 sets on all - various weights and reps depending on the day - some higher volume, some higher weight): Leg Press Leg Extension Leg Curl Machine Crunch Calf Raise Crunch Plank I felt like I wasn't getting enough attention on some muscles doing only the 5x5 program and felt "lazy". On the 4 off days, I'll either rest or occasionally go in to the gym and do cardio only. Got all my numbers back to prior to August so I'm stronger than I ever was... but that's not saying much. Still a lot of room to grow. Current Numbers Squat 5x5 140lbs (above 1 plate!) (Wednesday 145lbs) Overhead Press 5x5 75lbs (Friday 80lbs) Deadlift 1x5 165lbs (Friday 175lbs) Bench Press 5x5 95lbs (Wednesday 100lbs) Barbell Row 5x5 105lbs (Wednesday 110lbs) Goals (1 REP MAX, NOT 5X5) Squat - Short term 185lbs (1.5 plates) - Mid term 225lbs (2 plates) - Long term 315lbs (3 plates) Overhead press - Short term 95lbs (0.5 plates) - Long term 135lbs (1 plate) Deadlift - Short term 225lbs (2 plates) - Mid term 315lbs (3 plates) - Long term 405lbs (4 plates) Bench Press - Short term 135lbs (1 plate) - Mid term 185lbs (1.5 plates) - Long term 225lbs (2 plates) Barbell Row - Short term 135lbs (1 plate) - Mid term 185lbs (1.5 plates) - Long term 225lbs (2 plates) Those are 1 REP MAX targets, not 5x5 (though I wouldn't complain if I could do those weights for 5x5 . I'll probably test my 1RM every quarter or so if I can get a spotter.
Weekly/Monthly Update WEIGHT/DIET Weighed in at 160.1lbs today. Much higher than usual, but I had a bad weekend with it being my birthday weekend. Back at it this month, and I can't foresee any reason to have slip ups. Other than last weekend, all of September went very good except for maybe 1 day. I have upped my calories to 2100 for this month from 1850 in September. Going to try to eat 2100 +/- 50 every single day this month to get a better idea what my maintenance calories are. If I go up some, that's fine. If I go down some, that's fine. I just want to get a better understanding about my body so I can plan better in the future for bulk/cutting stages, maintenance, etc. I downloaded a new app called Happy Scale that will track your weight daily and give you a running 7 day average to help to ignore high/low days based on water weight, poor sleep, random fluctuations, etc. I'll see how it goes. EXERCISES Another week of 5x5 down with no failures. OHP came REALLY close to failure on the 5th set of 5 at weight of 80lbs. 85 will be a challenge on Wednesday but we'll see how it goes. Deadlift felt weird as well, so we'll see how that goes Wednesday as well. Current Numbers (5 sets of 5 reps) Squat 5x5 155lbs (Wednesday 160lbs) Overhead Press 5x5 80lbs (Wdnesday 85lbs) Deadlift 1x5 175lbs (Wednesday 185lbs) Bench Press 5x5 105lbs (Friday 110lbs) Barbell Row 5x5 115lbs (Friday 120lbs) Goal Updates: I believe I could probably hit my short-term 1 Rep Max (1RM) target already at 185lbs (1.5 plates on each side) for Squats. I squatted 155lbs today which is basically body weight considering the range I've been in the last month. I believe I could possibly hit my short-term 1 Rep Max (1RM) target of 95lbs (0.5 plates on each side) for OHP. I did 80lbs for 5x5, so I could probably get 1 rep up at 95lbs. I believe I could probably hit my short-term 1 Rep Max (1RM) target of 135lbs (1 plate) for Barbell row. In fact, I'm fairly confident I could do this pretty easily. I don't think I could hit my 1RM for Deadlifts or Bench yet I wanted to test my 1RM quarterly, but it's hard to get out of my comfort zone at the gym and ask someone to spot me on the "dangerous" lifts. I'll test the rest at the end of the week probably. Not confident enough to test squat or bench without a spotter though. OHP, Deadlift, and Rows I can just drop if I can't get the bar up. MEASUREMENTS These are fairly embarrassing numbers but I started taking measurements. I'm a small guy with a small frame (for now!) so the numbers are quite sad. Here's my measurements 1 month ago, and today. These were today BEFORE working out, so I hadn't eaten anything and did not have a pump. Also, not sure how consistent my wife's measuring skills are or for leg ones if I flexed the first month or not. I'll know in the future. I plan to measure monthly to track progress. Green = Improvement, No color = Stagnant, Red = Worse Neck - 15.25" / 15.5" Chest - 38.0" / 38.75" Waist at largest spot (lower belly) - 36.25" / 35.5" Left bicep flexed - 12.25" / 12.25" Right Bicep flexed - 11.75" / 12.25" Left Calf - 14.25" / 14.125" Right Calf - 14.25" / 14.125" Left Thigh (quad) - 22.5" / 22.5" Right Thigh (quad) - 22.25" / 23.0" I find it hard to believe that my calves got smaller as I've done a ton of calf raises. My guess is her measuring wasn't consistent, or flexing was different between measurements. Next month I'll remember that I flexed for everything. If anyone doesn't want to see updates like this anymore, just let me know. I kind of enjoy documenting it so months/years from now I can come back and see this "journal" of my journey.
holy shit! @T0rm3nted still beasting it! huge, and i do mean UUUUUUUUGE props goes out to you Chris for putting in so much hard work and dedication into all of this all year long. i just gotta say man, for anyone out there who is lurking in on this thread, and is looking into getting into shape and dropping some lbs. i don't know if i have ever come across anyone who has been as inspiring and as dedicated to this whole process as @T0rm3nted has on this very thread here IMHO. and yes, i am being dead serious about this. this guy (@T0rm3nted) has a work schedule that is just INSANITY to put it best. the dude works night shifts! need i go further?? this is a testament to @T0rm3nted's overall dedication...not just here with his health and fitness but you can also apply this to finance as well imho. i think @T0rm3nted is a perfect example of someone who doesn't make ANY excuses and just DOES IT, even despite the aforementioned crazy work schedule! oh, and did i ever get to mention, the man is also a dad with an 18 month! but wait, there's more! he even makes time to mod the forums here at stockaholics! i mean, c'mon now! anyone who has excuses for not putting in the time and effort to losing weight, shame on you! i am just seriously impressed Chris. this is just beyond phenomenal imho. your dedication into all of this is so amazingly inspiring, so motivating, i mean i really cannot say it enough. i hope you will continue delivering these weekly updates in here, and i'll be honest, but your updates are about the one thing that i actually look forward to reading on here every week. not kidding. also, please don't mind my lack of updates in this thread! i do plan to keep updating in here as well, but the main reason why that has kind of taken a back seat here of late is, well, there hasn't really been much to update you guys on lol. my progress since about the 4th of july has been pretty "stagnant" to put it best. and that is all my fault. the good news is that i know exactly what i'm doing wrong, and know what to do to correct it. it's not like i've been going balls to the wall and am not seeing any results. simply, my diet sucks. yeah, i know pretty pathetic, but once i can get a handle on that again, then i should be good. the good news? i've finally gotten a handle on my diet for the past 10 days now. first time i've gone this long eating clean w/o screwing up since, yes, you guess right -- the 4th of july! and, i'm still keeping strong with my morning fitness as well, and taking full advantage of the nice weather we've had here since florence left. i did not get a chance for a new weigh in this past weekend, mostly because i felt it was still too early to get a fresh new # after my last weigh in had me up about 7lbs from my low. i'm aiming for the high 180s by potentially this coming weekend, but if i don't hit it no biggie, the important thing is that i am slowly starting to get my groove back on again, and feeling better. anyway, sorry for the lengthy post here but i just felt like i needed to get this post out there haha. please keep those amazing updates coming in Chris. very proud of you. you da man!
