2018 Body Transformation Thread

[Parliament 14249]

What do you guys on Keto do for fiber? I need more fiber. Supplements?

Bro, do you even:

[pearlandhorn 3269]

And uh...how many carbs are in said prune juice?

[Bernard 879]

Couldn’t sleep last night. At 3:00 AM I hit the kitchen for two finger-dips in the peanut butter jar, then a cheese stick. First food since Sunday night. Straight back to fasting. 

Bernard

[El Diablo 4232]

3 minutes ago, Bernard said:

Couldn’t sleep last night. At 3:00 AM I hit the kitchen for two finger-dips in the peanut butter jar, then a cheese stick. First food since Sunday night. Straight back to fasting. 

Bernard

Remind me to pass on the PB&J at the tailgate.

[Longhorn Al 440]

7 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

I think the point is to have enough dietary fiber to avoid being constipated in the first place. 

I never get constipated.  There are more folks coming around to the idea that fiber is not all that necessary.  I'm not just talking about Cole Robinson.  I've seen it said by some other low carb doctors, but can't remember which ones at the moment.

It's not scientific, but my gut always feels better when I don't eat fiber.

[Longhorn Al 440]

4 hours ago, Bernard said:

Couldn’t sleep last night. At 3:00 AM I hit the kitchen for two finger-dips in the peanut butter jar, then a cheese stick. First food since Sunday night. Straight back to fasting. 

Bernard

I broke, too.  But in more of a planned break.  I actually went to the store and bought ingredients for a concocted Keto casserole.  Trying to fast another ~60 hours before I eat again.  I'm thinking I will try to do a cycle of 60-72 hr fasts broken up by a meal.  Maybe a longer one here and there.

[Bernard 879]

You’ll definitely make progress with one meal every 72 hours. 

I know I’m drinking beer every weekend for awhile. So I  trying to keep my weekdays tight. 

Bernard

[Masshole Horn 769]

214 this morning!  Had been plateaued between 216-219 for the last month or so. Strict IF the last two weeks. I'm very impressed by you full fasters. I'm hoping to pull that off some day.

[Jhawk 1075]

Went in for my 4th test shot today.  A week ago I started anti-estrogen as well.  Improvements in my sleep have been pretty dramatic.  I went from waking up 4-5 times a night to 1, maybe 2, times a night and I can fall right back asleep now instead of being up for 20 minutes to an hour.  I was asked by the hot nurse what my erections were like "Strong to very strong" was my response.  She asked about mornings and I replied "extremely strong."  Maybe she'll bone me someday.

My weight is up 6.5 pounds (174.8 today) since I started this venture but I am doing heavy lifting 3 days a week as mentioned in my post a month ago.  stregnth is doing very well and my body is remembering what it is like to be in shape and is shaping up quickly.  I've lost at least an inch off my waist and haven't really been doing much cardio.  Going to start that tonight.  I've changed up my diet a little to go calorie deficit on cardio days and calorie surplus on lifting days.  This should help me keep my muscles well fed for lifting and recovery while allowing me to burn fat on cardio days.  Sticking to macros but as I predicted it is pretty tough with so much other stuff going on.

With lifting, if you are looking to get stronger, I highly recommend the reverse pyramid sequence.  I am doing 3 core lifts each day I lift.  On those lifts I do a warm up set of 6 with about 70-75% of what I want my max to be that day.  Then rest for 2 minutes and do a set of 5 at my max.  I rest for 2 minutes, remove 10% of the weight, and do a set of 6.  Repeat for the 4th set with 8 reps.  I have a workout A and a workout B routine and alternate them every other day.  Each time workout A (or B) comes around I am adding 5-10 pounds to my max weight on the core lifts.  Obviously I am getting some synthetic help through my doc but I have found this is really keeping me sore for 1-2 days after a workout which means my muscles are healing well and shaping well.  My workouts are broken into groups so if my back is sore from workout B it will get 4 days of rest before it is worked again.  I'm loving this structure right now.  Of course, I might hate it if I plateau.

Doing a body comp study at my doc next tuesday. It wil be interesting to compare to the one 4 weeks ago.  I'll be sure to share but I can tell you right now that if you are feeling older than you should, sleeping like shit, and have almost no sex drive then you should see and endo.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

I used to hate squats. They are now one of my favorite exercises. I alternate between them and dead lifts. My current issue is front squats and cleans. I’m not flexible enough to rack the weight across my shoulders and hold it there. My elbows don’t come up far enough. I’m going to win the war, but the battles are tough.

Same.
Once I learned how to do back and front squats correctly it made them much more enjoyable.
5x5 is my main workout. Add in some KB and stretching sessions and that is plenty for me.

[Goofyboy 3269]

Also, is the 5x5 the old Riptoe workout??

[ajax 2607]

My new routine is really working well for me - going low rep and low intensity. I'm lifting 60% to 70% of my max, but lifting more often. I'm very gradually increasing the weight. 

Back when I was going hard all the time my central nervous system felt like a burning trash fire and I was constantly getting injured. 

Now I only for 2 or 3 rep maxes once a week or once every two weeks. My joint and CNS health is more imprtant than getting jacked. 

[Jhawk 1075]

1 hour ago, ajax said:

My new routine is really working well for me - going low rep and low intensity. I'm lifting 60% to 70% of my max, but lifting more often. I'm very gradually increasing the weight. 

Back when I was going hard all the time my central nervous system felt like a burning trash fire and I was constantly getting injured. 

Now I only for 2 or 3 rep maxes once a week or once every two weeks. My joint and CNS health is more imprtant than getting jacked. 

That's a good way to go.  I am really trying to cultivate muscle quickly because I'm trying to get laid all the time and having bitch titties isn't helping that effort.  Injury is obviously a worry so to combat that I am never really truly "maxing." I started with a rather conservative guess on what my 5 rep max would be and on days I do that particular lift I am increasing the weight of that max.  For instance, I started with a 230 max on the squat.  I have done squats 4 times over the last 2 weeks with my last "max" being 270.  Tomorrow when I squat again I'll probably increase that number to 280 and see if I can get 5 reps.  If I can't, in 4 days when I squat again I will set the weight at 275.  I do feel like I could reach 300 right now but I'm not going to push it.  I know I'm at a dangerous time in my life where my body is slowing down but my ego is still high.  The last thing I want to do is have an injury but I do want to build at a decent clip.  

Some things that I'm taking to add to the equation:

1. Whey protein in the morning and after a workout.

2. MuscleTech preworkout

3. Glucosamine for joint lubrication

4. Milk thistle for liver health

5. L-Arginine & Zinc to make my loads look like someone is flinging elmer's glue across the room.

[Longhorn Al 440]

I've gained a bit of weight back the last 3 days. Last Friday I was about 325.  Today I'm 327.6.  I broke down some at the TCU game and again Sunday night.  At the game, I had a Stubb's BBQ sandwich (with bun and sauce).  After the game I went to Maudie's and got 3 cheese enchiladas and ate a bunch of chips and some of those chicken flautas.  Sunday night I went to HEB.  I made a Keto casserole, but also had 2 Butterfinger cups (like Reese's cups) and a pint of Halo Top ice cream.

I finished off the casserole Monday night.  I started water fasting again Tuesday morning.  I'm trying a 24 hour soft dry fast today to see how it goes.  I haven't had anything to drink since 8am.  I did shower & brush my teeth, thus the soft fast.

On those carb days this weekend, I gained about a pound a day.  Today, 24 hours into my water fast, I gained .2 - as always.

[Sbbruin 21830]

Headed to Austin tomorrow with a lot of food on the agenda.  So a few added pounds will be flying back with me.

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

Well, my fat ass finally broke through a milestone for me. Have been in a somewhat stall the last couple of weeks, but finally appear to be past that hopefully. Down 53 pounds so far. Goal weight will be changed as I think I can get a bit lower. Still pretty excited as I was at -49 or -48 for 3 weeks, waiting to hit the -50 number. 

[pearlandhorn 3269]

I’m on a stall at 223. I had Lasik 2 weeks ago and as a stipulation, couldn’t go to the gym for a week. I’m still doing Keto/low carb with IF eating once a day. Granted I have gorged myself on pizza every Friday for the last few weeks and broken my diet. I guess at this point I’d like to lose more weight but I’ve had multiple people ask me if I’m sick. Like I don’t look well type sick.

i feel great. I guess they’re not used to the new me yet. I’m trying to get down to 216 for an even 100 lost. It’s just coming off slowly. Keep at it everyone!

[GottaB 594]

Keep it up. 100 is a lofty goal

[Jhawk 1075]

I have a friend who lost 50 to get down to 180. He had a bad lifestyle and had a stroke at 35. When he lost weight, I knew he was dieting, he lost everything around his waist and lower stomach. He was still barrel chested and was cheap so he didn’t buy new clothes. He looked sick because the lower half of his body is where he lost most of his weight. His pants didn’t fit and his shirts hung off him. 

My suggestion would be to go shopping if you are at your goal. You probably look amazing and if you are to the point of touching a few things up then maybe buying new jeans and shirts will make you look “fit”.  It worked for my friend. 

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

Thought I would chime in here.

 

I’m a big man. just for perspective - 6’3” 245 puts me at about 12% body fat. This is where I was in 2007.

 

Well over the last 10 years I had slowly ballooned to 335. Recently I had a few scares including spots on my pancreas (benign) and thyroid (not benign).

 

This summer I had my thyroid removed and as a result had to start seeing an endocrinologist. The day of my first appointment I walked into the office and was shocked at what I saw: hugely fat sick men and women, some with walkers, one with a piss bag, one missing a foot all struggling to breathe.

 

“Is this who I am?” I thought to myself.

 

So I see my doctor - while I now call Dr Intimidating. She tells me in no uncertain terms that unless I want to be like the rest of her patients I need to make some changes immediately. In her words “I no longer have a runway”. I try to make a joke and she does not laugh.

 

Whoah.

 

So this was June 30th. That day I was 331 lbs.

 

Today I am 290, down to 24% body fat. I stopped drinking - very much a challenge since I usually polished off a bottle of wine every day - sometimes more.

 

I eat one cheat meal on Saturday pm. I avoid processed foods , and started cooking dinner for my family to make sure I stay on track and avoid going out as much as possible - we used to eat out 4-5x/week.

 

I do pretty hardcore anaerobic work 4x a week (1hour) and aerobic work 5x a week (30m on anaerobic days and 60 on non anaerobic days)

 

 

I feel amazing. Better than I have in 10 years. I wake up on am and Sun am thankful I don’t have a hangover.

 

I have a long way to go - goal is 240, but I’m halfway there in 3 months and figure in 9 months I should hit my goal.

 

 

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

This is where I do anaerobic work: https://atomic-athlete.com

[Nolacycling 893]

I'm in. Having a weight loss competition w/$ involved @work. That's helping me finally get started. I'm old school so I'm basically just cutting way back on calories ,exercising and drinking 3 times every two weeks. 8lbs lost in week one

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

Also, is the 5x5 the old Riptoe workout??

Yes. Starting Strength.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

On 9/30/2018 at 8:10 AM, Jhawk said:

I have a friend who lost 50 to get down to 180. He had a bad lifestyle and had a stroke at 35. When he lost weight, I knew he was dieting, he lost everything around his waist and lower stomach. He was still barrel chested and was cheap so he didn’t buy new clothes. He looked sick because the lower half of his body is where he lost most of his weight. His pants didn’t fit and his shirts hung off him. 

My suggestion would be to go shopping if you are at your goal. You probably look amazing and if you are to the point of touching a few things up then maybe buying new jeans and shirts will make you look “fit”.  It worked for my friend. 

I've purchased new work pants (polo) and jeans (daniel cremieux).  All pants are now size 36 and I could probably squeeze in to a 34.  I'm attempting to get down to my final goal weight before I go all in on shirts.  I'm going to hit up jos a bank for work button downs.  Need some new t-shirts and polos for everyday wear.  Luckily, I wear under armor provided work shirts every day for work.  I've always had very broad shoulders and still do, they're just more muscular now.

On 9/29/2018 at 2:57 PM, GottaB said:

Keep it up. 100 is a lofty goal

221.4 as of this morning.  Lost 2 pounds over the weekend. 95 total now!

 

[Jhawk 1075]

38 minutes ago, pearlandhorn said:

I've purchased new work pants (polo) and jeans (daniel cremieux).  All pants are now size 36 and I could probably squeeze in to a 34.  I'm attempting to get down to my final goal weight before I go all in on shirts.  I'm going to hit up jos a bank for work button downs.  Need some new t-shirts and polos for everyday wear.  Luckily, I wear under armor provided work shirts every day for work.  I've always had very broad shoulders and still do, they're just more muscular now.

221.4 as of this morning.  Lost 2 pounds over the weekend. 95 total now!

 

That's great!  Jo-bank is a good spot for interim clothing for sure.  Those shirts don't last much longer than 12 months anyway.  I'm a broad shoulder guy too (42 jacket on a 5'9" frame) so getting the shirts/jackets right is pretty key to looking like you fit into your body.  I think Jo-bank will tailor clothes for free if you spend a certain amount.  I'd definitely tailor if you can get it done for free.

Speaking of clothes/suits, I went into a store Saturday for a blue suit for a wedding I'm in.  Jacket size has gone from a 40 to a 42 with hard work on shoulders, chest, and back.  My pants have slimmed from a bulging 32 to a looser 31.  I'll be doing another body comp test tomorrow when I go to the doc at 11am.  I'll post results and see if they have my previous results on file so we can compare 5 weeks of TRT progress.  I have been bad about the gym.  Haven't been in 5 days when I had been working out hard every other day.

[IDIOTsavant 8483]

1 hour ago, Jhawk said:

That's great!  Jo-bank is a good spot for interim clothing for sure.  Those shirts don't last much longer than 12 months anyway.  I'm a broad shoulder guy too (42 jacket on a 5'9" frame) so getting the shirts/jackets right is pretty key to looking like you fit into your body.  I think Jo-bank will tailor clothes for free if you spend a certain amount.  I'd definitely tailor if you can get it done for free.

Speaking of clothes/suits, I went into a store Saturday for a blue suit for a wedding I'm in.  Jacket size has gone from a 40 to a 42 with hard work on shoulders, chest, and back.  My pants have slimmed from a bulging 32 to a looser 31.  I'll be doing another body comp test tomorrow when I go to the doc at 11am.  I'll post results and see if they have my previous results on file so we can compare 5 weeks of TRT progress.  I have been bad about the gym.  Haven't been in 5 days when I had been working out hard every other day.

Hopefully not in a disappointed date kind of way...

[ajax 2607]

I've had a cold for the last 3 days, no workouts. I'm jonesing like a meth addict.

[Nolacycling 893]

weigh-in week 2 , 3 lbs lost, total 11

[ajax 2607]

On a whim I decided to go on a fast. Day 3 right now. I've done 10 days before and that was pretty easy. I'm 6'4", about 210 but I want to get that ninja warrior physique. My current state is a mix of fit & dad bod. 

 I'm feeling the hunger pangs right now. Kinda sucks. I'm not sure how long I'll go for. We'll see. 

[BTW 370]

First time posting in this thread, but thought I'd join in the discussion.  Over the last year or so, i have noticed that most of my pants are starting to get snug and some of them have dust collecting on them because I know that if I tired to put them on the would be too tight.  I don't want to let myself buy new clothes because I'll just out grow them too do I decided to do something about it.  For the last decade I have run 2x a week, but it obviously was no longer enough to keep me where I wanted to be. Back in January I started lifting weights 2x a week in addition to the runs and within a couple of months I saw some noticeable (read: positive) changes in my overall physique.  However, after five months of that I still didn't lose any weight.

In June, I decided to go with the no sugar/no flour diet for a month to see what would happen.  I know that making dietary changes isn't easy for anyone, but this was f'ing brutal for me.  I never realized how much of what I ate day-in and day-out fell into those two categories.  Well, after a month I saw a 5% loss in total body weight.  So I decided to let myself have very limited flour based products and stay no-sugar.  I was basically flat for the rest of the summer weight-wise.  Then I decided to implement intermittent fasting ~3 days a week.  I would eat dinner then have nothing until dinner the next night.  After just over a month on that I have lost another 5%.  I'm fairly close to the number I want to see on the scale at this point, but I still have some visible mid-section fat I'd like to take care of.

The question I have is, how do you fellas balance the last stage of the transformation?  Do I keep dropping weight till all the fat is gone and thus end up pretty "skinny" before trying to build back up to my target weight with muscle mass?  Or do I try to maintain my weight at the number I want and try to "transition" the fat weight to muscle weight?

TIA

[pearlandhorn 3269]

I started lifting after I lost 40 pounds. I was 316 when I started losing and started lifting at 275 or so. I recommend lifting while you’re doing low carb as it’s easier for your body to build muscle while doing low carb.  My body fat % has gone from mid 30s to low 20s. 

Im 221 now and can see physique progress out the wazoo. I would look absolutely goofy if I didn’t start lifting to be honest. You’re never going to lose the fat in the mid section if you don’t work out (again my opinion). Mid section weight is typically the last to go. You’ll need to get to low teens in bf% before it goes away and you get abs.

Edited October 5, 2018 by pearlandhorn

[ajax 2607]

Breaking my fast today. When I did my 10 day fast I felt light and energetic. Four days into this fast I feel sluggish And tired. Plus I need to get back into lifting. 

[0xdeadbeef 1645]

ACL Fest is making it really hard. I've dropped about 20 lb in the last 3 weeks, and I started to run again. I'm targeting a half marathon next February for which I need to lose about another 30 lb. At ACL Fest I normally gorge myself on food and drink. I have a good time. But I don't want to gain back all the weight in one day that I've lost over three weeks. I guess I'll just stick to as many drinks as I want this weekend and as little as food as possible. Arggg that's retarded hard. 

 

 

[pearlandhorn 3269]

219.6 this morning.  Been battling cold/chest congestion for the last 4 days and haven't really had an appetite.  Haven't worked out since Friday.

I'm feeling quite a bit better today though.  Still going to take it easy on the weight lifting front and continue forward on the diet.

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

27 minutes ago, pearlandhorn said:

219.6 this morning.  Been battling cold/chest congestion for the last 4 days and haven't really had an appetite.  Haven't worked out since Friday.

I'm feeling quite a bit better today though.  Still going to take it easy on the weight lifting front and continue forward on the diet.

Keep it up, you have lost an impressive amount so far! 

[SpiralOut 1813]

Decided to do a 7-day fast for shits and giggles this week.  Today is day three and I feel great.  Down six more pounds.  Puts me over 120 for the year. 

The past month or so I'd upped my cals to try and slow down my weight loss to avoid loose skin issues, but now I'm thinking I'm just going to keep doing these extended fasts and hope autophagy does its thing.  Still going to keep lifting and try to stay toned up, but I've got 250 in my sights and its only a hop, skip, and a jump from there to 200.

However, I think I've got myself into a bit of trouble.  I don't see my parents often, but they invited me to go see the Rangers a couple of weeks back.  They kept going on about how much weight I'd lost, etc. and they got the whole story about keto and IF out of me.  My mother was quite overweight back in the day and she lost it all and has kept most all of it off (and she's 62) and she just wanted to know every little thing I was doing.  Anyway, long story short, my mom is doing IF and my pops emailed me the other day and told me he was doing keto and had already lost 14 pounds.  The fuck did I do? /McNulty 

[Jerry Callo 8699]

Hit 229.4 this morning, a milestone I've been chasing for a while.  Still planning on getting below 200.

[ajax 2607]

Just bought my first kettlebell. 28kg competition style, for those days when I cant get my ass to the gym. Plus my gym has those black cast iron kettlebells that I hate. Once you go competition style, you never go b(l)ack.

[pearlandhorn 3269]

Gained 2 pounds in Vegas. At 219.2. Back on the grind. Want to hit 215.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

Just bought my first kettlebell. 28kg competition style, for those days when I cant get my ass to the gym. Plus my gym has those black cast iron kettlebells that I hate. Once you go competition style, you never go b(l)ack.

Ain’t that the truth. I have 3 and can’t quite understand why any gyms wouldn’t purchase the same type.

[ajax 2607]

4 hours ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Ain’t that the truth. I have 3 and can’t quite understand why any gyms wouldn’t purchase the same type.

Probably because 1) the cast iron type are cheaper and 2) nobody knows how to use a kettlebell properly.

I'm at the gym all the time and my gym probably has over 60 kettlebells. I've never ever ever seen anyone using the kettlebells correctly. I've never seen anyone get in a rack position. Don't even ask about TGU, snatch, or long cycle. To do high-rep snatches or long cycle you really need a competition type bell.

People at the gym use kettlebells for 3 things - side bends for obliques, one arm rows, and kettlebell swings with really, really gawdawful form...you know, where it's more like a front dumbbell raise than a hinge move.

[El Diablo 4232]

Speaking of kettlebells..I've seen Secret Service details staying in hotels where I've been and some of those fuckers travel with their kettlebells. Compared to the duffel bags full of gear they would carry out to the van for a days work they weigh pretty much nothing and I guess they're not paying extra for their baggage. Still weird to see a couple of them working out in the courtyard or wherever.

[Elvis Presto 21]

i have a 35lb kettle bell that i have a little 25min routine with on days that i can't go to the gym.  I've been doing a lot of farmer walks with 70lbers for 50 yards and waiter carries with 35's on cardio days.  Those work and i'd much rather do that for 45 mins than run.  

Edited October 24, 2018 by Elvis Presto

[Goofyboy 3269]

What’s your routine? I have a 45 and a 25. I’m looking for a new routine for days that I don’t like the CrossFit workout.

[ajax 2607]

6 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

What’s your routine? I have a 45 and a 25. I’m looking for a new routine for days that I don’t like the CrossFit workout.

Here's a routine you can do. I assume you mean 45lbs since a 45kg kettlebell is a ridiculous monster. 

45kg is about 20kg. Here's a cute little girl doing snatches with 20kg. She manages to get 222 reps in 10 minutes.

 

Edited October 24, 2018 by ajax

[Sandman 3403]

I'm hovering around 265 now, down 30 lbs from when I started in April. 15 lbs left to meet my goal. I almost can't believe I made it this far. I've done this twice before, always caved in. I think it's gonna work this time. Once I hit 250, I'm resetting my goal to 230, that's where I was when I met my wife. It's gonna be great.

[Elvis Presto 21]

11 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

What’s your routine? I have a 45 and a 25. I’m looking for a new routine for days that I don’t like the CrossFit workout.

my routine is 20 squats x4, 10 snatches per arm x4, 20 swings x4 and 10 lunges per leg x4 .  it's good enough to get a little sweat going on days i cant make it to the gym.

[Goofyboy 3269]

Thanks!! It gets hard to find something that won’t kill me.

[destroya 374]

On my phone, but if you search YouTube for ‘the corrections kettlebell’ there’s a great series of videos on basic kettlebell moves. He does a great job breaking down the swing, which is the basis of many kb exercises. 

If you want a short, intense workout, Dan John has one where you do 8 double kettlebell front squats and then do 100 ft farmers walk. Do that 8 times in a row without putting the weight down. Then go throw up. 

[El Diablo 4232]

I haven't posted in a while now due to nothing to report really. I lost around 25 lbs early on and then plateaued. Since July my weight has pretty much been the same but I've still got a good ways to go. I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow for 10 days but some folks at work have put together a Biggest Loser challenge pre-holidays that I signed up for. Weighed in today at 244 on their scale, competition goes until December 14th. 

I mentioned a month or so ago that I have joined a gym and *had* a date with a trainer. Due to schedule conflicts we still haven't had a chance to get together but will be meeting the first weekend after I get back from the vacation so perfect timing as far as the Biggest Loser competition.

I'm ready to refocus and make a good push to the end of the year and hopefully get a jump on NEXT year. Maybe even put a little cash in my pocket along the way. Keep up the good work everyone!