Photos:
Weight:
~350 lbs -> 227.4lbs
Diet:
Diet was pretty much just portion control. Eating a lot of the things I still liked at first but at a lower amount than before. I tried my hardest to keep around 1500 calories a day. Pretty much what I did was I found a TDEE calculator, and cut my basal metabolic rate in half and ate that much. My diet was pretty much exclusively Chicken breast, microwave mixed vegetables, peanut butter sandwiches, apples, and protein shakes. I am still pretty bad when it comes to eating healthy, making it a bit harder to lose the last 15-20 lbs I want to lose, but I'm getting better at it every day.
Lifting Program:
In the beginning I stuck to the pretty simple Push, Pull, Legs program. Tried to do my best by doing 5x5 on compound lifts, and just 4x10 on everything else. After a while I started to modify my lifting program, and started doing Chest/Triceps, Back/Biceps, Chest/Shoulders, Legs. I also moved to higher volume, lower weight on back and bicep day (especially biceps), and vice versa on Chest day. Here is my current Program
Chest/Tricep:
5x5:
Bench
Incline Bench
4x8:
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Chest Press
Fly Machine
Tricep Pushdown
Tricep Pulldown
Skull Crushers
Squeeze Press
One Arm Tricep Pulldowns
Back/Bicep:
4x10:
Bent Over Rows
Barbell Shrugs
3x15:
Dumbbell Hammer Curl
Preacher Curl
Barbell Curl
Incline Dumbbell Curls
Dumbbell Row
Cable Pulldown
Cable Row
Assisted Pull up
Chest/Shoulders:
5x5:
Bench
OHP (usually try and pyramid up to a max for OHP, helps with my shoulder development)
4x10:
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Chest Press
Fly Machine
Lateral Raises
Arnold Press
Reverse Dumbbell Fly
Reverse Fly Machine
Face Pull
Lateral Cable Raises
Leg:
5x5:
Squat
Deadlift (Conventional or Sumo, depends on how im feeling)
4x10:
Hamstring curls
Leg Extension (low weight usually)
Abduction Machine
Adduction Machine
Leg Press
Calf Raises
Core:
Usually throw in 2 quick core exercises at the end of each day
Cardio:
I Bike everywhere at school (in College currently), but I also occasionally do Boxing, Jumprope, and Running.
Lift Progression:
Bench: 115 -> 195 (1 Rep Max)
Overhead Press: 65 -> 115 (1 Rep Max)
Deadlift: 225 -> 335 (1 Rep Max)
Squat: 135 -> 225 (5x5)
How I got Fat:
My family has always been fairly unhealthy. While I was encouraged to do sports when I was younger, it fell off pretty hard when I got into middle/highschool. From 7th to 8th grade I gained around 60 lbs, and when I was a freshman in highschool I weighed 300lbs. I ended up doing some weightlifting in Highschool for a Physical Education credit, but ended up stopping half way through. I spent most of my days just playing video games, and eating all I wanted. This eventually lead to me weighing about 350 lbs during my Highschool Graduation. My Graduation Gown was so tight on me I couldn’t even sit down with it zipped up. When I got to college, my eating habits continued. While I was more active walking around campus, I had an all you can eat meal plan, and boy did I use it. Between eating large pizzas at least 3 times a week, eating full tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream daily, and nightly Subway runs, I maintained my weight of 350 lbs throughout my first year of college.
How I got Fit:
While I had done some moderate lifting earlier on in 2019, it wasn't until after my 20th Birthday, that I decided to go all in. I was sick of being fat, and I finally accepted how much I hated my body. In early April I decided to start my diet and exercise routine and finally take it seriously. With the semester ended, I had a ridiculous amount of time to exercise, and I took advantage of my Universities gyms. Just trying to wake up every day and go was a bit of a hassle at first, but I stuck with it. Slowly I began to see a difference on the scale, where I would drop around 10 lbs a week for my first month. While this amount of weight loss does sound massively unhealthy, I think it was mostly a product of the amount I was eating before. Before dieting I was most likely eating upwards of 5000 Calories a day, and cutting it down to 1500 was hard, but made me drop weight like crazy. By the end of the summer, after about 4 months of Dieting and Exercise, I was finally down to about 260lbs. As school started up again, I ended up seeing most of my friends who freaked out when seeing the fact that I dropped 80-90lbs over summer. After that I continued my diet/exercise, and eventually dropped down to where I am at now, 227.4 lbs. While during the Fall semester I did cheat on my meals a lot, drank a good amount, and overall didn't stick to my diet, I was really happy I remained active and didn’t bounce back with my weight.
Future goals:
My Goal Weight is 205, and I want to hit that preferably in the first quarter of 2020. A big one is also benching 225 for the first time, which hopefully will happen very soon. As for this year, I hope to be able to increase all my compound lifts by 100 lbs (I know its a lofty goal, but aim high hit low) by the end of 2020.
Improvements Outside of the Gym:
As for outside of the gym, my life has changed pretty drastically. All the posts on reddit saying that people treat you differently when you are a more natural weight is true. People treat me better, and it has made me so much more comfortable in my own skin. I feel like i'm much more outgoing now, and it has improved my happiness quite a bit. I even ended up dating the girl i've had a huge crush on for the past year and a half, which is pretty crazy in its own right.
It's never too late to start losing weight. I thought I was fucked because of how heavy I was, and that I’d never be able to commit. I finally did, and it was the greatest decision of my life. If you are viewing this on New Years for encouragement, please go through with it. It will be the best thing you’ve ever done for yourself.
Happy New Years!
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