Sorry for potato/lack of shirtless photos. I’m still not quite fit enough.
Age: 23 Height: 5’7”
For those of you too lazy to read through — Before After and
In the summer of 2013, I hit rock bottom I was 245 pounds and close to 30% body fat, unhealthy as can be and I was in a terrible relationship with a girl I didn’t even like. I decided it was time to change. My normal diet would consist of at least one large Monster energy drink per day, my choice of either pizza, shawarma, a burger or tacos for lunch, and pretty much nothing until dinner time. For dinner, I would usually eat Kraft dinner or some other delicious but ridiculously unhealthy thing.
The first order of business: Cutting out the sugar At this point, I knew very little about fitness. I didn’t even know what macronutrients were. But I knew sugar was bad. So I cut out all processed sugars. All of my fluids were replaced by water or coffee (you cannot and never will take my coffee away from me. But I only have one milk in mine). The rest of my diet was about the same. I tried to bring healthier lunches with me to work, but I was still eating out often. Over a short period of time (about June to September), I lost about 20 pounds. Encouraged by that result, I wanted to do more. So I joined the local greasy $10 per month gym and started working out. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing. I would go to the gym, bike for a bit, do some curls, then leave. I would go to the gym about three times per week, but not really do a whole lot for myself. I needed to teach myself exactly how to work out. In and around this time, I broke up with my girlfriend because she cheated on me. Looking back on it now, I wish I could recapture that feeling. I was motivated to prove to her that she fucked with the wrong fat dude.
At this point, I looked like this
Knowledge is power I decided I wanted to know everything there was about nutrition and training. Luckily, I had an acquaintance who was the strength program head coach for a local college football team. Since I work as a sports reporter, I decided to enlist his help. He explained to me how to eat and why I should eat what I should eat. Once I had the nutrition side figured out, I needed to learn how to work out. Using YouTube vloggers such as Elliot Hulse (I know the jury is still out on him, but I respect his physical workout videos) I learned the basics. I put myself on a five-day-per-week program, as below: Monday – Chest Tuesday – Back Wednesday – Legs Thursday – Arms Friday – Flex (Do whatever I whimped out on earlier in the week, or do whatever I feel I need to improve) It was a good start for me and I managed to get excited about going to the gym. The challenge of having an actual printed list of what I needed to accomplish was perfect to get my ass in gear. Eventually, I moved on to a Push-Pull-Legs routine, which I do six days per week.
I read about fitness all the time. This subreddit has been fantastic, along with r/fitmeals and r/nutrition.
What I ate today as an example: Morning workout (Ate it all)
Protein shake Honeydew melon Hard boiled egg
100 grams roasted chicken with about 100 grams cooked brown rice, mixed with sriracha As a snack, I had about 150 grams of left over turkey that I just munched throughout the day. Salad — spinach with asian sesame dressing About three handfuls of almonds
Then for dinner, I had the same thing I had for lunch (I know, lame. But then I don’t have to cook as much) Fill in the rest of my calories with some more fruit and a little bit more protein from cheese.
Threw in a consistent strength work out, and ended up looking like this
Nutrition My nutrition shifted quite a bit through this period, so I’m not going to go into details about what I ate day to day. But here are some points that followed me throughout: Calories: Calculated basal metabolic rate. Tried to eat that amount of calories. Protein: At least 1 gram of protein per gram of bodyweight. Lots of rubber chicken. Lots of whey protein. Fats: Every time I eat a carb, I have a little bit of fat with it. Main staples are celery and PB, apples and PB, a small handful of almonds, etc. Carbs: As little as possible; avoid starchy carbs. Potatoes out. Pasta out. Bread out. I come from an Italian background, so that one hurts. Big focus on greens — broccoli, asparagus, spinach. Meal frequency: I try to eat at least every three hours. I work out fasted in the morning before work, and I follow that up with a serving of fruit and a protein shake. There is no such thing as “it’s too late to eat.”
Figured out my nutrition and got myself on track like this and this and this. This is my current form, but it’s not even my final form bro.
Invest in yourself It sounds lame, but one of the biggest turning points for my weight loss was buying a nice thermos bag and a bunch of good Tupperware. I no longer had an excuse to go out for lunch. I had the infrastructure. All I needed to do was fill it with the right things and go to work. I also invested in a pair of nice Adidas trainers, and some new work out gear. Sure, you can work out in grubby old clothes, but honestly, nothing gets me more excited to go and train than new gear. I also got a membership at a slightly fancier gym where I feel comfortable. It has everything I need and even though it does cost more, it’s totally worth it.
I have a goal, but I don’t have an end People often ask me what my goal weight is. I don’t have one. I just know what I want to look like. I’ve completely bought in to the fact that I’m going to have to maintain a healthy lifestyle for my entire life to keep this up. Anyway, thanks for reading if you got this far. Hopefully someone as rough as I once was can read this and be at least slightly motivated. It’s a hell of a lot of work, but consistency pays off.
Submitted October 14, 2014 at 07:18PM by adamdavidjackson
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