A voyage from fat to lean.....

About a month ago, a friend came to me with a proposition. A weight loss competition similar to the one on the show, "The Biggest Loser." The stakes are next to nothing. $50/man, winner take all. However, I have an ultra competitive nature so winning will be enough. A bit about me. When I met my wife, I was a very lean 235lbs on a 6'2" frame. Very strong. In the gym lifting and playing basketball virtually every day. Most days I would go twice. Five years have passed and I have become a 33 year old 275 pound slob. How that happened is a long story best left for another day.

Back to the contest. We weighted in on Jan 3 at noon so we will be three weeks in tomorrow at noon. Thus far, I've lost 25 1/2 pounds. My goal is to lose 50lbs in the 2 months and lose another 10 or so after that. I'd like to be in the 210-215 range and shredded.

I know that the weight loss is pretty dramatic (25+lbs in 20 days) but I am actually a bit stronger in virtually all of the measurables so I don't think I've sacrificed any muscle. I am quite fortunate to have very favorable genetics.

I would be happy to share more of my tale including the process I've employed if this story has any interest with forum members. If not, I certainly won't be offended.

Cheers,

D

I'm sure that I was bloated quite a bit when I weighed in. When we are grossly out of shape, we tend to retain a ton of water so I wouldn't be surprised 7-8 of those pounds are water. As to the rest of the weight, here's my process. Each morning I go to the gym and run for 40 minutes on an empty stomach. At my weight, I typically burn 750-800 calories each morning. In the evening, I lift and do a second session of cardio on the eliptical. From what I can gather, I am burning 4000-4500 calories per day. Even out of shape, I still care a good amount of muscle. We all know that someone with a lot of lean muscle has a higher metabolism than the another person of the same weight with an average build. I am consuming between 1200-1600 calories per day. Each calorie is accounted for. I have a spreadsheet that documents everything (save for the 2 gallons of water) that enters my body. Everything. Creamer in my coffee, certs, whatever. On many days, I'll lose a pound. If it isn't a pound, then it's 3/4 of a pound. I wouldn't recommend this type of program. You really have to be willing to work. I drag my ass out of bed EVERY morning. I eat 6 meals but they range in size from 90 calories to at most, 600 calories. Not easy. Another example. We are getting ready to sell our cottage out in the Rochester, NY area. I had to go out there a few weekends ago to interview realtors. No gym. So, I bundled up and went for a five mile run in the 25 degree (10 with the wind chill) weather. Not fun but that is what it will take. I guess my competitive streak wins the fight against my cravings for pizza and the like. I realize that on it's face, it looks like the math probably can't work. However, I can assure you that it can.

There was no way I was going to get photographed before this contest. And, I must admit, I ate a 2 pound calzone just before the weigh in but that doesn't account for that much. If others are interested, I will keep this board apprised of my progress.

Ok, a typical day for me. Actually, I should digress a bit as I should offer this tidbit; I'm a vegetarian. How does a veg get that heavy you say? Well, my playing weight in college was 220. To maintain that weight, I had to eat like a horse. I was conditioned for years to eat and eat so when my gym activity slowed down and my eating habits didn't follow suit, I gained weight. My downfall is cheese. Can't get enough of it.

Ok, back to my day. I get up at 6 to go to the gym. I grab my coffee and lunch on the way out the door. More on my lunch later. I sip a small amount of coffee before I get to the gym; probably no more than 10 calories from the creamer so my stomach is virtually empty. I've found that my body reacts well to intense cardio on an empty stomach. Once at the gym, I run for 40 minutes. At 33, my max heart rate is 187. I try to target a heart rate or 145-150 for the entire 40 minutes. I have a heart rate monitor strap that renders on the treadmill so it is easy to track. As the the rate, I have found that I can strip fat more efficiently in the upper boundaries of the fat burning zone (65%-80% of max.) Others may be better off staying closer to 65%. It's best to monitor your weight loss (all else equal) at different cardio outputs. Typically, I'll burn 750-800 calories during this session.

Once at work (anywhere from 8-9:30am), I consume a DZL Gear protein drink. 20 grams of whey protein isolate but only 90 calories. When you add the 45 calories from the creamer in my coffee, my first meal is 135 calories every day. I have substituted spenda for sugar. Yuk!

I eat my second meal at roughly 10:30. It consists of one half of a container of fat free cottage cheese with pineapple. 160 calories.

For lunch (12:30 or 1) I have a green salad with onions, peppers, avocado, 4 egg whites, chick peas and one tablespoon of Newmans Own low fat balsamic. 250 calories

Fourth meal (save the Taco Bell comments) is the rest of the cottage cheese with pineapple. 160 calories. Usually around 3:30 or 4:00.

If I don't have a business dinner or a night meeting, I head to the gym for a quick lift and a second cardio session. I still do my old Max-OT system that my body really responds to. I'll do the eliptical for 30 minutes and burn another 600 calories.

Fifth meal is typically another DZL at 90 calories.

A typical dinner: 2 Morning Star Spicy Black Bean Burgers with a half to 3/4 serving of Cabbot Sharp Hunters Chedder, a dollup of sour cream and 2 tablespoons of salsa. Always a healthy glass of red wine and sometimes a 90 calorie desert- creamsicle or something like that.

That's it. The key is the discipline and the accountability of the spreadsheet. It helps when you have some things they you can't control (read genetics) working in your favor. One can't control for that but it does help. Honestly, I won't have any trouble losing the 50lbs in 2 months (really only 59 days because of the 28 days in Feb and we will actually weigh out on March 2). It's the maintanance that will be hard. When working toward a goal, I am so singularly focused and so process driven that I can't help but succeed. However, once the goal is achieved, I typically look for a different challenge (like improving my woefully bad shoe collection). In the past 5-6 years, I have been both jacked and fat. I can't seem to find the middle ground. My hope is that by employing this process, I can find a comfortable weight and stay there.

We shall see.

I understand some of the skepticism as it relates to my ability to keep the weight off post-contest. My history suggests it will be very difficult absent a secondary goal that is measurable. I think when I get down to a weight that is comfortable, I will shoot for benching 2X my body weight. Setting one's sights on a goal such as this has several implications. I will at once have to remain focussed on keeping my weight down and improving my strength. Achieving this goal will require the kind of focus and discipline I've called upon for this contest. I look forward to it.

Let me take a second to clear things up a bit about where I am right now. This morning I was 247lbs. At 6'2, I can carry that weight without looking fat; maybe a little overweight. Even thought I haven't lifted in a serious way for 4-5 years, I can still move a decent amount of weight. For example, I can probably bench my body weight 10-12 times right now. Certainly not what I was 5 years ago but respectable. What I'm saying here is that I'm not completely out of shape at this point. Today markes the end of week 3 of the contest. This morning, I again ran for 40 minutes. I could have gone for an hour or more. I was always an athlete so no matter how long the layoff, my muscle memory allows me to hit the ground running. With such a limited caloric intake, one would expect that I would be both sluggish and hungry. The reality is quite the opposite. My energy is up substantially and I'm rarely hungry. Sure, at dinner, I could eat quite a bit more. However, once finished, if I simply wait 10 or so minutes, my body begins the digestion process and the hunger goes away.

I will certainly keep this board posted on my progress.

Cheers,

D

I do appreciate the advice from everyone. However, I dont' plan on employing the last second cutting regimine described earlier. I also will avoid the typical pre-contest body builder tricks with potasium etc. If you do the research, you will see that if you aren't precise, you may retain more water than desired.

I would be willing to forward my spreadsheet to those that think it may be helpful in their own journey. Not really looking for a critique with respect to the spreadsheet. However, if anyone feels compelled by my story to employ a similar process, there is no reason to recreate prior art.

Best,

D