What's your weight loss story?

I started at a nasty 20 stone and currently down to 16 stone and 5 pound , my journal is in my sig.

When I was leaving police acedemy the uniform seamstress who you order your kit from told me in a sarcastic tone to order pants two sizes larger because I would "expand" after training.
Being a cocky kid, and not one to take fashion advice from a woman who wore her pants under her boobs,  I told her to order me a size smaller than the ones I was wearing, just to prover her wrong.
Three years later still wearing the same size!
I was a fat kid and the fear of becoming that fat kid had kept me on the move and eating right.

Welshy


I wish I could forget them ! I look at them and think I look absolutely revolting but they're a good reminder of the progress I've made.

I'm gonna give you a mahoooosive huggle next weekend !

You shouldn't want to forget them as they will be a reminder of why you do what you do today and give you a huge sense of pride of how far you have come. That's why every so often I click on my own before photo just for a kick up my own backside
 
I can hug harder than you so just be careful LOL!!

lexusbabe


When I was leaving police acedemy the uniform seamstress who you order your kit from told me in a sarcastic tone to order pants two sizes larger because I would "expand" after training.
Being a cocky kid, and not one to take fashion advice from a woman who wore her pants under her boobs,  I told her to order me a size smaller than the ones I was wearing, just to prover her wrong.
Three years later still wearing the same size!
I was a fat kid and the fear of becoming that fat kid had kept me on the move and eating right.

I find sometimes when people tell me "you'll never do it" it makes me more determined too. But well done for sticking to your guns and hope you managed to show that woman just how wrong she was

Thats really great to hear so many amazing stories. Weight loss creates problems. However, it can be controlled by proper diet, exercises and healthy habits. 
There is no alternative like working out. You can check out www[]onesteptofitness[]com/video-wl/ for more information. "

My story so far...
 
I'm cursed with a bit of an addictive personality in some regards. I tend to become intensely interested in something, do it compulsively for 6 months, and then lose interest when I burn out, or something else catches my attention, or when something else becomes a priority in my life. This unfortunately is not a good approach to health, diet or exercise, and I would benefit from a more sustainable approach in many areas of my life. This is something I'm working on... I've also made a fair few mistakes over the years, but hopefully learned something from them.
 
When I was a teenager and in my early 20s, I was quite into various sports (martial arts, running etc), and was a fairly lean 85kg, 34" waist, with a reasonable amount of muscle mass, but after a few years, university, lots of beer, and being "too busy" to keep in shape, I settled into a reasonably steady life of being about 94kg with a 38-39" waist. It seems to be the weight level and shape that I hover around when I eat just about whatever I want and don't do much exercise.
 
A couple of years back, I decided that something had to be done, and looked into the subject of weight loss. I looked at the figures for food calories, and the amount that various exercises burned, and came to the conclusion that exercise was for mugs - it looked far easier to lose the calories through diet than through exercise.
 
This thinking led to a very restrictive diet of around 1000-1400 cals per day, and a weight loss down to around 85Kg over several months. At that stage, my weight loss ground to a halt. I had lost a lot of fat, but also (I'm pretty sure) quite a bit of muscle, and my metabolism had slowed down a lot. I was also a lot weaker, and less healthy.
 
The weight inevitably returned, as the diet was not sustainable, and being on a starvation diet whilst not losing weight is very demoralising. Within a year, I was back to the magic 94kg, but with probably a higher level of fat. My crappy scale was telling me it was about 27%.
 
Back in November, my (slim, athletic) girlfriend left me (not because of my fatness, but I'm sure that didn't help), and I decided that in order for normal sane human females to appreciate my fine azz, a bit of reshaping would be required. Feeling like a fat loser is not attractive after all. After a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth, a plan was formulated to deal with the situation.
 
In order to reduce the level of lard, I would start getting back into my running, and get going on an 1800-2000 cal diet with more protein and less carbs than I'm used to. I was aiming for a 30% protein, 25% fat and 45% carb diet. Since the start of that, I've got down to about 78Kg, which is about as light as I've been since I was a teenager. Even though I'm pretty sure I have less muscle mass than then (due to my earlier failed diet), I now feel fairly fit and strong. I haven't been doing a great deal of weight training, other than enhanced bodyweight exercises (declined press ups, slightly weighted chins etc), but I plan to ramp that up when I have lost enough fat, and can see what I'm working with.
 
The same crappy scale now reports that I'm 16% body fat, with a 33" waist, and I'm seeing more definition appear around my abs. I still need to lose a bit more fat, and now need to up the cardio a bit, as I've been finding my appetite increasing. Fortunately, the diet approach that I'm taking is fairly moderate, so it's not terribly hard to stick to.
 
So, 16Kg (35lb) down, maybe another 3Kg (6.5lb) to go. I now feel like a healthy shape, and people are remarking on it, so it's definitely an improvement. I've had to buy some new clothes though - the old trousers look ridiculous even with a belt, and the old XL (slightly baggy to hide the chub) T shirts are now replaced with a much better fitting Medium.

OutaShape


My story so far...
 
I'm cursed with a bit of an addictive personality in some regards. I tend to become intensely interested in something, do it compulsively for 6 months, and then lose interest when I burn out, or something else catches my attention, or when something else becomes a priority in my life. This unfortunately is not a good approach to health, diet or exercise, and I would benefit from a more sustainable approach in many areas of my life. This is something I'm working on... I've also made a fair few mistakes over the years, but hopefully learned something from them.
 
When I was a teenager and in my early 20s, I was quite into various sports (martial arts, running etc), and was a fairly lean 85kg, 34" waist, with a reasonable amount of muscle mass, but after a few years, university, lots of beer, and being "too busy" to keep in shape, I settled into a reasonably steady life of being about 94kg with a 38-39" waist. It seems to be the weight level and shape that I hover around when I eat just about whatever I want and don't do much exercise.
 
A couple of years back, I decided that something had to be done, and looked into the subject of weight loss. I looked at the figures for food calories, and the amount that various exercises burned, and came to the conclusion that exercise was for mugs - it looked far easier to lose the calories through diet than through exercise.
 
This thinking led to a very restrictive diet of around 1000-1400 cals per day, and a weight loss down to around 85Kg over several months. At that stage, my weight loss ground to a halt. I had lost a lot of fat, but also (I'm pretty sure) quite a bit of muscle, and my metabolism had slowed down a lot. I was also a lot weaker, and less healthy.
 
The weight inevitably returned, as the diet was not sustainable, and being on a starvation diet whilst not losing weight is very demoralising. Within a year, I was back to the magic 94kg, but with probably a higher level of fat. My crappy scale was telling me it was about 27%.
 
Back in November, my (slim, athletic) girlfriend left me (not because of my fatness, but I'm sure that didn't help), and I decided that in order for normal sane human females to appreciate my fine azz, a bit of reshaping would be required. Feeling like a fat loser is not attractive after all. After a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth, a plan was formulated to deal with the situation.
 
In order to reduce the level of lard, I would start getting back into my running, and get going on an 1800-2000 cal diet with more protein and less carbs than I'm used to. I was aiming for a 30% protein, 25% fat and 45% carb diet. Since the start of that, I've got down to about 78Kg, which is about as light as I've been since I was a teenager. Even though I'm pretty sure I have less muscle mass than then (due to my earlier failed diet), I now feel fairly fit and strong. I haven't been doing a great deal of weight training, other than enhanced bodyweight exercises (declined press ups, slightly weighted chins etc), but I plan to ramp that up when I have lost enough fat, and can see what I'm working with.
 
The same crappy scale now reports that I'm 16% body fat, with a 33" waist, and I'm seeing more definition appear around my abs. I still need to lose a bit more fat, and now need to up the cardio a bit, as I've been finding my appetite increasing. Fortunately, the diet approach that I'm taking is fairly moderate, so it's not terribly hard to stick to.
 
So, 16Kg (35lb) down, maybe another 3Kg (6.5lb) to go. I now feel like a healthy shape, and people are remarking on it, so it's definitely an improvement. I've had to buy some new clothes though - the old trousers look ridiculous even with a belt, and the old XL (slightly baggy to hide the chub) T shirts are now replaced with a much better fitting Medium.

ow feel like a healthy shape, and people are remarking on it, so it's definitely an improvement. I've had to buy some new clothes though - the old trousers look ridiculous even with a belt, and the old XL (slightly baggy to hide the chub) T shirts are now replaced with a much better fitting Medium.

Good story mate

Absolutely amazing progress there Welshy.You look so much better now ;0)

I was cutting until last week.  I stopped and now feel de-motivated because my father came to visit and told me I looked ill and lacking good food and nutrition, he also said I look gaunt!!  Its made it worse because he's been texting my wife about being concerned.
As for nutrition, I have been eating 5-7 meals per day, all good quality, high protein, mod carbs, mod fats, most of my calorie deficit to lose the weight was from cardio increasing expenditure, although his comments and actions have left me feeling really fed up.
Yes I do look different, but I have gone from around 23% BF to around 10-11%
 
What do you think?  Heres a pic taken last week when I was feeling quite good about myself, until I got the visit.
 
I appreciate I have burnt some muscle off, my next thing to do was work on the abs!  Don't know where I am going with it now though.

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Don't worry about the "gaunt" comment. My dad commented that I looked gaunt when I was about 20% BF... Just relatives for you - they worry when they see changes, especially if they don't understand them.
 
Pic looks good by the way, well done

To be honest, as an ex boxer, I did it the wrong way. Having to make weight quickly I'd survive on 2 Pro Flapjack bars a day,  4 litres of water and sometimes clenbuterol. And i trained on top of that! Not good, so please don't follow my example! I was permanantly drained

Outtashape,
 
Your point about sustainable, is what had been causing me issues too, I found this with training as well.
Recently I narrowed the problem down to work/life and using a set day for bodyparts and cardio.
 
The solution which has worked really simply for me is to remove the set days, i.e. Monday used to be Back and Bi's, now Monday may or may not a training day.
 
To explain, simply, I train with weights 3 times per week.  These can be ANY 3 days of the week, but no more than 2 consecutive days.  As for cardio, its a MINIMUM of 3 mornings a week.  If I have time to hit the gym for 25mins HIIT before I leave work when working until early hours, I'll add it in too and then come home and go to bed.
 
I still group my bodyparts i.e. back/bi's but not fix them to a certain day as this was my problem, if I missed a day, it all went wrong.  Probably more of a mental thing, but this seems to work much better. 

biggernleaner


I was cutting until last week.  I stopped and now feel de-motivated because my father came to visit and told me I looked ill and lacking good food and nutrition, he also said I look gaunt!!  Its made it worse because he's been texting my wife about being concerned.
As for nutrition, I have been eating 5-7 meals per day, all good quality, high protein, mod carbs, mod fats, most of my calorie deficit to lose the weight was from cardio increasing expenditure, although his comments and actions have left me feeling really fed up.
Yes I do look different, but I have gone from around 23% BF to around 10-11%
 
What do you think?  Heres a pic taken last week when I was feeling quite good about myself, until I got the visit.
 
I appreciate I have burnt some muscle off, my next thing to do was work on the abs!  Don't know where I am going with it now though.

your looking very good there mate - well done. a real success story - be interested to see how you did it.  
 
maybe you should focus on adding on some lean muscle as opposed to getting any leaner - might be good to eat more food and give your body a break

My routine and diet were reasonable, I would make a few tweaks if I did it again.  As for having a break, the last seven days I have doubled my calorie intake, probably put on a little fat, but only gained 3lbs and looking a bit fuller now, although, you are right I could do with some lean muscle now.
 
I did it a bit like this, although it varied slightly. 
 
You'll probably note I didn't train legs, that because they are the biggest bit of my body and remained the same throughout, my calves are pretty good, for example wearing clothes which fit my waist now, when I take down my jeans, they get stuck at my calves.  This allowed me to keep the cardio good with no legs soreness, but on reflection I would have trained them lightly throughout.
 
The whole routine was done in my home built gym, reasonable equipment but far more limited than a proper gym of course.
 
Cardio
 
For the first couple of months, to increase fitness ready for some HIIT, I did steady state cardio on stationary bike, 45 mins a time for a minimum of 3 days per week first thing in the morning before breakfast BUT after a half scoop protein shake.  This sometimes went up to 5 days.
For the rest of the time I did either 45 mins steady state on the bike or 25 mins HIIT on a spin bike (as I don't have a treadmill, only the stationary and spin).  This was a minimum of 5 days per week, mostly first thing in the morning, on a really busy day it was before bed.  Occasionally if I had loads of energy,  I would add a 20 mins HIIT session after working nights before bed as a second session when I had done one on waking.
 
Training
 
I trained 3 days per week, any three days in the 7, but never 3 consecutive.  Mostly working in 8-10 rep range.  If I felt particularly spent, I would go to 10-15 using slightly lighter weight. 
 
Day 1 - Back and Bi's
Day 2 - Chest - on its own as I felt it was the most lagging
Day 3 - Shoulders and Tri's
 
Food
 
I did 5 low carb days, 2 high carb days.  On high carb days I just added extra sweet potatoes/brown toast/brown rice to whatever meals I fancied.  Sad as it sounds, I bought 'small' loaves of brown bread (i.e. Warburtons Half loaf), because 2 slices has the same carbs/cals as a single slice of larger loaf bread.  The only purpose of 2 slices is to hold the food in!
 
I struggled at first with the willpower to eat completely clean, but came up with a logic that worked for me, a bit caveman style -
Food is for survival and growth - taste is for making sure what you eat will not kill you!
 
Fluids - I drink loads of tea and coffee all day, I just can't help myself - the kettle never goes cold at work or at home.  During training I'll get through about half a litre of water too.
 
Wake
half scoop protein shake
Cardio
 
Breakfast
Small bowl of porridge with apple/berries/raisins
half scoop protein shake and 4 egg whites, 1 yolk scrambled or omlette
 
Mid Morning
Protein Shake
Apple
 
Lunch
Chicken (usually with a sprinkle or two from a fajita mix packet) or mackerel
Huge Salad with Jalepenos
Plenty of Olive oil and white wine vinegar dressing - homemade
 
Mid afternoon
Protein shake or two tins of mackerel (curried is good!)
 
Dinner
Non training day - usually fatty fish - mackerel etc
Training days - Chicken
Brocolli and loads of other veg
 
Post Training
60g Protein Shake with creatine
40g Dextrose powder
 
Sometimes I had a casein shake or cottage cheese before bed, but generally not.  I should have been stricter with before bed.
Occasionally my training would be after breakfast or before dinner due to work, but the meals stayed about the same, just moved the post-training.  Dinner of course became mid evening.
 
Supplements
 
For 3 of the six months (not consecutive) I used Pyrolean by Sci-MX at 6 caps a day (not 9)
Fish oil caps - 1 in the morning, 1 or 2 before bed
Vit C - 1g in morning, 1g midday, 1g before bed (not consistently)
Mutlivitamin, 1 in morning, sometimes 1 before bed also.
Creatine Gluconate - 2.5g before training, 2.5g mixed in post workout shake
AAKG - 3-5g 40 mins prior to training with the creatine above
 
I think that is about it.
 
 
 

Some fantastic posts here and some amazing progress!

At my heaviest I was 108.6kg now im around the 80kg.  Before and After pics in my journal.

Why?  Just woke up one day and realised I wasnt happy with myself so decided to do something about it and to stick at it this time.

Aim? Lose the fat and in an ideal world get more toned and gain muscle mass.

I must admit that reading RHFs story was excellent motivation!!

my cousin vapor got me to join this forum in february when i started hitting the gym. im like most guys who get sloppy with their lifestyles without realising it, but im in this to get back into shape and feel good about my self.

ive just been reading posts and comments learning about bodybuilding/dieting etc as my knowlege is limited at the moment, but here is my story so far and this really is a working progress:

i did my fitness test at the gym before i started training and the scales said i was 104kg, chubby cheeks, an even chubbier belly and a bit of disgust at myslef that i could let myself get so out of shape. 

i couldnt even fit into my 38 waist jeans :(. so i went charging in to the gym like a bull in a china shop destroying myself, doing routines that was pushing myself so hard i could hardly breathe, and to be fair i was just forever feeling drained and not seeing much difference, then my cousin got involved made me sign up here to get diet plans and work outs and we began a properly structured 12 week routine to which i am now into week 2.

since that day i now weigh 96kg, so i have lost 8kg in 3 months which im very pleased with, i feel great, my diet has completely changed scrapping all the junk food, all my food is now fresh, i drink nothing but water (which is about 8 litres a day). i take protein supplements for after my workouts and i havent felt this good since i was a teenager. 

by the end of our first 12 weeks im aiming to hit 14 stone, and i am noticing my muscles are developing very nicely and my strengh increasing every week.

once my first 12 week cycle is complete i will post all my before after pics to show you the (hopefully positive) comparisons. i have photos after week 1, will take them again after week 6 then again at week 12.

id just like to say a bigh thank you to all people who are members of MT, admins, the pros and the newbies for making this informantion accesable and being there for noobs like me who need pointing in the right direction, you have made mine and im sure many many peoples lives change for the better thank you all

sanchezz 4387 aka carl
 
 
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs014.snc1/2944_194226570110_622705110_6565018_1915174_n.jpg
 
her is me at the end of week 1

Started out around 190lbs i'd guess, i came to MT for advice and after posting pics was told to bulk to gain muscle "cutting would then be easier". That advice wasn't so great, which is why i often tell people to cut first because getting super fat and irreversible stretch mark scars is not fun... but thats what happened.

I gained about 30lbs of fat, see the chubby picture above.

Anyway i realised i'd made a mistake, so i ignored the bulk comments and cut... and cut.... and cut... it took a while, but once you get on the track and see the first weeks weight loss that'll boost you into achieving the next weeks...then the next... then the next... and bam i had finally completed my cut.



Unfortunately i quit training/dieting as i was now "happy" with where i was.

Since then i've got out of shape, but ill probably enter the shape up contest soon and get back there.

Consistency is something i lack, this game is a marathon not a race thats for sure.
Since physiques are so fickle, without consistency you won't really get anywhere.

Good luck if your just starting your journey,
I've just began to diet down again (180lbs fatty right now!).

Here's a pictorial journey through my weight loss..gain..loss..gain..loss

From 16stone to 11stone 7lb shredded, via an operation on my spine last year (disk replacement) and my weight climbing back to 13 and a half stone, and now finally back training since christmas and at 12stone 5lb..

fat 16stone, thin 12stone, bulked to 13stone.7lb, ripped at 11stone 7lb




operation and subsequent training since christmas...


and today


Currently cutting for the summer...

Great transformation Rich how long did that take you?

I think I read somewhere on here or UGM that you're on a PSMF at the moment is that what you used to get into the condition in your second photo?