6 mnths of hard work w/ b4 &after pix -Update

[Centerfire1]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Thats exactly what I needed to read. January 1st my wife and I will be kicking our workout back into high gear and Its very inspiring to actually see a real person with a real job make such a huge change without surgery. The diet is the last piece I needed....The change was so impressive that we were looking for photo cropping....LOL
Thats friggin awesome !!

 

[300WSM]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

it's the gun

 

[metalmike]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

thanks alot for sharing the details and it's great motivation! good work! If there's one thing to learn here outside of your good scientific background, is that the discipline involved is also key..

thanks again

 

[alpha6164]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

I started this thread last September and wanted to keep it alive with updates. I got into this get in shape mode last spring/summer and now a year later still going strong. Getting ready to go to Vegas with the boys for Memorial weekend to Vegas and had to make sure to be on point. Carbs have been reduced over last 4 weeks steadily, with increase in protein, cardio, and high rep type weight lifting. I am more lean and defined today than even last year. It is very easy to get a spurt of motivation and get in shape and eat right for 2-3 months and then let it all go. If you can keep it up month after month and year after year is when it really counts. I had a labrum tear in my right shoulder in January which sidelined me lifting anything upper body for 3 months solid. But i just kept cardio, and lower body exercises etc until it healed. Here is picture taken couple of days ago.

 

[Napsters]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

I have on question. How much sweet potato or rice did you pack up for each meal? I have been very sick and have lost a ton of weight. I am now down to 175 and am 6 foot tall. I have been having problems keeping any protein down and figure I am eating about 1200 calories a day max if I am luck.

I got no appetite and the docs pulled my gull blader in Feb. I still feel like shit and can barely get out of bed anymore. I am trying to put in 30 hours a week at work and that is all the energy I have. It's getting to the point i am almost passing out when I stand up. It actually hurts bad when I eat and can't do it without pain meds. Even yogurt hurts somehow...

 

[lessthanfour]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

if your eating that little go for mass gainers. three scoops is like 800 calories and 90 grams of protein. fill up a one litre water bottle with 3 scoops and drink it throughout the day. even though im hungry i do this when i can so i dont have to digest more protein than i can take in one sitting. my goal isnt to have very expensive piss

 

[kchustle]

Re: 6 mnths of hard work w/ b4 &after pix -Update

I had a similar paradigm shift earlier this year. I have always been a thin guy so even though I had put on some weight I still wasn't fat by any means at 6'3" and 182lbs. However, with my 30 birthday looming I decided to take my health a little more seriously. My wife has had a clean diet for over a year and so when I ate dinner with her I was eating pretty healthy. It was the rest of my diet that was pathetic. So, after doing some research on food I completely changed my diet to more of a clean eating diet. To me, this kind of diet is a lifestyle change and not a temporary fix so I do the best I can and I am learning as I go. Now, my wife gets annoyed with me and how strict I am compared to her.

When I was just eating healthy I started losing about a pound a week. I really didn't start eating healthy to lose weight it was just a function of taking in healthy calories vs. empty calories and how the body was storing/burning fat. Ultimately I lost about 10 lbs and I don't think I will get any lighter. At this point I seem to be putting on muscle about as fast as I lose fat so my weight is stable.

Eventually I decided that I wanted to really be healthy. So, 90 days prior to my birthday I started p90x. I had the program from before (I never finished more than a week or so in the past) and I decided to start it 90 days before my birthday so that I would have extra motivation. As I started to work out I discovered that I had developed a knee problem. It just wasn't something I noticed as a couch potato (I wasn't working out at all)! The chiropractor pretty well has that straightened out for me and I am now starting the second week of phase 2 so I will be able to go a little harder with the cardio and leg workouts.

For me, vanity wasn't a good enough reason to stick with a workout. I know for a lot of people it is a big motivator to look good in public but for me it wasn't enough to keep me engaged in the process. The desire to live a healthy lifestyle is the only thing that motivated me to really make permanent changes. Now the vanity is pushing me to take it to the next level. When you are eating healthy and working out then those little changes make you want to see bigger changes. I have 8 weeks left so I am going to continue to make little changes over the next 3 weeks. The last month I will really push my limits and see what I can get out of it.

Good luck on your training and thanks for the motivation to go hard on my workout tonight!

 

[alpha6164]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Napsters</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have on question. How much sweet potato or rice did you pack up for each meal? I have been very sick and have lost a ton of weight. I am now down to 175 and am 6 foot tall. I have been having problems keeping any protein down and figure I am eating about 1200 calories a day max if I am luck.

I got no appetite and the docs pulled my gull blader in Feb. I still feel like shit and can barely get out of bed anymore. I am trying to put in 30 hours a week at work and that is all the energy I have. It's getting to the point i am almost passing out when I stand up. It actually hurts bad when I eat and can't do it without pain meds. Even yogurt hurts somehow... </div></div>



It depends if you are talking about my "cutting phase" when i was trying to lose as much body fat or after i had reached my goal. There is no question that it makes losing body fat much easier to reduce carbs. I am not a fan of no carb diet cause it makes more people cranky and less likely to actually go thru with it. During my cutting phase i only ate good healthy carbs, sweet potatoes, brown rice, oats, and fruits.


During my cutting phase i only would consume around 50g of carbs daily so it was much easier then the no carb crap. After i got really lean and wanted to put on lean muscle, i stepped it up to about 150g of carbs daily and this is pretty much what i eat to this day.

 

[Napsters]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Thanks for the info. My weight is still free falling. I am loosing more than 12 pounds a month at this point. At some point I will need to level out.

 

[Gun_Crazy]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

alpha6164... that is one great change you have made. Thanks for the info on your weekly diet menu. I will have to give that a try. Keep up the good work and will be following this thread. Have fun in Vegas this weekend...

 

[MMAJunkie]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Now that you are adding carbs and are out of the cut phase what specific types of carbs are you eating? Still complex stuff or have you been able to add some simple carbs/starches too?


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: alpha6164</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Napsters</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have on question. How much sweet potato or rice did you pack up for each meal? I have been very sick and have lost a ton of weight. I am now down to 175 and am 6 foot tall. I have been having problems keeping any protein down and figure I am eating about 1200 calories a day max if I am luck.

I got no appetite and the docs pulled my gull blader in Feb. I still feel like shit and can barely get out of bed anymore. I am trying to put in 30 hours a week at work and that is all the energy I have. It's getting to the point i am almost passing out when I stand up. It actually hurts bad when I eat and can't do it without pain meds. Even yogurt hurts somehow... </div></div>



It depends if you are talking about my "cutting phase" when i was trying to lose as much body fat or after i had reached my goal. There is no question that it makes losing body fat much easier to reduce carbs. I am not a fan of no carb diet cause it makes more people cranky and less likely to actually go thru with it. During my cutting phase i only ate good healthy carbs, sweet potatoes, brown rice, oats, and fruits.


During my cutting phase i only would consume around 50g of carbs daily so it was much easier then the no carb crap. After i got really lean and wanted to put on lean muscle, i stepped it up to about 150g of carbs daily and this is pretty much what i eat to this day. </div></div>

 

[alpha6164]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: rotts4u</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Now that you are adding carbs and are out of the cut phase what specific types of carbs are you eating? Still complex stuff or have you been able to add some simple carbs/starches too?


</div></div>


Well one thing is that when you get lean enough it you dont have to be as strict as the beginning. Dont get me wrong, i am not sitting down and eating twinkies etc. But i do cheat if you call it that 2-3 meals a week. Once a weekl i have a Haagen Daz icecream bar with nuts. But still mostly eat healthy. Most of my cars are complex. I am Persian heritage and family eats a lot of white rice and i do have a 2-3 cups of white rice weekly which is definitely not complex. But keeping up with cardio and weight training has allowed to me to continue to maintain everything and actually improve.

 

[alpha6164]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Gun_Crazy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">alpha6164... that is one great change you have made. Thanks for the info on your weekly diet menu. I will have to give that a try. Keep up the good work and will be following this thread. Have fun in Vegas this weekend...
</div></div>


Thanks for reading. Vegas was amazing as always. Memorial weekend is one of the best and busiest in Vegas so it lived up to expectation. Me and five friends went up for 5 days and lived it up. Here are some pics. Many pics i cant post here

Mind you there was no "diet" in Vegas, lots of greasy food, drinking day and night so quite a bit of water weight but still at 37yrs old i was in better shape than 90% of 20yo at the pool I was quite surprised.

 

[dappmgmt]

Re: 6 mnths of hard work w/ b4 &after pix -Update

Amazing and inspiring...THANKS!

 

[bobbyfairbanks]

Re: 6 mnths of hard work w/ b4 &after pix -Update

Looking good. I think I might do some before and after pics. Thanks for the motivation.

 

[Hackk]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Great job, dude! Im in the same boat as you. Now that I hit 30, I don't really look or feel the same working out as I used to. Im down to 14%bf as of yesterday with the caliper test, and Im working my way towards single digits!

BTW, thanks for the recipes, those inspired new ideas for a boring diet

 

[xdpatriot]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Thanks for sharing your story. I too changed jobs and have gained a lot of weight. I live in a small town, had a gym here, trained full contact fighting 6 days a week, about 4 hrs a day. I lost 50 pnds and won quite a few fights. My gym shug down and there isnt another one. My new job, I just started driving more, longer hours. It's nobody's fault but mine. I've gained all my weight back and then some.

I will be starting back up on Sat. Cardio, weights, eating healthier, the whole lifestyle change. Thanks a lot for posting. I think I'll do before and after pics as well. Keep it up and congratulations.

 

[alpha6164]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Thanks guys. Trust me as a physician that works 70+ hours a week it is tough trying to find time to work out. I used to make excuses and then a buddy of mine who works out avidly said:

"one hour is 4% of your 24hr day, if you cant find 4% to dedicate to your health then you have a fucking problem." I was no, there is no way it is 4%. Sure enough 1/24 is 4% lol. I was almost offended by that and got my ass in gear. So now i dont find time, i MAKE time.

I had a few people email me about recipes so i will reply here instead. By making 30 meals on a Sunday for example it allowed me to have 6 meals a day ready for 5 days straight so i didnt have to wonder what i was going to have. I would split it into 15 wraps and 15 meals that would in a glad ware. Every week i changed it up a bit to make it not boring. I always bought the ingredients on Sunday and took me about 4 hours in prep and cooking and packaging.

Wrap ideas are endless, take your pic:
1) I always got the diabetic low carb wraps that have only 10-12grams of carbs
2) pick your meat of choice, chicken brests, filet, sirloin, pork whatever be it.
3) Season your mean and look up healthy wrap recipes and make 15 of them bad boys. I made sure every wrap had 4-5oz of meat to give me roughly 30gr of protein.


For the other 15 meals in containers here are some that i made:
1) Teriyaki baked chicken breast with asparagus and sweet potato
2) Sirloin ground meatball with whole wheat pasta
3) BBQ sirloin beef tips with sweet potato
4) Home made pot roast with all the veggies. You get a 4-5lb roast and that will give your fifteen 4-5oz portions.
5) Beef or turkey meatloaf

I can go on and on with different ways to make healthy meals. What this offers your is a way to skip the crappy fast food, it is home made so you know someone wasnt picking their nose and making your food and all healthy.

I started this thread almost a year ago and wanted to update that still going strong and keeping up. I have gained a couple of solid lean pounds and still fairly lean. I will tell you once you are lean it is a lot easier staying lean. I can still cheat a couple of times a day and still maintain. Here is a picture taken a couple of days ago.

 

[tmckay2]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

best and most important thing you did by far was plan your meals and eat healthy. everyone always cheats at that part.

 

[BERTMAN77MK2]

Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

always looking for inspiration---thanks! Am pushing 60 and still run and bike and workout at the gym. Lost everything/everyone important to me a few yrs back and gave up. Getting in great shape again and mad at myself for letting it go for so long!

It is so much more difficult (recovery times) with increased age!
I can run for 2 hrs or bike for 100mi or workout in gym for 2hrs but need more time to recover---my best fitness tip has always been cardio with improved diet a close 2nd. thanks for the cooking/recipe ideas!