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

alpha6164

Full Member
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 3, 2008
973
30
Jacksonville, FL
I had always been someone in shape during my college years but with age, running three practices (70+hrs wk), i had become complacent and eating like shit and not working out the pounds had added up. Around March time, i literally was coming out of the shower and looked at myself from head to toe and was really disappointed on how pudgy i had become. It was not horrible and i wasnt obese or anything. But i just had become soft and it was something that would just get worse if i didnt act. I took a picture that day which is the first picture you see to document things and follow my progress. I knew that it would be a complete lifestyle change and not just a thing or two here and there. So here are the things that i did during these six months:


1) Every sunday i would cook 30 meals for myself. This would involve 15 wraps using high fiber kind filled with different things such as chicken, lean meats veggies etc and 15 meals in Gladware containers. I would change the menu up every week for variety. Each meal consisted of about 30g of protein, healthy fats and good carbs such as sweet potatoes, brown rice etc.

2) I would have a protein shake in the am, and eat one of those meals every 3hours. You see my problem was that i would normally eat around 8-9pm, get up next day and have no breakfast, run to the office, see patients, and before i knew it, it was 1pm. Now i was starving and would inhale the nastiest amounts of fast food i could possibly find. When you dont eat for 15hours, your metabolism is so shut down that the next food you stuff just goes straight to fat for later use. By eating small meals every three hours, i was always satisfied and turned up the metabolism big time.

3) I increased my fruit intake well from nothing to a lot. I would have a ruby red grapefruit, orange, peach, grapes every single day.

4) Healthy fats are very important and i made sure to have 3oz of a unsalted, unroasted pistachios, brazillian or walnuts every day. I also made sure to have a full avocado every single day with one of my meals.

5) Overall i was consuming roughly 200-250gr of protein daily which only is about 800-1000 calories, and i was consuming another 1000 calories in carbs and healthy fats.

6) Three days week i would do 45min of cardio first thing in the am on an empty stomach. This is huge because again when liver glycogen storage is non-existent, aerobic activity causes the body to burn fat instead of the glycogen (carbs) that is just stored in the liver.

7) Three days a week i would do intense weight training. When i mean intense, i mean no talking, no bullshit just hit the weights hard. Slow, controlled reps, explosive positive reps, 3-4second negative reps until failure and do it again.

8) I would give myself a complete rest day on a sunday. On weekends i would not eat my weekly prepared meals and just try to eat healthy overall but would cheat here and there. The key was to stay consistent but also not miserable.







The six months were kind of broken up into two phases. First phase was to lean out which also meant sacrifice of some lean body mass and second phase was to add some lean muscle. The first three months i went from 173lbs and 23% BF to 157lbs and 8% BF. At this point, i kept everything the same, but increased my calories from 1800-2000 calories, to 3000-3500 calories daily. Again, from all good sources.

It is ironic that today i weight 174lbs and still sub 10% BF. Even thought the scale pretty much has not changed from March, no question that things have changed. You might notice from the pics that in the last 6months i did get some ink done on my chest, shoulder and arms. This was really done because i figured nothing would look worse than an out of shape guy with a big tattoo. So it almost keeps me motivated to make sure the tat doesnt stretch etc as i get fat
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Before:



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After:

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

That's an amazing change. Your efforts have paid off for you. One thing I noticed that you said was it's a "life style change" not just a "diet".

How tall are you? I'm assuming you are under 5'8"?

Since you have obviously made some good accomplishments, have you set yourself a new set of goals? If not, you need to. Keep things going forward and keep the lifestyle change fresh. After a while, it's easily to get complacent. After 12yrs of lifting, I easily get burnt out. So, I frequently rotate gyms, look for new foods to eat, set new goals to cut or to bulk.

Again, good job and also respect for having the balls to post up pics.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

^^^ Thank you. Yes, you are correct i am 5'6"
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Goals are pretty much to keep it steady and stable here. I am 37yrs old and can almost say in the best shape i have ever been. I was this lean in my early 20s but only weighed in the 150s. One of the few things i brag about is that i am actually a very good cook so i enjoy cooking and keeping things fresh.

One thing i forgot the mention in the original post was that to keep things interesting i have also started subbing some of the "boring" cardio with BJJ and kick boxing.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

good job man, keep it up. i know the ink felt great on the chest
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

If anybody has any questions more detailed about the diet, exercise aspect, etc i would be more than glad to give more detailed information. I just didnt want to bore people to death in the original post
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Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Outstanding work , you have alot to be proud of
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

good job...

start blasting the pythons like a maniac and you will be walking through walls...
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Ok great job, now post some more pics of the women you have. Your cars are nice too.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WICKEDFISH</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ok great job, now post some more pics of the women you have. Your cars are nice too. </div></div>


LOL, too bad the "hot girlfriend..." thread was locked down
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Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: cavemanmoore</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Great work Saman! How much time on Sunday did it take to make your meals?
</div></div>


I would say about 3 hours total including prep and clean up. Not bad at all. This dose not include about an hour of grocery shopping for that week. If you really think about it, to make 15 wraps and 15 containers is not really a lot of food when you are making it all at once.

For example i made sure that every meal had 5oz of a lean protein such as chicken, filet etc. So 30 meals x 5oz= 150oz= 9.3lbs of meat needed weekly. Then i would break that total up into half chicken, quarter filet mignon, quarter tuna etc. I would buy my veggies, sweet potatoes, etc and go from there. All in all after a couple of weeks, it becomes routine and gets easier.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Im-fucking-pressive!!!!

I'm trying to figure out a way to structure my diet for getting lean. My problem is I'm starting training for my first Ironman in a month or so, and I have to be conscious of providing myself enough fuel for 2.5-6 hour training days, that are almost exclusively cardio intensive.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

By the way, if your ever hiring a personal assistant, I'd be open to a career change. I could run errands, see patients for you (I have an old butchers coat I'd have embroidered so as to look the part), wash your cars, wash your women (pre-visit of course), etc....

Let me know. References available upon request.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JRose</div><div class="ubbcode-body">By the way, if your ever hiring a personal assistant, I'd be open to a career change. I could run errands, see patients for you (I have an old butchers coat I'd have embroidered so as to look the part), wash your cars, wash your women (pre-visit of course), etc....

Let me know. References available upon request. </div></div>




LOL, i will definitely keep that in mind.

Definitely trying to prepare for Ironman requires a different diet. However, you can still retain energy by having just "good carbs." One of the biggest trends even is to get most carbs from fruit sources. I made sure that whatever carbs i consumed came only from fruits, yams, brown rice, etc. Nothing processed at all.

When i went from my leaning out phase to my "bulking" phase you might say i increased my carbs from 50grams daily to about 250grams daily without any increase in body fat. This was because i continued with intense cardio on empty stomach in the mornings, and kept the carbs from all healthy sources.
But it is also much easier to stay lean when you are already lean which helped quite a bit.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Had a great chest work out yesterday. I usually dont "max" just because of issues with my right shoulder playing tennis. But decided to try since it has been years. The best i had ever done was in my college years when i weighed 150lbs benched 315 once. Yesterday i cleanly pushed 315 four times and had help on the 5th rep. Needless to say i was shocked that i was able to rep 315lbs that many times. And this was after i had done already 3 sets of 225lbs 8-10 reps
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Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Inspiring work. Congrats on the change.
Im in the beginning stage of my life change as well. Continued success.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Nice job alpha, Im recovering from a shredded labrum and Im only 2 months post-op but can feel myself getting lumpy in all the wrong spots.

Regarding your comment about your metabolism being shot after 15hrs of not eating, do you attribute this to leptin reduction or something else? JJones got me digging on leptin resistence and it appears it is a gradual onset that takes a few days to set it and can be "reset" with a normal meal. This could allow you to return to a lower caloric intake for a few days without affecting metabolism of T3 and T4 production.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Norcal Phoenix</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Nice job alpha, Im recovering from a shredded labrum and Im only 2 months post-op but can feel myself getting lumpy in all the wrong spots.

Regarding your comment about your metabolism being shot after 15hrs of not eating, do you attribute this to leptin reduction or something else? JJones got me digging on leptin resistence and it appears it is a gradual onset that takes a few days to set it and can be "reset" with a normal meal. This could allow you to return to a lower caloric intake for a few days without affecting metabolism of T3 and T4 production. </div></div>




Leptin is a very interesting and not fully understood hormone at this point. We know that it acts in regulating energy intake, food expenditure and regulation of metabolism and hunger. But we just have not fully gotten a grasp of it. In clinical trials, it kind of failed because it is very short lived and required extremely high doses and only the most obese individuals showed weight loss. Leptin almost acts as Insulin does in diabetic patients. Even though Leptin itself REDUCES appetite and causes sensation of satiety, obese people are found to have extremely high levels of Leptin compared to thin people. This can only lead to conclusion that just like diabetes, that these people have developed a resistance to leptin and in the process, the body keeps producing more and more to depress appetite but it fails basically.

Obviously thyroid hormone, HGH, IGF and host of other hormones all play a role in metabolism. But the one thing we know is that going for long period of not eating signals the body to shut down metabolism to its lowest level. And the first meal you eat after that long break usually goes towards storage. Not it is possible that maybe after a meal or two the body resets itself. But if you are eating 3 meals a day. And one third is going straight to storage, then that is still not a good deal.

I am not doing it as much, but at night i would eat a high protein meal as late as i could and would have a protein shake ready in the fridge. When i usually wake up around 3-4am to take a leak i would literally sleep walk to the fridge, pound that protein shake and go right back to sleep. That made a huge difference in my opinion because even eating protein at midnight and not having another meal till 7-8am is still a long time of going without food. This early AM protein shake would break that up nicely.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Chawk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Alpha,

Congrats on your fitness accomplishments... you did some serious work in 6 months!

I'd love to hear all the details and specifics you would be willing to share about the meals you were preparing for the week. My biggest challenge is eating right. Between my work schedule and my two young boys (2 and 4) finding time to prepare quality meals on a regular basis is a challenge. Even finding time to exercise the way I would really like to doesn't happen, but I'm doing the most that I can there. Your idea of preparing all the meals at one time sounds like a real time saver and one I want to try out. The other thing that really caught my attention is the foods you describe sound GOOD.

I've got a goal to gain 15 lbs of lean muscle mass, and I am about convinced a serious diet is the only thing that is going to allow me to get there.

Any info appreciated.

Chris</div></div>



I have received several PMs in the last couple of days regarding individuals meals i was making for the diet etc. And with Chris' permission, i figured instead of replying to each individual person, i would reply here for the benefit of everybody else. The diet matters a lot, because the question is whether you want to drop weight and look lean or you are trying to gain some mass. Those two diets are not the same. And probably the biggest difference is your total calorie intake which pretty much ties into your total carbs.

If you want to lose weight, the obviously you need to figure out your daily calorie burn rate and go usually -500 calorie deficit daily. Anything more than that and you may shut the metabolism a little too much. The protein levels stay the same. I am with the school that you need lots of protein. For an average size person 200-250gr of good protein daily is a must. If you are a 130lb or 275lb guy the those numbers need to adjusted up or down accordingly. But even 250gr of protein daily only accounts for 1000 calories. The rest need to come from good fats and carbs.


Most of the questions surround me preparing all meals for the week on a sunday. The convenience factor is huge. It is completely different when the food is already there in front of you instead of getting in your car and having to look for healthy options. I would rotate my food around on a week to week basis so i dont get bored. All the foods i made were pretty delicious but also healthy. Most people spend $20-30/ day between breakfast/lunch and dinner depending on how much you eat out or not. Well i would spend the same amount ~$150 in groceries and would have my meals for a week (well 5 days
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To keep things in perspective. I would make 30 meals a week. 30 meals x 5oz= 150oz= 9.3lbs of meat needed weekly. So i knew that i roughly needed 10lbs of meat on a weekly basis. I would usually break that up to half chicken and half filet. I would not buy any lower quality meat since filet is the leanest meat out there.

Here are some of the foods i would make:

1) Filet mignon with sweet potatoes. I would buy an entire filet strip from Fresh Market. When you buy the entire slab instead of paying $16.99/lb they sell it for $9.99/lb. Typically they are about 6lbs. I had a digital scale and i would make 15 5oz cuts. I would put a little olive oil on each side, season with sea salt and crushed fresh pepper. Then i would pan sear on a skillet one min on each side and take the iron cast and put it in the over with broiler set to high and cook 3min on each side. This gives you a perfect medium filet mignon. I would put them in 15 gladware containers and add sides such as brown rice, or sweet potatoes i made and that would be half of the meals.

2) Sweet potatoes: Take 3-4 big sweet potatoes, wash and drop in the microwave for about 5-6min until they are a little soft to touch. Then you take them out and cut in cubes. Take out a cookie sheet and spray the bottom with Pam, and spread out the cubed sweet potatoes. Drizzle olive oil, kosher salt, pepper and minced garlic and kind of mix with your hands. Put that sucker in the oven for 20-30min and those are some of the tastiest and healthiest carbs you can have
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3) Filet wraps: The portion of the filet that were too small for a steak size or whatever i would cut in small strips or cubes and i would throw in a frying pan with olive oil. After slight browning, i would add a little sea salt, pepper, and cumin. In a separate pan, i would stir fry chopped up onions, green and red peppers and some jalepenos, and minced garlic for flavor. Towards the end i would mix the two for a few min to let the flavor of the onion, peppers, etc to mix with the meat. I would buy the Xtreme Wellness wraps that are also marketed to diabetics. It has only 17grams of carbs per wrap and 12g of them are fiber. I would put 5-6oz of of the mix in each wrap and wrap them up win aluminum foil and those would be another set of meals.


4) Chicken fajita wraps: Same as above but instead of filet mignon use chicken breasts
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5) Filet kabobs: I would use filet mignon and cut in cubes and then would 5 oz on a skewer and in between each steak cube i would put a slice of red onions, green pepper, mushroom and a cherry tomato. Before hand the meat would be marinated by grinding 2 large white onions, juice from two fresh squeezed limes, sea salt and pepper and letting the meat marinate in that mix for an hour or two.

6) Chicken kabobs: Same as above but with chicken breast instead of filet.

7) Beef/chicken/or pork satay. Choose your meat and cut in cubes. For 3-4lb of meat i would use 1 cup of organic peanut butter, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, juice from 2 squeezed lime, 2 tablespoons of curry and mix it all up. Let the meat marinade in that mix for an hour or two. Use a cookie sheet and spread the meat and marinade mixture evenly over the cookie sheet and put in over for 40min. This served with some brown rice is pretty darn good. Even though there is soy sauce (sodium) and brown sugar, when you consider that it is divided between multiple servings the numbers are not bad at all and still a very healthy meal.

8) Chicken wings: Who doesnt like wings? I would buy wings and skin them (which took a little time.) I would usually make enough to consider 6 wings per meal which is 30-35gr of protein. I would spray the cookie sheet/pan with Pam and lay down all the wings. Then i would season one side (up) with red pepper, lemon pepper seasoning, paprika, and little chilli pepper. The amount of pepper can be adjusted depending on how hot you wanted it. I would throw in the oven for 30min, take out, drain the oil, and flip and repeat the seasoning on the other side. Another 30 min in the oven and they are pretty much done. Depending on how wet or crispy you want your wings i usually brush a little Frank's hot sauce on each side and put them in another 10min on each side and they come out pretty amazing. I usually put 6 wings in a Glad container with celery, broccoli and some carrots and that is another healthy meal.



The bottom line is that the results are endless, you can pretty much turn most meals into healthy meals. Look at the individual ingredients, substitute things that are not healthy, stay away from processed and fried food and you will make huge gains and changes. Will be more than glad to help if you have more questions.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Here is a picture of the latest progress. I am up another 3lbs, but compared to a few weeks ago, i definitely look bigger than just 3lbs. My shoulders, traps and arms are really coming into picture and look fuller everywhere.







me2-1.jpg
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

You have made a major change, Congrats. The hard part is staying motivated, an not splipping back to old habits. keep up the good work.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Congrats. Not many people understand the kind of commitment it takes to make this big of a change.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Thank you for sharing your experience and medical insight.
It is really cool to get unbiased medically sound information from a physician who is "walking the walk".

When you read an article by Doctor "So 'n' So" about "Such 'n' Such" diet & work out routine it is always in the back of your mind that they are just trying to make a buck.
Seeing / reading this thread and knowing that you are doing this for no other reason than personal fitness and just happen to be a medical professional is pretty cool.

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

Don't take this wrong, you spend all that time working out and u ruin it with that tattoo. What i hate the most is when a really pretty women gets a tattoo and it ruins it for me. Like you can improve something so amazing as the female body with a tattoo. I don't understand it.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rude Robert</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Don't take this wrong, you spend all that time working out and u ruin it with that tattoo. What i hate the most is when a really pretty women gets a tattoo and it ruins it for me. Like you can improve something so amazing as the female body with a tattoo. I don't understand it. </div></div>


I respect your opinion 100% as everybody has a different taste. However, i can say that the majority of people that have seen the tattoo have had nothing but compliments and that includes people that are not even fans of body ink.

I mentioned it in the original post that the major reason for getting the tattoo was to motivate me to stay in shape. Cause if you think it looks bad now, imagine how bad it would look if i was fat an out of shape
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Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

The Tat is really good. Whoever did it did an excellent job.

Thankyou for all the info too, I will be using alot of this.

Regards

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

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Rude Robert</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Don't take this wrong, you spend all that time working out and u ruin it with that tattoo. What i hate the most is when a really pretty women gets a tattoo and it ruins it for me. Like you can improve something so amazing as the female body with a tattoo. I don't understand it. </div></div>

It's great when someone starts out by saying "don't take this wrong". That usually means that "wrong" is really the only way anybody would take it so why even bother. It's like you know what your gonna say is bullshit, so you put that bunk ass saying in front of it like its gonna make it all ok to spout it off.

As for tattoos, you are the minority these days on that issue. I won't throw out bullshit numbers, but a vast majority of the population has ink on them and it's only getting more and more common place day by day. Your entitled to have your opinion, no doubt about it. I think any tattoo that serves a purpose or has a meaning to the person wearing it is great. I have 7 on me and they all mean something personal to me or represent a time in my life that has had an impact on my life in some way.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

The tat and workout look great bro - congrats and keep her going!

I like that you got into some Martial Arts - that's 100% why I got into Karate - keep in shape...

This swingshift is killing me and my motivation, maybe this thread can help me - have been in the dojo 1 time in 6 mos now
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(Golden handcuffs, sigh)

Congrats, keep that up!
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Good job!!!

This is just what I needed to read, I have cut out all soft drinks for about 3 weeks now. I like the planed meals I know that is something that I am missing.

As far as the ink goes, hell what else can you spend money on and know it is going to the grave with you... It is an investment.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Yeah, tattoos are just silly...

Job well done, alpha. Now it's time to get shredded.

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

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Megacab</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yeah, tattoos are just silly...

Job well done, alpha. Now it's time to get shredded.

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Jack
</div></div>



I go thru my phases depending on how much water and sodium i have taken over the last few days and i will go from pretty shredded looking to a more smooth appearance. You have to realize that the guys that actually compete and look as shredded on stage dont look like that year round and mostly look like that just for a couple of days with severe tricks to dehydrate etc.

I pretty much hover around 9-10% BF with what i do currently. To get to something like 6%, i would really have to even step it up even more and get more crazy to get there and usually not the healthiest means to get there. If i can stay motivated enough to just stay where i am at at 37 running three medical offices i will more than static lol.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Wow great progress. It's amazing what some fine tuning will do to the body. Look forward to more updates!
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

it's the ink. with out it your just clark kent heh
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

good job on the meal plans.

"Great Abs Are Made In The Kitchen Not In The Gym "
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

300WSM,
You owe me keyboard cause i just spewed coffee all over it lol.


Impact,
That is a 100% true statement. People always ask how many sit ups i do daily and my answer is none. And i have not done a single sit up in the last 6 months. Just diet, exercise and once the body fat comes off your abs will show themselves
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Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Thanks for the info on cardio during the morning, it makes sense and I plan on instituting that tomorrow morning. I followed the posts pretty closely and you may be tired of hearing it, but excellent job.
One question I have, and this is where I falter a lot myself but- When you're squiring all of those smokin' ladies about town- what do you do for adult beverage? Wine is off the list to me, I just can't do it, and Michelob Ultra is Ultra phuqing nasty.
Go without? One and no more?
This is a serious question by the way.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Beef_Supreme</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks for the info on cardio during the morning, it makes sense and I plan on instituting that tomorrow morning. I followed the posts pretty closely and you may be tired of hearing it, but excellent job.
One question I have, and this is where I falter a lot myself but- When you're squiring all of those smokin' ladies about town- what do you do for adult beverage? Wine is off the list to me, I just can't do it, and Michelob Ultra is Ultra phuqing nasty.
Go without? One and no more?
This is a serious question by the way. </div></div>


Thank you for the compliment. And yes, that is a very important question. I still like to go out and have a good time and not be "that guy" that is so strict that bring everybody else down with my no this and that. Pretty much my drink now has been Kettle or Belvedere water and two limes squeezed in there. It pretty much is as low as a calorie as you can get. Wine, beer and even darker liquors such as rum still have some sugars in them. Even tonic has carbs in it unless you get diet tonic which pretty much no bar carries.

It is amazing how well water almost negates the entire taste of vodka. The old saying of drink one cup water for every shot of liquor gets balanced out pretty well with my drink cause i am hydrating while i am drinking
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I still get a nice buzz but never get messed up. More and more of my friends have switched over after trying a sip and seeing how refreshing it is without all the added calories.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Great work! This gives me hope as I am in the same boat you were six months ago. Thanks for sharing the diet and workout as this can be a puzzle after thumbing through all the fitness mags.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

nice

its an eye opener when you actually try a low carb diet and start reading the labels to see how many sugar and simple carbs are in the things that most people eat

im currently doing a ketogenic diet to get to my ideal weight at which point i will switch over to a bit looser carb restriction diet for maintenance.

most people are under the false assumption that ketogenic diets are bad for you b/c of the high fat allowance in the diet and higher fat levels in the bloodstream.

You will ALWAYS have a high fat content in the bloodstream on a ketogenic diet regardless of whether you eat fatty meals or not b/c you body does not have glycogen to break down into glucose so it is using fat as its primary source of fuel. It's breaking down fat into free fatty acids (used by everything except the brain) to function instead of glucose. The brain can only use glucose or ketones to function so there is one extra step in there breaking down the free fatty acids into ketones for the brain. This latter part is why you can intially be a little loopy for a day or so when your body finally transitions over to FFA and Ketones.

A person with a regular carb unrestricted diet where the body is only using glucose for fuel who has high fat levels in the blood is not the same as a person whose body is burning only FFA and ketones with high fat levels in the blood.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

looking good... im currently undergoing a similar transformation. I took off work about 6 months this year, and it showed. haha.

Hitting the gym hard though now everyday, Thanks for the motivation.
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

I think ive seen that tatoo in a few porn movies
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Maelek</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think ive seen that tatoo in a few porn movies </div></div>

That is a good one
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Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

Awesome transformation.... the tat is pretty cool to. I made the commitment and dropped 30 lbs since September and starting P90X January 2nd. Keep up the good work!
 
Re: 6 months of hitting it hard w/ before & after pix!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Shooterken</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Awesome transformation.... the tat is pretty cool to. I made the commitment and dropped 30 lbs since September and starting P90X January 2nd. Keep up the good work! </div></div>


Thank you and good job to yourself. It is not easy dropping 30lbs. We all have to start somewhere but as long as you do and keep trucking you will get there
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