I heard about John back in June or July of 2003. Honestly, it was a huge inspiration, because at the time, I just wanted to slim out and wanted a quick way to do it. I knew deep down it was going to take a lot of work, but I didn't have a model to base my nutrition on.

I started reading bb.com and talking with some people on other forums and got my plan together. Initially, it was just a copy of John's program, but it slowly evolved.

I went from 204 @28% bf in July to 178 @12% today. I was down to 9.5% a few weeks back, but that's the lowest I've been. I did through strict nutrition, consistent exercise, and dedication to a new me.

Lately, I have been hanging between 180-176 and have a lot of trouble breaking to the next level. I'm getting ready to try a one to two month stint on CKD to see if I can drop the last couple pounds of fat. If that works, great, I'm going to start a bulking cycle after that. If not, well, I'm going to bulk in that case anyways. The purpose of getting to 8% or so, is to see what it does to my body and how it reacts. I don't think I have ever been that low in my life, so I need to see it for my own eyes. :)

Like many others, John has been a huge inspiration and gave me visual evidence of how it should happen. Thanks John.

Now let's hear from the new members.

-Matt

A friend of mine lost 60 lbs. over the course of 4 months. He posted on our private forums and asked if anyone else had been working on a similar transformation. I was surprised at all the responses and luckily someone that had been doing research found John's site.

Since November I have been doing massive amounts of research into nutrition, equipment, and trying to set up a good plan. My wife and I got started shortly after the New Year holiday.

Needless to say, John's site was one of my primary areas of research thanks to his meticulous documentation and outstanding links to other high value information sites.

I can't count how many huckster sites I happened across in my researching, I was lucky to have clicked that link to good ole twowiresthin.com. :)

OH! I totally forgot to pimp my web page. My hope is to actually have time to continually add more information and dress it up, but it will always be updated regarding my journal and charts.

http://chrisotto.home.comcast.net

Hi, I found this site around Late August, Early September, and this site is the sole reason why I started my fitness program. 2 years ago, I had my body fat measured, and it was about 18%. I would guess that it had gone up since then, but I really didn't have any motivation to diet or anything. I'm 17, and I didn't want to get picked on by others for making any attempts. I have always loved running, so since January 1st, 2003, I would run about 4-5 miles about every day. That maintained my weight, but I would still drink plenty of cola and junk food throughout the day.

When I discovered the site, I saw what kind of change can be made through not only exercising, but dieting. I still didn't plan on changing my diet, but sometime in late November, I decided that I would write myself a PHP/MySQL script that would allow me to keep track of my food intake and tell me what my protein/carbs/fat ratio is. I didn't work on it daily, but I would put some time in here and there, and a little after Christmas, it was ready. I ordered some whey protein from bodybuilding.com, and continued researching on how I would go about my program.

When January 1st came, I was ready to start, and I've been doing it ever since. I have stuck with it everyday except one day when I went skiing, but I planned it out so I won't let that happen to often. I am also not one to binge eat, so I really didn't have any problems with continuing the next day. I have lost about 8 pounds since then, and I am aiming for about 150 pounds. Once I get there, I will probably do a clean bulk and then possibly do another cutting phase. After that, I will probably be more liberal as to what I eat, but I will still watch what I eat.

If it weren't for this site, I wouldn't have made these changes to my lifestyle.

OH! I totally forgot to pimp my web page. My hope is to actually have time to continually add more information and dress it up, but it will always be updated regarding my journal and charts.

http://chrisotto.home.comcast.net

Chris, I noticed you're in MI. :thumbsup: I'm about an hour north of you. Where 75 and 23 meet up.

Looks like you've got some nice equipment for the home gym. That should certainly help in the long run. I've burnt out a $500 Reebok Elliptical and have moved onto a convertable stepper/elliptical system. Its still cheap, but it gives me some variety of motion for us that are snowed in. I'm getting ready to build a house in Fenton, and I plan to upgrade a lot of my equipment at that time. :)

When January 1st came, I was ready to start, and I've been doing it ever since. I have stuck with it everyday except one day when I went skiing, but I planned it out so I won't let that happen to often. I am also not one to binge eat, so I really didn't have any problems with continuing the next day. I have lost about 8 pounds since then, and I am aiming for about 150 pounds. Once I get there, I will probably do a clean bulk and then possibly do another cutting phase. After that, I will probably be more liberal as to what I eat, but I will still watch what I eat.

If it weren't for this site, I wouldn't have made these changes to my lifestyle.

WR,

Awesome, keep at it. Having a "system" in place to track your physical progress and your nutrional intake can be a good or bad thing. I read about people that get discouraged by it, and not seeing the fat moving fasting enough. I'm always confused by that, because if I don't see it represented on paper, it can be tough to see it in the mirror sometimes!

I took John's spread sheet and added a load of graphs, plus other tracking info for my own purposes. I've now gutted a portion of it, as I am getting ready to start a CKD diet for month or so.

Kepp at it, and you'll hit your goals.

-Matt

I started in October. Fed up with what I looked like I decided to change, On a forum I had just joined someone linked to this Website, I checked it out and was in disbelief about what he was doing.
I was 250, and 17, terrible. I seen that and on October 2nd I started planning out and done my first workout and all that, started eating right and the weight dropped off me fast, more like Newbie loss. I'm 224 right now, and since I first found this site I've been reading it every day. Probably the website got kept me going. I emailed John a few times and he gave me his advice, and it's worked great for me.
My goal however, isn't as far as Johns right now. Eventually I will, But right now I just want to 170-180 pounds with a a nice look to it. Then I'll decide what to do.
I know I'll get to my goals, like everyone will. :)

I went to GMI so I'm VERY familiar with the area. ;) Congrats on the house, I am glad we have ours. I used to live in Ann Arbor and had a membership at Bally's. I think with the home gym I've gotten more workouts in than the whole year I had that membership.

We picked up the Precor from Fitness Experience in Novi. I think we saved like $600 off the MSRP and got the heart rate monitor thrown in (its the chest strap type). I know there is a new competitor to FE opening up in the Fountain Walk mall in Novi next to Galyan's. Sounds like they're offering pretty good deals and financing on high quality equipment.

One thing is for sure, I need a bigger room for this stuff in my next house. I want a leg press sled, a pull-up/dip station, and on and on and on... :)

One thing is for sure, I need a bigger room for this stuff in my next house. I want a leg press sled, a pull-up/dip station, and on and on and on... :)

It never ends does it? We are planning on building 9' ceilings in our basement, but I keep thinking that a 10' ceiling would be so much better! Then I can have a fitness room, an indoor golf net, my brewery ( I brew my own beer), and my football room. :)

BTW, having hobbies like homebrewing and fat loss goals are very difficult to continue simultaneously. >:(

I'm in the middle of a transformation program. I have already lost 15 pounds (I started at 220) and this site has been very inspirational to me. It helped me realize that it can actually be done with hard work and dedication. The daily pictures and the slow change in them are a cool and motivational thing to look at for even the 100th time. Thanks John for all of this info, your site is great.

It never ends does it? We are planning on building 9' ceilings in our basement, but I keep thinking that a 10' ceiling would be so much better! Then I can have a fitness room, an indoor golf net, my brewery ( I brew my own beer), and my football room. :)

BTW, having hobbies like homebrewing and fat loss goals are very difficult to continue simultaneously. >:(

I built a 12' x 21' purpose built home theater in the basement. I'm sorta wishing I used that room for the work out room considering I swiped the cash I was saving for the projector to buy all the weights/Smith/flooring/etc. I purchased a fridge to sit outside the theater and have a keg tap installed in the door.

The bad thing about this diet is I've cut out the beer... Anyone know if Gatorade comes in kegs? :)

So now I have a theater not being used, a keg fridge not being used, and I've crammed all my equipment into a spare bedroom. Oh well, at least I'm getting in better shape.

The bad thing about this diet is I've cut out the beer... Anyone know if Gatorade comes in kegs? :)



Funny you should mention that. I was just talking to someone about that the other day. You can convert your keg system from the commercial sanke connectors to a cornelius system. Cornelius systems are the old firestone or soda kegs, usually 5 gallons, but can be from 2.5-10gallons. Mix up your gatorade from powder and serve. You could use serving pressure (which will carbonate slightly) or fully carbonate it! You could also use a nitrogen system to push it, but I don't know how that would effect the gatorade. :\

I found a link to this site in John's post at the Home Theater Forum on his 1-year anniversary on his transformation program. After being very impressed with his hard work, dedication, and results, I began thinking about my own life...

I'm 29, and already starting to feel like an old man. Acid reflux, aches & pains, and a decline in my ability to focus and concentrate were the big symptoms of my body telling me that I'm not treating it right. I'm not "fat," at 6' 1" and 170 lbs., but I'm definitely out of shape. So, for the first time in my life, I'm seriously researching exercise and nutrition.

My transformation won't be as dramatic as that of others, but I know I'm going to put myself into the best shape ever.

I found a link to this site in John's post at the Home Theater Forum on his 1-year anniversary on his transformation program. After being very impressed with his hard work, dedication, and results, I began thinking about my own life...

I'm 29, and already starting to feel like an old man. Acid reflux, aches & pains, and a decline in my ability to focus and concentrate were the big symptoms of my body telling me that I'm not treating it right. I'm not "fat," at 6' 1" and 170 lbs., but I'm definitely out of shape. So, for the first time in my life, I'm seriously researching exercise and nutrition.

My transformation won't be as dramatic as that of others, but I know I'm going to put myself into the best shape ever.


I think our age has a lot to do with it, at least it did for me. I'm 28 and had been thinking a lot about how I had been changing with two kids, a wife, a stressful job, etc. I was blimping up and not really making any real progress at changing the way things were going. I would diet every year for a month or two, take off 15 pounds and work my way back up over 200 pounds. I didn't look obese, but I felt like it.

I made the goal of getting healthy and fit by 30 (two full years from when I decided to start) and get the ever elusive abs showing. I spend a lot of time at my FIL (Father In Law)'s vacation house on a lake and being the fatty of the family was not cool in my eyes. Right about the same time that I was motivating myself to make a change, I found john's site and that was the end of it. I have been charging ahead like crazy. It just becomes easy after a while. (Still sore, but easy to follow the plan.) ;)

I have been battling bad habits for a while now. I am 20, in 2001 I was tipping the scales around 300. After getting a physical job at UPS, over time I dropped to 250 (used fat burners). Stayed around 250 till late August where I decided I was going to lose all of this excess fat. I set up a three pronged attack.

#1) Atkins - I used the Atkins approach for rapid weight loss. From 8.25.03 to 12.23.03 I went from 245 to 200. Pant size went from 42-36. Step 1 = SUCCESS

#2) Cutting Cycle - On 1.19.04, I started this cutting cycle, eating healthy...We will see how long this takes but my goal is to be 180-185 by 5.1.04.

#3) Maintainence - I wanna keep my weight while getting bigger at the gym. Goal weight for life is 190 with 10% BF. Give or take...

I am so glad I have changed my way of eating and feel I can have success doing this. I feel better, look better, and it's just awesome hearing compliments about yourself by different people every day of the week. You know you've made a great change when people ask you for advice on how to drop quick pounds or what I do at the gym....

I have been battling bad habits for a while now. I am 20, in 2001 I was tipping the scales around 300. After getting a physical job at UPS, over time I dropped to 250 (used fat burners). Stayed around 250 till late August where I decided I was going to lose all of this excess fat. I set up a three pronged attack.

#1) Atkins - I used the Atkins approach for rapid weight loss. From 8.25.03 to 12.23.03 I went from 245 to 200. Pant size went from 42-36. Step 1 = SUCCESS

#2) Cutting Cycle - On 1.19.04, I started this cutting cycle, eating healthy...We will see how long this takes but my goal is to be 180-185 by 5.1.04.

#3) Maintainence - I wanna keep my weight while getting bigger at the gym. Goal weight for life is 190 with 10% BF. Give or take...

I am so glad I have changed my way of eating and feel I can have success doing this. I feel better, look better, and it's just awesome hearing compliments about yourself by different people every day of the week. You know you've made a great change when people ask you for advice on how to drop quick pounds or what I do at the gym....

Are you post over at bb.com? Your stats and the way you post dates looks familiar.

Glad to see you are making some progress. When you did atkin's, did you have touble dealing with side effects of induction? hazy/foggy head? That is my question du jour.

Are you post over at bb.com? Your stats and the way you post dates looks familiar.[/quote[

Yes, I do post over at bb.com but I don't like it because there are 'too many' people and no one answers my questions... :rolleyes:

Glad to see you are making some progress. When you did atkin's, did you have touble dealing with side effects of induction? hazy/foggy head? That is my question du jour.

I felt like crap in the beginning because of the sugar withdrawal...but other than that...everything was great. I loved the weight loss, even though some was muscle...some was water....seeing your weight drop from 245-200 without even 'trying' was awesome.

I can't see anyone's signatures....but the post you just made indicates you can see mine...

I can't see anyone's signatures....but the post you just made indicates you can see mine...
No, actually I can't. Are you referring to my sig? "I hate signatures, but love irony"

There are a couple of people that really helped over at bb.com. DerekMac, Emma-Leigh, Sawastea, and there is at least one more that I am forgetting. The toughest part was being able to tell if they were saying something backed up by fact, experience, or just pulling something out of their a$$.

My comments and opinions come almost exclusively from experience in my own transformation. That is good and bad. Good that I know how things worked for me, but bad because everyone reacts differently. I try to keep that in mind when I post and let people know "that is how it worked for me".

I used to be in shape in the military, but after I got out, I stopped working out and just got fat. Very fat! I gained 60 pounds in like 6 months. I let myself go for 4 years, and just turned into a plain unhealthy mess, but didnt realize it. I stumbled across Johns url the first week of November 2003, and thought "if this guy could do this, why cant I?". I began my research about proper diets, working out, etc, and put the plan into motion that fateful Monday morning(Nov 17). I havent looked back, and everything is going as planned. I feel so much better now, its amazing that I didnt know how crappy I felt while I was sedentary. I also had no idea how unhappy I truly was, or how many other things in my life were affected by my unhappy unhealthy self. Im grateful to John for the dedication he put into his online diary of everything he went through, because its what got me off the couch.

More of my story is documented here :: http://www.gettingripped.com/why.php

Nice site, corbint!!! I'll be following your progress and cheering you on!!!


:)

Nice site, corbint!!! I'll be following your progress and cheering you on!!!


:)
Thanks Matt!

Hi all,

Seems like we're all in the same boat here. :-) I'm 30, and was 197 lbs. in September of this year and due to a mix of Atkins (on and off), cardio, and weightlifting I'm down to 178. My goal is 160 - and then on to a bulk-up phase. Like John, I'm 5' 11.5' and almost all of my measurements match his.

I found John's site when it was "farked" (fark.com) and have been checking in every day since. I work in a hospital and 100% of my workouts have been in the employee gym there which has some decent machines and freeweights. I only do a few situps, push-ups, and some pull-ups on an I-beam in the basement of my house. The one thing I haven't been consistent on is eating. I don't have any major binges, but I don't stick to a low-cal diet sometimes.

Steve

I found this site through fark.com. My bodyfat has been anywhere from 10% to 20% over the past 3 years and right now it's sitting at about 18%. I know I can bring it down. It's just a matter of will power. This site is a great way to keep myself honest, and with the forum, it's even better. Kudos to John. He genuinely seems like a great guy.

Matt, what is CKD?

I too found the site through Fark. I have a keen interest in this site because back in 2000-2001 I lost 67 pounds. I'm 5'8" and went from 205 at 38% bodyfat to 138 at 6% bodyfat. I mean, I was lookin' like John is now. Only problem is, at the beginning of this month I was back at 192 and out of shape. I got fed up again and I started doing my exact routine from 2000 again Jan 1 of this year and have lost 10 so far. I saw this site a couple weeks into my new routine and boy did that light a fire under my butt. Now I'm so comitted to this thing its unreal. I'm taking weekly pictures but I'm not posting them anywhere. When I'm back at 6% I'll post them for all to see. Thanks John and good luck to everyone else!

Ok, I'll go - I began getting fit about 1.5 years ago when I reached my peak weight of 204 and was dealing with low energy and sky rocketing cholesterol (273). My Dr. wanted me to diet and execise, but I really didn't want to make the effort. So, he put me on medication which immediately dropped my cholesterol levels dramatically (136), but I was still out of shape and tired.

A friend at work really started pushing me to work out at his gym and mentioned the fitness center reimbursement benefit we had at work. So, I decided to join figuring what the hey, if I don't stick with it at least I didn't waste my own money. But something happened- I did stick with it. I started out slowly with short cardio workouts and began to feel more alert, more energy. Slowly, I added more to my routine and more days each week. Since I wanted better cholesterol scores, I focused on mostly cardio (stairs, bike, treadmill). Eventually I found myself in the habit of going at least 3 days a week (sometimes 4) and picking up weight training as part of my routine.

The weight dropped off and I am down to around 182 with the goal of getting down to 175. My Dr. began to cut my medication down to the point where I was holding my scores down on the lowest possible dosage. Last summer, he took me off medication completely which made me extremely happy. I'm still not controlling my diet as well as I should or want to and so I am basically maintaining at this point. I realize in order to get down to my goal weight I need to get serious about eating healthy and cut my total calorie intact each day. I am about to turn 38 so I think this is as good time as any to start making progress on my goals. Any suggestions on losing those last 5-10 lbs when you're already exercising and eating healthy will be appreciated!!!

John's site is a tremendous inspiration and I look forward to seeing and hearing about his progress. Just one bit of advice on the book- SELF PUBLISH! It's the only way to go!!! Obligatory shameless web site plug inserted here: http://www.darrenconrad.net/

Thanks!
Darren

Back in November of 2002 I weighed 210 lbs. One day a girl at work commented about how a shirt I was wearing was way too tight for me during a meeting in front of half the store. That was the last bit of motivation that pushed me over the top. I was just tired of being made fun of at work by everyone.

So I started my transformation. My mom had a treadmill in the basement, and I decided to put it to use. Everyday after my college classes I would come home and get right on the treadmill. For 65 minutes with 100% incline. It was 1000 calories according to the treadmill screen. I did that every single day until April of 03. At which point after getting on a regular diet I weighed 145 pounds. Basically I went from fat to too skinny.

Since April I have followed the same timed diet everyday, started Max-OT and now I am back up to a more muscular 190 pounds. Since Summer is coming, I'll be adding some hiit cardio 3 days a week. And that's my story

Since college, I have hovered around 105-110 kg.

I was at 107 kg/35% a week ago, and after careful dieting and exercise, I am down to 104 kg/32.6% now. I am eating at least 1800 calories a day at 20/40/40 and I am exciting about the prospect of losing more.

Good luck to everyone else, and thank you, John, for the inspiration and information!

Matt, what is CKD?


It stands for Cyclical Ketogenic Diet. It is a keto diet that incorporates carb loading for people who need glycogen stores in their muscles. That would be bodybuilders. I have been stalled out at my weight and BF for nearly two months and I've tried just about every plateau buster that I have heard or researched. The only two things that I haven't tried are a keto diet, and just taking two months off. If the keto doesn't get me to my goal, then I'm going to switch to a two to three month bulk and then go back to cutting for the spring.

CKD Forum (http://www.c-k-d.com) The mods are Chi-town from bb.com and some other guys.

I'm 20 years old...

I've been trying to loose weight for quite awhile now. I get depressed from time to time because I dont feel good about my self and lack confidence and self steem.

I'm always on a car forum (honda-tech.com) and we had a fitness challege between some members to loose some weight and gain muscle... The fitness challege still going on more than a year after.

I wasnt succesful when the challenge started, through the year I probably gained 10 pounds on top of the 210 that I already carried. December 2003 came and I was about to start college in January so I decided to start a well planned weight loss, excersise program.

I went on atkins for like 2 weeks and it didnt work that well for me... I didnt feel too good and also I didnt feel like the diet was healthy.

Mid December 2003 someone on the Fitness Challege thread at (honda-tech.com) posted a link to this website and I learned more about balanced diets and John's progress was enough to believe that I could loose the weight too.

I've been on a balanced diet since then, and exercising daily. I weight 204Lbs now (Weighted 223Lbs December 6th, 2003) and my exercising routine is getting more instense since I'm getting in better shape.

My goal is to get to 165Lbs - 170Lbs and 10% body fat by the end of June.

I feel much better about myself now and my life is just been better since I started on my program...

Thanks for the great website John!!!!

Once upon a time there lived a nice little boy named Matt. Matt enjoyed eating quite alot and working out - that didn't work too well because soon he was strong AND fat. Weighing in at 260 lbs Matt decided to just give it all up - cold turkey style. He eventually made it down to 170lbs and kept the weight off for quite awhile until...vacation. Mr. Matt spent a few weeks in St. Maarten getting really drunk and eating, lots of food. Indian food to be exact. When he got back from his journey he had realized he only gained a few pounds. This lead to a pisspoor mentalilty...EAT SOME MORE! So I...uhh he did. In that year he put on another 30-40lbs and is weighing in close to 200lbs right now. One drunken night, Matt happed to stumble across John Stone's website. "GOOD LORD" He said. And whith a shriek in his voice he said "THAT WILL BE ME!" And so it began...

I am basically taking what John has done, forming it to myself and going with it. I have done this before so commitment is no issue for me. I, like John am stubborn. I can stop anything cold turkey. I will be making a website eventually - but sorry folks, I don't have balls like John to show everyone my fatness - until I have something to show for it - that and until I shave my back. I just want to say I'm glad to be a member here, and glad John made this website because this is the ultimate motivation for anybody.

I look forward to a great year!

Mmm. Evil HX Coupe seems to be my clone. A freshman in college (and a sufferer of the Freshman 15) I started to detriorate almost initially. Same thign as John, played soccer competively until I broke my arm and I slowly went down hill from there. I'm at 213 now (223 as well in December) drinking water and running every day. Colege has really pushed me and I am almost unable to plan or learn much more about dieting and nutrition :| I will do it nonetheless. I'm at 213 now, with 34.5% of body fat (doing rough measurements on Home Fat Body Test) Assume that its just roughly accurate.

See you all in June. Lets see what happens. Excercise every day, run every day, bike every day.

Mmm. Evil HX Coupe seems to be my clone. A freshman in college (and a sufferer of the Freshman 15) I started to detriorate almost initially. Same thign as John, played soccer competively until I broke my arm and I slowly went down hill from there. I'm at 213 now (223 as well in December) drinking water and running every day. Colege has really pushed me and I am almost unable to plan or learn much more about dieting and nutrition :| I will do it nonetheless. I'm at 213 now, with 34.5% of body fat (doing rough measurements on Home Fat Body Test) Assume that its just roughly accurate.

See you all in June. Lets see what happens. Excercise every day, run every day, bike every day.

I'm taking pics everyweek... Maybe post some up to encourage people once I'm further ahead with my program.

It's great that John made forums, now all the people that come to the site can help each other out.

It's great that John made forums, now all the people that come to the site can help each other out.

... and maybe, just MAYBE, it might cut down his email load too. Hmm... probably not. :D

More of my story is documented here :: http://www.gettingripped.com/why.php[/QUOTE]

Nice site. I am sure you'll do it. I myself was in shape a while ago, then gained 150 lbs. I already lost 110 lbs, and have 40 more to go. Don't give up, and you are there, It takes time. All the changes occur from insude out. I did not see my first results until 6 months down the row. But you are doing good. Keep it up. My cheers.

I found John's site last week when a member at another form posted the URL in the Men's health/fitness section. I was Impressed, This is what I have wanted to do to myself for years and always fall short of doing it completely.
So I am trying to add some of the things John does into my diet to tweek it to help me loose fat faster than I have been. I am working out three times a week at the local gym. My work out consists of 1 hour of cardio at a heart rate of around 165 and moderately heavy weight training. since late September I have went from 235 pounds to 225 now. Then I was 23.5% body fat, at my last body fat test after Thanksgiving it was 20.1% at 229 pounds. In that time my lean mass went from 178 to 184, I am overdue for a new body fat test and hope the get it done this week.

I have always had a struggle with weight almost as long as I can remember. I hated gym and swimming class in school, never played sports and got picked on for that and other physcal defects out of my control. I hated it and it effected my confidence for years. At 21 I goined a gym and lost wieght but gained it back over time. In 1997 I went to LA Weight Loss and got to 150 pounds, the lightest I ever was. I found out after later that I had lost a lot of lean mass on that low fat low carb diet and gained half the weight back in 18 months and more since. At 30 years old I am starting to get acid reflux and feel like I am not as healthly as I should be. I want to make small and continuious changes to my diet workout and lifestyle in a way that they become a permanate way of life for me. Currently my goal is to get my BF under 12% by summer. That will be the lowest BF for me, at 150 I was 14%BF.

I hope to visit here often and continue to learn from everyone.

I have been trying to follow Johns track since Late late december when i found his site.

Started by creating a similar site while i was out due to dental work.

Wow, you guys have made amazing improvements to yourselves and your physical appearances. My goal is a bit more modest, as I'm still 19, and weigh between 145 and 150, depending on the day. I'd like to drop about 10 lbs so I can see some ab definition. I'm just starting out this week, and I plan to do ab exercises 2-3 times a week, and drink lots of water (I've heard that helps, but how much am I supposed to be drinking?) To anyone who's done this before, or is working on the same goal now, I'd love to hear any advice you might have! Also, someone to keep pace with would be pretty motivational. Anyway, you guys have made great gains from what I can see on your websites, congrats again!

It all started for me 2 years ago after I had a kidney stone problem, among other small health problems. But it was the kidney stone thing that made me realize I was doing something very wrong. I was 18 at the time.

I'm a 20 year old male from Brazil. English isn't my native language so I ask you please to ignore the silly grammar mistakes I might make as I write my replies.

I was obese my whole life and I was starting to have health problems recently due to my awful eating habits and lifestyle. After 1 year of dieting (which had begun right after I left the hospital because of the kidney stone problem) I managed to lose 66 pounds (30 kilograms) without the help of any kind of exercises. With more than plenty of motivation I decided it was about time for me to join a gym and start working out. And that's what I did. I started doing work outs to help losing weight and I kept doing these exercises every day on a regular basis for 4 or 5 months until I lost some more weight: 33 pounds (15 kilograms). Just for the record, I was 279 pounds (127 kilograms) when I started it all.

Over the past year I've been still exercising but after last year's late May I had changed my exercing program. Since early June 2003 I've been doing a set of exercises which are supposed to aid on gaining muscles and obtaining overall strengthening. I have to admit that it's been worth it, I mean, I can see and feel the results, there's no doubt about that.

So I've been trying to have a healthy and pleasant life and I'm getting there. I no longer have all the health problems I had 2 years ago and doctors congratulate me for my will power (I'm more of a very stubborn person too) and healthy lifestyle I carry on now.

By the way, I only became aware of this website like 2 weeks ago! :)

I discovered John's site in August of 2003. I read every single thing he had posted, most of it more than once. After being throughly motivated by John's success, I then hatched a plan. I would duplicate his success. After all, if he could do it, then so could I. I targeted Jan 6th, 2004 as a start date so that I could compare my progress with John's. I gathered up the essential tools (exercise bike, treadmill, weight bench, weights) for my home gym, as there was no way I was going to a public gym.
January 6th, 2004: 35 yrs old, 5'9", 206 pounds, about 30% bf. Today is week three, day four. I now stand at 197.5 pounds, and about 25.8%bf. I am following John's course very closely, but not precisely. The workouts are nearly identical (pyramid, even tho I know he is using MaxOT now), but I can't find some of the stuff he eats around here, so I have come up with close products wherever necessary. I have also heeded his advice that he started out eating too lean. I have been eating between 1500 and 1800 calories a day. This seems to be working for me, even though I'm not seeing the dramatic drops that John did when he started. I put an extra 56 pounds on over the course of about 15 years, so to see 8 pounds disappear in only three weeks seems pretty damn good to me!
Congratulations to John and all others who have achieved your goals. I hope to join your ranks soon!

My goal is a bit more modest, as I'm still 19, and weigh between 145 and 150, depending on the day. I'd like to drop about 10 lbs so I can see some ab definition. I'm just starting out this week, and I plan to do ab exercises 2-3 times a week, and drink lots of water (I've heard that helps, but how much am I supposed to be drinking?) To anyone who's done this before, or is working on the same goal now, I'd love to hear any advice you might have! Also, someone to keep pace with would be pretty motivational. Anyway, you guys have made great gains from what I can see on your websites, congrats again!

Nice to see another person my age here that is just starting out. I'm 19 years old, 5'6'', and currently bust the scales at 160. Everyone tells me that I am not fat (which, I'm not) but it has gotten to the point where I am not happy with the way my body looks or how I feel day to day. I used to weigh around 135 or so (I was smoking at the time). About 11 months ago, I quit smoking and started taking online classes. Since then, I have done nothing but eat bad food all day and gain weight. I found John's site and decided it was time to change.

For the past couple of days I have been doing some minimal workouts and eating differently than I normally do. I've started a couple spreadsheets to track meals and workouts, I get my bike early next week, and the "plan" starts the 29th. I just want to lose these extra pounds and turn the flubber into lean mass (my self esteem has faltered a little because of my appearance and I know a good woman would keep me motivated).

Anyway - that's the story. Any feedback or advice would be great (I'm gonna keep reading). Also, good luck to everyone here that is just starting out - hopefully all of us make a difference.

I've been steadily gaining weight since my Sophomore year of High School, reaching a high of 291 lbs. on my 21st birthday in the year 2000.

It wasn't until May, 2002 that I discovered the Body For Life program (I had already lost around 15 lbs. due to healthier eating habits) and from then I changed dramatically. I began my weight loss transformation in June of 2002. Back then I weighed 274 lbs. at an unknown bodyfat percentage (probably somewhere close to 35%). I ended up getting down to 195 lbs. at 18% bodyfat by the end of February, 2003. However, I'm back up to 210 lbs. after a long holiday break (argh). But, I'm slowly getting back on the wagon.

I'm happier with my appearance; I feel a lot better than I used to and I have more confidence in myself. My ultimate fat loss goal is to reach 165 lbs. at 10% bodyfat (or less). My lifelong ultimate goal is to reach 190 - 195 lbs. at 10% bodyfat.

I will begin that first bulking phase when I finally rid myself of this disgusting bodyfat. I'll be putting up my own ultimate transformation web site shortly. :tu:

Found John's Site in May 2003. I'm 5' 10". I weighed 168 pounds, 22% body fat, and was extremely lethargic. I had horrible eating habits and I never ever worked out. I hated exercise.

Now I weigh in at 144 pounds with 12% body fat. I work out 7 days a week and I eat the right foods. I'm running HIIT every other day for Cardio and alternating my body parts on the weight days.

I've lost my double chin, my flabby arse, and my gut. My calves and thighs are really defined. I'm finally starting to get a V shape too. Now I just need the tan.

I'm going to start a new eating routine on Monday to lose that remaining body fat and put on some muscle weight at the same time.