I figured I would finally post on here after browsing for months. I stepped on the scale on my birthday, Dec 26, 2006 - it was really terrifying - 270 lbs & 23% body fat. Hard to believe but about 6 years ago I ran a half-marathon and could easily run a 5K in under 23 minutes.

Since that day, I have not missed a workout and have been eating regular 6 meals/day and somewhat emulating John Stone's food log - eating whole foods and tracking every bit of food I put into my body.

I am sticking to 40-40-20 right now and it seems to be working well for me.

I lift 3 days/week and cardio on the other 4 days. The cardio consists mainly of bicycling or stationary bicycling. I love to jog but it seems I have gained too much weight and the stress seems to kill my arches - yes, I have done the wet foot test and had my feet fitted by professionals.

Today's stats: 253.6 lbs, 19.7% BF

Welcome to JSF. Glad you're here. I'm so excited about your commitment to getting back to health.

I'm a little concerned about your given stats. According to your numbers, you've lost 17 pounds in 3 weeks. That's more than 2% body weight/week. Newbies get good gains. I'm not terribly concerned, but I'd suggest you watch your weight loss closely. You don't want to keep up that fast rate. If so, you'll be losing lean mass (muscles, most likely), and you sure don't want that. 1%/week is a good rule of thumb. If the bf% is correct, you've already lost 4 pounds of lean mass (maybe water). You're doing terrific, just keep a close watch on that weight.

Pictures? 'Before' pictures are usually motivating, especially after a few weeks or months have gone by.

I am pretty sure the first 10 lbs was mainly water. My goals is around 1.5 lbs/week. I am watching my calories and trying to keep them around 2100/day. I will post some starting pictures soon...haven't been taking any weekly photos, but I have been recording measurements. Can already tell the difference in my waist and midsection.

How tall are you btw?

Shahar.

I am 6' tall.

Here is my food log since I have first started. I feel like I have been doing pretty good except I have been short on some calories a few days. I want to be careful about losing to much lean muscle.

I have attached my lifting workout for the 1st month, at least. I may tweak it a little depending on the feedback I get or how I feel I am progressing. Been at it about 4 weeks now so I am ready to start adding on some heavier weights.

Any suggestions on my food log or lifting workout is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I've looked over your training log. A little too much isolated work
for my tastes, but does not make it wrong, just different.

How do you measure your body fat percentage?
Do you have any experience lifting?

Shahar.

What do you mean by "isolated work"? Do you mean isolation lifts? Think I should be doing more compound lifts? I have quite a bit of experience lifting for general fitness. Not into body building or anything.

I measure by BF with a digital scale...the name escapes me right now. I have a MyoTape and a digital caliper....I guess I should start using that so I can get a more accurate measurement of where I stand.

Rode my mountain bike for 45 minutes. Felt really good. I really am not feeling that hungry in the evenings so I am struggling sometimes to get my 2100 calories in. I feel like I could probably lost more weight quicker, but I want to make sure I don't lose too much lean mass.

I also was craving carbs today...ate way too many and not enough protein.

Weight - 252.6
BF - 20.6

That is another pound from yesterday and I had my full 2100 calories. I am getting concerned I am losing too much muscle mass and the BF measurement has to be screwed on my scale. It is a Tanita that I have had for about 8 years. I think I will just go back to measurements and my digital caliper once a week.[/COLOR]

Been eating really great for 4 weeks...no cheat meals, but today I felt like I just needed a good cheat for lunch. Chick Fil-a #1 with waffle fries! Well, that is out of the way. My wife was really sick so I had to pick up the kids and pick up some meds at the grocery store. Threw my schedule for a loop, so I cancelled club wrestling and got my lifting in anyways.

This is my 4th week back into lifting, so I really started to increase the weight. Took it pretty easy the first 3 weeks. Did back & bi's today and the lifting was great!

Had my protein shake and cooked oats after my workout and just ate some turkey breast for dinner for some extra protein. Hit about 2300 calories, but WAY too many carbs.

Hope to post some pics really soon. I need a tripod for my Canon digital camera because I hate bugging my wife to keep taking pics.

Need to get a good night's sleep because I have cardio bright and early in the morning. I have been lifting 3 days and cardio 4 days but I am thinking about cutting out 1 day of cardio. Maybe I need to increase my calories and keep the cardio...not really sure at this point.

Weight - 252.8
BF - 20% (getting ready to switch to digital caliper to measure)

Did 30 min of cardio this morning. Will finish approx 15-20 tonight. Felt great this morning after a tough weight workout last night.

Feel great and no urges to make my way to Chick-Fila today!

Going to up my calories to approx 2600/day after recalculating my BMR and looking at the Harris-Benedict Formula. Trying to eat more of my carbs in the morning instead of evenings. I will see how this goes.

Finished my cardio tonight...15 minutes. Ate really well, but only 2250 calories...wanted something closer to 2600. I am amazed how much planning you have to do to eat the required calories from clean, wholesome foods. Boca meatless chili wasn't too bad.

Tomorrow is my last good workout before I am having my wisdom teeth yanked out Friday morning - OUCH!! I suppose I will be out of commission on Sat too, so hopefully I can pickup on Sunday.

Looks like I will be sucking down alot of protein shakes. Wish me luck!

hii brentah!
I'm a little late but welcome to JSF! http://www.smilieshq.com/smilies/sign0203.gif (http://www.smilieshq.com)
Definitely ouch to getting your wisdom teeth removed! I haven't had mine pulled out but I've heard stories on the experence, :gl: though and keep up the great work! :D

Weight - 252
BF - 20.2 (still using the digital scale)

Got the digital caliper out last night. I am going to start taking my BF on Sunday nights when I take my other measurements for a more accurrate BF reading. Don't trust my scale.

Got a good 8 hours of sleep last night. Feel great and am looking forward to a good set of weights tonight before the teeth come out tomorrow.

What is going to be good besides protein shakes over the next couple of days while I can't really eat any real food. I am thinking if I can blend it, then I may just drink it....just trying to imagine me blending my red beans in my protein shake - don't think so!

Lost one notch on my belt and about down another notch...not a better feeling than that. In 6 weeks, I will probably be out for some new jeans....not into bustin a sag like all of the students I used to teach.

I am going to try like hell to get my 2600 cals in today. Wish me luck!

Weight - 250.6

Got 2400 calories in yesterday which is right where I need to be to lose approx 1.5-2 lbs/week; however, the weight seems to keep falling off faster than what I was thinking.

Probably dehydrated this morning since I am fasting before I have my wisdom teeth removed in about 2 hours. Looks like it will be at least 2-3 days before I can eat somewhat of a real meal again. I suspect I will lose another 2-3 lbs in a short period of time over the next few days. Just hoping to get back to physical activity by Monday.

Ate really well again yesterday. My macronutrient ratio was off a little bit but I did get plent of protein and good fats.

Probably post tomorrow if I am up to it.

WISDOM TEETH ARE GONE!! Hooray! First 6 hours after surgery kind of sucked...pretty good amount of pain and the pain-reliever made me itch like hell, but I am feeling suprisingly wells as of now.

I had to weigh this morning - 249.4 lbs. Figured that would happen - couldn't really eat anything yesterday; however, my wife brought me a kick-ass vanilla shake from somewhere, that I managed to eat over the course of about 2 hours. Had some chicken soup this morning, but not really that hungry. I will try a protein shake in a few hours.

Here is the bad news - Doc said no exercise for at least 1 week and probably no vigorous exercise for 2 weeks. I am confident I will do a good job and will continue to watch what I eat.

Just so damn happy these teeth are gone and out!

Managed to slurp down about 1800 calories today, but I didn't get near enough protein....mainly all carbs. My jaws and teeth are still tender, but by Monday I should be eating close to normal I am hoping.

You should see my left jaw - man is it swollen. Looks like I took a haymaker from George Foreman. I have iced it on and off but it doesn't seem to help too much. Time is my friend at this point.

I weighed in at an even 250 today. Jaws are getting better, but I still don't have much of an appetite. Only 800 cals so far today. Hopefully, more solid food is on the way in about 2-3 days.

WISDOM TEETH ARE GONE!!

This must be the new Removal Weight Loss plan I've been hearing about.

1. Remove wisdom teeth
2. Remove kidney
3. Remove gall bladder
4. Remove ribs
5. Remove pinky toes

....and so on...

:spank: Bad StrangeDOS....Bad....

[quote=StrangeDOS;428878]This must be the new Removal Weight Loss plan I've been hearing about.

1. Remove wisdom teeth
2. Remove kidney
3. Remove gall bladder
4. Remove ribs
5. Remove pinky toes

....and so on...

quote]

Haha...not my way of losing weight because there are only so many things you want to blend up in a blender and slurp down. My choice has been Campbell's Healthy Select. Good portions of protein, carb and fat and it doesn't look too bad blended up.

Weight - 248
BF - 21.7% (If you have been following, my BF% have been coming from my digital scale. This is the first week I have started using my FatTrack II digital caliper. I am taking an avg of 3 measurements)

Can't wait until I can start exercising again. 10 days is going to seem like an eternity, especially once I can start eating normally again but with no exercise. I have just lowered my calories accordingly to lose around 1 lb/week during this 10-14 day layoff while I recover.

Weight - 248.4

Liquid diets suck! I feel a cheat meal coming on when I am back to full chewing power :-)

Weight - 247

Hard to believe I keep losing weight. I did manage about 1600 calories yesterday, even with a small strawberry shake from Micky D's. I am getting real sick of soup and protein shakes, but it seems to be getting me by for now. Just hope I am not losing too much muscle mass. Hopefully, this time next week I can get back to my regular exercise routine and will be eating normally.

Swelling is going away in my mouth gradually so I think I will be able to bite down completely without biting the inside of my cheek by tomorrow. Hurts like hell at night because I will sometimes grit my teeth when I sleep so I have chomped down on the inside of my cheek I know at least 3 times!

Feel great though...I am so glad I started to get back in shape before I got my wisdom teeth out. Went to wrestling practice last night and it was hard just to talk but not do anything.

Weight - 246.6

Just about ready to start eating real food again...yipeee!! Had to go back to oral surgeon today because I had a little bit of the dry socket...once they put the dressing in...bam! Working wonders now. Had to get it feeling better before I am on the road the next 2 weeks.

Being gone from home for 2 weeks on the company's AMEX is going to be my first big test. I have made so much progress, I surely don't want to take a step back; however, I am very determined since I have discovered 2 notches in my belt that I never knew existed.

One more week before I can start exercising again - can't wait!

Weight - 248

Finally ate some decent food yesterday and the scales somewhat show it. This morning I am back to my oatmeal and protein shake in the morning and feeling the best I have felt in about a week. Still probably one more week before I can start exercising.

Going to ask Doc today if I an at least bicycle for the next week and then back to weight training the following week.

Weight - 244.8

Diet has been good since I haven't exercised in nearly 8 days. Will probably begin back this Sat. My teeth/mouth is just about back to normal. :-)

Weight - 245
Bodyfat - 20.5%

Had my first cheat meal since my bday on Dec 25. Tasted pretty good and I didn't overdo it. Had a nice steak with some veggies.

Didn't lose much around the waist this week but definitely lost some size around hips and chest..starting to work on what was beginning to be the sprouting of "man boobs".

Weight - 249

Haven't the chance to take body measures or body fat % yet today. I have been out of town for 2 weeks and although I did fabulous for the first week, I did pretty horrible last week.

Being out with my wisdom teeth for 2 weeks with NO exercise and then to be out of town for 2 weeks followed up with a sinus infection/fever/and whatever else I had has not helped.

So glad to be back home back in my routine with my lovely wife and kids. It is so much easier staying on top of my game when I am home.

Weight - 248.6

Confirmed with doc today that I do have a sinus infection...going to only do about 30 min of lifting to see if I can get this infection whipped. Just haven't been back to 100% since I had my wisdom teeth removed and it is very frustrating. I am looking forward to being 100% again - hopefully in the next 7-10 days.

Weight - 247.2

There is no way my weight should fluctuate that much...probably didn't hydrate enough after wrestling practice. I would expect to see my weight closer to 248 tomorrow.

Got some good meds from the doc yesterday, so I am starting to feel much better. 3 day vacation this week, so I will be splurging plenty.