Fuhobo
April 17th, 2008, 11:35 AM
I'd like to say I have really enjoyed reading this forum over the past few weeks and thought it was about time to introduce myself. I have always sought out achieving a muscular but lean physique but have never came close. In high school I was focus 100% on building muscle with no attention to body fat percent. This got be to be around 235 lbs @ 22% BF. My early college days I was shooting for general fitness, did some running and lifting with no attention to a “healthy” mix of foods. I would quite literally eat a couple of chicken breasts as my whole day’s worth of food. This got me to the point where I was the strongest I have ever been while dipping as low as 215lbs, ephedrine helped here too.
Later in my college years I hurt my back which made running impossible and most lifting extremely painful. It took me over a year to get some type of relief but was basically told your lifting and running days are over unless you want that pain again. So with my workouts permanently suspended I started gaining serious amounts of weight. In only a couple years I managed to hit 295 lbs. I started walking and using elliptical machines, being careful not to aggravate my back, and made only slow progress over the course of a couple months. Then I decided to seriously reduce my calories (consumed only 1250 cal/day), eat 6 times a day, say screw the hurt back, and perform fasted HIIT every morning. My diet was basically yogurt, Western Bagels, milk, and Chicken. I did this for 3 months straight without a single cheat. I managed to drop my weight down to 230lbs. I knew at the time I was destroying my lean mass to. After the HIIT sessions there would be the faint smell of ammonia, which I later found out was a result of metabolizing protein. Sadly this routine wrecked havoc on my metabolism and when I tried going back to a normal but healthy diet, I gained the weight back. Round 1 was a successful failure.
A year later I proceeded into round 2 with a more relaxed diet, as I have come to hate yogurt, but multiple cardio sessions each day. I dropped my weight from about 275 to 250lbs. My thought process during both of these weight loss periods was that I could drop my weight to about 225lbs then rely on muscle memory to build back my lost lean mass. Both times have proven this was a flawed concept as I had gained the weight back from round 2 also. I am now at a point in my life that is fairly stable so I can get into a routine and stick with it.
A few months ago I decided to approach my goals from a different angle. I want to be 15% BF. I do not want to lose any lean mass. I want to improve my cardiovascular health. Most importantly I want to be able to sustain my accomplishments. I’ve decided the best way to do this is to eat right, lift weights, and HIIT cardio. I started this round at 295lbs, and I got to about 272 before I turned on the serious resistance training. At that point my weight loss rate slowed significantly. I knew I was still progressing, I could see it in the mirror but not the scale. I took a %BF reading (Navy Method) and was 32.5% @ 272lbs. Five weeks later I was 30.1% @ 270lbs. That weight loss rate would make you cry, 5 weeks of effort for only 2 lbs lost?!! But my lean mass increased by 5lbs which in turn means I actually lost 7lbs of fat. This isn’t outstanding but certainly not bad. Strength wise I am still no where near my previous best performance so my lean mass gain is certainly muscle memory so hopefully this progress will continue for a while.
I think I have aired my failed attempts well enough that I can simply look forward, and progress toward my future body!
Later in my college years I hurt my back which made running impossible and most lifting extremely painful. It took me over a year to get some type of relief but was basically told your lifting and running days are over unless you want that pain again. So with my workouts permanently suspended I started gaining serious amounts of weight. In only a couple years I managed to hit 295 lbs. I started walking and using elliptical machines, being careful not to aggravate my back, and made only slow progress over the course of a couple months. Then I decided to seriously reduce my calories (consumed only 1250 cal/day), eat 6 times a day, say screw the hurt back, and perform fasted HIIT every morning. My diet was basically yogurt, Western Bagels, milk, and Chicken. I did this for 3 months straight without a single cheat. I managed to drop my weight down to 230lbs. I knew at the time I was destroying my lean mass to. After the HIIT sessions there would be the faint smell of ammonia, which I later found out was a result of metabolizing protein. Sadly this routine wrecked havoc on my metabolism and when I tried going back to a normal but healthy diet, I gained the weight back. Round 1 was a successful failure.
A year later I proceeded into round 2 with a more relaxed diet, as I have come to hate yogurt, but multiple cardio sessions each day. I dropped my weight from about 275 to 250lbs. My thought process during both of these weight loss periods was that I could drop my weight to about 225lbs then rely on muscle memory to build back my lost lean mass. Both times have proven this was a flawed concept as I had gained the weight back from round 2 also. I am now at a point in my life that is fairly stable so I can get into a routine and stick with it.
A few months ago I decided to approach my goals from a different angle. I want to be 15% BF. I do not want to lose any lean mass. I want to improve my cardiovascular health. Most importantly I want to be able to sustain my accomplishments. I’ve decided the best way to do this is to eat right, lift weights, and HIIT cardio. I started this round at 295lbs, and I got to about 272 before I turned on the serious resistance training. At that point my weight loss rate slowed significantly. I knew I was still progressing, I could see it in the mirror but not the scale. I took a %BF reading (Navy Method) and was 32.5% @ 272lbs. Five weeks later I was 30.1% @ 270lbs. That weight loss rate would make you cry, 5 weeks of effort for only 2 lbs lost?!! But my lean mass increased by 5lbs which in turn means I actually lost 7lbs of fat. This isn’t outstanding but certainly not bad. Strength wise I am still no where near my previous best performance so my lean mass gain is certainly muscle memory so hopefully this progress will continue for a while.
I think I have aired my failed attempts well enough that I can simply look forward, and progress toward my future body!