Hello all,

Just wanted to tell everyone a little about me - I don't want to be boring, so I'll try to keep it concise.

I'm 27, 6'1", and I'm a very unhealthy 303lb.
I've been "chunky" almost my whole life but in the last 2 years I just let my body run away and "chunky" became HUGE!

Although I've always been big, my one + is that I've always been "mobile" meaning that when I run, I "look" like a fit person (if that makes sense), my strides are correct and I don't "lumber" (I don't mean to offend w/ that word, I just can't think of another). I never had a problem sprinting, making cuts or sudden stops-and-turns. In addition, I've always had good stamina and endurance - which I always found odd b/c of my size - and I don't tire out quickly either and I have rather decent speed (I've burned guys my age that were a lot fitter).

In April 2004 I was 275lb. I decided to try to get fit so I joined the gym. I went 5 days a week. I lifted, followed the treadmill. I worked a different muscle set every day for an hour - M-chest, T-back, W-shoulders, Th-arms, F-legs, than I'd jump on the treadmill and jog for an hour. Every several weeks I'd change up the order of the muscles to keep my body confused. Along w/ this I ate pretty healthy. Stayed away from white foods, fried foods, etc., and kept my intake under 1800/day, and I never ate after 7pm.
By September 2004 I was down to 230lb.
45lb. in about 5 months - I was pretty happy. However, I went back to school full-time and had to work 2 jobs (1 full, 1 part) and eventually I let the gym slip by and ballooned back to 255 by March 2005. I then went on a ZERO (and I mean 0) carb diet for 1 month and 1 month later I was down to 225! However, my body started acting funny, I felt horrible so I stopped and since then I've ballooned up to my current weight of 303lb.

Moral of my story? I KNOW I can do it. I just need motivation! I'm not really lazy b/c I do lots of things that I just don't want (like school and 2 jobs) but I just have no will-power...

My goal is 220 right now. I know that is still too much for my height but I want to do this in steps.

Over the years I've done TONS of research on weight loss, lifting, and fitness but I've consumed so much information that at this point I'm completely confused again.

I recently went to the doc and he cleared me for exercise but said to start out slow for at least the first 3 weeks.

I eventually want to get back to HIIT, but not right away. Monday I'm going back to my gym and will start with bike and treadmill to get back into the swing of things.
I'm not really going to debate over "fat burning zone" vs. "cardio zone" b/c at my weight ANY exercise is better than nothing...
In week 2 I'll add weights to my workout w/ 1 muscle goup/day but this time I'll be lifting to tone/cut (which I believe is basically lifting low weight until exaustion, right? (correct me if I'm wrong, please)).

Anyway, I should probably log everything I do for numerous reasons so I'm starting w/ the tracker in my sig.

Thank you for reading and if anyone has any suggestions/advice, I'm open to everything!

Welcome. You sound like you've got a good attitude and confidence in the results you will get. That's very important :tu:

You might look in the journal section and see if that's something that will keep you accountable and get feedback from members here. Lots find it useful.

Thank you! I've been looking at some of the journals and they seem to be very helpful to a lot of members. Hopefully when I start one up, it will just be additional motivation to not only get in shape but embrace a completely new lifestyle that will allow me to be fit and healthy forever. Basically so that I see this as a way of life and not just as a struggle to get "thin" and "built" (which of course I'd like to be both so I'm ready for a challange!)

In week 2 I'll add weights to my workout w/ 1 muscle goup/day but this time I'll be lifting to tone/cut (which I believe is basically lifting low weight until exaustion, right? (correct me if I'm wrong, please))

Welcome and good luck with your goals! :tu:

I think most on this forum would say that lifting to aid in body re-composition (lose fat, preserve or add lean muscle mass) should consist primarily of compound exercises, using as much weight as you can handle with good form. Compound meaning lifts that require multiple muscle groups to complete, featuring the largest muscles on the body (legs, back, chest). The usual suspects include squats, deadlifts, bench press, barbell rows, dips, chins, etc.

I recommend that you read this sticky thread for a ton of great information on the above and many other topics:

Start Here (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=7807)

Good catch LateStart. I missed that one. I would not lift 1 body part per day if I was wanting to lose fat or get recomposition. I would try to do the big multijoint compound lifts in either a full body plan or an upper/lower split four days a week.

Along with the stickies, you might want to read this (http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1526539).

In the end, "tone" just means get leaner and grow a little muscle so that it can show. So don't do low weights for high reps expecting that to happen.

You sound like a perfect candidate for SGX. You may have seen "SGX" talked about on the boards already. SwoleCat offers a program/protocol that he designs for your body and goals.

I purchased his SGX program in 2006 and did very well on it considering I only put about 75% effort into it.

The program is structured and is fairly easy to live with. I got lazy in 2007 and didn't work out much. The last couple of months I've started following the SGX protocol again and the weight is coming off and the muscles are getting bigger.

There is a sticky post at the top of the Fat Loss/Cutting forum with reviews about the SGX program.

Instead of going balls to the wall and burning out in 2 months, I think it is a program you can follow for a long time without burning out.

Just my thoughts, good luck though.

Monte