How many times have I said to myself that I am going to get fit and then somehow I fall of the wagon, usually because of too much stress or crazines in my life.

But I am sick of it, I tell you. I do not want to be flabby anymore, I want to be lean and healthy and I want it as fast as I can possibly get it, I just need to know what to do. There is so much unclear or conflicting advice out there. Last year I was wokring construction and eating light and I still barely lost any fat.

I'm swallowing my pride and posting some picture so you can see where I am at, if John did it, so can I.

http://inthelimelight.net/misc/front.jpg
http://inthelimelight.net/misc/side.jpg

Welcome to JSF. You seem to have a good foundation -- I can see some muscle lurking in the chest and shoulders. I bet you'll see an impressive transformation in short order if you read through the stickies, sketch out a program for yourself, post some details here for feedback, maybe even start a fitness journal on JSF, and then get to work. You can do it!

Thanks modmaven, that's encouraging. I had actually gotten my weight down to 170ish last year, but gained it all back over the summer when I was working a desk job and coping with a high stress relationship. I am now 196lbs, which being 6'2" would be fine with me if it was muscle and not fat :P

I went to the gym today and had a really good workout. Last time was going to the gym regularly I was doing an hour of cardio every day. This time I am going to try going cardio free and see if I maintain and build more muscle this time.

I went shopping tonight and the healthy diet starts tomorrow. I still have hard time making myself eat because I want this fat gone so bad, my natural response is to cut calories like mad.

Thanks modmaven, that's encouraging. I had actually gotten my weight down to 170ish last year, but gained it all back over the summer when I was working a desk job and coping with a high stress relationship. I am now 196lbs, which being 6'2" would be fine with me if it was muscle and not fat :P

I went to the gym today and had a really good workout. Last time was going to the gym regularly I was doing an hour of cardio every day. This time I am going to try going cardio free and see if I maintain and build more muscle this time.

I went shopping tonight and the healthy diet starts tomorrow. I still have hard time making myself eat because I want this fat gone so bad, my natural response is to cut calories like mad.

I think your approach is very sensible because you can always add in cardio later if you find you need to. Focusing on weights and diet when you're at a "normal" weight and want to transform your body is a good plan. I would suggest eating slightly below or above your maintenance calories. This will likely allow you to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. :) Don't focus on the scale because it hopefully won't be moving much. Take measurements and pictures instead.

Modmaven mentioned the stickies and I second that. Foley has a great sticky on body transformation that will be very helpful.

How many times have I said to myself that I am going to get fit and then somehow I fall of the wagon, usually because of too much stress or crazines in my life.

But I am sick of it, I tell you. I do not want to be flabby anymore, I want to be lean and healthy and I want it as fast as I can possibly get it, I just need to know what to do. There is so much unclear or conflicting advice out there. Last year I was wokring construction and eating light and I still barely lost any fat.

I'm swallowing my pride and posting some picture so you can see where I am at, if John did it, so can I.


Welcome jtimar!

Getting there fast might be ok, but you probably don't want to make crazy fast diet, with too large calorie deficit. If the diet feels like much of a struggle, it's more likely to fail. I would recommend moderate calorie deficit with increased amount of workouts. There are no shortcuts.

Planning your diet well is crucial. When you calculate your calories, you don't have to guess if you're getting fitter, you know it! This way none of the planned and calculated meals will feel like "cheating" or slacking off. I find this very helpful during a diet.

Good luck & determination!

Welcome and congrats on your decision.

Keep in mind that this is a lifestyle change and not just a minor thing to change, you will have to make real commitment to make true changes, but if you do, you will be rewarded with an amazing transformation.

I suggest you look through this forum for other people's progress threads. Some are quite inspiring.

There are others here that have transformations as amazing as John's, and you can too!

So today I had a fitness evaluation at the gym, the first since July 2007, and as it was about as bad as I thought. In July 2007 I had been working out since April 2007 regularly, and eating healthy, balanced meals, protein shakes, the occasional high protein drink from Booster Juice. In June I started a construction job, and after July the work got more stenuous and my gym workouts taperd off.

Between April 2007 and July 2007 I went from 180lbs to 182lbs, which is not much, but my bodyfat went down from 17 to 15% and my lean mass increased from 151 to 154.

I have no idea what happened between July 2007 and March 2008 because I was not going to the gym during this time, however I do believe I more or less maintained my condition because of my job.

But then at the end of March I moved to a small town to be with my girlfriend. Long story short I ended up at a desk job and in an incredibly stressful relationship which lead me to eat a lot of crap in addition to being sedentary. Yeah I was depresesed, which brings me to today.

So what's the damage? Well my official weight is 193.4, my lean mass had dropped to 151lbs, and my bodyfa has ballooned to 22%. Ugh.

I just read Foley's article, it was really helpful. One thing I am unsure about is how much food he recommend eating. I realize that it is important to eat several small meals a day, but the amount he recomend seems sure to make me gain a lot of weight, I am an easy keeper, I can't imagine eating 10 egg whites and oatmeal for breakfast and not getting unwanted fat...

Hey man,

There are so many little things that I could have included in that guide but then it would be pages and pages long. Try setting yourself some eventual numbers for protein, carbs, fats and calories. Then gradually build up to these over time. Don't try and go from crap diet to lots of clean food, it won't work. Slow and steady. Also, I find it hard to get fat when I eat purely clean wholesome foods. :)

Oh, and welcome to the forums. :cool:

you could deffinatly do very well! good luck with everything:nod:

ps. dont neglect legs:tu: mistake i made at first.

actually my legs are burning like crazy today ;-)

I started a fitness journal, check it out, here: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=654939#post654939

On thing I wams curious about is what body type I have. I can't seem to decide based on descriptions, except I know I am not ectomorph.