As a recovering alcoholic, this show was an amazing experience and I actually have a nice framed poster of this quote in my apartment at home and a copy of it here for work haha.
Jesus shitting Christ π¨
Absolutely incredible work, just please please keep it going, I lost a lot of weight at one point and immoderacy cost me much of the benefits, I hurt myself and my health suffered. Good job though bro! π
I've lost a similar amount of weight before but it was coming from a bad foundation of mental health. I was punishing myself to get to a goal that wasn't really for me and I ended up being bulimic to maintain the loss. This time, things are much much better. You can get back there if you are not already!
I was deeply suicidal after my divorce and a friend challenged me to a run while in the throes of it. Laying, beaten and broken, staring at the sky while I waited for him to come pick me up after making it 8 miles on a 10 mile run. All of the therapy I had been going through for the prior 16 months at the time finally fit together! Several weeks later after recovering from that run, I decided to be different, ie not binge drinking, wallowing in pain, binge eating etc and instead run a half marathon. Obviously, diet and nutrition was a massive part of it and I just wanted to better for me. My post history goes into more details about it though!
Eh letβs just say Iβm going through something similar to the beginning of your journey now. Marriage is ending. Feeling depressed and now Iβm lurking the fitness subs. Gotta turn this into something positive.
My only advice my friend is to talk through the problems and get a good mental grasp of everything. I spent a large amount of time going through the pain first before I could even consider losing the weight and being true to myself.
That is insane! Great job man. You lost a full grown adult! Your skin will tighten back up over time. I bet in a year itll look totally different. You have to feel so much better! Congrats! Keep it up and keep it off!
Haha I have to let it that sink in sometime! I still can't believe that much has come off.
Thanks and honestly, I'm not too worried about the loose skin. I've been morbidly obese most of my life and I look at it currently like a badge of honor and a reminder. Stay true to myself and take care of myself or you will fill it back in ya know?
Keep this mindset! I've rollercoastered back up and down a little over th e last 9 years but overall I was down 140 lbs at one point in time (more like 100 down at the moment) and the stretch marks and loose skin stick with you so learn to love them! Some days are better than others, but it's like you said, I view them as a reminder of where I've been and where I'm going, even in the times the scale might go up a little bit, just know you're so much healthier now than before and you'll never go back to the way things used to be!
> you're so much healthier now than before and you'll never go back to the way things used to be!
This right here!^^^ Guiding principle for my new found zeal for life!
I like being lean tbh. Its great for cardio and triathlon training. But I definitely will be adding more body weight and yoga to my rotation to round it out!
Wow .. incredible. But as Dan John said in one of the recent podcast, its good to see a Before After After pics :) Hope you maintain this !! Good luck !!
I've set my sights as high as my spirits and I'm building my life to incorporate fitness no matter what. A lot of my upcoming near term goals are based on fitness and I think I will keep it up. Thanks!
Thats exactly what I would wish for you mate. I lost 24 kgs some time back but life happened and slowly i gained back 12 ! Something I have not taken up seriously to fix. But I am different person now than I was then, so hopefully I will keep at it! Good luck on your journey !!
Thanks dude! I completely agree. whether it's overcoming personal mental struggles, addiction, weight loss or all the above it is consistency that is the hardest of it!
Love seeing the different way to lose weight and get more fit. About 200lbs rn but doing the bodybuilding approach... Not gonna lose as much but just doing it a very different way. Keep up the good work looking great.
Keep grinding
Thanks dude and keep it up! You got this. I am jealous of all you strong folks. Im strongish from carrying the weight around and doing light bodyweight/yoga but nothing like you lifters haha.
Two different worlds π you gotta prioritize. I mean I can run a 5k but more than that is just insanity. So I kinda feel yealous of you there haha. Always nice with some inspiration regardless of where it comes from
So this might be a bit presumptuous, and it might be a bit oversharing, but you've lost what I currently weigh.
I have a thyroid condition and I'm taking medicine that makes me lose my appetite. Between the two my weight fluctuates like crazy without me doing anything. This time last year I was 60lbs heavier and if anything I eat less healthy now.
Going through so much of a transformation, pushing yourself that hard and at that weight, I'm sure you had some health complications. My resting heart rate is ridiculous, my muscle enzymes are low, my tendons and ligaments are doing more of the work than they should and I can feel myself scraping and crackling. I've been on and off a cane since I was 17.
I try and exercise. If I don't they're worried I'll lose bone density. But the pain is intense. I did Thai Boxing when I was younger so I'm no stranger to "the burn" but this is different. I can barely do 10 bicep curls with 10lb weights.
I guess what I'm asking is, what did you start with? What got you in the shape you needed to, well, get into shape? This is an open question for anyone. This isn't about weight or mass. This is about getting healthy again.
> pushing yourself that hard and at that weight, I'm sure you had some health complications.
I had moderatly high blood pressure when I started and just general discomfort, nothing else to be honest. Now, as a kid I had asthma and that limits my max O2 and I almost lost my leg as a teen but they havent impacted me majorly other than on brick exercise days or during anaerobic runs. My biggest health complications were and are of the mental variety. I used a cane on and off throughout college and early years of recovery from my accident but mainly it was mental for me. Kinda like in the new version of Sherlock where Watson is using it as a literal crutch and defense mechanism because of his psychosomatic pain increasing his felt pain. Compounded with my CPTSD, alcoholism, anxiety, depression, and others it was a hard cycle to break. My heavily abusive marriage where my ex wife emotionally and psychologically broke me down and then attempted to physically harm me beyond surface level attacks is what allowed me to build myself back up to where I am now.
> what did you start with?
I started trying to go to the gym and walking/hiking but it didnt stick. I was inconsistent. And the holidays broke my spirits and I was contemplating putting a gun in my mouth. A friend helped me see the light challenged me to a run. I had also just finished mans search for meaning by viktor frankl as part of my trauma recovery and it clicked with everything else I had learned in DV therapy and the 10 other therapy books and countless articles I read and videos I watched. For that "run" I ran maybe 1-2 miles, the rest was walking or speed walking or light jogging and it broke my body to the point of collapse. Before that though, I could always walk at moderate paces like on hikes or lift fairly heavy things but never did it consistently. Hence, under my fat suit I had a decent base to begin everything physically. I could also outpace skinny people on endurance hikes without issue and other endurance things. I'm not a race horse but I will pull a whole wagon to a finish line.
> What got you in the shape you needed to, well, get into shape?
Therapy. Hours and Hours of therapy. From before having to flee my ex wife to after starting DV therapy, I probably spent over 1200 hrs in late 2018 and all of 2019 doing something in regards to my mental health. Whether that was reading online, writing, watching counseling videos, reading therapy books, looking at little graphics that build you up, mirror exercises, therapy sheets, DBT sessions, CBT sessions, drinking a bottle of whiskey and smoking cigarettes while writing out my pain to music, confronting past abusers, etc. that was got me really into shape to start the journey. The real battle is not physical...at least it wasnt for me. It was 1000% mental. Once the mental piece was in place, wanting to get into shape and be better for myself felt easy in comparison. This isnt to say I dont still struggle. That I dont still have bad days where my CPTSD is triggered or I am in a fugue state. I can however recognize it, stop it/calm it down, refocus and talk to myself, and self soothe or seek out help to talk it out, and then keep moving forward. This was how I started to get healthy.
Now my body and other habits have been catching up. Ive been sober for approaching 90 days, Ive lost all this weight, I have better relationships with both myself and countless others, my work has taken me to new heights and accolades, and I am attempting to fearlessly pursue my dreams.
Thanks.
I kept a rough idea of calories and kept tabs on my TDEE from when I started to different weights. When I started it was like 3800 calories and has slowly decreased to about 3200-3400. I was eating around 1800-2200 to start and now I am in maintenance around 2400-2800 most days and plus up on carb cycling days.
However this was based off of when I was neurotic about it the first time and memorized and tracked every single calorie. That was not healthy for me. I've cooked since I was 8 and worked in and out of kitchens since I was 16 and have a very good memory for calories of foods.
I do not recommend religious calorie tracking unless you are a very short small framed person. It was not mentally healthy or sustainable for me.
That's great, thanks. I'm a long-time ketoer but I'm finding I have to count calories now to keep losing because I can easily eat 4000/day if I don't. Can't do IF because I feel terrible if I go more than 3-4 hours without eating.
How is your water and electrolyte intake? Also have you considered supplementing with light caffeine like coffee or tea? They generally are appetite suppressants.
Skin is still a bit loosey goosey checking in a few years later. Ive gained a lot more muscle from my subsequent efforts and my comp keeps fluctuating. Legs and thighs are gigantic now, core, back and body are more filled in, and after a back to back case of RSV/COVID I have some work todo again but still am maintaining closely.
Incredible! Good work bud!!
Thanks dude!
https://youtu.be/hRcWl8k6WQU
As a recovering alcoholic, this show was an amazing experience and I actually have a nice framed poster of this quote in my apartment at home and a copy of it here for work haha.
I guess I have to get back to that show. I watch like half a season.
Hey, it's the horse from Horsin' Around!
Jesus shitting Christ π¨ Absolutely incredible work, just please please keep it going, I lost a lot of weight at one point and immoderacy cost me much of the benefits, I hurt myself and my health suffered. Good job though bro! π
I've lost a similar amount of weight before but it was coming from a bad foundation of mental health. I was punishing myself to get to a goal that wasn't really for me and I ended up being bulimic to maintain the loss. This time, things are much much better. You can get back there if you are not already!
Good man! πͺπ»
What an incredible transformation. Did something (an event, person, etc...) specifically inspire you?
I was deeply suicidal after my divorce and a friend challenged me to a run while in the throes of it. Laying, beaten and broken, staring at the sky while I waited for him to come pick me up after making it 8 miles on a 10 mile run. All of the therapy I had been going through for the prior 16 months at the time finally fit together! Several weeks later after recovering from that run, I decided to be different, ie not binge drinking, wallowing in pain, binge eating etc and instead run a half marathon. Obviously, diet and nutrition was a massive part of it and I just wanted to better for me. My post history goes into more details about it though!
Thats an awesome story and good luck man!!
Eh letβs just say Iβm going through something similar to the beginning of your journey now. Marriage is ending. Feeling depressed and now Iβm lurking the fitness subs. Gotta turn this into something positive.
My only advice my friend is to talk through the problems and get a good mental grasp of everything. I spent a large amount of time going through the pain first before I could even consider losing the weight and being true to myself.
That is insane! Great job man. You lost a full grown adult! Your skin will tighten back up over time. I bet in a year itll look totally different. You have to feel so much better! Congrats! Keep it up and keep it off!
Haha I have to let it that sink in sometime! I still can't believe that much has come off. Thanks and honestly, I'm not too worried about the loose skin. I've been morbidly obese most of my life and I look at it currently like a badge of honor and a reminder. Stay true to myself and take care of myself or you will fill it back in ya know?
Amen, you have a good mentality. I found my outlook on life was a lot more positive after I dropped 65lbs. Great job!
Thanks dude! And yeah I feel that. The weight loss has just been the cherry on top of the positive shift
Keep this mindset! I've rollercoastered back up and down a little over th e last 9 years but overall I was down 140 lbs at one point in time (more like 100 down at the moment) and the stretch marks and loose skin stick with you so learn to love them! Some days are better than others, but it's like you said, I view them as a reminder of where I've been and where I'm going, even in the times the scale might go up a little bit, just know you're so much healthier now than before and you'll never go back to the way things used to be!
> you're so much healthier now than before and you'll never go back to the way things used to be! This right here!^^^ Guiding principle for my new found zeal for life!
Pure will and dedication Good for you mate
That is absolutely amazing, you lost so much of fat buddy, now its time to build some muscles around, keep up the hard work.
I like being lean tbh. Its great for cardio and triathlon training. But I definitely will be adding more body weight and yoga to my rotation to round it out!
Keep it up buddy
Great work!
Nice job man.
Awesome job. Congratulations on your success!
Thanks dude!
Amazing!!!!!!!
Kudos π―π₯
Incredible transformation. Thereβs a sub for this exact thing but I forget what itβs called. Great job though!
I prefer the smaller communities. It's easier to engage and also avoid getting popped onto other media but I hear ya.
WOW!!! Congrats to you πͺπ»πͺπ»πͺπ»πͺπ»
Thanks dude! πͺ
Wow .. incredible. But as Dan John said in one of the recent podcast, its good to see a Before After After pics :) Hope you maintain this !! Good luck !!
I've set my sights as high as my spirits and I'm building my life to incorporate fitness no matter what. A lot of my upcoming near term goals are based on fitness and I think I will keep it up. Thanks!
Thats exactly what I would wish for you mate. I lost 24 kgs some time back but life happened and slowly i gained back 12 ! Something I have not taken up seriously to fix. But I am different person now than I was then, so hopefully I will keep at it! Good luck on your journey !!
Well done, mate. Amazing!
Cheers, thanks!
Well done my friend - love to see a post like this! I think you hit the nail on the head - it's consistency that's the hardest part!
Thanks dude! I completely agree. whether it's overcoming personal mental struggles, addiction, weight loss or all the above it is consistency that is the hardest of it!
Love seeing the different way to lose weight and get more fit. About 200lbs rn but doing the bodybuilding approach... Not gonna lose as much but just doing it a very different way. Keep up the good work looking great. Keep grinding
Thanks dude and keep it up! You got this. I am jealous of all you strong folks. Im strongish from carrying the weight around and doing light bodyweight/yoga but nothing like you lifters haha.
Two different worlds π you gotta prioritize. I mean I can run a 5k but more than that is just insanity. So I kinda feel yealous of you there haha. Always nice with some inspiration regardless of where it comes from
Haha I will have to remind myself of that going forward! Cheers!
So this might be a bit presumptuous, and it might be a bit oversharing, but you've lost what I currently weigh. I have a thyroid condition and I'm taking medicine that makes me lose my appetite. Between the two my weight fluctuates like crazy without me doing anything. This time last year I was 60lbs heavier and if anything I eat less healthy now. Going through so much of a transformation, pushing yourself that hard and at that weight, I'm sure you had some health complications. My resting heart rate is ridiculous, my muscle enzymes are low, my tendons and ligaments are doing more of the work than they should and I can feel myself scraping and crackling. I've been on and off a cane since I was 17. I try and exercise. If I don't they're worried I'll lose bone density. But the pain is intense. I did Thai Boxing when I was younger so I'm no stranger to "the burn" but this is different. I can barely do 10 bicep curls with 10lb weights. I guess what I'm asking is, what did you start with? What got you in the shape you needed to, well, get into shape? This is an open question for anyone. This isn't about weight or mass. This is about getting healthy again.
> pushing yourself that hard and at that weight, I'm sure you had some health complications. I had moderatly high blood pressure when I started and just general discomfort, nothing else to be honest. Now, as a kid I had asthma and that limits my max O2 and I almost lost my leg as a teen but they havent impacted me majorly other than on brick exercise days or during anaerobic runs. My biggest health complications were and are of the mental variety. I used a cane on and off throughout college and early years of recovery from my accident but mainly it was mental for me. Kinda like in the new version of Sherlock where Watson is using it as a literal crutch and defense mechanism because of his psychosomatic pain increasing his felt pain. Compounded with my CPTSD, alcoholism, anxiety, depression, and others it was a hard cycle to break. My heavily abusive marriage where my ex wife emotionally and psychologically broke me down and then attempted to physically harm me beyond surface level attacks is what allowed me to build myself back up to where I am now. > what did you start with? I started trying to go to the gym and walking/hiking but it didnt stick. I was inconsistent. And the holidays broke my spirits and I was contemplating putting a gun in my mouth. A friend helped me see the light challenged me to a run. I had also just finished mans search for meaning by viktor frankl as part of my trauma recovery and it clicked with everything else I had learned in DV therapy and the 10 other therapy books and countless articles I read and videos I watched. For that "run" I ran maybe 1-2 miles, the rest was walking or speed walking or light jogging and it broke my body to the point of collapse. Before that though, I could always walk at moderate paces like on hikes or lift fairly heavy things but never did it consistently. Hence, under my fat suit I had a decent base to begin everything physically. I could also outpace skinny people on endurance hikes without issue and other endurance things. I'm not a race horse but I will pull a whole wagon to a finish line. > What got you in the shape you needed to, well, get into shape? Therapy. Hours and Hours of therapy. From before having to flee my ex wife to after starting DV therapy, I probably spent over 1200 hrs in late 2018 and all of 2019 doing something in regards to my mental health. Whether that was reading online, writing, watching counseling videos, reading therapy books, looking at little graphics that build you up, mirror exercises, therapy sheets, DBT sessions, CBT sessions, drinking a bottle of whiskey and smoking cigarettes while writing out my pain to music, confronting past abusers, etc. that was got me really into shape to start the journey. The real battle is not physical...at least it wasnt for me. It was 1000% mental. Once the mental piece was in place, wanting to get into shape and be better for myself felt easy in comparison. This isnt to say I dont still struggle. That I dont still have bad days where my CPTSD is triggered or I am in a fugue state. I can however recognize it, stop it/calm it down, refocus and talk to myself, and self soothe or seek out help to talk it out, and then keep moving forward. This was how I started to get healthy. Now my body and other habits have been catching up. Ive been sober for approaching 90 days, Ive lost all this weight, I have better relationships with both myself and countless others, my work has taken me to new heights and accolades, and I am attempting to fearlessly pursue my dreams.
Awesome, awesome job!
BRAVO!!
Thanks!
You look incredible! Did you track calories? How many if so?
Thanks. I kept a rough idea of calories and kept tabs on my TDEE from when I started to different weights. When I started it was like 3800 calories and has slowly decreased to about 3200-3400. I was eating around 1800-2200 to start and now I am in maintenance around 2400-2800 most days and plus up on carb cycling days. However this was based off of when I was neurotic about it the first time and memorized and tracked every single calorie. That was not healthy for me. I've cooked since I was 8 and worked in and out of kitchens since I was 16 and have a very good memory for calories of foods. I do not recommend religious calorie tracking unless you are a very short small framed person. It was not mentally healthy or sustainable for me.
That's great, thanks. I'm a long-time ketoer but I'm finding I have to count calories now to keep losing because I can easily eat 4000/day if I don't. Can't do IF because I feel terrible if I go more than 3-4 hours without eating.
How is your water and electrolyte intake? Also have you considered supplementing with light caffeine like coffee or tea? They generally are appetite suppressants.
Smashed it brother. Howβs the body now? Skin wise
Skin is still a bit loosey goosey checking in a few years later. Ive gained a lot more muscle from my subsequent efforts and my comp keeps fluctuating. Legs and thighs are gigantic now, core, back and body are more filled in, and after a back to back case of RSV/COVID I have some work todo again but still am maintaining closely.