Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle - Motivation Buddy?

danahaubert

Hi All,

I could have titled this entry, "How to gain 20 lbs, No Effort Required". That would summarize my last two years nicely. A lot of factors contribute to our body composition but I never really gave thought to what exactly happened to bring me to my heaviest ever weight until recently.

Three years ago my life looked very different than it does today. I was a Parisienne, single and going to an office every day. I also walked about 15000 steps every day without doing exercise. I weighed 124lbs and had about 18% body fat. Then I met my future husband. We kissed, we romanced each other and we dined.....a lot. All the best restaurants and to Relais Chateau on the weekends...to sleep ...and eat. I gained 4 lbs.

My weight stabilised at 128 but then he proposed and we left Paris for another city here in France and I started working from home. No longer was I walking to the metro or moving around an office.

We got married a couple of months later and then I started cooking dinners to socialize with my husband in the evenings at home. *Before we met I almost never ate dinner*. Living alone my natural routine was coffee for breakfast, then a large lunch, maybe a snack around 4 with another coffee and no dinner, except maybe a glass of wine at home.

Eating dinner with my husband every night added another 800-1000 calories to my diet per day.

The weight started creeping up and I got up to 136 lbs.

I have always been muscular and gain muscle easily but when I do gain fat, it went to my stomach (like my dad). So getting up to 136, I had a nice roll around my mid section. Then I made a huge mistake. I had liposuction of my midsection, back and flanks included and arms. I was so miserable after the liposuction (in hell actually) that I ate myself into oblivion. I could hardly move from the pain. The pain was terrible for for three months.

I gained MORE weight! But this time it went to my legs, calves, butt more than it ever had before. I went up to 145 lbs.

I was so despondent that I made the second mistake. Out of desperation I did the HCG diet. I lost 15 lbs in one month but half of it was probably muscle and water. My thyroid started to flutter in the evenings . I was literally starving my body. I also couldn't sleep the entire time I was having the injections. In the end I got so sick that I ended up in the hospital for 3 days while they checked my endocrine system. I was OK but I learned a lesson.

All the weight that I lost came back and I was weak for months.

So in the summer of 2013 I stopped dieting. Instead I started doing a lot of walking and running. I averaged 7 miles a day, 5-6 days a week. I dropped down to 139 and could see my muscle definition peaking through just a bit.

But I stopped and eventually my weight crept back up again.

This February I started exercise again, lots of running and walking. I combine the two. I haven't dieted but I've logged every bite I eat and used a spread sheet plus Fitday (which I hate). I wanted to lose fat from running/walking alone. But after 3 months I've only lost 2 or 3 lbs on the scale.

So I've changed my approach and am following the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle protocol. Tom Venuto's book has helped me finally grasp that nutrition comes before sport but they still go hand in hand.

If anyone else is doing Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, I would love to have a buddy. Feel free to send me a private message on MFP.

All the best,

DH

conscientiousintrovert

DH, that's amazing!

I'm looking to connect with someone for mutual support with fat burning... I've got 15-25 pounds left to carve off my body and my biggest obstacle is emotional eating. I've just read Tom Venuto's Body Fat Solution and I'm excited about the dynamic, straightforward approach. It's similar to BFFM just more for "normal people" not fitness models.

Let me know if you're interested in "buddying up"

Jess

danahaubert

Hi Jess,

I just saw your post. Sorry for the huge delay. I'm sending you a friend request. Are you on the BTFFTM Inner Circle?

CaliGirl1968

Hello - I am a former BFFMer who has lapsed & regained all my weight. Today is my Day 1 to restart, log my food, and get back to my former fitness/bodybuilding lifestyle. I miss it so much! My lowest/fittest adult weight was 140, and I am now 170.5. My height is 5'4", so that's a LOT of extra weight for me.

I am also a member of the BFFM Inner Circle at www.burnthefatinnercircle.com, although I haven't posted there in a very long time. My username there is CaliGirl.

Thank you for posting your story!

Delquin

Hi there! Burying the spam that got posted on this board and bringing up the real posts to the top.

vanessasegars

Hey guys! I'm so glad I found this thread. I read Tom's BTFFTM about three years ago and then read his book about a year ago. I followed the plan and was doing really well, until who knows - I can't remember what shiny object distracted me.

Anyway, I've been doing CrossFit 3x/week for the past 7 weeks and kept thinking about Tom's advice. So I starting tracking in MFP again and saw that I still had my ratios entered. I also found my calculated maintenance and "loss" calorie thresholds in my Notes app, so now I'm off and running again. I'm not a member of the Inner Circle, but I may take another look and see if it's something I should join.

All that to ask - do any of you guys feel weird eating caloric levels that are so much higher than what MFP suggests for your weight and activity level? According to MFP, I'm supposed to be eating approx 1300 calories, but my BTFFTM calorie threshold for "zig zagging" is three days of 1922 and one day of 2422 - a serious difference.

After 10 days on the MFP recommended level, I have noticed minimal changes, however after a day of about 1800 calories, I noticed some movement on the scale. I just want to make sure I'm not swimming *away* from land based on that one day.

Thanks guys.

Julieboolieaz

Hi! I am new to MFP. I've been changing my focus from losing weight to building muscle and losing fat. I've lost about 130lbs, the first 100, 10 years ago with Atkins. the last 20-25 through hcg rounds, which I regret, but it's in the past.

I've rebuilt my metabolism some and am now looking for ways to reshape and get stronger. I'm nearly done reading BFFM and like the plan. The zigzagging isn't really as prominent in the book as I expected it to be. The calculations and sheets in the appendix recommend creating calorie deficits (I'm doing moderate-25%) and the only mention I find of zigzagging is if/when you're not losing. I got more zigzag suggestions on a different site. Anyone have input on figuring out that part of the plan?

I had just started NROLFW when I read the BFFM book. I'm following his meal plan suggestions, at a 40:30:30 ratio for now (im a long time low carber, so this is a LOT of carb for me!) and will track my progress. I'm also adding in 3 days of cardio to the 3 days of weight training in stage 1 of NROLFW.

Just wanted to encourage you guys to keep it up!! Even a week or 2 into my new program and I can already see and feel the difference.!

So, I'm eating around 1650 cals a day, and lifting weights 3x a week, 2 days of HIIT (treadmill) and 1 day of Zumba. I'd like to drop my body fat from my current level of 28% (got the accumeasure calipers he recommends) to 25% as my 3 month goal, then work it down from there.

julielh72

I bought BFFM on Kindle a while back and got around to reading it whilst on holiday last week. Have been training for a long time and this book has motivated me to take my nutrition more seriously. I am currently training for a half marathon so I am running 3/4 times per week already. Am very excited to see what results this plan will bring. Any buddies appreciated.