40+ Pounds in 4 Months (Photos)

Here's my story. I'm a 45-year-old guy, 6'2". On October 6, 2012 I stepped on the scale and saw 250 pounds. This photo is from a few months earlier, but it's close:



I had promised myself that I would never, ever, EVER see 250 pounds on the scale. So this was a big failure for me. I was really angry at myself for allowing this to happen. I became very determined and focused, and I still am today. I was tired of constantly talking about losing weight and never actually doing anything about it. If you can't honor the promises you make to yourself, you're just full of crap. That's not who I am.

Years ago I had success with a fitness and nutritional program called "Body for Life". So I started doing that program again. There are a couple aspects of this program that I really like (that other programs also share):

* Instead of 3 large meals, you eat 5-6 mini-meals throughout the day. This is great because you're never hungry and you're always just a few hours away from your next meal. The mini-meals help stabilize your blood sugar and reduce cravings.

* Balance of protein and complex carbs (whole grains). No simple carbs like white bread or pasta, no refined sugar (again, to help stabilize your blood sugar and reduce cravings). No liquid calories - just water and an occasional diet drink.

* Alternate lifting and cardio days. Alternate upper body and lower body for lifting, so you do 2 upper body/1 lower body one week (M-W-F), 1 upper/2 lower the next. On cardio days (T-Th-Sat) you do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) where you walk for 1 minute, jog for 1 minute, run for 1 minute, and then sprint for 1 minute. Then you repeat 4 times for 5 intervals total. With warm-up and cool-down it's 30 minutes total. I ended up adding extra cardio (elliptical) on my lifting days and even after my HIIT workouts (after a break!) just to burn extra calories.

* So that's some pretty serious workouts and mini-meals for 6 days a week, which leaves day 7 - the FREE DAY! This is a rest day where you can eat whatever you want. This is often debated but I like the free day because it allows me to not feel deprived. In my case, I usually enjoy ICE CREAM and a couple beers on my free day.

I was getting into my workouts and doing well when I discovered MFP. I set it up on a free day, ate like I used to eat and kept track of my calories. My TDEE was around 2900 calories. I was eating around 3,500 calories. What an eye-opener. I always thought that my family had bad genetics - my brother is overweight, my father was overweight. But now I understood why I was struggling with my weight. It was simple math - calories in, calories out. There was nobody else to blame, I was just eating too damn much!

So from that day on, I continued with my Body for Life workouts and the mini-meals but used MFP to more closely monitor my calories. Most days, I ate under 2,000 calories and burned 500 calories at the gym. So technically I was netting under my BMR on these days (maybe not the healthiest thing to do) but I felt great and the weight was just falling off. And I wasn't hungry.

I noticed gains in strength and fitness. I had to increase the speed on my HIIT workouts - my old run was now just a jog, my old sprint was now just a run.

On average I lost 2-3 pounds a week. I had to get all-new pants. My fat pants were donated - I will never wear them again! My knees used to hurt, but now they feel great. The other day I picked up two 20-pound dumbbells and walked around them, just to feel the weight on my knees. It's no wonder they hurt!

At the start of February, roughly 4 months from starting my program, I had lost over 40 pounds. As of today, I'm down 43. I reached my goal weight of 210 and have a body fat percentage of 16%.

Now I've changed my goals. I want to gain muscle and improve my fitness level. I want to get back to running again (something I enjoyed years ago but gave up because my knees hurt from the extra weight). In order to build muscle, I've increased my protein and overall calories. This is a LOT easier to follow (eating around 2700 calories!) and I feel confident that I can continue doing this forever. After just two weeks I'm already seeing significant increases in strength and definition. I'd like to keep my weight approximately the same (under 210) while gaining muscle. So my body fat % will drop - I'm aiming for 12% for Summer.

It's an incredible feeling to be totally in control. I know that if I should gain weight for some reason (like vacation maybe), I can lose that weight quickly and easily. I will never be fat again.

I've gathered a great group of friends here on MFP who have been very supportive. If you're as determined as I am to lose the weight and keep it off, send me an invite!

Here's my current photo!