I ate, I trained, I progressed (w/ pics)

In January 2012 I was around 175 lbs, feeling heavy, severely out of shape, really uncomfortable in my own skin and determined to make some changes in a healthy way. To improve my fitness, I started jogging a couple of days a week. To improve my eating, I searched for online calorie counters, which led me here to MFP. Over the course of a year or so I lost about 35 lbs by exercising (cardio only) regularly and keeping tabs on what I was eating.

Twelve months later, in January of this year, I found myself at (for me) a very low weight of 140 lbs. My clothes were definitely fitting better and a lot had changed but I wasn't really happy with how I looked. I started spending time on the forums, reading and learning from posts and advice written by long-term, successful members who advocated 1) understanding your TDEE; 2) eating at a moderate deficit; 3) non-restrictive eating; 4) tracking macros and; 5) strength training. This all flew in the face of what I thought I knew about weight loss. When I tried to lose weight in the past, I would fall back on old (bad) habits of severe caloric restriction, eliminating (or demonizing) certain foods, and lots of cardio. Since this old approach obviously hadn't worked for me in the long run (I'd done it many times over but it was obviously not sustainable, nor was I achieving the physique I wanted), I thought I'd try this "new" method.

I started by enlisting the help of the excellent admins in the Eat, Train, Progress group (recommended to me by one of my MFP friends). I got a food scale, and used it every day (still do). I started eating more, and kept increasing my intake over time. I started keeping tabs on my macros, focusing on getting adequate protein and fats. I started feeling ok about enjoying beer, desserts, bread and bacon. I stopped labelling food as "bad" and found myself developing a healthy relationship with food for the first time in my adult life - no more binging, secret eating, obsessing over "forbidden" foods, or feelings of guilt about eating. I reduced my cardio to about a third or less of what I'd been doing previously, started lifting heavy weights three days a week instead, and discovered that I really, really enjoyed it. I've been doing a modified-for-dumbbells version of the All Pro Beginner routine, at home.

What happened? I finally started to see the type of physique I'd always wanted emerge. I used to think it was impossible: I was "large-framed", "naturally heavy", "not inclined to look muscular", "not lean", "not fast", "not strong".

I was wrong on all counts. I'd never really given myself enough credit for what I'm actually capable of achieving. I'm so, so happy that I was wrong, and I'm learning to stop saying "I can't". I am comfortable with my body for the first time EVER. This is a major - perhaps my most important - accomplishment (although the first-ever chin-ups I did a couple of weeks ago are a close second :bigsmile:).

It's been seven months since I changed my approach to fitness and nutrition, and I'm proud of my successes to date; I also have every intention of continuing to challenge myself in the long run. I'm currently in (about) maintenance and am planning to do my first bulk this fall/winter, with the goals of getting stronger and gaining muscle mass.

To my partner, friends and mentors who have supported, encouraged and taught me: thank you. :flowerforyou: (Major love to Sarauk2sf and SideSteel, who continue to graciously put up with my incessant stream of "should I eat MOAR?" posts :smooched:)

Since we all love pics on these threads, here ya go:

This is the summer of 2011, a few months before I started all this. I really didn't realize how heavy I was. I see the pictures now and wonder how I couldn't have known. I was probably eating something like 3000-4000 calories a day most days and was largely sedentary.







Next are some before-and-afters. The "befores" are actually from this January, after I'd lost 35 lbs. At the time I was still only doing cardio and was netting about 1400 calories/day (eating back exercise, so grossing around 1800). The year before I had probably been eating less but wasn't tracking very carefully. The after photos were taken today. I'm currently taking in a steady 2500/day. I wish I had "real" before photos to see the actual long-term change, but these ones will do. Lifting weights totally, utterly, and completely changed my body for the better - I'm only 12 lbs lighter than in the befores (I'm 5'9", for reference)! I wish I'd known about lifting (proper, progressive, heavy lifting) years and years ago!