being a type 2 diabetic I recently went to my doctor for my checkup and was taken off all medication. Thats unbelievable, still can't comprehend the fact that I no longer have to take meds every morning.

That is incredible! Congratulations, really.

I like this thread - I think I'll join in!

First "update" - let's just call this the baseline.

Got tired of being "afraid" of the barbell on my heavy squats this week - I'm still relatively new at the whole powerlifting thing, and just the idea of failing under a lift is enough to psyche me out on the high numbers. 500 lbs? No problem. Don't need spotters. I've maxed out at 615 months ago, but ever since then, anything near 600 intimidated me. I had to spend 5 minutes or more just working up to doing the lift.

So yesterday, I go for some lockout squats (about a 5-6" lift to lockout, then held for a five count) just to get the idea in my head of "it ain't that heavy". Just started piling on plates after my normal set, and pushed until either I couldn't lift the weight, or I ran out of room on the bar.

Ran out of room one the bar at 885, and I think I had another good, strong push waiting - so next time, I'm going to use the 100 lb plates to push it up to a full 1000. The next time I look at 600 lbs, there's going to be that little voice - instead of "you sure you can do that?" it's gonna be "this ain't even close to half a ton - you got this, buddy!".

Mind over matter, that's all it is.

I do mean squats. I'm new to powerlifting, but I've got 9 years of highland games and 5 years of kung fu under my belt. Caber tossing translates well to the squat form, and martial arts gave me a solid core.

I'm also a fairly solid 370 lbs. 2x bodyweight squat is my goal - either I'm going to lose the weight or just get stronger.

Note that I was just doing lockout squats - I wouldn't even call them quarter squats. Just getting it up a few inches off the rack and holding it just to say I could do it. I'm going to do my attempt at 1000 and have someone take a picture. Once I get the picture, I'm going to print it out, and use it as my pre-workout psych up. Just the sight of that bar bending is enough to get you ready for anything!

Ryan, it just happened to me too, last week I gained 1kg (2.2 lbs) and I really doesn't understand why: the deficit and the exercise were *exactly* the same as before, and I don't eyeball portions but I weight everything, so the intake was pretty accurate. I also always weight myself in the same conditions (after my weekly rest day, in the morning before breakfast, after... hem bodily functions and so on).

Ok, it was a while since I recalculated the daily calories to adjust for a lower body mass but the week before (and the one before that) with that same deficit I lost my usual 2-2.2 lbs, so I really don't know why. I'm beginning to question my scale: I know it's a lame excuse but I found in the past that digital scales are not always that accurate.

Now I lowered the daily caloric intake by almost 200 calories and this week I've lost 2.2 lbs, so back on track but with more doubts than before...

Ryan, good for you!

An update for me too: down 1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) this week after 4 week of near stalmate. The loss is definitely slowing down and I had to cut back to 1550 (net) daily calories to get things started again. For sure it's not sustainable in the long run, so maybe it's time for a diet break.

Out of curiosity: how many NET calories are you big and tall men consuming daily? And with which rate of weight loss?

It happened to me too, and I think you correctly pinpointed the problem: tracking.

Like you I lost my first 66 lbs quite rapidly, but now BMR is much lower as we lost a lot of body mass so with lower intakes if you add adaptive thermogenesis it's very easy to either reach or exceed maintenance level without knowing.

Take my example: I was loosing 2-2.2 lbs per week on 1850 NET calories then I got stuck. I lowered intake to 1650 but nothing - and keep in mind that I use a digital scale and weight portions. Then I lowered a litte bit more to 1550 but this time I weighted *everything* and started loosing again.

In retrospect I estimated that I wasn't tracking probably 200 cals a day (a bite here, a walnut there...). Before it wasn't a problem, as the deficit was high enough to cover for this surplus, but now it is, and that was the reason why the weight loss stalled.

Another problem is overestimating calories burned with exercise: again, not a problem before because the high body mass increased dramatically energy expenditure but now with lower body mass, lower hearth rate and increased efficiency estimates can be off even by 30%. And that adds up to a lot of calories in a week.

So maybe you think you are netting 1500 but you are really netting 1800 or more and you're not gaining inches because you are doing weight training: is it possible or I am completely off course?

Hey captain, how is the tracking going?

A little update to keep the thread alive: my BMR has lowered more than expected (and it happened quite abruptly) so now I have to eat 1550 net calories a day to keep loosing 2lbs per week.

I must tell that it's getting tougher: I'm concerned about sustainability in the long run mainly, but even daily hunger is getting worse. So I'm planning to push for another month until new year and then start taking 15 days long diet breaks every couple of months. That should help with hormones regulation and cravings. Many authors, including Lyle McDonald, claim that a flexible diet with regular PLANNED breaks are much more successful in the long term. What do you think aobut it?

Now, back to the update: 2,6 lbs down this week.