impromark Member

Totally agreed. Caloric deficit is how I lost my 80 pounds, and managing my weight now while building muscle and staying lean. Eating right is most of the way to weight loss goals - exercise puts the polish on the bodywork, in my view. :) Mark

I became a hubby and dad in the same year. :) The day my girl was born, I realized that I absolutely HAD to change my fitness for the better, so I could keep up with her and my wife in the years to come. I'm so glad it clicked for me then, and when I falter, all I need to do is remember the two most important girls in my…

Definitely eat less. Drink more fluids - I drink a lot of tea and water. It'll make you head for the head more often, but good news - use that to move around and do something. I work on the 14th floor of a 22-floor building, and when nature calls, I use the bathroom up on 22 and then take the elevator back to the main…

Heh, perhaps. Fortunately I'm pretty much at my desired eight level (fitness level is the current journey), so I'm able to "suffer" the rare buffet and its delectable array of tastes and caloric values. I try to plan for such happenings and adjust my workouts accordingly. :) Mark

A buffet is a trigger for me. I'm naturally frugal, so any time I feel like I need to justify the cost of what I'm spending, I always end up gorging myself at the all-you-can-eat. Luckily, I've learned to avoid those places altogether under regular circumstances. And when work conferences and their buffets happen, I'm…

I lost weight with pure cardio. I want to stay lean though, but to get a more cut look... BB products seem to work for me in that sense. I did T25 last year and then followed it with P90X3. They certainly leaned me out though I only lost ~10pounds; I lost more in inches. Since January I've started the cardio lifting…

Feel free to see my gallery in the profile. Heaviest: 229 lbs Current: Maintaining at 145-150 Attained mostly through MFP calorie monitoring and a LOT of treadmill / cardio workout time. The cycle started in January this year is alternating cardio and lifting days to increase muscle mass slowly. Got 4.5 members in the…

Awesome pictures and update. Ironic you have one in front of the round things, since you can no longer relate to the round things. Well done sir! Mark

Realized I can do one-armed pushups now. Never thought possible. Yay! Mark

I've hosted cosplays at many anime and comic cons. Your story makes me wish I could show your before and now pics during my hosting, to true effect. Well done! One of my goals in fitness is so the conventions I host can easily take on my "host cosplay challenge" - that is, if someone were to provide me a costume, I'd wear…

Nope. It's nature. You really can't reduce fat in any given place by working that area more. I have annoying deposits remaining that are not symmetrical. The only thing to be done is to live it with it, or keep reducing your body fat overall until you don't notice or care about it anymore...

Fitnessblender is really good. You can never get bored as there's always another workout to try, and they don't put music in either so you can run your own as you go. Recommended. Also try out BeFit on YouTube for more workout options. It's more advertisey, but there are some nice ones in there. Been enjoying the 20+…

Up every day at 5am. Bio break comes first, then I'm downstairs to work out by 5:30 (sue me, I'm a guy). Cardio and/or weight and/or treadmill work follows. Hard stop at 7:00; then back upstairs to shower & change. In the kitchen before 7:30 to do brekkie duties with wife and kid. Out the door to drop off kid by 8:00.…

Do it, man! Blaze a trail for those of us hurtling towards 40 with a long way to go!

It's true - admitting your current state isn't what you want, is really the first step. It was a long, arduous battle for me to lose my 80 pounds - and a constant, completely different battle to keep it off. My advice is to find your real reason you want to lose weight. Set yourself some small goals and TAKE YOUR TIME in…

Yup, there's no one answer - but as the OP suggested, hearing some discussion is quite cathartic. My "I never wanna be more than" was 200. Nice round number. When I exceeded that, I started working out, threw out the deep fryer, etc. - but working out without really watching what you eat isn't helpful. I was 230 when my…

Also started this week, using a barbell set purchased over Christmas and coming off of P90X3 and T25 last year. I'm sore in all the right places. Good sign. :) For those who have been through this, and don't have all the fancy-schmancy calorie monitors, what are you logging in MPF? I see a "Les Mills Body Pump" entry,…

That's awesome. What other factors did you have in your fitness change aside from the workouts (and I guess Shakeology and whatever meal plan comes with the set)?

I recently checked with a jewelers and my ring can't be re-sized any further on account of the way it was made (it's a custom job with a design going all the way around). I ordered the ring at size 8, had it re-sized to 7.5 in time for the wedding (lost 25 pounds by then), and I no longer wear it on my ring finger now that…

That's awesome, thanks everyone for the stories and encouragement. I've since found a variety of adult cartwheel how-tos on Youtube, even a couple from Crossfit types. Sounds like it's never too early to learn. I don't expect to take on many ninjas in my neck of the woods, but being able to cartwheel out of a shuriken's…

There's a reason most weight loss programs advertised on TV last AT LEAST two months - if you follow pretty much ANY regime you'll be looking different by then, and your brain will be able to accept the difference you'll see instead of week to week. When I really started losing weight it took my months to look in the…

I started my journey rocking the XL, and now small size is the only way to go. Keep it up man, you'll do just fine! Mark

Well done! Also, awesome photography! Maybe it's because a certain show will be back on TV in a few days, but your pictures make you look like you're starring in "The Walking Dead". I'm sure at your current level of fitness you can kick a lot of zombie *kitten*. :) Mark

I went from a 12-pack of regular coke a week to a diet can a day, sometimes two. More's the point, I drink lots of OTHER stuff along with it, including juices, milk, and a whole lot of water. I'm actually mixing a lot of "clear" diet colas in as well. In Canada, for some reason the clear stuff like 7-up, etc. are not…

Question for those who have regained when you went off the reservation - how much did you gain back, but how LONG were you off before realizing you were no longer on the right track? Obviously everyone's answer will be different, but I find myself asking the what-ifs as I approach maintenance time. I expect to continue…

Awesome! I'm just starting Week 4 and while I didn't take measurements this month (just sticking to a 1200 calorie day until I get back to my target weight, and will slowly increase from there) , I sure will for the next because I can feel quite a difference in the waist. I have some size 30 pants that were quite snug (to…

The "experiment" was in the amount of weight lost getting back to a maintenance level. I generally reserve a block of my calorie allotment for "open snacks", from a start point after a period of weight gain (in my case, when I'm off counting and focused workouts for a week-long conference, which happens several times a…

Today's NSV is captured in my current avatar picture.. Two years apart, standing on a beach in my swim gear and in a similar pose. Surprising myself with the difference. Yikes! Mark

It certainly was, and to be honest I probably wouldn't have done a non-gimmick race otherwise. :) But it was still a whole lot of fun, and I felt I could really improve if I did it again - so, fitness mission accomplished! Kudos to my team mates for encouraging me to do this, and to my wife and daughter for supporting me…

Woo hoo, a fellow Calgarian actor! Yep, for better or worse in this biz, it's better to be less big. I've certainly been busier in this town since I dropped a few - and more importantly I've been able to keep up with the pace needed. And if nothing else, it's easier to dress a skinnier guy as a chubby guy, than to dress a…