34M, SW 291 lbs, CW 279.3 lbs, height 5'11".
I started the year in the worst physical shape of my life after spending a whole year trashing my body thanks to working from home — sitting all day, zero activity, and eating nothing but junk. Over that year I went from 253 lbs (my usual "normal fat" weight, the one I always come back to) to 291 lbs. At the start of the year I tried to drop weight with fasting for a wedding I had in March, and got down to 273 lbs, where I held steady. But fasting really wears you down — I find it useful as a tool, but not as a sustained method.
On April 5th I decided to go back to the method I've always used, the one that has always worked. So I started the following routine:
- Heavy training, pull/push/press, 4 days a week, Wednesday rest. Basic compound movements: power snatch, power clean, front squat, back squat, conventional deadlift, Romanian deadlift, overhead press, bench press, carries…
- Diet: Limit my caloric intake to around 2200–2400 kcal a day. Tracking macros too — trying to hit 180g protein a day, 80g fat, and adjusting the rest with carbs depending on whether it's a training day or not.
- Cardio: I go out walking almost every day, trying to hit 10,000 steps. If I'm tired or my body's not feeling it, I don't force it and I rest.
- Rest: I try to actively prioritize it, I know it's really important.
- Supplements: Whey concentrate — every day I have a shake with 300ml of whole milk and 30g of protein, plus 5g of creatine. Also Omega-3 and D3-K2.
My weight progression since I started in early April looks like this — I'm a month in:
- 274.9 lbs
- 275.1 lbs
- 278.7 lbs ← I'm guessing creatine + glycogen
- 278.0 lbs
- 279.5 lbs ← this is where I start to worry
Okay, sensations, some notes:
- I don't take measurements, because I don't really know how to measure myself properly and I don't trust the numbers. And since I can't trust the scale either, because it depends on so many things, I'm relying on faith and on "feel." But the feel changes every day depending on how I wake up or how I see myself that day.
- Physically I feel really good, lots of energy, ego is great. Probably a result of inflammation, creatine, and glycogen filling out — I'm surprised to actually notice muscle, my t-shirt sleeves are tighter, and my lower body is completely full, which is the part of me that has no fat and where I can actually see muscle.
- I keep checking the veins on my arms — basically, I know I'm on track if they keep progressing from wrist toward elbow. Right now they're about halfway up, and every week it looks better. It's my only sign that I'm not getting fatter.
- I'm super constipated. Basically destroying my asshole with this diet. I need to find a solution.
- I'm sleeping worse. I've always slept straight through the night, and now I wake up two or three times a night, after each sleep cycle.
- When I look in the mirror I don't see myself any leaner. My arms look more defined, and my legs too, but the bulk of it — my torso — looks almost the same. Then again, carrying this much weight, it'd be hard to see a difference even if there was one… That's the most demoralizing part.
The obvious concern is that this is supposed to be a weight-loss process, and so far I've only gone up and held the gain lol. So like I said, I keep going because I feel good, and because I'm hoping that at some point this month the scale will finally start moving in the other direction.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/1t714xp/im_at_a_point_where_im_running_on_pure_faith_in/
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