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[Chittagong]

Having read Martin Berkhan's stuff this weekend, I'm willing to give 16/8 IF a go. He seems by far the most level headed of specialists, as he recognizes the psychological and societal needs neglected by almost every other nutritional approach. It fits my context, I do sports and eat healthy. Also, finding healthy breakfast has been a massive issue to me.

I had some questions, in case someone is an expert with his methods:

1. I think my feeding window will be 12-8 or 1-9. I tend to do all my sports in the morning however. This is typically spinning, or weight/super sets with my PT. Martin recommends to break fast with so e BCAA pre exercise. Is this smart, and could I use zero carb whey protein as I have it around?

2. What's the calorie intake and macro breakdown I should shoot for the feeding window? I'm M/107kg

 

[Ixian]

1. I think my feeding window will be 12-8 or 1-9. I tend to do all my sports in the morning however. This is typically spinning, or weight/super sets with my PT. Martin recommends to break fast with so e BCAA pre exercise. Is this smart, and could I use zero carb whey protein as I have it around?

2. What's the calorie intake and macro breakdown I should shoot for the feeding window? I'm M/107kg

1. The whey protein will probably have too many calories.
2. This is something you're going to have to mess around with yourself. I'd recommend reading this page. If you're not seeing any results after 3-4 weeks, adjust your macros some more. I also highly recommend taking measurements over relying on scale numbers alone.

Edit: Just reread your post. The idea of the BCAAs is that they don't actually break your fast.

 

[harSon]

ohh I just made some awesome strawberry yogurt. the consistency of the frozen strawberries actually made it more like an ice cream



definitely will be adding to my regular diet, the only downside is clean up. you could also add a little sweetener if you want it. I actually tried some of the Fage plain and it wasn't too bad, maybe I'm starting to acquire the taste for it? hmm

Eh, you're probably better off freezing your own strawberries. Don't prepackaged frozen strawberries, and any other fruit for that matter, have a ton of added sugar in them?

 

[Wiktor]

Martin Berkhan would probably disagree with this statement

I think a lot of those studies are simply done solely for people on high card diet.
When I eat a lot of carbs I do need a breakfast or otherwise I get really hungry.
When I do low-card though I don't feel hunger much and can without any problem do a 36 hours fast, so all this study's research is useless for me in this case,

 

[Ixian]

I think a lot of those studies are simply done solely for people on high card diet.
When I eat a lot of carbs I do need a breakfast or otherwise I get really hungry.
When I do low-card though I don't feel hunger much and can without any problem do a 36 hours fast, so all this study's research is useless for me in this case,

When I read the BBC article I was reminded of how people say if you go to the grocery store on an empty stomach, you tend to buy a lot more junk than you would if you went on a full stomach (see this Oatmeal comic). If the people in the study weren't given time to adjust to life without breakfast, then I can absolutely see them going for high calorie food at lunch. I know when I was consistently eating breakfast, on the days I would skip because I knew I was going to have a big lunch I was famished by the time lunch time came around. These days it's no big deal.

 

[outunderthestars]

the before pic (left, lol) is a bit old but still, I think it fits well in here.

Height: 5'4 inches / 1.65 cm
Highest weight: 167 pounds/76 Kg.
Current weight: 138 pounds/63 Kg.

I wasn't that big but still happy to have gotten back to my weight.

Congrats! This thread has made me realize that I can get my weight back down.

Today is my starting day:

6'2

216 lbs

I will get a friend to take a "start" picture tomorrow. I am going to go to the store to buy some healthier food, and have mapped routes to allow me to walk to and from work.

I have access to a workout room, but I have no idea how to use the equipment and how to create a workout regimen. Can anyone suggest a guide?

 

[elrechazado]

Congrats! This thread has made me realize that I can get my weight back down.

Today is my starting day:

6'2

216 lbs

I will get a friend to take a "start" picture tomorrow. I am going to go to the store to buy some healthier food, and have mapped routes to allow me to walk to and from work.

I have access to a workout room, but I have no idea how to use the equipment and how to create a workout regimen. Can anyone suggest a guide?

The fitness thread can be quite helpful.

Spoiler: they will tell you to do squats.

 

[Ixian]

The fitness thread can be quite helpful.

Spoiler: they will tell you to do squats.

Squats are amazing!

 

[elrechazado]

Squats are amazing!

Agreed I said they'd be helpful!

 

[Chris R]

Weighed in today, 203.5. 185 or below is the goal by years end. Sore as fuck after a bunch of exercise yesterday

 

[Felix Lighter]

I just weighed myself this evening and I just reached my goal. 148.6 lbs. I still have some annoying belly fat but what are ya gonna do? I should probably start weight training now. I might take an after picture tomorrow to go with the before picture I took back in April.

 

[Ixian]

I still have some annoying belly fat but what are ya gonna do? I should probably start weight training now. I might take an after picture tomorrow to go with the before picture I took back in April.

Sounds like you know what you gotta do!

 

[Horseticuffs]

I just weighed myself this evening and I just reached my goal. 148.6 lbs. I still have some annoying belly fat but what are ya gonna do? I should probably start weight training now. I might take an after picture tomorrow to go with the before picture I took back in April.

Awesome job, man. I guess I don't need to tell you that the journey is just starting, but the worst is over now.

Time to quit busting ass to lose something, and start busting ass to make something Have fun with it!

 

[lybertyboy]

On Friday, I had my final appointment with my personal trainer at the gym as part of the program I've been following since the end of January. Someone sent me this picture that shows what a difference a year can make. The image on the left is a screencap from a video I appeared in last October and the image on the right from a video from this October. I'll have all the official stats this week as I'm doing my last assessment as I close out the program, but weight loss is over a 100 lbs. since the end of January.

I'm hitting the point where each pound lost is a bit of a struggle. I'm definitely not gaining weight, but the consistent losses are more difficult than they were previously. I still want to lose another 30-40 pounds to get to my goal weight. Images like this help to keep me motivated as I'm really happy with the change so far. This thread has been a great source of constant inspiration this year. I never really thought I'd be able to make the changes I have. I'm really happy with my quality of life right now. Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread. You all are the best.

 

[outunderthestars]

On Friday, I had my final appointment with my personal trainer at the gym as part of the program I've been following since the end of January. Someone sent me this picture that shows what a difference a year can make. The image on the left is a screencap from a video I appeared in last October and the image on the right from a video from this October. I'll have all the official stats this week as I'm doing my last assessment as I close out the program, but weight loss is over a 100 lbs. since the end of January.

I'm hitting the point where each pound lost is a bit of a struggle. I'm definitely not gaining weight, but the consistent losses are more difficult than they were previously. I still want to lose another 30-40 pounds to get to my goal weight. Images like this help to keep me motivated as I'm really happy with the change so far. This thread has been a great source of constant inspiration this year. I never really thought I'd be able to make the changes I have. I'm really happy with my quality of life right now. Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread. You all are the best.

You look amazing! Keep up the good work!

 

[Horseticuffs]

On Friday, I had my final appointment with my personal trainer at the gym as part of the program I've been following since the end of January. Someone sent me this picture that shows what a difference a year can make. The image on the left is a screencap from a video I appeared in last October and the image on the right from a video from this October. I'll have all the official stats this week as I'm doing my last assessment as I close out the program, but weight loss is over a 100 lbs. since the end of January.

I'm hitting the point where each pound lost is a bit of a struggle. I'm definitely not gaining weight, but the consistent losses are more difficult than they were previously. I still want to lose another 30-40 pounds to get to my goal weight. Images like this help to keep me motivated as I'm really happy with the change so far. This thread has been a great source of constant inspiration this year. I never really thought I'd be able to make the changes I have. I'm really happy with my quality of life right now. Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread. You all are the best.

Dude, that's awesome. Not only do you look better, but younger as well.

I did a similar type of shot a month or so back and I'd recommend it to anyone here who is maybe feeling a bit discouraged. I used an app called diptic that allows you to make combo-pics, but any laptop or desktop will have the necessary software.

Anyways, great work! Keep it up. I hear you about weight loss starting to slow down once you make good progress.

I just hit 100 lbs down and I've really had to fight tooth and nail for the last 15. Slow and steady wins the race, I guess

 

[Hazaro]

On Friday, I had my final appointment with my personal trainer at the gym as part of the program I've been following since the end of January.

So 100lbs in 10 months? Not bad
I actually remember seeing you in both videos, so amazing job!

Do you have a rough plan of what you did for the loss?

 

[Chittagong]

Amazing job lybertyboy, that's some serious Peter Jackson level transformation right there. I agree with the previous poster on how much younger you look. Hats off to your discipline, must have taken quite a strict diet combined with the right kind of sports. Really encouraging.

 

[Horseticuffs]

So, I can't point to a specific post but I was looking over a few pages in here recently and they helped me to reach a conclusion that has really had a positive effect on my weightloss lately.

The past few months I'd gotten into the poor habit of being starving later in the day because I had so few calories to spare after lunch (usually less than 400) and I'm on a strict 1,500 calorie a day diet. The issue being that I would "borrow" calories from the next day so I wasn't starving, but that would leave me with like 1,000 the next day so I would have to borrow from the next day and so on and so forth ad infinium.

It sounds dumb but it WAS a dumb loop I got myself trapped in as I'm very physically active and was trying to be accountable by taking calories off of the next day to make up for "cheating".

Anyways, the thread inspired me to bite the bullet and just suck it up and be a little hungrier than I'd like for a night and a morning but it all worked out and I just am refusing to eat anything from 10pm-7:30am no matter what.

So, with that limitation in place I've been able to distribute my 1,500 calories a day more evenly and haven't been so hungry. Here it is nearly 9am and I still have over 800 calories to spare today and I totally pigged out for breakfast with 1.5 cups of egg beaters, a slice of toast, and 2 cups of garbanzo beans.

I think in the future, to be responsible, I'm going to have to try to focus the calories I'm alloted into larger meals for satiety's sake. No more of this namby-pamby 200 calories here, 175 calories there business. Does this seem sound to you fine folks?

As always, thanks for the inspiration, GAF! You guys are doing great, keep at it! Go team weightloss!

 

[Petrie]

I'd assume you're starving because you're "very physically active" eating 1500 calories.

 

[Darklord]

I've finally reached my goal. 81lbs over the last year. I never noticed any weight off off my face, I was pretty surprised when I was this.

 

[Horseticuffs]

I'd assume you're starving because you're "very physically active" eating 1500 calories.

Yeah, would seem it, but I've been doing that for 5 months now to great effect and didn't start having the issue until about a month and a half ago when I got a bit sloppy with my discipline.

I think that before I go and increase my intake as a last resort, I'm going to continue trying to dispense them into larger meals instead of a bunch of crappy little snacks and see if it continues to work for me.

One of the other slip-ups I made was with my hydration. I was drinking at least 2 liters of water a day but really kinda slipped up on that. I've read that thirst is often confused for hunger. I'm going to pick up my water intake and see of that isn't an additional help.

So I've got some decent ideas what my mistakes were and how to fix them. I think I made a real mistake wasting my calories on unsatisfying snacking and slacking off on my hydration.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Been a while since I updated here.

Well I hit a good milestone this week. My weight seems to fluctuate around 5 lbs on any given day, but most mornings I am consistently under 200 now, so that's solid. I need to be around 190, but I'm getting there.

For comparison, pic 1 is me last year at a wedding. Pic 2 is me a week ago or so.

 

[Horseticuffs]

Been a while since I updated here.

Well I hit a good milestone this week. My weight seems to fluctuate around 5 lbs on any given day, but most mornings I am consistently under 200 now, so that's solid. I need to be around 190, but I'm getting there.




For comparison, pic 1 is me last year at a wedding. Pic 2 is me a week ago or so.

Damn man. That's quite a big difference, and good job of it.

Getting below 200 must feel great! I can't wait to wake up on that shining day when that happens to me

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Damn man. That's quite a big difference, and good job of it.

Getting below 200 must feel great! I can't wait to wake up on that shining day when that happens to me

Thanks! I think the best part was going from pushing size 40 jeans, to having 34's be loose and almost needing 32's. I haven't worn 32's since early high school.

 

[mkenyon]

Thanks! I think the best part was going from pushing size 40 jeans, to having 34's be loose and almost needing 32's. I haven't worn 32's since early high school.

So this! I love clothes shopping now. Trying something on and having it be too big is so awesome.

I hit 187 today. MURDA. That's 111 lbs from the height of my weight. Bought some new threads, had to get medium. I didn't even wear medium when I was 15, and I wasn't overweight then. Worst part so far is that I bought two really nice pairs of jeans when I was hovering between 36"-38". I'm pretty close to having to say goodbye to them, which is kind of heartbreaking. Never had nice jeans like these before. Going to have to get some 32's. Maybe for Christmas.

Now, to drop those last 4 pounds to get out of 'overweight' BMI. My wife was cleared for exercise after about 6 months of recovering from spinal fusion surgery (broke her back), so she started running with me. She played pretty elite levels of soccer up through college so I've never been able to keep up with her. After about 3 weeks of her running again, she is back to beating me (though barely!). I think the increased muscle mass from running 4-5 days a week is certainly slowing my weight loss at this point.

The only thing I'm enjoying more than the new clothes is the sex. It's like we're 17 again.

 

[Srsly]

So, I can't point to a specific post but I was looking over a few pages in here recently and they helped me to reach a conclusion that has really had a positive effect on my weightloss lately.

The past few months I'd gotten into the poor habit of being starving later in the day because I had so few calories to spare after lunch (usually less than 400) and I'm on a strict 1,500 calorie a day diet. The issue being that I would "borrow" calories from the next day so I wasn't starving, but that would leave me with like 1,000 the next day so I would have to borrow from the next day and so on and so forth ad infinium.

It sounds dumb but it WAS a dumb loop I got myself trapped in as I'm very physically active and was trying to be accountable by taking calories off of the next day to make up for "cheating".

Anyways, the thread inspired me to bite the bullet and just suck it up and be a little hungrier than I'd like for a night and a morning but it all worked out and I just am refusing to eat anything from 10pm-7:30am no matter what.

So, with that limitation in place I've been able to distribute my 1,500 calories a day more evenly and haven't been so hungry. Here it is nearly 9am and I still have over 800 calories to spare today and I totally pigged out for breakfast with 1.5 cups of egg beaters, a slice of toast, and 2 cups of garbanzo beans.

I think in the future, to be responsible, I'm going to have to try to focus the calories I'm alloted into larger meals for satiety's sake. No more of this namby-pamby 200 calories here, 175 calories there business. Does this seem sound to you fine folks?

As always, thanks for the inspiration, GAF! You guys are doing great, keep at it! Go team weightloss!

Quit eating shit like egg beaters and toast and you won't be nearly as hungry. Eat real eggs instead of egg beaters and ditch the toast.

 

[sphinx]

well, congrats to everyone this has been a very inspiring page, keep it up everyone.

EDIT: And yeah, the thing with the age is very weird. In my before/after I can tell I look older because of the beard, but I'd bet good money that if I shaved, I'd look younger than in the before pic and that's actually scandalizing, the pic is some years old!! lol.

 

[mkenyon]

This sounds terrible to a lot of California/urban GAF I'm sure, but this will curb your hunger big time.

If used responsibly, like small amounts not all of the time, there's not a lot of health issues. Even my doctor said next to chewing the nicotine gum and the patches, it's pretty much zero risk.

I put a dip in after dinner to carry me through the evening. Chug a big glass of water too if it comes on strong.

 

[Chittagong]

Ok this is pretty cool, the Withings Wi-Fi scale now automatically syncs your weight and body fat measurements with the Myfitnesspal app:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps/show/7

they're giving a 15% discount, discount code myfitnesspal

 

[Felix Lighter]

I said I'd post them, so here they are. I know I'm not really shirtless Gaf material but since I took the most embarrassing before picture I could, I went ahead and stayed consistent with the after.

As I said, I still have some stubborn belly fat but I hit my goal of 150 lbs.

I guess if I really wanted to show the difference, I should have taken a side profile pic back in April but oh well. I probably going to shave the beard now as well since I mainly grew it to hide the double chin.

 

[Wafflecakes]

This sounds terrible to a lot of California/urban GAF I'm sure, but this will curb your hunger big time.

MG]http://www.freewebs.com/dipreviews/copenhagen-long-cut.jpg[/IMG]

If used responsibly, like small amounts not all of the time, there's not a lot of health issues. Even my doctor said next to chewing the nicotine gum and the patches, it's pretty much zero risk.

I put a dip in after dinner to carry me through the evening. Chug a big glass of water too if it comes on strong.

Because the Obese are well known for their self control and ability to resist addiction.

Not to be rude man....but really?

 

[Horseticuffs]

Quit eating shit like egg beaters and toast and you won't be nearly as hungry. Eat real eggs instead of egg beaters and ditch the toast.

I've seen the nutrient breakdown on real eggs vs. fake and usually don't but had to do a restaurant for breakfast this morning. Don't usually do bread either. Sorta a special occasion.

I was kinda surprised that a restaurant wouldn't have real eggs but it was just a crappy little local joint so no biggie this once I reckon.

 

[mkenyon]

Because the Obese are well known for their self control and ability to resist addiction.

Not to be rude man....but really?

Weight LOSS thread. Obviously folks here have some self control and systems. Chew isn't the same either. Not like it's something you casually do in the office or at school. The experience of doing it is vastly different than smoking as well, so it's not as easy to consume. It's more akin to whiskey or even smoking a bowl, like an event. Would you be equally as questioning if I posted black coffee?

Like I said, some health nuts or people oblivious to dipping will probably flip shit.

Also, snapped a shot at work.

 

[dralla]

Eh, you're probably better off freezing your own strawberries. Don't prepackaged frozen strawberries, and any other fruit for that matter, have a ton of added sugar in them?

nope, that's dried fruit. frozen is just..frozen! my new favorite thing ever

frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. sooo so good, and frozen fruit is a lot cheaper, a pound of frozen strawberries is only like $1.50

oh, and if anyone eats greek yogurt, whole foods is having a big sale on Fage. picked up 5 cups for 6 bucks,

 

[Horseticuffs]

I said I'd post them, so here they are. I know I'm not really shirtless Gaf material but since I took the most embarrassing before picture I could, I went ahead and stayed consistent with the after.

As I said, I still have some stubborn belly fat but I hit my goal of 150 lbs.

I guess if I really wanted to show the difference, I should have taken a side profile pic back in April but oh well. I probably going to shave the beard now as well since I mainly grew it to hide the double chin.

Lookin' good, man. Keep the beard, it gets a bit longer and it'll look like the voice of God'll come outta ya'.

 

[harSon]

nope, that's dried fruit. frozen is just..frozen! my new favorite thing ever



frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. sooo so good, and frozen fruit is a lot cheaper, a pound of frozen strawberries is only like $1.50

oh, and if anyone eats greek yogurt, whole foods is having a big sale on Fage. picked up 5 cups for 6 bucks,

Have you actually looked at the nutritional facts? For example, whenever I compare frozen strawberries and fresh strawberries, the former always has 2-3x the amount of sugar. I'm sure there is frozen fruit where this isn't the case, but I personally haven't been able to find any that were relatively cheap in price.

 

[dralla]

I check all my labels, the only ingredient should be the fruit itself. There's no difference in sugar content between fresh or frozen unless they add syrup to the frozen, which will be listed in the ingredients. Frozen fruit is not only cheaper, but they're frozen at the peak of their ripeness, which is the best time to eat fruit in terms of nutrition, the freeze process essentially locks in all the vitamins and minerals. I've bought frozen fruit from both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, neither has any added sugars.

 

[LaneDS]

Have you actually looked at the nutritional facts? For example, whenever I compare frozen strawberries and fresh strawberries, the former always has 2-3x the amount of sugar. I'm sure there is frozen fruit where this isn't the case, but I personally haven't been able to find any that were relatively cheap in price.

Key is to get frozen stuff with no sugar added, which as far as I can reason should have the same sugar content as the non-frozen variety. (Edit: I should refresh threads before replying!)

I've finally come around on greek yogurt, finding that I prefer Chobani to Fage I think. Been either adding protein powder, Lean 1 (stuff I make meal replacement shakes with), or fruit and it's been pretty enjoyable now that my brain mostly expects it to taste nearly like sour cream.

 

[Chittagong]

1. The whey protein will probably have too many calories.
2. This is something you're going to have to mess around with yourself. I'd recommend reading this page. If you're not seeing any results after 3-4 weeks, adjust your macros some more. I also highly recommend taking measurements over relying on scale numbers alone.

Edit: Just reread your post. The idea of the BCAAs is that they don't actually break your fast.

Got it. I bought pack of 1800Mg BCAA capsules, because they are simply the most convenient to use. Berkhan recommends 10g of BCAA powder, I wonder how many capsules I should go for. The label says 6 capsules / day.

 

[Einbroch]

Finally, for the first time since high school, I am below 230 pounds (229.2). Granted, I've had food poisoning for the past few days, but still, it feels good.

Started at 320 two years ago. Ten more pounds to 100 pounds lost!

 

[mooooose]

I said I'd post them, so here they are. I know I'm not really shirtless Gaf material but since I took the most embarrassing before picture I could, I went ahead and stayed consistent with the after.

As I said, I still have some stubborn belly fat but I hit my goal of 150 lbs.

I guess if I really wanted to show the difference, I should have taken a side profile pic back in April but oh well. I probably going to shave the beard now as well since I mainly grew it to hide the double chin.

KEEP GOING!!!! GOOD PROGRESS.

 

[LyleLanley]

Finally, for the first time since high school, I am below 230 pounds (229.2). Granted, I've had food poisoning for the past few days, but still, it feels good.

Started at 320 two years ago. Ten more pounds to 100 pounds lost!

I have to admit I laughed at the bolded portion but congratulations on your weight loss.

 

[Einbroch]

I have to admit I laughed at the bolded portion but congratulations on your weight loss.

I got food poisoning from eating some bad chips. My friend ate some too and he got sick.

It's a cruel way to get me to be more serious about my diet, but hey, it worked.

 

[despire]

Cross post from Fitness-thread:

I'm starting my cut next week. I'm 91kg with ~25% bodyfat (maybe little more or little less) and I'm going for BF 10-12%. Going to do the same I did last time, using LeanGains and using -30% (rest day) / -15% (workout day) macros. Hopefully this will see as fast of a fat loss as last time. When I get around BF15% or so I'm planning on going for a -40% on rest days and +20% on workout days. This will still let me drop fat but it might also be able to gain some muscle in the process. Cycling macros like this should give my body the stimulus to grow while still burning fat on rest days. At least it's possible since people have done it. Let's see how this goes.. I'm taking pictures and logging my progress so I might post something when this is all over

Only on LeanGains

 

[Horseticuffs]

I got food poisoning from eating some bad chips. My friend ate some too and he got sick.

It's a cruel way to get me to be more serious about my diet, but hey, it worked.

Hey man, take weight loss where ya' find it!

Good work

 

[Felix Lighter]

Lookin' good, man. Keep the beard, it gets a bit longer and it'll look like the voice of God'll come outta ya'.

KEEP GOING!!!! GOOD PROGRESS.

Thanks for the kind words. I'll have to start doing some weight training. I've been letting a gym membership go to waste as I've only been jogging over the last couple months.

 

[Petrie]

Thanks for the kind words. I'll have to start doing some weight training. I've been letting a gym membership go to waste as I've only been jogging over the last couple months.

Come join us in the Fitness thread. Good things will happen.

 

[sphinx]

Come join us in the Fitness thread. Good things will happen.

yes, that is as long as guys there don't start throwing the "you and your silly broscience" card at him and being assholish, like they sometimes are.

either that or he has a tough skin and then yeah, it's a great thread and many things can be learned there.

 

[Petrie]

yes, that is as long as guys there don't start throwing the "you and your silly broscience" card at him and being assholish, like they sometimes are.

either that or he has a tough skin and then yeah, it's a great thread and many things can be learned there.

You do need thick skin if you come in with bogus claims with no scientific backing, but overall it's one of the best, most supportive threads on GAF.