Fighting the Fat: My Own Journey From 247 lbs to 195 lbs

I was in bad shape. I had no energy, no drive and I was constantly coughing. I was sleepy, my mind seemed foggy, my back ached and my arms and legs would swell to the point where I couldn't bend my fingers or knees.

When I got laid off, I thought who would hire me. I look like I would die on the job.

I decided to do whey shakes and low carb and it worked. I first combined the approach with walking then went to Kmart and put a weight bench in layaway. I really started making some gains in muscle, fat loss and confidence.

Thanks to craigslist I stepped up to olympic weights and a squat rack. I haven't looked back.



I had lots of protein shakes but primarily used:

Vitaminshoppe BodyTech
Body Fortress Whey
Syntrax Nectar
Iron-Tek Essential
Dymatize Elite Iso
Dymatize Elite XT
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard
Isopure Zero Carb

My typical day:
6 a.m. - shake (pre-workout)
8 a.m. - shake (post-workout)
10 a.m. - shake
12 p.m. - shake
solid food the rest of the day

Here's some of numbers from my journey.

6/22/2009– weight 247lbs

Short of breath, sleep, low sex drive, hip pain, muscle spasms, feet, ankles and sometimes legs swelling, hands swelling, coughing, right shoulder and arm pain.

Cannot do push-ups. Painful shoulder.

Cannot do pull-ups.

Started walking on treadmill.

10/1/2009 - Started weight training.

Cannot do push-ups.

11/30/2009 – MAX: bench press 175lbs

Curl 91.5lbs

12/7/2009 - MAX: bench press 195lbs x 2

1/1/2010- weight 229lbs

1/17/2010 – measurement – abdomen 48

1/17/2010 – past carbohydrate history (weight loss per week)

22 grams per day lost 6lbs

95/day lost 5lbs

110/day lost 1lb

115/day lost 3.5lbs (with exercise)

150/day lost 1lb

2/22/2010 - measurements

Chest 46

Abdomen 46

Left Bicep 14.5

Right Bicep 15.5

Right Thigh 22

Left Thigh 21

2/23/2010 –started working out left bicep and tricep on a second day to even out the size with the right arm.

3/8/2010 –started Muscle and Fitness 4-week Strength Band Workout

Surprisingly, I was extremely sore after these workouts.

3/22/2010 – measurements

Chest 41

Abdomen 46

Left Bicep 17

Right Bicep 17

Neck 17

4/1/2010 –started TABATA HIIT workouts (4 minutes)

4/2/2010 – Able to do push-ups again!

5/17/2010 - First time using chains with ez-bar curls

5/18/2010 - MAX: chins 2

Note: negative-accentuated technique [one second up/six seconds down]

Note: "After [a series of full-range reps] you'll find it impossible to do a complete repetition. But that does not mean the biceps muscle is completely exhausted. You'll find with some effort that you are still able to get a few half repetitions...and when you can no longer do the half movements, you'll find you can do a couple of quarter repetitions."

5/26/2010 - MAX: bench press 225lbs

6/1/2010 – Adopted new workout philosophy. From books Muscle Logic and Get Huge in a Hurry. Morning cardio on empty stomach.

Example: 15 minutes circuit

Pull-ups/Bench Press/Squat-Press

Treadmill wearing weighted vest.

7/12/2010– weight 213 lbs.

7/16/2010 – Did 20 push-ups and 5 pull-ups straight.

8/5/2010 – Did 7 pull-ups straight.

8/8/2010 – Did 25 push-ups straight.

8/15/2010 – measurements

Chest 46

Abdomen 41

Left Bicep 16

Right Bicep 16

Right Thigh 24

Left Thigh 24

9/20/2010– weight 205 lbs.

I am able to button my USAF BDU pants again.

11/13/2010 –measurements

Chest 40

Abdomen 42

Left Bicep 17.5

Right Bicep 17

11/13/2010– weight 195 lbs.

12/19/2010 - MAX: Curl 123 lbs x 1

12/25/2010 – Did 30 push-ups straight.

6/14/2011 – able to fit size 34 waist pants, down from 46 inch pants size.

Some of the numbers and dates don't seem to jive for me but I put them in here as logged them in my journal.

I stopped typing in my journal here. I need to update it so I can update you.