Overachieving weight loss?
 

I'm wondering if anyone has any experiences in exceeding their initial expectations regarding weight loss?

I turned 30 this year and I've lost about 15 pounds from last year. I'm 5'10" and before the last 6-8 months, I hovered around 165-175 for about 5 years. I'm now about 151.

At the end last summer, I decided to make some gradual changes to my diet in conjunction with doing some more intense cardio. In terms of dietary changes, I cut out things like bagels, sugar in coffee, pop, fruit juice, and most beer. I still eat things like Chinese BBQ meats, white rice, and breakfast cereal, but I've also brought in foods like lentils into my diet. My diet consists of the following:
- Vector for breakfast with 2% milk
- Black coffee with a splash of milk
- A granola bar
- Banana and at least other whole fruit (usually an orange, but sometimes strawberries, or an apple)
- White rice with some meat (chicken thighs, sirloin beef) and vegetables (bok choy, broccoli)
- Some more white rice with a bit of meat and vegetables for dinner
- If I get hungry in the evenings, some full fat yogurt (like Liberte or Greek-style)

I still eat out or get quick meals a couple of nights a week such as pizza slices, or sushi. If I have alcohol, I usually limit myself to a couple glasses of wine, spirits over ice, or a pint of beer.

In terms of my fitness regimen, it consists of the following:
- 2-3 sets of push-ups (30-40) in the morning after I wake up, but before I eat breakfast
- 1-2 days a week of moderate weight training (I haven't lifted heavier weights in a while)
- 2-3 runs per week (5-8K each run)
- 1 power-type yoga class per week (i.e. enough to break a sweat, core workout, and body balances)

Although I'm fairly certain that I've lost a bit of muscle mass over the past half-year or so, I think I still have muscle where it counts - chest, shoulders, back, and my thighs. (e.g. my shirts still fit around the shoulders) What's been nice is that I can now do things that I never could do before such as dips, pull-ups (haven't done them since high school) and even supporting myself on blocks with my legs in the air. I've always had skinny arms, but when I've been heavier, my arms have filled out a bit more (now they're quite skinny again, particularly around the forearms.) My face has lost most of the flab, and I've probably lost about 2 inches around the waist which has required me to get new pants. My parents and peers now notice that I've lost weight and some have said that I'm almost too skinny (at least compared to the way I looked for the past 5 years.)

So, now that you know a bit about me, my question is:
Am I at an ideal weight, or should I try to gain some weight back in order to fill out a bit? Or, should continue to maintain my current weight so that I have buffer when the inevitable weight gain starts to happen in my mid-30s? :lol

There is no "idea weight"

You could be 150 lbs and skinnyfat with arms that look like wet spaghetti, or 150 lbs and look like a normal athletic person.

Based on your diet, I am guessing you look like the former.

Short answer is stop being a pussy, go lift heavy shit and eat some real food :accepted:

Need to hit the weights way more

http://www.revscene.net/forums/66922...beginners.html

:fullofwin:

Just build your body for what is relevant to your interests it's simple as that, what I'm saying is you don't have to let yourself get peer pressured by any of your friends or anyone else to fuckin "lift hard bro"
If you want to look huge and build muscle cool nothing wrong with that, but if your interests are in some other sports that require flexibility agility and other types of things than just looking and being big and muscular then adjust your training in accordance to that.

So my point is, figure out what you as a man concerned about his health and physique is about and adjust your fitness pattern according to that. Specifically speaking for example me I'm into high agility sports like basketball, soccer, football etc... so for me the perfect type of physique would be a sprinter, and that's my workout regimen right there. But I always make sure to humour the guys at the gym always trying to push me to "get juiced brah" lol

but If you just wanna look a little more filled out, slightly more buff of whatever, there's no harm in cheating a little bit and targeting the few muscle groups that make a guy look bigger than he really is, your back and your neck.... I know everyone always thinks arms arms arms, but a dude with a wide back and shoulders with skinnier arms always will look bigger compared to the dude with arms popping out his sleeve and no back....
I think Halogod up there posts above me, I remember seeing something in relation to what I'm saying about this in his sig about being "built from the back" anyway he's more of an expert in that than me I'm sure he could answer specifics for you

For the record, I wear 40" jackets and my pants are 30" (but my true waist is probably closer to 32".)

I could probably still lose a bit around the middle, but it's not bad considering the extra weight I had been carrying for the past 5-7 years.

Congratulations, that is an enormous achievement.

From your original post, it seems as if your goal is to get leaner and more fit. So now you are well on your way to that goal. You can stop now, and you will be more fit than you were before.

At this point, you might want a smaller more specific goal. For example, bigger biceps, a six pack, or just getting rid of the last bit of fat around the middle. Then you would work on that and sorta ignore the weight of your body.

So ask yourself, what now? Do you want to be able to run faster, lift heavier, swim harder, cycle quicker or whatever. Use that body of yours you created to do something and then you will know whether you need to get more fit or not.

depends on your goals.

working out is pretty simple

if you want to build muscle you have to lift heavy and eat alot

if you want to slim down you have to lift heavy (somewhat) and eat under your calorie maintenance (you can eat mcdonalds and still lose weight as long as youre in a calorie deficit)

thats the general idea