well done on that great amount of lbs lost!

Thanks. It's a great feeling on a personal level to reach a physical goal you set out for yourself. I'm shooting for 180-185 as my final weight goal. I think it's achievable for me within the next 3-4 months and then focus more on weight toning and building definition.
It's nice to see my body naturally filling in tho. Arms are much much more defined, legs as well. Upoet body still not where I want it to be but all that comes in time.

Excited to finally be getting my body in good shape.
Posted via RS Mobile

great job... keep workin hard

awesome dude! good to see that you kept at it. lots of dedication on your part. keep goin and report to us when you're done :thumbsup:

FDTT What seems to work for you? Share your techniques! I went from 280 to 250 From Dec to June. Then I plateaued for the last 3 months. So I just started power lifting and going heavy. Feels great man, but I ain't losing fat! I do watch my diet though. Egg whites, spinach and broccoli. But when I cheat day ooooh boy!

Hit the treadmill and do some HIITS

Thanks for bumping this I'm going to try some of those recipes. I went from 307 to 235 in 11 months but been struggling to get below 235 for a few months now.
Posted via RS Mobile

Valour, what works for me is watching my intake.
My diet was most of the issue with loosing weight and being in shape.

For me I have been focused on cardio but still hit the weights.

If you are trying to loose weight ONLY focus on that as your goal.
You will be able to bulk up fine when you have reached you weight goal.
Drop the weight first before building up your muscle mass.

I have been at this for a year now and it is an ongoin process.
I know I could have dropped weight faster, I know that I could have got to my goal by now but the biggest thing is a change of lifestyle.
Eat healthy....NO CHEAT DAYS!!!

Keep strict with yourself. Doing this for yourself is the best decision of your life.

deuel_1, first off AWESOME JOB!!! That's a great job so far.
Whatever you have done this far is great.
I think at this point you need to change up your workout.
Your body has become accustomed to being stressed out in the same way every workout.

Try some high rep, low weight workouts. Get your heart rate up and keep it up.
Mix in loads of cardio and you will start dropping again.

Bottom line with dropping body fat/weight is to keep your heart rate up and watch your diet. Do these things and you will see results.
Stay away from heavy weight unless your goal is to build muscle mass.

This has been what has worked for me. No special tricks, no crazy diet, no supplements, just dedication and hard work and I have never felt better!!!
Posted via RS Mobile

^

Nice job "Tiger"

My biggest obstacle is diet too, so thanks for all the advice and info! :thumbsup:

hahah anytime.
This is what worked for me and I would imagine it would work for anyone who has an issue with enjoying great tasting food :P

I still enjoy eating out and having nice meals just have to cut the portions down and do it all in moderation.
It becomes easier with time.....the first few weeks for me I felt so hungry after eating a meal but now I can not eat a whole lot in one sitting. Small meals/snacks all day seems to work much better for me.

I know there are a lot of guys on RS that are big into fitness/health. I'm sure they could be more than I could :P

No cheat days, but a cheat meal is fine for that day. Im adamant about proper diet however, alot of us who work out eat for the sake of eating to bulk, cut weight. It has become a chore to have a strict diet or eating tasteless chicken and eggs all day. We are constantly stressed with our daily lives why stress yourself even more by withholding a certain food, why not reward yourself something nice and not permanently eliminate all cheat foods. Eat in moderation, if you want that whopper on wednesday, work your ass off a little more at the gym that day. Its not always about physical health,but also your mental aswell, so kick ass at the gym and let those endorphins sink in.


“Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

So, eat!

your diet doesn't have to be boring, you could change up your protein foods once in a while, like add new spices, sauces, make it taste different and it'd seem you're eating something entirely different.. just make sure what you're adding is edible
Posted via RS Mobile

I concur, all diet. I've lost 85 pounds to date, and finally broke my recent plateau. The more extreme your diet, the more extreme your gains (or losses, in our case).

Working out is also a must if you don't want flab. I still have a bit of a gut, but I love how I got solid arms, chest, shoulders, and legs.. (something I wouldn't have if I didn't lift). And don't cheat your legs. Do your squats.

We're all humans. If you want to cheat, go ahead. Just make sure that you have a good 10-15 days of constant non cheating days before you indulge in a pie, fries, or whatever your poison is.
Posted via RS Mobile

If you know how to contract tour muscles properly, doing resistance workouts definitely helps. It's what creates definition. Compared to lifting weights, it's alot less damaging to your bones and alot more focused on defining muscle. Definitely try pushups and tricep dips.
Posted via RS Mobile

:suspicious: i agree with doing resistance, but how does lifting weights damage bones? It strengthens them and adds support from the gain in muscle

if you want to be naturally buff, then you could go for pushups but if you want a machine build body then i say go flat bench with dumb bells

Thought I would update this thread.

Currently sitting at 179lbs and feeling pretty darn good (still not to MY ideal look but working on it).

At this point I am still struggling with getting rid of belly fat and the "man boob". I have lost a lot since I started out. Went from a 42 to a 32 waist size.
Went from XXL to M shirts.....needless to say, my wardrobe has shrunk (downside to loosing the weight but well worth it).

Now I want to get toned and more definition but I look at my upper body and am not happy here. I'm trying a variety of things, mainly weights now to build the muscle mass but anything else I can do? I don't want to drop to much more weight as I am happy with a 175-180 weight range, but I want this fat/flab gone.......

Advice?

Awesome job!

But you aren't going to lose that belly/boobs if you don't lose more weight. The way I'm doing, lose weight first - trying to keep as much muscle mass as possible via diet intake (at 178lb as well), dropping down to 160lb or so, then I plan on bulking up.

Lose some more weight, lift heavy/explosively (powercleans, snatches if you can, etc), sprints up hill, eat well - then pack on some more muscle mass. This is what im doing.

You prob have to do alot of core work near the end of your goal because of the excess skin.

Yup.....stupid skin!!

Not wanting to drop more weight but it is part of the game I guess.
Putting on the muscle mass seems to bo a non-issue for me so that is a plus, just tired of the constant cardio I have been doing. Trying to burn off the fat as much as possible and at the same time keep some mass.

Anyone in the SS/WR area want to school me on how its done. I'm still pretty noob to the whole gym scene and working out. Just been doing a lot of cardio and weight tranning. Nothing fancy, just basics and it has worked so far but I'm at the last push and want a nicely toned body by winter.

Cardio is unecessary for fat loss. All you need is to lift heavy+ follow a good diet. Having said that, im not saying to stop doing cardio, but feel free to tone it down a notch.

So what would people consider going heavy?

I never really lift light or do high reps and low weight.

My attempt is to do sets of 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps. I try and go as heavy as I can so that the last 2-3 reps of my last set I am really pushing myself to get those last ones out.

Should I be going heavier and dropping the reps down?
I know this is a general and probably a hard question to answer, but I'm just looking for peoples opinions on the matter.

Personally i like following 3sets 5reps. Doing something like Starting Strength is pretty good.

3sets of 5 is more for strength. It will still make you more defined, aka, muscle growth, but won't be as effective than training for hypertrophy - which I think boosted wants.

You have the right Idea Boosted, maybe cut down to 3 sets of 8-10 reps working set, that is roughly 70 and a bit up, of your 1 rm. Don't be afraid to cut the weight down a bit. Example, I bent over row 1 rm 185ish? - I make my working sets of 3 sets of 8 reps at 135. I work the overhand first (being weaker), then underhand. I won't lie to myself for the sake of finishing the exercise, if it's easy, I will increase next workout.

and Don't rest for too long, keep in consistent.

What exercises do you do btw? might give us more insight.

I will need to get some decent muscle mass to take up the extra skin that is left from my largest days....considered surgery to deal with this but would prefer to not have to.

As for what I do when I go to the gym.
My normal day at the gym is started off with a 10-15min stint on an elliptical/bike to get my heart rate up a bit. Then I get on the weights for 1hr or so. This usually consists of 1 of 3 days (chest/arms, back, legs). I try and alternate my workouts so that I don't run myself into the ground.
I keep my intervals very low, 12-15 seconds between sets so that I maintain a high heart rate. I have been told that doing this helps to get some cardio out of the weights.

Until recently, I would finish off with 1hr of cardio.

you've got enough weight, so push yourself to do some chest workouts, like chest presses and you'll be fine. afterwards, try cutting.