I agree with John. It's too low. There is no reason to eat below your bmr. It will let you lose muscle weight instead of just fat and probably put you into starvation mode as well.

Did some closet cleaning, and came up with this stuff that no longer fits. Kind of my official, "I'm not going back to that size" move.

The shirts that have this funny stretched out section in the front stomach area that now looks really silly, so those had to go too.

I just started my 12 week bulking. Probably not a bright idea, but I want to take advantage of newbie gains while I can.

1 - Educate yourself - really understand why you're doing what you are doing.
2 - Take pictures - very motivational to see where you started / have been.
3 - I'm not sure what this is, but something I have learned to do - I did this the other day when I really wanted some m&ms out of the candy dish. I grabbed a whole handful, then I dumped half of the handful back into the dish, then I decided to dump them all back in besides two, walked away popped one in my mouth, and then second one after I was done with the first. I got the taste I wanted, and by the time I was done with the second I was on to something else.
4 - Plan - Plan everything you can, eating, exercise, what type of exercise, when you're going to go to the store to buy the food that you need to pre-cook so you can eat well.
4 - Don't let yourself make excuses to miss your plans.
5 - Fake it until you make it - if you don't really want to workout today, just pretend you do. Eventually it will become routine and you will always feel better after you're done.

Well, I have just recovered from my leg injury, and I went for my first run. I just went for a mile to the local gym and back, so hopefully I won't revisit my injury. I am out of town, normally from Seattle, but today I'm in Salt Lake City, and it was snowing! It wasn't too bad...

experience talking here )...every thing in moderation exercise included!

Me too... still have not been able to run, for three weeks

I've been weight training 4 days a week since I've started. I just know it's near impossible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time. Your body is catabolic or anabolic, but both conditions cannot exist simultaneously. I've tracked my actual body fat the entire time as well, and I'm pretty sure I've either stayed at the same amount of lean mass or I may have lost a pound. I am definitely stronger, and I can see more of my muscle through my fat.

It's good to see you're so close to your goal!

Welcome Bryony!

I think you've made your first good step to sticking with it... Having a realistic goal and publicly stating it, and that sounds perfect to lose ~1.5lbs per week.

Thanks all! I have decided that I am going to go after gaining muscle starting next week. I figured that no matter what, this has got to stay interesting and a little fun, so since I am aching to do it, I should just do it. See you at 195!

I really just feel like I would usually have guilt over it, but since this time it was by design, I felt fine.

I sweat buckets on the elliptical. I also sweat when I'm lifting using compound muscle groups.

I've heard you kind of go full circle, from sweating because you're unfit to sweating because you are fit and your body anticipates the needed cooling.

I agree with Mike

What is your motivation?

I know you said you don't want to run a half marathon, neither did I, but now I want the ability to do it.

Find pictures of someone you want to look like, that'll give you something to work towards.

I'm not sure how much you have read, but if you haven't, educate yourself the best you can, ask lots of questions, don't fall for any miracle diets, shoot to lose a pound or two a week, no more than that.

Take before pictures so you can see your progress along the way, if you don't, you will wish you would have.

Definitely get right back on the wagon today!

I'm back on the wagon!

Also: just curious, do you feel like total crap today after eating all that sugar-filled stuff, let alone the alcohol? I've found that now that it's not part of my regular diet, if I eat a lot of that stuff now it makes me feel miserable later on.

You know, besides the normal effects of drinking too much alcohol, no, I don't feel like crap. I feel good! I have experienced the same thing after eating something bad, just a general icky feeling, which makes me wonder if it's all mental.

I did the calculations, and I ate right around 5000 calories that day. So, really besides the fact there was no nutrition there, it was only 2000 calories above maintenance, that will take less than a week to pay back.

First off, thank you all for the support, encouragement, motivation, and the examples you have set!
Angie, Kathy, Sandra, Stina, - thank you for the flattery, it really means a lot.


I have reached both my original and revised weight goals, my first was 190, then I revised to 185 once I saw how much body fat I still had.

I am still deciding whether to start bulking or to continue losing a few more pounds of fat, I still can't see my abs the way I would like to, but I figure I can wait to see them until after gaining some muscle, I am really starting to feel very small, and I think I am aching a little too much to start my muscle building phase since I have not seen any strength gains in a while. Any opinions or suggestions on which way to go will be appreciated.

So here is the fat...



Here is now...


The obligatory old pants picture, from tight 36's to comfortable 32's...

I have decided that I am going to take this next week off from exercise. I also decided that yesterday would be my big cheat evening.

I had decided a while ago that yesterday would be my big cheat evening, it was my st. Patrick's day party. My cheating consisted of 4 double stuff Oreo cookies, 3 pieces of Costco cake, 4 16oz beers, 2 servings of chicken marsala, 2 servings of cheesy potato stuff, 2 hand-fulls of m&ms, 1 20oz beer, a glass of wine, some potato chips, and a shot of vodka. There are probably a few other things I can't remember, I did find out what a light weight I have become when it comes to drinking alcohol.

I have heard it is good to take a week off of training to allow your entire body to recoup every 12 weeks or so, I also hear that you feel stronger after taking a break - I guess I will find out. I have only missed 2 gym days since November, so I thought it was a good time.

I am also hoping that since I am planning to eat at or above maintenance that I will make sure my metabolism is in good shape.

Thanks John!! That's awesome, I'm going tomorrow!

How do I identify a runner's specific store? Most of the "athletic" shoe store are manned by high school or just out of high school kids.

You can set them - sort of, if you can look at my weight chart you can see how I did it.

This week I am done losing weight, and I am ready to start gaining some muscle, so I would like to gain 12-15lbs in the next 12 weeks. I know some of that will be fat, so my end goal is a bit lower than my 12 week goal. I just set my end goal, then entered a weight between now and my goal date.

Since it's ice cream you're craving, make something similar:

skim milk + protein powder + ice + blender

It's like an ice cream shake in whatever flavor protein powder you buy, if you add a lot of ice, it can almost reach the consistency of ice cream. A half of a banana helps smooth it out a bit.

You can also add yogurt and fruit to it for different flavors.

I know this is basically a smoothie, but it reminds me of an ice cream shake every time I make one, which happens to be at least once daily.

Lucy - This may seem like a weird question, but where do I go to get properly fitted shoes?

I had just bought a new pair, but I am willing buy some more that help support my feet better. I saw a show once called "the works" and the guy went to a shoe store and they analyzed his feet and his gait to recommend a type of shoe, but I can not figure out what type of store that is.

I may have to find an alternative to that shin stretch, one of my knees do not like being on the ground whatsoever.

It doesn't hurt to walk, it doesn't hurt at all unless I'm running, or at least jogging, so I assume it's some muscle or tendon that I'm not using most of the time. I didn't do a whole lot of training, I go for occasional fast walks (4mph or so) with my wife outside, but all my running before this was all done on the treadmill. I am leaning toward just a sore muscle I haven't used in ten years since both legs are identically sore. Subsequently I have not quit stationary bicycling or elliptical use, so that may be prolonging the recovery. Oh yeah, and I did run for 3 minutes on pavement again this last weekend just to see if the pain would work it's way out. I am just hoping that this is not how it is if I choose to keep running as part of my routine. Maybe when this is all healed I need to take a different approach? Maybe start over with a mile a day or so and build from there?

I just found it so easy to jump right to 5k right off. I thought to myself, well, my cardio is good, my legs are stronger than they were, and I'm packing around 40 less pounds... but maybe I jumped the gun.

So I ran a 5k for the first time, and it was my first time running on pavement, this was a week and a half ago... last Tuesday. My legs, specifically the spot below my knee on the posterior side of both legs are sore to the touch, and if I run even a few steps it hurts... pretty bad. I am a little frustrated with the recuperation time. Is this a normal thing? Do I need different shoes? How long should it take to feel better? Do I need to stop all my leg exercises until it feels better? I would like to run outside again. Runners - please help!

That's funny, there was free pizza at a meeting we had at work today, thankfully I had my tuna, cheese, eggs and rice. I just really don't want to look like a guy who eats pizza anymore.

PRE BREAKFAST: skim milk+whey - 220
CARDIO
1st Breakfast: steel cut oats with fruit and nuts - 353
2nd Breakfast: egg whites, tuna, lowfat cheddar cheese, brown rice - 362
S: Apple - 100
L: brown rice, chicken breast, veggies - 291
WEIGHT TRAINING
PWO: skim milk, half banana, whey, bluberries smoothie - 352
2nd Lunch: brown rice, ground turkey, veggies - 298
D: Lentil soup, Bread, Chicken breast - 360
BEFORE BED: skim milk+whey - 220

Total 2406

I put it into perspective. A 3300 calorie day isn't the worst thing, in fact, besides the fact that it was not nutritious I like the idea of hitting the calories that I need for maintenance or above once every other week or so just to make sure I'm never in starvation mode. I think I would be more frustrated in a plateau that I couldn't figure out. I figure I've had lots days over 5000 or 6000 in the past before I knew what I was doing so 3300 is nothing to get past.

After a another week or two and your numbers are still going the way you want them to, this will be no big deal.

This is also where I like to review the pictures of myself, my weight graph, and look at the progress I have made.

Wait wait wait!! Don't go under your BMR!! Not under 1500 calories!!

Please don't, or you'll have another round of frustration when your body goes into starvation mode. Plus you you'll lose muscle which will make it easier to gain weight in the future. I think 1500-1600, even 1700 and increased cardio will yield you some great results.

I am going to have to agree with Matt here. I guess I didn't realize how little of a deficit it is between what you need to eat to maintain your weight and you BMR. I know cardio is difficult now, but to get pounds to drop you're going to either have to drop your calorie intake a bit more, maybe to 1600, or raise the amount you are burning. Even an additional 200 calorie deficit would give you a pound every two weeks.

Hi Jill!

It sounds like you're off to a good start, and really you're at a pound a week lost so far this year which is perfect.

Although I have not had any month long plateaus, I do notice there are times when pounds drop, and other where inches drop, but typically they are not at the same time for whatever reason.

My couple guesses here are perhaps a mis-calculation in calorie intake, or maybe you need to increase the intensity of your cardio since your body has probably adjusted to the light cardio already.

How many meals/snacks are you eating? I spend a good portion of my time behind a desk, the one advantage to that is you can bring your lunch and really make sure you are eating every three hours.

I would still think adding oatmeal to your breakfast would be good, it seems to keep me full longer.


Protein bars - I make my own since I couldn't find anything with low or no sugar added. The only fat they have is from the peanut butter, and that's good as long as you're using the real stuff.

Here is the recipe:

The taste depends on what flavor of protein powder you use.

1 c. raw oatmeal
1 1/4 c. chocolate protein powder; [96g. of protein total] [vanilla powder can be used instead]
1/2 c. natural peanut butter
1/4 c. nonfat dry milk powder [dry form do not add any additional water to this]
2 egg whites, beaten
1/4 c. raisins
1/2 - 1/3 c. water
Mix all ingredients [except water] together in a bowl. Gradually add water to mixture [mixture is very gooey]. Spray a 9x9 square pan with cooking spray. Pour batter in pan and spread as best as you can [I use wax paper to press it down so it is evenly distributed]. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly; cut into 8 bars.


248 calories
24g carbs
24g protein



A Handy filling snack for me is quick oats, I keep a container of it at my desk, and it's some hot water out of the insta-hot machine. That is if you like plain oatmeal, I do, but if you can't stand it, keep some dried fruit to add.