05-03-2012, 08:26 PM
In light of the last couple posts I thought maybe I'd elaborate some. I was always fairly big my whole life, but when I hit about 280 and looked at my dad, who is significantly -more- than that, I just knew my lifestyle had to change or I'd wind up a whole lot worse.
I started with reduced portion sizes and walking. I lost 20lbs quick, but it slowed down after that. I tried running, but I was still too heavy and it was killing my knees. So I started bicycling everywhere, culminating in a 500+ mile road trip at the end of that summer. By the time I took a breather I had gotten down to 220lbs and could run a couple miles without feeling too winded. That took from about March to November. I wouldn't want to lose it any faster than that.
That was two years ago. I packed about 20lbs back on last year, started losing again, and then changed my focus towards strength training. I'm holding fairly steady at around 230 now, but I'm happy with the amount of muscle I've been packing on. I'm getting ready to start some in-depth cardio this summer and try to get down to a reasonably lean 200, well muscled frame. At 35 I'd be pretty happy with that considering my genetics.
I didn't do anything particularly different diet wise other than watching the total calories I was taking in. When I was doing my peak cardio I was actually eating *more* than normal calories but still losing.
You can get there in a number of ways, and "there" will be a different place for each person based on what they want their body to become and their genetics. But there are not tricks, special diets, or miracle plans that can be as effective as just matching what you take into your body with what is coming out.
In general though, my experience is that dieting without exercise won't get you there. I tried that for a long time in my 20's and managed a steady increase in size that entire decade. Just do a real close examination of your lifestyle and be ready to put in some work. And make it pretty much a lifelong committment.
I started with reduced portion sizes and walking. I lost 20lbs quick, but it slowed down after that. I tried running, but I was still too heavy and it was killing my knees. So I started bicycling everywhere, culminating in a 500+ mile road trip at the end of that summer. By the time I took a breather I had gotten down to 220lbs and could run a couple miles without feeling too winded. That took from about March to November. I wouldn't want to lose it any faster than that.
That was two years ago. I packed about 20lbs back on last year, started losing again, and then changed my focus towards strength training. I'm holding fairly steady at around 230 now, but I'm happy with the amount of muscle I've been packing on. I'm getting ready to start some in-depth cardio this summer and try to get down to a reasonably lean 200, well muscled frame. At 35 I'd be pretty happy with that considering my genetics.
I didn't do anything particularly different diet wise other than watching the total calories I was taking in. When I was doing my peak cardio I was actually eating *more* than normal calories but still losing.
You can get there in a number of ways, and "there" will be a different place for each person based on what they want their body to become and their genetics. But there are not tricks, special diets, or miracle plans that can be as effective as just matching what you take into your body with what is coming out.
In general though, my experience is that dieting without exercise won't get you there. I tried that for a long time in my 20's and managed a steady increase in size that entire decade. Just do a real close examination of your lifestyle and be ready to put in some work. And make it pretty much a lifelong committment.
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