I wanted to post a thread here with my experience with getting healthier, getting to the gym and changing my life. I feel a lot of us have similar yet wildly different experiences on a weight loss journey and mine might help someone so for the first time Im talking about a lot of this openly
I don’t really have any friends, I’ve spent most my life alone or at arms length of others because of the treatment I had growing up and while I was at my heaviest. I’ve also just learned to enjoy solitude and being with myself but I thought this would be a good place to talk with others who are like minded and share.
Progress pics - https://imgur.com/a/fEnpe1S
Face differentials
Physique differentials
At my heaviest I was 400lbs, in the past I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with weight loss. When I got to my heaviest it was a regain. I had lost 75lbs from crash dieting then bounced back up 100 going from 375-300-400. I’ve battled my mental health every step of the away. Having to cut off a parent for peace, losing a younger sibling to od, a girl I gave all of myself too and actively chose to hurt me and string me along. I could go on and on but this post isn’t a therapy or vent session. I’ve just had a lot happen in my personal life, coupled with the dismissive tone you get in life as someone overweight and feeling un wanted by society and all of it would boil over from time to time. Id dip in and out of hating society. Id quit the gym or get fed up because i didn’t want to push myself with diet and the gym for mass fat loss all for the approval of others, just so I could stop getting the stares, laughs and unsolicited comments. I could lock in and do very well but then at some point fall off the horse and have to find a way back on. Having done this repeatedly over the years I have inched myself closer and closer to my goal to where I’m now within the last 40-50lbs to lose to be where I’ve wanted to be, my entire life. I’ve had to learn how to do this for myself, because it’s what I want. I want to be stronger, I want to get leaner and show off the muscle I have. More importantly though I want to do it so I can I can ultimately help others. Using myself as a business card. I’ve always been big on finding purpose and trying to extend myself to help others in need instead of being jaded has helped heal my heart and I plan to try and be the change I want to see in the world.
I currently am an assisted stretch practitioner and have my personal training certification with Nasm. I’ve helped thousands of people live with better mobility and live free from pain however my goal has always been to lose the weight and transition into a specialization in fat loss, training others who’ve been in my shoes so they can learn from my mistakes. I think it’s more important now than ever with how mixed the fitness industry/fitness social media is because of my generation.
I’ve learned the more and more I’ve had to go down the rabbit hole and obtain a formal education in fitness and with my mental maturation from living the life I haveis that most of this world is just ignorant and / or insecure. The comments you receive come from a person who also lives in darkness but expresses it by putting others down, to lift themselves up. In my opinion, the most important step to losing weight and improving your life is first learning how to love yourself. I’ve still yet to learn this and it’s honestly the biggest reason everything’s been as hard as it’s been for me. You have to be able to cut through the noise and focus on what you want. Your goals, your voice and learn to show up for yourself when nobody else will. You have to be both the fighter and the coach in the corner in between rounds.
As for what I’ve done with training. Calorie deficit and training as hard as I can. Use calorie counting apps, chatgpt is also great as a log for what you eat. I’ve tried the whole eating shit quality food but trying to stack the calories and macros and it never worked well. Structure a clean diet and build systems that won’t break down when you do. I do body building / powerlifting style training. I’ve always focused on the big 3 compounds, structuring my splits around them. However I’ve never really trained for results in hypertrophy and strength as the gym is more mental health for me at this point but I’ve gotten results Im not upset about. In the future I will be at a point where I can focus more on actually getting as much growth from each session as I can but I currently do a lot of 2 a days and training to absolute failure. Forcing myself through sessions when I could barely get out of bed with how sore I was. I would tell myself it was shedding tears or sweat, choose which one you want for today and 9/10 times I was in the gym foam rolling and massage gunning myself into a lift. Knowing I could push myself to those extents is what gave me confidence and strength to keep going because I’d remember when I could barely walk a quarter mile without my calves feeling like they were gonna fall off. I think over training is important and something everyone should do because what you’ll learn about yourself and your ability is life changing. The bar keeps getting raised and you understand what you’re capable of and that bleeds through to every part of life.
a couple stats
I’m currently 265lbs, my last body scan showed 180lbs of lean mass.
When I started lifting
Bench press - 75x3
Deadlift - 135x2
Squad - body weight only to 90 degrees
Recent markers
Bench press - 185x1
Deadlift - 225x15 / 345x1
Squat - 185 @ 275lbs x1 at full depth
I’ve never touched a weight in a calorie surplus, I was also a professional gamer prior to starting my journey. I was a ball of fat.
My current goal is getting down to 215/210 then re assessing where to go.
A final message
Anyone here who is on their own journey of weight loss and getting healthy. What you’re doing is objectively hard. No matter if it’s 30lbs or 300lbs to lose. Your body is actively fighting you. You have to fight increased grelin, you have to fight dormant fat cells that are now always present inside you, you need to perform while having no energy. Size makes movement uncomfortable and you have to do a lot of that. It’s not as simple as putting down a spoon like social media makes it out to be. Be proud of yourself for making the decision to be better. Be proud of every pound you lose. Most people on earth cannot do what you’re doing. A lot of fit people would call it quits doing what you have to. Wear that struggle like a badge and prove them all wrong 💪