General Weight Loss/Fitness/Self-Improvement

[Brian Swartz]

The reason for making this thread is that there was a courteous objection raised to my posting in the Forks Over Knives thread as off-topic. I didn't want to join the 'Weight Loss Dynasty' thread as most of the people to hopefully benefit probably aren't reading that forum anymore, and while there is some overlap this doesn't really fit in the Workouts thread either. If someone has a better place for this and would like it moved, I'm open to that possibility.

I encourage others to post here if they are working on improving themselves also, this isn't just about me.

For context, my posting in the Forks Over Knives thread (last post on the page, I don't know how to link directly to the post but will edit this if someone is kind enough to explain it): https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=83042&page=13

Last July I was up to my personal high of 351+, well into the morbidly obese camp at approaching 43 BMI. I am now around 277, which is the lightest I've been since the turn of the millenium, eclipsing my previous best weight loss effort about five years ago. I have some rather audacious goals about the level of fitness and strength I want to be able to reach, but on the weight loss front I have a four-milestone 'Entrance Exam' progression that I want to hit, and then re-evaluate after that.

Milestones

Restarting Point - 351.4 (July 2024). Top 5% of most obese men in America.
< 300 - Thanksgiving 2024
< 278 - My previous best. February 2025, now.
< 250 - This would get me out of the obese range for the first time since I was a teenager. Aiming to get here by summer; my birthday is three days after the first official day of summer, and I'd really like to be able to say my 48th year is my last as an obese human.
< 208 - Top end of the BMI 'normal' range. I know BMI is flawed, it's just a reference point for 'ok, time to consider where to go with the rest of your life now that most of the excess fat is gone'. I may go significantly further than this, I may not. Likely to be early next year depending on how things go, too early to really think about that much. For reference I was 210-215 as varsity athlete towards the end of high school, and I do think even then I was a little overweight. It would be surreal to get lower than that, but we'll see.

[Brian Swartz]

Updating now as I've reached the third milestone: for the first time in almost 28 years, I am no longer obese. I intend to live the rest of my life not obese, God willing. I've lost just over 100 pounds in about 10 months, am closer to 200 pounds than 300 at ~249, and my BMI starts with a 2 instead of a 3 or the 4 it's been for most of the past 15 years.

I've gone from one of the most obese people around to basically average by the poor standards of modern society. I don't feel as satisfied by this as I thought I would; it's good and important stage to cross, but the main thought in my mind is 'you're still fat. Don't get complacent. Keep going'.

Next goal is the 4th and final of my 'Entrance Exam' milestones, hitting the normal weight range at a little under 208. So another 40 pounds, I'm aiming to get there by Thanksgiving. I'm under no illusions that I won't need to lose more fat after that. It's not the finish line, but it is the 'first day of the rest of my life' point. Something to aim for.

Observations from the last few months:

Diet & Sleep Discipline continues to be the hallmark of what I'm doing. Just recently reached the point where I made my first small reduction in my daily calories, still about at 3300. That's based just on my 3-week trend of weight loss; the change in weather and being at a reduced weight, along with less activity due to injury lowered the pace there.

I had a dangerous moment a couple of weeks ago where I overate - not by that much, would have been about 1000 calories extra, but my brain wanted a lot more, and badly. Could have easily turned into a multi-week binge if I allowed it. That was a real test of my committment/discipline, and my internal monologue was basically 'dude, you're still obese. You have no right to behave like this. Get back in line or I WILL go back to fasting one day a week to restore the proper discipline'. I reduced my dinner somewhat that day to limit the damage, basically ended up being a maintenance day, and got back on the plan the next day.

I'm currently on a 4-meal approach, spaced out throughout the day. My brain is just plain broken when it comes to food, maybe permanently. It always wants to eat more esp. right after I'm done eating and my stomach actually feels satisfied. It's gotten to the point where I will feel sad as I'm eating, because my brain is lamenting the 3-4 hours it's going to have to go without eating afterwards. It's getting mildly depressed ahead of time, anticipatory fashion. I have to just laugh at myself sometimes. But I continue to rely on the power of just not listening to that part of my brain and forging forward anyway. An hour or two after eating it will typically calm down and not be invading my thoughts with 'eat more' demands, so there is a respite here and there.

Home Gym Investments Got a power rack, and a better proper rowing machine (the rowing machine, a Concept 2). Man am I a fan of this fantastic machine. When I get to the point of needing it/find a good sale, I'm going to get a regulation barbell and weight set. Currently using a hand-me-down starter weight set and have benefited from it, but I will outgrow that.

Injuries continue to be a frustration. I've resolved a nagging knee issue, and was making slow steady progress on cardio for a while, then got some sort of ligament/tendon injury in my left lower leg, just above the ankle. It was bad enough to limit how much I could work for about a week and a half, and has required me to not do lower-body lifts for almost a month now and counting, as well as backing off treadmill walking/rowing. I'm back on the rower, doing some slow walking on the treadmill some days, getting close to every day I think. Already had one aggravation setback when I tried to do that and thought I was ready for it - it was too soon. When I can get to that point and sustain it, I'll get back into the lower-body lifts at reduced weight and build back up. One step at a time. It's been quite frustrating dealing with these injuries slowing my progress esp. on the lower body, but I'm trying to keep going regardless.

I think the cause was a repetitive-use injury, partly at least resulting from me trying in an incorrect way to correct my walking 'gait'. I found a bunch of explanations on how to do it better, some of which weren't helpful but a couple were that gave me some good cues. Basically my feet naturally lean inwards - I tend to walk on the inside of my feet. I'm learning not to do that by;

- Focusing on pushing with my back leg rather than 'reaching forward' with my front one. Don't fully understand the bio mechanics but it keeps my legs moving forward in a much better vector

- Concentrating on landing on the outside front of my feet, just behind the toes.

This has corrected most of the issues with my stride. It feels 'right' and at the same time awkward. It's weird to be in my upper 40s and basically relearning how to walk, and it'll take quite a bit of time for me to build back up my speed and get it to feel natural. But worth it in the long run I think.

Loose Skin - This has been a thing to varying minor degrees for the last 30-40 pounds. Mostly on my upper legs though it's starting to happen in my lower stomach. It varies quite a bit, and is actually less prominent than it was for a while; basically I'm optimistic in being able to potentially minimize it but it's still too early for me to have a good read on where I'll end up. I basically view my body as an art project that's still being worked on - just have to take a wait-and-see approach. And there's a whole bunch of related assymetry; lot more fat on one side of my chest than the other, my face is still a bit lopsided, one side of my stomach bigger than the other, etc. My second chin will shrink and look like it's about to disappear, then grow again as I lose more fat off my face and that shrinks to reveal more of it. Gut overhang does the same shrinking-then-growing bit.

Clothes Changes - I'm wearing medium belts and underwear now. It boggles my mind that I can wear a medium. Down from size 42 pants to 34. Not as much movement on the shirts, XXX to XX basically, I still have a lot of my fat in the upper body so I expect to see more progress there. I've donated a bunch of clothes, and put most of my cold-weather stuff in the burn pile; it was a bit big the start of the winter, comically big mid-winter, and like I was wearing a sack by the end of winter. And much of it quite worn. That'll be a fun process later in the year, getting some replacements at a more appropriate size. Every week or two there's noticeable tightening in the belt that needs to happen as that good ole' spare tire around my midsection gradually shrinks.

The psychology of all this is a bit weird, but I just remind myself that it will all work itself out eventually; if I keep losing weight, it has to come from everywhere at some point.

Next Step

Next significant update I think will be in another 20 pounds - I do a 'clothes refitting' every 20 where I reassess what I can wear, donate the next round of things that are too big, add more of my old clothes that I can now wear again, and so on. That would be about midway through the overweight range.

[Lathum]

Good for you man. Keep at it.

My high was 237 about 10 years ago. I am 6-2 so hid it well but I felt crappy. Decided to train for a 5K and when I saw a 199 on the scale I as elated. Now I fluctuate between 205-208.

[RainMaker]

Great work on the weight loss. That's really impressive.

I didn't have loose skin but I tightened up a lot when I put more effort into my chest. Decline pushups made my chest explode and everything fit better like 6 months later. It really pulls the skin up around the waist.

[Ksyrup]

Getting back into the swing of things now that it's been about 10 days since my marathon. I took 4 days off last week and only ran about 7.5 miles. This week, I'm probably going to take 3 days off and plan to run about 20-25 miles, maybe (I've already done 10, would like to do another 4-5 on treadmill and a longer outdoor run this weekend). We'll see how things feel by the beginning of next week, but I'll probably take 2 days off and then see if I'm good to increase mileage.

After spending nearly 6 months training with specific weekly mileage goals, it feels weird to have a looser schedule. Still trying to decide my next move - another marathon in the fall, or maybe back to HM, or even think about going more for speed and trying a 10K? Not sure.

[RainMaker]

I don't know how you all do marathons. I tried to get into distance running and it just seems like my feet aren't built for it.

[Ksyrup]

Most of my training is on a treadmill which has definitely saved my knees, feet and everything else that is impacted by pounding the pavement. In the past 8-10 months, I started to do some road running in preparation for races, and certainly for the long runs prepping for the marathon, but otherwise, I haven't been injured running.

Right now, I've got a little niggle in my right knee coming off of the marathon, but nothing that has stopped me from running. That's part of the reason I'm slowly ramping back up.

[Brian Swartz]

Great work on the weight loss. That's really impressive.

Thanks! What you did on the pushups sounds great! I do intend to get to a dedicated muscle-building phase eventually; working on it some now, it's just slow while losing weight. Hopefully I'll be able to see some results from doing that.

[Ksyrup]

I have shoulder issues so I do not do pushups (actually had a doctor tell me he advised against it, or even raising my arms above shoulder height with weights for any reason), so I do some limited free weight stuff and machine work with an older setup I've got in the basement. My biceps are noticeably bigger in the past 8 or so months, but I don't have much of a chest.

[Brian Swartz]

Not the update I planned, but the one that I think is needed: yesterday I began my first-ever maintenance break. I'm just under 240 at this point, but for the last month I've been having what I hope and think is 'diet fatigue'. In general poor recovery type of things, more specifically consistent indigestion, inconsistent sleep, much more muscle soreness than usual even with reduced exercise to try to combat it, fatigue, and so on.

I've read a lot about diet fatigue, but never actually experienced it. Kind of a win in that sense; in the past I quit dieting due to complacency/'brain want comfort food' or similar. In this case, my body is just rebelling to the point of it starting to affect my work and definitely impacting my exercise routine quite a lot, I've suspended most of that.

It's going to be a challenge mentally and emotionally, but I'm going to maintenance for 'as long as is necessary', best guess a few months. Will slowly increase calories and adapt as needed so my weight is stable or slowly increasing, get my body right with sleep and digestion first, then gradually add back in my exercise routine until I have that stable for a few weeks. Give my body whatever time is needed to recover from the weight loss push, then get back to it.

I don't like the 'delay', but I think in the interests of long-term health it's necessary. And definitely hoping diet fatigue is all that is going on, but I think that's the issue.

[Edward64]

Hang in there. I don't think pausing loss-for-maintenance is a negative at all. I'd be more worried that you "suspended most of that (exercise routine)". To me, not exercising much is more of a red flag?

I lost weight from my recent travels. Even though I was eating well, it was in smaller than American sized portions, didn't have snacks in the pantry, and walking a lot more. Unfortunately, I've got red flags of my own now.

[Ksyrup]

Agree with E64. Continuing to exercise, focusing on sleep, etc., will bring their own benefits regardless of whether you're losing any weight at all.

[Brian Swartz]

I'd be more worried that you "suspended most of that (exercise routine)". To me, not exercising much is more of a red flag?

No choice without risking injury. Continuing to push the body when not sleeping well and having persistent muscle pain is just asking for trouble - I have done it before and almost always ended up making things worse via injury. The idea is that it's temporary to heal, and I'll build it back up as soon as I can.

[Edward64]

Thinking about a 30+ day backpacking trip in Europe next year. There should be quite a bit of elevation gain, so figure I should start training.

31 min; set at highest 15 incline, which googling tells me is about 8.5 degree incline; speed at 20, no idea what that translates to; and that gets me to mid-zone 2. It's 1 mile and about 270 calories burned.

Why can't I just legit get Ozempic like Serena Williams?

[Brian Swartz]

Heh. Well Ozempic would of course not prepare you for the backpacking.

The incline stuff sounds like a very good idea, either that or a step machine is what I would do in your position.

[Edward64]

I've seen what 10lbs+ of "fat" looks like in plenty of health/exercise vlogs. That's alot of extra weight to carry going uphill/downhill.

I've read it's supposed to be for Serena's type 2 diabetes. But in the commercial I've seen, she didn't say it. Cynical me believes it was a wink-wink.

I hate running and figured incline walking was the next best thing. I just need stay in zone 2 and find enough interesting YT stuff to watch for 30 min.

How's your recovery coming along?

[Ksyrup]

I much prefer running, but the times I've dedicated to hiking (incline on my treadmill that goes up to 40%), the workouts have been much more intense. The key for me is to find the right balance of walk/hike and incline. The fastest I'm interested in walking is 4.5 mph (and ideally, 4.0-4.2 mph) - anything over that, I might as well be jogging - and at that speed, anything under 8% incline is a bit too easy. So 10-15% incline at 3.5-4.0 mph is a good sweet spot for me. Although my machine can go up to 40%, I prefer not to go much higher than 25% as I like to actually feel like I'm walking and not climbing a never-ending set of stairs.

When running, I'll transition to hike at above 15% (unless it's a long stretch at incline, then I'll have to slow it down), although occasionally, 4 mph at 20% is sustainable as a light jog for a bit.

[Edward64]

40% is approximately equal to 21.8 degrees.
25% is approximately 14 degrees.

Will ask wife if she wants a new treadmill

[Ksyrup]

Way cheaper to just up your speed at the incline you have.

[Edward64]

Yeah, you're right. I'm working up to a solid zone 3 so I'll have to up my speed/heartrate some eventually.

As Dave Ramsey say ... baby steps

[Brian Swartz]

I've seen what 10lbs+ of "fat" looks like in plenty of health/exercise vlogs. That's alot of extra weight to carry going uphill/downhill.


It is, but fwiw your cardio fitness and the condition of your muscles will have a *much* larger effect.

How's your recovery coming along?

It's over, I left maintenance and started back on a deficit a few days ago. Went well overall; best guess is I gained 2 pounds or less in the process, at least a bit of which was muscle. It took a few weeks to get myself sleeping right again, maintained for about two and a half months and it wasn't too long - felt interminable though at times. Was just generally a gradual process of feeling a little better each week or two. Learned a few things:

-- I went too fast when increasing my calories to maintenance and also when ramping up the exercise again. Main casualty of this was injuring my right elbow, which has me doing light 'rehab' weights except on the squat. Respecting the process of building gradually and frailty of being in my upper 40s is something I still need to get better at.

-- Mentally I'm in a really good place eating wise. There were temptations as there always is, but it was easier than I thought to transition to maintaining and then back to losing. Disciplining myself to keep the exercise going was harder. Wasn't consistent with stretching, my least favorite thing to do, when I was maintaining. That part of my mindset still needs to get better. I also got a real good dose of how quickly my fitness gets worse when I'm not actively working on it. That was quite sobering, and a needed reminder that I need to keep the routine going and make sure it's just part of my regular routine even when it seems boring/repetitive or I'm stalled on something. Maintaining my level is a heck of a lot better than going backwards.

-- First time I've ever maintained my weight in the not-obese range as an adult. So that's a big win. Felt really good mentally to shift to dropping my weight again, and I'm back to focusing on that until my body tells me it's time for another break. Next time I want to listen to it a little earlier.

[Ksyrup]

Talk about speaking it into existence...

After these posts about incline, I jumped on the treadmill for today's workout and see a nice run along a beach/cliff side in Portugal that calls for a decent amount of 10-15% incline. Supposed to be a beginner run/walk series but I'm running it all. So I put in 32 minutes, 3.6 miles, and 530ft of incline. It's like the treadmill saw my earlier post and was like, "Put your money where your mouth is, bitch!"

[Edward64]

Did my Dexa and RMR today. Dexa was lying down while machine scanned me from top to bottom, about 10 min. RMR was breathing into a tube at rest for 15 min. I could have done VO2 also, but that's more for wife (runner).


Body fat of 28.5%
BMR 1,904 and Maintenace is 2,475
Recommended protein 128-154g
Visceral fat volume 75


Body fat didn't surprise me, I was estimating 28-30%. I was expecting BMR at about 1,800 so good news for me as I can eat more! And I've been aiming for low end of the protein range. For visceral, ideal is between 0-52; I fell into increased risk 52-112 (and high risk was 112+).

The benefit is this establishes a baseline and next time, it'll start building a trend. Now I just need to get motivated and work out more consistently.

[Brian Swartz]

Now I just need to get motivated and work out more consistently.

If you're willing to share, how that's working out for you?

Bit of a pre-holiday update for me; I'm at 225 now, basically midway through the overweight range, equal distance from both 'normal' and 'obese'. A month or so ago I realized I was done with the 'easy pounds', and had entered the realm of 'normal weight loss struggles'. Rate of weight loss started declining, started feeling colder and hungrier with the change in the season, it's gotten a little more difficult to keep myself on budget with what I eat. I'm still doing that, it just requires more of me mentally to do it.

For basically the whole process so far, I'd been eating a little over 3000 calories a day. I'm now down to 2800, and dropping to 2700 after Thanksgiving. I'll go lower after Christmas if I need to; I'm still losing weight but it's slower, a little over a pound a week and I should be able to do better than that at my size.

On the positive side:

- Had a lipid panel and apoB test done, basically because I finally had the courage to. I was afraid of the numbers and had never done it before; when you're highly obese you don't really feel like you need a test to tell you that you're horribly unhealthy. All the numbers came back fantastic, well into the therapeutic range, which was pretty shocking. Some of that is the weight I've lost and the way I'm eating, but a lot is just good genetics - that I've wasted for most of my life. Hopefully I'm done doing that.

- Blood pressure is also now excellent; I was in the elevated range for a number of years so I'm not damaging myself that way either.

- As a result of those two things, I now consider myself 'functionally healthy'. Not where I want to be or anything close to it, but my body is no longer a four-alarm fire. I'm going to be eating 'normally' for Thanksgiving instead of restricting myself like I did last year; it's been three decades since I celebrated a holiday by just eating what I felt like without guilt. I think that'll take some practice, but I'm looking forward to starting to normalize. And then after it's over ofc I get right back to the plan.

- Still battling nagging injuries which limits my exercise, but I'm being consistent with what I can do. Upped my creatine to 10g/day from 5, and that's had a huge impact on my mental clarity esp. late in the day.

- Avocado and flax seeds are recent good healthy finds that I'm surprisingly not disliking; main reason there is trying to boost my healthy fat intake and be a little more balanced (somewhat less carbs and more fats than I was eating, without it being saturated fats)