Start Weight: 289.0
Week 5 Weight: 273.4
Weekly Loss: 1.0
Spring Cut Total Loss: 15.6
I have officially hit the halfway point of the spring cut and am pleased with the results so far. My initial goal weight was 269.0 over the course of 10 weeks. I actually weighed in at 272.0 on Saturday morning, so it seems likely I will pass this benchmark 3-4 weeks earlier than anticipated. Now 259.0 seems like a possibility, and it would feel great to hit that mark by the end of this challenge.
As I mentioned in my last post, the past two weeks have been hellish, so I ended up treating myself to some movie nights and some junk on Friday and Saturday. Turns out that the Dollar Tree has really great options for when there is a junk itch that needs to be scratched. All of the portions are a lot more reasonable than portions you would find elsewhere and they have options that are not necessarily healthy, but arenāt going to break the calorie bank. I stuck with things like popcorn, zero calorie soda, and got a small bag of chocolate covered pretzels.
Saturday I felt like being in the gym, so I ended up doing a sauna session and close to an hour of cardio and yesterday I ended up getting a pretty solid leg day in. I kind of enjoyed that cardio session and am considering maybe adding a couple of days in here and there.
Last year I planned a backpacking trip and was kind of limited with my options due to my fitness level. This year I am planning on doing another trip and would love to be in a position where my options are a bit less limited, so I think as summer rolls around, I will probably switch to a routine where there is more of a cardiovascular component. When late August/September comes around, it would feel GREAT to not only be strong, but to have good cardiovascular stamina as well.
Today I am feeling settled back into my routine. Looking forward to continuing to make progress through the final stages of the challenge!
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 7 Weight: 272.2
Weekly Loss: 1.2
Spring Cut Total Loss: 16.8
Sort of a disappointing week for actual weight loss. I ended up adding three more sessions of cardio this week (30 min,60 min,30 min) which I think is possibly leading to some water retention. My weight lifting sessions felt pretty laborious this week. Generally just feeling fatigued and a bit banged up. Hoping to break under 270 going into next week. With four more weeks to go on the cut, if I am under 265 lbs at the end of week 10, I might extend to reach 259. I think remaining in the 260ās during the next maintenance/slow gain phase will be a lot more beneficial mentally than touching into the 270ās again, but I will play it by feel.
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 7 Weight: 273.0
Weekly Loss: +0.8
Spring Cut Total Loss: 16.0
Probably the worst week I had during the cut. I was eating far too much takeout, wasnāt really tracking diligently, and I ended up having a minor binge on Friday. I think all of the moderate intensity cardio was both increasing my appetite and giving me too much wiggle room with the kinds of food I could consume which allowed things to start snowballing. This week I have switched to a lower intensity 10,000 steps daily and have had a really great week of tracking and meeting my macro goals, so I will be sticking with this instead going forward. On the bright side, I had a really good lift after ārefeedingā so it wasnāt all bad. Happy to be back on track and glad I was able to stop any bad habits from forming. Fingers crossed I break 270 this Sunday!
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 9 Weight: 269.6
Weekly Loss: -3.4
Spring Cut Total Loss: 19.4
Last week went really well. The additional 10,000 steps a day really helped to keep progress moving and it pretty much had no impact on my appetite at all. I actually hit 269.0 on Saturday which was my goal weight when I first started the cut, so any additional weight over the course of the next two weeks will just be icing on the cake. Iāve noticed general health seems like itās been improving as well. I have been sleeping a lot better and have noticed my caffeine intake has gone down as well. My focus and mood have been improving too. I was feeling extremely scattered, lethargic, and angry/depressed at times, but am noticing these emotions starting to lessen. Obviously being overweight doesnāt make anyone feel good, but I am wondering if I was also going through some sort of sugar/junk withdrawal symptoms. I recognize I still have a long path ahead of me to get to where I want to be, but am starting to feel hopeful for the first time in awhile.
Midweek update: Went to the doctorās office for my physical this morning. My blood pressure was within normal range for the first time since before 2020 (118/70) and my resting heart rate was 70. My blood pressure was probably getting to the point where I would have had to consider getting on medicine, so I am super excited that all of these numbers are back within a healthy range.
Start Weight: 289.0
Week 9 Weight: 267.0
Weekly Loss: -2.6
Spring Cut Total Loss: 22.0
Final (planned) week! Still sitting on the fence a bit on whether I want to continue the cut or not (I certainly need to lose more fat), but I think ultimately I will end up doing a small maintenance/bulk cycle to avoid deficit fatigue and heal any lingering aches/pains. Tentative plan going forward is to eat somewhere between 3000 and 3500 calories for about a week to get a baseline weight, and then try for a gain of no more than 1 lb per week into the end of June (likely ceiling of around 275).
Start Weight: 289.0
End Weight: 267.0
Weekly Loss: 0.0
Spring Cut Total Loss: 22.0
Although I did not end up officially losing anymore weight last week, I know I ended up losing fat because I did everything I needed to diet wise and after increasing my calories this week, I still am weighing in at 267.2 this morning. I have decided to take a month to a month and a half off from calorie restriction and just focus on meeting my protein and consistently getting lifts in. Would love to hit 275 lbs on bench by the time the next phase of cutting rolls around (1RM calculator has me at 267.3 currently). Iāve started taking some end of challenge progress pictures and Iām excited to share them. It isnāt the most insane transformation Iāve ever seen, but I definitely see noticeable progress. Anyways, this has been a really great ~4.5 months and I canāt see myself stopping once this challenge ends. Thanks to everyone who took the time to chime in and give either advice or positive words. This is a really great community and I am glad I stumbled upon it.
Following the end of the transformation challenge, I was planning on doing a slow bulk up to 275, but I found that even as I was increasing my caloric intake, I was incredibly fatigued and was not recovering properly. There are a couple of factors that have changed that could be leading to the increased fatigue, but I ended up taking an unplanned week and a half off and just let my body recover a bit. My last workout on the 21st was an absolute slog to get through even though I was eating more than I had been. Iām planning on getting back into the gym either today or tomorrow and hopefully I experience better results.
My work schedule has become incredibly busy now that summer is here (11.5 hour work days) and I feel as though the task of becoming healthier has become a lot more challenging. I donāt really have the time to ābulkā in a way that is not consuming a bunch of processed shit, so I may ultimately swap back to losing weight. Iām feeling a bit more open to that avenue now that Iāve had a couple of weeks off from eating at a caloric deficit and have mentally recharged a bit. I feel like I need to make a concrete game plan here soon because it just seems like I am spinning my wheels at the moment.
Maybe combine with maintenance phase with a pivot in your training. If life is busy then its a great time to set yourself a conditioning challenge and really work on your GPP. Any gains you mike in conditioning will help you later when you start to push the weights hard again.
I hope it went well and that youāre feeling better. I lost relatively little weight during the challenge, but I was feeling pretty battered by the end, too. Iām taking some time to enjoy working back up to maintenance and focus on strength and conditioning, with a plan to drop calories again at some point.
As long as you donāt return to previous behavior I donāt see how you can go wrong in making your choices, but the above seems completely sound to me, even if you canāt set the gym on fire until life slows down a bit.
Thank you to everyone for all of the great advice once again. It turns out that whatever Iāve been eating has pretty much been leading to weight maintenance. Iāve been trying to focus on consuming real foods, minimal liquid calories, and trying to get as much protein in as I can. I feel encouraged that my weight has remained steady over the past month without putting a ton of thought into what I am eating/doing. Iāve dialed down the frequncy of workouts as well and am feeling balanced right now. Also great news - yesterday I hit that 275 lb max bench that I was shooting for earlier in the year. I went for 285 after and was close. It felt great to hit that milestone that Iāve been eyeing for such a long time.