Well I hope since I am still adding noob gains some of that cancels out what I would have lost. Plus I watch a lot of renaissance periodization videos and they said .75% bodyweight loss a week doesn’t affect muscle mass too badly from studies they have read but who knows. That is what I am aiming for though. About 1.5 lb a week.
TLDR: Life is great right now.
So I know this is a lifting forum but there are several things going on in my life that I am super proud of that I want to just take note of and reflect on if only just to know later what was going on in my life at the time but also because I really sometimes need to force myself to stop and smell the roses. So if you are not interested in non lifting related things, don’t read this. It will probably be long, boring, and requires a little bit of background for anyone to understand why any of these things mean anything to me.
Just a heads up too. None of this is me complaining. Just stating facts so people know where I am coming from.
So I had a rough childhood. My mother was addicted to drugs and has loads of mental health issues and my stepfather was abusive. In addition to that I was always told that I was worthless and wouldn’t amount to anything so I never developed any confidence in myself with anything. At around 15 my mother left my father for reasons I don’t really want to get in to and I basically had to be the grown up in the family for her and my sister since she didn’t really know how. Like it was terrible. I literally grew up in a house that at one point was filled to the brim with dog crap, fleas, bugs, and trash everywhere and when I tried to clean I got yelled at saying I was a terrible person for making my mother feel bad. It was fucking nuts. When I turned 18 I tried to get the hell out but my mother guilt tripped me into coming home from college with a bunch of crap about her finances and my sister being out of control. At this point everything started taking a toll on me so I turned to drugs for a short time until I decided to get my shit together and join the Army to help support my mother and sister and pay for college. I did some cool stuff there but ended up running/ rucking/ run-rucking so much that I somehow got chronic compartment syndrome which absolutely sucks and it trashed my career. Got out and realized that basically nothing from the infantry carries over to civilian world so I decided to go back to college but at this time my mother conned me into buying her house for her to live in then she deuced out to go do drugs with her boyfriend at the time leaving me stuck in the area with a trashed trailer home I couldn’t sell so I was restricted to a no name college. During all this time too I dealt with mental health issues as I have Bipolar and another trauma related mental health disorder that sucks and both of these have wound me in the hospital a few times. Basically all this is to say that the first 24 years of my life was a wild ride and I really doubted that I would make it this far although anyone who knows me will tell you I really don’t like taking I can’t for an answer as it pisses me off so I was determined to make something work even though things kept falling apart.
Enter college time. I basically went all out. Most people I have heard of say college is one of the easiest times in your life. Fuck those people. They didn’t do it right. When people talk about certain things being easy are hard I think you just didn’t try enough. Most of my life has been this way because I just go all out. I had gotten married and had kids at this time so that added to it but I was doing research, working, doing classes, internships, research internships, you name it. I slept 3 hours a night for a whole year to do all my homework and research and still have time for my kids during the day. To be fair I think I had an advantage because a buddy doing the same dual degree with me did this too but he didn’t have kids. My saving grace was I never really had to “study” thankfully. I ended up having a 3 page long resume by the end of college, graduated with Mathematical Physics and Mechanical Engineering Degrees with damn near 4.0 on the last 3/4 of my degree (I had Bs and Cs from my first attempt at college) and got 3 or 4 awesome company job offers in the midst of covid. I had concerns about taking a job at a big name defense company because I always heard how cutthroat they were and I had an internship and the people there all had Phds MS and degrees from top tier schools like Princeton. I ended up taking it anyways because it was the best chance for my family because of the great schools and just great area in general in terms of crime and what it had to offer. Covid really messed with my confidence for the first year because there was basically no feedback loop like I was used to in college from constant grades but at the end year review I was told I was killing it and well on my way to great things at the company. Big companies like this have timelines for you to get promoted and typically you have to wait 3 years for each one but they put in for my promotion early because of how hard I was working although because of higher management it is yet to be seen if I will get it since they are typically bureaucratic. I also just got accepted to an apprenticeship which is a big thing at my company for engineers since it means they see that you can go far in the company. I close my first house that I actually picked out tomorrow with my wife in an amazing area. For the first time in my life things are stable enough for me to do things like have hobbies and lift because I can and want to. Financially I am actually in a place where I don’t worry about every little thing. Finally, I have gotten back into lifting and am down 25-30 lb from January and still losing. Basically life is rocking right now.
Anyways if you made it this far thanks for reading and sorry for the long post. Just felt like a victory lap was in order.
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Shout it from the rooftops, my dude! Just shout it.
And congratulations! Seriously—well done.
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Thanks man! I appreciate it.
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I read all of if man. Sheesh you went through a lot. Must feel nice to get that all off ur chest and now you’re succeeding.
Mechanical Engineering? That’s cool bro
Would u mind telling me what u do? I think mechanical engineers are involved in construction but also in other things. I’m just curious.
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Thanks man. More that it just feels good that for once I feel like I can just be happy where I am and I can be confident in what I have done.
So I got my degrees in Mathematical Physics and Mechanical Engineering but I do neither. I am what is “called” a systems engineer but basically I do modeling and simulations for radar systems as well as algorithm development for these systems. Basically you can’t cheat physics and you only get so much performance out of a Radar but we come up with clever ways to get around this limitation through gaming the system. It is pretty cool.
Mechanical engineers do a lot of stuff though. Civilian engineers are more construction. Mechanical does do some structural, Hvac, fluids/thermal engineering (my previous area of specialization), engine analysis, etc. Basically if there is a mechanical system that needs to be analyzed or designed you hire a mechanical engineer unless it falls into the realm of construction since that involves certain codes that you have to pass. At least this is all how it was explained to me. I am sure there are more differences though.
Hell yea man!!!
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Ok so on another note. I up to this point have been letting myself have alchohol and cheat meals as long as it falls withing my calories. Gonna try to go all in for the next few months shooting for 1.5 lb loss a week till I hit like 10 percent bodyfat which I will estimate by caliper and waist but ultimate test is just going to be how lean I look. Basically when I start getting veins I’ll probably drop a few more pounds then stop because it grosses my wife out when people are too lean.
Posting an early physique update. Any guesses on my current bodyfat/ how much I need to lose? Tests put me at about 19 to 20 but eyeballing it I think has some merit too lol.
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This is a hard thing to do lol plus we can’t see those meat sticks you use for standing.
I carry all my fat in my upper body, so I look like I have a lot more fat than I do. I’ve had jelly rolls and quad/calf/shin vascularity at the same time 
You’re right. I’ll take a photo with my gorgeously pasty legs lol.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter. It’s all about how you want to look. If I liked the way I looked I wouldn’t care what body fat I was at. You might love the way you look at 12% even though people will tell you “oh you need to be at 9%”.
It’s definitely mental masterbation. But it’s one I take part in too I’ve had 3-5 dexa scans.
Yeah you are right but the only reason I ask is to keep myself honest and on track BECAUSE it is so subjective. I could think man I am looking jacked and lean but totally lying to myself. Usually that is fine but my purposes are not getting lean just to be lean and look good to myself and my wife since my wife already thinks I look great and I would be happy with another 5 to 10 lb of fat loss and packing on some more muscle. The goal is so lean that my muscle gain is easier which is a very objective goal in my opinion of around 10-12 percent bodyfat. Then I can yoyo between bulking and cutting. Any lower than that and I think I remember you start having testosterone dip but I could be wrong.
Although calipers aren’t accurate per se, they can be very repeatable if used correctly and are cheap. You could use those to track progress, or a tape measure.
Same here. I started around 13-15% I’d have to go look at my dexa. For some reason 14% sounds right but idk. And then spent the first 2 weeks leaning up. Was the leanest of ever been but still didn’t look lean just because of how i carry fat. Had big ole raised plump veins all over my legs though so I’d imagine I’d have to get sub 10 to look like how most people visualize “lean”
Yea from what I see people say the lower you go the harder it is on your hormones, luckily I’m on TRT so my world could be falling apart my my body shutting down but hey, my total T looks good
Yeah I use calipers and tape but to me it looks a little low. It says I am 19-20 but I feel like I must be higher than that.
Maybe, maybe not but does it matter? (Pot/kettle here I know )
Alright alright fine. I guess asking for internet guesses while cheaper isn’t ok but dexas are lol.
20 is probably pretty damn close 
Now get after it and get lean!
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Damn dude you weren’t kidding about the serious vascularity in the legs. You are starting at a good place man. I’d be happy just to be there lol.
Thanks man
If I could just figure out how to walk around all day with a pump I’d be set
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