My 1 Year Transformation

Hi, I am 5’ 10" tall and 46 years old. I started out about a year ago at 285 lbs and now weigh 175 lbs. I started working out 4 days a week. Monday - chest, tris, and cardio. Tuesday - legs. Wednesday - back, biceps, and cardio. Fri - shoulders and cardio.

I feel that while I was losing fat I was also gaining muscle. I was eating about 1650 cal a day consisting of about 17% of calories from fat, 33% of calories from carbs and 50% of calories from protein.

Before I started, I was taking meds for both high blood pressure and cholesterol. My blood sugar levels were borderline. Last checkup cholesterol was 137, BP was 119/70, and blood sugar is fine. I feel great!!!

Supplements I took:
Clean food
Whey protein
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Creatine
Glutamine
DEHA
NO Explode or Ragnarok pre workout


After

Thermo, you look great. And better yet your current labs look great.

You and I have started with pretty much the same specs – 5 foot 10, 285lbs. But my ‘transformation’ is taking a lot longer than yours. I got to 185 in a year, but in my case lost a lot of muscle. Then I had some big health setbacks that put me out of the game for a long time (I am currently at 216 @ 16% bodyfat, 51 years old)

Congratulations. You have worked really hard and it shows. What a great accomplishment.

I know you have not asked for advice, but here is what I am working towards as I move towards my next phase:

Increasing muscle mass. We have a lot of skin to fill, and the more muscle mass we have, the higher our metabolism.

This means you will need to increase your calories. I made a concentrated effort at the end of last year to put on muscle – at 3100 cals a day for example I was able to gain muscle w/o gaining fat as long as my workouts were challenging.

If you haven’t read it I hightly recommend Dr. John Berardi’s “The Metabolism Advantage: An 8-Week Program to Rev Up Your Body’s Fat-Burning Machine—At Any Age”

http://www.amazon.com/Metabolism-Advantage-Program-Fat-Burning-Machine-At/sim/1594863237/2

Around 17.00 at Amazon, and price gets you access to a terrific online forum.

Dr. Berardi writes for T-Nation if you want to get a sense of his stuff.

AGAIN – CONGRATS on a job well done.

And congrats on that dog too.

Second – nicely done. Congrats on staying focused and disciplined – it shows.

Nice Work!!! Bet you didn’t think you’d see those abs again did yah?

Thermo - nice job, you look incredible. I have a current client same age and weight who is struggling. Do you have any words of advice! You look awesome, keep up the great work.

[quote]Augorilla wrote:
Thermo - nice job, you look incredible. I have a current client same age and weight who is struggling. Do you have any words of advice! You look awesome, keep up the great work.[/quote]

Thanks for the encouragement. The first month to six weeks were the hardest but after that time I got into a groove. I kept it simple. I counted every little piece of food that crossed my lips. Ate three meals a day. Drank lots of water.

I lifted weights four times a week and did 30 min of intense cardio (took a while to build up to intense cardio) three times a week. I also tried to get some physical activity (walking, hiking, etc.) on my days off.

I feel that while I was losing fat I was also gaining muscle. I was eating about 1650 cal a day consisting of about 17% of calories from fat, 33% of calories from carbs and 50% of calories from protein.

Supplements I took:
Clean food
Water
Whey protein
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Creatine
Glutamine
DEHA
NO Explode or Ragnarok pre workout

Good luck with your client

[quote]Thermo71 wrote:
Hi, I am 5’ 10" tall and 46 years old. I started out about a year ago at 285 lbs and now weigh 175 lbs. I started working out 4 days a week. Monday - chest, tris, and cardio. Tuesday - legs. Wednesday - back, biceps, and cardio. Fri - shoulders and cardio.

I feel that while I was losing fat I was also gaining muscle. I was eating about 1650 cal a day consisting of about 17% of calories from fat, 33% of calories from carbs and 50% of calories from protein.

Before I started, I was taking meds for both high blood pressure and cholesterol. My blood sugar levels were borderline. Last checkup cholesterol was 137, BP was 119/70, and blood sugar is fine. I feel great!!!

Supplements I took:
Clean food
Whey protein
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Creatine
Glutamine
DEHA
NO Explode or Ragnarok pre workout
[/quote]

You are the man!
I am just starting and this just inspires me further.
At 44 years old…261 lbs. and 5’8".

Keep up the GREAT work!!

[quote]Thermo71 wrote:
Augorilla wrote:
Thermo - nice job, you look incredible. I have a current client same age and weight who is struggling. Do you have any words of advice! You look awesome, keep up the great work.

Thanks for the encouragement. The first month to six weeks were the hardest but after that time I got into a groove. I kept it simple. I counted every little piece of food that crossed my lips. Ate three meals a day. Drank lots of water.

I lifted weights four times a week and did 30 min of intense cardio (took a while to build up to intense cardio) three times a week. I also tried to get some physical activity (walking, hiking, etc.) on my days off.

I feel that while I was losing fat I was also gaining muscle. I was eating about 1650 cal a day consisting of about 17% of calories from fat, 33% of calories from carbs and 50% of calories from protein.

Supplements I took:
Clean food
Water
Whey protein
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Creatine
Glutamine
DEHA
NO Explode or Ragnarok pre workout

Good luck with your client

[/quote]

It would be better if you spaced it out to 6 smaller meals a day, and you can probably start eating more if you would like to pack on some muscle.

Compare your lifting numbers from start to finish and post them here.

truly awesome. you are an inspiration to me. i once entered the eas challenge and lost 35 pounds. i have slipped back into old, bad habits and am now back up to 215. i am getting ready to start my own re-transformation. i want to get back to 170 and have a 32 in waist. you did it the right way, and i know you will be able to keep it off. once again congratulations.

i am sure you are proud and your family is proud of you as well. what do you do exercise wise today now that you have the weight off? is your routing the same?

[quote]wileybilly wrote:
truly awesome. you are an inspiration to me. i once entered the eas challenge and lost 35 pounds. i have slipped back into old, bad habits and am now back up to 215. i am getting ready to start my own re-transformation. i want to get back to 170 and have a 32 in waist. you did it the right way, and i know you will be able to keep it off. once again congratulations.

i am sure you are proud and your family is proud of you as well. what do you do exercise wise today now that you have the weight off? is your routing the same?[/quote]

Great Job to the OP. Nine work.

Wileybilly…di you know you are using one of our members (Caveman) pics for your Avatar? Quite flattering to Cave.

[quote]SeanT wrote:
Thermo71 wrote:
Augorilla wrote:
Thermo - nice job, you look incredible. I have a current client same age and weight who is struggling. Do you have any words of advice! You look awesome, keep up the great work.

Thanks for the encouragement. The first month to six weeks were the hardest but after that time I got into a groove. I kept it simple. I counted every little piece of food that crossed my lips. Ate three meals a day. Drank lots of water.

I lifted weights four times a week and did 30 min of intense cardio (took a while to build up to intense cardio) three times a week. I also tried to get some physical activity (walking, hiking, etc.) on my days off.

I feel that while I was losing fat I was also gaining muscle. I was eating about 1650 cal a day consisting of about 17% of calories from fat, 33% of calories from carbs and 50% of calories from protein.

Supplements I took:
Clean food
Water
Whey protein
Multivitamin
Fish oil
Creatine
Glutamine
DEHA
NO Explode or Ragnarok pre workout

Good luck with your client

It would be better if you spaced it out to 6 smaller meals a day, and you can probably start eating more if you would like to pack on some muscle.

Compare your lifting numbers from start to finish and post them here.
[/quote]

I am now eating 5 meals a day. I have been slowly adding calories to my diet. I want to start to gain some lean muscle soon, but want to be careful at the same time. I guess I am still paranoid about my % body fat.

Comparing my lifting numbers from the beginning until now is very relative for me. I have very bad joints and have to keep it light. I have a repaired left rotator cuff, a left total hip replacement, left knee ACL repair, and I currently have an injured right rotator cuff. I tried to do squats for the past year but finally had to give them up because of the hip. I can still do deadlifts, hack squats, leg press, etc. I will tell you that my incline bench press increased about 60 lbs, military press increased about 50 lbs, my deadlift increased about 70 lbs, bent over rows increased about 60 lbs. Recently I had to stop all pressing movements, flys, and all shoulder raises due to an aggravated rotator cuff. I am trying to rehabilitee the RC using high rep rotator cuff exercises and avoiding movements that aggravate it.

This is a problem I had too. That is, being afraid to eat after losing weight.

I think your approach is right re adding more calories into your diet slowly. I have seen it advised to add 250 cals to your daily calories. Then try that new calorie total for two weeks and have your body fat tested. If all is well then add another 250.

In my case I just jumped in at 3100. I gained muscle but no fat.

So I would say – don’t be afraid to eat as long as you are being active. You know what foods work for you, so that is good.

Again, congrats, you have accomplished SO MUCH!

Great work!! Kudos.

Congrats!

Thermo, excellent work! I was expecting to see a much skinnier version in the second picture, but not as built.

Your pecs and bis look quite thick and your abs look pretty solid.

People like you really do inspire. Great job!

Nice job man!

Just goes to show you that at any age and no matter where you start, if you have the drive and determination to succeed, you will!

Holy Hell!!

That’s awesome dude.

Congrats and thanks for sharing. . .

solid

Great job!!!