It seems like I’m preparing by unintentionally gaining about 10lb over my holiday break from work 
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A time-honored strategy!
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Oh yeah haha
I’ll be posting my before pics today before my lift.
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36 participants so far! How many more will enter today??
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How does that compare to previous years?
Edit: you know what? Stupid question to ask. I can go look as easily as you can. And I will, after a snowy hike and I get my prepped soup in a pot to simmer.
31 last year!
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I’m in.
My wife snapped these photos today, after a week off from lifting, being under the weather, and eating…poorly.
Like @burien_top_team it seems like my gainz over the past few years are only visible from the back.
46 yo
178 lbs today
Goals: New PRs in the bench press and squat, peaking near the end of February. Afterwards, complete a 12-week program that emphasizes conditioning.
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Let’s see if we can beat our number of finishers too!
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Whew this is embarrassing to post after winning last year. Well it’s called a challenge for a reason right?
Getting home from deployment was rough and things are better now, but drinking, eating like shit, and not sleeping take a toll.
current stats
Height: 6’5
Weight: 279
Goal weight: 245
I’ll be running a modified bro split and what I call the “Lose Weight Eating Boring Diet”, which is me pretty much eating the same foods forever in varying amount.
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Don’t be embarrassed. It’s hard to be a grownup and maintain all the things all the time.
We’re almost all, on this site, up and down just like you. That’s the bigger challenge - to keep climbing the same hill, hoping each time to go a little higher (at your age) or not lose too much ground (at my age).
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Primer coat went on yesterday! I installed a new cavity sliding door for the kitchen pantry over the holidays @alex_uk - bit of colour required, then skirting boards to finish it off.
Great snaps and plenty of people in for it in 2025. Let’s go team!
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You had the cajones to put the pics up; well done.
And everything @EmilyQ said
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Alright, after much reflection - I’m in for my first official (T)ransformation. Pics incoming.
Edit: Here we go, @TrainForPain - as requested!
- Age: 33
- Weight: 220lbs (last I checked)
- Height: 5’10”
Goals:
- Lose at least 10lbs.
- Aim for 80%+ consistency in training and diet
I’m currently in between programs, and training + diet has been fairly inconsistent for the last month or so due to work, international travel (I’m American but live and work in Ireland), and figuring out “what’s next” for my training + diet.
Current physique as of January 5, 2025. Insert the obligatory, “Hoo boy” we all feel at our “before” photos. 
In terms of what program, to run, I am thinking of a variation of The Ultimate Minimalist Training Plan, given time constraints (I work in tech, so I’m energy and time-constrained).
Let’s do this! 
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Sitting by the pool in Hoi An Vietnam thinking about how hard it will be to train when I get back to Australia later this week. And then I read this post and saw all the awesome entries this year. Now I am itching to get back under the bar and see what this 50 year old can being. Get to work everyone cause in 3 days time this holiday is over a s Simo will be back and fired up. Let’s go.
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Looks like we’re kicking this challenge off with 39 participants - good luck, folks! I’m looking forward to hearing how the first week goes.
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I can tighten my belt by an extra notch… as long as i’m content with my guts getting squeezed in by the same amount… does that count? 
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My workout on Friday was far more “transformative” than my usual sessions.
Usual sessions are barbell work, mostly geared to the O-lifts. This session was:
Mile valley run
20 min Emom of burpees and pullups
Mile valley run.
I’m now sore everywhere.
It’s clear from the soreness that I’ve been lacking this kind of movement in my training.
I only do three 1 hour training sessions per week. I can see that that is simply not enough to reach some awesome weightlifting goals and keep my body in good shape. I will now start spending probably one session per week on this sort of thing to keep myself in shape, and if that slows down my attainment of other goals, so be it.
The other approach, which would be to add more training time per week, is really just not tenable given my life and work situation. 3 hours will have to be enough.
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I think you got this the wrong way round, you are supposed to put bad pics for your before not good ones. LOL
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lol, not fair if I cheat and only use good lighting on the after pic!
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