Sharing my journey from being fat to (almost) 6 pack: 24 weeks of counting macros and moving barbells.

I just finished a very lengthy cut and officially started bulking. I realized that I transitioned out of the cut and didn't really have anyone to celebrate this with since sending shirtless pictures to my friends is weird. I wanted to post and celebrate all my hard work and success so here goes-

Here's my progress pic-

Here's my weight loss chart. You can see I started eating at maintenance again and gained a TON of weight, guess what- I still look the same! Working on ignoring the scale.

Disclaimer: I hired a coach and went into this extremely knowledgeable about weight loss, I had regained a bunch of weight due to mental health issues and stress. I also knew a ton about training, and was in really good aerobic shape (I run and bike a lot). My progress is good but probably not attainable if you are a beginner who doesn't know much about diet and exercise to begin with.

Fat Loss

Starting weight was around 176 +/- 3 pounds depending on the bloat level from food. I cut down to 162 at the absolute lowest but stabilized around 167 once I got out of the calorie deficit.

Training

My training consists of barbell compound training 4 days a week (MTThF), and most weeks I do two long endurance activities (Wed+Sat). I also do a fair amount of shorter walks and runs on a stationary bike and treadmill for warm ups / generic aerobic fitness. This is not because I am trying to do cardio to lose weight, this is because I am an endurance athlete and love running and cycling.

1RM estimates from Gravitus app:

Back Squat: 217, Bench: 177; Deadlift: 286

Macros and Food:

Every day I would intermittent fast and split my food between two meals, lunch and dinner, usually 40/60 or 50/50 split. I push my last meal out to be close to bed so I don't cheat. I drink a lot of coffee.

Training Day: P:175 C:220 F:65

Rest Day: P:175 C:90 F:65

My meals were pretty consistent, I ate:

Bulk cooked chicken, huge salads (spring mix, romaine, cucumber, broccoli, tomato), rice, Amy's frozen mac and cheese, Amy's frozen margherita pizza, bulk pre cooked mashed potatoes from the grocery store, oranges, popcorn, and gnocci. I avoided protein powders and sugar and opted for high satiety high nutrition foods- balanced with Amy's Margherita Pizza's and Popcorn to keep me "happy".

Honestly a truly massive percent of my calories came from 4 things. I juste ate these things again and again and had the groceries delivered to my house whenever I was at risk of not having food at home. I made this as easy as possible.

1. Bulk cooked chicken (Traeger smoked or instant pot)
2. Pre cooked rice bowls from Costco
3. Frozen Amy's Mac and Cheese
4. Whole Foods Ranch Dressing

Issues:

Sleep. Sleep got really bad at the end and is really the only reason I switched to a bulk. I just couldn't sleep well after getting down to this level of body fat.

Travel. During the stall in the chart, I traveled a shit ton and indulged in lots of alcohol and amazing food. I kept up training and a really high energy expenditure all the while. Didn't let things get out of hand for more than a week at a time.

Stalls. I stalled like crazy. It's pretty evident in the chart. Took lots of patience to get through this.

Stats:

• 7 day average Weight: 31JULY2021: 174.5; 22JAN2022: 166.3
• Chest(CM): 31JULY2021: 97; 22JAN2022: 88.5
• R arm(CM): 31JULY2021: 33; 22JAN2022: 32.4
• L arm(CM): 31JULY2021: 32.7; 22JAN2022: 32.4
• 2" above navel(CM): 31JULY2021: 85; 22JAN2022: 76
• Navel(CM): 31JULY2021: 88.8; 22JAN2022: 79
• 2" below navel (CM): 31JULY2021: 91; 22JAN2022: 83.5
• Hips(CM): 31JULY2021: 99; 22JAN2022: 95
• R thigh(CM): 31JULY2021: 57; 22JAN2022: 55.4
• L thigh(CM): 31JULY2021: 57.2; 22JAN2022: 55.4

submitted by /u/Michaelscotch33
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/sdmdc9/sharing_my_journey_from_being_fat_to_almost_6/