My fitness plan (FitBit Tracking and Quitting Sugar) -

[UnclePhil]

:powerlevel::powerlevel::powerlevel: I am a fat fuck. Five foot nine 1/2, 215 lbs with a BMI of 31.8.

I lost about 20 pounds beginning in September of last year, after I bought a FitBit tracker and became adamant about getting in my steps. But after a few exciting months of watching the number plummet on the scale, I hit a plateau, and after that slacked off on exercise. I also, to my shame, started knocking back Mountain Dews.

Recently I looked in the mirror and saw how my gut has come back with a vengeance. So decided to take action. This is my plan thus far.

The first thing I have done is cut out sugar, cold turkey. Not all sugar because sugar is in everything, but obvious sugar. No ice cream, no cookies, no candy, no chips and most importantly no soda, not even flavored water. I drink plain water now. I'm also studying nutrition facts to see how many grams are in a serving.

Second, I have started getting the numbers back up on my FitBack tracker. I realize getting 10k steps a day is not enough, baby steps, so my real goal is to get all greens on the app for as many days as possible. When I exercise I want to make sure it hurts at the end, so when I go to bed at night I realize how much pain I was in while on my feet.

Granted, this is the beginning. I know I will have to do more to get down to my ideal weight. When I hit my next plateau, where should I go from there? I'm tired of being a 34-year-old dough boy and I want to get in shape before it's too late.

 

[It's HK-47]

You'd be astounded by how much of a difference smaller, more-frequent meals can make combined with power-walking until you're too tired to keep going, and making certain that you never drink your calories unless it's in the form of some kind of meal supplement. Which I.. Don't recommend, but that depends on what you're planning to do. Flavoured drinks are totally fine, as long as they have no or exceedingly few (~1-10) calories.

When you start working towards muscle mass, that's where it gets weird because suddenly you need a crapload of calories and protein, but the more muscle you have the more fat you can burn off, since muscle is abnormally efficient at tearing through calories. I'd say that if you hit a plateau again, just go full-bore on adding a weight training routine into the mix to build up muscle mass so it can help you burn through to the next plateau. I've seen that work wonders for people before.

The Hell of it is that you can't really exist in a "comfort zone" for quite awhile, at least not until you're in what you consider to be an ideal range. Getting there is the bitch of it, maintaining what you've accomplished is relatively easy though. Don't go whole-ass health nut and only drink water and eat bread either--not unless you've got some super-human willpower--because your body will go fucking crazy and you'll wind up rationalizing binge-eating ten pizzas in the middle of the night. At the end of the day it's really just a matter of calories in VS. calories out, not bag-of-chips VS. a raw carrot. Eat healthier, absolutely, but don't torture yourself with non-meals that taste like wet cardboard.

The worst thing that you can do is give up, so just dial it back on the measurements and don't get discouraged by the day-to-day "results." You won't notice much of anything at all from day-to-day or even week-to-week, but if you keep at it and measure your progress once or twice a month, especially through something like a picture album? You'll be amazed at how much progress you've made.

 

[UnclePhil]

A week after I cut sugar my anxiety, depression and irritability went through the roof. It's a lesson in just how dependent my body has been on this shit as it's leaving my system. I haven't gone completely nuts, though. I still eat sandwiches with bread on them and put dressing on salad. I also have coffee every few mornings with a splash of creamer and a sweetener packet. I'm just avoiding junk food like it is heroin.

One other thing is I have designated Saturdays as a cheat day. I can have an ice cream sandwich or something, but only if I've been a good boy. That means exercising all week and abstaining. After I have had my treat, that's it, it's done; no binging on fun-sized Snickers bags. Next treat is not for seven more days.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Good luck, buddy. I've cut out obvious sugars and obvious carbs (bread, pasta, etc) since last November and it's made all the difference.

Portion control is really important too.

 

[It's HK-47]

Yeah, I can't really speak to the veracity of "cheat days" because I'm some kind of inhuman freak that actually hates candy and ice cream, so I can't rationalize why people voluntarily want to eat it. Sugary food tastes like liquid ass, but I think I was just born with a retarded tongue. Either way, don't be afraid of stuff like "liquid water enhancers" because they're almost always 0 calories and they can really help to take the edge off trying to quit sugar-heavy drinks by giving you an alternative that you can control the strength of to dilute them down over time. Or just... Keep drinking them, who cares. I do. They're not doing you any harm in the weight loss field since they have no calories so they can't be converted into spare tires.

Also I hope you don't mean ranch dressing because ranch dressing is literally just mayonnaise with a couple extra things thrown into the bottle. Eat it if you want to, but just be mindful of the fact that it's like 90% fucking mayonnaise and I wish I'd never learned that because I haven't been able to touch it ever since. My life was a mayonnaise-based lie and I was eating spoonfuls of mayonnaise oh god why didn't I read the label.

 

[LD 3187]

How accurate is this?

 

[UnclePhil]

How accurate is this?
View attachment 525721

Pretty accurate. A little more gut and less ass.

Also I hope you don't mean ranch dressing because ranch dressing is literally just mayonnaise with a couple extra things thrown into the bottle. Eat it if you want to, but just be mindful of the fact that it's like 90% fucking mayonnaise and I wish I'd never learned that because I haven't been able to touch it ever since. My life was a mayonnaise-based lie and I was eating spoonfuls of mayonnaise oh god why didn't I read the label.

I was talking about ranch. I'm reconsidering it, however. My friend put a picture in my head when he described ranch as "elephant semen."

 

[The Shadow]

Pretty accurate. A little more gut and less ass.



I was talking about ranch. I'm reconsidering it, however. My friend put a picture in my head when he described ranch as "elephant semen."

My recommendation is to try to find a vinegar or vinegrette based dressing. Vinegar has some great side benefits to your health if you can handle it.

 

[Crisseh]

where should I go from there? I'm tired of being a 34-year-old dough boy and I want to get in shape before it's too late.

It really depends on where you see yourself, and what goals you have after that. Fitness isn't something that you just do, and it's over. It's something you have to maintain, and preferably work on.

I find fitness is a gradual journey, and goals change through out the process. For me it was weight loss first. After I shed 30 pounds, then I wanted to get back into shape like I was in the past. Eventually even that turned into wanting to get into bodybuilding.

The best advice I can give you is start, just like your doing. With simple things. Then see where you want to be goal wise. Keep that image in your head and just start working at it. Start with one goal, then the next. And so on.

It's a long process, and there are no shortcuts. But if you keep goals that you can meet, it's a lot easier to stick with it.

 

[hotcheetospuffs]

I only clicked on this because I thought Amberlynn had made a new video.

 

[heathercho]

A week after I cut sugar my anxiety, depression and irritability went through the roof. It's a lesson in just how dependent my body has been on this shit as it's leaving my system. I haven't gone completely nuts, though. I still eat sandwiches with bread on them and put dressing on salad. I also have coffee every few mornings with a splash of creamer and a sweetener packet. I'm just avoiding junk food like it is heroin.

One other thing is I have designated Saturdays as a cheat day. I can have an ice cream sandwich or something, but only if I've been a good boy. That means exercising all week and abstaining. After I have had my treat, that's it, it's done; no binging on fun-sized Snickers bags. Next treat is not for seven more days.

After a while of not having sugary stuff, you'll actually really come to hate it. It will make your whole body ache if you try and eat it. You won't even crave it anymore. Don't be afraid of having treats though, but allow your tastes to change over time. You eventually will begin to favor something that is healthy over unnaturally sweet stuff. Just keep in mind not to consume too much "diet" based stuff, because the chemicals in that (unless it's naturally based) are going to form an addictive reception in your body, just like sugar etc did. They're just as horrible to get off.

 

[Commander Keen]

“Cheat days” are only for athletes who ingest a ton of calories anyway. If you’re just a fat lazy fuck, then you cannot have cheat days.

Eat less, “steps” aren’t gonna help you lose weight, see a professional and develop a nutrition plan and an exercise plan. You’re gonna have to move your body, not just walk around.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

Fit bit is a waste of money. Weight loss is 90% diet. You can (almost) always out-eat any amount of exercise you do.

Get an expensive gym membership so you'll feel compelled to actually work out. Start a strength training program (either get a trainer or an online program and learn to do the exercises properly), do low-intensity cardio, and eat fewer calories than you burn.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

You'd be astounded by how much of a difference smaller, more-frequent meals can make combined with power-walking until you're too tired to keep going, and making certain that you never drink your calories unless it's in the form of some kind of meal supplement. Which I.. Don't recommend, but that depends on what you're planning to do. Flavoured drinks are totally fine, as long as they have no or exceedingly few (~1-10) calories.

When you start working towards muscle mass, that's where it gets weird because suddenly you need a crapload of calories and protein, but the more muscle you have the more fat you can burn off, since muscle is abnormally efficient at tearing through calories. I'd say that if you hit a plateau again, just go full-bore on adding a weight training routine into the mix to build up muscle mass so it can help you burn through to the next plateau. I've seen that work wonders for people before.

The Hell of it is that you can't really exist in a "comfort zone" for quite awhile, at least not until you're in what you consider to be an ideal range. Getting there is the bitch of it, maintaining what you've accomplished is relatively easy though. Don't go whole-ass health nut and only drink water and eat bread either--not unless you've got some super-human willpower--because your body will go fucking crazy and you'll wind up rationalizing binge-eating ten pizzas in the middle of the night. At the end of the day it's really just a matter of calories in VS. calories out, not bag-of-chips VS. a raw carrot. Eat healthier, absolutely, but don't torture yourself with non-meals that taste like wet cardboard.

The worst thing that you can do is give up, so just dial it back on the measurements and don't get discouraged by the day-to-day "results." You won't notice much of anything at all from day-to-day or even week-to-week, but if you keep at it and measure your progress once or twice a month, especially through something like a picture album? You'll be amazed at how much progress you've made.

This guy speaks the truth.

Also, don't do any fad diets or anything like that. That shit doesn't last. Make slow, gradual changes to your diet (i.e. if you drink 4 cans of Mountain Dew a day, lower it to 2 per day for a few weeks, then go 0, and skimp out a few other things). I was a fat fuck and at age 22 and I started working out. Got far more into it about age 24, then started casually bodybuilding at age 28, then more hardcore into lifting at age 30.

Another tip: count calories and weigh yourself, in the morning after your morning pee, each day. Don't freak out about individual days, but instead, watch the progress. Record your weight so you can make sure you are trending downwards.

For weight loss, it's calories in - calories out. Don't eat just junk food, but you don't have to eat nothing but chicken breast and broccoli either. My usual food per day while bulking is: oats, whole m-ilk (stupid wordfilter), pasta, rice, chicken, beans, vegetables, fruit. When cutting, it's pretty much the same thing only I replace pasta with rice since it's more filling and usually eliminate whole m-ilk since it's a lot of calories. Diet soda is fine, too.

 

[Commander Keen]

This guy speaks the truth.

Also, don't do any fad diets or anything like that. That shit doesn't last. Make slow, gradual changes to your diet (i.e. if you drink 4 cans of Mountain Dew a day, lower it to 2 per day for a few weeks, then go 0, and skimp out a few other things). I was a fat fuck and at age 22 and I started working out. Got far more into it about age 24, then started casually bodybuilding at age 28, then more hardcore into lifting at age 30.

Another tip: count calories and weigh yourself, in the morning after your morning pee, each day. Don't freak out about individual days, but instead, watch the progress. Record your weight so you can make sure you are trending downwards.

For weight loss, it's calories in - calories out. Don't eat just junk food, but you don't have to eat nothing but chicken breast and broccoli either. My usual food per day while bulking is: oats, whole m-ilk (stupid wordfilter), pasta, rice, chicken, beans, vegetables, fruit. When cutting, it's pretty much the same thing only I replace pasta with rice since it's more filling and usually eliminate whole m-ilk since it's a lot of calories. Diet soda is fine, too.

All well and good, but diet sodas are a killer and not really “better” for you than regular soda. If you absolutely must have sodas, then replace the rank and file Coca Cola with Mexican Coca Cola. Hecho en Mexico. That’s at least real sugar (depending on where you live and what’s being imported, assuming American status) and the added cost (depending on where you live) will dissuade you from chugging them down.

That’s what I did, at least. I opted for the more expensive and “more natural” sodas and they were so goddamn expensive that I tried to make them last.

A lot of fat people think that the “diet” label on a soda allows them free reign to pound them like a frat boy pounds keystone.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

All well and good, but diet sodas are a killer and not really “better” for you than regular soda. If you absolutely must have sodas, then replace the rank and file Coca Cola with Mexican Coca Cola. Hecho en Mexico. That’s at least real sugar (depending on where you live and what’s being imported, assuming American status) and the added cost (depending on where you live) will dissuade you from chugging them down.

That’s what I did, at least. I opted for the more expensive and “more natural” sodas and they were so goddamn expensive that I tried to make them last.

A lot of fat people think that the “diet” label on a soda allows them free reign to pound them like a frat boy pounds keystone.

Diet sodas are fine. Aspartame is 0 calories and is the most studied food ingredient on the planet. Obviously water is better, but diet soda is better than regular soda

 

[Commander Keen]

Diet sodas are fine. Aspartame is 0 calories and is the most studied food ingredient on the planet. Obviously water is better, but diet soda is better than regular soda

Aspartame has about as many calories as sugar, but you need only a fraction of the amount which is why there are so few calories. So less aspartame is needed, thus less calories. If you “ate a spoonful” of sugar then compared it to a “spoonful” of aspartame, the sweetness would probably destroy you but your actual caloric intake would be similar.

I’m not one of those crazy people who says Diet Pepsi causes cancer, genetic damage, or anything like that. I’m saying they’re dangerous in a more insidious way: you think you can drink a ton of them since they’re “diet”. Aspartame will still trick your pancreas into overproduction just like sugar will (or at least that’s what research is suggesting) if you go nuts with it and if you’re obese you’re already at-risk for type 2 diabetes.

So I just tell fat kids who want to be trim to drink regular sodas if they have to, just try to moderate. The best way, for myself at least, to moderate food is to buy expensive shit since you’re more willing to make it last and less likely to buy a lot of it.

It’s really easy for an obese person addicted to sugar to buy a few cases of diet Mountain Dew and chug them one after another since, hey, it’s diet. Your pancreas is still working since it thinks you’re ingesting sugar. It’s better to buy that organic, home brewed, boutique, imported, non-GMO, hand made, no artificial color added root beer four pack for 20 bucks and just go “goddamn, that was a 20-dollar four pack, I gotta make them last”.

 

[It's HK-47]

It's been a few months, now. How's the plan been working out for you?

Maybe you're doing well and everything's gone according to plan, and you're finally starting to notice that you're able to squeeze back into those old jeans that you haven't been able to wear for years now, but I think the odds are much more likely that you slipped up, stopped exercising, and at some point probably rationalized eating an entire cake in one sitting.

If that's the case, or just for anyone coming through who's open to some advice, here's one some the best I've ever gotten:

Stop attributing emotion to your weight loss.
​

If you miss a shower do you roll around and feel bad for yourself and give up all hope that you'll never get clean so why bother showering anymore? Do you do that if you forget to brush your teeth? If you forget to shave in the morning? No? Then why the fuck are you doing it for your exercise and nutritional plans? There's no such thing as a diet that will keep you thin and get you into shape, the only way to do this is by routine exercise and by keeping an eye on what you eat.

The good news is that you don't need to wake up every single morning and go jogging for ten hours, or spend your entire life eating boiled chicken and drinking water. There's an incredible number of options out there for cardio, so much so that you'll never even have to go jogging unless you want to, and some of the best cardio options (Battle ropes, burpees, jumping jacks, etc) can be done indoors, and most of them can be done without anything more than the floor and your own, damned body. All you need to do is go at them as hard as you can. You want high intensity, not high duration.

The food you eat doesn't matter as much as you'd might expect, either. You don't need to relegate yourself to flavourless paste and boiled meat, you can eat just about anything that you want, but you need to watch the caloric intake, at first. Once you really get the ball rolling you don't even need to count calories anymore to maintain, but at the start of this I'd highly recommend it because it helps you get a much better grasp on just how many calories go into what sorts of foods, and after awhile it'll start to become second nature.

Find what sorts of cardio you can stand to do, and just keep up with that every single day. It doesn't even take all that much, just do some jumping jacks and burpees and maybe even sprint from one side of your backyard to the other every single day for a total of maybe 15-20 minutes. Combine that with a caloric deficit of around 1500-1800 per day, and start taking pictures. I don't care how big you are: You'll shrink, and fast.

Make friends with your spice rack, become more familiar with wraps and oatmeal and eggs and tuna recipes because even with just those you can make a pretty damned significant number of dishes. You think a wrap has to be a few slivers of meat and a spinach leaf? Do it up properly and you can make a decent wrap in the range of 250-350 calories per wrap, and they can be anything from tuna salad to Cajun chicken. Think oatmeal has to be this bland, boring mush? Add a tablespoon of peanutbutter for protein and some cinnamon, or go nuts with alternative recipes that have nothing to do with breakfast. Get some onion, some garlic, an egg and some oatmeal and you can scramble it up and it tastes like goddamned potatoes, and you still won't break 300 calories per bowl.

Just find whatever foods work for you, because there's no "right" answer when it comes to what to eat, all that matters is that you're able to find what foods you enjoy enough to be able to make this a lifelong habit, and the more muscle you build, the more you can start to relax your caloric intake because you'll need to be burning even more of them. Once you get there you can heap on 2500-3000+ calories a day without even getting into the "serious" bodybuilding stuff, it's just gonna' be a rough couple of months at the start while you acclimate to the changes and learn how to properly portion things out.

It's genuinely not as difficult as people make it out to be, it just takes a little willpower and lot of patience. This will not be a fast road, but you can make serious, physical changes to your entire body in under a year if you stick to it, no matter how old you are. I didn't get serious about this sort of thing until I was in my mid-thirties, and then in the span of a few months I was seeing changes so significant that I had to go shopping for new pants because all of mine kept falling off my hips, and I hadn't even bothered to get a gym membership at the time. I had two dumbbells that weighed probably 15lbs each, a 25lb kettlebell, and I did all of my exercising in my home or in the backyard, and that was all I needed to get started.

Either way, how many more times do you want to step out of the shower in the morning, sigh at yourself in the mirror, slap your stomach and go, "Yeah I should lose some weight. Maybe tomorrow." You don't need to be in shape to get started, but you do need to get started to be in shape.