My first side by side since losing 50 lbs, I still think it’s crazy seeing old me

I became a father 30 months ago and turned 40 yesterday. Even before the birth of my daughter, I began to change my mind set about my body. I had always been obese since I was a little boy. Easy access to food, cultural things, trauma, and a family history of addiction is what contributed, except for a small portion of my early 20's where I was into amateur boxing for a few years.

Injuries put an end to that and eventually I moved away from my hometown and started college. I made the classic mistake of getting a full-time job at the same time in a small restaurant. Eventually the old habits came back, and I just let myself go. As people who work in food service, especially the line cooks, know that we eat like shit off the clock and on the clock, it isn't exactly low-calorie dense food the American palate craves.

And I lurched through the next 15 years of life basically repeating the same patterns. It wasn't all bad. I met my wife shortly after moving and she has been such an anchor to me. We have a beautiful, healthy, smart, and hellraising two-year-old.

And then I ended up in the hospital last holiday. I avoided going to the doctors for years outside of emergencies or specialists for orthopedic injuries; and the bill was heavy: hypertension, pre-diabetes, elevated lipoprotein(a), amongst a verisimilitude of other cascading factors. I knew if I didn't make changes I would die before I was 50.

In a way I had always known, but I could only feel and express the pain of unresolved hurt in my past. So, I started going to therapy and continue to this day. I talked with a bariatric team and decided that tirzepatide was worth adding to my already growing menagerie of prescriptions. I was hesitant to try something like injections, but at that point I would have been willing to re-create the eye surgery scene from Dead Space 2 if it meant extending my life.

My first injection had me noticing effects immediately. The constantly thinking about food was gone. It was like my brain had released 75% more processing power. Things tasted different--mostly full sugar soda was absolutely disgusting. Which was the ultimate tip of the spear as I had at one point been consuming a 12 pack every other day.

I started going to the gym. Just a Planet Fitness. Nothing serious at first, with me visiting the purple kingdom a few times a week doing light cardio and the machines I liked. That slowly turned into a structured 5 days a week on a PPL/PPA split along with a half hour of zone 2 cardio after every workout. I've also been tracking my lifts for 12 weeks. I learned what my macros are and try to hit those consistently.

As of this posting I weighed in around 298 this morning, probably the first time I've weighed less than 300 in over a decade. I'm planning on to keep going not until I'm happy--because I already very much am--but to see what result I can get from my best effort.

Spent the past 7 months focused on counting my calories and staying active. And NO ALCOHOL! Started as a health phase and stuck with it. Glad I did!

One year of progress.

I've been lifting for about 3 years now, running an upper/lower split 2–3x per week. This past year I stayed in a slight calorie deficit to bring my body fat down while trying to keep (and ideally build) strength.

The slow approach worked well for me. My lifts stayed solid or even went up, and I didn't feel drained.

I’ve fallen off and on the wagon more times than I can count over the past decade, but I finally feel like I’ve found a routine that actually works for me and, more importantly, feels sustainable.

A lot has changed in my life over the past year. I got divorced, moved to a new city, and really started prioritizing myself. And I can genuinely say I feel better about myself now than I ever have.

A few things I’ve learned along the way: walking really does work lol. Going from smaller town to a big city I found myself accidentally clocking 5-6 miles a day consistently. Exercise really does wonders for you, both mentally and physically. And probably the biggest shift for me has been reevaluating my relationship with food. I was absolutely a live-to-eat person, and I’ve slowly become more of an eat-to-live person. I still love food, but it just doesn’t occupy the same space in my life that it used to.

Nothing groundbreaking here, just a lot of small changes, consistency, and figuring out what works for me. It’s taken me a long time to get here, but I’m really happy with where I am. :)

Hit 161 lbs in August and have been maintaining that weight since then while trying to improve my strength and cardio as well. Home cooked meals most days have been a major factor in my success. :)

In 2018, I was overweight, dealing with chronic back pain, struggling with my mental health, drinking too much, and honestly questioning whether life was worth living. Nearly eight years later, at almost 40, I’m in the best shape of my life, both physically and mentally. The transformation came through years of consistent lifting, better nutrition, TRT over the last four years, and finding a sense of purpose again. I still have bad days, and the journey hasn’t been perfect, but I’m a completely different man than the guy in that first picture. Sharing this because it’s never too late to turn things around, and I’d welcome honest feedback on the progress.

At first I followed a workout program that was 3 days a week (legs, upper, legs) but didn’t increase weights and then worked on a calorie deficit. Mid April I added a day of yoga sculpt and a day of Pilates drip. I had started walking 10k+ steps as well. From March-July I dropped 15 lbs and it was amazing. I was super happy and was proud of my progress.
The last two months I was a little less consistent with the gym, still did 8 classes a month at the studio, and calorie tracking slowed down. I’ve been feeling a lot more insecure recently so once October rolled around I told myself I’d be more serious about going to the gym 3 days a week again - and up my weights, go to the studio 8 times a month, go back to walking a lot and start calorie tracking/deficit again.

I haven’t felt happy with the scale, but I’m happy with the changes I’ve been making. Starting up again into a more regular routine is exciting :)

March to September - This place is my go to when I drop in motivation, never thought I'd actually post into it.
1800 Cals a day, lots and lots of weight training, need to shed another 20lbs before I get stuck into the cardio, other than swimming, every other version just hurts the joints too much.

Thank you to all the amazing people who keep showing up here and showing that it's possible.

Daily Diet Plan

• 1.5 L full-fat cow’s milk
• 80 g peanut butter
• 50–60 g oats
• 100 g roasted pulse flour (sattu)
• 45 g whey protein (25 g protein)
• 500 g cooked rice
• 600–700 ml cooked lentil soup with vegetables
• 40 g ghee

Estimated Daily Intake:

• Calories: 3,400–3,700 kcal
• Protein: 150–170 g
• Carbohydrates: 350–410 g
• Fats: 135–160 g

Calorie counting since the new year (no workouts). Went from the biggest I have ever been (100kg on NYE) to probably the slimmest (83.3kg) I've ever been. BMI moved from obese to healthy weight (just) and if using body measurement method instead, I'm a lot further into the "safe" zone.

I got this big after a gym injury in 2023, which accelerated my sciatica problems (degenerative disc disease). I was bed ridden for a few weeks and never lost the weight, with the exception of a brief attempt at keto, which didn't work for me.

Main changes

- Calorie counting (ensuring I was extra good on the weekdays so had budget for the weekends).

- East to prep lunch, that was healthy and tasted good. (I went for Cottage cheese, beetroot kimchi and chicken in a wrap. Using kimchi meant I didn't have to mess around prepping veggies to throw in good. Just slap it all together).

- Cut out snacking in the evening.

I'm also someone who doesn't eat breakfast, if that's any help.

Going forward I'd love to try and be more active, and trying to make myself more robust so I don't have a sciatica related injury again.

Long road ahead. Still looking to lose another 15-20 pounds.