Okay, folks, here I am....

**FitnessPhotos** · January 26th, 2007, 04:33 PM

I've finally gotten up the courage to post a picture; I setup the camera myself, so not much went into the production.

I started my training after getting out of shape and finding myself at a whopping 259 pounds and very unhappy with how I looked. It's been a long road because I love bodybuilding, but hate cardio. Today I weighed in at 231 - a 28 pound loss. My goal has been 230 and I'm almost there. My body fat was 17.2% - my goal is 16%. Oh, and I am 40 years old.

I did a half marathon a couple weeks ago at Disney, a 65 mile bike event and a small Tri last year. I'm not much for events, but the events helped me find new ways of defining goals and staying motivated.

I hit the gym 6 days a week - religiously. I never skip a day (unless I am sick as a dog) and even go back to nights a week to add in spin or other cardio.

So, having said all that.... here I am.

**tellico** · January 26th, 2007, 04:54 PM

Nice! congrats on your 28 lb loss, I know how tough it is... I'm only 10 lb into my own journey. events keep it interesting. You've obviously worked very hard, and it shows!!

**Doughboy** · January 26th, 2007, 04:57 PM

Yeah bro I can tell from your avatar and your older avatar and lookin at that u lost alot of fat bro. Nice

tnx4yourhelp · January 26th, 2007, 04:57 PM

congrats on losing the weight

**CrazyCanuck** · January 26th, 2007, 05:05 PM

gratz on dropping the pounds, and a 1/2 marathon, bike even, and small tri are damn impressive, way to go!

**luggaguy** · January 26th, 2007, 08:36 PM

Good job man, won't be long before that body fat % is even lower!

**mavgrad99** · January 26th, 2007, 09:21 PM

lookin lean and mean boss! good work.

**crazyed** · January 27th, 2007, 12:01 AM

nicely done. i'm doing a similar thing. partly for some minor health reasons (high BP), but mainly because i HATE my gut. i've lost 10 lbs so far...I ride nearly every day. i'm guessing i love carbs as much as you hate cardio. keep up the great work.

**raijin1** · January 27th, 2007, 01:03 AM

Nice Mike, definitely a big difference between the avatar and the current pic, just as Doughie said... Keep it up...!

And all this time, I thought you looked like this... heheheheh

Jokes aside... We have very similar body frames, although I think you are a bit taller than me... Mesomorphic, good muscle mass, but not yet super ripped... I really gotta cut out those weekend beers to get where I want to be...

**Insex** · January 27th, 2007, 05:55 AM

Your hard work and dedication shows FP. I'm sure you'll surpass your current goals. Keep up the good work.

By the way, how long has it been since you started this weight loss journey?

**FitnessPhotos** · January 27th, 2007, 09:25 AM

Thank you, everyone.

I've been back to the gym for two and a have years now - consistently. As I said, I go 6 days a week and if I miss a day because I am sick, I make it up. Except for a family vacation or two, I'm there.

I lost 20 pounds over the first year just by exercising again - my goal was to loose the weight in a way that didn't involve fad diets or a dramatic change that I couldn't live with. I needed to loose weight in a way that would last me a lifetime and not just a few month - so I started watching my food and making subtle changes to keep my calories down.

But, I made mistakes along the way - been planning to post about them soon. I don't do everything perfectly and I am prone to making mistakes - having a wife that is more dedicated than anyone I know helps, but it still means having to be honest with yourself and not trying to take shortcuts.

In the nutshell, here they are:

. Calories, calories, calories. It's not the main meals that sabotages your workout - it's the little snacking you do at night while watching television; or, in my case, waking up at 2am so hungry I can't go back to sleep until I have something to eat. One bad PB&J sandwich can negate 45 minutes of cardio!

. Supplements. This was harder to learn - some supplements, like creatine, appear to make you retain water weight - and just recently I had gone back up to 239. I stopped taking my pre-working supplements of creatine, arginine and glutamine and dropped 8 pounds in about two months. I am convinced most of that was retained water. For a long time I was trying this creatine powder and when I'd drink it I was wired and thought, great, this stuff is awesome. Then I read an article about how creatine doesn't have calories or carbs - I went to read my label and it turns out one serving of the mixture I was using had 38g of carbs and 150 calories! Woah! I switched to creatine monohydrate and cut all the calories and carbs. Which leads me to....

. Read the label! Man, I never looked at those things. But you'd be amazed what we are putting into our systems at times. Check nutrition information at places you eat - again, amazement. Like Olive Garden? Man, try going online and seeing how many calories and fat are in the Tour Of Italy serving. My wife made muffins to take to the gym for staff - MUFFINS! Not too bad, you think. Wrong! 650 calories for one muffin! That's an hour of intense cardio! Know what you are eating before you eat it.

. Diet. Alot of things I have to look at now as "how long would I have to run on the treadmill to burn that off?" (I hate the treadmill, so this is incentive). Stuff like bagles - 400 calories and tons of fast burning sugar, very bad for preworkout. Stuff like butter, mayo, salad dressings - instant workout killers. How great would you feel about eating those fries with your burger if you knew you'd have to run all out for an hour on a treadmill just to burn them off - and with virtually no nutritional value, what's the point? Sure it tastes good and might make for a rare treat - but do that enough and you'll never see any progress.

. Cardio. I love push weights around; but that isn't sustained cardio by any means. And 20 minutes of it just isn't enough to get a good calorie burn; I saw my biggest progress when I went from 15-20 minutes of cadio to no less than 30 minutes, more like 45 and on weekends 60-90 minutes (in addition to a couple hour long spin classes every week). No doubt about it, to loose the chub-chub you have to burn the calories by sweating it out.

I believe I've finally reached a breakthrough and found a balance of food that I can enjoy, a supplement program that works without sabotaging my workouts or adding the wrong kind of weight when I don't want it. I may still enjoy a bit of cheese fries now and then, but I try to offset it with alot of cardio the next day.

So, I hope this helps anyone else; it's been a long road and I could have cut it shorter had I known what I know now - it's not like I didn't have experience before; I lifted for 12 years back in the 80's and 90's. The difference now is I am 40 and it is the attention to details that makes or breaks your goals. I'll keep trucking along, make more mistakes; but in the end hopefully achieve the new goals I plan to set for myself.

**cracken** · January 28th, 2007, 08:20 PM

Looking good FP

Congrats on your progress & best of luck reaching all of your goals.

rickroo · February 1st, 2007, 07:19 AM

May I ask how tall are you?

**FitnessPhotos** · February 1st, 2007, 08:15 AM

6'.

My last measurements were back at the beginning of October; I'm due for a remeasuring.

**Gman1524** · February 1st, 2007, 09:08 PM

Hot. Have nudes?

**bouncer** · February 1st, 2007, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gman1524

Hot. Have nudes?

Leave it to Gman!

Besides that, great job from another guy whose age starts with a "4."

**timzombie** · February 2nd, 2007, 04:57 AM

nice one FP

i think i'm of the same frame as you and raijin. takes forever to "get ripped"
as he put it . . . i think.

but it goes to show what you can get with dedication. looking good and keep it up

inspirational to say the least

**Darren0901** · February 2nd, 2007, 02:51 PM

Nice pic boss, thanks for posting.

**engr** · February 5th, 2007, 01:45 PM

Thanks FP for the pics and back story. It's good inspiration for me!

Engr