PA's Transformation - Gym Motivation [Updated]

Lowest weigh-in: 178.6
Current weight: 194.4

Current PRs:

Bench: 205x2
Squat: 295x1
Deads: 395x1

Current physique:

Spoiler: Official 6 month transformation (43lbs)

It's still crazy to me to see how far I've come and I just want to show people that change is achievable and it doesn't take forever as long as you're motivated.

I couldn't do this without my friend Jacob, and I will be forever grateful.

My story started on December 1st, 2016. I was visiting family in NorCal and I was just done with how I looked. From December 1st, 2016 to February 3rd, 2017, I went from 248.3lbs to 224.0lbs. I did this in the stupidest way possible; I was nearly starving myself and was most definitely malnutrition-ed. I was seeing stupendous weight loss and I was somehow okay with what I was doing to accomplish it. My life changed completely on February 3rd.

I watched a ton of nutrition videos and concepts that completely changed my outlook on food and I felt like I could lose some pounds, but I never thought it'd be this drastic of a change. I met up with an old friend who happened to be extremely into fitness and weight-lifting. He convinced me to go to gym with him and I have never looked back since. I'll keep this post updated with my progress, but I hope to inspire anyone who thinks that changing your body is hard. Keep in mind I have only been at the gym for less than 6 months and I have never done a single cardio exercise. No treadmill, no bike, nothing.

At first I went 3-4 days a week with my friend, but he later got too busy to go and I was on my own. I started to test new workouts and created my own routine much later on through my transformation. I currently go 7 days a week and my split is:

Pull - Push - Shoulders - Legs (7 days a week, repeating)

Spoiler: July 3rd update

Spoiler: Feb 3rd - June 3rd updates

Besides looking a lot more presentable, transforming this much has changed my attitude on life drastically. At first I thought I was an introvert, but turns out I was just self-conscious. The confidence that comes with having the gym as your hobby is incredible, and I hope that anyone who is on the fence about workout out chooses to give it a try.

I started at 248.3lbs doing daily weigh-ins.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them below or PM me if they are more confidential. I'll try and keep this page updated, I try and take progress pictures on the 3rd of each month. Thanks for reading.

 

First of all, excellent work. Just curious on who you've been watching for your advice? There seems to be a plethora of fitness channels to skim through. Also. curious, are you in a maintenance or deficit, and if so, how large is your deficit? I know macros for everyone are different, but while cutting I like to be in a 1.1-1.2x protein:body weight ratio whereas with fats I stay at %20-%25 of total caloric intake leaving the carbs to fill in the gap, which has provided me with the best results.

 

Awesome work man keep it up what are you long term goals ? Any specific weight or body fat percentage

I know I personally need to hit the gym hard and start running these last few weeks on leave I been eating like a fat boy celebrating

 

I don't watch anyone for advice, I try to stay at a 1x protein:body weight ratio with a 20-25% fats ratio. Currently at 203.6 doing 200p/250c/56f. I'm doing 2300 and I've been at a steady loss of weight, so I'd assume it's a deficit. Once I plateau, I'll most likely try and drop to 2100cal and do some HIIT.

Going for 9-10%. I know it'll take a long time, but I'll achieve it.

 

Good too see mate. You planning to trim up even more or focus on building muscle?

 

Good progress so far, if you need further assistance I can help you out and give you some very useful tips in order to speed this process up.

 

Takes balls to make a post like this but I've been talking to you pretty much since the beginning. Keep it up dog

 

Cutting right now, trying to hit 180lbs.

If you're serious, hit me up with a PM and let me know something I don't, would be much appreciated.

<3 On the grind as usual, thanks man

 

Damn dude, awesome transition. Good work and respect for posting the pics.

How'd you figure out how to do this? I'm tryna tone up a bit cuz RS got me out of shape and honestly youtube is full of complete crap when it comes to stuff like this.

 

Nice bud, I'm not one to take photos of myself etc. But over the last 1-2 years I have just done some very basic training at home for only ~15 minutes a day, kept a strict diet and the most important thing for me is I feel healthy.

 

Your results are clear as day bro, keep it up with the dieting and weight training. My diet and exercise habits have seemed to decline since I became cracked out on cryptocurrency, so this is very motivational!

 

Step 1: Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs Figure out your TDEE (aka your calories you burn just living and doing your daily things)
Step 2: Subtract 250-500 calories (do not go higher or you'll feel like shit) from your TDEE, and go from there.
Step 3: Figure out Macros, simple guide.
A. Take your bodyweight, multiply it by 1-1.2x, and consume that as your protein.
B. Fats: Take your total calories, example being mine 2400*.20/9 = 53g, or if you want more fats 2400*.25/9 = 66g, this gives you room for wiggle, but I advise to not go higher.
C. Carbs are whatever calories you have left, so for example:

Say you weigh 180 lbs, and your TDEE is 2400 calories.
Protein: Anywhere from 180-216
Fats: Anywhere from 53-66 (20%-25%)
Carbs: Fats consist of 9 calories, while carbs/protein consist of 4, so simple math leaves you with:
180*4 = 720 possible calories from protein
53*9 = 477 possible calories from fats.
720+477=1197, now just do 2400-1197 = 1203/4 = 300g of carbs.
*Carbs will never be spot on, but this is a number that should be shot for.

Step 4: Download MyFitnessPal and track your calories and macros.
Step 5: Adjust macros/TDEE according to weight-loss progress; meaning that obviously if you went from 180 to 160 your TDEE would be different because you weigh 20 pounds less. (meaning your body does not need those calories required at 180, unless your activity levels were significantly higher requiring it.)

I think this is the most basic way that I can explain it, but if anyone has any other feedback, go ahead

 

Took a couple mins to work that all out, how would you go about actually working that into your diet tho? Appreciate the indepth response, I won't be the only person to benefit from it either

 

It took 2-3 weeks to figure out my actual TDEE, which is the calories you burn doing nothing but living. You can use any calculator for that on the internet and input your height/weight, but they aren't always accurate because the more muscle you have, the more calories you passively burn as well. Are you trying to go to gym as well or only lose weight by nutrition? Young_Sinatra did a decent job of explaining the basics of nutrition.

I'm not sure what you mean, but that's how you get your required macros. Then when you eat something, read the nutrition label and figure out how much of fat/protein/carbs you've had. I eat out every day (Chipotle, El Pollo Loco, Subway, even McDonald's) and their websites also have nutrition info for all of their food, even though it isn't 100% accurate (not to the gram, some patties too big, etc.)

I eat 2300cal a day, so if I drank a soda, I'd deduct those calories from that and that's how much you'd have left for the day.

 

Thanks man, progress pic coming up April 3rd and I've lost the most weight from March -> April than I have in any progress pic so this should be interesting to see.

 

Just something quick:

If you're talking about the foods you consume, this is what I meant by tracking your macros. I follow the eating habits of "IIFYM", AKA If If It Fits Your Macros, so basically, all you do is try to hit your macros with anything really (I fit pop tarts into my macros lol). This is where MyFitnessPal is very beneficial as it adds it up your calories/macronutrients for you. I don't want to say 'go eat chicken and brown rice' because it's not as black and white as it seems. I learned through literally walking down all the food aisles and figuring out what worked best for my eating/macros.

But, if you're wanting an example of IIFYM, here you go. This is my 'food diary' from MFP today:

Breakfast:
Multivitamin: 0 Calories
Fish oil: 15 calories
Coffee creamer: 20 calories

Breakfast - 35 calories (I practice Intermittnent fasting, aka just fasting until around noon-2pm so that I don't waste calories on breakfast as I've taught my body to not require those calories. It's rough for 2-3 weeks, but you adjust. This helps you 'stock up' on calories so that you can have 2-3 big meals versus eating like a rabbit and having 6 meals throughout the day.)

Lunch:
- Snickerdoodle Lenny and Larrys Cookie: 360 calories
- 4 large eggs: 280 calories
- Low calorie bread: 360 calories (8 slices)

Lunch: 1,000 calories. (Note, your lunch can be smaller than this, I split this in half as pre/post workout meals.

Dinner:
- Russet Potato 396g - 294 calories
(Note: This is where buying a food scale is beyond the upmost important when it comes to dieting. You truly do not know the nutritional information in most things, so it's best to weight everything out so you don't misjudge your food. The difference of 100g in this situation is 70 calories, and if you think about it, going about not weighing anything can have 3-4 situations of misguided eating leading to a 200-300 calorie surplus that you thought you were not consuming.)
- Chicken breast 12 oz - 360 calories
- Mozzarella cheese 56g - 160 calories
- Brown rice 158g - 560 calories

Dinner: 1374 calories
I know this is exactly what I said isn't required, but I fortunately enjoy the basic foods, but other days I can fit a slice of pizza into my macros if I choose to.

Total: 2409 calories. 180 protein/322 carb/40 fiber/54 fat.

If you want a more indepth response, post more specific questions and I'll do my best to provide information regarding it and/or videos I've found that have helped me reach my fitness goals.

 

Only exercise I'd do is maybe a few hours a week on my bike and pushup/situps/small weights I have sitting around the house.

When I finish school I plan on going to the gym over summer with a friend, so I'll have to recalculate the numbers I got already but that's fine.

Seems like a fair bit of effort to calculate what you're eating everyday, but I guess if you have a routine you know what you're eating all the time and it's a one time calculation. I'll take a look next time I make a meal

 

Yeah it'd be a bitch if you cooked new food every day, but I usually stick to a small variety that's autosaved in the MyFitnessPal app. Cottage cheese, whey protein, daily milkshakes, and chipotle/something similar is usually what I eat.

 

Is there anything other than IIFYM? That's my mantra lmao.

Today:

Breakfast: 0 (I also skip breakfast)

Lunch:
Wendy's Large Chili
Wendy's Double Stack
Wendy's Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Macros for lunch: 1,110cal (93g carbs/42g fats/86g protein)

Dinner:
Shake (I make my own, has a lot of nutritional value and protein)
Cottage cheese mixed with whey protein (actually delicious)

Macros for dinner: 871cal (90g carbs, 13g fats, 107g protein)

Preworkout (I go to gym at like 10pm):
McDonald's ice cream cone

Postworkout:
3 rice cakes

Macros for pre/post: 320cal (60g carbs, 5g fats, 8g proteins)

@Milotic That's how easy this shit is, I've lost almost 50lbs eating shit like wendy's and chipotle every day lmao, you just have to track your food. Once I get into really competitive weights (aka when I weigh 190) and I'm trying to hit 180, I'll have to measure and cook my own food because when you eat out, the serving size isn't 100% accurate.

 

I'll admit, in the beginning it is SUPER TEDIOUS, but once you have a solid week of tracking, hitting your macros, and when you lose weight like nothing, you'll be hooked.