A post on how to lose weight / how i lost 160lbs in 20 months

After getting enough people to ask me about how i did it (i got more than just a few messages as well)
i figured its time to write up a post about how i lost over 160lbs in body fat over a course of 20 months.
Background:
March 2014 i was 330lbs (my heaviest ever) and ive officially hit a breaking point. I have been fat my entire life and never had any motivation to lose weight. I was quick to hate myself but never quick to do a damn thing about it.
One day i walked in to buy clothes for a wedding, and boom, nothing but 3xl were fitting me, and let me tell you they werent big on me either. 3XL shirts and size 58 pants were tight around my waist and shirts looked like they were gonna burst open, the thought of asking if they had 4XL broke me down in the dressing room and i started to cry. I cried hard enough to realize if i dont change ill just get bigger and bigger until i die at the ripe age of 30.
I decided to change my entire lifestyle over night. The next morning i called up a really good friend of mine who had a transformation of his own 115lbs - 205lbs of musccle in 6 years to help me. He told me to just come to the gym that night and sign up and hed help me learn the basics of working out, the nutrition part id have to learn for myself. I took him up on his offer.
I started training march 1st 2014 and never looked back since, and since then i have lost a whopping 160lbs going from 330lbs at 52% body fat to a 205lbs 16% body fat.
Here is what i did to do it!
Remember - you could have the best personal regiment in the world. The best diet plan in the world catered specifically for you. Without what i consider the biggest parts of this journey ( SACRIFICE, DEDICATION, CONSISTENCY, and ASS BUSTING HARD WORK) you wont see the results you want.
Step 1 - JOIN A GYM - i tell everyone the same thing, yes you can lose a bit of holiday weight by taking daily walks or jogs and just cleaning up your diet but you wont even see huge transformations. JOIN A GYM. JOIN A GYM. JOIN A GYM. I cant stress this enough, even if its just planet fitness (10 dollars a month) start somewhere. Dont be intimidated or scared to join a gym. No one there is going to make fun of you, thats what i thought would happen. I was very self conscious, but everyone was so proud of me and ive made so many friends and received so much support to keep pushing. Believe me, joining the gym is very important and i highly recommend it (ill go into detail about my split at the gym later)
Step 2 - CHANGE YOUR DIET.
Diet is the most important aspect of anyone's progress, whether youre trying to build muscle and gain size, or youre trying to cut body fat and lost weight. You can't outrun a bad diet. I know a lot of people believe in this extreme eat whatever you want as long as its in the amount of calories youre supposed to eat. No there are many factors to eating beyond just calories. Being healthy is the goal here.
So my belief in eating is REPLACEMENT. If youre eating and drinking like shit, replace the items on your fucking plate. (EX: Fried meats replaced by grilled meats. French fries and bread replaced by white rice and baked potatos. buttery oily foods replaced by avocados and nuts)
All sugary drinks / Alcohol / Soda - REPLACED BY STRICTLY WATER AND METRIC FUCKTONS OF IT.
Lets talk about HOW to eat!
My dietary split was like this - 40% of my calories was from protein another 40% to carbohydrates and 20% were to my fats
I ate 6-7 times a day in portioned meals to keep my metabolism kicking and it really did help me.
instead of telling you my exact meal plan im going to just list examples of things you could eat.
Protein - Chicken, Lean Steaks (top / bottom / sirloin cuts), 95% lean ground meats (turkey, chicken, beef), Salmon, tuna, cod, flounder, striped bass etc etc, egg whites, turkey, protein powder (dont overdo it, its a waste of money) Lean pork.
Good Carbs - Sweet potato / Reg Potatos , White or brown rice , 100% whole wheat pasta, oatmeal, granola, chick peas, bananas (most fruits but dont overdo it because sugar is necessary but not in excess amounts) whole grains.
Fats - avocado, nuts, nut butter, cocunut oil/olive oil, greek yogurt, seeds etc.
to get you started, without getting crazy specific (you need to weigh your food if youre trying to prep for a bodybuilding competition like i am but you dont need to do this if youre just trying to lose fat)
You should have a fist worth of protein with each meal
An entire handful of carbs with each meal
2 fingers worth of fats with each meal.
(grilled roasted baked smoked steamed. NO FRYING YOUR FOOD)
My current meal plan while i prep for a competition to give you an example of how i eat
Meal 1 - 10egg whites / 100g steak and green veg
Meal 2 - 140g chicken / 20g nuts or nut butter or 70g avocado
Meal 3 - 140g ground turkey / 20g nuts or nut butter or 70g avocado
Meal 4 - 140g chicken / 25g nuts or nut butter or 90g avocado
Meal 5 - 140g baked top sirloin / 150g pasta / 50g asparagus
Meal 6 - 10 egg whites / 150g pasta / 50g asparagus
All these are UNCOOKED weights - this is just for example for you, dont follow this guide it may be too much or too little for you.
If you are steadily losing weight and eventually stop and plateau, shred a tiny bit off food off your meals and you'll notice you're losing weight again.
One of the things i tell people is dont be scared to cheat, every once in awhile its okay to enjoy your life and have that greasy as shit burger with cheese and bacon but let it be a treat meal not a daily habit.
If there is anything i missed in diet or anything anyone is unsure of please message me or post a comment ill reply as soon as i can.
THE WORK OUT -
Ok this is very important, the reason i tell everyone to go to the gym is very simple youre trying to change your body, go the distance. Dont settle for a loss in fat. Build a good tight body. If you become someone who just does cardio work, youll lose fat but youll also lose muscle and youll never look tight, youre gonna look flabby and soft. What some like to refer to as "skinny fat". Muscle building leads to more calories needing to be burned to stay alive and a faster metabolism. Itll greatly increase your weight loss and overall health. Women who are afraid of getting too "bulky" or too "muscular" dont worry about that you dont have nearly enough testosterone to build muscle like men and all those bulky women you see in the magazines are generally on a mild steroid and a very low dose of testosterone to help them achieve that bodybuilding look. Although there are some women who WANT to look like that and have the genetics for it and work their ass of to get that look.
My split was as follows - I went to the gym 6 days a week and took 2 days off. So 6 days on 2 days off to let my muscles recover and build and let my joints rest.
remember rest days are a must, a lot of people get addicted to the gym. You muscles dont build IN the gym, they grow OUTSIDE of the gym. When you sleep and rest.
Here is how my 6 day split was-
Day 1 - Chest
Day 2 - Back
Day 3 - Legs
Day 4 - Shoulders
Day 5 - Arms (Biceps + Triceps)
Day 6 - Core and body weight exercises
Cardio - High intensity cardio 5x a week for 15min a day. (by high intensity i mean gut wrenching, sweat dripping, clothes drenched, cant breath anymore, wanting to die, kind of cardio!) I always did the cardio POST workout so i could save my energy for the weight lifting.
For days i always start off with Compound lifts, meaning it uses 2 joint movements. These are generally the idolized lifts as they are the ones that build the most strength and muscle size.
I will give you an example of my daily workouts - People will say they suck - some will say they are too extreme - some will say its too easy. Everyone is different. find what works for you.
try to keep rest periods between sets down to 30 seconds to 1 minute
Chest Day -
Flat Bench Press - 5 Sets of 8-12 repetitions
- 2 sets of Drop sets (Drop sets are essentially a technique where you perform an exercise and then drop (reduce) the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure.)
Incline Bench Press - 5 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- 2 sets of drop sets to failure
incline dumbbell bench press - 5 sets of 8-12 reps
Incline dumbbell fly - 5 sets of 12-15 reps
Flat cable fly - 5 sets of 12-15
Peck Deck machine - 5 sets of 12-15
Lightweight flat dumbbell press - 3 sets to failure for a burnout
Back day (my favorite)
Deadlift - 5 sets of 8-12
- 2 sets of drop sets to failure
Barbell Row - 5 sets of 8-12
Widegrip Lat pulldown - 5 sets of 8-12
dumbbell pullovers - 5 sets of 8-12
Seated Cable row - 5 sets of 8-12
one arm dumbbell row - 5 sets of 8-12
5 sets of wide grip pull ups until failure
5 sets of close grip pull up until failure
(if you cant do a pull up - use the assisted machine)
Leg Day
Barbell Squat - 6 sets of 8-12
- 2 sets of drop sets
Lunges - 5 sets of 8-12
Leg press - 5 sets of 8-12
leg extension - 5 sets of 8-12
Leg curls - 5 sets of 8-12
stiff legged deadlifts - 5 sets of 8-12
Calve raises - 5 sets of 15-20
Inner and outer abductors - 5 sets of failure
Shoulders
Military press / Overhead press - 5 sets of 8-12
- 2 sets of drop sets
Dumbbell shoulder press - 5 sets of 8-12
Dumbbell side raises - 5 sets of 15-20
Dumbbell / straight bar / plate front raists - 5 sets of 15-20
Dumbbell rear delt raises - 5 sets of 15-20
Upright row - 5 sets of 15-20
Barbell / dumbbell shrugs - 5 sets of 8-12
Rear peck deck fly - 5 sets of 15-20
Arms -
Biceps-
Barbell curls - 6 sets of 8-12
Dumbell curls (one arm at a time) - 6 sets of 8-12
Dumbbell hammer curls - 6 sets of 8-12
Preacher curls - 6 sets of 8-12
Triceps -
Tricep Rope extension - 6 sets of 8-12
Skull crushers - 6 sets of 8-12
tricep pushdown - 6 sets of 8-12
Tricep cable / dumbbell kick backs - 6 sets of 8-12
Dips - 5 sets until failure for burnout
Core workout / body weight -
Transverse abs - 4 sets of 20
Cable crunches - 4 sets of 20
Woodcutters - 4 sets of 20
planks - 4 sets of until failure
Wide stance pushups - 3 sets until failure
close grip pushups - 3 sets until failure
Wide grip pull ups - 3 sets until failure
close grip pull ups - 3 sets until failure
Close grip dips - 3 sets until failure
wide grip dips - 3 sets until failure
A few things to mention- This is NOT what i do every week. This is just an example of a workout regiment that i started with. There was a lot of changing it up and a lot of variation to these workouts. I did not do the same thing constantly for 20 months. You need to change things up. You need to do your own research and figure out what works best for you.
Different order, maybe even have 2 body parts a day. Whatever works for you.
There are a lot of aspects to a workout i didnt mention (example - superset - pre exhaustion - paused reps - negatives) The point of this post is to give you something to get you STARTED so you can build off from and use it as a building block to your journey to a better body.
dont forget to not EGO LIFT. dont lift a weight you cant handle youll end up hurting yourself. Use your muscles to lift the weights, not your joints. If it hurts your joints, its best to listen to your body and stop doing that movement. Dont forget that with time youll need to up the weights on your workout and up the intensity. Take 30 second to 1 min rests in between sets. Drink lots of water, and most importantly stay focused. For however long youre there, try not to text or browse through social media. Losing focus is what leads to bad fucking workouts.
Youre there for yourself and only yourself. Dont worry about what anyone else does, thinks, or says. a lot of good info comes from other people in the gym but also a lot of bullshit and bro science gets spread around. Dont get too caught up in complicating shit. The simple old school techniques always worked, why fix something thats not broken!
Dont get sucked into bullshit supplement products. fat burners do not work, they are just loaded with stimulants to suppress your appetite. You NEED to eat, so do not starve yourself.
Supplements i recommend for ANYONE -
Protein powder (for post workout)
BCAA - Pre / post /mid workout
Creatine (5g a day)
Multi vitamins
Fish oil
Glucosamine (for your joints)
remember, dont fall slave to the number on the scale, i maintained the same weight for 8 months and i was shredding body fat. Muscle has weight too smile emoticon
its a slow process and remember that its not going to happen overnight, there is nothing out there that can make you lose a shit ton of weight fast so stay away from things that boast speedy ANYTHING.
you cant build muscle fast and you cant lost weight fast. Its a slow go process. Day by day and its important to always stay motivated and dedicated. Dont plan a big goal, do what i did and make goals 10lbs at a time. It helps stay on path when youre letting small goals eventually paint a bigger picture.
if there is anything that i missed please dont hesitate to message me and i will be glad to answer ANY fucking questions.
so good luck on losing weight and transforming yourself and be prepared for the waves of dick or pussy coming your way as your self confidence grows and self image gets polished up. Remember to have fun and when you look in the mirror realize one thing, its just YOU against YOU. no one else.
Thanks for reading this long ass fucking post smile emoticon