Haven’t updated this in a while, but to keep it short - I trained the week of December 18-24, and had a more or less average week. Then on the 24th, I caught Covid for the first time. It basically was like a cold, but sucks to have had 2 “colds” in one month like that. I was planning on taking it easy the last week of 2022, but that kind of settled it. I ate like I wanted to, but didn’t go too far either. I’m still testing positive right now, but my symptoms are almost completely gone, just a cough/runny nose left. Once I test negative a few times I will be back in the gym.
An Update on Progress Made in 2022
This log was started with the primary goal of hitting 200lbs with a flat stomach by year’s end. The total change from beginning to end is as follows:
Weight: 241.6 lbs to 203.8lbs (total loss of 37.8 lbs)
Waist: 45’’ to 37’’ (total loss of 8’')
I’ve been taking pics at least once a week, but prefer to not post them. But for now for anyone who was following (and thanks!) I will post a pic from July 4 and December 31 of 2022 to show the change as well. (I’ll probably delete this later). I’m not flexing in either pic if it isn’t obvious lol. I’ve got a flat stomach now, but still have some love handles/back fat I could lose.
(and yes, I have a case of gyno that I’ve had since puberty, but I can only improve that so much with fat loss – just ignore that part. The front facing pics don’t show, but the fat loss has helped it not look as bad, too.)
Next Steps
All of December I felt pretty tired of eating like I was, and in terms of how I feel, I definitely want to et a bit more and focus more on getting stronger, and being better conditioned. My lifts went up during the cut, but not that much. Would be nice to try to beat the logbook without being at a caloric deficit.
But at the same time, as I got really close to the 200 lbs goal I had, I could see from the pics (and now anyone reading this can see) that I could still be leaner. I’m not lean at this point, just not as fat. My modest goals at the start of the log were definitely hit aside from weighing exactly 200lbs, but I now think I could stand to lose another 15-25lbs. I think I’d look really good if I got down to like 185-190lbs at my height, assuming I maintained what muscle I have. Not look BB good, but general population good, which is all I want at this point. Modest goals, still. Last time I weighed 185-190 lbs was when I was 18 years old.
Soooo, I will continue cutting for at least another month, maybe 2 months. I’ll try to lose as much as I can, and hopefully I’m in that 185-190lbs range. Yes, this would require me losing weight as fast as I did in September and October, not like December, but I think I can pull that off again. In terms of the approach, I will keep a straight caloric deficit like I have been, and either increase that deficit or add in moderate intensity cardio - i.e finally use that exercise bike I wasted so much money on. I will still lift hard, but I’m totally prepared to lose some strength in the next month or two if it means I lose weight - within reason of course. I can regain any lost strength during the rest of the year.
Edit from Jan 4th: per below, using the second pic in this post as my before pic for #t-ransformation2023