Natty Lost 30# in 2 Years

33 year old former powerlifter wanna be ready to lose some weight. Minimal cardio, lifted usually 4-6x per week. 100% drug and hormone free.

Will post more later, finally had the nerve to post these.

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Okay I have some time two write a little bit

5’11" 195# 2014 start 165# 2016 finish.

Made a lifestyle commitment and went from 195 - 180 without any real changes over 1 year. So cutting out all the shittyfood, shorter rests. I also had an old low back injury and a new shoulder injury that were complicating any sort of powerlifting. All I could really do was deadlift, Olympic lift and accessories so I decided let’s get lean.

And no f****** bench press anymore. That was my thing. I was trying to do one of CT advanced clustering and I was nursing the injury but it was also test week and I’ve been working for it for a several weeks so I went for it. It did not go well. The next day I knew that was it. Didn’t even get to give it a proper goodbye.

And late in 2016 I put together a nine week exercise and carb cycling plan that got me from 180 to 165. Have managed to maintain that body weight for a few weeks now while resuming a normal lifestyle. Got to 10% bf and kept getting sick so I called it about 10 days short. I was using the handheld body fat percentage to track.

I’ve always been in shape and usually working out 3 to 5 times per week since I was like 18 years old. Lots of team sports. I had never attained that very lean look. My interests were always in athletics, particularly strength and conditioning. I feel like that really Justified a lot of crappy lifestyle choices in the name of PRs and If It Fits your Macros. Someone told me the only healthy things should be the lettuce on your Big Mac and I followed that advice and put on so much weight and thought it was muscle but no.I had to be exposed to some health classes at University. Things like exercise testing protocols and blood lipid readings were really shocking because I was so out of shape and a heart attack waiting to happen. I used to be athletic but now that I was much heavier I was not athletic anymore. Heart attacks run on both sides of my family so it was really scary. What good is all this muscle if it’s all puff and no stuff? Yeah I can bench quite a bit and my squat is pretty decent but I can’t run for 5 minutes…

It wasn’t until I found these forums and read everybody’s stories including those who failed that I was able to put together my own plan that actually worked. Doing all the healthy things you read about in books can get you to a great maintenance point but it’s a real long-term grind if you want to see any really great results. I was trying to find ways to do it as quickly as possible. Eventually diet and nutrition needed an overhaul.

Once I cut out excessive sugar and started eating dark green vegetables everyday that I saw notable improvements in body comp and also just overall performance. Not just in the weight room but also every area of my life. Broccoli is awesome. I also did a little research on the food industry especially the books the queen of fats and death by food pyramid. I mainly only eat organic and pasture-raised Foods. Making sure to get a lot of seafood has been a priority. Yeah it’s more expensive but again you can totally tell.

That’s all I have time for right now. If I can do it anybody can do it.

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Some various pics at the 180 lb +/- a few # range

good work man. And forget powerlifting. It’s not for everyone. If you can’t bench without shoulder pain, then don’t.

If you still like to lift heavy and compete in something, switch to strongman. Strongman requires a TON of athleticism combined with strength. And it’s all about deadlift, overhead pressing, and carries. I highly recommend it. THAT, combined with a solid diet, will get you in awesome shape.

But I’m biased. It’s what I do.

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Thanks flip! I’m stuck inside because of the cold but I’ll hit up some strong man when the weather gets nice. I’ve been doing a lot of power clean variations and some very light snatches. My new goal with my lighter frame is to dunk a basketball. Plus the trap development is crazy.

And while I can no longer do a traditional bench press I use dumbbells as you can rotate your hands and really nail the pec.

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Update 5 weeks later. Keeping it off!