I have struggled with fat and body composition all my life.
In 2002 I lost 100 pounds and kept most of it off for 12 years.
I thought the struggles were over. I was fit, strong, and healthy.
In 2014 I did an experimental bodybuilding diet (Tim Ferriss’ Slow Carb Diet) to see how lean I could make myself without losing muscle mass. The diet required one day of binge eating in every seven days. I binged on foods I had not eaten for 12 years. I got very lean and very strong. You can see the result of the diet on the far right in the image below:
I also re-addicted myself to sugar and starches.
While never re-gaining as much fat as I was wearing in 2002 I did balloon up to almost 230 pounds:
Interestingly, knowing I was unable to stop eating sugar in the fall and winter of 2014/15, I used my overamped caloric intake to fuel muscle growth by doing sequential sets of high repetition heavy squats and deadlifts in the gym. I am carrying at least 25 pounds more muscle in that picture than in any of the previous images and I put it all on one very unpleasant squat, deadlift, and pullup at a time day after day after day.
I have since removed 30 pounds of fat and currently look like this:
It’s time to finish the fat cutting and return my body to proper leanness while preserving the muscular gains I made by lifting heavy in the gym.
Fat loss is simple once you understand the process.
It is not easy.
I have never known anyone who lost substantial amounts of fat and kept it off permanently without real effort, often excruciating. I’ve been at this for 14 years and I’ve heard many claims that fat loss should be effortless if done properly. I have yet to meet a single person who took it off and kept it off for whom that was true.
I will post my progress here on the blog.