X-post r/progresspics: 25/5'2"/170-125-130: fat to skinny fat to fit. 4 years

oceanskk

New member

A couple people suggested I cross posted this here, so I thought I'd share my journey.

A few more details that weren't in the album: all through college I yoyo dieted and struggled with disordered eating mindsets and behaviors, specifically bulimic tendencies. I was never diagnosed, but I met the clinical criteria at several points in my life.

I was always looking for an easy way to lose weight because I never really thought I could do it. But when I moved to China, I was removed from all the diet resources I thought I needed to be successful and was left with only a few fitness DVDs and common sense diet advice (rather than the "one simple trick!" bullshit I had always sought out first).

I lost 45 lbs that year and felt awesome, but it was an absolute obsession. Physically I was fine, but it was taking a huge toll on me mentally and emotionally.

When I came home that summer, my dad had a stroke, so I stayed home. Started dating a guy. Lost sight of fitness for a lot of reasons that mostly came down to confidence issues.

When he dumped me on new years 2014, I was back up to 150ish. A month later I ended up joining the gym where I'm now a trainer, and that's where the transformation really happened. The people I met there were so encouraging and they empowered me, taught me how to push myself, and got me into things I never thought I'd try, like obstacle course races, GoRuck events, lifting heavy...

So the rest is history!

Now, I eat pretty strict paleo, but don't follow any macros (for the time being). All that disordered eating stuff makes tracking food difficult for me, though now that my focus isn't weight loss, I'm think about trying a flexible dieting/carb cycling approach to help maximize my training. For now, though, it's pretty simple - I try to eat higher carbs on days I lift or do intense metcon WODs and lower carb on active rest days. Vegan protein shake after most lifting sessions, cause whey hurts my stomach.

My training up to this point has been 3ish boot camp classes a week + 5-6 metcons (15-45 mins)/week. I haven't don't too much intentional focus on lifting, though I've always included lifts as part of my WODs. I just started a new lifting program (4x a week: bench, dl, press, squat) in order to gain strength, though I'll still be doing 5 shorter conditioning workouts a week. The program is called "One Man, One Barbell" if anyone is interested!

Anyway, that's what I've got :) thanks!
 
@oceanskk Aw, shit, that's awesome. I've gone/am going through something similar -- I yo-yo'd for years, from 170 to 114 lbs at 5'3, then back up to 160 lbs. Finally over the course of three years or so I've managed to stabilize around 120 lbs and am finally healthy about food and exercising -- still working to get super fit, though... honestly I'm more skinny-fat/average than anything else. But I believe that since I got past the mental hurdle of BED and being obsessed with weight loss, the rest of it should follow. I think I've gotten through the worst of it!

But yeah, shit like this is the best. It's super motivational, and it's nice having someone with similar stats do what you're trying to do. Thanks for posting!
 
@mss91z28 Oh wow, yeah, our stories definitely sound really similar. I'm so glad to hear it's been getting better for you.
Also your username sounds really familiar - I feel like we may have chatted here on reddit before, haha
 
@oceanskk You look strong and hot - fuck yeah!

I also went through the lose-weight/get-unhealthily-obsessive/finally-come-to-lifting/end-up-healthy-and-happy gauntlet. Sucked in that crappy middle zone, but it's great out on this end, eh?
 
@oceanskk Daaang, 265 DL at 130# is LEGIT. When did you actually start lifting? That's pretty amazing progress.

Edit: I just realized, I subscribe to this guy already because of Eo3. I never gave the paid programming any thought. Please let us know what you think of it after a month or so!
 
@jay2242 Thank you! I learned how to deadlift in high school (2006) and then I've incorporated it into my training since I got back from China (2012), but I've never like seriously focused on lifting until recently. I really like the fast pace stuff more than slow, progressive lifting, so I guess you could say I've been "lifting" for a few years, but it's never been my focus. I maxed the other day because now I DO want to hone in on strength, so I needed to find my maxes to start a new lifting program
 
@oceanskk I know what you mean. I began lifting in high school into college as well for sports (so, for a decade or so), and was on-and-off for months at a time since then. It wasn't a "main" focus until this past 6 months or so. I'm just jealous you hit 265. I couldn't get that off the floor my last max attempt.
 
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