Finally the end of a long journey? page

[the-bear]

Hi there,

to be honest I don't think there is a short way to tell my story, so I'm sorry for the long version.

If you can not understand something please ask, I'm german and think my english is okay, but I am not familiar with some special vocabulary (especially in the area of nutrition).



So the story starts with me being 23 years old in January 2012, I was overweight (nice word for being fat at 140kg/308pounds). And I teared a tendon in my foot apart. I was never really lazy nor did I move insufficient. Even at my weight I was still able to run for over half an hour and ride my bycicle for ride of a hundred Kilometres (60 Miles). Therefore I asked myself two things: Why am I fat while being active? And why did i tear my tendon apart? To be honest I always asked myself why am I fat and other people not, so the tear apart way more important to me at that point.

So I started my research and found out, that modern running shoes are shit. I had to wait four weeks for my ankle to get better and then started to build up muscles in my feet by walking and jogging mostly barefoot or in minimalis schoes. I signed up for a gym and startet working out. I did so for halb a year in Summer 2012. I felt better but lost only 2kg (4-5pounds) while running and working out for 4 times a week.

And again I did my research and asked myself: Why don't I lose weight? Why do I have such a hard time to build up muscle and get healthier?
This time I landed at the workout side: I started Stronglifts 5x5, did my Squats, Bench and Deadlifts and finally got stronger and lost weight. The second part was, that I found out that there is literally sugar put in everything and that sugar is in best words redundant and in real words poison. So i began to cut out sugar and increased my protein intake. Drank only water, no sweets, no cereal, only oat meals and so on. I did so for half a year (Christmas '12). I lost 8kg and was down to 132kg (290lbs) und built up a good mass of muscle in that time.

And again I hit a wall: While I am still able to put more weight on the bar I did not lose any weight. I continued like this until a week ago. And then found out about primal nutrition. And it's funny because while reading about it I thought something like this:
"Cut sugar out? Yeah good, already doing this...ah mh okay, grains? Grains are bad too? Hm okay...and milk products are also bad? Not good boy, not good...see, whats more in here...fat and meat are good...you had my curiosity, now you have my attention" <- okay, the last one was not my thought, but it fits.

I was literally cutting out not only sugar but also fat. Good thing was: I ate grains only three times a week (just before training). The bad thing: I really took most of my proteins through milk products like dairy and cream cheese.

And it was like it all was on the edge at this moment: I was sitting in front of my computer and had my bowl with oats and milk in front of me, ready to eat my carbs for training, while i was ready about primal nutrition. I looked down and thought: F*** that s***!. No carbs today. The funny thing was, that I was already following most parts of the primal nutrition. So the way of dropping the last grains wouldn't be that hard, only drop my milk stuff would be interessting in how to get my proteins.
Btw:The training was good, even without carbs.


So here I am. I dropped my milk products, and my last grains. Sugar is gone for half a year. I bought some good oils and a ton of nuts and stuff like eggs. Ready for the experiment. And now, not even a week in it, what happened? My scale at home, pinning me exactly at 130kg (286lbs) for nearly 3 months while working out like a lion and eating a deficit of 200-300 calories a day. After only four days primal eating I began to lose weight again. That was the point I gave it a real chance.

So, hi guys, I'm the new one


My story in numbers:
January 12: 140kg (308lbs) no really sports
March 13: 129,5kg (285lbs) and 3 times a week workout and at least 20pounds of muscle put on.

My stats at the excercises:
Squat 117,5 (258lbs) for five reps
Deadlift 140 (308lbs) for five reps
Bench 92,5 (203,5lbs)for five reps


One last word: You might think about me, that it is all about losing weight (at least I would think that about re-reading my own post).
I can tell you it is not. I began to do sports and build up muscle not to lose weight, but to feel better, be more active, be more powerful.

[Mitch]

Congratulations and welcome. Your English is fine, way better than our German

Interested to see how much weight, or more accurately fat you end up losing. Be careful with nuts, even though generally healthy they are calorie dense. Have just a few, that's all it takes.

[the-bear]

Thanks, Mitch.

And: Yes I am carful with nuts. By saying "a ton of nuts" I meant many different types of nuts. I never was into nuts, but wanted to try them.
I usually eat two walnuts somewhere in the morning and every second or third day some hazelnuts, almonds or pistachios in the evening, but only like half a handful (these things get you really full, I mean only two walnuts get me full for at least 3 hours).

But thanks for the tipp, it's great to have people to discuss with and learn from.

Btw: German is a hard language to learn, so don't do it, all of the younger people (<30) are good in englisch, so its no problem.

[Reindeer]

Btw: German is a hard language to learn, so don't do it, all of the younger people (<30) are good in englisch, so its no problem.

XD

Oh god. Well, after two trips to german music festivals I'll have to respectfully disagree with you there. Hell, even the sober people left some pretty wacky language-clash memories. Fun, but not very practical - to all of ye who goes abroad, know at least some life-saving phrases, ok?

That aside - welcome to the forums, Bear!

[Marinas Florin]

Hello there!

Your story is interesting and motivating also. Losing weight and eating better is always a good thing for your body and 24 lbs the last time you lost weight is quite impressive.

Keep it going and watch out for calories