diet log: nation

[nation]

ok well here goes.

in high school i was a lean 170. i was dating 8's and 9's, and was all-state tennis. i ran 3 miles/day and was very fit.

after high school i became fat. i hadnt worked out at all in college and basically was going down a bad road. i fear i was on the fast path to becoming a degenerate. i was smoking cigs too much and was starting to let myself go both physically and morally (strip clubs, myspace whores, drinking, etc).

by january i got my act together. i had quit smoking in november, and was ready to become lean again. i weighed in at 260 jan 1 /images/graemlins/blush.gif

i began a strict calorie restrictive diet. i try to stick to around 1200/cals/day. i have not been able to always stay at that number, but i have been pretty focused. i have also had 2 cheat days to boost metabolism.

today, i weighed in at 231. this will be my log to track what i am eating. note that i have done little to no exercise during it all. my goals for this log will be to incorporate more steady lifting and pushups/situps every day, and also to record what i eat every day. i also want to find motivation to do cardio as i want to start playing league tennis again by this summer.

i hope you enjoy this. and no i'm not as confident as dids to post topless pics.

-nation

[kidcolin]

1200/cals/day at 260 lbs? That's pretty extreme and seems unhealthy. You must get tired a lot.

[nation]

no, i feel good mostly. i feel like i have way more energy than i used to. when i quit eating grease and fried foods (i now eat almost no oil, just use pam spray) i felt the same way as when i quit smoking. i had intense headaches. i think oil is an addiction, and since i quit all that, i have had more energy even though i lowered my calories a ton. so it's definitely an upgrade.

[JaredL]

nation,

What do you use to keep track of what you eat? Do you keep some sort of log or just keep it vague and in your head?

[nation]

well, i don't eat out really anymore. i keep track of all the calories i eat when cooking and just remember them at the end of the day. this will be a place for me to actively write them down to make sure i don't fall off.

[LuckOfTheDraw]

Keep it up. Quick FYI, Pam is in fact an oil. It's olive oil, and fairly healthy.

[nation]

[ QUOTE ]
Keep it up. Quick FYI, Pam is in fact an oil. It's olive oil, and fairly healthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah i know it's an oil, but it's zero calorie oil, thats my main objective. also i use very little of it.

[LuckOfTheDraw]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Keep it up. Quick FYI, Pam is in fact an oil. It's olive oil, and fairly healthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah i know it's an oil, but it's zero calorie oil, thats my main objective. also i use very little of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not zero-calorie, however, as you said, in a spray form, you use very little of it. Don't worry though, it makes you feel good and you're losing weight. Truly, olive oil is fine for you.

link (http://www.pam4you.com/pages/products/original/index.jsp)

[NU Star]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Keep it up. Quick FYI, Pam is in fact an oil. It's olive oil, and fairly healthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah i know it's an oil, but it's zero calorie oil, thats my main objective. also i use very little of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think PAM is slight under .5 grams of fat per 1/3rd second spray (a serving) and over a gram a fat per second, but still a healthier choice.

[AZK]

cardio isn't the answer, your body will adapt quickly. Doing something with weights/cardio is - something like HIT to get you back on your feet, but the primary thing is diet. 1200 cal/day is not enough. Losing more than 2 lbs./week is probably an unhealthy amount to lose. That being said, when I went on a "diet" I lost more than 2lbs/week for a few weeks in the beginning. Tell us what you eat, that's the best place to start.

[kidcolin]

Nation,

I just find it hard to believe you feel good on that little amount of food. I weigh MUCH less than you. Currently 180 (I'm 5'9"). I'm trying to get to 160. So I watch what I eat. Right now I sort of suck at dinner, but I'm fixing that. My caloric intake (when I'm not cheating) is probably in the 1800-2000 range. Right now I'm not doing any weight training because I'm a wuss, but I do a push-up, pull-up, and abs routine along with HIIT sessions 3 days a week (just started, in a couple weeks it'll be 4 days a week). Eventually I'll add weights.

For a while, I took your approach to weightloss. Not much food and lots of cardio. I was being extra restrictive and I was probably in the 1400-1600 range. I could really tell the difference and I just wasn't feeling healthy. Head was cloudy, easily fatigued. Just gross.

Not only is it sub-optimal, but it's much, much harder to sustain that. Like I said, I was down to around 170 (my low was 167 or so) for a few weeks eating that little. Problem is it was too restrictive and too hard to maintain. Once I got looking decent again there was no way I'd limit myself to oatmeal, salad, and low-calorie soup for food everyday. I really just think you're setting yourself up for eventual failure by eating so little.

[Dids]

There is no way I would have enough energy at 1200 cals per day to be effective in the gym.

I actually don't count calories. I just make smart choices, watch portions, and work within good guidlines. Part of that is that after Aktins, I kow the dangers of a non-sustainable diet, and I wanted to find something that I could do for the rest of my life. 1200 cals ain't that.

[stabn]

I dieted before at 1200 cals when i was 20 and it was fine. I think it was definitely unhealthy especially with how much cardio i was doing at the time, but i dropped from 245 to 185 in about two months. I upped them a lot for month 3 as i was biking and hit 175 by the end of the 3rd month on a much healthier diet. If you really want to lose weight it works but there are safer ways to do it and an extra month doing it at 1800 cals is probably worth it.

[nation]

i've really made a lifestyle change. i've found foods that i can eat that are low calorie. i can never see myself eating fried foods, greasy foods, or otherwise unhealthy stuff. it kind of disgusts me at this point.

today i woke up at 1:30. unfortunately im at the borgata and have to leave the room to get food, and i have to do some coaching from 2-4pm and then 4:30-6:30. i'm going to run down and grab some cheerios or some fruit at 4.

[nation]

also, at 6 30 i'm going to find out where the gym is and go weigh myself...havent done it in a week /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[kidcolin]

nation,

I don't eat that stuff either (well, not regularly, anyway. Let's face it, french fries are incredible). This isn't about what you're eating, it's about the amount. a 2K calorie diet isn't deemed the norm because it's unhealthy.

The fact that you're only getting 1200 cals means you're just not eating much at all, and you're probably not getting enough other stuff, either. Like protein.

[stabn]

Long-term kidcolin is right. You can drop the fast food and [censored] and still eat 1800-2k cals a day and be healthy. If you insist on eating 1200 now while you are dieting you need to bump it to a reasonable amount when you finish.

[skunkworks]

The body has a way of "remembering" what its normal state is (homeostatis). When you drop this much weight this quickly using unsustainable and unrealistic dietary restrictions, coming off of that diet will be rough. Your body will bounce back to doing what it knows best how to do: storing fat at a high % and carrying lots of weight.

If you can keep that weight off for a sustained period of time and keep it below a certain threshold, your body will reset what it thinks as being normal. That's why it's better to go slowly.

nation, you clearly don't plan to keep your diet at 1200 calories. How do you plan on keeping the weight off after the diet is done?

[nation]

well, here's the thing. i'm kind of using the concept of carb cycling except i'm cycling calories. for example, in a week, i'll go 1600, 1400, 1000, 800, 1200, etc etc. once every 4-6 weeks, i'll have a cheat day. i drink diet green tea in the morning. i do all these things to boost my metabolism.

as i get closer and closer to my target weight, i will being to increase my calories, not all at once, but say when i hit 200, i'll up it to 1700-1800.

[nation]

also i am starting to incorporate exercise. right now just doing pushups.

[kidcolin]

from OP:

[ QUOTE ]
i began a strict calorie restrictive diet. i try to stick to around 1200/cals/day. i have not been able to always stay at that number, but i have been pretty focused. i have also had 2 cheat days to boost metabolism.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now this:

[ QUOTE ]
well, here's the thing. i'm kind of using the concept of carb cycling except i'm cycling calories. for example, in a week, i'll go 1600, 1400, 1000, 800, 1200, etc etc. once every 4-6 weeks, i'll have a cheat day. i drink diet green tea in the morning. i do all these things to boost my metabolism.


[/ QUOTE ]

Two very different things. Two cheats per week vs. 1 cheat per month? Which is it?

If I had to guess, these blurbs about your diet are probably like someone posting their hourly earn: inaccurate. You have all these numbers but you say you don't really track them closely, just add it up at the end of the day. Tons of room for error.

Some would say track it more closely, document everything. I'm not that nutty and I know I'd fail at it. I take a Dids approach. [censored] counting every cal. Develop good habits. Good portions. Keep a general idea about what you're putting into your body (enough protein? enough good fat? enough carbs?). Exercise. If you can do that, it's longterm, it's sustainable, and your weight will eventually, slowly but surely, fall in line.

[nation]

kidcolin,

reread those paragraphs. i started dieting in january. i have had 2 cheat days total since dieting...or 1 per month. also, calorie cycling is exactly the same because it works out to about 1200/day on average.

[nation]

just ran down and got a peanut butter power bar (240 cals), a bottle of green tea (0 cals), and bottle of water for my next lesson. after that i'll probably go down and get a salad with turkey on it (no dressing) and play poker.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
kidcolin,

reread those paragraphs. i started dieting in january. i have had 2 cheat days total since dieting...or 1 per month. also, calorie cycling is exactly the same because it works out to about 1200/day on average.

[/ QUOTE ]

1st point makes sense. Second one, not so much. Your body is going to react different to a steady 1200cal/day intake (which is what your OP implied) than it is to 2K-800 cycle. 800 is soooo low. I guarantee you cheat on that day.

[nation]

haha im serious man, i don't cheat. i'm very conscious of my calories, i don't eat something if i dont know exactly how many are in it. the most i go up to is 1600 cals i would say.

[kidcolin]

nation,

what we're all trying to get at here. Do you think this is sustainable FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE?

[nation]

eating healthy? yeah definitely. 1200 calories? only if i want to be an unhealthy skeleton. my plan is to slowly up the calories as my body weight decreases. i will probably end up staying between 2k and 3k calories when i get to my target weight to maintain. (of course i will be exercising a good bit by then also, both tennis and gym stuff.)

[-sk00lb0y-]

[ QUOTE ]

i hope you enjoy this. and no i'm not as confident as dids to post topless pics.

-nation

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess i can put my lube away now...

[nation]

whoops, updated the wrong thread. here it is.


WED: March 15

Ok so here's what i ended up eating yesterday. For some reason i wanted to be on a meat fast, so i did it.

Breakfast: Powerbar, green tea

Lunch: Powerbar, bowl of fruit, water

Dinner: Bowl of hot and sour soup (vegetarian), water

snack: bowl of fruit

not sure of exact calories but from looking up hot and sour soup recipes cals couldn't have been more than 250, fruits were probably 250 total, so i hit my goal.

today i just drank some water and had my multivitamin (woke up 5 mins ago. will get some breakfast at 4pm after my coaching session.

[nation]

also have had a powerbar just now for breakfast.

[Doug Funnie II]

I understand that you're looking for convenient foods to eat while trying to lose weight, but I'd try to stick to 1 powerbar per day. Maybe for breakfast try this:

Get a container of Lactaid lowfat cottage cheese and a jar of smuckers sugar free jelly. Eat half the cottage cheese with some jelly mixed into it for breakfast, and the other half at some point later on in the day. It takes like 10 seconds to mix with a spoon, and I think it tastes pretty good (for the record I couldn't stand cottage cheese as recently as December and now I love it so I think its just a matter of getting used to the taste and texture). Each of those "meals" contains:

200 calories
fat= 2g
sat fat= 1g
trans fat= 0g
cholest= 20mg
sodium= 760mg
total carbs= 14g
sugar= 6g
protein= 24g

really the only downside is the amount of sodium, but that shouldn't affect weight loss.

[kidcolin]

nation is your sleep schedule all over the place or are you consistently getting a good nights sleep from 7am-3pm?

[nation]

[ QUOTE ]
nation is your sleep schedule all over the place or are you consistently getting a good nights sleep from 7am-3pm?

[/ QUOTE ]

all over the place man.

[nation]

hard core day today. all i had was a powerbar this morning, my multivitamin, some low fat cottage cheese, and fruit. i had a few apples and some melon. today was day 2 of my week long meat fast.

[thirddan]

hey nation, aren't you a pretty big dude? how many cals is that? seems like prob less that 1k...

[nation]

yeah it's less than 1k, but im on the bottom end of my calorie cycle, however i'm also going to have on average less calories because i'm not eating meat for a week.

today i had an apple and mixed fruit for breakfast, a salad with no dressing for lunch, and another salad and fruit for dinner.

no, i'm not enjoying this diet, but who said we had to enjoy food anyways, it's just there to make sure are bodies run perfectly. not the healthiest either but i'm really restricting calories for a few days before i have my big cheat day where i will have 3k+ cals to boost metabolism. also i'm still drinking green tea every day.

[stabn]

Dude seriously quit with the powerbars unless you are doing something like a 50 mile bike ride. Find something else you can carry around and eat.

[nation]

Yeah it's definitely not a regular thing, I haven't eaten powerbars in years, it was just a convenience thing, I looked at the other bars they had and it was the healthiest thing. I ended up leaving to go to a Wawa later to get fruit and healthy stuff because Borgata is basically full of crap late at night.

[kidcolin]

Nation:

This thread kind of sucks. Your diet SUCKS and it isn't of benefit to anyone. You've ignored all the advice. Just write this crap down in your personal notebook or an excel file.

Seriously dude.. this diet is god awful. It wasn't a hardcore day. It was an awful one.

[-sk00lb0y-]

[ QUOTE ]
Nation:

This thread kind of sucks. Your diet SUCKS and it isn't of benefit to anyone. You've ignored all the advice. Just write this crap down in your personal notebook or an excel file.

Seriously dude.. this diet is god awful. It wasn't a hardcore day. It was an awful one.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess i should be the one to tell you to prepare for a full site 2 day ban.

[kidcolin]

why? Cuz he's green? I understand this forum will be "bloggier" than some others, just due to all the logs. But someone like smiley's or kyleb's log is really helpful, because they're physically fit (or working towards it), so we can ask questions and expect insightful answers. Nation's is just bad and doesn't really offer any value. He said at the beginning he found a bunch of low calorie options. He's lived on powerbars the past 3 days. Way to go, nation.

[-sk00lb0y-]

[ QUOTE ]
why? Cuz he's green? I understand this forum will be "bloggier" than some others, just due to all the logs. But someone like smiley's or kyleb's log is really helpful, because they're physically fit (or working towards it), so we can ask questions and expect insightful answers. Nation's is just bad and doesn't really offer any value. He said at the beginning he found a bunch of low calorie options. He's lived on powerbars the past 3 days. Way to go, nation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice pun with green. Him being new, and his name being green. But i was taking about the attitude i don't care... but others do, just try to be nicer i geuss, but still saythe same stuff.

[nation]

you idiot, did you read the log at all? this is the second time you've just ignored parts of the log that you wanted to in order to prove your argument. I SAID that I was having trouble finding decent foods at the f'ing borgata! Everything there is really greasy and I'm not rich enough to get the buffet everyday just for the salad!

When I'm at home I have tons of low calorie options that are really healthy...either you're willfuly ignoring parts of my posts that won't let you bash me or you're actually slightly mentally retarded. The whole time I was writing this stupid log I was at the Borgata trying to stay away from fatty high calorie crap. f this stupid log I dont even want to write it here with uppity people like you looking down at everything not perfect.

[-sk00lb0y-]

[ QUOTE ]
you idiot, did you read the log at all? this is the second time you've just ignored parts of the log that you wanted to in order to prove your argument. I SAID that I was having trouble finding decent foods at the f'ing borgata! Everything there is really greasy and I'm not rich enough to get the buffet everyday just for the salad!

When I'm at home I have tons of low calorie options that are really healthy...either you're willfuly ignoring parts of my posts that won't let you bash me or you're actually slightly mentally retarded. The whole time I was writing this stupid log I was at the Borgata trying to stay away from fatty high calorie crap. f this stupid log I dont even want to write it here with uppity people like you looking down at everything not perfect.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nooooooooooo come back!!!! Nation!!!! Nooooooooo!

[stabn]

I think nations thread is at least as important as theirs. It just has other lessons. Like how easy it is to get yourself into a situation where you chose convenience over your diet. Nation is living / working in a casino and is falling into the normal pitfall of grabbing something quick instead of something healthy. And while we all know that isn't a problem every now and then if you don't keep it under control you end up like nation and eat a dozen power bars instead of meals.

His last several days basically show why most fatties become fat. I'm sure nation know this though. The only question is whether or not he has the willpower to continue an actual diet and make progress or plateau and get fat again.

[nation]

Those statements are fair enough, but I have to make sure...you know that I was on vacation for a week at the Borgata right?

[-sk00lb0y-]

[ QUOTE ]
Those statements are fair enough, but I have to make sure...you know that I was on vacation for a week at the Borgata right?

[/ QUOTE ]

I did. keep posting plz.

[nation]

i'm really not interested in this, i've been a fan of astroglide's method for a long time, researched it found many similar studies that said that metabolic rates arent significantly reduced without exercise.

i thought i'd use this space to document it. i don't need it, i'm as disciplined a person as you'll meet. just thought people would be interested but apparently people become dicks when you don't do the standard method to get healthy.

[kidcolin]

Nation,

Relax bro. Admittedly my last post was sort of dick, but every other question I've asked has been valid and should be helpful to you. So don't pull the "f this you're acting so uppity." I, and others, have serious doubts about your diet. #1 is sustainability. #2 is the immediate health impacts. Your sleep patterns are all over the place, and on top of that you're eating what I expect a 12 year old wannabe model girl to eat. It's just not healthy.

I understand you're at the Borgata, where I'm sure there are plenty of fatty, greasy, disgusting (delicious) options. Avoiding that doesn't mean subscribing to a diet of powerbars. Is there a grocery store nearby? It must be from another thread, but thremp had a suggestion of just sticking to a portion of meat and loading up on salad at the buffet. There are lots of better, healthier choices you could be making.

I get where you're coming from. You're an ex-athlete who got all fat and gross and made a decision to change that (I can sort of relate except for the all-state and 9-banging /images/graemlins/wink.gif). That's good. So you restricted your diet BIG time and dropped 30 pounds in about 10-11 weeks. That's a big loss, and you're happy with that. So you figure you'll keep it up, because you figure, "2 more months and I'll be at 200!!" Everyone here has told you that this bad, unhealthy, and has a good chance of failure.

Good luck with the weight loss. Your dedication, if anything, is admirable. I'll leave you alone now.

[nation]

kidcolin,

classy response. i have no problems with you questioning my diet and giving me advice, please continue to do so.

as for the sustainability, you would be right that i won't stay on 1200 cals for life, but thats solely because when I get to my target weight I will shoot for a calorie amount that will help me maintain. Certainly, that maintaining amount will be lower as I have restricted calories for so long, but I imagine with exercise and slow increase it will get back to normal. I don't think it'll be that far off anyways.

I'll never go back to eating "bad" food. Greasy food, fast food, huge high calorie meals...gone. I'm a weird guy...sometimes a switch turns on about something, and my slightly ocd personality takes over. I am literally repulsed by greasy food now, I couldn't even eat it if my calorie budget allowed it for the day.

I've made a complete lifestyle change. I know its easy to say after a few months, but the fact is I have had absolutely no problems with my diet. No cravings or anything, no desire to eat anything bad. I really have started to look at food as fuel for my body.

So I'm not worried about yo-yoing. It's something only I can personally know of course, so it's a legitimate concern/question. I just don't think it's a problem.

As far as immediate health impacts, definitely I think the past few days have not been good. I think I've continued to drop weight (havent weighed myself) but I have noticed myself being a little more tired. Everyone's right; on these trips I have to make more of an effort to have food that I can eat, whether it be a bag of fruit, or a salad with some chicken on it from Wawa. I'm going to work on that for future trips.

At home, I eat great. Bowl of cheerios with skim milk in the morning, 8 oz of extra extra lean beef for lunch (280 cals), no bread, with ketchup and mustard. I'll eat a chicken breast on some salad later (I eat no dressing ever on salads btw) and in the evening I'll make a chicken sausage, or soup, or whatever I'm in the mood for that's around 400ish cals, give or take 100 cals.

I am feeling pretty run down right now though. Unfortunately it's a little late to get anything, but I'll get a big breakfast tomorrow and try to net around 1500 cals for the day.

-nation

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]
Those statements are fair enough, but I have to make sure...you know that I was on vacation for a week at the Borgata right?

[/ QUOTE ]

My point wasn't for you as much as it was to kidcolin and overall. I also exaggerated a couple of times to make a point.

[Thremp]

nation,

Eat more.

[nation]

wow wtf. so i just got home and weighed myself for the first time since last thursday (march 8, was 231), and now i'm 224. siiiiick.

[nation]

UPDATE: I've been eating 1200 cals steadily with no cheat days since my last update. Today I weighed in at 217.

-nation

[thirddan]

i haven't read this thread in a while so don't remember anything...but if you weigh 217 and are only eating 1200 cals you are not doing your body any favors, most likely you are just killing your metabolism and burning all your muscle...

[anklebreaker]

nation,

1200 calories is too little. Not too little in a "that is extremely intense and effective, but unhealthy" way, but that it is actually counterproductive to your goals. Here are a few reasons why:
> Bad for general health
> Like thirddan said, it'll lower your metabolism
> A lot of muscle will be lost
> Your calories will be partitioned (fat storage)
> Testosterone production and thyroid hormones will decrease
> Probably not great for brain function
> Will be difficult to lift weights and excercise effectively
> Very hard to stick to

I recommend you increase your calorie intake (with a good protein/fat/carb split) and workout more.

All that said, the fact that you can stick to 1200 cals for 2 weeks is pretty impressive. This will come of use later, when your body composition is close to its target and your bodyfat % is much lower. I'll elaborate more on the above if required. Good luck.

[thirddan]

nation: go to bookstore buy the metabolic advantage by john berardi, its a super easy read and will explain all about nutrition/supplements/workouts for boosting your metabolism and getting into shape and getting healthy...definitely worth the 25bucks...i started reading the testosterone advantage and it seems similar but for a more intermediate group (more scientific detail and whatnot) but also good book...

[nation]

anklebreaker,

good points, i'm starting to increase my cals this week. also i've been at a 1200 calorie diet for about 2 months so far.

[anklebreaker]

Increase calories gradually. Concentrate on protein and good fats. Excercise.

[nation]

weighed in at 207.5 today. the last few weeks i've been eating 1800 cals/day, and walking at least 9 holes of golf everyday. i've mixed in a few days of basketball a week also. i'm in the middle of starting strength, and should start going to lift this week.

[drewjustdrew]

This is good stuff. I am in the eat more calories crowd. I would just recommend losing the weight slower. I know I've read that fast weight loss does damage and makes it harder to sustain due to lost metabolism, etc. 3 lbs a week seems crazy over a long period of time. What's the rush?

My personal story. I weighed 259 at the beginning of the year. I have been restricting fat grams to 60 or fewer on most days, with a cheat once a week or so, including alcohol (typically 5-6 drinks). No intense exercise, I just started pushups a week ago or so and take faster-than-stroll walks of 45 minutes to an hour several times a week. I started the fat gram deal around the end of February after losing 5 lbs just by burning off holiday weight with normal non-excessive behavior. I am currently at 237 and lose between 0 and 2 lbs every week. My goal is 210, which I hope to achieve by November. My eating choices consist of mainly chicken breast based dishes, whole grain bread, pretzels, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, skim milk, Quaker oatmeal breakfast bars. I have no clue of calories, but would guess between 1500 - 1800 per day on non-cheat days. When I am hungry, I eat. I just make sure it is low fat. Like you, I have changed my eating habits, hopefully permanently, but this is the 2nd time in my life I have been in this frame of mind. I hope it sticks this time.

[nation]

hey guys, another quick update, i'm down to 190.

[thirddan]

[ QUOTE ]
hey guys, another quick update, i'm down to 190.

[/ QUOTE ]

right on, congrats on the progress...current diet and training?

[nation]

Right now, I'm eating about 1800 cals/day still. Sometimes I get to like 2200, but that's about it. I eat 100% clean foods.

As far as training, I'm doing swimming and playing basketball for cardio. I'm doing rippetoe's starting strength, but I just started that recently so I'm still pretty weak.

Right now my bench for 3x5 is only 105 and I'm only squatting 135. Hopefully it'll keep increasing.

[thirddan]

nice...lots of progress since this thread first started /images/graemlins/smile.gif

hopefully you are enjoying it and will stick with it...

[nation]

before:
http://photos-020.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v47/34/35/14901969/n14901969_30252020_6804.jpg http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h5/joe1967/DSC03075.jpg
http://photos-013.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v47/34/35/14901969/n14901969_30252013_4897.jpg
after:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8492/jacketeh8.jpg

[Big Poppa Smurf]

Dude that's pretty sick

[SmileyEH]

hottttttt

[Colt McCoy]

Just saw the pics. Wow, nation! Excellent job! 260 => 190 is very impressive!

[nation]

thanks guys.

I think i'm going to make a new post with the before/after so more people see it.

[prodonkey]

congrats man.. I'm like 245 right now.. want to be down to 180-185.. I think I'd kill myself on a 1200 calorie diet though.

[Hybrid_11]

congrats on the great loss, its good that your increasing your caloric intake but you sort of have to ask yourself a quesiton now. Whats your goal now that your prob about 10-15 lbs away from ideal weight. Are you looking to tone/bulk or just stay at a flat rate, because all of those are going to require different approaches.