Diet/Getting in Shape: The Endgame

[Larry David]

Background: The Pot Diet

About 10 months ago I was 240 lbs. at 5'9" and just pathetically fat and out of shape. I was smoking way too much and I always got the munchies. I decided enough was enough and to take some control of my life. This started with excersizing daily. I would do very moderate excersize and generally just walk briskly for 30 min - an hour each day for about 2 months. I wasn't even thinking about the weight at that time and had not been on a scale at all. I noticed I was naturally eating slightly better and decided to go on a full blown diet. I was living in Vegas at the time and decided to get out for the beginning as it would be much harder to eat good meals while I was there.

I headed to Chicago. I ate 1000 to 1500 calories a day for 2 months and stepped up my excersize to half jogging/ half brisk walking an hour every day. I ate very healthy and chose my calories carefully. The key was cutting out all liquid calories except for the occasional getting hammered with friends and going out which I had to do much less of. I found eating less to be easy as I had quit smoking when I went home to Chicago and never really got hungry (I was a huge mucnhies guy). After this four month period I was hanging around 195-200 lbs. I added weightlifting to my routine and went every few days with a friend to the gym. I know lean muscle mass is the best way to improve metabolism so I thought this was an important step. I didn't start earlier because I feared becoming too bulky and didn't want that look. I continued to get in a lot of cardio and played a bunch of basketball and tennis along with my jogging.

Most of my friends went back to school and I went back to Vegas (I was taking a year off of school for travel/Vegas). At this time I was 185 lbs. I continued lifting with a friend in Vegas, and tried to continue eating healthy. I did a reasonable job and ate 1200-2200 calories a day with the occasional binge as I smoked out every now and then while at the tables. After several months in Vegas I was starting to to slack off in the eating department and feared I might be gaining weight back.

I am going back to school in January and decided to head back to Chicago (late September) for a little while to start getting my act together. At this time I was 175 lbs. and doing well. I stopped smoking again and am currently down to ~170 lbs. The non-smoking no longer curbs my appetite.

I find it funny that after smoking pretty heavily for around a year and quitting, it was incredibly easy to curb my appetite even though I was a fat piece of [censored]. I recommend anyone looking to lose weight to try this diet out. If you don't smoke, pick it up for about a year and quit. Actually, don't listen to me. Anyway...

The Endgame:

I am now much slimmer at 170 lbs. I still have a little work to do and probably want to lose 10-20 more. These are the hard lbs. My face and legs are very noticeably slimmer. The problem comes in my stomach. I think I need some help on how to finish this thing off.

The two biggest problems are my bltch tlts which, while smaller, are still present, and my gut. Most of the gut I think is extra skin. It presents itself in a very weird way. Clothes are very difficult to find as a result. I want to get rid of both of these things and I think there may be 10 lbs. of gut to get rid of alone. Does anyone have any experience or advice on how I can finish this thing off the right way? I am doing extra situps each day as I heard that may help. Any former fatties have experience with the extra skin thing? Will this go away soon and how can I make it go away sooner? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This is basically an advice thread. How should I change my cardio/lifting routine, etc.?