ZimSaw's transformation Thread

[ZimSaw]

Day 1: 253 lbs

Inspired by many here, so I thought I would share my journey:

My background:
As a youngster and in high school, I was always very active in sports and then lifting weights. In high school, I decided to focus on playing football and competitive powerlifting. My football career ended in high school, but I continued my powerlifting career until I was 21. Throughout, this time I was always very heavy. I was approximaley 275 lbs and was 5'9 in height. However, I was relativey strong and at age 21 was able to do the following: Squat 700 lbs, Bench 455 lbs, Dead 585.

At age 21, I was determined to try to finally look good and embarked on my first successful diet. In four months, I went from 282 to 230. I kept a lot of my strenght, but obviously lost a little. At that time, I began to lose focus in competitive powerlifting. However, I managed to continue to workout and eat well. Eventually, I weighed 220.

I then graduated college and moved cities and continued my battle with my wieght. I started off very well and eventually weighed 210 lbs at age 23, which was the lightest that I had been since I was 15. Then, the demands of my new life took over and I began an unhealty lifestyle. In the past, when I ate poorly, I always worked out with weights to prepare and compete in powerlifting, but this time I even failed to workout.

Eventually, by age 24, I ballooned back up to 260 lbs. Once again, I told myself, I needed to change my lifestyle. By age 25, I was down to 195 lbs and was able to run a 5K in 20 minutes. Once again, I was successful, but again, my success was short lived.

For the next two to three years, I managed to stay in decent shape and worked out consistenly and ate decent. However, the last fews years, it has been all downhill. I got married in 2004, and I have gained approximaley 50 lbs since May 2004. Moreover, I have not worked out consistently and my strenght has diminished.

For the past three years, I have continued my yo-yo dieting and starting and stopping diet plans. This time I need to again lose weight, but I need to keep it off and develop a healthy lifestyle.

The plan:

I plan to lift weights 3x a week. To get back into lifting shape, I plan to follow for the first 4 weeks, the three and out workout plan in this month's Mens Health. Basically, it is 4 circuits of Deadlifts, Pullups, and Bench Presses. On the other days, I plan to do 20 min. in the morning on the treadmill, using the cardio plan from Body for Life.

As for diet, I plan to utilize a lower carb approach.

Breakfast:
3 eggs
1 piece wheat toast
1/2 grapefruit

Snack:
Almonds/ Peanuts

Lunch:
Can of Tuna w/ light mayo and celery

Snack:
Protein Shake (20 grams of protein, 0g fat, 2 grams Carb)

Dinner
Serving of Lean meat
Salad w/ Olive oil dressing
1 serving of green vegetables

Goal:
To be 200 lbs by 1/1/08

Then to contine a healty lifestyle once and for all.

I plan to update weekly and I hope posting will help me stay focused.

[lozen]

Include a protwein shake after a workout. Good Luck starting about same time as me.

[ZimSaw]

Update:

245 lbs

Solid first week. Kept on the diet. Had a cheat meal on Saturday.

Lifts at:
Bench 235 X 6
Dead 245 X 6

[lozen]

You need to add something with your lunch. Raw carrots are great and maybe some rice. Agree with a cheat day or meal.
This will be good as we both started out at same overweight level.

[burkoboy]

include pics, if you're actually improving, people will let you know which is the best motivation

[lozen]

Have we already lost one??? Updates. Gonna post update weekly

[ZimSaw]

Sorry. Had to go out of town for a family thing this weekend.

Week 2: 244.2

Lifts:
DL 265 X 6
Bench 245 X 6

Cheated a little more than I wanted over the weekend, but that happens sometimes on vacation. Hit all my workouts, so that was a positive.

[ZimSaw]

Week 3 241.8

Lifts DL 275 X 4; Bench 245 X 7

One more week of this workout and going to switch things up.

Supplements: Fish Oil 3 times daily; 1 M/V daily

[lozen]

Zimzaw is that all your doing is the weights?

[fitnessfreak]

hey man, good luck with your plan. however, it seems like your main aim is to lose fat and look good/be healthy. if thats the case then i dont really see much point in putting a lot of focus on how much you can lift.
im in the process of a weight loss regimen myself. started when i got back from a trip 3 weeks ago and had it brought home how out of shape i had let myself get. i used to do a fair bit of weight training, but this time its all about fat burning and toning.
it sounds like we have pretty similar goals, and i think that is to get down to an acceptable weight and look good in the mirror, right? i like the above suggestion re. posting pictures of yourself. nothing has been a better motivator for me than when multiple ppl mentioned how much better and healthier i looked after my first two weeks, esp the ones who didnt even know what i was doing [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

keep up the good work OP, hope to see some positive updates in the coming few months!