2021 Weight Loss Challenge Thread

OK. It's more likely than now we all packed on a few lbs (kgs?) over the pandemic. Lets drop this belly fat! Post your starting weight, weight goals and progress along the way. Maybe we can keep a leaderboard and drop some prizes along the way,

I'll post my numbers on 1/4 at 0800 and keep the thread updated! Good luck everyone!

Okay, my goal will be to become a twig, since I'm already underweight.

lol i already lost weight. its more eat health now.

I need to gain weight. Preferably muscle though and not holiday fat.

I got up to 180lbs over the pandemic. I should be more like 160, but it's been about 10 years since I weighed that much. Still, that will be my goal.

I'm not going to tell you my weight until I've lost some, but yeah...I'm down. Let's just say I need to lose about 1+ people's worth of weight.

Though this is going to be a more "hold myself to the rules" thing than a mere "lose weight" thing.

My rules:

• Only eat food I prepare myself when possible.
• <2500 Cal/day. I know that seems a lot but I'm 6'3", very overweight, and also quite active, so it's a good starting point. When I plateau, I will drop to 2000 Cal/day.
• Limit myself to one Doordash/Grubhub "treat" per month; I've abused the ever-loving shit out of meal delivery services during the pandemic and it is a.) packing on the pounds and b.) draining my bank account.
• Exercise after work. Doesn't matter how long, as long as I get on the bike for a few minutes and lift some weights.
• Start hiking. My goal is once per weekend (I have three-day weekends all the time so there is a lot of damage that can be done in 72 hours) but I think I will start with once per month.
• Join some sort of support group (overeaters anonymous, Weight Watchers, etc).

I think those are all pretty reasonable. My main concern is the exercise bit as I am "all or nothing" so it takes a lot of work to get me going, but once I'm going I should be really good.

I've gain and lost so much weight in my life it's like a never ending battle now I weight more then ever it's really hard to lose weight when you're over 30 and have clinical depression on top of it. If marijuana was legal in my state I know I could lose weight so much easier I've done it in the past .Weed works as my comfort food and stops me from overeating I've lost over 50 pounds in the past from this method. But unfortunately there's no promise my state will legalize this year so I have to find something else before I have a stroke from high blood pressure.

pre-pandemic i was a frequent gym goer so in reasonable shape but like most in 2020 the wheels came flying off. i sit here typing this finishing off the christmas chocolates, crisps and beer. things could be a lot better at the minute, worst shape i've been in for about 10 years, but i can at least still see my feet when i look down.

i badly need a gym, i really struggle to motivate myself for home exercise. england have just gone back into tier 4 lockdown so gyms are once again closed as they're not seen as essential. garden centres are still open though. so bad news if i feel i need to keep fit because it's essential for my physical and mental health during a global pandemic but good news if i run out of compost

Been there, dude.

I think in 2018-2019 I probably gained and lost 200 pounds....down 50, up 60, down 30, up 40....etc.. That Keto diet does wonders, but it's really hard to adhere too. Problem with diets--and why I don't believe in them anymore--is the weight always comes back on easier than it came off.

I need a lifestyle change and to fix my mental health issues, otherwise it's all for nothing in the long term.

Yep, man I feel ya it's sucks I promised myself I would never gain weight after I lost over 100 pounds in High School but when school ended and I was more isolated I got hooked on the junk food again and it's been a battle that feels like forever.

It is so damn difficult. Second round of gyms being closed here. First round last 12-13 weeks. This one is up to 9 weeks already and I guess it will be prolonged for a fourth time. I am far worse shape now than I have been the last few years.

My plan is once the gyms open again is to get to where I was this summer roughly, or even better would be last February before things went to hell. Change parts of my routine and start dropping weight.

6'3 and very overweight. If you are somewhat active you should be burning through over 3Kcal a day. My personal experience is that I need to change one thing at the time. Otherwise I get enough and stop following it.

@horgen: i'm in the same boat man. not sure what your gym's like in norway but my local gym has taken every measure possible to remain covid safe. you have to book visits through the app to keep the numbers right down, all equipment has been spaced out, one way system in place, no changing rooms (you have to turn up ready to train), sanitisers for hands and equipment everywhere (you have to wipe equipment down after you've finished with it), all staff / personal trainers in masks, cleaners constantly circling. they really couldn't have done any more

They have taken some precautions, but not to that degree. The "classes" have fewer people now, and there are generally less people going to the gym. However due to closing down a lot of things again, gyms are closed as well.

To be honest I felt safe at the gym. In general it is an extremely low bar to be home from work these days if you are feeling ill. Common cold can have you home for a few days without anyone questioning it.

I’m sitting at 210lbs of fairly lean muscle, but I do feel better at 200, just more athletic and easier for me to perform the sports I enjoy so, my goal is to just drop to 199lbs. Usually I can do that within a month so I’ll keep you guys updated.

So I weighed in this morning. 215.2 sigh...

Every year I start around 215-220. By the spring I usually hit the 180’s and then by the start of the NFL season I fall right back into the trap. I blame the shitty ass Detroit Lions.

I’ll update every Monday morning. My goal is 209 by Jan 11.

In June 2020 I was around 105kg. In early December I was down to 81kg. Somewhere in that figure anyway.

Just by walking pretty much every day for an hour and eating smaller portions. I think cutting out soda really did wonders for the weight loss too. Fibre is helpful as well. Only drink water along with the occasional juice. Though, I did have some grog over Christmas. Only ever give myself one to two cheat meals a week. Still am continuing to lose weight. I want to get down into the mid 70’s.

Those all seem very reasonable. You can do it.

I weighed 200 pounds last year pre COVID 19 and two months ago lost 5 pounds. Been doing exercise like riding my exercise bike for 40 minutes as day or doing the treadmill. Recently started doing yoga but not traditional yoga, DDPY which is a mix rehabilitation and low impact cardio on the joints and muscles. Lost another 5 pounds and now sit at 190 pounds. I definitely want to get at losing another 10 pounds by March 2021. I have a goal to be at 160/150 pounds which I was when I was in high school back then. Been watching what I eat as well as I cut back on flour like bread and tortillas and sodas and coffee and milk. I feel great as I have more energy then before and don't feel tired.

My weight has been ridiculously stable for over a decade now. I'm 29 and weigh the same as I did when I was 17. I don't think my weight has fluctuated by more than 4kg in that time.

I'm sitting at about 191 lbs, and I have a pretty prominent gut. Big change from only a few years ago where I had visible abs.

I would like to get back down to around 170 - 175ish, and have at least some visible abs again. That's my goal.

My challenge will be to stop buying soda from the vending machine in my building. I'm addicted. Wasting so much money, 1.25 every time.

@appariti0n: Well let’s get it! What are we doing for abs?

@gamesciri: Damn, be careful! What’s your usual workout?

Well, I've always believed abs are made in the kitchen for the most part, and not the gym, so I'm doing a boatload of cardio, (walking up two flights of stairs, jump rope etc), and cutting out alcohol and snacks during the week. Mixed in with a bit of light weight lifting, but my joints and ligaments can't handle the strain I used to put them through.

This is something that scares me. I've heard enough stories about people who takes working out somewhat serious and end up paying for it when they are older.

Sure it could be due to poor form, however getting above certain weights (or weight ratio if comparing with bodyweight) means you should know a little about what you are doing. Unless it is a max attempt, you're not going to have poor form when deadlifting 4+ plates. At least most people won't have that.

It's peace of mind, but I wonder if I should change the goal to be more repetitions after the weights are getting heavy.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. It might help if I explain a bit about what happened to me as well.

When I get interested in something, I REALLY get interested. Weed, women, booze, video games, politics, etc. Fortunately, exercise is also one of them. Especially once I start seeing results.

What this means is, I had a real tendency to overtrain, often without adequate warm up. Also to never miss a workout, sometimes at the expense of listening to what my body was telling me. At my peak of strength, me as a 175 lbs guy sitting just shy of 6 feet, I had worked my way up to dead lifting 3 plates per side, or 315 lbs. So almost double my body weight.

I never wore a weight belt during this time, stupidly subscribing to the notion that "Well, I shouldn't need a crutch like that to lean on". Not realizing that you should indeed protect your back while dead lifting heavy, but then simultaneously work lower back isolation exercises into your rotation in order to strengthen those stabilizer muscles.

Add in the fact that I have a very long torso, and short arms, it actually means I need to squat down MUCH further than someone else would need too, further increasing the strain on the lower back. Then you have the lack pre workout warm up, lack of post workout stretching, resulting in really tight hamstrings, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Eventually the combination of those factors caused a disc in my lower back to suddenly bulge out and push on a nerve. This was actually during my warm up set of dead lifts months down the road. It was only one plate per side when I injured myself. But it's clear this was the result of years of doing the dumb stuff mentioned above.

In any event, don't let my dumb ass scare you off of lifting heavy. Just listen to your body, and remember you don't actually gain your muscle in the gym. You gain it in the kitchen, and in bed with the right food, and lots of rest.

@appariti0n: Not entirely what I had in mind, but yeah I tend to do somewhat the same. I do some warm up, but not stretching enough after lifting. Personally I am more afraid I'll end up with messed up shoulders or elbows due to benching to much, although it only needs one lift with bad form to be out of it for weeks if not months.

@horgen: Well, if you don't mind me asking, what's your current body like, and what type of body do you want to end up with? Sorry for rambling on lol.

A little to much fat around the stomach. Otherwise I am rather thin by nature so I don't appear fat before we are getting close to 30 lbs or more before it is visible in most normal clothes.

@horgen: Sounds pretty similar to me. I guess my main point was, almost all of the people who hurt themselves lifting, are probably like me, and went too hard too fast, without doing proper warm-ups, stretching, etc.

I also think you might be surprised just how lean and "jacked" you can actually look, without ever lifting to the max, simply by focusing on full body exercises at medium intensity, with good diet and cardio. This doesn't put your joints at risk either.

Bragging rights, duh :P

I know there are plenty of bodyweight exercises that are equally good. But if I am to change anything, it would be doing Olympic weightlifts. And that require far more mobility than I have today.

@horgen: oh that sucks. Are you already dealing with an injury?

@appariti0n: Nah, but tend to run into tight hamstrings.

I gave up soda in my 20's and feel so much better now.

1/11 Update: 210.6

So almost 5 lbs in a week. I was super busy with work and didn’t get as many workouts in as I wanted, but the diet is going well. I missed a run yesterday too because I got the 1st dose of the Covid vaccine. I felt fine, just a little tired. I figured taking it easy was the best bet.

I’m hitting 2 workouts a day starting this week. I may have missed my weekly goal, but I feel good about being sub 200 by February.

@goldenelementxl: nicely done mate, feels good doesn't it. i've lost 6lbs this past week, down from 87.6 to 82.8kg. what sort of dieting are you doing?

@Macutchi: Thanks!

My diet is

- No alcohol

- No breakfast mon-fri

- Lite lunch. Mostly nuts, meat and cheese

- Dinner is usually rice and chicken with a yogurt with grape nuts for desert.

I do 30 minutes of cardio in the morning and 20 minutes of cardio plus weights at night. Well this week anyway. Last week I just did the night portion. I’ll do this 4-5 times a week.

@goldenelementxl: jeez man that sounds like some serious calorie cutting. is that enough to keep you going when you're working full time plus two work outs a day? i've tried that sort of super strict diet before when working full time with one workout a day and struggled with energy levels

@goldenelementxl: Getting enough protein with that diet?

I started dieting a few months before the holiday. I went from drinking 1-2 cans of soda a day, to 2-3 cans a week. I also stopped eating in the evening. I would have late night snacks or second dinners for over a decade, as well as the soda drinking. Not sure how much I lost in that time but it's noticeable. My workouts are the same, 4-5 times a week, mostly weight lifting.

@horgen: I guess I left out a couple things. I have a protein shake after workouts (32G) and one with lunch. Mix that with the chicken, nuts and cheeses, I’m pretty sure I’m getting enough. Maybe not. I’ll know if I start losing too much muscle mass

Ah protein shakes definitely helps. I know I am not getting enough protein if I work out somewhat serious.

I gave up coffee and just drink it once a day and feel better as it was addicting. I been also eating just three meals a day which is weird but I don't feel hungry as I used to. I mean I'll get my stomach growling but not like I need to eat something. Plan to keep this up for the rest of 2021. Almost done with my 13 Weeks of DDPY Beginner 2.0. Probably do Intermediate program next as I really want to lose 20 pounds by the end of 2021.

Update 1/18 - 209.0

Lifting has slowed the weight loss number some, but I feel good. Cardio is going well. I feel confident about hitting my 21 minute 5K standard pretty soon.