Down 20 lbs in IB
Started to get serious about weight loss in February and just hit 20 lbs down today. Goal is 63 lbs total (ton of weight, I know). I let myself go in college my junior/senior year and then coming to IB hurt things even more due to lack of exercise, stipend meals every night, and 4-6 hours of sleep. I was putting on weight left and right and everyday the simple tasks got harder and harder.
I’ve been an athlete all my life (football, soccer, marathons/triathlons during off season) and was very unhappy with stepping on a scale and seeing 65 more lbs than I’m used too. I will admit the first time I stepped on the scale it unmotivated me and I thought this would be my life and there was no way back. What was the real realization was having to buy new dress clothes 5-6 inches up on waist. At that moment I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and decided to make a change. I am still in the thick of it but still less than 2 months later I’m 1/3rd of the way.
Anyone thinking about trying to lose weight in IB I highly recommend it. The fact that I let myself go for ~4 years and I can be back where I was in ~6 months sounds like a good trade to me.
Once you realize that the 6 months are going to pass either way and you can choose to be happier, more energetic, and more mentally sharp or be where you are now in 6 months and remain constantly unhappy, tired, etc. it gets easier to make the harder choice of getting back to living a healthy lifestyle.
IB is also a double edged sword because although this job sucks, it does keep you disciplined/in-office and time goes by really quickly in this job when you are busy. I was very excited to see 20 lbs down today and just wanted to let you all know it’s totally doable. Onto the next 20!
Nice work fatty
People are throwing monkey shit at this, but if more people were honest with their boys, fewer people would get fat in the first place.
Me and the boys after hitting our $30.00 stipend at Panda Express on the dot🫃🫃🏻🫃🏼🫃🏼
Congrats bro! Currently 10 down since January. Trying to get to 30
Same here, brother.
good job man, just curious - what tips/pointerswould you give for this to keep it down once you start/adjust to the job?
I'm around 165 lb rn which is alright, either want to pack on more muscle or get leaner but maintaining is probably the most real option.
assume spamming sweetgreen with the stipends as opposed to fatting out is the biggest factor
My biggest tip would be to learn your body and when you are overindulging. It is sort of difficult to learn this side of your body but once you do the game changes drastically. Weight loss is math at the end of the day. Every YouTuber, influencer, etc. is pushing a product that does nothing and makes you think losing weight is extremely complicated but literally all I have done to lose 20 lbs is count how much I am consuming and make sure it is less than what I am burning. It is very basic math. I still eat Chickfila, Pizza, Chipotle, insert any “bad” food that you can. The difference is moderation and what I order. Previously at Chickfila I would the the Chicken Sandwich, Large Fries (with Ranch/BBQ), and a Drink. This meal is roughly 2,000 calories and is a ton of empty calories due to overindulgence. Now, I will get a 12 count grilled nuggets with a medium fry (Buffalo/BBQ sauce) and water. This is roughly ~550 calories which is a very big difference from the above and both of them give me the same utility. Same thing with chipotle, if I was getting a burrito with rice, beans, steak, guac, sour cream, cheese, and salsa that is like ~1,500 calories (I would also get chips and a drink with the stipend which adds 800). Now I get a bowl with rice, beans, chicken, pico, salsa, and lettuce and that is like ~600 calories.
It is just about being mindful of what you are eating honestly. You don’t need to spam sweet green (I do like sweet green and eat it a bit) as you will burn out and never want to eat it again. You can eat at the same places and do all of the same things, just need to change how much you are eating. What you might realize is certain places just aren’t worth eating at anymore (Raising Canes) as the food is just insanely high in calories and eating there in moderation wouldn’t get you the real nutrience you need. I will eat there when I hit my goal weight and am just maintaining weight but i will order differently than what I did in the past for sure.
Another thing is at the moment I am not working out. I don’t plan on working out for the next month or so. Reality is that my body is so used to eating such a high amount of calories that when I cut that by ~50% it is enough right now to have me losing 2-2.5 lbs a week. Eventually this will slow and that is when I plan to begin triathlon training and getting more tone. For now I am focused on losing the “easy weight.” Also my hours should be getting a little better in the next couple months so that should help me budget in some time to bike/run/swim.
Good job on the weight loss! Would note that the above is really only possible at a younger age when your metabolism is more jacked which is an important takeaway from this. Do as much now to lose the weight. When you have more time in the future (if that ever happens), it will be a lot tougher.
I basically do exactly what you note above (older user now) and that's what you have to do to maintain your weight rather than lose it.
Good advice. I am down 35lbs doing similar
Hate to be that guy but think your calorie data is off. That chick fila meal for example is sandwich (420) + large fries (600) + drink (~180) + BBQ (40) + Ranch (140) which is 1380, not 2k and you can easily make this meal better by swapping for water/diet drink + lower cal sauce if you're craving the sandwich/fries
What did you do to figure out your maintenance calorie number? I've struggled with figuring out mine
I’ve put on 30 lbs since starting, want to lost 20.
You can do it bro just start little by little and you will be there in no time
Many congrats on doing this. It ain’t easy. Thanks for sharing. Keep it and going and long $WW lol
King moves, sir.
Congrats. I used to weigh 275 at 6’3. Similar story to yours but eventually got down to ~220 where I’m now focused on building muscle.
There’s this misconception on weight loss that has people thinking they have to go through tough workout regimes and buy expensive supplements to lose weight and that’s far from the truth. It’s all in your diet and general health lifestyle. Once you cut out the junk (sugar, alcohol, etc) and train your body to operate on less food, it’s mostly on cruise control from there. I have the opposite problem now where I have to remind and force myself to get enough protein in the day.
It's like 80% diet. Calories in vs. calories out baby.
I might be an exception but I’ve always struggled with losing weight and have dipped into the overweight category and gotten up to 30% body fat multiple times before coming back down.
But, have actually found it’s stupid easy to lose weight in IB and have actually had to stop myself from losing too much weight and force myself to eat for the first time in my life. And eat lots of pizza burgers alcohol on weekends.
The reason is, I just don’t have time to eat anything. Most days I can’t eat lunch until 2-3 and just scarf down a small sandwich in 2-4 minutes. I pick up my dinner which is usually a ton of chicken and protein (100+ grams of protein, 1000+ calories) but usually don’t eat it until 10 or 11 pm because I just don’t have time. I just run off zyns and energy drinks. My problem before was I had so much time and would just snack all the time.
I train hard af at gym and run on Saturdays Sunday usually Monday morning and have a decent amount of muscles and a decent physique. I wouldn’t say I’m the healthiest person, I’m absolutely not, but really weight loss all comes down to CICO and being disciplined about not getting unhealthy food off seamless more than once a week.
Lots of bodybuilders use Metformin to stay lean. There is Ozempic too, but would not recommend as you lose muscle along with fat on Ozempic.
Of course a calorie deficit is the main way to cut the pounds.
Nothing to add, just want to say good job dude. Keep it up. Hopefully you can get to a comfortable point soon where you can reduce your deficit. Cheers.
Novo Nordisk: Ozempic, Wegovy
Eli Lily: Mounjaro, Zepbound
So, basically, would you rather long NOVO or LLY?
Incredible work bro, keep it up! Just started the cut and needed some more motivation and this helped for sure. I recently thought about starting a thread with weekly updates for people to keep track of their progress and encourage others (and keep myself accountable since none of my friends are cutting this year). Doesn’t even have to be specific to weight loss, could just be any progress people were working towards. Might start that soon.
Anyway, cheers bro. Great fricken work and hope to see the next status update soon!
Nice work.
As the saying goes...you get your abs in the kitchen. Its virtually impossible to exercise away a quasi-unhealthy to unhealthy diet. Alcohol is a killer too as its crazy caloric, especially beers. One 12oz IPA can easily has 200+ calories - therefore having merely 2-3 pints at a bar is like 500-750+ or 5-7 miles of running / rowing for like 45 minutes...god forbid a real bender, ha.
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