Hey,

My name is Andrew. Fits with my user name. I'm new here. I'm 6' 2", 250 pounds, 45 years old, husband, father, full-time employee, business owner. I just graduated from Graduate school and believe that I ate my way through it. I'm the heaviest I have ever been, though I've been coasting at near that for 10 years. I have a 32% body fat, and if you do the math, that's 80 pounds of fat. That's a big fourth grader. I happen to have a medium sized 4th grader so I picked her up the other day to get a feel for how much extra I'm carrying. I was barely able to pick her up. So not only am I overweight, I'm under fit.

So the journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. The first step is deciding to do it. Second step is to figure out how, third is to get on with it. I started a couple of days ago and did all the preliminaries this past weekend, before pictures, weights and measures, etc.

My goals are that I want to see my abs this year. For the first time in a REALLY long time. I want to be 8% BF by the middle of November. At my current statistics, that means 183.5 pounds. So I have 67 pounds to lose. I also want to help others reach their goals in any way that I can.

Drew

Congrats on graduating from grad school - I'm sure that and having a family left you with no time for yourself, whatsoever!

I breathed a VERY long sigh of relief when my grad school projects/exams were finished.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Hi Andrew, welcome to 3FC! Congrats on finishing grad school! I hope to see you around the boards.

Andrew, welcome, glad to have you join us. I suggest you look for a Challenge or Support group to join; small check-in groups make it easier to connect, get involved, and be accountable. We have groups centering arouns specific diets, themes, or age groups, find one that inspires you and just post to join! Be sure to check out the Men's Corner and 40-Somethings!

Welcome to 3 Fat Chicks, Drew (andrew80k) from one of the other males on the site.

Noticed that you've looked about; that's just the best way to start - find one or more groups that feel right so you have a place to report progress and issues.

When I started, I believed that all loses would be fat and did the kind of calculations that you've done. I've since come to believe those who point out the body loses what it chooses to lose: fat, muscle, stuff. When you reach 183.5 pounds, it won't be with body fat of 8% - that of a young hype fit athlete.

Which, by the by, is the reason given for not losing weight too rapidly nor without exercise. Among the muscle that gets consumed due to the calorie deficit causing weight loss is the heart muscle. Loosing too much heart too fast causes heart issues. So I've been led to believe that cardiovascular exercise while losing has the major effect of maintaining heart health as well as the calories burned.

Glad you're here.

Welcome Andrew,

I am a 48 yo male, similar weight but quite a bit shorter. For me this year has to be totally committed to eating well. I've been exercising about 4 times a week, so I need to ramp that up a little, but mostly focus on the intake. 2 years ago for my midlife crisis I pedalled the bike across the US - Oregon to Maine - 3846 miles. I thought I would lose 50 lbs, but with daily beer and ice cream I just lost 20 lbs, all within the first 3 weeks. So this year's approach is eating.

Best wishes to you.

thanks for the welcome all.

Unna, yeah, I know what you mean. I wanted to sleep for a week when I was done.

theox, thanks!

Penguin, thanks for the pointers.

Bill, yeah, I know that I'll have to adjust as I go due to loss of lean mass, I believe that is unavoidable. But I do cardio and weight training so I can hopefully not lose too much lean mass over the course. I imagine by the time I hit my goal it will have changed. Thanks for the advice.

Jim, Thanks, good luck to you and just keep at it. It's a process.