[cjmoney]

Hi all! I'm new to this forum, so why not start off with a bang?

I’m a 26 year old guy who needs to lose 25 lbs… according to the BMI calculator. At 190 lbs, the BMI calculator says I should drop down to 165 lbs to be within the “normal” weight range. Since I’ve been regularly lifting weights for two years, my “healthy weight range” is probably higher than that suggested by the BMI calculator. Since 25 lbs is such a nice number, I’ve decided to go with losing 25 lbs as my goal.

It is easy to lose 25 lbs – just chop off a leg. The goal, of course, is to lose 25 lbs of fat while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible and not cheat by dehydrating yourself. To lose 25 lbs of fat is much, much more difficult than simply losing 25 lbs of fat, muscles, and water.

Strategy - Low Carb, Intermittent Fasting

Low carb

Different weight loss strategies work for different people. I'm the type of person whose default is to gain weight. That means if I stop watching what I eat, I will slowly but surely gain weight - that's the unfortunate result of my large appetite. I know that the ONLY method that has worked for me in the past is low carb dieting. Low carb dieting works for me by drastically reducing my appetite. However, the downside of low carb dieting is getting over the initial "induction flu", which is the horrible flu-like symptom that lasts for about one to two weeks after cutting out carbs in your diet.

I am cutting out all foods that contains carbs besides green leafy vegetables, and up to 20 grams of carbs that may come from sauces, dairy, and other trace carbs- this means no sugars of any kind, no bread, no rice, no pasta, no starchy vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, no beans, etc.


Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a great way to control eating by restricting when you can eat. I will restrict my eating window to 12 noon to 8 pm - I will consume no calories outside of this eating window.

Exercise

Since my goal is to preserve my muscle mass, I will continue lifting weights four times a weeks. My lifting schedule will continue as follows:

Monday: Lower back, hamstrings, abs, and obliques.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Quads, calves, and cardio

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Chest, front shoulders, and triceps

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Upper back, side shoulders, and biceps.

Journal
I will update my results everyday on this forum, as well as in greater detail on my blog at cjmoney dot com.

I will weigh myself each night prior to sleeping. The goal is to lose 25 lbs of fat as quickly as possible while preserving as much muscle mass as possible.

Day 0: Sunday, 7/14 - 190 lbs

Thank you for reading!

[namaste984]

Good luck!

[cjmoney]

Slight change of plans: I've decided to incorporate a carb meal post workout to help replenish my glycogen stores and preserve my muscles. I've updated my blog accordingly at cjmoney dot com.

Day 1: Monday, 7/15 - 186 lbs (down 4/25 lbs): I did not eat until noon today. For lunch, I had 3 chicken legs and stir fried vegetables. After work, I hit the gym at 5:30 but only worked out for 20 minutes since the gym was so crowded and I did not feel particularly energetic after a hectic day at work. I did 5 sets of light dead lifts followed by a few minutes of light cardio (yes, I skipped my abs and obliques workout). At 6:30, I had a decent size meal with plenty of carbs, but stopped eating when I felt full. I'm down 4 lbs simply because I did not gorge myself at night, had 2 meals, and probably lost a good amount of water weight from today's mini intermittent fasting.

I understand some ladies out there must be hating me right now - guys tend to drop pounds faster than gals - so I apologize in advance.