[ryan6458]

After a year away from brewing, I've decided to give it another go. I'm not sure how many of you will remember me, but I used to frequent the forums quite a bit. Feels good to be back. I had to make a lot of changes in my life and that didn't leave a lot of time for brewing. Got divorced(amicably), lost over 100lbs and quit smoking and chewing. I had been fat my entire life. It feels so good to finally be in shape. That being said, I'll be brewing a high calorie IIPA this weekend. LOL. Anyhoo, it's good to be back and it's good to see so many familiar faces. Inb4 "dear diary."

[majorvices]

Welcome back, ryan! Congrats on the six pack, assuming it is yours. Of course, once you start drinking again it will be gone, ya know. 

OTOH maybe your hair will grow back! 

[ryan6458]

Thanks, Major! I gave up on my hair long ago. LOL. Might grow the beard back though. Believe it or not, I still do a fair bit of drinking and still have the abs(barely).

[Kaiser]

Hi Ryan, I do remember you.

Congrats on the new look. Looks bad-ass. Keep up the exercise and the beer won't hurt you.

Kai

[nateo]

You made the right call on the hair. You have to get in front of the story and change the narrative. If you let a receding hairline go on for long enough, you could end up with a bad comb-over, and no one likes that. Bald with a beard is a good look too.

[punatic]

When you say you lost over 100 lbs. are you refering to your ex?   

Welcome back.

[ryan6458]

When you say you lost over 100 lbs. are you refering to your ex?   

Welcome back.

Zing!

Feels kinda weird digging out all of my brewing gear. Really looking forward to it though.

[phillamb168]

So what was your workout/diet regime? I have had close to zero luck losing weight (I need to get rid of about 70 pounds) with the one exception of my crazy college kid days where I was biking ±20 miles a day and eating only pasta and ben & jerry's. Got down to 190 then.

[ryan6458]

So what was your workout/diet regime? I have had close to zero luck losing weight (I need to get rid of about 70 pounds) with the one exception of my crazy college kid days where I was biking ±20 miles a day and eating only pasta and ben & jerry's. Got down to 190 then.

Calculated my BMR(google it) and ate 500 cals under that. Also lifting weights. Lift heavy to preserve muscle as you cut weight. Otherwise you'll lose a ton of lean mass. After a month or so you actually get used to being hungry. You shouldn't feel like you're starving though.

[punatic]

After a month or so you actually get used to being hungry.

I just heard that in a campaign speech.  Things are better!

[phillamb168]

So what was your workout/diet regime? I have had close to zero luck losing weight (I need to get rid of about 70 pounds) with the one exception of my crazy college kid days where I was biking ±20 miles a day and eating only pasta and ben & jerry's. Got down to 190 then.

Calculated my BMR(google it) and ate 500 cals under that. Also lifting weights. Lift heavy to preserve muscle as you cut weight. Otherwise you'll lose a ton of lean mass. After a month or so you actually get used to being hungry. You shouldn't feel like you're starving though.

Sounds reasonable! 1800 calories is apparently what I need. How long did it take you?

[majorvices]

i haven't had a six-pack since my late 20s but I got pretty close in my late 30's up until my forties with running 24-30 miles/week and lifting weights 4 - 5 days. I had cut back drinking to weekends only. Since I opened the brewery, though, my mid section has continued to spread.

[dak0415]

i haven't had a six-pack since my late 20s but I got pretty close in my late 30's up until my forties with running 24-30 miles/week and lifting weights 4 - 5 days. I had cut back drinking to weekends only. Since I opened the brewery, though, my mid section has continued to spread.

Keith, I would think that schlogging  grain bags and kegs around would keep you in shape.  Oh but then there is all that QA product sampling

[euge]

Welcome back!

At first thought it was like: looks like another someone got drawn into Insanity. But just exercise and calorie management? Great results.

FWIW I've had a mono-pack my whole life.

[erockrph]

Wow. It's good to know that there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm down about 80 pounds myself right now, and have probably 60ish more to go. It's nice to know that at some point you can cross the line from "you look good for someone who was so big" to just plain "you look good".

For anyone who is serious about losing a bunch of weight by counting calories, I recommend you really be religious about logging everything into a food tracker of some sort (I use http://sparkpeople.com), even if you know that you blew it for a particular day. It takes a lot of discipline if you're seriously in it for the long haul, and you can't let one bad day here or there kill you.

FWIW, I target 1200-1500 calories a day (yes, that is insanely low, but I started at about 300 lbs and needed to go hardcore). I make sure I eat at least 80-100 grams of protein a day. You need to increase your protein intake a bit since your body will start burning more protein for its caloric content, leaving less for rebuilding lean body mass.

Sounds reasonable! 1800 calories is apparently what I need. How long did it take you?

The rule of thumb is that 2000 calories is roughly equal to 1 lb. So I think 5-10 pounds a month is a good estimate, and that pretty much matches my experience as well. The first month's weight loss should be significantly higher, too.