DISCUSSION: Battle of the Bulge

To those who have lost the weight....Do you ever beat the bulge? or is it a lifetime battle?

Wowser... That chick looks hot!!!!

For me I used to carry 30% BF cause I got a big frame to hang it on...

Im currently 18% BF and still going down... 12% sits down around 96kg for me...

Ill be able to comfortably hang around 12% -15% no worries... Once you ignore all the BS about number of meals.... meal timing... avoiding carbs.... Not eating carbs at night... avoiding bad fats... fat burners... etc etc etc\

Get clever at sustaining periods of time in a slight calorie deficit and the rest sorts itself out...

Im looking forward to eating at maintenance early next year and seeing what I can do training wise while keeping my body weight under 100kg!

It was a constant battle for me until I stopped being such an emotional eater.

I think every one has to watch it past a certain age with today's calorie dense foods though.

It's more of a battle for those with issues/stress, as I had once - but by beating the stress, and not pigging out when you get stressed, it stops being a battle. Conquering stress is a hell of a lot easier said than done.

Well if you mean can you relax eat pizza and tim tams all day and drink lots of alcohol.....no it's always a battle.

The fight never stops, but I believe once you get to your goal maintenance will have to be easier than losing weight, I hope, at the moment I am dropping about 1kg a week, currently sitting at 115kg, down from 121kg a few weeks ago. At 115 still plenty to lose IMO.

Once I get to about 105kg will reassess and see what I think.

PS that chick is smoking hot in the after photo, I think I am in love

Looks like the leaner you get the more tanned you are, interesting. Also hate how they're all depressed with shitty posture in the befores then all tight, flexed and sucked in with s smile on their face in the afters... Just that alone would make a difference...

I think I could do a decent 2 week transformation with some tan oil, lighting, and a lot of water weight loss.

It takes me 2 weeks of crash dieting to pull myself back inline.
But being a yo-yo dieter previously, I think if you have that limit number in your head, your max weight gain number, it helps me to trigger dieting again. I think for me it's gonna be a constant battle.
I love food, what more can I say...?

(Tans drop 10kg bodyweight. True story)

I love eating and drinking, so always a battle for me.

It's not even bad food for me as I don't like traditional rubbish take away such as Maccas KFC etc etc, it's just pure volume of food for me

I still love to have my pizza and Bundy. High fat and carb diet ruins me.
If I prepared my food better it would be have the battle gone.

To be honest I find cutting the easiest. I know what calories I have to stick to and not go over for it to work. Once you have the plan it is pretty easy to stick to.

Maintaining just feels like no mans land.

Lean bulk is basically just like cutting but with a few extra calories. Problem is the bulking mindset. You know you are bulking so tend to not be too fussed with going over calories a bit. Ends up turning into a semi dirty bulk and gaining more fat than you want.

Of course just plain bulking is the easiest but that just ends up fat fucking yourself.

I've been on a bulk for the past 30 years

joe said:

I think I could do a decent 2 week transformation with some tan oil, lighting, and a lot of water weight loss.

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looks like a bit more than 2 weeks of water weight loss there

Darkoz said:

I've been on a bulk for the past 30 years

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same here.

I have always battled with my weight no matter how fit I was....

And still an ongoing battle.. in saying that I have kept 30kgs off for over 2 years so I guess I'm slowly starting to win the battle... I much like the above in that I'm nit a huge fan of takeaway but just sheer volume of food..

I would say it is relatively easy to maintain with a moderately good diet + exercise, just hard to achieve in the first place.

Also side note - I HATE before/after photos, they always looks so bullshit, never can tell if its even the same person and after watching "Bigger Stronger Faster" I just call bullshit on half of them.

yea, especially that chick. You'd never go out with her, thinking 'oh she'd be hot after losing the blubber plus a healthy squirt of spray tan..'

Bazza20 said:

To be honest I find cutting the easiest. I know what calories I have to stick to and not go over for it to work. Once you have the plan it is pretty easy to stick to.

Maintaining just feels like no mans land.

Lean bulk is basically just like cutting but with a few extra calories. Problem is the bulking mindset. You know you are bulking so tend to not be too fussed with going over calories a bit. Ends up turning into a semi dirty bulk and gaining more fat than you want.

Of course just plain bulking is the easiest but that just ends up fat fucking yourself.

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This exactly.

Add in: comfort of relationships, hectic work life et al and you can easily regress. I put myself under the hammer though in terms of my ideal body.

I myself find it easier to stick to a plan, and not deviate too much. You tend to become lax when you're maintaining and 'lean bulking'. If you're not naturally lean - this can be quite damaging. Our minds very easily justify what we do when in a particular mindset in relation to our goals.

What really helps I have found is not being lackadaisical. You need to work with the cards you have been dealt, some find it very difficult to stay lean (at or under 12%) year round. It's a tough task.

Two things I believe really help
1) Writing down the goals. Visualise where you want to be. What weight, numbers, poudanges, bodyfat? Have a map of how you're going to get there.
2) The power of accountability. Tell others about what you're doing. This is why logs on forums and telling friends and family helps. It keeps you accountable. Not only this, if they're good people around you they'll either join in, or help you and understand what you're doing. 'I'm lean bulking anyway, few extra calories can't hurt'. It's similar to the 'moderation trap'. Everything in 'moderation'. 'Oh well, I have only eaten a packet of chips this week, only had ice cream once, only had Chocolate on Saturday and I have been good but had Fish & Chips Sunday.. haven't eaten that in 3 weeks!'. When you tally it up; it's not entirely moderate is it?

I have always found it easier training with someone who is at my level, has my commitment and drive. I even try to find someone leaner and stronger than me to train with. Pretty hard task at a 'Re-Creation Health Club' but can be done

There's no better motivation training with someone who looks better than you, and is bigger, stronger, faster or whatever it is you have in mind for yourself.

Bradders said:

I have always battled with my weight no matter how fit I was....

And still an ongoing battle.. in saying that I have kept 30kgs off for over 2 years so I guess I'm slowly starting to win the battle... I much like the above in that I'm nit a huge fan of takeaway but just sheer volume of food..

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this is me. extremely active my whole life, but i've never been thin.

i've managed to maintain a steady 90kg for about 6 months now, though it doesn't seem to be getting any easier just yet. I feels as though i can eat really well at 500cal deficit for 2 weeks, lose a kilo then have 1 day where i binge and eat at +1000cals over maintenance and i've put the kilo back on.

but yeah, i cook every meal myself, i don't do take away and i love veggies but the thing that seems to do me in is that i can eat massive volumes of food. when a small portion of that is calorie dense then i shoot myself in the foot. biggest lesson of the last 6 months has been that sometimes you shouldn't wait to feel full before you stop eating - i've learnt to accept that sometimes you will still feel hungry after a meal and that's just the way it is.

my problem is simply eating way too much... it's not unusual for me to eat a large pizza for dinner (I'm working there, it used to be 2), 1 litre of icecream and then maybe snack on a kilo of carrots.

I've stopped myself buying 4 packs of magnums because i tend to eat all 4 one after the other ...

IF tends to work best for me as it means i can still have a pretty large dinner and i find it easier to skip eating earlier in the day.

NightFallTech said:

I've stopped myself buying 4 packs of magnums because i tend to eat all 4 one after the other ....

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This is me.