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Started By
Message
Lost 10+ pounds!
Posted on 5/13/25 at 3:40 pm
Posted on 5/13/25 at 3:40 pm
Finally feel like efforts to lose weight are gaining traction. I peaked out around 260 and some change about six weeks ago. Felt like total garbage, bloated, pants were getting super tight, sleep apnea was terrible, acid reflux out of control.
Went to my primary care doc, she said walking wasn't cutting it, I needed to do some strength training in addition, also offered to put me on Wegovy.. Insurance initially denied, so was put on contrave.
Committed to the gym 4 days a week, and spending a good 45 minutes on weights and cables. Appetite and cravings reduced and evening snacking all but disappeared. Started noticing last week my shirts fit a bit better, so I got on the scale, weighed in at 248.
I feel pretty good about myself in regards to making progress. I have tons of work to do. My belly is absolutely stubborn in giving up the fat, however I figure it will be the last place to shed the fat.
Aetna sent a letter this week reversing their decision regarding Wegovy. So I can choose to stay on the contrave or switch to wegovy. Not sure which I will choose. I feel l need the meds to help with the constant food noise which led to me eating shitty food all day. Now, I'm thinking about the types of food and how much.
To all of you in the battle, stay at it. It's doable for us middle aged guys to shed weight and get in good shape again.
Went to my primary care doc, she said walking wasn't cutting it, I needed to do some strength training in addition, also offered to put me on Wegovy.. Insurance initially denied, so was put on contrave.
Committed to the gym 4 days a week, and spending a good 45 minutes on weights and cables. Appetite and cravings reduced and evening snacking all but disappeared. Started noticing last week my shirts fit a bit better, so I got on the scale, weighed in at 248.
I feel pretty good about myself in regards to making progress. I have tons of work to do. My belly is absolutely stubborn in giving up the fat, however I figure it will be the last place to shed the fat.
Aetna sent a letter this week reversing their decision regarding Wegovy. So I can choose to stay on the contrave or switch to wegovy. Not sure which I will choose. I feel l need the meds to help with the constant food noise which led to me eating shitty food all day. Now, I'm thinking about the types of food and how much.
To all of you in the battle, stay at it. It's doable for us middle aged guys to shed weight and get in good shape again.
11
Posted on 5/13/25 at 3:52 pm to BluegrassCardinal
Nice start! You committed to the plan now stick with it for life. As you know, starting is way more difficult than maintaining so don't let yourself get off of the path to healthy living. It's only a matter of time until you hit your goal weight. You will look and feel great.
Posted on 5/13/25 at 4:23 pm to BluegrassCardinal
Congrats! I’m not going to shite on your progress…you’re on the right path and measuring results based on how your clothes look/feel is better than checking the scale, no doubt.
That said, how long have you been on the contrave and can you get off and just keep going to the gym? I feel like NOT dealing with cravings/urges is sort of what gets folks to where they became unhealthy, and you would be more likely to keep life long habits if you deal with the reason you got here.
Either way, keep it up
That said, how long have you been on the contrave and can you get off and just keep going to the gym? I feel like NOT dealing with cravings/urges is sort of what gets folks to where they became unhealthy, and you would be more likely to keep life long habits if you deal with the reason you got here.
Either way, keep it up
This post was edited on 5/13/25 at 4:24 pm
Posted on 5/13/25 at 7:18 pm to BluegrassCardinal
Keep up the great work!
Posted on 5/13/25 at 7:35 pm to BluegrassCardinal
Congrats!!!
Keep going!!!!!!!
Keep going!!!!!!!
Posted on 5/13/25 at 7:40 pm to BluegrassCardinal
Keep at it, man. You got this 
Posted on 5/13/25 at 8:02 pm to BluegrassCardinal
Congrats brother. Keep up the good work.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 6:48 am to BluegrassCardinal
Good job, keep it up. What's your goal?
Make sure you're developing healthy eating habits while on the wegovy so you can continue them when you get off.
Make sure you're developing healthy eating habits while on the wegovy so you can continue them when you get off.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 7:16 am to BluegrassCardinal
Love threads like this! Keep working at it - you’re doing something that is truly life changing in the best kind of way.
Thoughts on taking the next step - imo.
*Weigh yourself daily - get a good trend over weeks and months. Don’t let day to day or even week to week swings slow your momentum down. You’re knocking out the “low hanging fruit” and losing weight will be easy at your current weight. It will slow down and that’s ok. Trend it.
*Take pictures monthly - as stated above the dopamine hits of weight loss will go away. Take pictures because your body type will start changing as you build muscle, but the scale may trend flat.
*Eat more protein - .8 to 1g per pound of your desired weight. I used a simple rule to look at labels and decide if that food is worth me eating. For every 100 calories is there 10g of protein. 2000 calories - 200g of protein. Grab a bag of pasta serving size 200 calories and 6g of protein - it’s a no go, I’ll never hit my protein goals eating this. There’s an exception to this - fruits and veggies. I eat them as much and as often as I want.
*Eat all the *fresh fruits and vegetables you want. No processed or canned stuff (added sugar)
*Track calories - do it. This will show you more than anything the importance on food choice. After a couple weeks it’ll take next to no time tracking - and you’ll know without doubt why you are or aren’t seeing results. Tracking gave me more freedom and less chance of just giving up on my good eating habits because of 1 or 4 bad days. For example I eat pizza last week, and I knew I was going to. I went light on lunch and gave myself a 1000ish calorie cushion to absorb that dinner. I ate like 1800 calories of pizza. Yep - it was awesome and I overate my *target calories for the day. This took me from cutting 400 calories for the day to a surplus of 400, and it’s ok…. I had extra energy the next day to hit the weights and got a solid workout with added volume for all my lifts. A lot of people will give up after binge eating for a couple days. Track it. Then get back on the plan. All is not lost.
To me incorporating these things will take you from another fad diet fling to building a healthy lifestyle.
Edit to add one more important point.
*Track and progressively overload your lifts- it is very easy to underestimate your reps in reserve and get into the habit of pushing the same weight on bench press for example week after week. If you track, you can add a rep or 5 lbs or even a set. Don’t do cheat reps though. Good form - nice and controlled
Apps I like - MacroFactor for food tracking. Push for workout tracking
There are many apps that will help you track. These are the ones I like
Thoughts on taking the next step - imo.
*Weigh yourself daily - get a good trend over weeks and months. Don’t let day to day or even week to week swings slow your momentum down. You’re knocking out the “low hanging fruit” and losing weight will be easy at your current weight. It will slow down and that’s ok. Trend it.
*Take pictures monthly - as stated above the dopamine hits of weight loss will go away. Take pictures because your body type will start changing as you build muscle, but the scale may trend flat.
*Eat more protein - .8 to 1g per pound of your desired weight. I used a simple rule to look at labels and decide if that food is worth me eating. For every 100 calories is there 10g of protein. 2000 calories - 200g of protein. Grab a bag of pasta serving size 200 calories and 6g of protein - it’s a no go, I’ll never hit my protein goals eating this. There’s an exception to this - fruits and veggies. I eat them as much and as often as I want.
*Eat all the *fresh fruits and vegetables you want. No processed or canned stuff (added sugar)
*Track calories - do it. This will show you more than anything the importance on food choice. After a couple weeks it’ll take next to no time tracking - and you’ll know without doubt why you are or aren’t seeing results. Tracking gave me more freedom and less chance of just giving up on my good eating habits because of 1 or 4 bad days. For example I eat pizza last week, and I knew I was going to. I went light on lunch and gave myself a 1000ish calorie cushion to absorb that dinner. I ate like 1800 calories of pizza. Yep - it was awesome and I overate my *target calories for the day. This took me from cutting 400 calories for the day to a surplus of 400, and it’s ok…. I had extra energy the next day to hit the weights and got a solid workout with added volume for all my lifts. A lot of people will give up after binge eating for a couple days. Track it. Then get back on the plan. All is not lost.
To me incorporating these things will take you from another fad diet fling to building a healthy lifestyle.
Edit to add one more important point.
*Track and progressively overload your lifts- it is very easy to underestimate your reps in reserve and get into the habit of pushing the same weight on bench press for example week after week. If you track, you can add a rep or 5 lbs or even a set. Don’t do cheat reps though. Good form - nice and controlled
Apps I like - MacroFactor for food tracking. Push for workout tracking
There are many apps that will help you track. These are the ones I like
This post was edited on 5/14/25 at 7:42 am
Posted on 5/14/25 at 7:20 am to BluegrassCardinal
move to the wygovy....lots of other health benefits from it outside of the weight loss
couple things
1) dont try eating intuitively....you need to get in the habit of measuring and tracking and meal prepping...at least for 4-6 months. Not saying you cant go out for lunch or dinner but use the precision nutrition picture estimates on food sizes to track. You need to get this going immediately so it teaches you life long habits
2) now that you have been doing the gym thing for a little while, i would look to get on a real strength program. Learn the barbell lifts and learn to lift correctly and how to move. simple linear progression is all that is needed. Something like starting strength, greyskull lp or power athlete bedrock or any other linear program like strong lifts or some on trainherioc
3) start weighting daily and track the average over two weeks. now you can learn to adjust the meals or walking as needed
4) try and get 6-8k steps per day for now.
couple things
1) dont try eating intuitively....you need to get in the habit of measuring and tracking and meal prepping...at least for 4-6 months. Not saying you cant go out for lunch or dinner but use the precision nutrition picture estimates on food sizes to track. You need to get this going immediately so it teaches you life long habits
2) now that you have been doing the gym thing for a little while, i would look to get on a real strength program. Learn the barbell lifts and learn to lift correctly and how to move. simple linear progression is all that is needed. Something like starting strength, greyskull lp or power athlete bedrock or any other linear program like strong lifts or some on trainherioc
3) start weighting daily and track the average over two weeks. now you can learn to adjust the meals or walking as needed
4) try and get 6-8k steps per day for now.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 7:53 am to TigerReich
quote:
That said, how long have you been on the contrave and can you get off and just keep going to the gym? I feel like NOT dealing with cravings/urges is sort of what gets folks to where they became unhealthy, and you would be more likely to keep life long habits if you deal with the reason you got here.
Thinking I might come off the contrave sooner than later. Constipation has been pretty wicked, and I know Wegovy causes the same side effects.
For whatever reason, missing my morning bowel movement induces anxiety. Crazy, I know.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 7:55 am to Loup
quote:
Good job, keep it up. What's your goal?
Make sure you're developing healthy eating habits while on the wegovy so you can continue them when you get off.
When I left active duty way back in 2003, I was 180ish. Even though that's my healthy weight, I was pretty gaunt looking I thought. I also think it might be a bit realistic to get down that low again. I would be happy with 190-200 lb.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 7:58 am to lsu777
quote:
move to the wygovy....lots of other health benefits from it outside of the weight loss
Yep, seems like there's been evidence of being effective in reducing inflammation, in addition to the side benefits of reduced blood pressure, apnea, lipids etc.
The bupropion part of contrave causes too much anxiety for me. It's pretty effective at reducing cravings, but the side effects don't really justify it.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 8:01 am to BluegrassCardinal
Hydration really helps when taking GLPs. I drink over a gallon a day easily and stay very regular. You can always supplement with calcium citrate to help with regularity too. Sometimes I’ll toss a scoop in my pre workout.
quote:They’re discovering more & more benefits as studies go on. They’re really a Godsend for those who need. Ignore the social media fear mongering from folks who have no idea what they’re talking about. Truth is, majority of them need GLPs themselves.
Yep, seems like there's been evidence of being effective in reducing inflammation, in addition to the side benefits of reduced blood pressure, apnea, lipids etc.
This post was edited on 5/14/25 at 8:03 am
Posted on 5/14/25 at 8:05 am to Athletix
quote:
Track and progressively overload your lifts- it is very easy to underestimate your reps in reserve and get into the habit of pushing the same weight on bench press for example week after week. If you track, you can add a rep or 5 lbs or even a set. Don’t do cheat reps though. Good form - nice and controlled
This. One of my mistakes in prior gym attempts was not progressing. So, I'm pushing myself (a bit) and overloading on the dumbbell presses. I go to Planet Fitness and the barbell options are limited to the smith machine, which I'm not super crazy about, so I stick to a lot of dumbell work.
Today, I'll be doing some push type exercises/movements. It varies some, but I"ll do inclined dumbbell press, cable crosses, shoulder press, dumbbell or machine fly and then maybe some lateral or front raises with dumbbells. I'll work in some tricep exercises like pulldowns or overhead.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 8:07 am to Uncle JackD
quote:
Hydration really helps when taking GLPs. I drink over a gallon a day easily and stay very regular. You can always supplement with calcium citrate to help with regularity too. Sometimes I’ll toss a scoop in my pre workout.
Or you could just eat right
Posted on 5/14/25 at 8:08 am to Uncle JackD
quote:
Hydration really helps when taking GLPs. I drink over a gallon a day easily and stay very regular. You can always supplement with calcium citrate to help with regularity too. Sometimes I’ll toss a scoop in my pre workout.
Yep, that's my only main concern is getting backed up, and yes, I've heard some rare stories of gastroparesis.
Several years ago, I had a paralytic ileus after a spine fusion surgery and could not crap for like three days. I guess not crapping traumatized me lol. I don't want to do that again.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 8:16 am to BluegrassCardinal
quote:
BluegrassCardinal
Keep Hammering away man. Awesome to hear and embrace the suck.
Posted on 5/14/25 at 8:20 am to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:Love you, man.
you could just eat right
Posted on 5/14/25 at 9:36 am to BluegrassCardinal
We're all pulling for you. Keep us updated.
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