From 29% body fat to 8% in 4 months

[SentientBean]

My name's Peter and I've been following Mehdi's Stronglift's 5x5 beginner strength programme for four months and I'm very happy with my results so far.

I'm 28 years old and when I started, I had not done any weight training before. I had a background of playing Rugby at a high level as a schoolboy but hadn't engaged in any organised exercise for about 11 years.

I ballooned out at about 25yrs and by the time I decided to have a go at improving my lifestyle and take up Stronglifts, I weighed 95kg (give or take a kilo) and approx 29% body fat.

It's been just 4 months on the programme and now I weight 76 kilos (I'm 5"9) and have a body fat percentage of around 8%.

My eyesight has improved significantly and I no longer have the need to wear my glasses 100% of the time. In fact, I've only needed them twice in four months (both times when I've been quite tired).

My posture has improved greatly and obviously, I've had to get a whole set of new clothes. I started to look like a man wearing a parachute.

Mehdi mentions that people will start to notice changes... Bit of an understatement! Out of an office of 40 or so people, every single on that I am even remotely acquainted with has commented multiple times on how good I'm looking. Very fit looking people at the gym have stopped me to tell me how amazing the change has been. One guy at the gym has been training for 15 years and he told me the other day that he's seen people train for years who didn't get the same results a me in three months.

The roid head at work and the 'guru' tried to tell me to stop or to change to daily sessions of "bi's, thigh's and tri's" and that "no one does 5x5" and that "It wont work".

The same guys have now eaten their words.

I've had more women look at me than in a long time and I've been having a few dates here and there..

I made some big dietary changes when I started Stronglifts and I'm still tweaking what I eat. I started by having 6 fried eggs (everything that I pan fry, I fry in olive oil), a 150gram kangaroo steak and 200 grams of green veggies for breakfast every morning. I topped this off with some low quality fish oil and a multi-vitamin called Tresos-B. I'd eat carrots during the day and then at lunch I'd have another Kangaroo steak and more veggies. An hour before I started training, I'd have some steamed brown basmati rice with 420grams of tuna in brine and some veggies and mayo. After training in the evening I'd treat myself to a Muscle Milk protein shake (I know it's crap but it's like a little treat) and I'd usually have a hundred grams or so of cottage cheese a short time before bed... god I love cottage cheese! I drink about 3 litres of water a day at my desk job (always up for a piss! ha ha), and two pots of green tea. I'm a bit naughty in the evenings and have about 3 litres of Coke Zero (!!!)... So, about 7 or litres of liquid a day, not including a half litre here or there.

Not much has changed since. I've dropped the 6 fried eggs in the morning and I'm using some pharmaceutical grade fish oil. I don't eat as many carrots as I used to, either. I eat the same food every day of the week.

I don't think I've had an 'off lifestyle' meal since I've started the programme.

When I started Stronglifts, I had pretty bad form (I still do). I was using my knees too much on the squat and my overhead press and bench was done with pretty horrendous form also.

I found it hard to identify problems with my form as I'd only time I'd really know if something was wrong was when something would hurt.

My left knee started to hurt so I corrected my hip movement and this almost went away. I got some advice from a PT as I wanted him to critique my squat form before I made more big mistakes.

He reckoned that my right hamstring wasn't very flexible and he suggested some stretches to help activate the glutes and hams. He also recommended some deep tissue work as this would be faster than relying on stretching.

I got some work done on my adductors (ouchie!!!!!) and hams and other spots to great effect. After a few weeks, I was able to perform a pretty balanced full squat with glute activation and my hams started to get a lot of development (catching up?).

I also bought Ripptoe's book Starting Strength 2. Great book, though sometimes I wish I could fly to the states for a couple of coaching sessions with him as I'm seemingly a slow learner with this stuff.

Before I got my glutes, adductors and hams worked on, my best on the programme was a 5x5 82.5kg squat with pretty average form (I weighed about 86kg).

I've deloaded by 20% on the squat once and by 10% a few times while I built on my form (still pretty bad though, I reckon).

I've now passed a body weight squat and did 85kg 5 x 5 (my weight is 75kg) the other night. I failed last night, early in the last set of 87.5kg.

My overhead press is still shocking and I'm trying to rebuild that, now.

My deadlift grip has hit a brick wall on 110kg so I'm deloading to 100kg tomorrow and I'm going to look at grip strengthening techniques.

My bench press was going ok on 55kg, but I felt a warm sensation in my left pec (no pain) and a day after my shoulder started to hurt. The next bench session after, I had no strength in the left arm at all and I started to develop numbness in my left thumb and index finger. I backed off the weight but unfortunately, unlike other injuries, this one has plagued me a bit over the last few weeks.

The numbness is now pretty significant (it stays to the next day) and I have it now in my right hand. At first, I thought it was carpal tunnel syndrome so I concentrated on keeping my wrists straight and I bought some push up handles for push ups. Then, I thought that perhaps I'd had a rotator cuff tear. Now I think that it could be a nerve issue as I have a fairly high bar position on my squat.

I had to laugh last night as I was building my bench press back up and keeping in mind all of the Ripptoe comments on form, my left arm performed pretty well with 37.5 kg. My right arm started moving off to the right.. I couldn't believe it. One arm starting to get better, now the other one is stuffed. I asked a PT over to have a look at my form. He didn't really have much to say except for, 'make sure that you warm up your shoulders'.

So, I think it's time to go to the doctor for a test or a checkup on the numbness.

Apart from picking up the odd fungal on the hands from the gym and going a little bit yellow for a little while from an abundance of vitamin A (I think! haha), things have gone really well.

It's a bit of a struggle to get things going right, but the results have been amazing. I'm hoping to really build on my strength once I iron out form deficiencies and this little injury worry!

[guru]

Wonderful work there Peter. Good luck with your arms. Go see a doctor - see what they say. Better if you see a sports med specialist.

You seem to be pretty concerned about your form. It's a good thing - why not video yourself & post them in the Weightlifting section so that more experienced people can comment?

the 'guru' tried to tell me to stop or to change to daily sessions of "bi's, thigh's and tri's" and that "no one does 5x5" and that "It wont work".

Hehe, I never told you that.

[mjh]

this is a fantastic story Peter. You're justly proud of what you've done, and how you've done it, and it comes through in your writing. I hope that those around you continue to notices the change in you as you now start to build those muscles up.

[DaveT]

Amazing effort on the weight loss. I'm most amazed that you managed to eat the same thing everyday!
I'm intrigued by the eyesight improvement - do you (or anyone else reading this post) know the science behind why this happened?
As Guru said, post a vid on here for advice on your form. You'll get some great tips.
Hope you get your arms checked out soon and that they get better. We've missed out on all your wonderful progress so far, maybe you can start a log on here to inspire others in the future...

[mattmoran]

You drink 3 liters of coke zero every night? Thats like 12 cans! Holy Cow!

[bigwhat62]

nice work man, very encouraging for those wondering what heavy lifting and eating clean can do. 3 liters of coke zero in the evening sounds extreme man. maybe trying to limit it to one liter a day is ideal and i still think thats too much soda. but i guess everyone has their vice and mine right now is girl scout cookies. how does kangaroo steak taste like? i am beyond curious in trying some.

if you dont mind can you start up a training log?

[erebusii]

Is Kangaroo steak a brand of steak or is it actual Kangaroo? If so, what does it taste like in comparison to other foods?

I'm also intrigued on the eyesight thing as well.

And your bodyfat percentage reduction is nothing less than amazing. Good job.

[SentientBean]

Thanks everyone for the welcome and the great comments!

The Coke Zero thing is a bit of a nasty habit for sure. I'm still deciding as to whether to cut it out or cut it back or leave it as is. I'm getting too much caffeine from it for starters, but on the other hand, I gave up drinking beer about a year before I started Stronglifts and my list of vices is quite small...

The eyesight improvement I believe came about due to my major improvement in nutrition. Also, fish oil is a wonder drug! I'm more alert and soreness is pretty minimal and I reckon that the fish oil is a factor there too.

As for the Kangaroo.... It's a bit weird eating my country's national animal!

In Australia, Kangaroo used not to be fit for mass public consumption as it required quite a lot of quality assurance and testing before being deemed to be ok to eat as it's game.

Once 'mad cow disease' hit Europe, Australia started exporting Kangaroo meat and the quality assurance programmes were stepped up significantly to meet EU guidelines. Kangaroo used to be just fed to dogs (!) but now with the quality of cuts, it's becoming more popular with fitness orientated people as it's got the most protein per gram I have seen on the shelves and it's got an average of about 1.9 grams of fat per 100grams (less than an egg) Cheap too!!! (in Australia).

It cooks very quickly in the pan. 2 minutes on each side and then I cook it a little longer on a slightly lower heat and I put a little water in the pan too.

It's an acquired taste for sure! The smell is a bit rank and man, does it smell bad on the way out....

I went to the doctor this morning. He had a look at me and after a chat he reckons that without confirming it with a Nerve Conduction Test, he reckons I've compressed/damaged a nerve in the shoulders/back. Explains the temporary weakness in the arms, the early shoulder pain and the numbness in the thumb and index fingers.

He advised that I keep training but that I back off the weight on the squat for a month to give it a bit of time for the problem to fix itself as the problem was getting worse, the more weight applied. Maybe I need a lower bar position? Perhaps that would create a different problem. I'm going to back off to by 20% - 30% (haven't decided) and work up by 2.5 as per the programme until the numbness goes. Once it goes (I'm hoping a couple of weeks), I'll review and then increase by 5kg until I'm back to or close to a body weight squat again. It's annoying, but I'm going to use this opportunity to have a really good look at my form and see if there are any preventative measures I can take to avoid reoccurrence of the injury. Any tips would be very, very welcome!

On that note, I'm going to take Bigwhat62's advice and set up a training log. I'm going to ask a mate to video me in the gym and I'll put up some before and after photos, too. Should be up and going in the next week.

Cheers,

Pete

[daviemac11]

Well done mate! Some amazing progress there, you've every right to be proud of what you've achieved.
Get the videos of your form posted soon so as you can get it checked and corrected as soon as possible.
All the best,
Davie.

[dylanamus]

Kangaroo is cheaper than beef too. As suggested by Pete's 2min a side technique, you really have to braze Kangaroo or it can be awfully tough. Personally, I love it cooked rare.

Amazing work there, man. 8% for a person not gifted with a racecar metabolism is a great achievement on its own, but coming from 29% and achieving those results in that time-frame is just awesome.

Get the nerve conduction study done. Nerve entrapment misdiagnoses are all too common. Once you know where the traffic jam is, you should be able to get it sorted out by a good Myo/Osteo/Physio (or the more versatile Chiro). The good thing about nerve entrapment in the upper body is it rarely requires surgical correction.

Best of luck in your recovery.

[thunderdownunder]

It's an acquired taste for sure! The smell is a bit rank and man, does it smell bad on the way out....

I can vouch for that! I used to drive trains and had an electrician with me on the loco. I had the poor guy gagging on the entire 4 hr trip!!! Had his head hanging out the window. Smells worse than eggs.

[Glutenbob]

I am hoping to lower my bodyfat% too. Back when I was at abt 10-11%bodyfat, I had so much confidence around girls. But ever since i got fat I have stayed as far away from them as possible, i dunno, i feel embarrased. My confidence is at a low right now, the only thing that will raise my confidence is if i lose all this fat. I have lost 12 lbs so far, about another 30 to go. Shouldn't take long since I am working my butt off.

[dantheman]

That's awesome man, congrats! Any before and after pics?

[Glutenbob]

That's awesome man, congrats! Any before and after pics?

I would love to see before and after pics. They are a great source of motivation.

[toxiChilli]

Congrats man, pretty inspirational.