Thread: Anyone have a few extra pounds? I've dropped 35 on nutrisystem

First off, congrats to you ctufano!

Second, I want to give a little advice. I would supplement your Nutrisystem diet with some weight training exercise and possibly cardio. Some people tend to get "skinny-fat" if they drop too much weight and don't exercise to build muscle.

From my own research and experience, building up a little muscle is also a sure-fire way to drop fat. People tend to think it's a bad idea because muscle will just make them look bigger. This is usually not the case though.

About 6 years ago (I think..not important) I bought a Concept2 rower. I used it for a month or so, but I was in college and the rower stood at my parents' and eventually was forgotten. Once I moved into my own house and had room I brought it over and started a fairly strict rowing routine. The pounds started dropping and I was pretty happy. I did that for about 8 months. Then I started weightlifting with some guys at work, 3 days a week, with rowing on off days. Man, the pounds flew off! Now I've altered my program to 3-5 days of weight training with 9 miles of biking afterwards. Total workout time is maybe 1.5 hours a day. Not too long, but enough to kick my butt.

All of this, of course, with a well modified diet that is high in protein, lower in carbs/fat and some protein/vitamin supplements. I've lost about 45 lbs in a year and a half and when you factor in the amount of muscle I've gained on top of it it's pretty impressive. I'd probably put the total fat loss closer to 65-75 lbs. I'm sitting around 12-14% body fat which is pretty good, although I was around 8% when I started college More muscle now though!

Summary:

controlled diet == good (usually the hardest part)
additional exercise == better

Good advice...weights and cardio mixed always work better.

As an aside, I have always thought rowing machines should come with a video screen that plays the galley scene from "Ben Hur" in a loop.....



"Ramming speed!"

Originally Posted by jnich67

That's great Gary! Congrats.

Jordan

Thank You Jordan. There has been an update. I'm168LBS Looking for 165 before beefing to 175lbs muscle. Arms ripped abs very good as I hit 41 years old in Sept. Chest the best . Legs are very good from the long 120 miles bike rides in my 20's but can do it still.
I don't know what to say. This is the way I eat for the middle of our lives or the back 9 an doing well.
The bike we take to 15 miles. We moved to a small towm and that covers it.

What exactly is Nutrisystem? Are they meals they send you in the mail? I'm not looking into losing weight. Done that. I'm looking to gain weight without losing my sexiness (as my figure is referred to).

I stand 5'6" and weigh in at about 132 lbs. I can also attest to weightlifting as a means to lose weight on top of cardio.

During this past semester, I weightlifted 5--7 days a week, stuck to a strict 6 meals/day plan (meals needs to meet a calorie range and other criterias), did push-ups every and ran every morning once I woke up. Oddly, as I was getting stronger, I lost weight. My weight went down to 125, but I would bench 50 lbs each hand (only use dumbbells, which is harder than benching barbells), which is the maximum weight at the gym in the dorms.

Coming back home, since I don't have access to the gym, I took a month out of working out and ate a lot. About a month ago I started doing little things to help somewhat maintain my shape. For example, every monring I still do push-ups, and I've added my ab workout. I don't do regular push-ups though. I've got these special push-ups that are much harder to do. I do about 94 of those current, and each week I increase by 3 (one for each kind of push-up). Regular push-ups I can probably go around 115. When I go back to college, I plan to be in tip top shape. I started running again this past week. I'll probably run 4 miles everyday, and then I'll work on my agility.

I don't know if anybody remembered what I look like from the picture I posted in the What Do You Look Like thread, but I looked like this a year ago:


Since then, my abs are a lot more defined, my V is more pronounced, my arms, chest and back have gotten bigger.

I lost 20 pounds during Lent.

After Pascha(Easter) I have since gained it all back!

I never had to watch what I ate, until I hit 35 (I'm now 40...)

Me toafter 35 & now 40. I'm more balanced with the eating thing now
and still losing Weight without much effort these days. I think it's the hiking &
jogging which are fine on cooler days.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

I lost 20 pounds during Lent.

After Pascha(Easter) I have since gained it all back!

I never had to watch what I ate, until I hit 35 (I'm now 40...)

Ctufano,

Damn good job brother! People will dog you for using a pre-packaged system but if you are setting realistic, attainable goals and acheiving those goals than the system is obviously working for you. The best motivator in the fitness struggle is results. From what I know about you through reading your posts is that you are very intelligent and careful. You research before you commit. For some people research is an excuse for non-committal but from what I've seen, your research typically leads to a decision with which you are comfortable, regardless of whether the subject is a stand to hold your shaving brush or a life changing decision to shed a third of your body weight. I wonder if you have set up a spread sheet and plotted your progress? I don't think there's a more beautiful drawing than the line on a graph heading toward one's most idealistic goal.

Don't worry about your skin. The skin is an amazingly resilient material. If you lose weight very rapidly you will have some droopiness here and there but unless you plan on applying for a job with those Chippendale Dancer guys, it won't interfere with your feeling of success. There is a measurement of the reslience of one's skin and it is affected by various things such as hydration, scarring, hairyness and age. The property is called "skin turgor" and you can check it yourself. With the thumb and forefinger of one hand, take a healthy pinch of the skin on the back of your other hand and pull it up away from your hand as much as you can and let go. If the skin snaps right back into place you have good turgor. If the skin stays pulled up like a tent you may be dehydrated or have some other issue(s). Bottom line is, when you have to go shop for smaller clothes it beats the hell out of having to shop for bigger clothes. This brings me to a very iimportant point.

Your biggest challenge will be to keep the weight you lose lost. I'm guessing your name is Tufano. I may be wrong but that sounds Italian, like me. As others here have said, your lifestyle is more important than the Nutrisystem. Once you hit your target size, it is very tough to stay there. I love food, especially Italian food. Pasta, pane, vino, formaggia, Jesu Christo, tutti fantastico, tutti deliscioso! You can't live forever on the Nutristuff but you can learn to balance your eating well with regular exercise. The exercise doesn't have to be fanatical hours of pumping iron at a gym or sweating bullets while riding a stationary bicycle while some nut screams at you to go faster. You don't even need any equipment. Just get into a habit of taking regular long, brisk walks. Walking is much better for your joints than running.

My voice is that of experience. Over the last year I have lost more than eighty pounds. In January of 2007 I weighed 285 lbs and my waist size was 42 inches. I cut down on drinking alcoholic beverages. I changed to a more healthy diet, nothing too special just cut out eating two bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches every morning, stopped the Chinese buffet lunches and huge mounds of pasta for dinner. I replaced that ridiculous amount of fatty food with alot of tossed salads for lunch and dinner and grapefruits for breakfast. I stll eat plenty of meat and as much pasta as I want but I don't stand over the pot on the stove grazing until I feel sick. I try to walk everyday. I am lucky to live on a farm with a mountain and seven miles of beautiful trails www.sticksandstonesfarm.com and I am luckier to have a great dog who is a joy to play outdoors with and I am luckier still to have a girlfriend who has made a serious commitment to losing weight. I am also (while counting blessings) luckiest to be alive after a ten month period of serious illness and four tremendous and dangerous abdominal surgeries. I went down as low as 190 lbs at which point I looked emaciated (I am 6'3" tall). I continued regular exercise and built back some muscle so now I am very satisfied at 215 lbs, a 36 or 38 " waist and pretty frequent filrtatious advances.

Ctufano, I wish you continued, healthy success.

Brad

So far, so good. The food ranges from ok to really tasty! I am actually eating more and more often than before...plus drinking 8 x 8 oz. of water a day ("Look! My pee has no color!"...with props to Lewis Black). The nice thing is that when you have achieved your goal, they have counselors who can help you to transition back to non-NS foods. The people on the phone are really nice and helpful.

I did get blood work and a consultation before starting...I have a physical next week. I am working my way back up to vigorous exercise by starting to walk the dog 3X a week for 15-20 mins.

My family is happy and supportive, which is important.

Good going ctufano!
I lost seven pounds cutting out soft drinks. Bad thing it took me five years. I'm down to 289 now. I just wish I had more will power to follow a program. I keep telling my wife I have 125 # of muscle under a haf inch of fat.

I never used Nutrisystem but my mom did a few years back. She dropped a good amount of weight, I'd say about 40 pounds in a year. She doesn't use Nutrisystem anymore but has been able to keep the weight off by eating healthy and exercising.

About three years ago I started weight lifting and got very big. I had a little gut, but other than that I was solid as a rock. Unfortunately, over the years I stopped weight training and the muscle has been replaced with fat. On June 10th I weighed 275 pounds and am now down to 229. So in about 9 weeks I've been able to lose 41 pounds. I did this by eating 5 healthy meals a day, with each meal consisting of about 200 calories, so about 1000 calories a day. In addition, I run 2 miles a day and do some mild weight lifting. Once I get to my goal weight, somewhere around 190 pounds, I will increase the amount of calories I eat. My plan is to significantly reduce my body fat before I start weight lifting heavy again.