The Story, Thus Far

Life isn't what someone or something else has in store for you, it's a culmination of all of your life's decisions.  Nothing has taught me that lesson more than spending 4 years making up for 6 years of poor choices.  If you would of asked old Mike Lutin if he was aware of his life choices, he would tell you yes, but in reality I had no clue what I was doing.

When I turned 21 the only thing I wanted to do was to play video games, eat taco bell, and drink.  I would throw parties every weekend, and my house was the place to be to meet up and relax.  Ever weekend we would buy some booze, drink as much as possible, eat frozen pizzas, and spend time socializing.  It started as a couple 30 packs of keystone, and a few years later ended up being a couple fifths of Captain Morgan and Jager.  Life sure seemed great.  That was until I couldn't tie my shoes anymore without holding my breath, struggling to get in and out of the car, and having my feet swell so bad in the summer time that I couldn't keep shoes on at work.  But despite all of that, I kept going.  At the worst of it I would start my day with a Java Monster energy drink, for lunch I would have Panda Express and another Monster, for dinner a half of a frozen pizza, then I would drink until I got hungry again and find a way to Taco Bell (often times driving myself as much as I now hate to admit it).  We would go through this routine roughly 5 nights a week.

The Day I went to Cedar Point

Growing up I was never that overweight.  My grandparents would take us to Cedar Point during the summertime and we would spend the entire day riding roller coasters, dressing up for pictures, and having a great time.  So later in my mid twenties my parents wanted to take a family vacation to Sandusky.  Weighing in at 355 lbs was not conducive to any kind of safety equipment at the park.  I could not fit in the rides!  The thoughts of me being at the park by myself watching my family ride roller coasters was the final blow to make me want to change my life.  The only problem was, I had no where to start.  I didn't know anyone who was as big as me, let alone USED to be as big as me.  My friends would say 'just eat better' and assume the rest would take care of itself.  I bought P90X because the ads would talk about how much weight I would lose.  I thought I had tried everything.  That was before I learned the first lesson in weight loss.  Without consistency, you will see zero progress.  You can't 'eat right' all week, then party every weekend and expect to make progress.  You literally have to change your life.  So what did I do?  I promised myself that I would not eat Taco Bell or any fast food for 30 days.  I'll be damned I lost a ton of weight (at that heavy it wasn't hard to see results on a scale).  I can't quite remember, but I believe I lost 10-15 lbs that first month.  Well that was as much excitement as I could handle.  So I rewarded myself with what I had been denying myself at Taco Bell, and it was absolutely disgusting (to this day I can barely stand it).  This is a food that I had loved weekly for years and it had grossed me out.

From there I was hooked.  I thought, if I can just quit eating crap for long enough then I'll see the results that I need!  So I did some research online, and met one of my friends who introduced me to the Atkins diet, and from there Keto.  Essentially they work the same way; eat a low amount of carbs, and your body will naturally burn your fat for energy due to the lack of sugars.  Although there is some truth to this, not nearly as much as I had put weight into.  From there until a year or so ago, I was on a low carb diet.  Yes I'd mess up.  Yes I'd give up, breakdown crying, and beat myself up mentally. Yes I'd put weight back on.  But through everything, I'd pick myself up and start all over again.  I can't tell you how many 'diets' I'd start (always on a Monday for some reason), go for 2 weeks, then go out and get crazy on the following weekend.  But after trying and struggling for so long it indeed became a lifestyle change.  No it did't happen over night.  Like anything you have to practice and actually want to succeed in order to make it happen.  But now if I thought of eating fast food 5 nights a week... gross.

The only thing you need is a strong desire to change, and the mentality to do whatever you need to do to meet those ends.

But please people, be safe.  Theres a lot you don't learn about gaining and losing weight.  Not in school at least.  They teach you the basics; calories in, calories out.  And believe it or not, it's almost that simple when you break it down.  And although exercise can help you achieve your goals, literally nothing can out train a bad diet.  Meaning you can work out for HOURS at the gym (I've done this), those cookies and ice cream you've been pounding all week (we've all done this), aren't going anywhere.  Your body was meant to hold fat to maintain your life.  If you want to lose weight, you need to consume less calories than you're burning daily.  The only way you can find out whether your diet is going to work or not is if you consistently eat that amount of calories (or the exact same meals) for an extended period of time and watch your scale (or fat measuring) to see if it's working.  I used to think Monday through Friday, no results, drink depressed all weekend.  When I was starting Keto I would eat under 25 grams of carbs a day.  This is an insanely low amount of carbs and I do not recommend it looking back.  I would hold this for weeks on end.  I was grouchy, no energy, and life overall sucked.  BUT I would be making huge strides in my weight loss.  It wasn't until later I realized that when you cut out breads, pastas, chips, tortillas, etc, most of what you're doing is cutting out those calories.  Do yourself a favor and study up on a subject called Exercise Metabolism and Bioenergetics.

So where am I now?  Well I'm happy to say I've lost (and maintained) a weight loss of 105 lbs.  I see a personal trainer weekly not because I need to, but because I enjoy seeing what my body could do.  This past year (end of 2016) I did my first pull up.  Ever.  That's #BucketList stuff.  I used to want a bar in my basement.  I've built a gym.  I used to HATE running.  When it's nice out I'll run 3 miles because I want to.  I drink maybe once a month (the hardest part for me).  I went from a size 44 pant to a 38, from a XXL to Larges (the sheer amount of clothes I've had to buy since is astounding).  And I was studying to become a Personal Trainer.  These things didn't happen overnight, and if you would of asked 24 year old Mike Lutin, I would of told you that as 'soon as my weight loss became a problem then I'd stop'.  Well little did I know it was a problem the entire time.

The absolute KEY to wanting to lose weight, to starting your journey, to literally changing your life, is finding out what got you to where you are in the first place.  For me in a nut shell, it was a life long restriction of food.  Being told I wasn't good enough from a young age because of my weight.  Not to mention my dad, his dad, and my sisters were all overweight (sorry fam).  Dealing with the emotional side of things will help you in the long run of being able to let go of the things that keep you eating/drinking/binging.  Once you work out those issues, your weight loss will be infinitely easier.

My journey has been long, painful, enjoyable and rewarding.  I have learned more about myself in the last couple of years during this than I feel the average person learns in 10 years.  I didn't think I was in a bad place before, but I am so much happier in my life.  I am willing to answer any questions, give more advise, there is so much more to this story it's hard to write down, and it's adding to it every day.  I hope this can motivate and inspire you to achieve your goals as it was achieving mine.

Before and After

Dog Tax

Well Then.

That took quite a while didn't it.  I'm assuming you were worried if I was dead, alive, or still over-weight.  Well I am glad to report that I am alive and still over-weight.  I don't want to type up too much for now, but I did want to give a bit of a progress update.

Over the past month I have gotten back into my work out and diet routine that I enjoy, and it actually seems to work slowly but surely for me, so I'm sticking to it.  A lot of things have changed since the last time I was motivated enough to post on here but that's a story for another time.  The important news is I've been at it pretty diligently for a month now and I wanted to share my progress.  Although I won't say I've been perfect (there was a graduation, and I had cake.  Twice.) I have been doing well. I haven't even had a drink this month either, which I find is an accomplishment in itself.  So down to the numbers (who doesn't love numbers).

I have been using an app that I found in the Google Play Store called Perfect Body.  Sorry iPhone users I haven't found it for you.  It does a pretty good job of getting a routine in place for you.  Although the 5 days a week of working out seems intimidating at first, it's not that bad considering I can usually bang my way through a workout in about 20-30 mins.  We have a pretty decent home gym setup here at House Ironwood, but there are still a few things I wasn't able to do.  So I tried my best to substitute.  If you find yourself in a real gym you shouldn't have any problems completing this workout at all.

I started the month off horribly at a bloated 276ish, and ended my month at a solid 269.  That was a pretty good first bump down.  Now keep in mind that I have also started lifting weights again so that is with my increased muscle mass as well.  Judging from the pictures I took in Feb where I was mainly focused on weight loss and NOT exercising, I'd say I have made an improvement.  Enough of the words part, heres some ok looking pictures of a fat guy.

2 months of 'Progress'

It has been a while since I've updated my blog, but I figured I would provide you with an update!  The holiday season really negated any progress I made during December, but in January I got back on the horse and took my weight from 279 lbs in December to 270 lbs today (2/4).  I would say since the holidays it's an 11 lb drop in weight.  It's not as noticeable in pictures as it is in the way my clothes fit.  Shirts that were a bit tighter before now fit great!  On the flip side of that clothes that fit just fine before now are too big.  Some of them I've only worn once or twice.  I guess I'd rather buy new clothes than be over weight.  Well anyways the non impressive pictures are posted below.

Pictures below is me at 270 lbs 2/4/2013

Ugh Holidays

Well holiday season is coming to a close, and I have to say I did not take it well at all.  Don't get me wrong, I had a great holiday.  I got to see a lot of family, exchanged gifts, and got to see a lot of friends in from out of town.  My diet on the other hand went the complete opposite direction.  So with New Years freshly behind me, I won't be doing a weigh in or pictures this month.  If you really want to know, take the pictures from last month and add a few pounds ha.  Well this month has a few days that I will be taking off from my diet (ND BCS Game, South Bend Brew-fest for instance), but for the most part I should be on my game.  Wish me luck!

Warning: Fat Guy With No Shirt

As you might of noticed I haven't updated this blog in quite a while.  As you also might have speculated I did not hit my goal of 250 lbs by September.  I did how ever make it down to 269 lbs in August.  Since then my diet and exercise has more of an after thought.  I tried to eat healthy and maintain my progress, but dealing with moving out, stressful financial situations, and career changes got in the way.  I spent about 3 months out of the gym, slipped back into some of my bad eating habits, and gained 10 lbs.  Although it's not the end of the world, it is a minor set back that I would not have had if I had just paid a little bit more attention into what I was putting into my body.  It is a bit frustrating to be back at the same weight I was in June and I'm hoping that won't happen again.

One of the things I regret not doing when I started losing weight was taking any 'Before' pictures.  I have plenty of pictures of me being bigger, but that doesn't do it justice.  So putting my hesitation aside I finally have some.  Now it's about as bad as you can get if you caught me at the beach right now, so you should be able to deal with it.  I'm hoping over the next few months to be able to look back and be able to visually make progress as well as numerically on the scale.

So below are my 'Before' pictures on 12/7/2012 at 279 lbs.

 

Week 11

So it's been a while since I've posted an update, so I figured I would catch you guys up on my progress.  I've was pretty wishy washy a few weeks ago.  As you can see, I didn't even post anything on here.  The last 2 weeks though I've really buckled down and pushed hard.  I've been going to the gym 4-5 times a week and sticking to my diet strictly.  I've made some progress over the last few weeks, but I'm still about 5 or 6 lbs away from where I should be.  The next few weeks I am going to try and catch up.

In the meantime as stated above I am going to the gym regularly and making great strides in my fitness.  I've been focusing a lot on running lately, and can now run a mile straight without stopping.  This is something I've not been able to do EVER!  Not even in High School with regular fitness classes was I able to run a mile straight.  I've also been hitting about a 10-11 minute mile which for me, is pretty impressive.  Usually after I run 1 mile I walk a ways and switch between running/walking for another mile.  If you told me 2 years ago I would willingly be running 2 miles, I wouldn't of believed you.  Just need to be able to run 3.1 miles and I'll be all set for that 5K I'm planning on running next year!

If you are interested in starting to lose weight, I would HIGHLY suggest getting some sort of calorie counter and start using it.  One of the best ones I've found is  MyFitnessPal.  It allows you to track your calories, make your own meals, track your fitness, and even add friends so they can continue to motivate you.  Speaking of motivation, there is an online community dedicated to losing weight that is very inspiring.  Check out /r/loseit!


April 29 278     279.7
May 6    276.5  280.2
May 13  274     -
May 20  272.5  -
May 27  271     -
June 3   269.5  279
June 10  268    275
June 17  266.5 271
June 24  265
July 1     263.5


Sometimes it's hard to gauge your progress.  I didn't take any 'Before' pictures with my shirt off (I would of instantly deleted them), but here is a comparison of my face minus about 84 lbs.  Enjoy.

March 2011 - June 2012

Week 7

So I decided last week to take the week off.  Not really the best way to keep on track of my weight loss, but either way it happened.  I had a doctors visit earlier in the week that led to some annoyances that kept me out of the gym.  Since I wasn't at the gym it gave me more time to go out to dinner.  So the next few weeks I'm expecting to keep putting up some red number while I try and get back on track.

This weekend is my friend Steve's wedding and I couldn't be more excited.  I have known Steve for 10 years now and even went to Vincennes with him.  Steve and his fiance Lauren have been together for a long time and I'm excited to see them finally get married.  In addition to the wedding there will of course be lots of food, open bar, and cake.  I'm expecting to pack on at least 2,000 calories while I'm there so this week I really have to cut my food down.

I am however really looking forward to hitting the gym tonight.  I'm doubt if a week off is enough to ruin my progress, but we'll find out tonight.  I ended the week prior squatting 225, and benching 150.  I'm really hoping I can recover back to those numbers quickly.

Want to indulge in some light reading this week?  Check out Lean Gains!

April 29 278     279.7
May 6   276.5  280.2
May 13  274    -
May 20  272.5  -
May 27  271

Week 5

Last week went excellent!  I ate very healthy and worked out everyday, that is until the weekend hit.  On Friday I made this amazing tropical salsa and of course along with all of the added sugar in the fruit, I ate a ton of carbs getting the salsa to my mouth in the form of tortilla chips.  Other than that we threw a mini party for some close friends where we partook in other non-health conscious things.  I kind of regret taking the weekend off since it's thrown my weight off drastically.  I weighed in Friday morning at 272 which was huge!  Meaning I had lost 7 lbs last week!  Too bad this morning (Tues) I weighed in at 280.  Somehow I managed to gain 8 lbs over the weekend.  I'm not buying it, scale.  So this week will be a rough week as I try and push myself to get back on track.  The rest of this month is going to be interesting considering for the next 3 weekend I have a bachelor party, and 2 weddings.

I've set some weight goals for myself, why not set some fitness goals as well?  I've been doing some online research, and although I don't want to be a cop or in the army, it wouldn't be a bad idea to train like one.  So the least physically required job that I could think of was police officer (no offense to any officers).  So after a quick Google search I was able to find the minimum requirements to become a South Bend Police Officer.  I'm going to start here, and work my way up.  The city requires I can jump 13.5 inches, do 24 sit ups in a minute, run 300 meters in 82 seconds, do 21 push-ups (no time limit), and clock an 18:56 1.5 mile run.

Well I ran the 1.5 miles today and hit a time of 20 mins almost on the dot, I also ran it on a treadmill.  For being over-weight and not used to running, I think I did alright.  My vertical jump last week was over 12 inches measured with a piece of printer paper and in dress shoes, not very reliable.  I can in fact do 21 push-ups, but I haven't tested the 300 meter run or the 24 sit ups yet.  As soon as I have a way to test the run I will post the results of that and the sit ups.  I'm just not feeling too energetic after the gym this morning to work out more.

The Army is a bit harder, but I'm sure I'll get onto more of that later after I conquer SBPD.  The Military in general has some guidelines they've posted as far as body fat content.  For the National Guard for my age group is below 26%, for the Army it's 22%.  Again I will post more when I can get past Police Dept.  Also this week marks a doctors visit, so we'll see what he has to say too.

http://www.in.gov/ilea/2338.htm
http://www.nationalguard.com/guard-basics/eligibility-requirements
http://www.military.com/military-fitness/army-fitness-requirements/army-basic-training-pft



April 29 278     279.7
May 6   276.5  280.2
May 13  274

Tropical Salsa

1 Mango, 1 Papaya, 1/2 Golden Pineapple, 5 Jalapeños (Seeded), 2 Poblano Peppers (Charred, Skinned, Seeded), 1 Bunch Cilantro, Juice of 1 Lime, 1 Red Onion

Week 4

I set up my goals at the beginning of the week when I weighed 284.  So I spent the week watching what I ate and working hard and I'm proud to say this morning I weighed 279.7!  That put me ahead of my goal by a pound!  I just hope I don't see it as an opportunity to slack off.

So I'e been doing Atkins off and on for about a year now, and I can tell you that it is working well.  75+ lbs well.  Although I've come a long way, there is still a long way to go.  It took years to put on, and it will take years to take off.  It's not that hard to diet and exercise, and I actually enjoy my new found strength.  I wish I would of started losing weight a lot sooner so that I would not have wasted years being unhealthy and generally unhappy about life.

So for those of you who don't know what Atkins is, it is basically a carb/calorie restricted diet.  I'm not going to type up all the in's and out's of the diet since that's what Google is for.  But I still feel like people interested in the diet can learn from my personal experience.  I've actually given up carbonated beverages for a while.  When I was weighing myself everyday I would notice when I drank even a diet soda it would slow my weight loss.  Plus personally I feel a lot better when I drink non carbonated water vs diet soda.

When I started Atkins, I was going from Taco Bell, home deep fried frozen cheese sticks, most of a frozen pizza for dinner 4 nights a week, to diet food.  It did not seem interesting or tasty to me what so ever.  The first few weeks were rough.  I craved everything from tacos to ice cream, and it wasn't because I was hungry it was because I was dieting.  So I powered through it and after a while my eating habits became just that, habits.  Just recently I went to Vegas and we went to the buffet.  I told myself when I left that I was of vacation, and I would let myself eat whatever I wanted.  So I walked up to the buffet and grabbed everything that looked good.  When I sat back down without realizing it I had grabbed a plate full of protein.  And while I made sure to eat some of the most delicious chicken, prime rib, and pork that I've ever had, I made sure to go back up and get dessert.  But eventually I came to find recipes that I love to cook at home.

One of my favorites recently is a quesadilla with shredded chicken, cheese, and vegetables.  It's so simple once I found low carb tortillas in the grocery store (about 4 net carbs).  And since you can eat meat, cheese, and vegetables it's not that hard figuring out mexican recipes you can make.  Most of the time though I'll just cook marinated chicken/steak/pork with a side salad for dinner.  If you ask Google for low carb recipes you'l find entire websites dedicated to the subject.

So my goal is to lose 30 lbs by Sept 1st.  I calculated that that's roughly 2.2 lbs a week which seems a bit tough, but still do-able.  Whether I make it or not, I'm still going to lose weight and I'm still going to feel better.  So, in case you're following along at home here it is.  It'll actually be easier for me to keep track if I have it written down somewhere, might as well be here. 279.7


April 29 278     279.7
May 6   276.5
May 13  274
May 20  272.5
May 27  271
June 3    269.5
June 10  268
June 17  266.5
June 24  265
July 1     263.5
July 8     262
July 15   260.5
July 22   259
July 29   257.5
Aug 5    256
Aug 12  254.5
Aug 19  253
Aug 26  251.5
Sept 1   250

Week 3

This past week was pretty good!  I hit the gym pretty much everyday (except for Saturday), and I'm feeling a bit stronger.  As far as weight goes, I made a little progress but not as much as I'd like.  I guess I'll just have to keep at it to get there.  Although last week I made a step in the right direction.  My black work pants were entirely too big, so I went to Walmart and found some new ones.  I picked out a few size 40's and tried them on, but the legs of the pants were still big.  So I went back to the rack, grabbed a size 38 waist, and they fit!  I am so excited to actually be wearing clothes that fit the rest of my body besides my waist.  In addition to my weight loss goals (weigh 250 by 8/31), I think I want to add size 36 waist.  Which at 250 lbs is very do-able.

One of the things I told myself when I was bigger was that I knew I was fat, but I didn't ever see it impacting my life or the things I wanted to do.  Granted my list did not include things that I want to do now (like sports, or activities having to do with being outside besides drinking), but we'll touch more on that later.  It didn't dawn on me that my weight was a problem until I learned that in the summer of 2011 my family would be taking a trip to Cedar Point.

Now to most of you that doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal, or let alone a wake up call.  But to a fat person it could potentially be one of the most embarrassing times I could ever imagine.  Anyone who knows me from my childhood could tell you that Cedar Point was a place I used to frequent often with my Grandparents.  Every year we would hop in my Grandpas big red van and cruise on out to good old Sandusky, Ohio and spend at least a couple of days roaming the park and finding exciting rides to go on with my sisters.  In those days the only thing I had to worry about was being tall enough to ride, not too fat to find a seat.  So I used that as motivation to fuel my weight loss.  I absolutely did not want to be left on the sidelines watching my family ride some of my all time favorite rides while I sat on the bench.  And at a weight of 355 that was a very real circumstance.

The last time I went before this was in the summer of 2004 when my girlfriend at the time, my best friend kris, his girlfriend at the time and I all took a trip out.  At this time I was more around the 220 mark that I graduated at, but still I found 1 ride that I barely made it onto.  This was an eye opener, especially for the future when I dreamed of going back.  So when I packed up all of my things and headed back there last summer I am proud to say there was only 1 ride I couldn't fit onto: Top Fuel Dragster.  The Millennium Force was a tight squeeze but I am glad to say that I made it onto the ride once, and although I couldn't ride it with no hands, the fact that I rode it at all was a huge accomplishment in my book.  Maybe it's a good thing that there's one ride left that I couldn't take, it's now a goal for me to be able to ride it comfortably.

There are some other things that I would enjoy doing that involve more than sitting around and playing video games or drinking.  I want to climb a mountain, maybe not a crazy tall mountain, but something that looks good on a resume (Haha).  I also would like to run in a marathon before I die, since that never really was an option of mine when I was larger.  Heck I'd actually be happy with a decent 1 mile time since that is something that has never happened.  Actually if I could run over a mile without stopping I'd be excited.

Below isn't quite the 'Me at Cedar Point' picture I was looking for, but it was during the same week.  Ryan, Graham, Dallas, and I all went to Pittsburgh to watch the Pirates take on the Cubs.  As you can tell I'm a huge Cubs fan so I wore Blue.  Everybody knows the Colts are in fact the greatest team ever assembled, and that includes every other sport.

Back to the Gym

Yesterday was my first day back to the gym.  Ouch, everything hurts.  I'm guessing that's a good thing considering I haven't been to the gym in over 2 weeks now.  My arms felt deflated and I didn't have that much energy.  I guess I can't say that I have a lot of motivation today since pretty much my entire body is sore.  My lovely girlfriend came with me to offer motivation, which didn't last long as it only took me about 30 minutes before my body was begging to go home and sleep.

My bench press was basically back to where I started at, 5x5 @ 130 lbs.  My squats were 5x5 @ 150, and I had to throw 160 lbs on my assisted dips (284-160=124 lbs).  So yes I was feeling a little on the weak side, but I guess that's why we go to the gym in the first place.  If I'm going to be saving people from burning buildings and wrestling bears I'm gonna need some strength.

One of the things I've been trying to work on is figuring out a good workout routine.  I wanted to basically break it down into 2 different days, and rotate those days 3-6 times a week depending on how lazy, I mean busy I am.  On one day I want to do Squats, Bench, and Dips/Pull-ups until my limbs want to fall off.  On the opposite days I want to do some kind of cardio for at least 30 mins in addition to some core strength exercise. So things like sit-ups, and planks.  Anyone with any kind of gym experience feel free to help me out.

On a side note my scale finally bit the dust.  I hopped on it this morning just because I was curious and it told me I weighed 29.7kg (65.4lbs).  For the last few months weighing myself has been fun since my scale was only reading numbers out in kilograms.  Realizing that this was some encrypted way of reading weight I downloaded an app on my phone that converted kg into a number that I recognize, lbs.  But now the time has come to go buy a new one.  Maybe I can con my roommate into buying one since my vacation was a bit rough on my wallet.  Well thanks for reading, stay motivated!

Week 2

So last week was the first week after my vacation.  As some of you may know I spent the begining part of last week out sick with some sort of cold bug, so I couldn't get to the gym that much.  Not to mention I took some time to spend at Taco Bell, and Chipotle.  Although I didn't experience any weight loss success, this week marks the beginning of my workout routine and serious dieting to start shedding some pounds.  I even got my girlfriend on board to workout with me, as well as promise to stop going out to eat as much.

As I mentioned last week I have a pair of jeans that I've owned for a little over a year now.  They were the only pair of jeans that I would wear and I rarely wore them at home.  The only time I put them on was if I was going somewhere that required a little more than PJ's.  They are size 42 relaxed fit.  So basically they're 44's with baggy legs.  I used to HATE wearing these since after about 45 mins of wearing them, they would start to cut into my waist.  They barely fit my thighs in and I had to suck in my gut just to get them to zip up.  I'm happy so say now that they are now part of my 'Fat Clothes' collection.  I don't like wearing them anymore since they look so baggy on me.  I recently went out and bought new jeans and fit into size 40 straight leg.  No baggy relaxed fit anymore, regular jeans that you can find in a regular store!  Not only that, but I've also started to fit into XL's more instead of almost ripping my gut out of XXL's.

There comes some problems with losing weight of course, like not having clothes that fit or look good.  I spent 3 years working at Spencers and after that time, I've amassed quite a collection of Douchbag graphic tee's.  Not only are these too big to fit me, they also look terrible.  As summer is approaching I have no idea what I want to wear.  I know my style is going to include less 'Extreme Couture' shirts and more non logo wear.  We'll see how the summer shapes up, but it's looking like an all new wardrobe is going to be a little pricey.  On the other hand I don't want to spend too much since next year I'm likely to run into the same problem (given that my dieting goes well).  But on the other hand I'm guessing that is a good problem to have.

If you can find a worse (and by worse I mean fatter) picture of me somewhere please share so I can get a better 'Before' picture.  Hopefully I can post some current body pictures soon, as if any of you actually want to see that.

Below is a 2 for 1!  Not only do I look fat, but I'm also wearing a Douchy shirt.  Bonus points for anyone who was watching my fat belly rock out on stage with Chemcoma that night!

Check out the Anterior Pelvic Tilt on That Guy!

One of the challenges of my new found outlook on fitness is going to the gym.  I remember in gym class in high school they kinda took the class up to the weight room and cut the class loose to find their way to fitness.  The real world doesn't work like that.  I can spend 45 mins in the gym and do 10 minutes worth of work, believe me I've done it before.  Programs like P90X are great since it's a one time cost, but then you're left by yourself to stink your living room up, alone.  And although it's a great routine, with no one around it gets repetitive and boring.  Nothing beats having lots of expensive equipment laying around that you don't have to store, clean, or maintain.  Besides its motivating to see other people succeed and judge where you want your body to end up (I wanna have arms like that guy, ect).  If you ask my Mother she would tell you the $20/month I spend at the gym is entirely too much since there's a bike in my garage, and a paved road that literally runs in front of my house.  And to some degree shes right, nothing beats a summer afternoon getting sweaty in the sunshine.  But there's no squat rack in my backyard, and no bench in the driveway.  And that's where it's handy to have a gym membership.

Thanks to Reddit (and some 'downtime' at work), I found an interesting article that answers some questions I've had.  For a long time I've noticed that both me and my father share some similar traits.  Balding head, same styling goatees, but one trait always bugged me.  That arched back, gut hanging forward, and butt sticking out trait that I always found unattractive about myself.  I always chalked it up to having more weight on the front of me than my spine wanted to handle.  Now I'm not a doctor (my sister could attest to that), but it seems like it's a common and correctable problem called 'Anterior Pelvic Tilt'.  Now I'm not going to do some write up about it since I've already read at least 3 articles about it, but it is something that I would like to work on personally.  The good news is it does seem correctable just by adding a few extra moves in my routine, or at least something to work on in the morning.  I would hate to lose a bunch of weight only to have my not as fat gut still look like I was packing on a few pounds.

http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/11/5-simple-exercises-for-correcting.html

As an added bonus, heres a lovely photo of me and my mama!

Week 1

Over the last year of my life I have decided to take some initiative and get rid of my fat ugly gut.  Some of you may have seen me within the last year and some of you may have not.  Since around May 2011-Now (April 2012) I've lost about 70lbs.  It's taken a long time losing that much weight, but it also took a long time packing it on.  One thing I regret about my weight loss so far is the lack of documentation regarding my progress.  I have no 'Before and After' pictures, or any real starting dates and what not.  So it's kind of a bummer to try and think back to when all of this started.  I do however remember getting to that point where I knew I needed a change.  I would sit on my bed to put my socks on and my gut would get in the way so I would have to hold my breath in order for me to bend over far enough to put my socks and shoes on.  I would have problems getting in and out of cars.  As soon as I got home from where ever I was (bars, dinner, ect.) I would change out of my now 'Fat Jeans' and straight into PJ's.  My waist had expanded to a tight fitting 44, and I was pushing the boundaries of a XXL shirt.  The thought of having to shop at a Big and Tall store was horrifying.  I always told myself if I ever felt limited by my weight I would change it, and that time had come.

So I started down the long road of turning my enormous self into a happier version.  I had tried a few different diets but didn't want to stick to any that didn't include Taco Bell and Alcohol, until I got serious.  My friend Cody Hughes had some awesome success doing Atkins and so had my Dad, so I decided to give that a shot. I already loved eating meat and after some research it seemed like a good way to go.  So around May I started my new diet.  For the previous 5-6 years I had avoided a scale at all costs so I wouldn't have to face the reality of my poor health.  I had a starting weight of a whopping 355 lbs!  Thats a BMI of an estimated 49.5%!  There certainly was a lot of Mike Lutin to go around.  The weight loss is exciting!  On my diet I could step on the scale each morning and see a lower number everyday!  It's easy to lose weight when you're that big.

I would say after about 4 months of dieting I was down to about 305.  50 lbs in 4 months wasn't easy but I sure felt a lot better.  At that point I had some life changes and took a break from focusing on dieting.  I didn't really go back to my old ways, but I did get a little lacks on my self-discipline.  My biggest pitfalls are booze and Taco Bell, and generally the 2 go hand in hand.  That's how you end up eating 3000-4000 calories in a day.  In the ensuing 6 months (Oct 2011-March 2012) I had lost an additional 5 lbs or so down to an even 300 lbs.  Not bad considering that got me through the Holidays without much focus on weight loss.  Then came spring.

I knew that at the beginning of April me and some friends were going to be taking a vacation to Vegas and I didn't really want to have to purchase 2 plane tickets to sit my still overweight butt.  So I started up my strict dieting.  My girlfriend did not like my 'boring' diet since we didn't get to go and eat out a lot.  She tells me diets are for losers haha.  Anyways I stuck to my guns for about 2 and half weeks and lost an additional 15 lbs.  Not bad for giving up after St. Patty's day.  So after a week of buffets and the typical 'Vegas Experience', walking around Breckenridge, CO, and being sick for about a week, I was stunned to find out that I had broken even.  Which judging by my luck at slot machines was a huge win for me.  I weighed in on Easter (4/8/12) at 285.  So this is where I'm standing, a total loss of 70 lbs, or a small child worth of fat.

I want to create this Blog to track my remaining weight loss.  My short term goal for now is to lose 35 lbs by the end of summer (8/31/12) and get down to an even 250.  Since I graduated high school at about 220 that would put me within reach of being there.  I may not update this every week, but I will be sure to keep you up to speed on my progress periodically.

Here's as 'Before' as you're going to get:
St. Patty's day 2011 (est. 355 lbs)

Please don't be afraid to comment!!!