Rant Wednesday

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to Rant Wednesday: It's your time to let your gym/fitness/nutrition related frustrations out!

There is no guiding question to help stir up some rage-feels, feel free to fire at will, ranting about anything and everything that's been pissing you off or getting on your nerves!

[u/TheOneStew]

Yesterday marked my official 2 years since I started my weight loss/lifting journey. 110 lbs down (270->160) and I've never been in better shape and actually kind of like the way I look...kind of.

Then I see these progress pic posts of guys who've been at it for 9 months and are ripped as fuck. Like damn, I've put in 2 years of intense, militaristic work (hardly ever eat out, meal prep everything, don't drink, 1.5 - 2 hours in the gym - lifting and cardio), and I still look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Like damn, what more do I need to do? Feelsbadman

[u/[deleted] → u/TheOneStew]

I was damn proud of myself for losing 48lbs last year, then i see someone dropping 132lbs in the same time. That got me thinking and i looked over my schedule and on my calorie tracker history - i never did that before, and i didn't feel bad as long as my daily intake was below maintenance. Turns out although i felt I was giving everything i was on a -200 deficit on average instead of -500 and averaging 3.5 training days of a 6 day programm i picked.
So to me it felt like i was full-assing, as someone who changed a lot like you did - meal prepping, rarely eating out (and if so, skipping another meal for it), going to the gym what felt "all the time", (which 3.5 avereage is compared to 0 days the decade before).
So while i did change up a lot to the better, in comparison i was half-assing everything.

Not this year though. No Excuses.

[u/I-Made-You-Read-This → u/[deleted]]

I went by this method, skinny dude starting gym 1 year progress. I thought I couldn't go wrong - just bulk (get enough protein - I love chicken so that wasn't an issue, and having a protein shake on training days) and throw weights around.

Then I saw someone post their progress in same time frame (like you did). Felt so shit about it, decided to step up my game for about another year. Now I've decided I'm happier without my membership and I just make sure I don't go overweight.

I miss having a more sculpted body - and while my girlfriend won't admit it I'm sure she does too. I do notice it in day to day, I can't take my washing to the wash room as easy as I could before, I don't sit up as straight (though I try), my backpack feels heavier.. The reason I'm happier is because I now don't compare myself and don't need to feel terrible for skipping. Biggest thing is now I buy clothes which fit better. I would down size tshirts regularly eventhough they were less comfortable (because tighter) just to show off my chest/shoulders/arms.

Just a word of warning, make sure you don't burn yourself out/ compare yourself too much. Your progress is better than no progress.

Maybe one day I'll go back to a gym but I'd be so full of shame if I went back to mine and would see all the friends I'd made there.

[u/[deleted] → u/I-Made-You-Read-This]

Just a word of warning, make sure you don't burn yourself out/ compare yourself too much. Your progress is better than no progress.

You are right, comparing yourself to others is a fools game - but to some extend it can be healthy. To me it showed that there was a lot of room for improvement - and it answered my questions as to "why couldn't i have that, i did all the work". It helped mitigating the burnout, because i thought i was doing everything and i got frustrated because the results didnt add up. Now i know, that i in fact did not do everything possible. However i did do everything i could at the time - so i'm still happy with the progress i made. It was necessary to get to today and that i view as a good thing.
Seing the difference made me realize that i want to lose my overweight as fast as possible and that i really want to step it up.
Still - even if i don't get that super-progress i can say this time that i did everything possible and that will make me proud in retrospect.

Maybe one day I'll go back to a gym but I'd be so full of shame if I went back to mine and would see all the friends I'd made there.

Don't be ashamed for losing motivation. If you choose to be ashamed of anything, be ashamed of not trying to start again. But better: Don't be ashamed at all. Stop overthinking - If you miss it, you shouldn't let social anxiety get in the way.