I taught it would be cool to have a topic specifically to discuss, talk about the progress you have made regarding getting into shape, getting jacked, losing weight... etc

I'll start, i had been working out a bit for a couple of years but never took it that seriously, never paid any intention to my diet for instance, i joined a gym and put up some muscle but never lossed any excess weight. Then in the beginning of the year i overdid i guess because i hurt my shoulder and couldn't do any more heavy lifting for a while. Its then that i decided to change my workout and start eating properly (lots of protein and low fat). I focussed mainly on cardio-training (3 x 40/50 minutes a weak) and some lighter weight training in the days in between. After 9/10 months i lossed about 16 kg (35 pounds), my bodyfat % went from around 20 % to less then 10 % (don't know exactly), my abs are great now. In the coming months i plan on cutting back a bit on the cardio-training and do more and heavyer weightlifting again and try to put on more muscle.

I've lost about 25 pounds in the last few months generally from cutting back on unhealthy food and frequent light exercise. I do some weight training but i dont stick to it as consistently as I should. I probably wont see any moderate muscle growth until I lose more weight anyway. I do think daily push-ups may have squared my shoulders a bit more, hard to tell if i'm just seeing things or not though.

Like I have mentioned before, I have been going to the gym 6 to 7 days a week over the last 12 months, and have lost about 21kg (46lbs).

Most of it has been through cardio and HIIT training, but now I am doing some weights.

about my cardio-progress, i started out riding a home-trainer around 31 km/h, now i'm over 39 km/h, my goal is to get over 40 km/h which i think is pretty good

Eating mainly Paleo/Primal (I cheat a bit too often), lost over 30 lbs in 4 months so far.

No exercise.

I've lost some body-fat and put on some muscle it seems. I'm now down to 12% bodyfat, and my abs aren't too far away from showing, however I'm still stable at 93kg. I've made huge progress on all my lifts, 115kg on the Deadlift and 50kg on the Military Press now for instance. My bench is up to 72.5kg now, which is more than my 1 rep max of 70kg 4 years ago. I can see a good bit more definition in my legs, chest and particularly my back. Diet is going well too, I calculate i'm getting around 3500kcal and 280g of Protein a day.

Another thing is that my skin has completely cleared up since I corrected my diet. I used to have the problem whereby I'd get breakouts of acne periodically, even at 24, not anymore though!

I could however, do with working on my flexibility, I was thinking of dabbling with some yoga or something to address that. I'll also try a calorie defecit at some point too, and get that bodyfat down under 10%, but not for the moment.

That's good work, I wish I could lift as much you can, but I am bit of weak bastard when it comes to weights. The most I can lift up is no more than 40kg, it' scary some the weights some guys can lift, there are guys at the gym who have bigger arms than my legs.

over time and when you keep at it you will be able to lift more, it just takes some time

I've been lifting weights for general functional and strength purposes since the late summer of 2007, but I've only been lifting regularly and seriously (i.e. working each major muscle once or twice per week) since the late spring of 2010 (about a year and a half). Before lifting, I weighed 165 lbs (at 6' 0"). I've hit 190 lbs a few times, but at the moment I'm about 186-187 lbs.

Still puny as shit. Also still weak as shit.

I don't know any of my one rep maxes. Just add about 20 lbs or so to the numbers below for an estimate. Current strength stats:

Bench press: 240 lbs for 4 reps

Squat: 350 lbs for 4 reps

Deadlift: 410 lbs for 5 reps

Military Press (seated): 195 lbs for 4 reps

Bent-Over Barbell Row: 255 lbs for 5 reps

Decline Sit-up: 190 lbs for 4 reps

Dumbbell curl at knee: 85 lbs for 7 reps (per arm)

Standing barbell curl: 135 lbs for 4 reps

Lunge: 240 lbs for 5 reps (per leg)

Barbell shoulder shrug: 455 lbs for 7 reps

In addition to strength sets I do a series of what I call "power" and sort of "speed/endurance" sets. In power sets I drop something like 20 or 30 or 50 lbs. (depending on the lift) and then do 8-12 reps as fast (i.e. powerfully) as I can, then I drop another 20, 30, 50, or 90, etc. lbs. and do 10-20 reps as fast as I can, then I drop some more and try to just do more reps than the preceding set, and then I often drop weight again and just go balls-to-the-walls, superfast (less than one second per rep), 20-40 reps in a "speed/endurance" set (though it's probably more anaerobic than aerobic, so not really a typical fat-burning endurance exercise). Probably my most impressive "speed" set is doing bent-over barbell rows 105 lbs for 40 reps, non-stop, no pausing or locking out anywhere, less than one second per rep (up and down). It probably looks pretty ridiculous, actually.

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I'm still so weak. Then again, I'm comparing myself to superheroes and gods. I won't be satisfied until I can deadlift the Earth.

Also, I've done all this eating a zero-carbohydrate, purely carnivorous, ketogenic diet. How that has affected my progress, I can't say for sure, since I have no comparison to lifting weights on any other diet.

Those are all mightily impressive lifts for someone at your weight, certainly not those of someone who could be described as "weak and puny"!

I reckon!!
I used to be 78kg and quite chubby and unfit about 3 years ago, then last year i got it down to 65kg by running, rowing, and biking all summer. I started on weights training soon after and am back up to 73kg. I got an asian body lol so it's all lean muscle, but seriously, seeing some Samoans in the gym next to me benching 110 easily is some impressive shit, thank the heavens I'm friends with them. I try to shy away from running so much nowadays, I used to be able to run 10km consistently under 45 mins with 10kg of stuff in a backpack, would have been interesting to see how it would have been with full FSMO actually. Now i just stick to 2.4km runs occasionally, i usually run that in 9 and a half mins, down to 7 ish if i push myself. Rowing and cycling are my preferred options for cardio now as they don't seem to chew away my muscle so badly. Diet wise I eat lots of fish, seafood, veges, less red meat and carbs. i still look like a scrawny little shite though, even after all this effort :/ sigh

I think you are being hard on yourself Lykos, that's some impressive weights you can lift eg. the barbell shoulder shrug 455lbs!!, shit that's about 200kg (we use metric here in Australia).

You are not weak at all, if anything you sound pretty strong, I can barely lift 40kg (18lbs), but most of my training is cardio based.

And for your height 6ft, your current weight of 84kg (186-187lbs) is good for your height, I am 5"7 and I weigh around 74kg (163lbs).

Firstly, (I know this is off topic) congratulations on the All Blacks winning the Rugby World Cup, it was well deserved.

You sound pretty fit, I do mainly cardio to keep my weight down and I have lost 20kg in the last year, I used to weigh around 95-96kg (I am only 5"7), but now I am around 74-75kg. 2.4Km in 9 minutes, that's pretty fast, and 10km in 45 is pretty good.

My diet is the same too, I eat mainly fish, fruit and vegetables, with lean meat or chicken once a week.

Hehe cheers mate! Which nation did you support?
I doubt I could run to that standard now, I mainly bike around the neighborhood in weekends for weekly cardio, I'm looking forward to summer though, can go diving for crayfish and stuff. Are you a fan of water sports, swimming etc? Wow lean meat or chicken once a week sounds like where I'd like to be, currently I still have to have some sort of meat or seafood every other day or so, my vegetarianism only lasts 3 meals before I start to salivate at the thought of some lamb!!