Got a weight loss or muscle-building success story of your own? Tell us about it at success.stories@huffingtonpost.com and you could be featured on the site!
Name: Edward Ebeling
Age: 26
Height: 5'11"
Before Weight: 190 pounds
How I Gained It: I struggled with my weight through high school some. I never really got fat, but I couldn’t keep off some of the teenage fluff. I got into really good shape for the first two years of college (the two years before I turned 21, of course.) Then beer happened. I became a member of a beer drinking club and one thing led to another. After college, I continued to drink beer with friends and eat badly. I still went to the gym to lift weights, but the beer and food was winning the battle.
Breaking Point: As I said, I was in good shape back when I was 19 and 20 years old, and so were my friends. I guess one of us suggested that we do something about it. So, we decided to have a competition to see who could get into the best shape within six months. We drafted a point system for placement into different categories. Some of the categories were part of the beauty contest. Others were part of the physical contest. Everyone getting together and seriously coming up with rules and a contest structure was really motivating.
How I Lost It: I started to limit my calorie intake and to work on my cardio. I always did some lifting but dieting and cardio were a real change of pace for me.
I alternated my lifting between a “chest, arms, abs, and legs day” and a “back, shoulders, abs, and legs day” (different abs and leg exercises between the days). I tried to keep my workouts to three sets of six reps. If I was able to do more, then I would increase the weight. I only lifted about twice a week. Sometimes I was able to work in a third day.
I limited my calorie intake to 1500 a day and stuck with that hardcore. I also took a protein supplement, multi-vitamin and creatine pills (I recommend the pills over the powder). I had no beer or alcohol of any type. I only gave myself one meal off a week. Beer, food, whatever…I needed that to keep my sanity.
My cardio had to start off slow. I started running one to two miles two times a week. After about three weeks of that I increased my distance to three to four miles. I kept increasing every few weeks until I was running 13 miles twice a week. I know that sounds crazy. If you told me that I would be running that distance six months ago, I would agree with the crazy diagnosis.
I would strongly suggest buying a Camel Pack and getting your hands on running supplements if you are ever running more than ten miles. It really makes a big difference!
After Weight: 161 pounds