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271.2 this week, which is down 4.6 lbs, and still without any trouble at all. I’m down about 15 lbs since the beginning of the month and still up about 28 lbs since I was at my lowest last summer. I’m averaging around 1050 calories per day, with low carbs and low fat, and I’m doing my four days each week of weight-training and cardio at the gym. I continue to have no noticeable tiredness and no stress over food. I also hit a new bench press high today of 295 lbs. So, my response to all of this is simply to say, “Go TRT!”

Today is exactly one week since I started up the diet again and so far I’ve lost 10.8 lbs! I’ve been eating about 1000-1300 calories per day, and I haven’t felt stressed about food or tired at all. Just a few months ago, before I started the testosterone replacement therapy, if I cut my calories at all I would almost instantly feel stressed and tired most of the time, even if the cut was simply to something like 2000 calories per day. And worse, I wouldn’t even lost any weight. Who knew fixing my testosterone level could help me so dramatically? I certainly don’t expect this rate of loss to continue for long, but it has been a great boost of encouragement after the year I’ve had.

A couple of weeks ago the doctor checked my testosterone level again and it was 452, exactly where he wants it to be. Increasing the dosage (of testosterone cypionate) to 120mg/week seems to have done the trick. Last week was also the first week since I started the replacement therapy that I didn’t experience any unusual tiredness. Everything seemed relatively normal all week. I still don’t have the higher level of energy I had a year ago, but feeling “normal” again is still great. Consequently, I decided to take the plunge and start the strict diet again yesterday, and add cardio again after each workout. I’ve been hesitant to try it again while I was still having the bouts of tiredness or exhaustion, but now that things seem to be stabilized, I thought I’d give it a shot.

Monday I weighed in at 286 lbs, which means I haven’t gained any weight in the three months since I started the therapy. Unfortunately that’s still about 40 lbs up from where I was a year ago, but almost all of that was gained in the three month period at the end of last year when I was exhausted all the time and craving sweets 24/7…right before I discovered my gingerboy status. I’m setting an albeit ambitious goal of losing 15 lbs/month for the next three months, to get me past my previous low and back on track. How it will all turn out remains to be seen. Monday I ate 1040 calories and yesterday I was 282.6, down 3.4 lbs in one day. It would be a nice fantasy to say that’s all fat, but of course most of it wasn’t. Today I was 282.0, down 0.6 from yesterday. That’s more realistic and could certainly be all, or nearly all, fat loss.

So far I have had no stress or decreased energy, in spite of low calories and hard workouts. Granted, today is just the third day, but before I started the therapy I would almost instantly feel stressed and tired the day I cut calories or increased cardio. Seeing this level of success for only these few days is still encouraging considering what I’ve gone through the last several months. Again, how things will go from here still remains to be seen.

After my last post I lost an additional 3 lbs over a period of about a week-and-a-half, which put me at 243. Unfortunately, during that same time I realized I was tired almost all the time, I dreaded working out each day, and I was talking about food constantly. Louanne noticed my comments about food too and mentioned it, because it is so out-of-character for me. What was the problem? Should I eat more?

Tuesday morning after trying to work out yet again with zero energy, I decided that I seriously needed to try increasing my calories for awhile. That day I ate, and ate, and ate some more. The tiredness was mostly gone almost immediately, and working out Wednesday was like a totally different experience. Today has been even better…I didn’t work out today, but my energy level has been great. Quite the difference!

Tuesday I didn’t even bother to monitor the calories…I just ate all day, but yesterday I ate around 2600 and today I’ll likely do the same. My plan is to eat around that much every day for at least a week or so and monitor my weight loss during that time. Then I will adjust it up or down accordingly. It might slow things down, but I’d rather lose the rest of the fat slowly and have a lot of energy than lose it quickly and feel like I did the last few weeks. The last few weeks of the program were terrible and stressful.

I’ll be paying much closer attention to my energy-levels from now on, and basing much of my calorie intake on that.

That’s the question. Can I finally, after a year on my program, break the 250 lb barrier before we go to China? We have our dates set. We leave Feb 8, and I want to switch my diet around Feb 6 to get my energy-level up and give myself a couple of days to adjust to eating differently before we go.

As of this morning I am at 259.6, up 2.2 lbs from where I was before the holidays. So that leaves me 19 days to drop 10 pounds. That’s roughly half-a-pound per day until then. I think for me that is very doable. The goal is certainly arbitrary, but I think it would be encouraging to finally break that barrier before we leave on the trip.

On an entirely different note, I continue to make strength gains despite my strict low-calorie diet. Losing fat and gaining any significant amount of muscle at the same time is tough, but it can be done. I’m very careful to get a lot of protein and nutrition, so it is working well. About a week ago I squatted 315 lbs, which is essentially what I weighed when I started all this a year ago (and could barely squat with only the bar and no weights on it). I also did lunges all the way around the gym carrying a couple of big chains on my shoulders (which is kind of humorous actually). When I started I could only do about five lunges at a time, while using a stick for support. Go, me!

Like most people in America, I threw my diet out the window during the last three weeks of December. I ate pretty much everything that sounded good and wasn’t nailed to the table. I’m generally not a sweets person, but for whatever reason during that time I wanted SWEETS! If it had sugar in it I was eating it. Ice cream, candy, cookies, more candy, some more ice cream, cake, more cookies, ice cream again, throw in a pumpkin pie shake, add some more candy, and don’t forget the pie!

I enjoyed it tremendously and of course gained some weight, but that didn’t bother me in the slightest. I knew that the holidays would end and then I’d be right back to normal…no New Year’s Resolution required, because that’s my lifestyle now. In fact, by last weekend I was actually starting to get tired of the sweets and other junk and was ready for good, healthy, low-calorie food again. So, as of yesterday I’m back on the strict, low-calorie/high-protein diet. I’m also being careful to do some time on the elliptical after my weight-training every day to increase the fat burning.

There was one side benefit, however, to all those calories during the holidays…I made some strength gains, which don’t come easy with a low-calorie diet. Last Thursday I did 305 lbs on my deadlifts. That was exciting considering when I started out a little under a year ago I was doing something like 95 lbs and feeling like I was going to die afterwards.

My current goal is to lose as much fat as I can before our big adoption trip to China. We could be going within the next ten days or so, but it could be as long as five or six weeks. In any case, I’ll be hitting it extra hard until then.

After my last post a few weeks ago I modified my diet, but I quickly found that my stress-level immediately increased again and my energy-level dropped. Clearly I still wasn’t ready for a reduced calorie diet again. Therefore I reversed my decision, still modifying my diet to be healthier (well…except for several days of Halloween candy) but without any significant calorie reduction. Simultaneously, I made some amazing strength gains, which indicates that I have definitely increased my muscle mass.

I’m now working with my trainer four days per week instead of three, and since I switched to a strength-building regimen a couple of months ago, my bench press has gone up from 205 lbs to 235 lbs, my deadlift from 235 to 265, and my squats have increased an amazing 70 lbs from 205 to 275. The deadlift and squat maximums were at 4 and 3 repetitions respectively, which means my one-rep max would be significantly more than that. This has continued to be fun and I have no intention of switching my exercise routine. I did, however, finally switch back to a reduced calorie diet on Monday, without any significant energy-loss or stress.

Hopefully now I can see some significant weight-loss again, since I have lost very little in the last four months—only about 5-7 lbs. At the beginning of the week my weight was at 270 and as of this morning it is 266.4 lbs. It is very hard to lose fat and build muscle at the same time, but I’m making every effort to do so. I will continue with my strength routine and have tailored my diet to maximize my chances. I’m eating about 1800-2000 calories per day, with low carbs, low fat, and high protein. I’ve been eating three omlettes per day made with six egg whites (that’s right, 18 eggs), a large chicken breast with brown rice, a protein shake, and a few snacks like some string cheese and popcorn.

My hopeful goal is that I can see the 240s by the time we travel to China a couple of months from now.  We’ll see what happens.

Each day, for the last several days, I ate like a man having his proverbial “last meal.” I’d been on a break from my weight loss diet for about two-and-a-half weeks and felt like I was almost ready to get back to it. But before committing to a strict diet again, I was determined to enjoy some of my favorite foods. So each day we ate something different that I knew I wouldn’t be eating for awhile. I had Pappasito’s, Buca di Beppo, Louanne’s lemon birthday cake, Pizza Hut, Cookie’s and Cream ice cream, Chicken Express, ice cream at Braum’s, Pei Wei, a Blizzard at Dairy Queen, and so on. Last night I finished it up with a pizza buffet at Double Dave’s. I enjoyed every bit of it.

As of this morning I’m back on it, having my egg whites, chicken breasts, protein shakes, and the like. I’m hopeful that the three week break gave me a boost and I can see some good results again. As for my workouts, I’m sticking with my strength training regimen rather than going back to the endurance and cardio stuff I was doing before. The thought of that still stresses me out, and I’m having a lot of fun doing what I’m doing now. I still do cardio most days, but it isn’t anything excessively intense — most of my intensity is in strength training.

I needed the break badly, but now I’m fully ready to move forward with the weight loss again.