Thank you G – didn’t know you read BP ?

You should post some details on the diet / excercise regime you used?

#brownGainz
#brownDoYouEvenLift

I weigh 170 lbs at 5’9. I started at 130 lbs. My waist was a 30 when I started and now a 32 (obliques and lower back got thicker). I recomped and gained mass over the past 5 years or so, and I am vegetarian. I also don’t take any supplements.

The key was focusing on big barbell movements and eating a lot. It was easy because I had access to college dining hall food, and my parents cook a lot of nutritious whole foods, albeit desi foods (aka only brown rice, lot of greek yogurt as our dahi, less oil and salt i veggies, and eating roti rather than something like nan from enriched flour).

I would recommend the book Starting Strength for anyone interested. I did variations of that and the Texas Method. I am not strong by powerlifting standards, but I improved a lot.

Pause bench 80lbs-> 240 lbs (250 touch and go)
Squat- 95lbs-> 335lbs (hip crease below knee crease depth so well below parallel to make meet standards)
Deadlift- 185lbs-> 415lbs
130×5 overhead press
15 clean dead hang pull ups
65 push ups in a minute

My dad also I suppose isn’t “typical” S Asian man. At 57 and 5’6 140lbs, he can still run 3-4 miles at 8 minute pace, do 40 push ups in a row, and do a few good dead hang pull ups. He takes no medicine. And his blood work is pristine. Heck his cholesterol is lower than mine. My mom is more typical. She is overweight and has diabetes and hypertension. I aim to be like my dad.

I do depend on sugar free red bull (drink a can a day during my workouts)

Both nature and quantity have an effect.

I can offer one data point FWIW. I was a fat kid, right up to my mid-20s when I started getting serious about cutting down. At my peak, I weighed about 215 lb, and after a disciplined period of diet and exercise (over a period of 2-3 years), I went down to ~160lb (min around 155lb) where I managed to remain for almost a decade hence. Since then, I’ve gone up to about 180 lb: age and extra work at the office have taken a toll on me.

Here were the concrete things I did:
– Religiously avoided eating anything between mealtimes. No snacking, period. No consumption of food or drink (except water) for about 3 hrs before bedtime. I didn’t skimp on the meals themselves though. No fasting for me.
– I went from drinking whole milk to reduced fat milk. I believe that had a huge effect.
– I used to be a big soda drinker, but cut that down to about 1 can per month. Also cut down on fast food in general, but it was a reduction in frequency rather than elimination.
– In my evening meals, I’d substitute rice/rotis with salads and fruits (whenever I at Indian food, that is, which was most of the time.) Total quantity didn’t change though.
– (I couldn’t have eliminated carbs from my diet as I was and remain a vegetarian, but I did reduce it.)
– For exercise, to which I attribute no more than maybe 20% of my weight reduction, I used to work out 5 days a week: 3 days cardio, 2 days weights.

I heard obesity related diseases (diabetes esp.) are becoming quite an issue in India as lifestyles become more sedentary and food becomes more abundant.

Also, is low carb just a meme? All that matters is calories in calories out? Sorry but I’m ignorant about most of this stuff.

protein & fat result in more satiety. the low carbs for most ppl seem to mean they eat less. but, low carbs makes it hard to socialize with ppl.