Hi everyone, My name is Travis and I'm a fat boy. (Ok, so the AA meeting like doesn't work so well in this context).

I'm a 25 year old, 6'4'' tall male, who has a pretty inactive lifestyle due to my job as a software developer. At the start of my journey (12/2/2007) I was 282.5lb. As of right now (12/9/2007) I am 274.5lb. Unfortunately most of that was lean mass (water or muscle) as I measured only a 3.5lb fat loss. I am measuring my weight and fat loss using a scale with built-in body fat %.

Some stats from my first day:
BF% Lower body (from scale): 31.5%
BF% Upper body (from hand-held meter): 26.5%
AVG BF%: 29%
Weight: 282.5lb

My Goal is to be:
215lb with 10% body fat (yes I know this is a BIG jump) by December of next year.

Previously I've been down to 235lbs (not sure on the BF% tho). At the same time I was doing this however, I was learning how to be more attractive (looks are a very very small part of this come to find out) to women (long story that involves getting completed screwed over by this one girl and deciding I didn't want that scenario to play out ever again). Unfortunately these two goals conflicted as when I got down to a lower weight I started running into extremely shallow women who were overly obsessive with physical appearance rather than other bonds. Regardless, I'm now in a very healthy relationship with a little ectomorph (she's 5'3 at 100lbs and eats like a dwarf training for a tossing match).

At this point I feel it is the time to change my appearance and life in a way I've always wanted. I do understand that other people really don't want me to succeed, I am the only one that will make it possible, etc. I'm posting here mainly as a motivation mechanism for myself, since if I make details of my journey to come public failure isn't really an option to me (I did the same thing with the above stuff involving becoming more attractive).

I plan on using a workout plan created by James Villefigue and Hugo Rivera that involves caloric cycling and adjusting workout so you don't over/under train.

I wouldnt put too much stock in the body fat% because it can be way off from my experience and waht I have read. It is nice to keep track over the long run to see trends but not a day to day absolute measurement.

good luck to you I am just starting too!

Hello! This seems to be a great place for support. I'm new here myself. I understand the need for a change. My workout schedule is stop by the gym on my way home from work. They conveniently built one close to my house. I start with cardio on the treadmill/eliptical, then move on to the weight circuit. Good luck to you, we'll hold each other up.

I'm curious when I read this post how you all came into this with an actual "workout plan". I'm new, just joined last week myself, but I'm coming in not knowing where/how to start with losing weight, let alone feeling like I can actually have a workout plan.

Did you all work out before? See I've not been and now that I've gained weight I feel achy and it's hard to decide how to start moving?

Wow, im in the same boat. My name is also Travis in 6 foot 4 im a little heavier I started at 350 im now down to 320. I also work in IT as a system admin. Man this is crazy!!!
Well good luck to you!