No real reason for the post, just kinda venting!

About 3 months ago i was at my prime.

I wieghed 193lbs - 6ft - 9% body fat

I was eatting & supplimenting all day long. It got old after 2 years straight of eatting 8 - 9 full meals all day and not forgetting to take my supps. I was on a complete eatting schedual all day long. Sh!t just gets old between cooking, packing lunches, not 4getting to take a supp, eatting a full course meal every 2 1/2 hours, etc.

3 months ago i took a vacation to Colorado. During that vacation i didn't worry about what i ate or when i ate. I completly stopped it all together. When i got back from my 2 week vacation i just stopped going to the gym and stopped worrying about anything on looking fit or being in shape.

Now i wiegh 169lbs and i'm sure my body fat has to be about 17%. I no longer have a 8 pack, pecs, etc. All i got for proof that i was once something is my stretch marks on my shoulders/chest and pictures.

Recently i had a buddy get back from Iraq and the first thing he said when i saw him was "damn, you look sick." My parents came to visit and they couldnt' stop talking to me on how i don't look as good as i use to. Then today i ate lunch with my girl & 1 of her friends and the very first thing she said to me was "damn, you do look small. WTF happened?" Those are only a few stories.

Thats a pretty good kick in the nutts. I started looking at pics and etc. and i think i'm going to get back into the lifestyle.

Right now i'm just trying to get my diet, suppliment, & training info. together to start back. This is becoming a huge pain in the a$$ all in its self. I want to make sure i start out right this time with eatting the right stuff at the right times. Its just going to suck loosing all my free time again. I have so much free time now cause i don't work out and eat all the time.

I am having a hard time finding info. on how to train & bulk the right way. Last time i thought i was doing it right but now that i think about it i don't think i did everything 100% right and thats a kick in the nuts also. I've been in this lifestyle before and now that i want to get back into it i feel 100% lost and like a newbie who has never picked up a wieght before.

Ummm ok. Stop being such a fag and smash some weights then.

It is a pain in the ass there's no doubting that. It all depends on how far you want to go with it though. I used to be all into the bodybuilding shit...I read Arnold's Encyclopedia front to back numerous times, studied the pics and researched every aspect of BBing. Then it hit me one day...........WHY? Why the fuck does it matter how big you are or how good you look UNLESS you plan to be a competitive BBer. If you're happy with how you look, which it sounds like you're not, then don't knock yourself out. My schedule only permits me to lift 3 days/week when I used to lift at least 5 and that's fine for me.

I don't know if that answered any of your questions but I can relate to what you're saying. At least you've got muscle memory and it won't take you as long to get back to where you once were.

I'm not happy with the way i look now but what sucked is i worked my a$$ off for those 2 years and the most i got was 195 and a steady 190lbs. I still didn't look the way i wanted. To give you an idea, "no homo", i had about the same build as Edward Norton in American History X (maybe a little bigger here/there) when i was wanting a John Cenna build. I felt like i was wasting my time.

Thats why i'm trying to make sure i train/eat/sup the right way now but having no luck. I'm just not sure where to start. I'm sure i could do exactly what i did in the past but i wouldn't progress then. I went from thinking i had an idea to now feeling 100% like a noob.

Sounds like you should've eaten more then.

The word "diet" should not be in your vocabulary if you want to be over 200lbs at 6 ft.

This isnt Oprah and we dont need a hugely dramatic story. We all know how it happens, and how it happens, just get your ass back in the gym and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You coulda been back in the gym half way through a workout if you didnt spend so much time typing this story. "Only way to it, is to do it!"

you don't even need to lift anymore...all you need is to run a cycle of havoc and it will grow

Crazy man, its weird huh...i have been in your position before couple times.

3 1/2 years ago i went from 179 to 215, took me a good 6 months to do it, the last 3 months i popped in a 5 week cycle of test and deca. i was genuinely RIPPEd!!!!

Then I met my ex stripper g/f..everything went down the drain. why eat 7 meals a day, no use, no motivation, especially when i came off the test/deca. my girl would encourage me to NOT go to the gym, cuz she didnt want to be away from me. id try to motivate her to come with me, but she would be a sour-puss and sit on a bike, watch tv on it, without even pedaling. what a downer. point is..i quit lifting for 2 solid years. LOST EVERTHING..went right on back down to 185..so fucking depressing...i felt like crap. no one looked at me when i went out in public (which was huge blow to my ego), no one asked me how to eat right...etc etc etc..
i just got back into hard workouts and solid 6-7 meals a day about 4 months ago, im right back up to 205-208, doing and feeling good that i re-committed.

dude you just gotta suck it up and get your ass in the gym and eat right. you know what to eat, you know how to eat, there is no reason why you should be asking any of us how to do it. you just need to do it, just like what arnoldclone said..

where is your motivation..if you don't have one, then don't get back into it. its a lifestyle/sport/hobby, find out why you want to get back into this shit and do your thing

I'm actually on my long term break now. After i bought my house at the end of january and my girlfriend moved in it got more difficult to work until 8pm, go lift, and spend time with her. I dicided to live as a "norm" for a little bit then once my schedule shifts from 8pm i'll crank it hardcore again.

It's kind of a welcome change after lifting for 7 years and not taking anything longer then 2 weeks off.

but remember how quick you got into good shape the 1st year? that will happen again.

It's nice to drink beer, eat cookies, and not worry when you get less then 8 hrs sleep, unless you're the type that blubs easy.

Wow! Dude you need to just focus on some damn goals. You dont even know how better off you are. Me coming from 180 7.5% bodyfat, had everything, great sex (I still do though), Great job, Money,Friends, Independence. And coming out of a motorcycle wreck and loosing an arm. I dropped to 150. And then ate like no tomorrow and basically almost let myself go! But DUDE I SMASH THE FUCK OUT OF MY LEGS!!!!!!

Thanks for the boost of comfidents fellas. I can make up a ton of excuses why i stopped lifting/eatting all day long. Latley after hearing everyone say how small i am & not getting the attention like Spirit Walker mentioned it makes me want to get back into it. I do miss not filling out my shirts, getting checked out by the ladies, etc. I do know i felt awesome about myself when i was bigger.

Light Wieght Baby,

As far as you saying i'm full of sh!t cause i "forgot."....

I didn't really forgot but i think i could have done things better/different. I was eatting the exact same meals every day at the exact same times every day. I like things to be like that cause its easier for me. I knew i shouldn't but i couldn't think of what to change it up with. I wasn't taking dextrose & i was only using Muscle Tech products. I know that my training needs to change 100%. You'd think after 2 years of lifting i would know what to change but i'm completly self taught and wasn't sure what to change or how to change.

Now I want to have different routines set up so i can change them every 6 weeks. I'm just not sure what to change right now & thats what i'm trying to research. I'm also wanting to have different meals set up. I want to change up the the suppliments i was taking cause i know there has to be a better time to take certain supps and certain supps have to be better than the ones i was taking.

So its not that i "forgot." its just that i want to be better this time around. I want to hit my 210lbs goal within 1 year instead of not hitting it at all in 2 years. I'm thinking of starting a journal w/pics on line this time as well so the fellas can help out with what i need to change & etc.

That sounds better

If you got that big while taking garbage muscletech, you're training was probably pretty good. You might want to look into different supplements, though.

piece of cake... 3 months ago, thats nutin. If u had it had... it comes back fast:)

This post has been edited by Mustang69 on Jun 11 2008, 10:07 PM

If you were 193lbs at sub 10% body fat, obviously you were doing something right. It's good to take a break from time to time, other wise you lose all passion for it, and if you're never out of shape, you'll never appreciate being in shape. Also being that weight at that low of body fat % is pretty damn good. It's far better than LWB (at least we think since he won't post pics, but loves to talk shit), as far as looking like Cena, the only way to look like that is to do lots of AAS on a regular basis. He denies taking them, but no one can look like that year round, and do wrestling 40 weeks a year without AAS use. If you don't plan on competing seriously AAS isn't worth the potential side effects, and possible legality issues. Good luck to you.

Thanks again for all the boost of confidence. After get my diet together and researching i'm starting to crave working out again. I have some pictures on the forum from WAY back in the day when i first started if you guys feel like searching. It'll give you an idea of what i looked like within 3 months of working out. This time i'll be doing an online journal w/pics so i can get better help from the fellas on the forum. Thanks again!!!!

Allow me to interrupt yet another e-fight...

Dude, you've gotta find your motivation. You've gotta be able to drag yourself outta bed in the morning for that jog. Gotta be able to muster up the energy after work for that 40 minute SFW session.

Buy some supplements. They're all pretty expensive. Load your cabinets with whey protein, creatine, beta-alanine, multi-v, fish oil, and grab yourself an expensive test booster too.

Having all that $$$ sitting in your kitchen cabinet should be the nudge you need to be like "OK, fine, lets fuckin do this already" if for nothing else than getting your money's worth.

Best of luck bro. Start a training log on here too so we can all break your balls when you're slacking.