1.25 years of progress! I think I weigh the same (197#/85.5kg) I hurt my spine in October 2024 (2-herniated discs in the C Spine). Thankfully, I had health insurance and six weeks of therapy set me on the right path. Virtually no issues now!

Since the comeback in March 2025, I've been on a 3-day full body split. I only had about four months of training for hypertrophy before sitting on the bench for five months, but now that's my main focus! I use way more machines than I ever would have thought having grown up an athlete. I take all my top sets within 1-2 reps of failure. The subsequent sets (I don't do more than 3 sets of anything) are taken to failure. I recently switched to writing my own programming to save money. I'm pretty lazy about cardio+core, but I do play tennis and bike seasonally. I let the bracing for my lifts serve as core work for the most part lol. Extremely proud of the progress.

I personally cannot keep up with food tracking, but I did for like two weeks and sorta eat around that data. Couldn't tell you exactly how many calories (~2600), but many, many chickens and their offspring have been consumed. My next step is tying my workday and off day nutrition. When I'm not at work, I eat basically anything. Looking forward to ironing that out and peaking next summer.

First time as an adult that I've trained injury-free so long 😅 here's to many more!

Hi all! So I (34m) have been working my (now smaller) ass off to finally get to this point, however I know it’s still a work in progress!
Started 112kg, down to 85 kg in about 16 months, 171cm.
Full disclosure, after getting my test levels checked 8 months in, I started trt for the last 8 months. Eating 2100 calories for the majority of the 16 months, but periodically bumping up to 2800 calories.
Protein kept high at 180g
Weighting training PPL x 2 a week, keeping daily steps above 10,000

I’ve been going to the gym for the past year. I can see some difference, but specially, I feel stronger. I’ve gained 6 pounds, and I look better. In the second photo you can see a before photo when I started and I looked boxier (sorry I dont have any better ones from when I started). Love lifting heavy! These past 6-7 months I’ve really pushed myself on the lifting and if I had to tell you one thing I’ve learned is that the weight needed to really progress is way more than you think. I write down what I lift every session and it helps a lot.

As for food, I don’t count calories now (I used to when I started to ‘learn’ how to eat for the gym). but I aim for healthy meals and protein in every big meal I have. Could be better tbh.

I go to the gym about 4-5 times a week to lift weights. I don’t do cardio but walk often.

Was good for second in the u80s today, lost 1st by 1 rep

Hi All! I started this journey roughly 4 years ago. Before that there were false starts but I was up to 330 lbs at my highest. Honestly? 330 was when I quit looking at the scale.

I was diagnosed with advanced liver fibrosis and was given 3-5 years and told to prepare for transplant list in about a year. Well I changed everything. I did everything possible to save my life. I was going to do bariatric surgery but insurance didn’t cover it.

So, I did IF. I did it super disciplined. 18-20 hour fast daily. I ran a deep calorie deficit daily. Once a week I did a 24 hour fast and once a month I did a 72 hour fast. I wish there was some secret diet I could give to you but there wasn’t. Just calorie deficit. Once I got this down I locked in and did this daily for almost 3 years. I went from 330 to 174.

I had my last MRI done last summer and I had completely reversed the liver disease. Absolutely no sign of any damage, no scarring, no thickening, nothing. I had a new lease on life.

Last October I decided to go to the gym. Hadn’t been in over a decade. I used to be in really great shape. Life, and time just slipped away from me and 330 happened before I knew it.

When I started I was so weak. I could barely lift anything. I was skinny but I wasn’t in shape yet. Over the last 9-10 months I have been giving it my all. I’ve put on Almost 20 lbs of muscle.

Today I crossed a milestone. I benched 225 for the first time in forever.

If it helps I eat 300g of protein daily, current workout is an Arnold style split 2 a day 5 days a week. For the first 9 months I did a hypertrophy weight training program and was consistently doing progressive overload.

Any other questions I’ll try to answer.

Anyway- Cheers!

Took 4th on this one. Kinda swung for the fences with it and lost time with not taking an extra second to get the bags high enough on my chest

After seeing the scale at 111 KG I decided it's time to get some work done . Lowered my Calories to 1800 daily + 150 to 180 grams of protein . No liquid calories whatsoever. After 1 minth I started going to the gym 3 to 4 times a week . Doing zero cardio , only 10 to 12 000 daily steps . I think I might be on to something

I remember taking the top picture feeling sad, tired, sluggish, stressed, and weak. Joined a gym after Xmas. I am absolutely rapt with my progress so far. Once I learned about macros a few months in, progress boomed. Life changing. I'm addicted to the entire progress and excited to see where I go!

Targeting body recomp, full body gym sessions every second day. Goal eating 7800kj per day, 40/25/35 carbs/fat/protein.

32F

165cm

S.W: 76kg

C.W: 72kg (I weigh less now than before! Wow)

655lb is the most I've ever done and 77ft with the proper weight was good enough for second

I’ve been working really hard to grow my glutes and create a rounder shape, but I naturally have hip dips (violin hips) and more of a square-shaped butt.
I’m really happy with my progress from the side/profile, but from the back I still feel like it looks too square—especially in leggings, biker shorts, bodycon dresses, and swimsuits.

Has anyone here started with a similar glute shape and been able to noticeably round it out naturally?

If so, what made the biggest difference? Or is this mostly down to genetics, with a BBL or injections being the only way to truly change the shape?

The last photo is my starting point (2017)

I train glutes/legs 2x per week.
Each workout includes 5–6 of the following exercises:

Hip thrusts
Romanian deadlifts (RDLs)
Bulgarian split squats (BSS)
Deficit reverse lunges
Step-ups
Cable kickbacks
Seated hamstring curls
Glute-focused hyperextensions
Seated hip abductions
Banded clamshells

I’d really appreciate any advice from women who have a similar build or glute shape

I weighed about 190 or so back then and 195 today (height is 6’3”.) Always been committed to fitness & a healthy diet. If I’m being honest, I did not achieve the size/strength I aimed for over the years but progressive resistance training is still the foundation of my routine. I walk 12k steps daily, eat an 80/20 diet, and I’m robotically consistent. I want to look good & be physically capable for as long as I can.

I’m a lifetime natural, btw. I’d consider TRT at some point but my T level was 620 in March so I’m not ready to make that commitment yet.

Was encouraged to try double dutch during one of our safe summer initiatives at a community center.

Been lifting many years.
After a double disc prolapse around 8.5 months ago I’m nearly back to where I was.
Careful attention to axial loading, alternating squats with leg press or sled pushes rather than just training to squat every single leg session.
The goal is to strengthen the entire core to help protect and prevent further issues.
Above is a recent set of 4 with 4 plates. Happy to be doing squats again.

Been push OHP as much as I can lately. It’s slowly climbing. Lots of auto regulating happening.

I seem to often get light-headed when performing heavy overhead work.. anyone else experience it?

What helps with avoiding that feeling?

How do you manage to eat enough food consistently?

I'm 190cm weighing 85kgs. Last winter i trained consistently and ate a lot of food (one meal was fast food every day unfortunately) and i don't think i managed to gain any real muscle, only thing i did gain is fat on my belly, which really put me down.

I even installed my fitness pal android application, to count the proteins and calories. It seems like a lot of food to eat in a day, seems almost impossible.

30-33 years old. In sequence-> 6 months, 9months, 2 years and then finally 3 years into training. 185cm, weight is around 77-78kg in the first 3 pictures and then a around 81-82kg in the last one. I know the jumps are pretty big but I just wasn't taking enough progress pictures to have a cleaner timeline

Started out with ppl 5-6 times a week for the first 2,5 years, recently transitioned into mainly calisthenics 3x a week to spend more time outdoors. I added running to the mix to improve my cardio as well

The third picture probably stands out the most due to the leanness but I found it to be unsustainable. At that point the negative health effects started to compound, my sleep got worse, libido went down, food noise was distracting.
Went up about 3-4 kg in the next year, found that to be a comfortable settling point.

For the most part my diet is very monotonous but honestly I like it that way:
500ml Skyr with fruit and granola for breakfast
5 eggs, sandwich and veggies for lunch
Usually some kind of lean meat, rice and veggies for dinner, but thats also where I take liberties more often
For snacks I’ll usually eat fruit or fermented foods like kimchi

Main difference between pictures 3 and 4 in terms of diet is my cheat meal allowance. I dont really track calories but these days I just dont worry too much about going out for beer or pizza with my friends or having cake or a donut. Its a comfortable weight that lets me feel like I can still live my life without any negative side effects that came with excessive leanness

Happy to answer questions or give diet/training suggestions!

I’m 38, 6’3”, 217 pounds, and have been lifting most of my life but training and dieting hard and consistent for the last 8 months. I had spinal fusion surgery 2.5 years ago that had me start my fitness journey over. I did an InBody scan today that put me at 13.4% BF.

I feel like I’m pretty defined and where I want to be except for my core. I don’t directly target my abs/obliques that often but have recently started incorporating them more.

Do my obliques/abs look underdeveloped/undefined compared to the rest of my physique?

Also, if anyone has a specific core workout for bulkier abs/obliques, I’m open to suggestions.

Little by little becomes a lot. Proud of the progress that I’ve made. Been lifting for 13 years so gains don’t come fast anymore 😂🥹 Just turned 37 few weeks ago and determined to be in the best shape of my life by the time I am 40!!! Also have a goal of competing In Figure division but I have a lot of growing left to do so I’m just enjoying the ride.
I am 5’3, currently at 134lbs after my recent cut(lost 10lbs), I’ve been tracking macros since 2016. My calories are at around 2200 depending on the day. I lift 4x a week and do some conditioning: cycling and track sprints. I have a background in CrossFit, competitive Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting and now I train more like a bodybuilder so to say but I do keep some plyos and power work in my training because I don’t want to lose it. Share your goals with me, I’d love to know 🥰

43 years old, was diagnosed with blood cancer at 35, i was a bodybuilder in my 20s and early 30s so after diagnosis i stopped everything and just let myself go! I was always a drug free lifter! I went on a slow calorie deficit from 2900 to 2000 calories a day over the course of 7 months, i am keeping my lifting light with 14 - 16 rep range and some to failure, went from 120kg to about 105, but was all fat loss, happy to stay in maintenence now for a while, but will go below 100kg eventually!