Weight Loss Thread

Have been making a fairly concerted effort for weight-loss since a few weeks before xmas (interspersed with 2 weeks of nothing due to a fucked back playing up) which started as cardio on the treadmill for 30 minutes (now up to 2 x 60 minute sessions a day) and have just started to add in a full body weights routine (1 exercise per body part, 3 sets, 8 reps, heavy) and am now adding in a strict diet (same thing every day just to make it easy to shop/plan/cook).

Diet plan isat google docs, is ~2300cal a day but once I add in ~1k burn from cardio and weights it ends up around 1300 a day which should give me enough nutrients and not have my body go in to starvation mode while providing a reasonable rate of weight loss while still getting enough protein for rebuilding muscle.

I haven't seen many changes yet, have noticed calves are a lot more toned and bulks, thighs have lost some fat, face is almost down to one chin so really just have chest and stomach to lose while trying to add about 10kg more of muscle. I had a DEXA scan end of Feb last year that put me at 34% body fat, am booked in for another one end of Feb coming up, am hoping to get down to at least 30% by then which I'd sort of be happy with given how much I fucked around last year not taking it seriously with exercise or portion control (let along junk food) with the final goal being ~115kg @ 10%bf before I head to Vegas and Cali in October.

Knytestorme_sl said:

Have been making a fairly concerted effort for weight-loss since a few weeks before xmas (interspersed with 2 weeks of nothing due to a fucked back playing up) which started as cardio on the treadmill for 30 minutes (now up to 2 x 60 minute sessions a day) and have just started to add in a full body weights routine (1 exercise per body part, 3 sets, 8 reps, heavy) and am now adding in a strict diet (same thing every day just to make it easy to shop/plan/cook).

Diet plan isat google docs, is ~2300cal a day but once I add in ~1k burn from cardio and weights it ends up around 1300 a day which should give me enough nutrients and not have my body go in to starvation mode while providing a reasonable rate of weight loss while still getting enough protein for rebuilding muscle.

I haven't seen many changes yet, have noticed calves are a lot more toned and bulks, thighs have lost some fat, face is almost down to one chin so really just have chest and stomach to lose while trying to add about 10kg more of muscle. I had a DEXA scan end of Feb last year that put me at 34% body fat, am booked in for another one end of Feb coming up, am hoping to get down to at least 30% by then which I'd sort of be happy with given how much I fucked around last year not taking it seriously with exercise or portion control (let along junk food) with the final goal being ~115kg @ 10%bf before I head to Vegas and Cali in October.

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Sounds like you're on the right path. Consistancy is the key so just keep it up and you'll continue making progress.

How much do you weigh right now?

250ish pounds (115kg) at 10% body fat is absolutely monstorous. It's a good goal but that seems pretty damn ambitious for October.

McCheese_sl said:

Sounds like you're on the right path. Consistancy is the key so just keep it up and you'll continue making progress.

How much do you weigh right now?

250ish pounds (115kg) at 10% body fat is absolutely monstorous. It's a good goal but that seems pretty damn ambitious for October.

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Currently at 133.6kg so figure dropping 20kg in 9 months is feasible, will be the fat percentage that's the issue. I was 137 with 34.5% bf at the end of last Feb but with 90kg of lean mass so really all i'm trying to add is 10kg muscle and drop around 30 of fat at the same time. If i don't add the muscle but lose the fat I won't be too unhappy as I still should have toned the muscle I already have and would be happy with that look. Hell, even 115 with 15% bf would be better shape than when i was lifting, before fucking my back on a bad form leg press.

Knytestorme_sl said:

all i'm trying to add is 10kg muscle and drop around 30 of fat at the same time

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Uh huh. Gaining 22lbs of muscle while losing 66lbs of fat? At the same time? In real life? Please explain how you'll do that.

Knytestorme_sl said:

Currently at 133.6kg so figure dropping 20kg in 9 months is feasible, will be the fat percentage that's the issue. I was 137 with 34.5% bf at the end of last Feb but with 90kg of lean mass so really all i'm trying to add is 10kg muscle and drop around 30 of fat at the same time. If i don't add the muscle but lose the fat I won't be too unhappy as I still should have toned the muscle I already have and would be happy with that look. Hell, even 115 with 15% bf would be better shape than when i was lifting, before fucking my back on a bad form leg press.

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This would be impossible if you lived in a German pharmacy for a year, nevermind reality.

Those goals aren't doable, it's fantasy land. You need to give yourself an attainable goal and then just be happy if you meet or surpass it.

Not to be rude, but ol' boy is gonna have to call up Lance and get the good stuff for that scenario to happen.

Just set a goal to lose a lot of the fat. Then worry about building muscle after that.

Burnesto_sl said:

Not to be rude, but ol' boy is gonna have to call up Lance and get the good stuff for that scenario to happen.

Just set a goal to lose a lot of the fat. Then worry about building muscle after that.

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This.. For whatever reason I find it easier to focus on cardio/diet when just trying to lose fat. I Basically just do pushups/pullups and some kettlebell swings instead of lifting. i typically don't add weights unless its just lightweight/high rep. Just seems to work for me in tr early phase anyway.

Convo_sl said:

This.. For whatever reason I find it easier to focus on cardio/diet when just trying to lose fat. I Basically just do pushups/pullups and some kettlebell swings instead of lifting. i typically don't add weights unless its just lightweight/high rep. Just seems to work for me in tr early phase anyway.

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I've lost about 50 pounds twice over the last 3 years. The first time it was through only diet + cardio, and even though I wasn't "fat", I looked saggy and skinny fat with no definition.

The second time I decided to do it right, and I did 3 - 4 days a week in the gym + cardio + diet and I look MUCH better at the same weight as I was above. I have tons of definition and I found that the weight came off much more quickly this second time as well.

So yeah, basically I'd recommend getting a good lifting routine going even if your only goal is to lose weight. At the very least you'll be more defined once the fat is gone, and if you choose to start adding mass later on it'll provide you with a solid base to start with.

You'll also burn fat faster if you have more muscle mass, since your body will use more calories.

Yeah the last two posts have nailed why I'm adding in weights to my routine as well. If I don't add weights then I lose muscle mass as well as fat while dieting, adding weights helps keep the muscle and any that gets added helps increase BMR so there is no real downside to adding them except your weight on the scales doesn't change as much due to muscle being more dense than fat and weighing more for a similar volume than fat. This will mean that even while losing size you may not appear to be losing weight, one of the main reasons you get told to go by body measurements rather than scales.

For the others saying it can't be done, or only with chemical help, may have missed the time-frame I'm looking at and that I am ok with not getting the added muscle since I know that will likely take longer to build than the fat will to lose. Putting it in terms of pounds sucks though, cause that looks massive but if I put it in kg than it's like 6kg a month to lose over 6 months and 1.5kg a week is only ~1500 calorie a day deficit which if I'm burning 1k in 2-3 cardio sessions a day (have been) and am eating at ~1500 a day under my BRM (have been) should be doable. Adding the weights will also increase my weekly burn and should also increase my BRM around the 3 month mark so any plateaus I head towards should be averted by that as well.

Yes there is a chance I'll get bored of the diet but atm it's pretty easy as it's what I used to eat most of the time just with portion control added in (my biggest weight control issue) and a lot of extraneous processed and calorie dense foods removed so I don't think that boredom will be an issue. Yes there is a high likelihood I won't make my mass goals by the end of the time and I'm ok with that IF I hit my weight-loss goals and get to at most 20% bf but I can't really see that I won't hit that goal (though I will be slightly disappointed if I don't hit a max of 15%). As an aside I'm down 2" on my stomach since Jan 10 but chest, waist and hips are still the same so I'm not overjoyed but I can see that losing from stomach will happen fist as it's where most of my fat is according to the DEXA scan.

Well to begin, the impacts of adding muscle on increasing your BMR are extremely small. The concept is way overblown and were talking less than 50 calories or so if someone added 10-20lbs over the course of a year. It's so small it isn't worth even considering.

Secondly, who cares if its in lbs or kgs or grams or ounces, reality is reality. If I put my dick in millimeters and just tossed a number out there people would think I was a buffalo. That isn't reality. And losing 60lbs over 9 months isn't really far fetched if someone is obese. But I can guarantee you that your total muscle mass gain will probably be 5lbs or less, and probably close to nil. If someone really was in such a drastic deficit every day even though your math and reasoning is wacky, by looking at the number alone that's starving territory. You can't just wish simultaneous muscle mass gain and fat loss upon yourself and call it doable. It's nearly impossible to do in any appreciable amount unless you are a genetic freak, and you aren't.

Even just attempting to gain 20lbs of muscle in 9 months is probably impossible without drugs even for a beginner.

Just going to chip in and say that expecting to gain that much muscle while losing body fat at the same time is a pretty unrealistic goal. Your diet sounds like it's in great shape.

If you want to lose body fat, diet is what is most important. You're eating at a calorie deficit so you're good there.

If looks are important. Lifting weights will help make sure that you don't lose muscles while you are dieting. But 5x a week of weight lifting will be overkill. You can push yourself to do it in just 3 days a week, and you'll keep the muscle mass you currently have (probably a fair amount of muscles required just from carrying around extra weight. That'll give your muscles 48-72 hours between workouts to rest and rebuild.

I've been using the beginner weight training program from this site and it's great.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/beginner-workouts/

3 exercises a day, about 10 minutes per exercise, 3 times a week. I drive 15 minutes to just get to my gym, so if I didn't go there for tanning also, I would just invest some time in figuring out a bodyweight program. Today was the first day in 9 weeks that I couldn't increase all my weights by a fair amount (I'm probably plateu'ing while I'm on this diet), but my arms "look" bigger because the fat is burning away while the overall size has remained the same (comparing my before pictures to my current pictures)

If heart health is important. Cardio will improve that. But you don't need to do it 5 days a week. If you're going to eat a 1000 calorie deficit, why not burn 1000 less calories and eat 1000 less calories and do cardio 2x a week on days that you aren't doing weight lifting. Saves you both time and money.

1000 calorie deficit will lose you just as much bodyfat whether you are burning 2000 or 3000 calories a day.



I'm not trying to knock what you're doing. But your stated goals are different from what your exercise routine would accomplish. People that train for marathons run long distance (ie: an hour of cardio) only 4 times a week. But you didn't say you wanted to run a marathon, you said you wanted to lose bodyfat and improve your appearance.

Dashel_sl said:

Good job on the progress. Just wanted to mention I show your BMR is around 2000 but with the Harris Benedict formula even sedentary is around 2500 calories.http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-ca...dict-equation/

If you're eating clean you should see good gains for a while as far as body composition.

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BTW, thanks for that. Good advice

Well I did start off as sedentary, only started adding in the exercise after Thanksgiving, but it helps explain why I'd get so much hunger pain and would cave in to cravings, and why occasionally going up to 2500 or even 3000 calories (once) didn't stop my weight loss.

I've been eating better lately during the work week. Its hard not to give in to everyone when they always want to go somewhere good to eat. Anyways, here is what I've been eating everyday. What do you guys think, any suggestions?

Breakfast
Steel cut oats -1 serving
Flax Seed - spoonful
Sliced almosts - spoonful
handfull blueberries

Snack 9:30 ish

Hard Boiled egg

Lunch

Dark lettuce or Red lettuce
Spinach
Sliced almonds
Carrots
Red Pepper
Broccoli
Small amount of crumbled feta
Homemade dressing EEVO and Basalmic

Snack 2:30ish

Greek Yogurt - 1 serving

Dinner- Anything, usually cooked at home and somewhat healthy.

Sidenote, if anyone is looking for an easy healthy meal at work go to the store and get some microwave steamer bags. I throw in a bunch of vegetables and in three minutes have steamed vegetables. You can even throw in chicken, fish and stuff. Saw online where people were experimenting with making different kinds of healthy stir-fry for lunch each week.

If you're not already doing it, I would recommend you use a website like fitday to keep an accurate count of calories for everything you're eating (assuming your goal is weight loss). Stuff like "Dinner - Anything, usually cooked at home and somewhat healthy" can still amount to an enormous amount of calories depending on what you're making. It might technically be "healthy" but it won't help you lose much weight.

McCheese_sl said:

If you're not already doing it, I would recommend you use a website like fitday to keep an accurate count of calories for everything you're eating (assuming your goal is weight loss). Stuff like "Dinner - Anything, usually cooked at home and somewhat healthy" can still amount to an enormous amount of calories depending on what you're making. It might technically be "healthy" but it won't help you lose much weight.

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Mostly just trying to eat a bit better, but thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out

darkko_sl said:

Anyways, here is what I've been eating everyday. What do you guys think, any suggestions?

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Are you vegetarian? You need more protein in there in any case.

Dashel_sl said:

Are you vegetarian? You need more protein in there in any case.

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Really you think so? Even after the almonds, egg, greek yogurt, and feta + whatever for dinner? I was thinking about adding chicken to the lunch though.

darkko_sl said:

Food

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Are you active? Just guestimating the portion sizes, that doesn't seem like enough calories for someone who exercises regularly, even if you're dieting. That looks like roughly 300 for breakfast and 400 for lunch, and 250 for snacks. Even if you're having 1000 calories for dinner that's still on the light side unless you're tiny. I'd actually add another 300 calories to your day and then make sure to get at least a half hour of good exercise as often as you can. Put something with more protein earlier in your day. Chicken with lunch and something else with breakfast or your snack. You'll be more full throughout the day and less tempted to overeat at dinner, which is probably what's happening since you don't complain about being ravenous all the time.