Fat man on a weight-loss kick.

[Romp]

G'day forum,


Last week I decided to stop being the embarrassing fat man next to my stupidly patient and attractive girlfriend and get on to my weight.

I'm 25, and up until 2005-ish I was looking amazing. At that time I was 90 kilos and I didn't have any visible chub at all. I was feeling amazing. Did a lot of weights, never really knew anything about how to look good, just worked my ass off and got good results. Lot's of definition and a nice tummy. I'm naturally extremely broad shouldered, I've always looked like I've pumped weights even before I did to begin with, so I guess that has been a bonus in the past.

I ended up taking a bad accident in a fight and had spinal surgery, where I was in a wheel-chair for 6 months later. In this time I nose-dived with depression (I did amateur fighting / grappling prior) and ate shit food and stacked on weight like no mans money. I also lost my then fiancée in the process, but she was a superficial bitch so moving on.

My situation is that I only have 1 20kilo bar (like a bench-press bar with 20 kilos on it, not dumb-bells) at home, so I signed up to the gym last night and went pretty hard on the lat/tri/bi machines they have there (yea I know, tsk tsk, free-weights are better etc etc). But I don't know any better, and I'm just trying to lose weight and retain the muscle I have somehow kept under this piggish slop that has become my winter-for-the-next-100-years coat.

Here is my current deficit outlay which I'll post for critique and advice.

Last week I was 115 kilos, this week I'm 111. My diet consists of meal replacement breakfast, 2 litres of water, meal replacement lunch, 2 litres of water, small bowl of chicken + pasta for dinner, then water until bed. No snacks.

For the first 3 days I was starving more than I ever have in my life, but now I'm just kind of sitting at work gulping water and I don't really crave food anymore, until just before home time when i know I'm about to enjoy dinner.

My BMR is something like 2600, I'm 5'11 and 111 kilos.
I'm consuming around 800 calories per day, and as of last night, adding 30 minutes of controlled weights with substantial breaks because I'm new and only just quit smoking.

Right now what is most important is drastic weight loss without the immediate bulk. I'd be more happy to not look like a piece of shit and then go from there, then look like a dirty fatty and pump out.

It's worth noting I will enjoy a nice big serving of T-Bone and a salad with as much dressing as I want on the weekends, but of course this only all started last week - and as I understand it, having carbs every few days moreso than others is good(I can't remember why). But yea, that's where I'm at.

Do any of you have any advice? something I could change to make sure I don't lose too much muscle on my way down?

 

[TTTTTT]

1. Drink heaps of water ( which your doing )
2. high protein diet (really important when trying to retain mass when dieting)
3. cycle carbs - eat enough carbs to feed your workout and then restrict on non workout days
4. Focus on volume rather than weight.
5. Download tom venuto's burn the fat, feed the muscle. ( Not iron proof but it does lend some valuable information.

 

[walt]

^^^ and are you actually eating 800 calories a day or am i reading wrong? You would be going into starvation mode. What you should be doing is your BMR - 500 calories. Do a beginner routine on this site.

Good luck for your weight loss.

 

[Romp]

I have 2 shakes and dinner. Each shake is 200 calories and dinner is around 400, maybe a bit less.

 

[bro]

While starvation mode is basically bullshit, I wouldn't recommend eating 800 calories a day. I know we all want to do it the quick way, but it's unhealthy to do it so fast and there's a greater chance you will lose more muscle and give up and gain it all back than if you take a more moderate approach.

However, if you really want to do it that fast, eating about 800 calories a day, you must do it properly. I recommend you get Lyle Mcdonald's "Rapid Fat Loss Handbook" and learn how to properly set up a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSFM).

If you decide to take a more moderate approach (but not all together slow), I recommend you eat about 2000 calories a day, and 250g+ of protein. This means half of your calories will come from protein. The rest can come from carbs and fat as you please. This should give you about 1kg of weight loss per week, at least in the first several weeks. Also, I would recommend getting it from real food, not shakes. It will satiate you more and is a better eating habbit than relying on shakes.

Good luck.

 

[leachy]

What ever happened to eating healthy and doing some exercise?

If you can sustain eating 1000 calories per day, good for you. Your exercise will be shithouse and you will be burning muscle rapidly. Eat lean meat and veges, plenty of water. Do weights 3 x a week and a bit of cardio such as sprints orcomplexes 2-3 times a week.

 

[Romp]

What ever happened to eating healthy and doing some exercise?

If you can sustain eating 1000 calories per day, good for you. Your exercise will be shithouse and you will be burning muscle rapidly. Eat lean meat and veges, plenty of water. Do weights 3 x a week and a bit of cardio such as sprints orcomplexes 2-3 times a week.

As I now understand it, as long as the muscles are supplemented with the protein they require for maintenance, the weight reduction will be from water / skin / fat.

Or is that untrue?

 

[Oli]

Muscle loss is inevitable on a poor diet. Protein (greek for 'first among many') is certainly a priority but it isn't the only factor.

First get your training in order. Have a look at Markos' beginner program in the strength (or bodybuilding) section. Most members have experience with it and it works very well.

800 calories a day is going to lead to burn out. Be reasonable - eating above 800 calories wasn't what made you fat, being inactive and eating junk food was.

To begin with I'd spend a while doing the following before you start getting ultra strict:
- Aim for 4-6 meals a day
- Get one gram of protein per POUND of target bodyweight (250g is a good figure for you)
- Avoid sweets, processed food, alcohol and obvious junk food, but if it happens x1-2 a week in moderation don't kill yourself
- Get some good fats in your diet. Don't go to hell on these (fat isn't great at clenching hunger) but say a handful of nuts twice a day
- Aim for 5-6+ servings of fruit and veg a day. This will go a long way towards curbing hunger
- Drink 2-4L of water a day

Do your best to follow all of the above, if you fall down some days don't stress. Health is a long term process (consistency x time) not your screw up in a single day.

 

[leachy]

Oli just answered your question on protein intake. 2 shakes a day ain't gonna save you any muscle.

 

[Romp]

Muscle loss is inevitable on a poor diet. Protein (greek for 'first among many') is certainly a priority but it isn't the only factor.

First get your training in order. Have a look at Markos' beginner program in the strength (or bodybuilding) section. Most members have experience with it and it works very well.

800 calories a day is going to lead to burn out. Be reasonable - eating above 800 calories wasn't what made you fat, being inactive and eating junk food was.

To begin with I'd spend a while doing the following before you start getting ultra strict:
- Aim for 4-6 meals a day
- Get one gram of protein per POUND of target bodyweight (250g is a good figure for you)
- Avoid sweets, processed food, alcohol and obvious junk food, but if it happens x1-2 a week in moderation don't kill yourself
- Get some good fats in your diet. Don't go to hell on these (fat isn't great at clenching hunger) but say a handful of nuts twice a day
- Aim for 5-6+ servings of fruit and veg a day. This will go a long way towards curbing hunger
- Drink 2-4L of water a day

Do your best to follow all of the above, if you fall down some days don't stress. Health is a long term process (consistency x time) not your screw up in a single day.

Quality reply, I appreciate it heaps, especially in being that I have no posts, could be anyone leeching a quick fix of advice. Very genuine. My new outlook is not one that is diminishing. I have the fortune of having been I guess humbly ripped and decent looking before my current stint, so I know where I want to be.

I guess I see myself as currently pretty disgusting, and I see the 800 calories per day and water as a kind of punishment that will also lose my weight. Not in a pathetic way, but in more of a extreme-loss determination context. I'm not sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I'm just unhappy I got this way and I'm determined to change that. I already am. (I'm here, right?).

I want to lose the really gross jelly-fat on my gut and pecs, so about 13 kilos from my current weight. Then, at 100-97, my joints can handle doing all the things I used to. Right now they can't, so I'm stuck to this deficit and other non-joint intense related cardio which I hate or simply can't do from my lower-pack disk dislodgement. No excuses though, if I were about that, I wouldn't be where I sit with the amount I'm taking in. I'm trying to do what I can with what I have. I know it's not immediately healthy, and I guess you guys would be able to steer me in the direction of - in the context of what I've explained, how can I simplify the process so it's on par with what I'm already doing?

Is it possible to go up a few calories, say to 1000-1200, but make all of those extra calories come from dinner? (remembering this is all only until I'm around 95 kilos). Is it going to be hugely detrimental?

What if I did meal replacement breakfast, small can of tune in brine, meal replacement lunch, small can of tuna in brine, maybe some celery or steamed broccoli, then small 300-400 cal dinner and another protein drink - is that cool?


I'll look up that newby guide in the interim.

Cheers!

 

[leachy]

Instead of starving yourself of nutrients and energy required for day-to-day living, why not exercise the excess calories off. At your weight you could easily eat 2500-3000 calories. Through in some excercise that burns 500 calories per day, be it weights or cardio based training, and you would be well into a calorie deficit. That way you preserve muscle, feel great and your body won't hate you. The slower you do it, the harder it will become to put the fat back on.

 

[Oli]

I'm a bit out of my experience but your weight shouldn't matter when it comes to exercise. You're not that fat, you should be able to handle it if you're motivated. Also weight training is safe regardless of bodyweight - you can start from anything as light as a barbell.

If I were you I'd do Markos' beginner program and try walking x2-3 a week. When you can walk a couple of blocks go to an oval and start running, when you can do that for 15 minutes start sprinting.

I admire your motivation but with any intense exercise you will crash on 800 calories. To put it in context, anything below 1300 is deemed by the UN a starvation diet. Counting calories is a very effective way to manage your food intake but right now its not needed - healthier choices are.

Heres a sample diet I'm just pulling out of my ass:

Breakfast: (a) A protein shake in 250ml of milk and 250ml of water, a handful of a pull apart bread OR 2-3 pieces of fruit, a coffee, 10-15 almonds. OR
(b) 3 scrambled eggs with herbs, 2 slices of toast with margarine, a coffee


Lunch: (a) 200-300g of chicken breast (deli or home baked), multi grain roll, 2-3 pieces of fruit and veg and some kind of condiment on the chicken OR
(b) 200-300g of canned tuna in olive oil, handful of pull apart bread, 2-3 pieces of fruit

After your workout (when you start lifting weights): Protein shake, 250-500ml milk

Dinner: Whatever your wife makes. So long as it has plenty of lean meat, 3-4 servings of veg and no junky carbs you'll be fine.

Again, this is a sample diet. Its not perfect by any means but it might give you some ideas to get you started. Your choices (so long as they arent dumb) are going to be based on practicality and your taste palette. So long as you have a variety of healthy foods don't let anyone do anything weird with it.

 

[Romp]

I can't find the "Marko's beginners guide" you're referring to. Do you have a link for it?

I'm going to try exactly what you've listed there after Thursday late night shopping
The importance to me is having something practical enough for my demanding job etc that I do actually stick to it, as in the past making things to complex for myself has been my major set-back. Even if it is extremely simple or boring, at least I know exactly what to do, how to prepare and to just walk in that straight line for as long as it takes. Add the swerves and I always manage to screw up somehow; at least in the past.

 

[DKD]

http://ausbb.com/strength-training-power-lifting/9460-beginners-program.html

There you go champ, best of luck with it all!

 

[Romp]

Thanks a bunch.

 

[DKD]

No problem.

 

[macca]

Iv'e been as high as 93kg and as low as 76kg. Currently sitting at around 86kg. The only way iv'e ever managed to cut fat well on, is low carb at below maintanance caloires of around 2200kcal. Simply cut out all bread's, pasta's, grain's etc. Eating 5-6 meals per day with around 40g protein in each full of meats, fish, cottage cheese, vegtables salad and fruit. Only liquid's are protein shake after training, around 3L water, black coffee in morning and green tea at night.

An average day;
Brekky 350g cottage cheese nd banana
Morning tea 180g tuna and apple
Lunch 200g chicken breast and salad
Pre workout Either meal 1 or 2 again
Post workout 2 scoop wpc shake
Dinner 200G steak, onion, mushroom, green beans or broccoli
Supper 6 eggs or 180g tuna in oil and broccoli

5-6 fish oil tabs and multi v

 

[jet]

I'd go with the diet above.

Stick to it and you will get results. When you have spare time, invest some time in reading about nutrition and food to have a better understanding for yourself, so then you can make your own decisions about how to attack fat loss.

 

[Romp]

Iv'e been as high as 93kg and as low as 76kg. Currently sitting at around 86kg. The only way iv'e ever managed to cut fat well on, is low carb at below maintanance caloires of around 2200kcal. Simply cut out all bread's, pasta's, grain's etc. Eating 5-6 meals per day with around 40g protein in each full of meats, fish, cottage cheese, vegtables salad and fruit. Only liquid's are protein shake after training, around 3L water, black coffee in morning and green tea at night.

An average day;
Brekky 350g cottage cheese nd banana
Morning tea 180g tuna and apple
Lunch 200g chicken breast and salad
Pre workout Either meal 1 or 2 again
Post workout 2 scoop wpc shake
Dinner 200G steak, onion, mushroom, green beans or broccoli
Supper 6 eggs or 180g tuna in oil and broccoli

5-6 fish oil tabs and multi v

I'm going to use that and one of the posters above and alternate between them when this week is through. The beginners lifting guide is a bit black and white. I'll have a go at it every night at the gym. I am unfamiliar with some of the terminology, though.

 

[Oli]

I'd really recommend buying a book called 'starting strength' from amazon. It will answer any questions you have ahead of schedule.

If you have any questions though give our forum a browse or shoot one of us a PM.