A Lot of weight to lose

[roadzombie]

Hi! New here and don’t even know where to begin. I’m an early 40’s female and have about 65lbs to lose. Nothing has ever been as intimidating to me as this. Lots of unhealthy habits for many years as a career bartender (alcohol, hangover, hangover food, repeat). I’ve kicked alcohol and am now in the sober stage of looking at the effects.
I’ve never been a gym person. Played soccer in my early years but that’s it.

I’m not ready to meet w a trainer yet because in my previous experience, it was too much- too fast, and I crashed and burned. I want to familiarize myself with the gym and must overcome my complete intimidation in order to do so.
I know I want to start lifting. I’d love a beautiful and strong back. A 6pack is nothing I’ve ever envied but just looking healthy, strong and curvy.
I’ve been reading the posts here and am taking notes on some of the suggestions: increase protein, stay in calorie deficit, drink water, resistance train, cut out processed foods.

My questions are:
How much protein?!
How many meals a day?!
How long before anyone with the same struggle noticed a change in the weight around their face?
Can anyone share their success secrets with me that was faced with the same challenge?

Thank you all in advance for your input.

 

[jangja]

@roadzombie Calorie deficit is the path to weight loss. Exercising is like strapping a rocket to your diet.

For me, tracking everything helps. I use the myfitnesspal app to track my food and calories. I ran with the runkeeper app and linked everything with my phone and smart watch. And while I weigh myself every morning I do my 'official' weigh in every Monday.

I was able to see the weight come off right from the beginning on the scale. Sometimes when I am feeling like I am not doing well I will look at the progression chart and see that I am, in fact, consistently losing weight. 30 lbs so far

I usually drink a protein shake after every workout. I think the scoop is 30g

 

[dawn16]

@roadzombie Hi, I have about 100lbs to lose, lost 49 in a year and a half so far. For weight loss for me it was changing diet than exercise, I decided to go vegetarian as I have a kid who’s a vegetarian so it’s easy.

I’ve gotten in to exercise for the first time in my life because I have lots of stressful things and I’ve found it makes it easier to face them calmly. Plus it’s great to be stronger and more flexible and have less pain.

 

[evan2001]

@roadzombie It took me roughly 20 or so lbs to start to see any loss in my face when I lost weight. I use cronometer to track everything like workouts and macros but a super simple and easy to use calorie tracker for beginners is calorie.ai. Calculator.net has an easy calorie and macro calculator that is accurate enough for anyone who doesnt want to dive super deep into it and you can choose a few different options like high protein or high carbs for .5 to 2 lbs of loss a week depending on how fast you want to move then just put those into the tracker you decide to use, cronometer has its own calculator built in that work pretty good too.

Water definitely helped curb my cravings and desire to overeat, I also had to simply not keep the snacks in my house for a few months otherwise id lose my willpower. Personally I had the most success with one meal a day and intermittent fasting but lots of my buddies hated that and preferred smaller meals throughout the day, one of them eats a small snack like every 45 mins and still stays at his goals, all of them successfully lost weight gained muscle and have been maintaining. We all lift weights and workout a few times a week and we also play sports or do other activities like hiking whenever we get the chance.

The main peice of advice from someone who struggled for a good while for anyone who's training and changing their diets and habits is to go at your own pace and do what works consistently for you. It's easy to push too far and end up failing. Also be patient, it takes time to see results. You might seem like you feel and look worse for a while as well but that's temporary while your body adjusts to completely new and healthy habits.

 

[dinafrancis]

@roadzombie

I’m not ready to meet w a trainer yet because in my previous experience, it was too much- too fast, and I crashed and burned.

Sounds like a shitty trainer to me. Which sadly, a LOT are. A good trainer should meet you at your level and ease you into it. But a lot of trainers want to make it seem like they're worth your money by working you too hard. This is NOT the way to go.

I want to familiarize myself with the gym and must overcome my complete intimidation in order to do so. I know I want to start lifting.

Youtube can be your friend. Look up various exercises and how to do them. Then in the gym, start light and just figure out the form. Record yourself from the side and review and see what you need to change (if anything). From there, increase weights to appropriate level of resistance and continue on.

Following a set workout routine will make life easier and give you better results. Plenty can be found on the r/fitness wiki https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/

Just remember you want to lift heavy! Don't be afraid of the big weights!

I’ve been reading the posts here and am taking notes on some of the suggestions: increase protein, stay in calorie deficit, drink water, resistance train, cut out processed foods.

Yes to all of these! Protein + deficit is gonna be key to weight loss. Protein + resistance training is gonna be key to retaining muscle in a deficit, but as a beginner, you'll very likely build in a deficit as well. And long term, this is also key to building muscle in general. Staying hydrated is important ALL the time. If you don't drink a ton now, ease into it. And cutting out ultra processed foods is fantastic for your health, but don't think of it as super restrictive. These foods aren't going away forever and you can still have them as treats! I'm a massive health nut nowadays, but I'll still have an occasional soda even though there is absolutely NOTHING good for you in that. Occasional is better than daily though.

How much protein?!

Roughly .8-1g per pound of LEAN body weight. So if you pick your goal weight and use the .8 number to calculate, that'd be a good ballpark. Unless you are very short, a good MINIMUM would be 100g a day.

How many meals a day?!

However many you want. Eat in a way that is sustainable for you. Also, remember food doesn't have to be tied to normal meal times. There are sometimes i'll do 2 meals a day, at like 10:30 and 4:30-5.

How long before anyone with the same struggle noticed a change in the weight around their face?

About 20ish lbs down, you'll likely start noticing a difference in your face. Take before pics if you want a good comparison! It's really hard to notice the day to day changes

Can anyone share their success secrets with me that was faced with the same challenge?

No secrets, just consistency and hard work. Health is a marathon, not a sprint. Work on building habits. Make lifestyle changes so that you don't revert back to your old ways at the first excuse or at a stressful day.

 

[roadzombie]

@dinafrancis This was so thorough and incredibly helpful.

THANK YOU.

 

[hennaz222]

@roadzombie https://tdeecalculator.net/

This is a really easy way to find out exactly how many calories you need for bulking, maintenance and cutting based on current weight, age and activity level. It breaks down the macros that are suggested for maximum results but calorie deficit based on this number has been really successful for me.

 

[amber101]

@roadzombie I was 45lbs overweight, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and PreDiabetic … my doctor referred me to a nutritionist.
I worked as a project manager so I like to have a plan…this is what worked for me.

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevent-type-2/index.html

https://www.optifast.com/

 

[cfitz]

@roadzombie Others have already commented on diet. Basically get in a slight caloric deficit that you can do LONG TERM. I would look at r/bodyweightfitness in their about/menu tab for a link. Start with lower resistance exercises such as wall push ups, dips using a couch, body weight squats, light dumbbells for biceps, etc. Then increase as tolerated.

Diet is the main factor for weight loss. And a fast cut will limit muscle gain. But at 65 pounds surplus, you can still get stronger and gain some muscle if you do a slow cut.

 

[thnkful]

@roadzombie Just keep in mind that you lose weight in the kitchen. So pay attention to that, it's sorry important.

As far as protein, 1 gram per pound of muscle is the basic starting point for most people. Figure out your body fast percentage to figure out your muscle weight.

The muscle journey is slow so do yourself a favor and take pictures and do tape and calipers because there will be many points along the way where the scale doesn't move. It moves in the wrong direction and you will get flustered and defeated when in actually you have just exceeded the usefulness of a scale and you need to pay attention to the gains in other ways. When the scale doesn't move but you add an inch to your thighs and 1.5 to your ass and half an inch to your biceps, you will have factual proof that you are still killing it and the scale can F-off.

Just start slow, get used to the gym, get used to 3 pulls and 3 pushes and a few isolation exercises for your arms, then do the same for shoulders and legs. Add in cardio and abs. Before long you will know the pattern and will be able to substitute in different exercises. But to start, just keep it simple. Use the machines and know that the ultimate goal will be free weights. It will start to make sense.

If you ever don't know what to do, all someone, anyone. The gym bro's and the female equivalent are usually super friendly and willing to help anyone who asks.