Fat and Tired

[giveglorytogod]

@silverflame Since you’ve been inconsistent, that’s the biggest hurdle. Find something that you can be consistent with, along with the stress of your job. New coping mechanisms to deal with stress instead of turning to food will be your best bet. Completing the stress cycle with a release - gym - any movement, art, outside time.

Track your food (MacroFactor fan here) without judgement for a week. See what you’re really eating. Adjust to a 500 deficit slowly. Check adherence before going all in.

Get labs done & make sure everything is okay. Don’t ignore BP, cholesterol, vitamin D. I had massive fatigue being low on vitamin D & that was a game changer for me. Good luck!

 

[silverflame]

@giveglorytogod I’ll have to get my levels checked - my cholesterol is usually high. It may be good additional motivation to see it improve with my diet.

 

[haywood]

@silverflame I might kindly suggest your short term running goal be 1 mile in 10 min. 1.5 in 10 min is extremely fast if you’re starting from nothing (that’s between a 7 and 8 min mile, which, while attainable, is going to take mega time). 1 mile in 10 is much more attainable short term, and may help with the mental game. Be strong though, there’ll be a lot of mental hurdles, but remember that loads of people tackle health hurdles a day, and it can be done!

 

[silverflame]

@haywood Thanks! I can hit an 8 min mile right now. Hoping some weight loss and reconditioning will give me the boost I need to hit it!

 

[haywood]

@silverflame Nice! Sorry, should’ve lead with asking what your pace was. You definitely got this then!

 

[silverflame]

@haywood All good! I neglected to include my starting time/1RM! I appreciate your encouragement man!

 

[dianewlf]

@silverflame Hey man I feel you! I’m a busy single father high school teacher. It’s hectic! In the summer I started. Resistance training worked great for me. I think after working out, I just felt more motivated to eat better to keep up my gains. I hired a personal trainer for a month just to get into the routine. If you can afford that I would suggest it the rest kind of falls into place once you start seeing a little bit of progress and understanding what you’re putting into your body it was definitely a learning curve for me! I also picked up some convenient protein bars, so when I was on the go, I could munch one down quickly and I felt full. Water is also your friend! It really helps you feel more energetic and full. I also take progress breaks at the beginning of every month just to see my progress which keeps me on track the fact that you have goals already is going to make a big difference. You got this!!

 

[silverflame]

@dianewlf Thanks!

 

[annamarie6991]

@silverflame

Thanks!

You're welcome!

 

[dawn16]

@silverflame Meal plan to your target 2000 calories.

Follow a resistance program 3days/ week, aerobics 2days/ week. Whole body resistance training, no splits.

Take stock in 2 months re any further changes to diet. Most folks don’t need to do any more to their diet than meal plan and stick to the plan.

 

[howardse]

@silverflame Doesn’t your school have a gym to use everyday?

 

[silverflame]

@howardse Sure does, I’ve just not been making use of it.

 

[jlm1007]

@silverflame Lots of really great advice here. I always recommend keeping it simple when starting up. Hydrate throughout the day. Plan ahead. Patience. The last one is most important, it's normal to become frustrated. This is something even people who've been training for years have to deal with. The end result is awesome, but the journey is what makes your story worth hearing! Best of luck

 

[silverflame]

@jlm1007 I like that line - the journey is what makes your story worth hearing - thanks man!

 

[werewolf]

@silverflame

I feel like I am just looking in too many directions and that I could really use some help picking a target and going for it. Can you all help me out?

This is the hardest part of making changes. There's a wealth of information and guidance out there.

My advice: focus on nutrition first, build some good food habits, and get out of the feedback loop of using food for stress-relief. For the fitness/training side, get into the habit of working out but don't focus too much on performance goals while you're building your nutrition base.

Also I wouldn't increase calories and gain additional weight. I was in a similar height/weight as you and went the strength/bulking route. While I developed some pretty good 1-rep maxes, I had difficulty with other sports besides powerlifting. After dumping 50 pounds I eventually worked back to my original squat/bench/deadlift numbers, but it took about 18 months. But in the meantime I got a lot more easily adaptable to different sports and activities and I tire out a lot less. Every now and then I'll strap 50lb to a rucksack and do some stairs – couldn't believe that used to be EVERY DAY.

By the way you've got an awesome attitude about this and it's great that you're thinking about both losing weight and getting stronger/faster. It's a good comprehensive goal. I'm envious of the progress you'll make in the next couple of months, whatever path you take.

 

[silverflame]

@werewolf Thanks for the pep talk buddy! Time for me to just pick the direction and go for it!
I’m going to Dial in the nutrition and aim for consistency with workouts!

 

[gibson]

@silverflame Coming from someone that's been up and down my entire life, as some other people have said, start with your eating first. A lot of my failures were by doing too much too fast. I would cut an extreme amount and go workout an insane about and by like the end of the week I was so hungry I would just binge and destroy my progress. Spend a couple weeks eating healthier, spend the 2-3 hours a day doing some meal prep for the week, if you can. After doing that for a couple of weeks then slowly start introducing your workout regime and work your way up. I found this to be my best success previously and currently. I'm not training for anything crazy, but just being healthy.

 

[monkeym24]

@silverflame If I had to guess that 2000 calories is probably way off. As a bigger statured human you would most likely be walking around with hunger headaches every day it isn't "far more". First things first, I would log your food with an app like MyFitnessPal for a week.

 

[faithfulprophet]

@silverflame I'm 35, 6'2" and 190 now, but I dropped 55 lbs in the past year by going OMAD and if I needed to cheat I'd have a handful of unsalted cashews and a banana in the morning.

Didn't work out at all and was able to drop that much weight. I feel like it's easier to cut weight then build back muscle than it is to cut after.

 

[silverflame]

@faithfulprophet Thanks! Good advice! What is OMAD?