M/38/5'8 [178lbs to 148lbs] 11-month progress

[shinzm]

Started a weight loss and health journey last year after changing to a less stressful job. Have lost about 30lbs and did a DEXA scan this week, says I'm at 13.6% body fat in this pic for reference. Have learned so much about nutrition and health in the last year, I think I've made habits that will be sustainable as well. I was very into fitness in my youth but lost my way about 10-15 years ago and just now getting back into it. Thanks to everyone in this sub for keeping me motivated and the great advice!!! Y'all are amazing!

Weight Tracking

I tracked my weight nearly daily, so maybe this chart is interesting for some. A few thoughts from my end:

• It's wild how much variation in your weight can happen during the week. Almost all the spikes in the chart are either weekends or vacations. I saw 6-7 pounds of variation some weeks! It can be really hard to see w/w progress when you blow your calorie goals over the weekend. Water bloat and intestinal waste accumulation are real haha.
• Giving up alcohol is really the only time I saw strong progress in weight loss. Can see in July 2023 through August 2023, I stopped drinking and when I started back up in September you see material slow down. Did Dry January but it wasn't really enough time to see results. Have been sober for the last 5-6 weeks and I think that's why you see big progress on weight here.
• I started taking creatine in March of this year. I think I was actually losing fat during the several months after I started but the creatine water gain masked the body fat loss? Of course this is all speculation. No idea if creatine is actually doing anything or not.

Nutrition

I shoot for 500 calorie deficit daily. I figure out my BMR then add 20% to gauge TDE. I don't subtract anything for working out. Calorie counting is absolutely key. Macros, working out, sleep, alcohol avoidance, and water intake are secondary.

For macro's, I shoot for at least 1g/lb of body weight, 40-50g of fat, and fill the rest with carbs.

Here is my typical meal routine:

Breakfast - 2 eggs & 100g of egg whites scrambled. Top generously with salsa.

Lunch - I meal prep frozen burritos every 2 weeks. Aldi Carb Counter tortillas, Greek yogurt base, sliced grape tomatoes, diced up grilled chicken. Add seasoning of your choice.

Dinner - Some kind of healthier meat (turkey, fish, chicken breast, shrimp, >=90/10 beef), high volume serving of a vegetable dish (salad, grilled, sauteed, etc.), and then I typically default to potatoes of some kind (usually make my own air fry french fries). Sometimes I do a small portion of rice or pasta.

Desert - Outshine Lime/Lemon/Tangerine Fruit Pop, these bad boys are only 35 calories.

Snacks - homemade air pop popcorn, sauerkraut, pickles, kimchee, cottage cheese, berries, cucumber, carrot, apple, Archer meat stick.

Physical Activity

I try do low intensity walk or bike every day for 20-30 minutes. Once a week I play pick up soccer for 1-2 hours.

I do a Chest/Back, Legs, Arms/Shoulders split usually 3 days on 1 day off. Do abs almost every time I work out, typically 3 sets of 10-15 on a progressive overloadable exercise (eg machine crunch, cable crunch, hanging leg raises).

Thanks again to everyone for your support on my journey!



https://preview.redd.it/3ndeojqovj6...bp&s=2eef67ea068c58f8304a63d83c60e874a5e9a162

https://preview.redd.it/wqa1npipvj6...bp&s=8a3f30183842b4dfc8275db85bb26b8af2c04fc2

https://preview.redd.it/c0r8164qvj6...bp&s=76bf1ec1a3c9204b61a46cff2e517a6a07f3cc28

 

[tinitalorene]

@shinzm Can you talk more about the specifics of your weight lifting split? (exercise, sets, reps, managing progressive overload on deficit, etc.)

 

[shinzm]

@tinitalorene No problem!

General progressive overload plan starts with ~3 sets of 8-12. I start at a weight I can hit at 8 and if I can do more reps I add more reps until I can do 3 sets of 12. When I hit 3 sets of 12, then I move up weight. Like 5lb or 10lb increments, whatever makes sense for that exercise. Just keep adding reps or weight as you can and it kind of takes care of itself.

I didn't notice a problem with progressive overload on calorie deficit until I got to 30 subreddit after all haha).

3 sets 8-12 machine flyes

3 sets 10-16 push up progression

3 sets 8-12 LAT pull downs or pull ups (vertical back movement)

3 sets 8-12 some kind of horizontal back movement like dumbbell rows or machine rows

For push ups, I do technique variations for progressive overload. My progression has been regular push ups, diamond push ups, archer pushups, ring push ups, and currently on Bulgarian ring push ups. Next will probably be heavy resistance band push up.

Leg Day

Just as an aside, legs are BY FAR my worst attribute. I have big quads and decent calves from playing soccer but literally zero glutes, it's pretty embarrassing and looks terrible. I would even say I have negative gluts hahaha. hence my leg day is very glute focused. I probably don't have enough volume on leg day either tbh. I've actually started doing 4 days on 1 day off with leg day twice.

4 sets 8-12 walking lunges with dumbbells

4 sets 6-12 straight leg/romanian deadlifts (I usually do smith machine or dumbbells, olympic bar is exhausting)

3 sets 8-12 glute machine

Arms/Shoulders Day

3 sets 8-12 overhead plate/machine press

3 sets 8-12 upright rows

3 sets 8-12 cable face pulls

3 sets 8-12 bicep curls (usually standing dumbbell or preacher)

3 sets 8-12 hammer dumbbell curls

3 sets 8-12 triceps cable pushdowns or triceps overhead cable press

Abs

I try to do one of the bellow on the 3 days on from above, sometimes I skip a day if my abs still hurt.

3 sets 8-12 machine or cable crunch

OR

3 sets 10-15 hanging leg or parallel bar raises. To do progressive overload here, you just keep raising higher. I'm currently at a ~35-45 degrees above parallel to the ground.

 

[tinitalorene]

@shinzm This is a great level of detail. Thank you so much.

Do you track your workouts anywhere like Hevy?

 

[shinzm]

@tinitalorene Yeah, I use the Strong app.

 

[kithikor]

@shinzm What app dif you use for tracking and visualization? Or did just keep data in excel and visualize it yourself.

Great progress btw!

 

[shinzm]

@kithikor I have an Etekcity scale I bought on Amazon that Bluetooth synchs to my phone. I moved all the data to excel though for proper tracking/visualization.

Thanks dawg!

 

[kithikor]

@shinzm Awesome! Thanks!

Looking at your starting weight and current weight alongside your progress pics is making me question how much weight i should be losing.

I’m 4 months in and ive lost ~18 pounds 200-> 182, at 5’7. Initially though 160 would be a good end point but you’re at 148 wity 12% bf and im shorter

 

[shinzm]

@kithikor Dude, 18 pounds in 4 months is hella sick!

Also I'm at a supposed 13.6% bf, not 12% but yeah.

I would say at this level of weight it's pretty hard to keep the weight loss train going. Like I can keep doing it for sure but it's not fun and starting to really cut into my life.

I think my advice would be don't shoot for an absolute like 160 target or something. Do small goals. Like right now shoot for 180, then shoot for 175, then 170, etc. If you get to a point where it's becoming too brutal, take some time off and maintain, live life a bit, come back to it. Just be fluid with it I think.

Though 160 would be a massive victory, 40 pounds would be nuts! Honestly you are almost halfway there.

 

[kithikor]

@shinzm Ya definitely taking one step at time.. trying to avg out to 1 lbs loss/week. I approximate calories mentally, surely as i lose more weight i probably will need to track more accurately.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[shinzm]

@kithikor Tracking calories in an app was huge for me. You don't have to do it religiously but when you are falling off the wagon it helps to bring you back if you do it for a day or two. It just really enforces discipline BUT also teaches you what foods are really bad for you. My mind is still blown by the amount of calories in peanut butter and mayonnaise :cries in mayo:

 

[trushmoon]

@shinzm Amazing and inspiring results! I know you talked about nutrition but what’s your total caloric intake? I’m 5’11 and 161lbs, trying to shed the last layer of fat around my lower belly/lower back. Over time, I worked my calories down to 2150, but recently when I tried to dip even lower (1950) it really affected my workouts. So now I’m eating around 2150 again but have been wondering if I should actually eat more to get rid of the fat. More like a recomp, I guess, because I don’t really want to weigh less than what I weigh now. I do a 5-day PPL with progressive overload btw.

 

[shinzm]

@trushmoon The good news is you are already in great shape it sounds like!

I think you need to decide if you want to "shed the last layer of fat around your lower belly/lower back" or if you want to "recomp" or gain muscle. I have zero faith that eating more is going to get rid of the fat. and I also am not a believer in 'recomps' to begin with. If I were you, I'd focus on losing fat first then I'd go into a gain kind of phase after.

Since you asked, I try to eat at ~1,400 calories a day. I estimate my BMR is 1,600 and then adding 20% extra my TDE is 1,900. Subtracting 500 calorie deficit gets me to 1400 and that's what I eat to.

If I run my math on your metrics, your BMR is ~1,700 and your TDE is ~2,000, so a 500 deficit puts you at 1,500. If you stick to that, you will surely lose weight! Your exercises might take a hit but your goal in weight loss phase isn't to be bulking up/hitting PRs. Once you get that visceral belly fat gone, it'll be easier to put on lean muscle coming out into a gain phase. Also you will look fantastic!

 

[trushmoon]

@shinzm Thanks for this! I’m going to try it. I went back up in calories because I noticed despite keeping my protein input and my workouts up, I was starting to lose muscle when I dipped below 2000 calories a day. But maybe that’s the sacrifice I need to make for a few weeks.

 

[shinzm]

@trushmoon Yeah, you'll definitely lose muscle during the cut. It blows but not much we can do about it. The hope and idea as far as I know is we lose more fat than muscle during the cut and then when we go into gain phase we gain more muscle than fat. It's a long and arduous process lol.

 

[trushmoon]

@shinzm So how do you look so ripped when you’ve effectively been on a cut this entire time? Sounds like a recomp. I was a skinny fat runner for years. Lost most of the fat, gained a good amount of muscle, but then got stuck between a cut and a bulk.

 

[shinzm]

@trushmoon Fair. I think a few things:

1. You could be on to something. One could say the period from like January to April was a 'recomp' kind of period. Even though I was trying to lose weight during that period I made little if any weight loss progress. I think this was mostly b/c of alcohol and me being very bad on nutrition/Calories in. Maybe that was a kind of recomp period?
2. I was pretty muscular when I was younger/in HS. A lot of muscle I have coming back is probably muscle memory stuff or it could be noob gains since it had been so long since I lifted.
3. I started creatine in March. That is probably juicing the muscle a bit extra.

I still don't believe in recomp personally but if it works for others I'm all for it!

 

[ecce]

@shinzm Nice job. In my experience Creatine adds about 5 pounds or so to my bodyweight.

 

[shinzm]

@ecce Word, that makes sense. I didn’t really measure when I started. I’m pretty sure it’s doing something but yeah kinda hard to tell tbh. I tell myself worst case I’m getting brain and tangential health benefits haha.

 

[ecce]

@shinzm Yeah it helps you get an extra rep or so. It’s more beneficial to people who don’t eat red meat. That’s where it comes from