bronzemarkian
New member
Info: M32, almost 33
Start of the journey (1/8/23):
BW: 312 @ 50.2% BF
BMI: 44.3
Most recent (5/10/23):
BW: 283.5 @ 44.6% BF
BMI: 41.9
Hello everyone! New lurker, first post. In the past ten years I’ve put on over 100lbs mostly caused by overindulgence. January 2023 the wife and I decided we wanted to change that and started exercising regularly and making healthier choices while eating, in quality and quantity. We bought a used Peloton from a friend and some adjustable dumbbells and started out slow, as to not shock our bodies, with low impact or beginner rides 1-2 times per week and light weight or body weight exercises. First order of business was setting the diet right. We read some scholarly articles and journals on setting a diet for weight loss that was healthy for our size and measured our TDEE vs what our actual intake was. I was astonished, to say the least, to see I was eating 1200+ calories more than I needed in a day. It helped explain why I was fairly active, more so at work, and why I wasn’t losing weight. Using my TDEE, I used a macro calculator and a few other NIH and NHS articles to set myself up for success and making healthy choices where my calorie intake is 40% from protein and 30% each from carbs and fat. I set my calorie goal to be my calculated TDEE for the first two weeks by weaning 100-200 calories per day and started losing weight pretty consistently at ~2-2.5lbs per week. I know some might consider this too fast as the general standard is no more than 0.9% of body weight per week, but I really wasn’t pushing hard during exercise, I just stopped eating the extra 1200 calories per day. Again, I was already moderately active but was overeating. After 3-4 weeks at TDEE, I cut another 500 calories (weaned 100-200 per day again) which put me around 2250 cals/day and continued to lose weight. I started working a little harder while weightlifting and slightly harder during cardio. At this point I felt confident enough in my ability to keep the routine that I started investing in recovery and workout supplements. If I was going to be lifting weights, I’d take some pre workout (Ryse Supplements Loaded Pre), creatine monohydrate (5g), and BCAAs to follow. If it was just cardio, I’d keep the creatine, avoid the pre workout, and take BCAAs. Everything was going great until around April 1 when I hit a plateau (?) and have not lost any weight since then. Granted, I’m still seeing results with muscle volume and tone, but my body weight has not decreased more than 1.5lbs in 6 weeks. I was reading an article last night, I think it was from r/fitness but I honestly can’t remember, that was talking about how you need to rotate off of a “diet” after around 9-12 weeks and you should slowly increase your calorie intake to what it was before you started for a duration that is the same length as the “diet”. To me, that just doesn’t seem logical. Is what I’m doing considered a “diet”? Maybe I’m just trying to justify my course of action, but it feels more like a lifestyle change than a diet in the sense it appears to be used. I feel like if I go back to consuming what I did before, I’m going to gain all that weight back. Am I being shortsighted or is there some other benefit I’m failing to recognize? Have I “plateaued” or am I replacing fat with muscle and I just need to keep the ship on course?
Any input will be appreciated, but I’m going to be upfront and say that if you’re going to tell me something one way or the other that you provide some scientific data to back it up. Anecdotal is nice to hear, but I prefer data-driven information.
Start of the journey (1/8/23):
BW: 312 @ 50.2% BF
BMI: 44.3
Most recent (5/10/23):
BW: 283.5 @ 44.6% BF
BMI: 41.9
Hello everyone! New lurker, first post. In the past ten years I’ve put on over 100lbs mostly caused by overindulgence. January 2023 the wife and I decided we wanted to change that and started exercising regularly and making healthier choices while eating, in quality and quantity. We bought a used Peloton from a friend and some adjustable dumbbells and started out slow, as to not shock our bodies, with low impact or beginner rides 1-2 times per week and light weight or body weight exercises. First order of business was setting the diet right. We read some scholarly articles and journals on setting a diet for weight loss that was healthy for our size and measured our TDEE vs what our actual intake was. I was astonished, to say the least, to see I was eating 1200+ calories more than I needed in a day. It helped explain why I was fairly active, more so at work, and why I wasn’t losing weight. Using my TDEE, I used a macro calculator and a few other NIH and NHS articles to set myself up for success and making healthy choices where my calorie intake is 40% from protein and 30% each from carbs and fat. I set my calorie goal to be my calculated TDEE for the first two weeks by weaning 100-200 calories per day and started losing weight pretty consistently at ~2-2.5lbs per week. I know some might consider this too fast as the general standard is no more than 0.9% of body weight per week, but I really wasn’t pushing hard during exercise, I just stopped eating the extra 1200 calories per day. Again, I was already moderately active but was overeating. After 3-4 weeks at TDEE, I cut another 500 calories (weaned 100-200 per day again) which put me around 2250 cals/day and continued to lose weight. I started working a little harder while weightlifting and slightly harder during cardio. At this point I felt confident enough in my ability to keep the routine that I started investing in recovery and workout supplements. If I was going to be lifting weights, I’d take some pre workout (Ryse Supplements Loaded Pre), creatine monohydrate (5g), and BCAAs to follow. If it was just cardio, I’d keep the creatine, avoid the pre workout, and take BCAAs. Everything was going great until around April 1 when I hit a plateau (?) and have not lost any weight since then. Granted, I’m still seeing results with muscle volume and tone, but my body weight has not decreased more than 1.5lbs in 6 weeks. I was reading an article last night, I think it was from r/fitness but I honestly can’t remember, that was talking about how you need to rotate off of a “diet” after around 9-12 weeks and you should slowly increase your calorie intake to what it was before you started for a duration that is the same length as the “diet”. To me, that just doesn’t seem logical. Is what I’m doing considered a “diet”? Maybe I’m just trying to justify my course of action, but it feels more like a lifestyle change than a diet in the sense it appears to be used. I feel like if I go back to consuming what I did before, I’m going to gain all that weight back. Am I being shortsighted or is there some other benefit I’m failing to recognize? Have I “plateaued” or am I replacing fat with muscle and I just need to keep the ship on course?
Any input will be appreciated, but I’m going to be upfront and say that if you’re going to tell me something one way or the other that you provide some scientific data to back it up. Anecdotal is nice to hear, but I prefer data-driven information.