Progress over four months, all while losing weight. Pointers moving forward?

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davidcrb

New member
EDIT: Wow, thankyou so much for feedback, critique, compliments, the awards and GOLD! Never thought I would be one of the proud medal owners, so kind!

I've been doing bodyweight fitness for around four months now. I had never lifted a weight or done any sort of strength training before this, but I was overweight and definitely unfit, so I decided to make a change for the better. I'd like to share my progress (although it's not super impressive yet!) and hopefully get some critique on how to improve it or what to do next. I'm really happy with the results, and everyone I've seen has said that I'm looking much better

27/M/5'5" or 165cm

Jan '20 - 184lbs or 82kg (Before (not staged)

May '20 - 148lbs or 67kg (Current tried to match the angle somewhat! Also Current)

I'm currently aiming toward 140lbs as my minimum weight, just to cut-off as much fat as possible before bulking. Then I'll be looking at upping my caloric intake so that I have the surplus for some decent muscle gain.

Exercise Routine

I started to try and follow the RR, although I didn't have rings and some of the exercises I found extremely challenging. I dabbled around the internet for a while, and settled on as much variation as I could find to create a simple hour-long routine that I could do with minimum equipment and at home, especially during lock down. This consists of:
  • Squats (3 x 20)
  • Pull-ups (3 x 6)
  • Push-ups (3 x 12)
  • Dips (3 x 10)
  • Wide Push-ups (3 x 12)
  • Elbow Plank (3 x 45 secs)
  • Reverse Snow Angels (3 x 20)
  • Tabletop Crunches (3 x 15)
  • Leg Raises (3 x 12)
  • Chin-ups (3 x 6)
  • Diamond Push-ups (3 x 9)
  • Dumbbell hammer curls (3 x 8)
  • Dumbbell bench fly (3 x 11)
I've been doing this routine every other day since I started with only a couple of missed days over that period, and I've found that my core strength has increased massively. My progression is definitely still getting better in pretty much every exercise, and I'm finding that I'm able to maintain more form more effectively. I'm at the point now where I'd like to start mixing it up and identifying any missing muscles groups which I might not have noticed. I take around 30-45 second breaks between sets, and the routine takes just over an hour including a short warm-up.

I don't really do much cardio at the moment. I used to cycle around 9 miles to work every day and back, but I've moved to a working from home arrangement so my only real cardio is brisk dog walking every day (around 30 mins/2 mi).

Diet

I've been on a strict 1700 calorie a day diet consisting of simple, high protein food wherever possible. I've been having a protein shake every day (one portion with milk) just to ensure that I get enough protein, but otherwise my diet generally consists of something similar to:
  • Breakfast - porridge and milk
  • Lunch - Eggs, low fat sausages, high protein cheese
  • Dinner - Lean meat (usually beef or chicken) with a smaller portion of carbs (pasta, small wraps, rice), mixed veggies (I'm a little fussy, but there are some greens in there and carrots, mainly)
  • Snacks - Greek/icelandic style yoghurt, almond nuts
I try to avoid sweet snacks or high calorie drinks, and I've completely cut-out alcohol so far. I track my calories and nutrients every day and generally get around 160-170g of protein in a day. The rest of my macros are generally low carb and fat. (~30/25/45% Carb/Fat/Protein)

Plan moving forward

So I'm hoping to continue with my body re composition over the next couple of months, and aiming to drop my weight down to around 140lbs. At this point I was expecting to up my calories and either maintain my weight or gain weight whilst building muscle. Probably something around 2300cals/day whilst maintaining my macro balance.

One of the issues I have is that even at 140lbs (which seems very light to me), I'm still at the top end of the BMI or recommended weights for someone of my height. I mostly see very lean, tall men on this subreddit so it's difficult for me to judge when I should stop losing weight and focus more on bulking.

If anyone has any suggestions for when to stop losing weight I'd really appreciate all the expert advice. It's still early days but I never thought I'd see the day where I could have any sort of definition on my body - even starting to spot some abs!

Lastly, thankyou!

Many thanks for all the active members in the group, I've learned a lot and whilst mostly a lurker I've found many of the tips crucial to my progress so far. Looking forward to continuing it and can't wait to see the end results.
 
@davidcrb Great Progress mate! You lost an incredible amount of weight throughout and hopefully you’ll go further. I wanted to know that how was your lifestyle earlier and how you remained consistent with the workout, the mindset.
 
@geekgrl76 Thankyou! My lifestyle before was not very disciplined - I would snack a lot and wasn't particularly aware of my caloric intake. My meal portions were much larger too, so I think I was always consuming a lot of food with virtually no exercise.

I think as soon as I started to track my calories it made a huge difference, and making sure I didn't 'cheat'. So I tracked everything, even the smallest cake or biscuit and eventually I realised I had to cut virtually everything out if I wanted to make the most of my calories for each day.

Now I don't miss the larger portions at mealtimes, and actually I have a much more healthy attitude toward cheat food. I've always had a sweet tooth and I found that having fruit instead didn't really help, so I just cut it out almost completely. Most weeks I go without any treats and just stick to my meal plans, and if I want a treat then I keep it sensible.

As far as workouts go, I saw it as a challenge to learn something new and get better at it. I use it as a way to manage my own stress and anxiety. It gives me something to force myself away from my work for an hour or so and get the blood pumping. I don't overdo it, but there's a good feeling of accomplishment seeing my improvement in my workout diary and feeling like I can do one more rep time and time again. So far I don't feel like I've hit a wall, and I enjoy the buzz I get from it. I think that's what keeps me so consistent. and because it's all at home, I can do it whenever fits best around my day - no gym pressure either!
 
@davidcrb Was the "smaller portions" part more difficult at first? I find myself still feeling hungry after a "smaller/reasonably sized portion" meal. Great progress, by the way!
 
@fl_gentleman Personally, when cutting I really struggled and always felt hungry for the first month, but now some days I can go the entire day on just 1 meal (obviously I force myself to eat more than that). It just takes some time to get used to.
 
@fl_gentleman Yeah, my advice is to consume large amounts of non calorie dense foods. Eat as much vegetables as you want, and add some protein source such as chicken to aid in the feeling of satiation. It’s a myth that you have to completely restrict carbs in your diet, it just seems like this works for most people because a huge part of their diet is carbs that are calorie dense. This was a startling realization to me too, especially when I saw that my average bowl of cereal with a banana easily came out to 600 calories. I used to think “oh it’s Raisin Bran, its healthy, probably 300 calories” but nope, double that. Biggest thing is calories in, calories out.
 
@davidcrb You definitely should. I'm a short, light guy like you, so I know what it's like to try and eat high protein, or just eat, only 1700 calories a day. It's infuriating. But trust me, you'll need and appreciate those vegetables. Or, at least, your gut will.
 
@davidcrb Scott jurek. Eat and run. He dropped meat completely and found he didn’t need it. It would help cut you a lot or maybe the old school body builder technique of high protein days rotated with fruit juice fasting days. That’s how my dad cut small fat layers as a builder.
 
@rmon18 I was just about to say this. Veggies should be = or greater than your meat intake imo. Helps recovery and balances your body better.
 
@mwj What does your vegetable intake look like for a day? Because for me, monetarily wise I do not think it would be possible to consume a wide variety of vegetables every day
 
@gnpccanada Well, if you can't afford to eat veggies, what are you eating instead? You shouldn't be buying any processed foods at all imo. All should be made at home, just plain old basic food with some flavorings to suit. Keep things simple too. That saves a lot of cash right there. I also try to shop at the cheaper places like in Florida aldi is ~50% less than Publix for shopping for groceries and then the local Spanish grocery stores usually have a lot of fruit and veggies cheaper than most place around here too. Gotta be smart and research your options. You can buy a big bag of veggie mix at walmart for like $2-3 a pound. Or shop costco and get some good bulk buys.

You don't necessarily need variety every day. I sure as hell didn't, I just made sure I ate a balance over a week or two to ensure I got the nutrients I needed. Some days I'd eat like 2-3 different veggies and that is it, 1-2 types with each meal. Like I would have a bunch of spinach or spring/kale salads - 1-2 a day, just stuff it in with my meals or between. For some ideas, I would mix fruit with it like apple, orange/tangerine slices, dried cranberry, almonds or walnuts (walnuts are expensive af lol), onion/tomatoes, raddish, some avocado, cucumber, and maybe goat cheese. - NO DRESSINGS!!! They are crap and empty cals...i used to have dressing with my salads when i was younger and still lost weight tho, usually a cap worth of blue cheese or a vinaigrette. Now I use a little balsamic glaze whenever for the taste.

With my meals I typically ate a few pieces of broccoli (too much farting from it tho, so I eat it like 1-2x a week now haha), califlower, and carrots with a meal. Maybe switch between that and zucchini/squash and some green beans with another. Other meals get some asparagus, others throw in some mushrooms/peppers. I like stuffed bell peppers too, lots of vitamin C in peppers. And i like sweet potato a lot, so I would have maybe a half of one - one whole one split between my 2-3 meals each day. - each meal weighed under 1lb total usually.

I would snack on grapes, apples, oranges, bananas, and pineapples - one or two of these each day.

It shouldn't cost that much once you get things down.
 
@gnpccanada Look, if you are going to be a dick about someone trying to help you, do your own research.

You can grow spinach hydroponically, look at the kratky method.
 
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