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

[davidcrb]

@patrick_m Thanks! I will do, so hard to not overthink it but I feel like I’m almost at that point where I’m happy to start bulking up and mixing things around.

 

[psychoticpoet]

@davidcrb Can you do pullups ? I am 5'5" and 72kg but can't do a single pull up. Can you please share how you did your first pullup ?

 

[travis%E2%80%A0the%E2%80%A0baptist]

@davidcrb Good job mate

 

[coolbreeze814]

@davidcrb Great Job mate! You’ve managed to lose a great amount of belly fat. Any tips or specific exercises that helped you concentrate on the abs?

 

[davidcrb]

@coolbreeze814 I think from what I’ve read elsewhere it helps to hold and tense your abs at the peak of the movement, so hold your crunches for a second before releasing and slowing down the movements in general, so maybe that’s contributed somewhat! Otherwise I wasn’t particularly aiming for abs but happy to be seeing some progress so that would be my suggestion!

 

[sydneyelise]

@davidcrb Awesome! Keep it up!

 

[samier44]

@davidcrb Kinda depends on what type of body type you're looking for. Tbh, I think you could probably start bulking a little bit at this point based on your current progress. You already have some ab definition.

 

[dmackccr]

@davidcrb cut out wheat. listen/read to wheat belly

 

[lubjc16]

@davidcrb When you do your routine do you do the full three sets of each exercise or do you do one of each and go through the series three times?

 

[davidcrb]

@lubjc16 Oh sorry, that wasn’t very clear - I do three sets of each and then move on to the next one. I tried to stagger them slightly so I had a little rest of other muscle groups whilst focusing on a different exercise.

 

[mumof2boys]

@davidcrb Did you progress through different dumbbells? If so where'd you start and currently at?

 

[davidcrb]

@mumof2boys I wasn’t sure where to start actually, but I had a set of weights where I could mix it up and adjust easily.

I tried 5kg but it was a little easy and I couldn’t concentrate on form, so I upped by a kg for a while and now I’ve gone up to 8.5kg on each. I feel like it’s a good balance and I’m still working my way up to 10+ reps but progressions seem pretty consistent so far. I don’t think I’ve gone too large too soon.

I probably won’t look at upping the weight until I can comfortably do three sets of 12-15 reps, so got some work to do! I’ve definitely noticed an elongation of the bicep though doing the hammer curls as opposed to bicep curls.

 

[deliveranceseeker]

@davidcrb Everyone has pretty much covered training so let me give you some diet advice. In 16 weeks you lost 30+ pounds which means your deficit is about 1k calories per week. Up your calories by 500, when you get to 15%bf, 1k calories will make you start to lose muscle as well.

 

[davidcrb]

@deliveranceseeker Thanks for the advice! It’s a little hard for me to estimate my BF%, I think it’s probably somewhere around 20% so I’ll definitely be looking to up my calories soon!

 

[deliveranceseeker]

@davidcrb Yeah, I'd estimate you at 18-20% as well, just from the picture. There's no real accurate way to measure bf%, but eyeballing it is decent enough.

 

[opticeye07]

@davidcrb First of all, well done! 36 lbs lost represents hard effort.

Since you're looking for pointers ... many people (although not on this sub) think that intermittent fasting and LCHF are healthier, easier, and more sustainable than eating all day while counting calories. Simply cutting the porridge breakfast could be a big win for you. It definitely has worked for me.

And if you live near a city, get a Bodyspec or similar DEXA scan. Body fat percentage matters much more than "weight," and there's no time like the present to get a benchmark. It's cheaper than you think.

Keep up the good work!

 

[davidcrb]

@opticeye07 Thanks! I could look into it, I've always been a bit skeptical about intermittent fasting but it might be a winner. I'll see how I get on!

 

[opticeye07]

@davidcrb Google anything by Jason Fung - blog, podcast, videos, or books (except The Complete Guide to Fasting - avoid this co-written book). His stuff is life-changing.

Dr. Fung is slowly commercializing, but you don't need to buy anything. Not eating is free!

 

[keitellf]

@davidcrb Impressive mate!! Just a minor change I will swap dumbbell lateral raise for dumbbell bench fly as you have worked your chest a lot already

 

[davidcrb]

@keitellf Good idea! Nice way to mix it up too!