We have a similar deal with some guys on the H&F board but for more on the weightlifting side of things and in a group chat. Being able to share some of our knowledge, experience, and frustrations has been great and I think has made some of us better. Getting old sucks and need to try new things to stay or get into shape...

I imagine you'd likely have similar results and it would be good for a lot of people. Especially when we're technically "strangers", because I think it makes it a little easier to open up - which is a littler ironic.

Just thought I would share my $.02 and tell you that I think this would be a great idea

Sure. I could stand to lose 10 or so pounds.

Should be an annual sticky.

I'm in!

So how do we kick this off?

I've lost 40 pounds and kept it off by doing the following:

- reading every label of everything I eat. If I don't know what's in it, I don't eat it.
- I don't eat refined sugar.
- I limit carbs to 50g per day or under.
- I've replaced sugar in tea with pure stevia I get off of Amazon. It has no Erythitrol. I drink caffeine free tea.
- little to no caffeine.
- I don't use seed oils at home. That's almost impossible when we eat out, so we don't eat out as much.
- I use as unprocessed as I can. Locally caught venison and fish (my FIL fishes 2-3x weekly; my BIL hints a ton) and locally farmed beef.
- if I have to travel, there are certain places I can stop for food. I bring a lot of snacks.
- I have 1 cheat meal per week.
- I weigh myself daily.
- I limit bad sodium.

Once you get used to it, it's not as difficult. It's helped me develope some vegan and other good recipes for my upcoming side hustle - south Texas street food trailer here in East Tennessee.

I highly recommend every spend at least 1-2 days tallying up their daily calories. I promise 99% of people have no idea how many calories they're actually consuming in a given day, nor what things in their diet are the worst for them.

You cannot lose weight if you don't modify one of these two variables:

Calories in < Calories burned = Weight Loss

The method to lose weight is incredibly easy - increase the amount you're burning or decrease your daily intake. The practice/implementation of it is incredibly difficult and takes a lot of discipline. Especially everyone that has kids with a bunch of activities and very little time to exercise and often eating on the run... it is not easy to do but nothing easy to do is ever really worth the results.

Good stuff but I would push back on caffeine and weighing daily.

Caffeine isn't intrinsically bad and actually has some good health benefits in moderation. Overall caffeine intake needs to be monitored though - especially as you get closer towards bed time. It has a very long half life even though the effects wear off and it absolutely impacts the quality of your sleep.

Regarding weighing yourself every day - I personally don't recommend anyone does this unless they can comprehend the natural fluctuations your going to have from a day to day basis. Weigh yourself regularly but not too often where you'll get discouraged that the amount of effort you have put in hasn't aligned with the number of pounds dropped... sort of trust the process and eventually that scale is going to move (assuming you designed the plan well and are following it), despite maybe a few times of no movement or possibly gaining a little bit of weight.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Good stuff but I would push back on caffeine and weighing daily.

Caffeine isn't intrinsically bad and actually has some good health benefits in moderation. Overall caffeine intake needs to be monitored though - especially as you get closer towards bed time. It has a very long half life even though the effects wear off and it absolutely impacts the quality of your sleep.

Regarding weighing yourself every day - I personally don't recommend anyone does this unless they can comprehend the natural fluctuations your going to have from a day to day basis. Weigh yourself regularly but not too often where you'll get discouraged that the amount of effort you have put in hasn't aligned with the number of pounds dropped... sort of trust the process and eventually that scale is going to move (assuming you designed the plan well and are following it), despite maybe a few times of no movement or possibly gaining a little bit of weight.

---

Yeah, I've done this enough to where I know exactly why I have daily weight fluctuations. I don't get discouraged by going up 5-10 lbs - I know I'll lose it again. Eating the same gets boring, so I periodically go off the farm for a day or two, and then get back on it.

It's easier for me to do - my wife has Alpha Gal, and can only eat certain foods.

Oh man, she get it from a tick?

Can a girl join? I've been tracking calories on MyFitnessPal and eating at a deficit since January 29. I do try to lean into more protein and fewer carbs. I've lost 4.3 lbs. Not huge but it's sustainable and I eat a cookie or a Cosmic Brownie every day.

I eat what I want and nothing is off-limits. I just monitor portion size. However, I found a licensed dietitian on Facebook who I like and a couple of other Facebook "influencers" who post recipes that I like. The dietitian guy is great. I've made some really tasty recipes that have good macros and low calories.

He's got a bow tie pasta "Alfredo" made with blended cottage cheese that you would never guess had cottage cheese in it. I also discovered that Fritos bean dip is really low in calories and it's great with Atkins protein chips.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Oh man, she get it from a tick?

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That's what we are guessing. Although she never goes outside or spends any appreciable amount of time outside. Me, on the other hand, spends all the time outside. She's allergic to everything; beef, pork, and dairy in addition to what she was already allergic to in chicken and shellfish.

I can't even cook any of those foods inside; one time, after we knew she had Alpha girl, I cooked a steak on a cast-iron pan with the vent on; evidently, she inhaled the steam from it and got really sick. It became aerosolized so, I can't cook a lot of food I really like indoors.

zooguy96 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Oh man, she get it from a tick?

---

That's what we are guessing. Although she never goes outside or spends any appreciable amount of time outside. Me, on the other hand, spends all the time outside. She's allergic to everything; beef, pork, and dairy in addition to what she was already allergic to in chicken and shellfish.

I can't even cook any of those foods inside; one time, after we knew she had Alpha girl, I cooked a steak on a cast-iron pan with the vent on; evidently, she inhaled the steam from it and got really sick. It became aerosolized so, I can't cook a lot of food I really like indoors.

---

I am apparently not a very learned individual because I had never heard of Alpha Girl and had to look it up.

It's all I think about for hours after finding a tick on me. Nightmare fuel…. (Not being able to eat red meat)

OP -

Lot of great advice on this thread. There are plenty of good macro tracking apps, but the one I use is called MacroFactor. The good ones make tracking your calories and macros pretty easily. Anything with a bar code can be scanned directly into the app, and if you're out at a restaurant the MF app has an AI mode where you take a picture of your plate and it does a pretty good job of identifying the meal and components. In the MF app you enter your basic metrics and then enter a maintain, lose or gain goal, describe what type of activity you do each week and what type of macro breakdown you are after, and you are off to the races.

If you lift/resistance train at all and are interested in the partner app, I think it's called macro workout.. I've demo'd it and it's outstanding. Jeff Nippard is the developer of both, he's got some great YouTube content for lifting and weight loss. The MF nutrition app has been a huge help for me in achieving my goals.

If you use and stick to a macro tracking app, commit to 2-3 lifting sessions a week (basic total body is a great start), and walk regularly as many days as possible for 30-60 minutes, you will crush your goals.

Oh, and don't forget to purchase that high end rifle and come back here and post a range report!

fitzwatema said:

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zooguy96 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Oh man, she get it from a tick?

---

That's what we are guessing. Although she never goes outside or spends any appreciable amount of time outside. Me, on the other hand, spends all the time outside. She's allergic to everything; beef, pork, and dairy in addition to what she was already allergic to in chicken and shellfish.

I can't even cook any of those foods inside; one time, after we knew she had Alpha girl, I cooked a steak on a cast-iron pan with the vent on; evidently, she inhaled the steam from it and got really sick. It became aerosolized so, I can't cook a lot of food I really like indoors.

---

I am apparently not a very learned individual because I had never heard of Alpha Girl and had to look it up.

---

Most people had not heard of it. Her doctors had misdiagnosed as IBS and diverticulitis. She sometimes still does have diverticulitis. I noticed that she would get sick whenever she ate certain foods, and I tried to keep her from eating them, but you can't tell someone what to do. We had to go to Vanderbilt until it was accurately diagnosed. The doctors she had been going to just wanted to give her a pill and really weren't much of a help.

You have to be very careful with it; anything can set it off, such as if a capsule of a pill is made of any mammalian part.

dr_boogs said:

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OP -

Lot of great advice on this thread. There are plenty of good macro tracking apps, but the one I use is called MacroFactor. The good ones make tracking your calories and macros pretty easily. Anything with a bar code can be scanned directly into the app, and if you're out at a restaurant the MF app has an AI mode where you take a picture of your plate and it does a pretty good job of identifying the meal and components. In the MF app you enter your basic metrics and then enter a maintain, lose or gain goal, describe what type of activity you do each week and what type of macro breakdown you are after, and you are off to the races.

If you lift/resistance train at all and are interested in the partner app, I think it's called macro workout.. I've demo'd it and it's outstanding. Jeff Nippard is the developer of both, he's got some great YouTube content for lifting and weight loss. The MF nutrition app has been a huge help for me in achieving my goals.

If you use and stick to a macro tracking app, commit to 2-3 lifting sessions a week (basic total body is a great start), and walk regularly as many days as possible for 30-60 minutes, you will crush your goals.

Oh, and don't forget to purchase that high end rifle and come back here and post a range report!

---

MacroFactor is the best!! Have been using this for a year. It is AWESOME for tracking calories. The AI scan is super cool. I like how you can scan barcodes and it enters all the macros in for you as well. Plus it tracks your habits and usually suggests what you are about to enter where you don't even have to scan a barcode after a while.

Keeping track of calories, lifting weights 4x/week and incline walking on a treadmill 4x/week, I have gone from 267 lbs two years ago to 190 about a year ago.

Got a full blood panel done a couple different times after losing weight and my testosterone was insanely low still, so I started TRT and it has made such a huge difference in my day to day life. I have tons of energy, drive and ambition even after a 12 hour work day and a 1 hour gym session at the office after work. Gained about 15 lbs of muscle over the last year. I recommend any man that doesn't feel like himself, go and get his hormones checked out. There's no shame in keeping your hormones regulated at a healthy level.

zooguy96 said:

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fitzwatema said:

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zooguy96 said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Oh man, she get it from a tick?

---

That's what we are guessing. Although she never goes outside or spends any appreciable amount of time outside. Me, on the other hand, spends all the time outside. She's allergic to everything; beef, pork, and dairy in addition to what she was already allergic to in chicken and shellfish.

I can't even cook any of those foods inside; one time, after we knew she had Alpha girl, I cooked a steak on a cast-iron pan with the vent on; evidently, she inhaled the steam from it and got really sick. It became aerosolized so, I can't cook a lot of food I really like indoors.

---

I am apparently not a very learned individual because I had never heard of Alpha Girl and had to look it up.

---

Most people had not heard of it. Her doctors had misdiagnosed as IBS and diverticulitis. She sometimes still does have diverticulitis. I noticed that she would get sick whenever she ate certain foods, and I tried to keep her from eating them, but you can't tell someone what to do. We had to go to Vanderbilt until it was accurately diagnosed. The doctors she had been going to just wanted to give her a pill and really weren't much of a help.

You have to be very careful with it; anything can set it off, such as if a capsule of a pill is made of any mammalian part.

---

Thanks for the insight.

I'm 54 and have had a sweet tooth and been a regular snacker my entire life. Had something for dessert almost every night and never passed up a cookie.

Back in October, I ate a breakfast of donuts (something I have regularly done), but I overindulged, and the sugar crash wrecked me. It was bad enough that I stayed away from sugar treats for a few days and noticed my energy levels were more stable.

I still had the cravings and the first two weeks were really hard, but I decided to cut out all snacks and desserts.

Somewhere in there, I started eating a single breakfast taco for breakfast - potatoes, beans, bacon, and cheese. Cooked with real butter and the bacon fat. I noticed at lunch time I wasn't even particularly hungry. I still ate lunch but kept the portion size smaller. Lots of days I would have another taco at lunch, maybe adding in beef.

Dinner - same thing. Smaller portion sizes and often a taco with the protein I was cooking for Alex.

I'm not a nutrition expert and certainly wouldn't dole out nutrition advice, but I'm down 37 pounds, and my cholesterol levels are unchanged. For me, the added fat has helped keep me satiated and made it easier to eat smaller portions. At Christmas, I started allowing myself an occasional bite of chocolate or a little dessert, but I've found that as long as I only do that every couple of weeks, a small portion is all I want.

Funnily enough, I ate my first donut since October this morning and I felt the crash hard this afternoon.

Best of all, I'm still not tired of tacos.

I think this is a great idea, and I'm in for some accountability.

I have been using ChatGPT to create a health log. It has been SUPER helpful. If I have a label, I can just click the picture, if not, it is pretty good at guesstimating. It provides me real-time advice on ordering at restaurants or what I need to eat to hit my comps each day. It has been a game changing tool for me. It provides a measure of accountability, just knowing I have to type in what I eat.

I started this on January 1 of this year. I am tracking weight, blood pressure, heart rate, hydration, calories, macros, and sodium. My goals are to generally get healthier and stronger. My main focus has been improving my blood pressure and a recomp (I want to end up in the mid-170's but with more lean muscle).

I started at 196 lbs, with most of my fat around the gut and love handles. I'm currently 184, and have noticed flattening of the stomach, and increased strength. Love handles are still hanging on a bit.

My blood pressure was approximately 130/85. I'm currently frequently averaging 123/74, with HR in the mid-low 50's. I drastically cut sodium, and avoid sugar as much as possible. I have also completely cut sodas and caffeine, which I think made a huge difference. I went from 1 can a day, to having 1/2 of a root beer this entire calendar year. I am shooting for 100+oz of water per day, and I'm usually in the high 80's or 90's if I don't quite make it. My diet focuses on clean eating and protein forward meals with lots of whole veggies and fruits. I am much more careful with carbs than I ever have been. We have started grinding our own flour for bread too, and that makes a big difference (family member with gluten allergy, but she can eat the einkorn no problem). I honestly like all the things we make with the fresh ground flour MUCH better.

I have also increased my activity levels. Nothing drastic, but a significant and intentional increases. I can get much better in this area if I would identify and follow a plan, but I had a few injury issues to work around so I'm taking it easy. I'm still rehabbing an ankle that I tore 2 ligaments in this past fall, which has been frustratingly slow. I will run about 5-8 miles per week, and do 3 days of upper body or lower body (with resistance bands or body weight).

So far, I'm very happy with my consistency and progress. No one else seems to notice yet (haven't had anyone mention anything), but I can tell I'm getting stronger. And my BP is responding well, so I know I just need to stay the course.

Here is my weight chart so far this year. Initial water and inflammation loss, but I really feel I'm getting into a solid fat burn and muscle recomp now.

I appreciate any advice, accountability, and encouragement!

https://imgur.com/a/dUwCid2#n5s743z

MasonB said:

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Best of all, I'm still not tired of tacos.

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What a GREAT line! May it always be!

You and I sound very similar. Keep up the good work, brother!!!!

I promise you people have noticed they just don't say anything.

That's impressive - good job!

Thanks for the tip about F3. There seems to be one just up the road from my house. Do I really just show up at the time it indicates on the website?

cupofjoe04 said:

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Thanks for the tip about F3. There seems to be one just up the road from my house. Do I really just show up at the time it indicates on the website?

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That will be the case 99% of the time. Occasionally the AO will meet at another location to celebrate an anniversary or around the major holidays, but usually that'll happen on a Saturday. There should be a contact email for the region on the map so feel free to reach out to confirm.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I highly recommend every spend at least 1-2 days tallying up their daily calories. I promise 99% of people have no idea how many calories they're actually consuming in a given day, nor what things in their diet are the worst for them.

You cannot lose weight if you don't modify one of these two variables:

Calories in < Calories burned = Weight Loss

The method to lose weight is incredibly easy - increase the amount you're burning or decrease your daily intake. The practice/implementation of it is incredibly difficult and takes a lot of discipline. Especially everyone that has kids with a bunch of activities and very little time to exercise and often eating on the run... it is not easy to do but nothing easy to do is ever really worth the results.

---

Can't reiterate this enough. Calories in vs calories out. Start with understanding your BMR, and then use an app to count every calorie you ingest. Do that for a few days and pretty quickly you're going to have some o shi* moments realizing how many calories you just wasted on a soda or carbs. I use myfitness pal but honestly the main thing is just calculating everything I eat.

hello all,

if you wanna see a dietitian, I am taking on clients via telehealth.

Let me know if are interested (we take insurance).

https://www.usenourish.com/providers/julie-yi?referralSource=Nourish+dietitian&referralName=Julie+Yi&utm_source=Nourish_dietitian&utm_term=Julie_Yi