Stats: Dude - 36yo, 261lbs starting weight, 6'2"

After a long hiatus of probably around 6 years, I made the decision 6 weeks ago to try and get back into some semblance of health. Signed up at OrangeTheory and did 2 classes a week for two weeks, and since then have been doing 4 classes per week. My main motivation was weight loss as I was/am as big as I've ever been and this sedentary life had to change.

My muscle gains since attending have been fairly dramatic, it's visible in my arms and legs and the dumbbells I'm using during classes are the largest I've ever used in my life. (25-35lbs depending on exercise, I'm no hulk). I'm running better and everything about my overall condition is better, but my weight is damn near the same. Clocked in at 258 last night, so 3lbs (maybe? could be water?) in 6 weeks.

I've heard that initial muscle gains can cancel out fat loss thus negating weight loss. How long can someone expect this to continue? I consume about 2000-2400 calories per day, 1 beer on Sat and Sun. I do about .75 gal of water a day.

Is my age working against me? Is my goal of 200-220 lbs not attainable anymore? (weight when I was doing sprint-tri's 7-8 years ago).

I'm frustrated, not desperate, since I see changes in composition I know something is happening but I find it hard to believe that newbie gains could cancel out what should be easy fat loss for such a big guy.

TLDR: Fat guy trying to lose weight, but it ain't happening, thinking it's newbie gains canceling out, how long does this crap last?

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I consume about 2000-2400 calories per day

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Of what? Weight loss is ~90% what you eat.

I was about your age bumping 200 on a 150 frame. I cut the sugar and started running. That combo was effective for dropping weight but not necessarily gaining muscle.

I'm pretty sure you can get to where you want once you dial in your nutrition.

Get the my fitness pal app and use it. Track both calories in and calories out. Remember that a 3500 calorie deficit in a week should yield 1 pound loss.

I was in the same situation 6 years ago. Age 39 >260 lbs. I took the lifestyle approach rather then worrying about quick losses/gains. I'm now at 200 and can pretty easily maintain (except for a few extra lbs around the holidays but that's ok).

I eat very healthy during the week so I can have a couple of cheat meals on the weekends. I do weigh in on Sundays though to get a more realistic view to include those cheat meals.

I go to the gym 6 days a week. 45 minutes of cardio followed by 45 minutes of weights. Cardio split between HIIT on spin bike, racquetball, and elliptical (gave up running after years of playing competitive soccer).

Diet is everything for me when I cut wait. No refined sugars was always MY culprit. But to me a 2300 cal diet exercising 3 times a week and getting 3lbs knocked off in 6 weeks isn't terrible.

Took me 8 weeks to cut 10lbs with a 1500-1800cal diet doing 3-4 workouts(2 per day).

muscle weighs more than fat. You said you are seeing a big difference in muscle tone, so its pretty likely that you are losing fat and gaining muscle.

and btw - blast from the past. LONG time, no "see" man. Hope all is well!

wcb said:

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Quote:

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I consume about 2000-2400 calories per day

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Of what? Weight loss is ~90% what you eat.

I was about your age bumping 200 on a 150 frame. I cut the sugar and started running. That combo was effective for dropping weight but not necessarily gaining muscle.

I'm pretty sure you can get to where you want once you dial in your nutrition.

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Well, hard to give you a day by day rundown, but before the 4x/wk 5am workout I have a piece of bread with about a tablespoon of peanut butter. After the workout I'll pick up a single breakfast taco at Taco Cabana, or a Bacon/egg bisc at Chik Fil A. Nothing in between breakfast and lunch, then lunch is something simple and I try to go high protein (grilled chicken breast, grilled skirt steak) with maybe something like rice, beans, greenbeans, steamed veggies or something on the side. nothing in between lunch and dinner, then dinner is whatever my wife makes and I just try to limit my portion on that as that meal can vary hugely and I'm never going to not eat what she's got ready for me when I get home. It can be anything from grilled chicken meal to hamburger helper and eveyrthing in between. Dinner is the one I have limited control over outside of portion control. NO food after dinner.

AggieOO said:

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muscle weighs more than fat. You said you are seeing a big difference in muscle tone, so its pretty likely that you are losing fat and gaining muscle.

and btw - blast from the past. LONG time, no "see" man. Hope all is well!

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Glad to see you're still around! How many vettes in the garage? My TA time has drastically fallen off, but I still check in from time to time. Hope you're well! All my time is spent at home with the 4 girls (counting the wife, ha!)

McInnis 03 said:

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AggieOO said:

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muscle weighs more than fat. You said you are seeing a big difference in muscle tone, so its pretty likely that you are losing fat and gaining muscle.

and btw - blast from the past. LONG time, no "see" man. Hope all is well!

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Glad to see you're still around! How many vettes in the garage? My TA time has drastically fallen off, but I still check in from time to time. Hope you're well! All my time is spent at home with the 4 girls (counting the wife, ha!)

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Just the one vette. Same one, actually. It was running up until about a year ago. The ant-theft system malfunctioned, so it won't start. I've not gotten around to getting that fixed. It needs a lot of work these days. It looks pretty rough, but all the guts are solid. Did an engine swap a couple years ago. We are buying a house this year, so I can't put any $ into it until the house stuff is done.

If I didn't sit in front of a computer all day for work with multiple monitors, my TA time would be pretty low.

Eat less.

Just suck it up and eat less.

I'm 6'1". Ive been 240-260 the last couple years. I've been exercising the whole time and yo-yo'ing with my weight.

Made a decision in January to eat less and I weighed in at 200 this morning. I eat 1500-1800 calories a day. Most of the time it is in 2 meals (intermittent fasting). I haven't changed my exercise much. Just started eating less.

As our favorite Sr used to say "put down the fork"

Critic is right. Your diet is crap. Eat protein and vegetables only and you'll start losing

You need to find your BMR and then you can calculate and track your weight loss very closely.

Here is the formula you need to use:

66 + (6.3 x 258( your weight)) + (12.9 x 74 (your height in inches)) - (6.8 x 36 (your age in years))

Once you find your BMR (which should be 2392 calories a day to maintain--not lose or gain), you then add in your Current Activity Factor. Your moderate workout schedule (2-4 times per week) you take 2392 x 1.4= 3350. You would have to eat 3350 calories per day to maintain. Since you now have your TRUE BMR and we know it takes 3500 calories to lose a pound a fat, you can then simply adjust your caloric intake and force your body to burn fat by the amount (or lack thereof) of calories you eat daily.

If you eat 2900 calories per day, and workout moderately each week your fat loss would be as follows:

2900 calories daily= 7 pounds of fat in 8 weeks
2450 calories daily= 14 pounds of fat in 8 weeks
2200 calories daily= 19 pounds of fat in 8 weeks
1750 calories daily= 28 pounds of fat in 8 weeks

Sounds to me that you're simply eating way more calories than you realize. Re-weigh yourself every 2 weeks and adjust your BMR and caloric intake using the simple math above.

Agree and echoing the others. Weight loss and midsection definition are built and destroyed in the kitchen. Not in the gym. Your muscle gains, strength, endurance, and heart health are built in the gym. Aesthetics and scale fluctuations are largely a product of diet. And it's nearly impossible to build/add any measurable amount of lean muscle and strength by operating at a caloric deficit. You can still lose fat while making gains and eating enough. It's just miserable if you're like me and have a sweet tooth and like junk. I'm making gym gains like the day is long but am still an lolfat because of my kitchen habits.

I Am A Critic said:

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McInnis 03 said:

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wcb said:

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Quote:

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I consume about 2000-2400 calories per day

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Of what? Weight loss is ~90% what you eat.

I was about your age bumping 200 on a 150 frame. I cut the sugar and started running. That combo was effective for dropping weight but not necessarily gaining muscle.

I'm pretty sure you can get to where you want once you dial in your nutrition.

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Well, hard to give you a day by day rundown, but before the 4x/wk 5am workout I have a piece of bread with about a tablespoon of peanut butter. After the workout I'll pick up a single breakfast taco at Taco Cabana, or a Bacon/egg bisc at Chik Fil A. Nothing in between breakfast and lunch, then lunch is something simple and I try to go high protein (grilled chicken breast, grilled skirt steak) with maybe something like rice, beans, greenbeans, steamed veggies or something on the side. nothing in between lunch and dinner, then dinner is whatever my wife makes and I just try to limit my portion on that as that meal can vary hugely and I'm never going to not eat what she's got ready for me when I get home. It can be anything from grilled chicken meal to hamburger helper and eveyrthing in between. Dinner is the one I have limited control over outside of portion control. NO food after dinner.

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Your diet is counterproductive to what you're trying to accomplish. Drop the bread, tortilla, and biscuits for breakfast. Eat more for breakfast. Eat mostly meats, eggs, green vegetables, and fruit. Limit fruit to berries. No rice, wheat, corn, or sugar in your diet. No fruit juice. No soft drinks. Water, tea, or coffee only most of the time.

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I strongly agree with this advice. I was never big into the eliminate complex carbs diet until recently. To give you some background, I am about 6'1" and weighed 150 when I graduated high school. I finally started to add muscle mass consistently in college and was about 185-190# when I graduated with only minimal change to my body composition. Fast forward three years in the professional world; lots of eating out, gradually slowing metabolism and inconsistent workouts (2-3x weekly for a couple weeks, then getting busy and not getting in the gym for a couple weeks). End of last year I tipped the scales at about 195# with significantly less muscle mass than when I graduated and for the first time, a significant decline in my body comp.

In January I went to about a 75% paleo diet. I never wanted to be hardcore 100% paleo, simply wanted to experiment with what eliminating rice, bread, tortillas, sugars, etc from my diet would do. I lost 15-20# from January to March. There's certainly more than one way to skin a cat, but from my personal experience, the elimination of a lot of the carbs I was consuming was a major factor in that change (plus my afternoon energy levels have been night and day different!).

OP....you are very similar to the size I was back in early February. I have lost over 50lbs since then by logging my food religiously and obsessively in LoseIt.

It's all about diet. It doesn't sound like you have a good handle on what you are really putting in. If you think you are eating 2000-2400, you are probably really eating 2200-3000 a day. There are so many hidden calories everywhere.

I started eating around 2000 calories and now am down to about 1600 a day and am losing 2-2.5 lbs a week like it's clockwork.

Log all of your food and drop all the fast food and booze and you will drop it fast.

Thanks for the additional input!

I've taken some steps to help what I'm putting into my body. I'm no saint, but I'm doing a lot better at monitoring and making appropriate changes. I've done a good job of eliminating a LOT of the carbs that were going in, throwing away the tortillas, biscuits, breads in sandwiches, etc. Pounding vegetables when available and eliminating potatoes and whatnot as much as possible. I've dropped a few pounds since the original post and can see more changes happening. I'm in it for the long haul so I now know that if it doesn't happen ASAP I'll be ok. Now that I'm starting to see/feel the benefits I'm more encouraged.

Thanks again.

McInnis 03 said:

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Thanks for the additional input!

I've taken some steps to help what I'm putting into my body. I'm no saint, but I'm doing a lot better at monitoring and making appropriate changes. I've done a good job of eliminating a LOT of the carbs that were going in, throwing away the tortillas, biscuits, breads in sandwiches, etc. Pounding vegetables when available and eliminating potatoes and whatnot as much as possible. I've dropped a few pounds since the original post and can see more changes happening. I'm in it for the long haul so I now know that if it doesn't happen ASAP I'll be ok. Now that I'm starting to see/feel the benefits I'm more encouraged.

Thanks again.

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Good luck. It's definitely a long game and takes dedication, but to me, i want it more than I want the short term satisfaction of any meal or drink.

Just an fyi, muscle does not weigh more than fat. 1lb = 1lb. Muscle is more dense than fat!

I recommend what others say by using MyFitnessPal (or any food tracking app) and weighing your food to get a better handle on what you are eating!

Also, while body fat testing is not necessarily 100% accurate, it can give you a gauge of your progress if you use do it a few times and compare measurements. I would also recommend taking pictures for progress and measuring to see inches lost.

I'm a 5'4" female that is probably 40lbs over my recommended weight for my height (of which I am working to lose). Using my BMR calculations I have lost fat and maintained my muscle mass (or even gained a pound or 2) by eating around 1650-1700 on days that I do not work out and 1900-2000 cals on days that I do workout. You could also just do an average and keep it constant on each day, if that's easier!

I'm not a big breakfast person (my day also starts later than many people as I do not have children and I go into work at 9) so I normally just have a homemade iced coffee (with Fairlife milk and liquid egg whites) and a Premier protein drink for breakfast. I say that just as an example that if you do not want to use your calories for breakfast, it is not a must. You can utilize your calories however you would like.

This. ^^^

McInnis 03 said:

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Down 21lbs and stronger than I've been in my entire life. Did 6min 30sec on a 2k meter erg yesterday with a goal of sub 6min within 6 months.

Feeling great and so happy to see gains in all areas (strength, weight loss). My running still sucks but I can live with that.

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AWESOME!

What did you end up doing?

Try Intermittent Fasting.

Stop weighing.

Go by size (tape measure) and how you feel.

Get enough sleep and drink enough water otherwise you're hindering your body's ability to metabolize fat.

Tailgate, Can you elaborate on what you do for IF? I am interested in this but I have also read/heard that you can lose muscle mass doing this.

RG20 said:

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Tailgate, Can you elaborate on what you do for IF? I am interested in this but I have also read/heard that you can lose muscle mass doing this.

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I have been intending to start a thread on here for awhile detailing what I have been doing. It will be long but I will work on it tonight.

Had same reaction - Wasn't really losing weight , but felt better , belt loser - After 10 weeks , via full body scan at start and again 10 weeks in - Net result lost 10 pounds of body fat in mid section , but gained 8 pounds muscle Blood work better so net positive re overall health - Kinda stuck there so need to get back serious .

I'm a month in and have seen great results implementing IF and carb cycling. I've done IF on and off for about 10 years, so it's pretty easy for me. I probably do it 5 times/week, as I love breakfast foods and will occasionally enjoy them. Here's a sample week:

-Monday: "No carbs" (50g carb or less, almost all from veggies); 1200-1400 cals (I had 1,000 yesterday).
-Tuesday: Low carbs (60-100 g), 1500-1700 cals
-Wednesday: Low/medium carbs (basically a mini refeed day after 3 days of low carbs); ~150 carbs and 2000 cals.
-Thursday: "No carbs" (50g carb or less, almost all from veggies); 1200-1400 cals.
-Friday: Medium carbs (175-225 g); I'll enjoy some oatmeal, a couple small pieces of fruit, and maybe a small PBJ; also, we often go out to eat on Friday night, but I'll keep it reasonable, about 2200-2600 cals (if I walk 9-18 holes of golf, I'll treat myself to more cals).
-Saturday: High carbs (225-300g); refeed day; I try to keep it to 1 donut instead of 3. Cals around 3,000.
-Sunday: Low/medium carbs (125-150g),1800 cals.

*The carbs are relative; I understand 175 carbs is not really "medium" for a 245-pound guy.

I've done this to both get my sweet tooth under control & to serve as a boot camp/jumpstart to lose weight and get my mind right. I'll try to keep it up for another 3-4 weeks before adding some more carbs back to my diet. Once I get to my target weight, I will enjoy more carbs but try to have 1 "no carb" day and 2 more days where I keep carbs in the low-mid 100's.

I put muscle (and fat) on easily, so my weekly workouts have been 3 days of lifting (1 upper, 1 lower, & 1 whole body), 2 long cardios (35-45 minutes), and 2-3 HIIT sessions usually before or after weights. I'll also hit the heavy bag and jump rope for 10 minutes here and there.

McInnis 03 said:

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Down 21lbs and stronger than I've been in my entire life. Did 6min 30sec on a 2k meter erg yesterday with a goal of sub 6min within 6 months.

Feeling great and so happy to see gains in all areas (strength, weight loss). My running still sucks but I can live with that.

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Wow that's awesome!

No more bacon egg and cheese biscuits? Bummer, but those results are impressive!