Big Guy needs help and advice on diet/protein intake..Started at 304lbs..here is my story.

Chrishartman1979

Hey Everyone,
I am 36 years old and I stepped on the scale for the first time in years this past Dec. I guess I wasn't really surprised when I topped in at 304lbs. Granted, I am around 6'3"....but that's still BIG. At this point I was having a hard time putting on my boots for work, getting off the couch, and according to my wife snoring pretty bad. I think I even had some warning signs of Diabetes as well

When I was working out around 4-5 years ago I was approx. 235lbs. At the time, summer came, I got lazy, stopped working out, fell into bad habits (beer, bbqs) and well, here I was 5 years later and 70lbs heavier

I have been making excuses the last 4-5 years (too busy, work was crazy, not enough time to eat healthy, I'll start working out after I binge on these hotdogs etc).

So, let me bring you up to date.

I have been going to the gym 5-6 times a week since Dec 4th. For the first 4 weeks I just did straight 30 minutes of Cardio at every workout. Within 2 weeks I was already feeling pretty good.

At week 5 I bumped up my cardio sessions to 45 min per workout. I also bought a Polar heart rate monitor which I feel has helped me keep track vs relying on the machines at the gym.

At week 6 I started incorporating weight training 3x a week along with C25K training on the same day. On days that I am not weight training I am doing 45 minutes of cardio and my heart rate is around 155-165 during the workout. According to my monitor I am burning between 750-850 calories after being at the gym for an hour.

Now I am at week 8. I am down to 282lbs. I am averaging 2-3lbs of weight loss per week.

Up to this point I have not been counting calories. I cut out all my drinking, stop eating fast food, started eating breakfast, and I am trying to eat 5 small meals a day. My friend who trains as amateur fighter/wrestler told me I should just keep doing what I am doing and not count calories and just base everything off on how I feel...which I can agree to a point.

I really have a long term goal to make this a sustainable habit and I want to be in the best shape and do everything possible to make this a reality. I would like to be 190lbs at the year anniversary of when I started working out.

I have heard of people say I should be eating at least 50 grams of protein a day up to 200 grams of protein? I am definitely not trying to turn into a WWF wrestler but I would prefer a lean, low fat type of body vs gaining mass

So, should I be concerned with my protein intake? counting calories?

ck763074

As far as counting calories, if you're losing weight you don't have to do it. I'm a big fan of it because I tend to grossly over/underestimate how many is in something. You might want to start, but you might have to to lose the last 30 pounds of so. Either way if you're losing keep doing what you're doing.

As far as protein, I know the most important thing is that it will help keep up muscle mass when losing weight. I know that's something that's important to me. I don't keep a strict amount on my macros, but I try to make as much of my food as possible protein. I also find it a lot more filling than any things else. I could eat 1000 Calories of carbs and still be hungry. If you're looking for a particular amount, I would say try to have somewhere between 30-45% of your calories be from protein to make sure most of the weight you lose is fat. Hope this helps, congrats on the progress, keep up the good work so far, and good luck!

ALHMommyofAngels

I recently went to some nutrition classes through kaiser and they recommend 60g protein for women and 80s protein for men.

eskimum

the protein count i was recommend was to take your current weight and divide it by 2 that is your daily protein total so if you are 282 lbs 141 grams of protein. Your carb count should come from veggies and fruits and not white flour sugar or starches.

eskimum

also if you are trying to build muscle mass the need for protein increases

cityruss

eskimum wrote: »

the protein count i was recommend was to take your current weight and divide it by 2 that is your daily protein total so if you are 282 lbs 141 grams of protein. Your carb count should come from veggies and fruits and not white flour sugar or starches.

Why?

MelodyandBarbells

OP, I'm honestly a fan of continuing to do what works. But in case you're interested in calorie counting, here's a couple reasons why you should:

You mentioned that 4-5 years ago you stopped working out and this caused you to gain weight as you were unwilling or unable to make it to the gym. Well, for weight management, it's your total calorie intake balanced with your overall calorie expensiture that counts, NOT whether or not you're exercising at any sort of intensity. Sure, the extra calories burned could make it easier to stick to a lower net calorie intake, but exercise is not necessary. If you were counting calories, you could adjust your intake as you stopped being able to make it to the gym

You've mentioned cutting out a lot of foods, which is your choice. A diet without those items is probably naturally lower in calories than your previous diet was. But with counting calories, you could eat anything you want / incorporate things you like, but so long as your total calories are in line, you'll continue to experience the results you desire

And yes, you could also use it to monitor your protein intake, since consuming enough protein is vital to maintaining lean body mass as you lose weight. When you lose weight you'll drop both muscle and fat. If you're consuming enough protein and engaging in resistance training, then less of your weight loss would be muscle and more of it fat

MalkinMagic71

I just want to say great job so far!

Chrishartman1979

Thanks for everyones comments....this will help me a lot! Looking forward to posting more on this board. Seams like a lot of good people and information!

eileensofianmushinfine

"stop eating fast food".... for ME, this was one of the biggest changes. Except for the occasional Subway or Jersey Mike's sandwich, I haven't had any fast food at all. Don't miss it at all. I cut down the amount of times per month that we eat out at all. Also, we went pretty low carb for at least 8 months... For protein, I try to hit between 125 and 150 grams per day. These changes allowed me to take control of my environment. I was never a drinker, but did like the occasional glass of wine. Now, I generally choose to eat my calories in dessert -- rather than drink them Keep doing what's working for you. If you find your weight loss slowing down (I made lots of changes in small stages), then look towards counting. Nice job so far!

vivmom2014

cityruss wrote: »

eskimum wrote: »

the protein count i was recommend was to take your current weight and divide it by 2 that is your daily protein total so if you are 282 lbs 141 grams of protein. Your carb count should come from veggies and fruits and not white flour sugar or starches.

Why?

+1. White rice, bread, pastas, potatoes - they've all been part of my diet while losing successfully, and they are great sources of protein.

Packerjohn

vivmom2014 wrote: »

cityruss wrote: »

eskimum wrote: »

the protein count i was recommend was to take your current weight and divide it by 2 that is your daily protein total so if you are 282 lbs 141 grams of protein. Your carb count should come from veggies and fruits and not white flour sugar or starches.

Why?

+1. White rice, bread, pastas, potatoes - they've all been part of my diet while losing successfully, and they are great sources of protein.

The items mentioned can be part of a healthy diet, but the are not great sources of protein. As an example a cup of white rice is 4g of protein and 200 calories. A Butterball turkey burger is 240 calorie and 31g of protein.

Francl27

If it works, keep doing it! The only thing you might want to consider is whether it's sustainable for you... If you want to eat fast food or drink again, counting calories might be beneficial, as you can still drink and eat fast food and lose/maintain, but you have to be more careful to make sure that you can afford the calories.

The main issue though is that losing 2-3 a week with only 70 pounds to lose is too much. You're probably losing muscle mass doing that... that's why you really need to eat a lot of protein (at your size, probably up to 200g a day, IMO, but DEFINITELY more than 80g) because it will help minimize muscle loss.

vivmom2014

Packerjohn wrote: »

vivmom2014 wrote: »

cityruss wrote: »

eskimum wrote: »

the protein count i was recommend was to take your current weight and divide it by 2 that is your daily protein total so if you are 282 lbs 141 grams of protein. Your carb count should come from veggies and fruits and not white flour sugar or starches.

Why?

+1. White rice, bread, pastas, potatoes - they've all been part of my diet while losing successfully, and they are great sources of protein.

The items mentioned can be part of a healthy diet, but the are not great sources of protein. As an example a cup of white rice is 4g of protein and 200 calories. A Butterball turkey burger is 240 calorie and 31g of protein.

I should have clarified that bread & pastas are good sources of protein. Rice & potatoes, maybe not so much. But as a non-meat-eater, I often rely on bread & pastas to boost my protein grams for the day.

ilex70

You are doing great.

The ideal is to make a change that works for you and that you can maintain. If you are losing without counting good deal.

30% protein is a good target generally. Just incorporate some lean protein into every meal, nothing too obsessive.

If your weight loss stalls out for more than a few weeks then you might want to track what you are eating to see where you are and adjust your food down or exercise up.

gfjay

Great job getting started! I started (again) at 530lbs about 7 weeks ago and have seen great results. You will too.

I do recommend you visit the doctor, though. I say this as a fellow big man who is only a year older than you. For me, getting a full blood workup and a chat with my doctor (after having not gone for 5 years) really put me at ease. I assume you haven't done that yet as you weren't sure of your weight and suspect you have symptoms of diabetes. I also had my doctor refer me to a sleep study and discovered I have severe sleep apnea, a risk for big guys like us. I got that treated with CPAP and haven't felt better in years.

The hardest part of going to the doctor for me was the fear of being judged and the fear of what my medical reality might be. I am so glad I got over those fears and got a checkup.

Anyway, congrats on taking those first steps. I added you as a friend so I can cheer on your success.

lemurcat12

The best advice I've seen for protein (to maintain muscle mass when on a deficit and ideally exercising) is .6-.8 grams per lb of healthy body weight (in other words, goal weight, not current weight). Yeah, that's probably a lot for you, but at your size your calorie goal will be higher than many people's. I find that aiming for that range (which for me is about 95 g, but I'm 5'3, 125) also helps with creating a balanced diet that is filling (I try to get protein and vegetables at each meal and then fill in the rest based on what I am in the mood for, typically starchy carbs and fats for accent or maybe some nuts or avocado).

Here's a discussion with some good links: https://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-do-i-need-every-day/

rankinsect

My advice: do what works for you, and what you can sustain for a lifetime, because it really is a lifetime thing. For me, counting calories is the simplest and easiest thing I can do for a lifetime, so that's what I do. Others may find other changes that are easier and lead to success.

RodaRose

You can wait until lunch to eat. And you can eat only two big meals a day. Timing food does not matter. Eat at the times that work for you.

LKArgh

Chrishartman1979 wrote: »

Hey Everyone,
I am 36 years old and I stepped on the scale for the first time in years this past Dec. I guess I wasn't really surprised when I topped in at 304lbs. Granted, I am around 6'3"....but that's still BIG. At this point I was having a hard time putting on my boots for work, getting off the couch, and according to my wife snoring pretty bad. I think I even had some warning signs of Diabetes as well

When I was working out around 4-5 years ago I was approx. 235lbs. At the time, summer came, I got lazy, stopped working out, fell into bad habits (beer, bbqs) and well, here I was 5 years later and 70lbs heavier

I have been making excuses the last 4-5 years (too busy, work was crazy, not enough time to eat healthy, I'll start working out after I binge on these hotdogs etc).

So, let me bring you up to date.

I have been going to the gym 5-6 times a week since Dec 4th. For the first 4 weeks I just did straight 30 minutes of Cardio at every workout. Within 2 weeks I was already feeling pretty good.

At week 5 I bumped up my cardio sessions to 45 min per workout. I also bought a Polar heart rate monitor which I feel has helped me keep track vs relying on the machines at the gym.

At week 6 I started incorporating weight training 3x a week along with C25K training on the same day. On days that I am not weight training I am doing 45 minutes of cardio and my heart rate is around 155-165 during the workout. According to my monitor I am burning between 750-850 calories after being at the gym for an hour.

Now I am at week 8. I am down to 282lbs. I am averaging 2-3lbs of weight loss per week.

Up to this point I have not been counting calories. I cut out all my drinking, stop eating fast food, started eating breakfast, and I am trying to eat 5 small meals a day. My friend who trains as amateur fighter/wrestler told me I should just keep doing what I am doing and not count calories and just base everything off on how I feel...which I can agree to a point.

I really have a long term goal to make this a sustainable habit and I want to be in the best shape and do everything possible to make this a reality. I would like to be 190lbs at the year anniversary of when I started working out.

I have heard of people say I should be eating at least 50 grams of protein a day up to 200 grams of protein? I am definitely not trying to turn into a WWF wrestler but I would prefer a lean, low fat type of body vs gaining mass

So, should I be concerned with my protein intake? counting calories?

I would not try to fix something that is working. It sounds like you are ont he right track, so why complicate it?

Chrishartman1979

gfjay wrote: »

Great job getting started! I started (again) at 530lbs about 7 weeks ago and have seen great results. You will too.

I do recommend you visit the doctor, though. I say this as a fellow big man who is only a year older than you. For me, getting a full blood workup and a chat with my doctor (after having not gone for 5 years) really put me at ease. I assume you haven't done that yet as you weren't sure of your weight and suspect you have symptoms of diabetes. I also had my doctor refer me to a sleep study and discovered I have severe sleep apnea, a risk for big guys like us. I got that treated with CPAP and haven't felt better in years.

The hardest part of going to the doctor for me was the fear of being judged and the fear of what my medical reality might be. I am so glad I got over those fears and got a checkup.

Anyway, congrats on taking those first steps. I added you as a friend so I can cheer on your success.

Thanks gfjay! I haven't been to a doctor in a couple years. Typically, when I get a physical its pretty quick and they just draw blood and send me on my way. I am going to make it a priority this week to call and make an appointment and try to have them address some of my concerns. My wife says that since I dropped a little over 20lbs that my snoring has quieted down. Plus, its nice since shes not waking me up every 2 hours to tell me im snoring.

Chrishartman1979

Glad I joined this group since you all have given me fair advice. For now I think I will just continue doing what I have been doing and maybe tighten up my diet a bit. I have to download the app and make it easier to count/log in calories and at this point. Also, I do not have a food scale..which I do plan on purchasing soon. I am going to add everything to my food journal and I can already tell I am prob getting too much sodium so I need to cut down on that.

I do however, think I need to up the protein. I have been doing a plant based low cal protein shake during the day for the past couple days I feel like it does help me with some of my cravings. Plus, I notice if I skimp out on the protein during the day and then eat a salad for dinner with no protein....about 2 hours later I am craving food like crazy...and typically not the healthy kind.

It will definitely get more complicated when my work schedule picks up in a couple months but for now I am just going to keep on keeping on. Once I make it through summer and can still eat healthy and be active I am sure I will have more confidence that this will be a sustainable lifestyle for me.

Thanks again for all your advice.