First diet ever (43 year old male)

kmarnes

Hi, I'm 43 years old, 6'2" and 215lbs. I've been slowly acquiring a bit of a belly, and started feeling my weight about 2-3 years ago when I broke 200lbs for the first time ever. I feel a healthy weight for me is 175lbs, so looking to lose 40lbs.

A coworker of mine was nearly 250lbs and a little shorter than me. I haven't really seen him for awhile, but he's dropped 90lbs in six months and he just said he counted calories and didn't do anything different with his life. Crazy! Btw, we are game developers so we basically just sit on our chairs all day.

But now I'm motivated to do the same, so I really just have one question. I burn about 2500 calories a day to account for activity levels -- have an activity tracker. And figured I'd target 1.5lbs of weight loss per week. I believe my target calories are 1600ish per day. So I'm just going to start with that, but don't want to get too aggressive. We have a family trip booked to Maui in about 5 months, so that's when I want to hit my target.

Keep in mind, I've never counted calories my whole life. I generally eat poorly and have a lot of fatty/salty foods, but not very much sugar. I almost never drink soda or sweet beverages, and mostly drink water and black coffee without sugar... so I guess I have that side going well for me. I think for me, I just need to watch portions. Also I almost never snack between meals.

Normally I have smaller breakfasts, decent lunches, and big dinners... so I'm wondering if I should alter that a bit, maybe go for a bigger breakfast, smaller lunches, controlled dinners. I like to drink a bit too... but almost never more than 2 drinks, so I'd factor that in.

Anyways, any tips of things I should look for?

suruda

Track all of your food...weigh and measure. You will find those things that are lower calorie and worth bigger portions and those that are not. You can probably not change your eating much, just change your portions and will drop the lbs. Most of us find that things lower in calorie are worth adding in to our meals because they are low calorie and full of nutrition.

For me, the foods I find are calorie light but fill me up are apples, chicken breast, broccoli, cauliflower, turkey, eggs, greek yogurt and potatoes (as long as I don't add a bunch of crap!)

As far as how many calories, I just go with what MFP recommends based on the goals you set and then adjust from there. You have a lot going for you, not messing up your body by dieting your whole life is a big one, and you're a GUY! You will do great here!

sllm1

Focus on getting an adequate amount of protein - helps with hunger.

LivingtheLeanDream

Track your foods as accurately as possible - portion sizes matter.
You'll find when you make a few adjustments the weight will fall off you - men are lucky that way

And I can't get over that you've never had to diet before....I've been on and off diets since I was 16 it took me til now to crack it and been maintaining goal for 3+ years.

All the best

fitdaisygrrl

kmarnes wrote: »

Hi, I'm 43 years old, 6'2" and 215lbs. I've been slowly acquiring a bit of a belly, and started feeling my weight about 2-3 years ago when I broke 200lbs for the first time ever. I feel a healthy weight for me is 175lbs, so looking to lose 40lbs.

A coworker of mine was nearly 250lbs and a little shorter than me. I haven't really seen him for awhile, but he's dropped 90lbs in six months and he just said he counted calories and didn't do anything different with his life. Crazy! Btw, we are game developers so we basically just sit on our chairs all day.

But now I'm motivated to do the same, so I really just have one question. I burn about 2500 calories a day to account for activity levels -- have an activity tracker. And figured I'd target 1.5lbs of weight loss per week. I believe my target calories are 1600ish per day. So I'm just going to start with that, but don't want to get too aggressive. We have a family trip booked to Maui in about 5 months, so that's when I want to hit my target.

Keep in mind, I've never counted calories my whole life. I generally eat poorly and have a lot of fatty/salty foods, but not very much sugar. I almost never drink soda or sweet beverages, and mostly drink water and black coffee without sugar... so I guess I have that side going well for me. I think for me, I just need to watch portions. Also I almost never snack between meals.

Normally I have smaller breakfasts, decent lunches, and big dinners... so I'm wondering if I should alter that a bit, maybe go for a bigger breakfast, smaller lunches, controlled dinners. I like to drink a bit too... but almost never more than 2 drinks, so I'd factor that in.

Anyways, any tips of things I should look for?

I plugged in your stats quickly into a calculator and if you are sedentary, eating about 1800 cals a day would be a healthy and realistic number. Since you've never "dieted" before, (and I use quotes because it's a lifestyle change, not a short term diet that's going to help you out in the long-run), you would probably be realllly hungry at 1600 cals a day and not able to sustain that for a long time. Keep in mind that your activity tracker may just be showing you your BMR. If it is your TDEE, you wouldn't want to subtract 900 calories from that, pretty aggressive. Don't know what BMR or TDEE is? Google is your friend and so is the community here!!

Have you plugged your stats into MFP to see what they recommend? That would be where I would start. And after you've plugged in your stats and goals with MFP, just work on tracking. You'll start noticing where your calories are going (probably surprise yourself!) and learn to make adjustments (ie: portion control or cutting back on liquid calories). Buy a food scale too for the most accurate food measuring so that you really get to learn what like, 3 or 4 oz of meat looks like. And track, track, track!

kmarnes

Thanks for all the great advice so far! I am setup on MFP and my goal is to lose 1.5lbs per week which puts me at 1670 calories per day. I don't really work out much, but my wife forces me to be active sometimes and I take care of a variety of yardwork, etc... walks with the dog, kid, etc. That puts me short of losing 40lbs by end of August. To accomplish that, I'd need to lose 2lbs per week. But I'm hoping that extra activity will help offset that. I'm not too concerned about losing exactly 40lbs in 5 months, it's just a rough goal... as long as I move towards that direction, I'll be happy.

Also my activity tracker is a Polar Loop, and it definitely varies based on activity during the day. I've broken 3000 calories a few times. If I do nothing, it's around 2000ish.

As for food, I'm going to cut down on pasta quite a lot and sub in salads. Going to get some light miracle whip (20calories per teaspoon), and mix it with some mustard.. and control that. Lots of tomato/cucumber/lettuce. That should make a big difference I hope.

6pkdreamer

Your heading in the right direction particularly with healthier eating. I think having bigger breakfast is a good idea- it works for me.
It will be hard when you go to Maui all the logging and all. I set a target to come back weighting same before and after the holiday- impossible for most holidaymakers. As a suggestion just eat and drink the same quantities as you partner if that's not too much of a stretch and eat real slow- you fill up easier and less likely to overshoot. It worked for me.

ScoobaChick

Hello,

Yes the first thing to do is to measure what you are actually eating. Weigh your food at least in the beggining. My husband was very surprised to learn that "his" portion of cereal was actually the equivalent of 3 portions! You can go on a crash diet, lose some pounds until you hit a goal weight, quit being careful and you will spring back up to your starting weight. You want to make sustainable changes that work for you and I would strongly suggest that simply being mindful of the food you eat (Calories and quantities) will go a long way towards that goal.

MFP works on the simple : CICO - Calories In Calories Out. Personally I always stay under my Calorie goal and I never eat back 100% of my exercise calories. I try to hit my protein and fiber macros everyday and for me that means I need to do get in at least some exercise. Stick with this program and community and eventually you will find a good Calorie number for you where you are losing but still have energy and basically feel great about yourself!

Having a network of "pals" on this site has helped keep me accountable. It's also inspiring to see people journeys. There is an entire spectrum of foks on here, from the athletes to the people who have never dieted in their life. I have met extraordinary people here.

Good luck on your journey and feel free to add me if you are looking for some pals on here to keep you accountable and inspired.

P.S. I also have a Polar Loop and love it

kmarnes

Cool, so first ever diet day is coming to a close. My wife doesn't know I'm doing this yet... I'm toying with the idea of keeping it a secret and see how long it takes for her to notice. Although it might be hard fumbling around and weighing portions. For dinner, I ate an 8oz pork chop, and made a 8oz salad + dressing. Which I made from scratch... 1 tablespoon of mayo, 1 teaspoon of mustard, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. 36 calories for my salad + 115 calories for the dressing... haha! Ooops. Still got 375 calories left and I haven't broke open the booze yet. That's next. Scratch that, one double gin and tonic is 270 calories. ...priorities.

ScoobaChick

You got it. It all comes down to priorities. But you need to see this as a marathon and not a sprint.

It's ok to go over your Calories on one day if your week is still under Calories over all. Just make sure you set yourself realistic goals that you can stick to without having to put in extraordinary effort. Life is meant to be enjoyed but you can still be mindful and healthy.

BelleCakes2018

Just a thought - but if you like lots of fatty salty food and don't have sugar very often have you tried a high fat, or low carb diet? That's what i'm on, but hearing your post you may want to look in to it if you find calories aren't working out very well for you, or you get tired of counting them.
I would agree that 1600 sounds a little too low for you to start with..i'm female and I am eating 1600-1700 cals a day at the moment. Of course ill need to adjust it as I lose the weight, but I know I can lose at a consistent rate on these calories and your goal of 1.5 per week is very realistic, so im' guessing you can afford to give yourself more calories.. As soon as you find your weight loss slows, you can reduce them then! Good Luck

CasperNaegle

So we are close in age. I have lost about 50 lbs of fat and added 10 pounds of muscle in the last year. You have to get your body in a calorie deficit to lose weight that's really all you have to do. I track my macros (protein, carbs, fats) and eat a lot of protein, even amounts of carbs, and fairly low fat. Lift weights 5 days a week and it has just been awesome. Feel free to check out my diary and if I can help let me know.

kmarnes

Okay so yesterday I managed my calorie intake exactly (1670 calories) and had that double gin and tonic. Yesterday was also the first day I've ever counted calories, and wow what an experience. This morning for breakfast I had 4 pieces of bacon and a slice of white toast with no butter. Lunch consists of 3 oz of chicken breast and a large salad with only 60 calories of dressing, and I'm drinking black coffee.

I went back and added info for the day before yesterday, and it came out to 2800 calories. That has been my typical intake. So my new diet is putting me at 60% ration levels right now. But at 2800 calories at my weight, that seemed to be my slow weight gain rate, which I think fits. My stats put me at 2350 calories with no activity to maintain my weight. But I do get some activity, just sporadic.

Okay I have a question. When I weigh myself, results vary a great deal. Last time I weighed myself was a couple days ago at the club after dinner and going to the spa where I tend to drink tons of water. That's when I weighed 115. Today I weighed 110 in the morning before breakfast (different scale). So I'm thinking of weighing myself every morning at my home scale, even though it is recommended to weigh yourself just before bedtime.

I feel strangely feral today...

kmarnes

CasperNaegle wrote: »

So we are close in age. I have lost about 50 lbs of fat and added 10 pounds of muscle in the last year. You have to get your body in a calorie deficit to lose weight that's really all you have to do. I track my macros (protein, carbs, fats) and eat a lot of protein, even amounts of carbs, and fairly low fat. Lift weights 5 days a week and it has just been awesome. Feel free to check out my diary and if I can help let me know.

Thanks! How does one check out another's diary? Also it seems I am purely focusing on calories -- which means I'm already starting to gravitate to foods that are less carb like (salad instead of bread, less butter, less cream -- I like my meat and fat). Apparently I am immune to sodium levels... I get tested every couple years and my blood stats - pressure / cholesterol / sugars are always good. So my sodium even yesterday shot over the daily limit.

ames105

You already sound like you have a fairly good handle on things, great job! You know what to cut. You know the healthy choices to make. You didn't mention exercise so I would suggest fitting in some kind of workout, even if its taking a walk with your family in the evenings. If you exercise more, be sure to eat more to balance out your calorie burn and your intake.

The best piece of advice I can offer is to follow the program. Enter your info, do what MFP tells you, count your calories and then, after a few weeks, make adjustments as necessary. You may find you need to adjust your calorie intake up. Listen to your body. You may find certain foods aren't worth the calorie expenditure or make you feel uncomfortable. Its not easy but it is worth it to feel better and I know you can do this (and five months isn't an unreasonable amount of time). Good luck!!!

eeejer

I don't know anyone who recommends weighing at bedtime. Weight first thing in the morning, after the bathroom. You must eat lots of protein. Have bacon and eggs instead of bacon and toast for instance. Carbs make you hungry, protein makes you full.

kmarnes

ames105 wrote: »

You already sound like you have a fairly good handle on things, great job! You know what to cut. You know the healthy choices to make. You didn't mention exercise so I would suggest fitting in some kind of workout, even if its taking a walk with your family in the evenings. If you exercise more, be sure to eat more to balance out your calorie burn and your intake.

I have this weird life where my wife is super fit and works out 6 days a week and she counts calories from time to time, but I'm super sedentary as I sit in front of a computer all the time. But we have a 2 year old that has a lot of energy to burn, so we take him out and just keeping him occupied is tiring But my wife and i participate in obstacle course races and will be training for those as they take place late summer. We did Mudderella last year in Whistler where we literally ran 8km up and down a ski hill with obstacles. We also ski frequently but I got a foot injury that prevents me from running on it while it heals, but I can walk fine. Also yard work, and general chores keeps me moving around. I tend to work out in a much more adhoc manner.

But yeah, I'll compensate on higher activity days. So far I still feel okay, a little hungry.

COL55EUS

All good advice here I agree protein at every meal, it really helps with what I call the hungers. Weight Training is very important as you will burn fat even when you are resting. I know its hard to find a balance cause you still have to live, but if you log everything, weigh and portion everything and try and get in some weight training it will work. Once you start to loose you will be very motivated to keep going.

Chaagy

Good on you. I'm same age as you, 5'10, started at 220lbs, and have lost 30lbs so far.

Sounds like you are doing well.

I weigh myself a lot (sometimes several times a day). And you'll find your weight fluctuates significantly. I usually put more stock on my morning reading after I've taken care of all of my bathroom needs, and before ingesting anything, even a glass of water.

Weighing yourself a lot is a personal choice, some don't agree, and some do. If you are easily sidelined and depressed at seeing a higher weight, then don't do it as much. But if you do weigh yourself a lot, just know that it fluctuates, and more weight can be caused by a whole host of reasons (ie. food in you, water retention from a high sodium meal, stress, etc.) It can make you fluctuate up to 5lbs... at least for me. Overall, I've found it really helpful to keep me on track, and it actually helps me to figure out my actual weight. Sometimes your lowest weight isn't always on the day you choose to record it.

If I had a tip: Pre-planning at least some of your meals is helpful. I usually make a batch of something on the weekend, and it gives me some options to go to that I know keep me on track. I usually have a mix of pre-planned meals and go-to options that I've developed over time.

kmarnes

Talking to a coworker, and he told me about this: https://www.drfuhrman.com/library/andi-food-scores.aspx

Interesting perspective, kind of sounds like a vegan advocate, but there are some very high scoring things on the chart that I like, such as swiss chard (die kale!), but I would never give up meat/cheese, etc.

Eating lunch now, and I rarely eat salad, I had salad last night for dinner and a big salad for lunch. Being hungry makes me willing and eager to eat the tasteless salad, relatively speaking. Interesting how the mind works

I also just told my wife. It's not going to be possible to hide the diet from her for more than a day or two. She's very excited.

CasperNaegle

You can go into my profile and then view diary. I don't limit myself on any foods, I just work to meet my macros and by that my calories. I'll add you as a friend as well.

tulips_and_tea

kmarnes wrote: »

Talking to a coworker, and he told me about this: https://www.drfuhrman.com/library/andi-food-scores.aspx

Interesting perspective, kind of sounds like a vegan advocate, but there are some very high scoring things on the chart that I like, such as swiss chard (die kale!), but I would never give up meat/cheese, etc.

Eating lunch now, and I rarely eat salad, I had salad last night for dinner and a big salad for lunch. Being hungry makes me willing and eager to eat the tasteless salad, relatively speaking. Interesting how the mind works

I also just told my wife. It's not going to be possible to hide the diet from her for more than a day or two. She's very excited.

Probably a good idea you told your wife but be careful about all the unsolicited advice you get from others once they know you've started a new eating plan. Perfect example is the conversation you mentioned with your co-worker. Don't over complicate things. Keep it simple. I don't think I'd pay much attention to that list specifically. Accurately weighing, measuring and logging your food here is really all you need to do.

kmarnes

Yeah I agree, but at the same time, it seems like a good idea to focus on some of the highly rated foods on that list that I like. For me, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Arugula, Romaine, Strawberries, Peppers, Tomatos, Onions are ranked fairly well for the ones that I like a lot, and there are plenty others on that list I would happily eat. I will count my calories, but try to fit more of those into it. But I love my meats, cheeses, and breads too much to give those up. I just have to portion control those, and eat a lot more veggies, which has always lacked in my diet.

lgrix

Just curious, why not let your wife know what you are trying to do, especially since she is in to fitness? Seems like it would be helpful to your success if you got your wife involved, just saying...

kmarnes

It may have gotten lost earlier in the thread, but I have told her now, and we just came back shopping for healthy goodies. I probably have the best wife possible for this, I didn't even know she was on this specific site I considered not telling her briefly, thinking she might notice me losing weight... but she'd more likely see me fumbling with measuring portions instead. In fact, yesterday when I started this thing right before lunch, I had no plans to start the diet until I talked to my co-worker that dramatically went from 250 to 160 in six months without exercise, just calorie deficit! I just want to go from 210 to 175! I'll probably be significantly happy once I get below 200.

chelseacc

I'm so proud of you! And the chard was awesome tonight. You shall be rewarded!

kmarnes

Yesterday I unintentionally was way under on carbs, eating only half my allotted carbs for the day and definitely felt it this morning, even though I was way over on protein and right on the money on calories.

I felt it this morning, feeling grumpy and hungry, but I've weighed myself 2 mornings in a row and have lost 1.4 pounds since yesterday morning. I was surprised but apparently when you start to diet, you drop a bunch of water weight before things balance out.

So getting back with some more carbs.. had whole grain toast with peanut butter, and tuna melts for lunch. Though I'm spacing them out to see how that goes. 1670 calories a day is a bit low, but I'm coping so far. My wife is on 1800 calories a day but she works out like a fiend.

I don't like the blander taste of the healthier food I'm eating, but because I'm hungry, I'm okay with it. But I've invented a very low calorie good tasting salad dressing that is miracle whip light mixed with equal parts mustard with some bonus lemon juice and some spices. Is only 25 calories per 2 tablespoons which is enough for a 1 pound salad.

Anyone got some low cal tasty dressing recipes?