Question for the men who have lost the pounds :)

Spliner1969

I started at 305 lbs, I'm 6'2" tall, 47 years old. MFP set me at around 1600-1800 calories a day, and I started out walking 2 miles a day and worked my way up to 4 miles a day. I managed to probably average 2lbs a week loss but it definitely wasn't linear at all. Some weeks I lost more, some nothing. It depended greatly on whether or not my body decided to retain water, be constipated, or just plain be mean. I'm serious though, there were weeks I gained weight even though I was on nearly a 1000 calorie a day deficit. It made no sense at all. But overall it worked out, and although I could not help but get discouraged I kept it up and was successful.

Here are a few things to watch:

1) Salt/Sodium intake. You can track this on MFP easily by swapping the sugar category out for it on the diary page. Too much sodium will make you retain water, and I've even seen it be as much as 7lbs, or as little as 1lb.
2) When you're logging, make sure you're weighing everything. Don't use diary entries like "bbq chicken", use the "usda cooked boneless skinless chicken breast", weigh it after it's cooked, then add in 1 tbsp or two (depending on how much you believe is on the chicken breast and made it to the plate) of bbq sauce. Condiments, salad dressings, drinks, oils (for cooking) all make a HUGE difference, and are the first things people forget to log. When he's 300 lbs it isn't as critical, but as he loses weight it'll be much more critical to be accurate.
3) Make sure he's drinking plenty of water. Near a gallon a day or more. If he works construction this is likely a no-brainer for him, but just keep it in mind.
4) Are you certain he's not snacking and just not saying anything? Don't beat him up about it, if he works a physically strenuous job it requires calories for energy. But not logging it throws things off.
5) Don't expect him to live on salads (not saying you are, but most men won't enjoy them daily), consider lower calorie dressings, sides, main dishes rather than just less of a specific dish he likes. Sometimes volume matters to be satiated, and most things can be prepared differently, but taste the same, to reduce calories.
6) Last but not least, make sure he's getting adequate fiber. This mixed with adequate water intake is a huge factor in keeping things regular. Not just digestion and waste, but weight loss in general (because when things get backed up, weight loss looks like it stalled).
7) As far as lifting, if he's not doing it now, I wouldn't require it of him. It's not required for weight loss. He likely keeps enough of that going while working on a daily basis, unless he's more of a manager and less of a worker. Just keep his protein levels up (more than what MFP suggests) and he should be fine on retaining muscle. There are people who love to lift weights, and those will be the first people to tell you to have him lift heavy right away (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, and if you want to do it, I think it's great). Those same people will argue in other threads that you can't build muscle while in a deficit. I did just fine by keeping my protein levels up, and I managed to build muscle just doing body weight training regularly (no heavy lifting). I won't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger any day soon but I didn't lose any muscle, I managed to gain muscle but lose fat. I kept my protein at around .8g/lb of my target body weight or more.
8) He should be eating back at least 50% of his exercise calories gained unless you used some calculator that already figures that into his daily goals. MFP does not figure in exercise calories, so purposeful exercise is meant to gain you calories to eat.

Good luck!

ninerbuff

If the deficit is too high, it's not uncommon to lose a couple of weeks then stall. Just be consistent and it will pick up again. As mentioned, weight loss isn't linear.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition