Overweight and starting out - sharing my plans here as a commitment and for advice

The0neWhoKnocks

Me: 28 y.o, 6ft, 91kg / 200lbs. Work full-time + shift work so difficult to build routines.

Aim: I have a large build, so 80kg-ish. Ideally lose 1kg/week if I can.

Plan: Calorie-restriction (ie. cutting high sugar snacks mostly), using MFP, + hitting the gym 3-4 times / week.

Workouts: Using 5x5 Stronglifts 2-3x /week, and doing 5k on a treadmill 1-2x /week. This will mostly be after work or on a weekend.

Anyone got any suggestions or tweaks, or reckon I should just crack on a couple months and see how we go?!

pileyrei

I’m no expert but that looks a good start. Just monitor your progress and adjust when needed. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It will take time. Good luck!

AnnPT77

If you only have around 11kg (24ish pounds) to get to a healthy weight at 80kg (176 pounds), a kilogram a week might be a bit on the aggressive side. You're pretty young, so perhaps quite physically resilient, but you still might want to consdier something like 0.5-0.75kg weekly initially, at least until you see how it's going. With relatively little body fat to lose (as compared to someone actually obese), losing a little more slowly might improve odds of keeping as much lean mass as possible while losing fat, as well as keeping energy level up.

Are you working out at all now? If not, I'd phase in the near-daily workouts gradually, just to make sure you don't get over-fatigued. If you get started for a couple/three weeks on the Stronglifts plus calorie deficit, and are feeling energetic still, maybe start bringing in the treadmill at that point and building up the frequency/duration of that gradually as well. For weight loss, IMO it's ideal to keep exercise duration/intensity in a range where you feel energetic for the rest of the day (maybe after a brief "whew" feeling for a few minutes right after the workout), not dragged out.

Calorie deficit can be fatiguing in itself. Adding a regular exercise routine - if starting from not having one - can also be fatiguing. Fatigue is counterproductive for weight loss, potentially, in two ways: (1) Being tired can increase appetite, and (2) being tired tends to result in less daily-life movement, which subtracts calories from your routine calorie expenditure, effectively wiping some of the exercise calories. (By "less daily life movement", I mean small things like simplifying daily chores, resting more, choosing more sedentary leisure-time non-exercise pursuits even things like fidgeting less. It's subtle, but it can add up.)

Best wishes!

The0neWhoKnocks

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If you only have around 11kg (24ish pounds) to get to a healthy weight at 80kg (176 pounds), a kilogram a week might be a bit on the aggressive side. You're pretty young, so perhaps quite physically resilient, but you still might want to consdier something like 0.5-0.75kg weekly initially, at least until you see how it's going. With relatively little body fat to lose (as compared to someone actually obese), losing a little more slowly might improve odds of keeping as much lean mass as possible while losing fat, as well as keeping energy level up.

Are you working out at all now? If not, I'd phase in the near-daily workouts gradually, just to make sure you don't get over-fatigued. If you get started for a couple/three weeks on the Stronglifts plus calorie deficit, and are feeling energetic still, maybe start bringing in the treadmill at that point and building up the frequency/duration of that gradually as well. For weight loss, IMO it's ideal to keep exercise duration/intensity in a range where you feel energetic for the rest of the day (maybe after a brief "whew" feeling for a few minutes right after the workout), not dragged out.

Calorie deficit can be fatiguing in itself. Adding a regular exercise routine - if starting from not having one - can also be fatiguing. Fatigue is counterproductive for weight loss, potentially, in two ways: (1) Being tired can increase appetite, and (2) being tired tends to result in less daily-life movement, which subtracts calories from your routine calorie expenditure, effectively wiping some of the exercise calories. (By "less daily life movement", I mean small things like simplifying daily chores, resting more, choosing more sedentary leisure-time non-exercise pursuits even things like fidgeting less. It's subtle, but it can add up.)

Best wishes!

Valuable advice. I will go away and have a think about it! Tbh I thought it ambitious and more of a goal but might be worth recognising that on paper as well.

chris_in_cal

AnnPT77 wrote: »

like simplifying daily chores, resting more, choosing more sedentary leisure-time non-exercise pursuits even things like fidgeting less. It's subtle, but it can add up.)

I advise the small and sustainable too. Listen young man, stuff changes. Any old guy here learns the bitter cruel hard lesson eventually, you can't out train eating excess calories. Calories will ALWAYS win.

(all that is said with kindness)

Please consider investing in a slow and structured daily practice of logging your food in MFP. When I am not doing it, it can really seem laborious. When I am doing it, it gets pretty simple and routine, and it is the most powerful tool in your arsenal.

Try this: Don't work out, don't lose weight, don't change your diet, but simply log your breakfast for seven straight days (yes even the weekends) Become a scientist. Get your beakers and scales and measuring spoons, your UPS codes scanned into MFP on the items you eat regularly. Learn about the different ways the MFP food database works, creating "My Foods"

Just spend some time (seven days) only on one meal (breakfast) and get it all figured out and a part of your routine. Then build from there.

• How does my exercise effect my calories
• Logging all my foods what are the easiest areas to make change
• What are the trends with eating/exercise/weigh
• etc.

Becoming very aware, and comfortable, with this tool, being aware of weights and sizes of meals, of calorie density, and difference will serve you for the rest of your life. (especially for those of us who were blessed with "a large build')

Again, good luck. You are in the right place. Start slow, but start.

The0neWhoKnocks

Lots to take away and act on, appreciate it