Don’t roast me

tomjanecourtney
tomjanecourtney Posts: 97 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
My experience

Apr 17, Male, 61yrs, 5’10”, 14st 9lbs never trained.
Weights 3 - 4 times a week, MyFitnessPall controlled 2,250 cal diet 50P 25C 25F
Results after 2.5 yrs
Oct 19, Male, 64yrs, 5’10”, 12st 10lbs
Pleased but felt that results didn’t reflect my 2.5 yrs of hard work and dedication.

Oct 19 a personal crisis combined with injury pushed me off course. Stopped training, ate rubbish for comfort, in a bad place.
Result Jan 20 weight 14st 6lbs. In 4 months!!!! 😞

Pulled myself together, decided to Join the BuiltWithScience program but not to use it yet until I start from a better weight of 11st 11lbs (75kg) when I hope to see a bit more definition due to the reduced fat levels.

I don’t recommend this weight loss path as they say it isn’t healthy but it has worked for me. I have a combination of incredible will power and OCD 🙂

Jan 20, Male, 64yrs, 5’10”, 14st 6lbs, No training (injury)
MyFitnessPall controlled 1500 cal diet 40P 40C 20F
Results
Apr 20, 12st 12lbs
Reduced calories to between 900 to 1000 but strictly controlled healthy food (and no training yet)
Results
May 20, 12st 0lbs

When I reach my target of 11st 11lbs (75kg) I will start training using the program and either increase my calories to 1500 for a month and add 250 calories each month monitoring results or maybe use the spreadsheet.

Don’t roast me (if that’s the correct modern parlance) :o

Replies

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited May 2020
    I'm not familiar with the program.

    I will state that I would highly recommend strength training for all of its benefits. It is extremely beneficial for people of advanced age such as yourself to reverse sarcopena and extend life.

    Also if you are injured I wouldn't ever stop training in most cases. Might have to work around injuries, but to stop training is not moving towards the best outcome.

    Although any training is better than none, I lean towards RPE based training which helps regulate the stress which in turns lowers injury risk.

    Here is some evidence suggesting RPE style is more tolerable, enjoyable, and optimal for older people training.

    https://insights.ovid.com/medicine-science-sports-exercise/mespex/2019/11/000/optimal-approach-load-progressions-during-strength/6/00005768
  • tomjanecourtney
    tomjanecourtney Posts: 97 Member
    The personal crisis more so than the injury stopped me training, my frame of mind was the problem. The ‘injury’ was more of a background illness which surfaced, on the mend now :)
    Luckily from appearance I don’t seem to have lost much muscle.
    With the extra weight loss, which I wasn’t able to achieve when training, I still see some decent definition and what abs were there when training are still showing.
    My hope is that with a resumption of training and a leaner me, muscle memory will kick in and gains will be more apparent and consequently encouraging.
  • MsBaz2018
    MsBaz2018 Posts: 384 Member
    Without roasting you... I am just wondering why you put this in the Gaining weight session when most of what you talk about is losing... (is it) 40 lbs ?
  • tomjanecourtney
    tomjanecourtney Posts: 97 Member
    ...’and bodybuilding’ ?
    You could be right though.
  • tomjanecourtney
    tomjanecourtney Posts: 97 Member
    One of the problems I had when in full training was I plateaued. Despite diligent cutting, several times, I was unable to lose that important 8 or 10 lbs that was hanging around my middle and gains seemed to stagnate. So my thinking is to start from a leaner physique and monitor my weight closely.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,161 Member
    The problem is with no training you are less likely to look lean/ ripped etc after you have lost the pounds. ( if that’s your goal as you mention bodybuilding). Start some resistance training now is my advice. We all benefit from that as we age, aesthetics aside.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,161 Member
    Also you say you plateaued. Plateaus in training after your newbie period is often due to poor programming. Eg staying on a linear progression programme. Plateaus in fat loss... well usually down to not being in a deficit....
  • tomjanecourtney
    tomjanecourtney Posts: 97 Member
    I wondered if anyone had any advice or suggestions. We are all different and the ‘standard’ methods don’t always fit.
    I can’t understand why I couldn’t lose weight when training hard and on very diligent cuts.
    I have taken advantage of my training break to restart from a different place ie leaner.
    My calorie control is accurate, proven by my recent weight loss.
    Why did 3 successive cuts fail before?
    I trained hard 3 to 4 times a week with progressive overload during the cuts which lasted on the 3rd time for 4 months at 1500 calories 50P 25C 25F
    My strength improved but saw no visual gains and only dropped 2 lbs????

    I lost motivation and resorted to extremes to lose the weight.

    gallicinvasion - scroll past, no one needs negativity



  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    tomjanecourtney wrote: »
    I wondered if anyone had any advice or suggestions. We are all different and the ‘standard’ methods don’t always fit.
    I can’t understand why I couldn’t lose weight when training hard and on very diligent cuts.
    I have taken advantage of my training break to restart from a different place ie leaner.
    My calorie control is accurate, proven by my recent weight loss.
    Why did 3 successive cuts fail before?
    I trained hard 3 to 4 times a week with progressive overload during the cuts which lasted on the 3rd time for 4 months at 1500 calories 50P 25C 25F
    My strength improved but saw no visual gains and only dropped 2 lbs????

    I lost motivation and resorted to extremes to lose the weight.

    gallicinvasion - scroll past, no one needs negativity


    Confused on how a three successful cuts failed. Sounds counterdicting.

    Can you explain in details what this means?
  • tomjanecourtney
    tomjanecourtney Posts: 97 Member

    Last ramble :( hope this makes sense any suggestions welcomed.


    Training with progressive overload from Apr 17 at 2250 cals 50P 25C 25F - Lost 13 lbs by jun 17 then weight remained 13st 10 lbs for 3 months

    Cut Sept 17, weight 13st 10lbs, 2 months 500 cal deficit to 1750 cals- lost 1.5 lbs

    Nov 17 back to 2250 cals - lost 3 lbs by Feb 18 weight 13st 5.5 lbs

    Feb 18 another similar cut 2 months - lost 2 lbs
    Weight 13st 3.5 lbs

    July 19 weight 12st 12 lbs
    Cut to 1500 cals (-750 cals) 4 months- lost 2 lbs !! weight 12st 10 lbs

    Then Oct 19 personal crisis and demotivation, stopped training, ate rubbish and weight rose to 14st 6 lbs in 4 months.

    What I don’t understand is after the initial 13 lb loss from Apr 17 to Sept 17 I trained hard, 3 mostly 4 times a week for a further 25 months got stronger but lost only 14 lbs, 5.5 lbs during 8 months of cutting and 8.5 lbs in the other 17 months of training on 2250 cals.
    My mirror was disappointed. Although slimmer I thought I deserved to look better :)

    This tells me my TDEE while training hard is around 2400 cals and my cuts were therefore at between -650 cals and -900 cals.

    I was eating 250 to 275g of protein a day throughout this period reducing to around 200g during cuts.

    I am meticulous in training and had regular personal trainers checking my form.
    I am meticulous on recording my food weighing everything ( my OCD ) :)

    I definitely got stronger as weights increased throughout all my lifts in 2.5 yrs on average about 30% but although slimmer I had very little musculature showing through that stubborn layer of fat for my efforts.

    Maybe it’s down to age, being in my Sixties.

    An extreme diet with no training has lost an average of 2 lbs per week for the last 17 weeks -2st 6 lbs
    My plan is to start training again shortly from a weight of 11st 11 lbs (75kg) monitoring and controlling my weight by scales but governed by my mirror.
    Hopefully without that stubborn layer of fat on my middle and chest I will see results that I like.

    The alternative waiting for me seems to be a portly retirement:(







  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,161 Member
    It sounds like you didn’t lose the last few stubborn pounds when you were cutting. You need to be super lean to look ripped plus you need to have the muscles to show it when you get there.

    Plus it may take many many years of decent programming and cuts and bulks to have a great physique. Honestly you need to put your patient pants on. Two and a half years is not that long.


    I’m not an expert in anything but I do know that a 900 calorie diet and no resistance training is so suboptimal there isn’t a word for it and even dangerous. Why would you put your body through that? It just makes no sense to me.
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,288 MFP Moderator
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