Just Turned 40 | Day 1 of ?

DallinTheGreat

The day after my 40th birthday I had my Annual check up with my physician. It's been three years since my last check up and I am ashamed to say during those three years, I gained 80 lbs. When I stood on the Dr's cheap target scale it read "ERR". This confirmed what I already knew. I'm fat.

I am a very social person and have the opportunity in my job to eat and drink on someone else's dime. While this is fun for a season, over the course of time it's hell on the waistline. You see, covid, eating out, being lazy and alcohol were the primary drivers for my ballooning weight. And after seeing my doctor I knew I had to do something different. I have to get out of this rut.

Thankfully, I already accepted the fact that I needed to lose about 150lbs to get where I want to be from a health perspective. I have two beautiful girls (3 & 6) with a very loving wife that I want to be around to love and adore. I'm making some life changes.

I'm doing a modified version of Optivia's plan. I honestly can't stand the food but I can tolerate it in small doses. I also don't see how it's sustainable in anyway. Hell, I use to be a coach and you can see where that got me.

Basically, I'm having 4 hard boiled egg whites with coffee and creamer in the morning. This is followed with 3 protein bars spaced 3 hours apart. A lean and green dinner. Then a glass of 1% milk before bed. I am cutting out all alcohol, which is brutal, since I am an avid collector of Oregon Pinot Noir and Bourbon!

For workouts, I have a 20-30 minutes of cardio every morning to get the heart rate up. Three days a week I meet up with my neighbors/covid training partners and lift. When I do this, I do add an extra round of protein into my diet. I am 40 and out of shape so we're not setting any lifting records.

This is pretty much the start of my game plan and I'm on day 1. So far so good. This is going to be an outlet for my journey. I will document my success's and failures. This will make me be honest with myself, which if actually pretty hard.

Cheers,

DP

Courtscan2

Hi, and good luck in your journey! Just as a note though, you really don't need to drastically change your diet to lose weight. You do need to make adjustments, but there's no need to incorporate weight loss products that you hate. Eat the foods you love, but weigh them, track them, eat within your calories. Add bulky foods to your favourites (vegetables are great for example) to help keep you full and satisfied.

Also - love pinot noir and have a couple glasses every weekend. I still lose doing that, and my margins are much smaller than yours, as I don't have a lot to lose!

AnnPT77

What @Courtscan2 said! Misery is optional during weight loss, I promise.

There are many other options than complicated eating rules and costly supplements. Just as an example, here's one:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

That's not a universally perfect approach for everyone - no one thing is. But it's one other example of a thing that can work: It's how I lost from obese to a healthy weight back in 2015-16 at age 59-60, and have stayed there for 6+ years since, without changing my exercise routine to lose weight (was already active), and while severely hypothyroid (though properly medicated).

Wishing you great success, to match your obvious motivation to succeed!

JBanx256

I turned 40 a few months back. I gotta say your diet sounds miserable and would absolutely NOT be something I would tolerate for long at all. But hey, if it works for you, roll with it. I wish you the best!

neanderthin

Well, I get it DP but eating boiled whites, protein bars a salad and low fat milk is from a source that have absolutely no brain cells to rub together, so don't throw out the baby with the bath water when you deviate from this plan, because you will, just try and maintain a deficit and if you need help getting that down on paper this is the place to do it so take advantage. cheers and good luck.

Jenminor316

Good for you. Hope you succeed

Retroguy2000

It's great that you're doing some cardio and lifting, and getting a decent amount of protein, and making changes to your diet... however, that diet doesn't sound sustainable to me. You said the same thing yourself. That must be an extremely low amount of daily calories for you?

Just cutting out the alcohol and restaurant meals is going to give big calorie savings. Since those meals aren't on your dime you can order a chicken salad or something instead of your usual, with a healthier sauce too, and not feel like you aren't getting your money's worth, since it's not your money anyway :-) Healthy substitutions like that through the day (sauces can be huge for calories e.g.), tracking your calories, aim for a sustainable deficit, keep exercising, you'll be well on track I bet.

cmriverside

Day 1.
Ah.
I would probably lose my ish on Day 4 of that plan
I agree with everyone else above. I lost close to 80 pounds and have kept it off for 15 years and I didn't do any "meal plans" or diets or give up any foods I love. I just learned to make some foods, "Sometimes foods." (Like ice cream, wings, fries.) I also learned to make substitutions and how to eat the right portion sizes for my weight most of the time.
My only real Rules are:

• 500-800g of vegetables and/or whole fruit daily
• Grains, sparingly. Like 1-2 servings per day
• I don't drink my calories. No soda, juice, alcohol (I already drank a lifetime's worth of all those!)
• Exercise a minimum of one hour 5-6 days per week.

Fujigala

I’m super proud of you for getting started. Its a process, learning what healthy eating is to you at this stage of your life. So great that you take a first step.

quiksylver296

You can do this! I'm concerned you are going to crash and burn if you already hate how you are eating. I learned long ago that I freak out and binge if I try to cut chocolate and ice cream out of my diet. So, I started allowing myself 300ish calories at night for dessert. This really helps me stay on track.

All you HAVE to do to lose weight is eat fewer calories in a day than your body uses. I don't know how tall you are, or how much you weigh in total, but I am 100% certain you can lose weight on 2000 calories per day right now.

I also eat hard boiled eggs for breakfast, two of them, lunch is usually a big salad with lots of veggies and lean protein and Olive Garden Italian dressing, 2 ounces weighed out. Usually have one protein bar for afternoon snack (BTW, how are you not having intestinal issues eating 3 protein bars a day?!?) Dinner is with the family, but with maybe some tweaks for me - like regular rice for them, cauliflower rice for me, for example.

I log my entire food day at breakfast. That way I know how many calories I get for dessert. If I splurge at lunch and go out with my coworkers, I don't typically have enough calories left for dessert. Then I have to decide which sacrifice I want to make - either eat my lunch salad and don't go out with coworkers, or don't get any dessert.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

quiksylver296

Been a couple days, @dallinthegreat. How you doing?

nooshi713

Good for you! You have some good motivation there! Best of luck!

MandaJean83

Good for you! It took a health scare of being pre-diabetic to scare this nurse into losing the weight and keeping (most of it) off. I firmly believe the more protein the better, and a mix of cardio and strength gives the BEST results! I will turn 40 next year and want to enter that decade healthy and strong! We’ve got this! I’ll send you a friend request! 🙌🏻