Where to go from here

Options
mellowadam
mellowadam Posts: 114 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello All,

Looking for some advice.

I'm trying MFP again. I did really well with the tools earlier this year. Currently on a good streak of logging. My high weight was about 302. I'm currently 204. At one point earlier this year I was 195. Gained some weight by not tracking. But I've been holding a 100 pound loss for about 6 months now. My question concerns where to go from here. I still have a lot of belly fat and I'm not as strong as I'd like to be. I'm really out of shape. Recently I have been doing some bar bell work and modest cardio work. I have a pretty active job in an ICU. I'm on my feet 10 hours at least on work days. I walk a ton and often run down the hall pushing life support equitment. I work 3 12 hour shifts each week. I try to lift and do some cardio on off days. I know everyone will say lift heavy things but I'm also interested and doing a HIIT program like p90 x or insanity as I could do it at home in my living room.

I don't really know what my goal weight should be. I'm 6 foot and have a medium to large size frame. I'm kind of confused as to weather I should aim to do a really hard cut and then build back up or if I should just start strength training while eating at a good deficit and let my body reshape itself. I don't think I need to lose all that much more weight. I think I'd look pretty good around 195-200 if I had more muscle and less fat. I'm open to any good strategy. Just wondering about what sort of deficit I need to be at to achieve my goals. I'm currently set up to lose 1 pound a week. I have my activity level set to lightly active. I have a really hard time staying within my fat macros and getting enough protein although I generally get at least 100 grams protein a day. My diary should be open and I had one bad day on black Friday because that was the day my family celebrated thanksgiving. I've read a lot off these threads including the sticky threads and have gotten rid of most of the myths. I was just hoping to start a good dialogue specific to my situation.

My goals:

1 Have more energy and vitality to be the best dad and husband I can be
2 To have a brighter mood and feel more positive
3 Look good with my shirt off

Thanks

Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Options
    I'm having difficulty locating the actual question...
  • RECowgill
    RECowgill Posts: 881 Member
    Options
    Sounds like your situation is kind of similar to me except you haven't identified your path just yet. It sounds like too much body fat is what's concerning you the most and you say you're goal is to look good with your shirt off.

    I don't think there is any mystery to what you need to do to achieve that, simply weight train and eat at a deficit. How much deficit is up to you and the kind of weight training, the amount or how heavy it is really won't matter in terms of strength preservation or fat loss. As long as you were doing something that is actually work and you put effort in, and you eat at that deficit you will be fine. You will make progress like how you want.

    To really gain strength and get that cut body it's just going to take time and effort. You've made some big changes and a lot of progress but you aren't where you want to be yet. Realistically just going to take time to get there, this takes longer than any of us would really want. Where you're at and the fine-tuning you want to do, it may be harder now. But keep the faith and keep plugging away at it. It will pay off.

Categories