Weight Loss tips and techniques

[BobbyPhil1781]

13 hours ago, biggio7 said:

It's Wegmans brand from the deli so it's fresh. I get the low calorie, 90% fat free. I don't like other stuff.

If I'm not mistaken, when stuff is lower in fat content (or labeled "low fat"), the sodium content is usually higher. Someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong.

[ramssuperbowl99]

11 minutes ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

13 hours ago, biggio7 said:

It's Wegmans brand from the deli so it's fresh. I get the low calorie, 90% fat free. I don't like other stuff.

If I'm not mistaken, when stuff is lower in fat content (or labeled "low fat"), the sodium content is usually higher. Someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong.

I'm not going to unilaterally say, "salt doesn't matter" - higher salt intake is associated with heart attack/stroke risk - but since @biggio7 hasn't noted that his blood pressure is out of line, I'd de-prioritize whether the protein is salty or not until the overall macros are more balanced. Some people have to watch salt intake like an absolute hawk. Most young people don't.

Edited May 17, 2023 by ramssuperbowl99

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

14 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I'm not going to unilaterally say, "salt doesn't matter" - higher salt intake is associated with heart attack/stroke risk - but since @biggio7 hasn't noted that his blood pressure is out of line, I'd de-prioritize whether the protein is salty or not until the overall macros are more balanced. Some people have to watch salt intake like an absolute hawk. Most young people don't.

To add to this, if you’re getting a gallon of water or so a day it’s even less of an issue.  You’re gonna be pissing a lot of it out, same if you’re sweating a lot.

[MWil23]

Weight loss/in shape update:

Down to 171.2 pounds as of this morning with a resting heart rate at 64 bpm. Despite eating relatively "bad" this weekend, I went back and tracked that I've been working outside a lot doing some very light work, namely gardening. Side note- It's awesome, I don't even care that it makes me sounds like an old person.

So, aside from lifting about 3 days a week, hitting the 12,000-20,000 "steps" each day has really burned a lot of calories and clearly my body is responding positively to the added Vitamin D.

I've even been able to enjoy a serving of neat bourbon each evening without any side effects...it's telling that a lot of my sleep issues up until the last few weeks are that I've been too sedentary despite getting some workouts in. 

[Sugashane]

So I'm down from 313 and just over 260 now. Due to fear of damaging my own fragile ego, I'm losing weight very slowly because the weights I can put up in the gym are slowly going down. Its normal, I'm losing leverages that aided my lifts. I'm being irrational, I know... lol

 

1. Find voluminous foods that aren't calorie dense. When I get a sweet tooth I LOVE sugar-free jello and I add a flavor pack (like for waters) to it. Its a ton and you get only like 50 calories for the entire box. I've also switched to a high-fiber bread that is only like 70 calories per 2 slices.

2. Make your food taste good. The plain egg whites and rice is for guys literally in the final stages of a contest prep. If you're making food choices that are reasonable and using portion control there is zero reason to shy away from seasonings, spices, sauces if they are really low calorie options. I use a lot of hot sauces, salsas, make a homemade ranch that is super low calorie, and there are entire lines of sugar free sauces like G Hughes. Also there are just general sauces that have little calories.

3. Walk after every meal. I think this is as much for health and digestion as much as it is for getting your steps in, but I can definitely tell when I have skipped this for a few days.

4. Don't drink your calories. Soda adds so damn many that a lot of people top well over 1000kcals just from drinks. I do one coffee, then a bottle of water, then a diet soda, then a bottle of water. Just rotating gets me to down a ton of fluids.

5. You cannot outwork a crappy diet without drugs or an Olympian-level workout regime. I'm assuming none of us are Michael Phelps Jr (or Mike O'Tren), so don't eat like him.

6. Make small changes, one a week or so. Switching to diet drinks? Wait and see if that causes weightloss come Sunday. If so, don't make any other changes to the diet. If you go a week and drop no weight, make a small change and check in again in a week. If you jump down to 1400 kcals from the start you'll get great progress... for the 2-3 weeks you are likely to stick to it. Weightloss isn't fun, but unless there is an emergent medical rationale for an extreme procedure then don't follow one. Yoyo diets are brutal and fail so often. Make small adjustments and just accept the journey isn't a super fast one. But it is 100% achievable and sustainable when you make gradual changes. 

7. Focus on getting more protein. Protein if more filling and the body has to use ore energy just to digest it. A calorie isn't always just a calorie. This may not even make much of a difference over the course of a month even in weightloss, but not being hungry constantly is always a plus IMO. I eat my foods in order (usually) - protein > veggies> carbs. By the time I get to the carbs I'm usually pretty full.

8. A bad meal here or there isn't an issue. But don't use it as an excuse to have a bad day or weekend. One or two meals a week with a higher calorie count isn't huge, but binging fast food for 2-3 days straight is.

9. IF isn't for everyone, but if you don't like breakfast (or just don't have time for that day) then go ahead and use this as a calorie cutting tool if you want. I do it 3 days per week, but I love my coffee. So it isn't much of a loss for me when I do the 16/8 or 18/6 for that day.

10. Take progress photos. Same day weekly, same lighting, same time (asap on Sunday mornings after taking a leak for me). Sometimes you will see the scale might not show the entire story. I've recently retained water and saw that visibly but the scale didn't move. So I was 90% sure I lost a pound or so but was retaining water from my cheat day. So no changes were made.

11. Try to gain a little muscle or strength. You raise your BMR when you add muscle, and if you are lucky enough to gain muscle while losing fat then the weekly progress pics will help discern that.

12. If lifting or adding cardio, ramp it up slowly. There is nothing wrong with only being able to really jog 1/2 a mile, just walk another half. Give 2-3 days and try to make it 1/10 of a mile further on the jog. If you can, great! If not, just walk the other half like normal. Progression isn't linear and it may come in spurts. That's fine and perfectly normal.

13. Don't buy foods that you know you're going to have a hard time passing by without snacking on. Or if you want to have something to reward yourself then put it somewhere that is entirely inconvenient. My wife has snacks in the garage, and she has to take the little stepladder out, carry it across the garage, set it up and climb it, move the tote out of the way, then put everything back after grabbing one. Its a pain in the *** but you know what? She only gets the snacks when she feels like she has earned it and it is too inconvenient to just walk by and grab at night.

14. Speaking of snacks, have a few healthy options ready at a moment's notice. I found I am a big fan of the garlic wings sauce and will throw a bag of broccoli or cauliflower in the microwave then throw some of it and my low-cal ranch together. Really filling snack with a lot of fiber for less than 200 kcals. We also make our own jerky. We have a hardboiled egg maker that we always have 3-6 ready in the fridge, and I love just adding some sriracha to them and throwing 2-3 down. If they are available and easy to access you will almost always grab it rather than the tasty treat. Benefit of humans normally being lazier than gluttonous. 😁

15. Make micro-goals. Don't put that you want to lose 100 lbs in a year or anything crazy. To me this goes to small things like making your bed in the morning. It is just a small win, and with micro-goals you can stack them. ALSO - note that your initial progress will not be as sustainable later on. Going from a 135lb bench to 185lb is going to be quicker than it will to go from 185lbs to 235lbs. Then 235lbs to 285lbs will take even longer, and require more dedication, intelligent programming, etc. Dropping a minute from a 14 min mile is easier than dropping one from an 8 minute mile. Don't get frustrated when progress slows! That's just how the body works. Sustaining alone is an awesome achievement.

16. Just like how I say to track pictures, keep a fitness log. Weights lifted, miles ran, jump-rope times, etc. BE HONEST! Fudging your own numbers doesn't help, in fact if you BS yourself you won't even be able to keep the lies straight and may feel you've regressed when you actually progressed. Do this for 6 months and when you look at where you started it will make your heart soar. Progressing can become a pain but when you see what you started doing - and struggled like hell - and then look at what you're doing now just while warming up? It's awesome and helps keep you grounded.

17. Rest days aren't evil. Especially when you've progressed a lot over the course of 8-12 weeks, sometimes you need to deload. Your muscles recover quickly but you know what doesn't? Tendons and ligaments. I call it blasting and cruising when I am training hard as hell for 8-12 weeks. When I hit a wall and feel like crap, I take a week of just light work. Mobility work (that I admittedly completely disregard during my blasts), a few straight sets in the gym with only 1 exercise per bodypart, or even just skipping a workout to shoot around. Dog might get double walks instead of doing any more intense cardio. Gains WILL NOT leave you after a week unless you're a top level athlete like an Olympic lifter. And that isn't even due to strength, it is due to technical form more anyway and will be back after a few sessions.

18. Don't compare yourself to others. Hard to do, but there are so many people who either lie about their progress, use touched up photos, use PEDs, or will have great results due to crash dieting but will rebound when they stop due to the misery they put themselves though that it does you no good to compare yourself to them. You're not competing in a bodybuilding show, a meet, or other actual event? Then who gives a crap about anyone else's progress? You can support someone else without putting yourself down, look at your own progress and be happy you are making changes. That puts you above 90% of the world as is.

19. Functional and iso-lateral work is challenging and rewarding. As a "former" meathead who has neglected much more than moving slag heavy iron and getting bigger for the last 10+ years, it sucks when something that comes up and shows you're gym strong but not functionally strong or fit. Picking things up from barbell heights being easy, but then picking up a bunch of small things at feet height gassing you? That sucks - I know. Spend some time working on GPP. Its kinda cool seeing you progress at these little things, and for me it was awesome not getting gassed playing with the kids after 5 mins or so. Now I run routes for my boy, thought my days as a WR are WELL behind me... If you want a FB that is 260lbs of twisted steel and sex appeal I am your man though. lol

20. Understand WHY you are doing what you're doing, and make sure it is intrinsic. Want abs to get girls? Might work, but what happens if you don't get them because of other issues? Jumping from goals of wanting to bench 300lbs to be a bodybuilder to wanting to run a sub 20 min 5k time means you're not really sure of what you want, and your progress isn't going to be worth a damn because you're being too inconsistent. Also you may think you've just failed 3 different goals when you never gave yourself a real shot for any of them. The mind can be an idiot. Make a smaller SMART goal and have a reason for it that means something to you. Knock that out and decide if you want to progress more on that (or those if more than one) and make another when you get that done. Don't leave goals unaccomplished to weigh on you. If it takes four months instead of two, it is NOT a failure. It was still a success even if it was delayed from what you initially hoped.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

Lots of great points, but I’ll add to these.

4 hours ago, Sugashane said:

14. Speaking of snacks, have a few healthy options ready at a moment's notice.

Great advice, especially when you’re maybe starting out and not as familiar with being hungry.  Not like “I could eat” hungry, but like just got done with 2 hours of exercise on an empty stomach hungry.  
 

“I was just too hungry/tired” isn’t an excuse when the food’s ready to eat.

4 hours ago, Sugashane said:

15. Make micro-goals.
 

Yep.  Micro goals with dates you want to achieve them. SMART goals, as you mentioned.  If you don’t know what a SMART goal is, Google it.

4 hours ago, Sugashane said:

17. Rest days aren't evil.
 

They’re 100% necessary, ESPECIALLY in a caloric deficit.  
 

Sure, the bro on YouTube or tiktok is a “grinder” who doesn’t take days off.  Ok.  They may also be on god knows how much gear and also completely full of ****.

You need sleep, time and calories to adequately recover.  You’re already limiting one of those variables just by dieting. 
 

Plan those rest days and enjoy them.

4 hours ago, Sugashane said:

18. Don't compare yourself to others.

Or even your younger self.  Hormones are a thing and what you did 20 years ago isn’t relevant.

You’re not likely going to lose weight as fast, gain muscle, recover as quickly, have the same endurance, etc as you once did if you’re over 35 or so.

Personally speaking I’m 40 and probably as strong as I ever was as far as weights/reps, but my endurance isn’t the same and I don’t recover as quickly.  If I kick my *** in the gym I might feel it for the better part of a week for that muscle group.  Tendons and joints don’t take the punishment either.  I generally won’t lift heavy any longer because of the associated joint pain and risk of injury, it’s just not worth it to me.  
 

And all of this is ok.  I’m older.  It happens. 

[Sugashane]

6 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Or even your younger self.  Hormones are a thing and what you did 20 years ago isn’t relevant.

You’re not likely going to lose weight as fast, gain muscle, recover as quickly, have the same endurance, etc as you once did if you’re over 35 or so.

Personally speaking I’m 40 and probably as strong as I ever was as far as weights/reps, but my endurance isn’t the same and I don’t recover as quickly.  If I kick my *** in the gym I might feel it for the better part of a week for that muscle group.  Tendons and joints don’t take the punishment either.  I generally won’t lift heavy any longer because of the associated joint pain and risk of injury, it’s just not worth it to me.  
 

And all of this is ok.  I’m older.  It happens. 

This is where I struggle a lot, great point.

My weights are dropping but not as substantially as I feel. But I've had 3 ACL surgeries on the same knee. So my moves are slow and controlled, and even when I was doing Olympic lifts my intensity was meh at best. I beat myself up for being a coward about it but I finally realized I have lived over a year of my life on crutches. Why the hell would I risk that with no real benefit? My actual athletic days are over. I'm not going to be competing for real anymore and I'm not going to try to be the 'YMCA hero' either, I just want to be able to keep up with my boy as he is getting bigger. Kid doesn't know it yet but I'm 99% sure he can beat me in the 100m dash. I can get him in a 40 since my start is solid but he is just about to get where he can blow past me. That is gonna hurt. lol

That being said I do want to see if I can get to dunking again. I'm still close but I do so little explosive movements that my running jump is almost the same as my vertical, which feel ridiculous. As of right now I haven't done even real plyometrics in 5+ years, I'm just getting good at jumprope again and trying to not be so damn heavy legged. Figured that would be a solid first babystep to getting into jumps and explosive movements. I'm putting a 6 month window to get comfortable enough to get into plyos or I'm just chalking it up as a no-go.

 

[biggio7]

6 hours ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I'm not going to unilaterally say, "salt doesn't matter" - higher salt intake is associated with heart attack/stroke risk - but since @biggio7 hasn't noted that his blood pressure is out of line, I'd de-prioritize whether the protein is salty or not until the overall macros are more balanced. Some people have to watch salt intake like an absolute hawk. Most young people don't.

Yeah my bp has always been low. And, I only drink water. Milk occasionally. What do you all do for fruit, if you don't like fruit? I like bananas, apples, and honeydew. That's about it but I know I should eat more fruit.

[ramssuperbowl99]

Just now, biggio7 said:

Yeah my bp has always been low. And, I only drink water. Milk occasionally. What do you all do for fruit, if you don't like fruit? I like bananas, apples, and honeydew. That's about it but I know I should eat more fruit.

I eat very little fruit honestly - the major health benefits from fruit are the vitamins/minerals and the fiber they come with, and so I compensate by taking fiber and a vitamin to get the benefits without the downside of all the sugar. But frozen grapes are fantastic, maybe once a year I'll get a watermelon and eat it in like 2 days, strawberries and blueberries in greek yogurt if I get bored of it plain - which is basically never I'm a savage, and a couple bananas a week for the potassium, that's about it really.

[Sugashane]

43 minutes ago, biggio7 said:

Yeah my bp has always been low. And, I only drink water. Milk occasionally. What do you all do for fruit, if you don't like fruit? I like bananas, apples, and honeydew. That's about it but I know I should eat more fruit.

So I eat a stupid amount of tomatoes, I put them on sandwiches, salads, cook them into a lot of dinners, or just diced them up and each them with salt and pepper too. But for traditional fruits I find I really enjoy adding them in to my protein shakes. I use strawberries, cherries, kiwi, oranges, apples, bananas, peaches, mango, etc. I eat more bananas just because of price but when there are sales I will go ham on a few for a few days. There always seems to be 2-3 on sale so I just keep bouncing between them too often to get burnt out on any one fruit.

Lately my favorite go to has been True Nutrition's flavorless protein powder with two packets of lemonade flavoring, then whatever fruit I have on hand. Of course I throw my creatine in every one too, I take 5g regardless of bulking, cutting, or just on a deload. Oddly enough as much as I love grapes and granny smith apples, I thought both were disgusting when put into a shake.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 hour ago, Sugashane said:

This is where I struggle a lot, great point.

My weights are dropping but not as substantially as I feel. But I've had 3 ACL surgeries on the same knee. So my moves are slow and controlled, and even when I was doing Olympic lifts my intensity was meh at best. I beat myself up for being a coward about it but I finally realized I have lived over a year of my life on crutches. Why the hell would I risk that with no real benefit? My actual athletic days are over. I'm not going to be competing for real anymore and I'm not going to try to be the 'YMCA hero' either, I just want to be able to keep up with my boy as he is getting bigger. Kid doesn't know it yet but I'm 99% sure he can beat me in the 100m dash. I can get him in a 40 since my start is solid but he is just about to get where he can blow past me. That is gonna hurt. lol

That being said I do want to see if I can get to dunking again. I'm still close but I do so little explosive movements that my running jump is almost the same as my vertical, which feel ridiculous. As of right now I haven't done even real plyometrics in 5+ years, I'm just getting good at jumprope again and trying to not be so damn heavy legged. Figured that would be a solid first babystep to getting into jumps and explosive movements. I'm putting a 6 month window to get comfortable enough to get into plyos or I'm just chalking it up as a no-go.

 

I hear ya.

I have a ruptured disc in my back so I’m pretty cautious when it comes to squat and deadlift these days.  I see value in the exercises and don’t plan to stop doing them, but I keep things pretty light.  Squats actually cause more issues than deads, so I rarely go above 225. I just try to knock out 5-6 sets of 8-12 (depending on the day) and call it good.   Deads are the same, anywhere from 225-365 depending on the day, keep the reps at 5-8 and if ANYTHING feels off, move on and do something else.  It’s just not worth it.

Even bench has become more of an issue over the last couple of years.  I’m fine up to about 275 but anything higher and my elbows and shoulders don’t feel great.  So I just don’t. I’ll continue to try to hit 225 for as many reps as possible use that as my max nowadays.

Ive also noticed movement changes.  I don’t notice as much change in like jumping straight up and sprinting but lateral mobility is.. whew… lol.  I definitely don’t feel as quick or explosive as I used to when I’m playing basketball or in general.  Granted I’m not doing those things a lot, but the changes have been more noticeable there than say in the weight room.

It’s definitely not fun to realize your best days are behind you, but I just try to focus my goals elsewhere.  

[Sugashane]

23 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

I hear ya.

I have a ruptured disc in my back so I’m pretty cautious when it comes to squat and deadlift these days.  I see value in the exercises and don’t plan to stop doing them, but I keep things pretty light.  Squats actually cause more issues than deads, so I rarely go above 225. I just try to knock out 5-6 sets of 8-12 (depending on the day) and call it good.   Deads are the same, anywhere from 225-365 depending on the day, keep the reps at 5-8 and if ANYTHING feels off, move on and do something else.  It’s just not worth it.

Even bench has become more of an issue over the last couple of years.  I’m fine up to about 275 but anything higher and my elbows and shoulders don’t feel great.  So I just don’t. I’ll continue to try to hit 225 for as many reps as possible use that as my max nowadays.

Ive also noticed movement changes.  I don’t notice as much change in like jumping straight up and sprinting but lateral mobility is.. whew… lol.  I definitely don’t feel as quick or explosive as I used to when I’m playing basketball or in general.  Granted I’m not doing those things a lot, but the changes have been more noticeable there than say in the weight room.

It’s definitely not fun to realize your best days are behind you, but I just try to focus my goals elsewhere.  

I've been lucky enough not to get a real back injury. Did switch to sumo deads since I felt like I was getting a grinding when I was doing conventional deads. Have you tried front squats? Or one-and-a-half squats? Weight is way lower but the TUT is great, makes for a hell of an intensity technique.

I have some McDavid knee sleeves and wear them on my arms for pressing. The elbow sleeves feel like they give a little better support at the bottom of the reps but I feel like I get better overall compression from the knee sleeves. They keep the joints warmer too.

Part of it is the weight gain. I was a 'huge' WR at 220ish lbs in college. Well I almost got over 100lbs over that. While I'm only 45 pound higher now, that is a lot when we haven't been keeping the same movement patterns. My ankles and feet hurt when I started running routes again, and since I can't sink into my routes I put even more stress on the lower joints. Ugh. But you might be in the same kind of boat. I'm hoping I can figure a way to get more athletic training back into my workouts. Could really get into a Juggernaut system that is more "in-season" or even go back to the WS4SB. That's what my oldest two are doing.

For sure. Reality is often pretty bitter. But I look at where I was in Jan of 2021 and I'm pretty damn happy. Now I'm just hoping I can keep the kiddos improving but not let them be reckless about their fitness like I was about mine. Train more like Jay Cutler than Ronnie Coleman, so to speak. Now I am trying to essentially be George DeFranco when I'm 70.

 

 

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

Just now, Sugashane said:

I've been lucky enough not to get a real back injury. Did switch to sumo deads since I felt like I was getting a grinding when I was doing conventional deads. Have you tried front squats? Or one-and-a-half squats? Weight is way lower but the TUT is great, makes for a hell of an intensity technique.

I do front squats.  They’re great because you don’t need as much weight.  I don’t have great mobility in my arms so I rest the bar on my delts and then my delts are sore for a couple days.  It’s obv not a big deal, but I’m a wimp at times and the idea of having sore delts sometimes is enough to skip them lol

Just now, Sugashane said:

I have some McDavid knee sleeves and wear them on my arms for pressing. The elbow sleeves feel like they give a little better support at the bottom of the reps but I feel like I get better overall compression from the knee sleeves. They keep the joints warmer too.

I probably should invest in some equipment like that.  Knee and elbow sleeves, etc.. I don’t use much, no belt, just straps really.

Just now, Sugashane said:

Part of it is the weight gain. I was a 'huge' WR at 220ish lbs in college. Well I almost got over 100lbs over that. While I'm only 45 pound higher now, that is a lot when we haven't been keeping the same movement patterns. My ankles and feet hurt when I started running routes again, and since I can't sink into my routes I put even more stress on the lower joints. Ugh. But you might be in the same kind of boat. I'm hoping I can figure a way to get more athletic training back into my workouts. Could really get into a Juggernaut system that is more "in-season" or even go back to the WS4SB. That's what my oldest two are doing.

I’m pretty lucky in that I have no leg pain of any kind really, so maybe I just need or quit being such a lazy *** and go play more basketball.

Just now, Sugashane said:

For sure. Reality is often pretty bitter. But I look at where I was in Jan of 2021 and I'm pretty damn happy. Now I'm just hoping I can keep the kiddos improving but not let them be reckless about their fitness like I was about mine. Train more like Jay Cutler than Ronnie Coleman, so to speak.

That’s my whole thing.  I want to be able to compete with my kids, be involved and active and show them the right way to do things.  My dad wasn’t into weightlifter and I was sorta self taught for a long time. So you start reading **** like Muscle and Fitness and doing the nonsense in there and you develop some stupid habits.  Knowledge about exercise and fitness has come a long way and views have shifted a lot.  I also think transparency about gear has come a long way too, especially the fake natties.

[vike daddy]

good discussion, guys. heartening to see everyone offering help to others.

[BobbyPhil1781]

22 hours ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I'm not going to unilaterally say, "salt doesn't matter" - higher salt intake is associated with heart attack/stroke risk - but since @biggio7 hasn't noted that his blood pressure is out of line, I'd de-prioritize whether the protein is salty or not until the overall macros are more balanced. Some people have to watch salt intake like an absolute hawk. Most young people don't.

A very valid point. I guess my underlying cause of stating this as much as I have is that I wasn't warned of the dangers of excessive sodium. I'm maybe overweight according to some charts and maybe not but I was just funneling sodium into my body when I was younger as I didn't know any better. Tony Chachere's is literally the greatest seasoning ever made and I will die on this hill lol. I wasn't going to the Dr every year b/c I was in my 20s and frankly, didn't care as I felt fine. Well, I went in for my ~5 year visit and my BP was extremely high and it's taken years to get off the medication I was put on. Guess I'm just trying to spread knowledge that might not be known to some lol. I was pumped when Doc told me I didn't have to take it any longer during my annual earlier this year and this is w/ someone who has white coat syndrome.