FatFatFatFat to FitFitFitFit

[FatFatFatFat]

I've been thinking of a memory of mine a lot lately. It happened back when I was in high school, which somehow already was more than a decade ago, and I got a high grade on a test. This was a pretty rare occurrence since I was an awful student and barely graduated. I get this A on a test and excitedly wait for my mom to get home from work to tell her. As she walks through the door I proudly display my big achievement to her and she says, "Good job! Now you just need to lose some weight."

That's just the kind of person she was and as an adult I've often wondered if I had been in shape and more attractive growing up if she would've been nicer to me, more proud of me, loved me more. Regardless, that idea that nothing really matters as long as you're still fat is something that I can't get out of my head. I think of myself as a fairly successful person. I turned around my academics after high school and ended up not only finishing my undergrad degree but graduating with honors from one of the 40 best business schools in the US. I have a great career, work at one of the 3 biggest companies listed on earth, and make more money that I really know what to do with.

But.

I'm still fat. Trying and failing time and time again at the one thing I want more than anything; to make some numbers on a scale go down.


I'm on Day #9 of attempt 18,568,17,561,456 and so far here's what I've done:

• I've lifted weights 8 out of 9 days.
• I've fasted at least 16 hours every day
• I've basically cut out all soda/juice/milk/all non-water liquids.

I've also somehow managed to lose 0LBS in the last 9 days. Which is pretty disheartening to say the least. I'm hoping it's just added water weight from the exercising or the creatine supplements but either way I think I have to get more serious. So here's what I'm adding to the plan:

1. Starting Thursday all my meals will be prepared by a meal prep service. I'll be eating 2-3 meals a day that average 400-500 calories each and contain zero added sugars as well as no dairy.
2. Starting tomorrow I'll be adding in 30 minutes morning cardio in addition to my after work weight lifting.
3. I'm going to go from 16:8 intermittent fasting to 18:6 which I started today.

So, yea hopefully this time things are different.

Anyway starting stats: 31/M 6'0 260lbs

 

[Err2]

Welcome, you're off to a good start. Aside from the creatine/water weight, if you're just starting to lift you've probably built some muscle to offset some of your fat loss.

Before you do any exercise your body should be burning about 2600 calories a day so consuming just 1200-1500 calories may be tough to maintain if the meals are not particularly satiating. The risk with being hungry is fatiguing your willpower and ultimately binge eating more calories than you planned to save. You can definitely eat 1200 calories and feel full all day if you pick the right foods (basically tons of low calorie dense foods like vegetables), but I'm not sure a meal service will have those types of meals in mind.

The other thing to watch out for with a large calorie deficit is the risk of your body excessively cannibalizing muscle:

I don't know your body fat % but most 6'1" men weighing 260 lbs have at least 60 lb of body fat so they can afford a maximum calorie deficit of between 1320 and 1860 calories per day (depending on whether you use Alpert's original estimate of 31 or his later revision to 22 calories per pound of body fat). So depending on how much body fat you have and how much exercise you're doing, you may be pretty close to hitting this limit consuming 1200-1500 calories.

What's wrong with losing a little muscle, you might ask? It'll contribute to metabolic adaptation which can make it more difficult to ultimately keep the weight off. The strength training you're doing will definitely help prevent this as long as you do get enough calories.''

Anyway, that's probably a lot to unpack, but it is something you might start looking into in the days & weeks ahead. You've already done the hardest part by getting started so kudos to you.

 

[FatFatFatFat]

Welcome, you're off to a good start. Aside from the creatine/water weight, if you're just starting to lift you've probably built some muscle to offset some of your fat loss.

Before you do any exercise your body should be burning about 2600 calories a day so consuming just 1200-1500 calories may be tough to maintain if the meals are not particularly satiating. The risk with being hungry is fatiguing your willpower and ultimately binge eating more calories than you planned to save. You can definitely eat 1200 calories and feel full all day if you pick the right foods (basically tons of low calorie dense foods like vegetables), but I'm not sure a meal service will have those types of meals in mind.

Hey! I just got done binge reading your diary and it inspired me to schedule a DEXA scan.

I think I'm around 38% bf right according to my bathroom scale but who knows how accurate that is. The meal service definitely markets itself as one centered around fitness, weight loss, and tracking macros. Feel free to check it out here -> (Link removed) at the very least it'll take a lot of guess work/decision fatigue around deciding what to eat every day.

I mapped out what a typical day of eating would look like and if my BMR between 3000 and 3500 a day with the exercise I think I should be good. The protein numbers could be better but I figure there's no need to prematurely optimize my macros.



Plus I was a power lifter in high school so I feel like between the muscle memory/newb gains, in the first few months at least, I'll be putting on lean mass even at a deficit.

 

[Llama]

That's just the kind of person she was and as an adult I've often wondered if I had been in shape and more attractive growing up if she would've been nicer to me, more proud of me, loved me more.

Short answer: no. If that was what she was like she just would've found something else to criticize.

Plus I was a power lifter in high school so I feel like between the muscle memory/newb gains, in the first few months at least, I'll be putting on lean mass even at a deficit.

It's possible to slowly gain a little muscle mass while in a slight deficit, especially when your body still carries a lot of excess fat, but at a 2,000 kcal/day (between your basic needs and the extra exercise) deficit? Probably not. 125 g of protein at your size would be about enough if you were eating enough calories but as it is your body will likely burn some of it for extra energy.
Could you try logging those meals into a tracker app (cronometer or myfitnesspal for example) along with your stats and see what it says, just for some objective outside perspective?

 

[Trusylver]

I think I'm around 38% bf right according to my bathroom scale

These types of scales a notoriously inaccurate but I will work from this number as a starting point

your BMR is 1947 (Katch-McArdle equations)
Protein needs = 130 grams
TDEE - 2336 calories (assuming sedentary) + exercise
A powerlifting training session uses a lot less calories than you may think, only count the time actually lifting, calculating calories used per training session rather than as part of the TDEE calculation. 400 calories per hour of actual lifting in the high end.

I am unsure what your goal is in taking creating during a calorie deficit, as studies have shown no benefit to body composition during calorie restriction. I will also ad that your intake of steak will keep your muscle saturated naturally. (2.3 grams of creatine per pound although herring is higher than this at 4.5 grams)

3000 and 3500 a day with the exercise

If your consuming 3000 calories and do 1 hour of lifting then you would be eating just under 300 calories above maintenance which equals no fat loss. 2500 calories should see a slow fat loss whilst maintaining the muscle have.

 

[overlandflyer]

smiling a bit at the title to your post. i agree that fat and thin are opposites, but i would argue that the opposite of fat isn't always fit. i knew a few people in my lifetime who were thin but were sorely out of shape. good luck to you..!

 

[FatFatFatFat]

A powerlifting training session uses a lot less calories than you may think, only count the time actually lifting, calculating calories used per training session rather than as part of the TDEE calculation. 400 calories per hour of actual lifting in the high end.

This time around I'm focusing on hypertrophy training rather than power lifting so hopefully the higher rep ranges and less rest between sets help burn more calories.

If your consuming 3000 calories and do 1 hour of lifting then you would be eating just under 300 calories above maintenance which equals no fat loss. 2500 calories should see a slow fat loss whilst maintaining the muscle have.

I think you misread my post I said if I'm burning 3000 calories a day not consuming. I'm planning on eating around 1400 calories per day which should give me a calorie deficit between 1000 - 1500 I believe.

Could you try logging those meals into a tracker app (cronometer or myfitnesspal for example) along with your stats and see what it says, just for some objective outside perspective?

Sure, he's what MFP recommends I should be eating to lose 2lbs a week, which is 200-300 more than what I'm planning now. There calories burned from workouts seems kinda high though at 570 calories per day.

 

[FatFatFatFat]

The hardest part of losing weight for me has always been the decision fatigue that comes with food. Constantly having to figure out if...

• Am I actually hungry or just bored?
• Am I hungry enough to eat or can it wait?
• What should I eat?
• Can I track it accurately in MFP?
• How much of it should I eat?

These issues are compounded by the fact that I'm not a very good cook and absolutely hate doing it so I'm often reliant on take out for many my meals. Eventually I get so exhausted constantly thinking about food that I give up and go back to eating whatever I want whenever I want.

That's why this time around I'm doing 18:6 intermittent fasting since that'll help answer the question of when to eat. It's also why I'm going with the meal prep service so that I won't have to decide what to eat. Taking those choices out of my hands really lowers my stress level.

However till that starts on Thursday I've still got to figure out what to eat over the next three days. Today when I break my fast at 1pm I'm going with Chipotle who offer a decent nutrition calculator on their website. It's hard to stay under 1000 calories but if you skip the cheese, guac, and sour cream it's doable.

 

[Llama]

My solution for "lazy" meals is generally to have half a portion and add a quick salad to still get full. That may be helpful with the meal service meals as well, should they turn out to be not very filling.

 

[Trusylver]

I think you misread my post I said if I'm burning 3000 calories a day not consuming. I'm planning on eating around 1400 calories per day which should give me a calorie deficit between 1000 - 1500 I believe.

with this kind of deficit you will lose muscle and certainly won't see the newbie gains in muscle growth, loosing quickly may be motivating for a while however, slower is usually better in the long run.

 

[FatFatFatFat]

Did this lower body workout today and decided to record it on my Apple Watch

• Front Squat 4x5
• Hang Cleans 3x8
• Leg Extension 4x12
  • Superset: Calf Raises 4x15
• Hamstring Curls 3x8

I think next time I want to add either deadlifts or hip thrusts and definitely go heavier but this is my 2nd leg workout so still figuring it all out.

 

[FatFatFatFat]

I woke up this morning and decided to jump on the scale to check my progress.

264.1

I've somehow gained 4lbs in the last 11 days where I've exercised 10/11 days, watched what I ate, and fasted at least 16 hours each day. What's actually kind of funny is over the last two or three years I've lost roughly 10ish pounds a year while eating whatever I want and being almost completely sedentary.

I don't get what's happening. I don't know this isn't working. And it sucks to feel like you've got no control over your body.

 

[Llama]

If you ate below maintenance you can not have gained fat. That´s how simple it is. Especially not 4.1 lbs in two days. However working out hard for 10/11 days if you hardly worked out before can give you pretty massive water retention. And I´m told Chipotle tends to be very high in sodium (no idea, it doesn´t exist here), which also leads to water retention. I´d say drink plenty of water today and tomorrow and weigh yourself again the day after tomorrow. That´s when your meal service starts, right?

 

[FatFatFatFat]

If you ate below maintenance you can not have gained fat. That´s how simple it is. Especially not 4.1 lbs in two days. However working out hard for 10/11 days if you hardly worked out before can give you pretty massive water retention. And I´m told Chipotle tends to be very high in sodium (no idea, it doesn´t exist here), which also leads to water retention. I´d say drink plenty of water today and tomorrow and weigh yourself again the day after tomorrow. That´s when your meal service starts, right?

It starts on Thursday but yea it's probably just water weight. I think I might just start weighing myself daily, I wanted to avoid that because I get really discourage when I don't see progress but maybe I'm missing out on seeing results by only weighing myself every few days.

 

[Llama]

The good news is: you´re unlikely to start retaining more water than you´re doing right now, so you´re likely to be down a bit again my tomorrow. If you are thinking of weighing yourself every day there´s a thread for that: Weigh Yourself Everyday Club . It may also be interesting just to browse through to see how much other people fluctuate on the daily. Weighing yourself every day can be frustrating and if you know you tend to get obsessive (I watched a video a while back of a guy who said he´d throw up before weighing himself just to get the lowest possible number!) it´s not a good idea. But as you say it can also gives you new insights into the workings of your body. Different strokes for different folks!

 

[FatFatFatFat]

It's been nine hours since I weighed in and I'm still angry about it. It's literally all I've thought about today.

11 god damned days of fasting, dieting, and weight lifting and not only have I not lost a pound I'm actually fucking four pounds heavier!? I mean how is that even possible!!

The worst part is there's nothing I can really do about it. Maybe add some cardio or restrict how much/when I eat but really what I'm doing should be more than enough. I spend a lot of time on reddit reading posts from people who cut out soda, took a 15 minute walk around their neighborhood, and lost 15lbs in a month.

I just need a sign that I'm not wasting my time. That if I stick to this eventually I'll see some results. Why is this so fucking hard?

 

[Err2]

Weight fluctuations can be very frustrating, I know. I've been at a 1000 calorie deficit (or greater) every day for over a year and I've had a few 2-week plateaus - the longest being 19 days at the end of last February despite never having consumed more than 1500 calories in a day:



During those weeks I'm pulling my hair & cursing the gods, but when I step back and look at the bigger picture those seemingly huge bumps and long plateaus look rather small - the overall trend looks pretty smooth.

I just need a sign that I'm not wasting my time. That if I stick to this eventually I'll see some results. Why is this so fucking hard?

Here's a B-school cliche for ya

More seriously, I find that I'm less prone to be 'fooled by randomness' if I measure other things besides just weight (inches, weight or reps lifted, performance times, etc). Most days I'm at or near a new record in *something.* I'm actually on a small plateau right now, but just ran my best mile...

I'll also second Lama's observation that strenuous exercise causes short term weight gain. I normally burn 300-400 extra calories in daily exercise, but here are some examples of more grueling days:

July 14 323.4 (burned 3100 extra calories hiking crawling up Lassen Peak)
July 15 323.0
July 16 326.6
July 17 327.0
July 18 326.0
July 19 325.2
July 20 323.8


October 31 273.4 (burned 1622 extra calories hiking Lassen Peak)
November 1 271.8
November 2 274.2
November 3 270.8
November 4 269.8
November 5 268.2
November 6 267.6


December 3 255.4 (burned 1230 extra calories on long bike ride)
December 4 255.6
December 5 255.4
December 6 258.2
December 7 255.2
December 8 253.2
December 9 252.0


January 1 244.4 (went snowshoeing & burned an extra 1350 calories)
January 2 245.2
January 3 246.2
January 4 246.6
January 5 244.6
January 6 243.4
January 7 241.4

 

[FatFatFatFat]

Thank you all for encouragement.

I woke up today and weighed in at 265.8lbs, at this point I don't even what to do. I'm genuinely worried that if I keep trying to lose weight I'm going to end up much heavier than I already was.

 

[Llama]

Have you been counting calories at all so far or are you guessing?

 

[FatFatFatFat]

I haven't written here in a week or so but I also haven't given up. I've still been fasting 20 hours a day, eating below 1800 calories a day, and lifting 5-6 times a week and finallllyyy I'm starting to see some progress



I'm still 4lbs heavier than I was when I started but at least the trend is in the right direction. I'm still struggling to fit in any cardio because I genuinely hate it so much but eventually I want to add that to my program as well as fasting 24hrs on some day of the week.