new asking for help

Brent Loewen

Brent Loewen

New member
Trusylver said:
First time members looking for help often do not provide enough information in their post for others to provide meaningful help.

List of information that will help other members help you.

Any medical conditions which may have an impact on weight loss or ability to exercise. Usually medical conditions will be best sorted out by seeing your medical practitioner.

Age and sex
Weight (be sure to mention whether it is in lb or kg)
Height (for BMI calculation)
Bodyfat % (a better guide to obesity levels and calculating nutrition information if available)

What your current diet looks like (food, calories and macro information if possible)

current exercise (type, frequency, duration)


remember, just saying "i am fat, help me loose weight" will not provide enough information to get the answer you want.
Click to expand...


Alright, first time entry.

46 years old, male - 6'3. Weighed 232 at the start of January. Weighed in at 216 today. Goal is 205 by March 1. Things going well.

Major improvements: (1) cut out alcohol (was drinking WAY too much and now feel so good); (2) kept calories in 1,600 to 1,800 per day range - 100 grams protein +, little or no "white carbs"; and (3) I do something active after 8 p.m. Sometimes tennis or soccer. Sometimes a walk around the 'hood.

I workout every day at the gym. 20 - 35 minutes hard cardio -that's the easy bit. 20 minutes-ish weights but i'm all over the place when it comes to pumping iron. Usually revert to chest, arms and some lunges. i then get bored and create animal shapes on the floor with the droplets of sweat as they fall off my face :/

How does one get focused on weight training???
 
Sounds like you've made a great start!

Getting focused on weight training depends a lot on your goals. Do you have specific goals?
 
Hi Brent,
Good work so far! Strength training is definitively the way to go (particularly for us middle aged guys) when losing weight. You could start by splitting your week so you do strength training on a different day to cardio rather than at the same time. A good place to start is with some big compound movements, they provide the best 'bang for your buck' meaning that they'll work multiple muscle groups and focus on primary movements of the body (pushing, pulling etc) i.e the natural way your body moves. You'll likely be able to move the most weight doing these exercises too and less chance of getting any injury. Start by incorporating squats, rows, deadlift, chest press and some type of overhead press. There's also a lot of variations of these and various types of weights to use, powerbag, dumbbells, barbell etc. Try them all and see which you're more comfortable with. This can a big difference to a lot of exercises in terms of whether you can stick with it. I like to use powerbag a lot because you can throw them around without breaking stuff, or yourself! Strength training is a different mindset to cardio so focus on slowing down and getting the right technique and you'll find it really rewarding. Particularly if you're already happy doing cardio, people usually love strength training and hate cardio! Hope that helps a bit. Good luck buddy
 
Hey! I really appreciate the time you spent responding.

I am definitely going to follow your advice.

Thank you.

Brent
 
Hey Cory.

Main goal is to get rid of the spare tire and back fat which I accumulated over the past year. I weighed in at 212 lbs this a.m. and the back fat and spare tire are almost gone. I would like to get down to 200 - 205 lbs and hope to do that by the first week of March. So, that is my "goal", as artificial as it may be.

I don't have any strength goals, per se. I would like to crush 10 consecutive pull-ups by the summer. I know I could not do one pull-up last summer at 230 and I haven't tried one since :)
 
No problem hope it helps. I had the same problem with pull ups when I started, I.e not being able to do one. I did lat pull downs for a while but soon found the best way to progress quickly was moving my own bodyweight as much as possible so I switched to chin ups (which most people find easier) and still works the back and lats (and bicep) as it's primarily a pulling movement. Once you've done your max (even if it's only one) just try continuing for another 10 reps or 60 seconds doing just the negative part of the movement. I.e jumping up and then controlling the descent back down as slow as possible (all the way down!). The negative part of any movement is as important as the positive and by getting used to moving your own weight you'll see quick progression, especially as you're also shedding pounds. If you have access to an assisted pull up station they're also handy, just try not to fall in to the trap of being too assisted! You'll be doing full pull ups in no time
 
Generally speaking, getting rid of the spare tire and back fat will be about losing the extra weight. Diet is 80% of that. That being said, I would NEVER discourage someone from trying to get more active and definitely not from trying to build strength. I would say it's important not to focus exclusively on one area of the body. Muscle imbalances are an outcome of that and can be a huge problem. MiddleAgedShred has given some solid advice for strengthening the back in order to do pull ups. I would just advise that you not forget about your abs, quads, chest, and hamstrings in pursuit of the pushups. If you want help setting up a reasonably balanced program, feel free to message me.

I would also recommend you checked out the Weight Loss Diaries subforum. It tends to be the most active and there are some great people in there.
 
So true re diet. Just about ordered a large pizza for myself tonight. First strong food craving I’ve had since I started eating healthy. Narrowly resisted

Thanks for the great tips. I have zero abs so huge point to work on.
 
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