41 YO, 220lbs, Seeking Fat Loss Advice

You’re right, but 5 x 5 might not resonate with OP, which may cause noncompliance. There are several things out there for beginners to get into lifting and they should find something that keeps them interested and engaged. I can say that, for myself, SL 5 x 5 didn’t work because I was bored to death with it.

@s79 - Do you know what type of training you enjoy the most?

Also, will I get the banhammer for linking to a Muscle & Strength article? A lot of their stuff is pretty hokey but they have one full-body article with a few good programs. T-nation has good stuff as well, but would need to know more about what OP likes before linking anything.

Edit: Here’s an alternative that you might like

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@biker and @garagerocker13, do you reduce your calorie count on the days you fast as well or not necessarily? If so, by how much?
Thanks

You kinda work backwards and use fasting to help compliance to your diet. It drops hunger, and in your case with IBS, may help mitigate some of the symptoms that you experience when you eat more fruits and vegetables. I don’t really track food, but I do plan what I eat to an extent. Granted, I’ve been doing this for almost a decade, so it’s pretty automatic now. At the beginning, I planned pretty meticulously and burned myself out.

What may be good for you is to cook up enough meat to hit 180g protein a day, then plan to have 1-2 servings of fruit, 2-4 servings of non-starchy veggies, 1-2 servings of starchy veggies, and maybe 1 serving of grain a day. A serving would be about a cup, or for apples/potatoes/things like that, one piece. Combine that into 2 meals that sound good to you, don’t douse them in fatty sauces, and you should be in good shape. Maybe avoid super fatty ground beef/steak and certain pork roasts as well. Other meat is fair game, as is Greek yogurt/cottage cheese. If you need something sweet, have a piece of fruit, dark chocolate or something after a meal. Keep your grains whole (100% whole wheat) if you have any at all.

Generally, avoid processed food as much as possible - there’s a lot of salt and a lot of calories for not a lot of hunger satiation. It may be hard the first week or 2, but after that you’ll adjust and feel much better. Compliance will be easier after that.

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Just to give an example, this week’s menu:

5 potatoes - diced, light olive oiled, roasted
5 cups vegetables - sauteed in 1 Tbsp butter
5 pounds chicken - teriyaki/pineapple marinated and baked
4 pounds ground beef - taco seasoned and sloppy joe seasoned
2 packages romaine and spring mix
2 large zucchini - sauteed in light olive oil
1 bag large carrots - light olive oil and roasted
1 lb fish
Apples
Mango
Bananas
Pineapple
Plain Greek Yogurt
Blueberry/Vanilla Skyr
Skim Milk

My wife and I cooked for 4 hours on Sunday and knocked all of this out. We microwave things before we eat them (other than fish - that’s fresh cooked) and lunch/dinner prep and cleanup take us 10 minutes total. My lunch today is 1/2 lb ground beef (sloppy joe), 1-ish cup potato, 1 cup sauteed veggies, a few pieces of mango, and 16 oz skim milk. The mango comes after as something to quell my sweet tooth.

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@garagerocker13 - I enjoy weight training. BTW - what does OP stand for? I’m thinking either obese people, old people, or other people…LOL.

Anyway, I do enjoy weight training quite a bit actually. I lifted hard in college - usually 6 days a week and loved it. For the 10K steps, I enjoy walking - I actually used to do triathlons, and really enjoy biking and swimming too; also tennis. None of those are actually LISS though and tend to cause my hunger to skyrocket, along with out of control calorie consumption…

Thanks for your thoughtful replies, sir. I sincerely appreciate it!

This is very helpful in terms of meal planning. Once COVID is over I’ll be back to traveling (1-2 nights/week) for work, so that makes it a little trickier. Thanks again,

OP = original poster = s79 = you. haha

What sort of weight training do you like most? Do you like pushing strength with low reps, pushing for the pump with higher reps, or doing more cross-training with circuits and things?

I totally understand with the strenuous hobbies - I coached table tennis at a local university, which is essentially 2 hours of agility drills…not conducive to big squats or healthy eating. Those aren’t bad hobbies, just get back into them in stages rather than doing 2 hours your first day back.

I feel your pain here, I was gone 60% of my time through 2016-2018. I kept my weight down by staying active and fasting made it harder to screw up nutritionally. If you’re only having to worry about 2 meals, you can be a little more tactful.

Lots of good advice. One thing to add:

Find an approach that resonates with you and you’ll stick to it. For example, if you hated to swim you wouldn’t choose a conditioning program that has you swimming 25 laps a day. By the same logic, if you hate weighing food, don’t rely on a program that has you weigh all of your food.

My advice: increase your NEPA (non-exercise physical activity) and eat only whole, real foods.

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Original Poster is way nicer than anything I was thinking!  HAHAHA!

I would say I enjoy med-low reps with relatively high weight. I think the 5x5 might be a good fit.
Thanks again for the great help

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No. Just watch what you eat. I tend to estimate my calories at meal time, not the best method.

@s79 Did you sign up for MFP? Did you get any steps in yesterday or so far today? Have you had a training session? If you didn’t count calories yesterday were you mindful of what you ate? What steps have you taken toward your goal of 180lbs?

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@throwawayfitness man I really appreciate the accountability! Please keep doing that - SERIOUSLY.

To answer your questions, yes! I’m on MFP and yesterday I ate 2430 calories, with 216g of protein, 231 carbs, and 84 fat.

I got in 9600 steps yesterday - but won’t let it be under 10K again - I got a walk in over lunch for 5100 today and will do it again this evening.

I downloaded 5x5 and did the first workout yesterday - it’s been awhile since I’ve done squats so walking hurts quite a bit today:)

Thanks again for the accountability, my brother. I sincerely appreciate it.

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congrats on taking action.

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If you start a log over in the training section, I’m sure plenty of people will drop by to give you pointers and keep you accountable.

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@s79 It’s been a week, everything on track?

Thanks again for the accountability. Yes. I’ve done at least 10k steps everyday. Been doing 5x5. Eating 2500 with recommended macros- there’s a couple of days where I ate slightly more because I was very hungry. Other days I’ve ate less.
My weight is the exact same week over week which is frustrating. However I “feel” thinner and so am expecting pounds to start dropping. If not, how much do you think I should reduce caloric intake?

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congrats on making progress and working toward your goal

Are you hydrated? A gallon of water per day?

You are lifting and walking more than you were. The body responds to the micro tears and inflammation with a temporary water weight gain. It’s a healing response.

That stress and micro-tearing damage to the muscle fibers induces water retention in the body. It goes away after several weeks.

You are not obese. You will be doing well to lose .5-1lb per week. It is not linear. You may see two weeks of nothing then drop 1.5 or 2 lbs.

To get over that frustration I’d take weekly measurements and enter them in the appropriate place in MFP. You are going to lose inches quicker than you lose pounds. Also a weekly set of progress pics. front, side, back. not flexing, same pose, underwear only, no shirt.

It hasn’t even been two weeks yet I would not reduce the calorie intake until 30 days have gone by. Compare measurements, pics and weight then decide.

What’s your user name on MFP?

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This is golden advice here. If s79 was 300 pounds, then yes, weight should be dropping quick. But at 220, it should be more gradual and should be visible before weight starts dropping. Plus, there’s a big increase in protein and lifting, so there’s likely a concurrent fat reduction and muscle increase. The holy grail.

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If we call you a 14 (cals/lb/d), and you are really averaging 2500 cals/d of intake, you should be dropping about 1 lb/week. Of course, fluctuations (mainly due to hydration status) of 1 or even 2% of BW are not uncommon, so daily weights are expected to undulate. But tracked week over week, the trend line should be unequivocally downward, with a slope of about 1 lb/week.

None. Instead, you should take an honest accounting re how many cals you’re actually consuming, because it will be closer to 3000 than 2500.

Thanks ejones. I do drink a gallon/day. I like your suggestions about measurements and pics. I’ll start doing that as well.

My username in MFP is sochs1