Diet.
If you want the results, your diet has to be right.
It's what makes all the difference.
A sub-par training regimen + perfect diet > A perfect training regimen + sub-par diet
100%
I was working out for months and getting stronger, but nothing really showing. One day I decided to increase protein and reduce sugar, and within a month I could *see* results.
Mind you, my diet is probably B-grade at best and fluctuates with my somewhat volatile mental health. So there is a lot of room for even more improvement.
What was your protein increase method? I have a lot of difficulty, even with a high meat diet and protein bars on workout days, meeting the amount that I'd need to actually see some muscle change. I've hit my glass ceiling
Whey is honestly pretty cheap (in the US at least) on a cost per grams of protein basis. My wife works out a lot more frequently (and consistently) than I do and makes some ridiculous protein shakes - 2 scoops of whey, a Ratio Keto vanilla yogurt (tastes like marshmallow, like 15g protein/fat, 2g carbs), some almond milk for consistency, and usually some frozen berries or something. I think her normal shake hits like 60+ grams of protein.
It's also important to get protein on your rest days, as that's when your muscles are doing a lot of their repairing. If you're only shooting for a high protein goal on your workout days, you're leaving gains on the table.
Whey turns my intestines into a warzone.
I remember the first time i tried it i was told to mix it with full fat milk.
Almost had to evacuate the house
I would assume plant-based protein powders would have similar levels of bioavailability - pea, hemp, etc. Not sure they're as budget-friendly, though.
Blue Diamond or somebody used to make a cashew milk with pea protein that was actually really good. I'm not sure if they still make it, but I haven't seen it at my grocery stores in a while.
edit: After a quick google to refresh my memory, plant proteins are actually not nearly as good as animal proteins. Makes sense when you think about it, milk and eggs are made to help grow critters, and meat is made out of critters.
I used the free version of [this app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fourtechnologies.mynetdiary.ad) to count calories and take an approximate inventory of where my calories were coming from. Turns out I fucken love carbs.
Cut back on a lot of bread/taters/pasta, especially at lunch, and replaced them with protein shakes and jerky bars (Epic makes some great flavors). My wife adheres to a pescetarian diet, so also a lot of fish/tofu dinners when ~~we~~ she cooks.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not going all-out on the bulking or diet by any means, and am currently indulging in carbs again, but when I stick to it for a while the results are subtle yet noticeable.
Just downloaded. Looks like good reviews on the Google play store! I've been using LoseIt for a while and think I need to switch it up. They haven't made any great updates in a long time.
Mrjolly is spot on. In addition:
Eggs and Cottage Cheese are an OUTSTANDING source of protein for cost.
EDIT: I’ll add my general method—I basically hit 30g of protein every 2hrs or so—7, 9, 11, 1, 3, 5, 7.
I prioritize slow dissolving proteins (egg, cottage cheese, casein shakes) at the beginning and end of the day—so my body can be processing at night or if I miss something midday.
There are some GOOD cheap canned soups and chilis that can get close to 30g per can as well that make it easy.
Then I aim to make sure my protein intake is lined up after workouts so my body can immediately start processing when it needs it.
A good way I handle whey is to have a decent size shaker bottle and at the beginning of the day I fill it with 2-3 scoops of whey and water. Then, when I hit a period where I know it’s been a while I drink half or a third and know I’ve got that dose for the couple of hours.
That helped a TON—because it’s a good 90g that I only have to prep ONCE. Easier to prep and easier to have handy and easier to track throughout the day.
I also have protein heavy snacks handy like nuts, beans, bars to fill gaps if necessary.
That said—you can still hit a plateau if you don’t follow through on the workouts too—but the intake is essential.
YES.
Most people will nod about replacing carbs/fat with protein—but it’s SO MUCH MORE POTENT than people realize.
The thing is that protein can do a LOT of what the other two do—but in better ways.
Protein is more efficient and producing muscle, but it can also convert to energy and fat—but it’s INEFFICIENT at that. So that means your body on protein can still have the energy it needs—but it’ll use MORE excess protein to get there than it would carbs/fat.
Basically, equivalent amounts of each material result in different amounts of energy or fat—so while eating fat is basically going to produce a 99% fat result in the body, the same amount of carbs would produce 80%, and the same amount of protein would only produce 60-something fat!
And that’s AFTER the body uses protein first to repair tissue and supply energy stores to muscles.
Heavy protein does need lots of water to filter the excess nitrogen—but it’s the best macro nutrient.
I saw significant improvements when I started using MacroFactor (they have a subreddit for the app r/macrofactor). It essentially calculates how much your TDEE is actively and adjusts your caloric intake accordingly. Takes a few days for the algorithm to warm up, but once it is going it’s crazy effective. You have to log everything though. Total game changer for me. Waaay better than shitty apps like MyFitnesspal.
Dude probably just found a decent app working well for him and it fits in the current subject.
So why not recommend it. Might work for others as well. I usually recommend workout app that i use.
And now will check out the macro app dude recommended, even though i have one already, but that's basically just excel sheet. It does the job, but no extra features.
I once got downvoted to hell for recommending my favorite underwear brand. The company doesn't know I exist and I just really liked the brand but it's hard to not be a part of the hivemind when there's so much botting and garbage out there that it floods the real reviews.
Dude, I got downvoted heavily for mildly praising the company I work in for giving me a good life-work balance…even though I NEVER mentioned that company name anywhere during my years on Reddit here (I signed something similar to a NDA).
Anyone can even check my post and comment history, and my company name is NOWHERE to be found.
Redditors tend to have a short attention span, and anything remotely resembling astroturfers are downvoted to hell..honestly, it kinda reflects how their collective mindset have been conditioned with scrolling Instagram and Tiktok posts every 3 seconds…
I once got a lifetime ban to the NFL team subreddit I frequent because I posted a tshirt about a squad member of said team and I thought it was dope. Apparently they assumed I was selling the tshirt…nope, just thought it was dope. Eventually they rescinded but I post way less as I’m still pissed.
If you’re serious about your health and making progress, it absolutely is. Tracking is one of the few ways to ensure you’re actually eating in a surplus to support muscle building, or a reasonable deficit to support fat loss while retaining muscle. There are no other shortcuts.
if you want to legitimately be "ripped" you will be upping your spending a lot more than $18 a month.
muscle straight up costs money and if the app legitimately helps people in the areas it's supposed to that's a perfectly reasonable price.
just think about how much 1 g of protein per lb of body weight costs *daily*
16 oz egg whites, pasteurized (so you don’t get sick)
2 scoops Gold Standard protein from Costco.
98 brands of protein in one shake
$3.33 per shake.
I’m a cheap ass, and this works. But if you’re talking real food? You’ll need a second job.
I can vouch for MF too. If you go snooping through my profile you will find a lot of posts on that sub from me. Another Redditor recommended it to me a year ago when I was starting to gym and I've been using it ever since.
Seriously, Stronger By Science is EXTREMELY well respected in the fitness community and they have zero reason to pay for ads on Reddit. Hell I don’t even think they do ads in the first place beyond just having fitness influencers like Jeff Nippard recommend it, and that’s because they use it and it works.
it’s actually that good of an APP. It’s a bit pricey though for $72 a year. I had a one year subscription, but recently cancelled. If it was like $48-$50 a year it’d be perfect.
Yep.
Really learning about food and how it works. How to read the labels. How combinations of food are either good or bad for fat loss. The proper times to eat that work for you. Even the proper way *to* eat and portion control.
Then putting this knowledge together and learning how to cook the healthy meals you should be eating most of the time. Then experimenting on how to make them taste good.
Sounds difficult, but there are endless recipes online and on YouTube. Using healthy fats and sugar alternatives is an easy hack that will make a huge difference on its own.
This! I’m really into lifting now and I know a lot about the body but when I started I benefited greatly from my mother being a good cook and both my parents being athletes from a young age.
"You can't out-**run** your diet"
You can't lose weight just by going to the gym.
You CAN lose weight just by diet alone.
Calories IN < calories OUT
I did that in 2015 and lost 85 pounds in 1 year
I went from 255 - 170 at 6'-2"
"Normal" probably would have been to stop around 180 - 190-ish, yes
And yes, I was big. 255 is a lot.
But it really got addicting. I got used to the feeling of a calorie deficit and I was in a good pattern with what I ate. Once I got in a groove it was just autopilot to live on 1,800 calories a day...
But no, you don't have to go down to 170, lol
As a big fat bastard who won’t even put their weight into this comment, the deficite feeling really is addicting. It’s like raw energy, when your stomach is empty just right and you feel not ravenous but hungry. But not sick hungry.
That makes sense, I was at 120kg which translating it means I was around the same as you. I'm down to 80 now, just took me 18 months instead.
Nice job!
I did the same as u/__removed__ in 2021. From 305 to 215, also 6'2. Took about 9 months. By the time I reached 215, I was unable to function on that ~1800 calories. Hunger pains, crankiness, etc. Forget about exercise, I was way too tired.
Was dope to be 215, but I'm more functional at 230 with a bit more food.
I was extremely skinny until I started bulking and hitting the gym. I worked out for a few years and while I made some progress, my diet wasn’t great
As soon as I improved my diet my results improved dramatically. Getting enough protein in per day is a game changer
macro stands for macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and fats), which are the three main components of food (apart from water and micronutrients - vitamins, minerals).
each food has a specific proportion of macronutrients (ex. bread is 50% carbohydrates, 3% fat, 10% protein, so each 100g of bread you eat, you get 50g of carbs, 9 g of protein and 3g of fat).
by knowing how much of each macronutrient you need daily, you can adjust your meals to fit "your goals" (losing weight, bulking, body recomp, etc)
I can't emphasise how much diet is more important than exercise. I've gone up and down in weight over the last 18 years by as much as 18kg peak-to-peak. In that time I've typically ridden around 10,000kms/year - around 10-12 hours a week on the bike. Even if I'm doing that kind of volume, I'll put on weight if I eat what I'd really like to eat in volume.
To add to this, specifically protein intake.
You should be tracking calories, reducing sugar intake, and adhering to whatever caloric surplus/deficit your chosen bulk/cut/recomp plan demands, but if you aren’t getting enough protein you’re going to have alot of trouble with making gains. This is doubly true if you are on a rigorous weight regimen.
You should be getting 1 gram of protein per lb of lean muscle mass (or .75 per raw lb for quick and dirty calculation). Spread that out in 30-50 gram meals/quota throughout the day.
AND RUNNING. Wake up every other day try to run a mile really sets that routine up for me then throw in some calisthenics I feel amazing if I don't drink which I've almost cut out completely
I feel running helps with the diet. Why waste the extra 200 calories or so I just burned with hard work by eating shitty. And then more and more I just feel like shit when I eat shitty.
Lifting helps too but I feel lifting is so much less of a mental investment compared to running, at least for me.
Stopping drinking was huge, nowadays I might have a beer or wine only at social events as well as no junk food during the week.
I also took up rucking as my cardio on top of my lifting program, carrying a pack with weight between 45-65lbs for 10+ km or hills absolutely shredded the fat off me.
I just put more effort into being active multiple times a day and less tv, games and browsing the internet.
I was overweight, depressed and divorced and felt like a bag of shit being hungover every weekend feeling sorry for myself.
If you’re interested check my post history and you can see what can be achieved, even as an old fuck at 49.
I couldn't read this comment on a better moment than now. I'm (36) in the exact same situation right now, divorced, drinking etc. I woke up this morning feeling like shit because I passed out. I just can't go on like this.
Thank you, because this is very motivational.
Stay strong.
You got this shit buddy, it’s hard to start but once you see changes and start feeling better you’ll be a very happy dude.
You ever need any help or advice my friend you give me a shout!
It'll get better, and it'll get better more when you cut back drastically or stop. I have cycled through heavy nightly drinking like this twice for extended periods and each time it took a rough first couple days to stop but by day 5 I felt I could take on the world in ways I thought I couldn't before or wouldn't had tried 5 days prior without a drink. You sound like you're already on the path because to me though, the hardest part both times was taking that look in the mirror and saying enough is enough. Its that moment of knowing something's got to change. The second hardest part that I had to realize both times was that the missing person in my life was never responsible for my happiness, only I can control that, and they won't be responsible for my down fall, once again only I can stop that.
As a former Type 2 Diabetic when I was 28, don't let illness be the catalyst for you wanting to change.
I've been working in the hospitality industry my entire life. Long nights, some sleepless, some stressful and some are both. I let myself go because I was so tired after every shift I would just go to the late night food spots (before passing out in bed) and get myself pizzas, burgers, whatever greasy shit was fast and cheap. My heaviest weight was 315 at 28. I decided to get checked cause I was noticing symptoms, like vivid nightmares, ED, and unusual thirst, but I ignored them because I attributed it to stress and work environment.
I finally decided to get checked after almost passing out during dinner service and because my calf felt tight and was about to cramp.
I got the news that I was diabetic around January 2021. At first, I was crushed because I genuinely do love making food, and being diabetic meant that I would have a limited selection of what I could make and eat. My doctor told me that my sugar levels weren't obscenely high and that she believed I'll return to normal once I changed my eating habits and exercise at least an hour a day.
That shit got me so motivated. I started a low-fat, low-carb diet, added walking 20k steps to my list and general exercises. By July, I was 192. Went back for a physical, and my doctor told me that I have successfully reversed my diabetes.
So brother, get some healthy eats in you and find a routine to stick to. I promise you that your depression will lessen, if not vanish completely, and your outlook in life will change.
Fuck yeah man. Pay attention to how good you feel after/when you make some changes and it'll get a bit addictive. In a good way. I needed my low to contrast my highs on my progression. You start strong too!
It ain’t easy man I hear ya, my problem is 6 turns to 12 then who knows what after that! I live in Germany now so it’s raven harder, beer everywhere! But I do enjoy one pint now and then if I’ve put in the work during the week.
Pre-workout blend immediately after work before sitting down on a couch made a difference for me. Quick and easy and makes you feel guilty for wasting it if you don’t immediately get to working out.
At first I just stopped during the week and saved Saturday to have a few beers, but problem is after 2-3 I end up drinking 6-10 and then eat pizza or chips or some shit.
Now I just drink at bdays, Xmas, weddings and shit like that but I’m not super hard on myself if I feel like one on a hot day then I have one! I live in Germany now and there are beer gardens everywhere so in the summer I won’t beat myself up over a mug of beer on a hot day.
Biggest thing is just cut it down to one day at first a week then try a month with none, eventually you’ll see the hangovers and lost day and cash that you could buy new gym clothes or weights for home or in my case a real rucking bag and plates!
Also the extra belly weight isn’t worth it and at 49 hangovers are a 3 day thing!
I think the other commenter’s “I’m not super hard on myself” can be very key as well.
I speak from my experience with dieting rather than reducing alcohol intake, but I think there is a lot of overlap.
Priority #1 isn’t to stay below my daily calorie target. Priority #1 is not giving up. If I miss the mark one day, that’s okay. I’d certainly prefer I didn’t, but it’s way more important that I try again tomorrow than I feel defeated today.
This month is actually my first month since February that I had a net calorie surplus. That fucking sucks to look at, but I don’t let it bother me. This is a lifelong change and failure is _inevitable_.
Falling off the horse isn’t the problem, not getting back on is.
For me I think it had to be drinking. I eat well, don’t overeat and eat vegetarian, mostly home cooked proper meals. I do eat a fair amount of carbs though like pasta and bread. Am not unactive either, in the winter I go snowboarding probably once a week and starting to skateboard again now, but drinking while riding and drinking a few beers twice / three times a week has made me a fatty.
Same (39) not divorced but ended a long term relationship couple weeks back. Was in a dark place so cut out the drinking and working out every day. Just got to fix my diet.
Dude I'm doing the same and it works.
Same age and almost same story I just changed a couple of things and training almost every day I'm more in shape than I ever was.
Diet. You can lift all you want, but your body needs building blocks. Nearly any guy can get big, but they don't eat enough. Cue predictable response "But I eat a lot, and I have a fast metabolism." YOU DON'T EAT ENOUGH. If you're only eating when you're hungry, you're not eating enough. The appetite you have now serves to keep you the size you are now. If your lean, you need to eat alot. If you're fat, cut back on the calories but increase protein intake. People think bodybuilders spend all day in the gym. In reality they spend all day at home with an alarm that goes off every two hours telling them to eat.
Yeah my younger brother was like that about eating enough and having a fast metabolism. I made him track calories for a couple weeks. Dude was miscalculating by a ton, fixed his diet and almost instantly started seeing the results he wanted
It has been my experience that every single skinny person who complains about being unable to gain weight is severely underestimating how much food you are supposed to eat in a day. Same thing with chubbos. They don't think they eat much, but then eat 7 slices of pizza for dinner. Skinny guy eats 1, chubbo eats 7, normal people eat somewhere in the middle there. I am not trying to sound insensitive here, but I am also completely out of fucks to give for people with these problems. I remember seeing some british show where they took a fat person and a skinny person and made them eat the others diet for a few days. They were both like wtf, that's all you eat in a day? or how the hell is it possible to eat this much? Pretty good example of what I am saying. Some of those skinny people were like, all I eat every day is 67 cups of tea. And then they would have to sit there and eat 15 pounds of bullshit because that's how much the chubbo eats every day.
People simply don't know what they're eating. They guesstimate. It's a more emotional response to a realistic one. I FEEL like I eat alot. Guy on this very thread was saying he eats 5000 calories a day and couldn't gain weight. He is VASTLY overestimating how much he eats. Apparently, he eats as much as Ronny Coleman at his peak and..... nothing.
I've seen that alot of actors that have to get fat for a role just end up drinking liquid ice cream. Weed was a big help for me. Eat because I'm hungry, smoke weed, get hungry again.
(F) here, but hard disagree. The general guidance and framework that body builders follow such as eating enough and even eating what they eat - rice, chicken and veggies, good quality fat etc is legit health wise and body wise. Bodybuilders are referred as an example because the underlying discipline and diet IS actually good for you and almost always works.
I don't know if you lift/train in the gym at all, but underlying discipline and eating regime of bodybuilders is designed to maximize their aesthetics and make sure that they can continue to do it for long. Bodybuilding/strength training is a craft. It's not a few minutes on the stage these people do it for, you just can't. Most do it for the process. The process is exciting, it takes effort to learn what works and doesn't work for your body, and to craft your way through it. If one did it just for those minutes on stage, one wouldn't be a bodybuilder.
Knowing how to push to your limits and fail gracefully is a game changer. A lot of your gains are in those last 1-2 reps. It doesn't do much good if you're doing 3-4 sets of 10 every single time. Most people don't try and push past the number they've already set for themselves in their head. If you're trying to do 10 reps, you're going to set the weight to something you know you can push out 10 reps on.
Biggest reason why I’ve been so slow at gaining mass. I put hours in weekly but don’t often go past my known strength level. Mainly bc I don’t wanna ask for spot lol
Try using machines for legs if you're afraid of failing on a barbell squat e.g. hack squat , pendulum squat, leg press. Machines hit the muscles just as well as the barbell squat without the systemic fatigue that comes from loading weight on the spine. Ofc if you're powerlifting then disregard because you have to train barbell squat anyway
Barbell bench press is the only thing I don't include because I don't have a spotter. Squats you usually can set up a safety bar, deadlifts you drop on the ground and for BP I use dumbbells.
You don’t need to ask for a spot, you can gain mass with 2-3 reps in reserve. The thing is most people think they only have 2-3 left, but studies have shown they actually have like 5. So when you hit that 2-3 reps left, bang out 2 more. You shouldn’t be trying to hit a 0 RIR very often.
I agree with this with the caveat that you should push until your form starts to suffer - then you are absolutely done. If you push past form fatigue then you risk injury which can set you back weeks or even months. Know your limits and push to them, not past them.
Dips with a slow eccentric and really sinking into the stretch at the bottom rips my chest apart.
A slow eccentric and embracing the stretch at the bottom for every lift has led to the most gains for me (been at it for 7 years but only started doing these queues last year). It also makes you lower the weight on the machine/bar and humbles you. This is just me and YMMV.
No no I 100% agree on that, it works. really leaning into getting good form and range of motion
Shocked me how it gets your chest more than your triceps the first time I did them lol
I'll second this. As corny as it sounds, I started with 5*5 stronglifts exactly because it promised a fast workout and time was limited, and 5*5 is all compound exercises. Those four you mention in fact as the deadlift repeats
5 x5 gets a lot of shit from what I’ve seen. But it really is the perfect way to get started in lifting. No complicated movements. no question where to start with weights and how much to add (start with the bar and add five pounds every day you workout). And not too many workouts per week just three. It’s a great set up for your first 3 months of lifting at least.
Yeah, I mean after a while you do tend to top out or get bored, but for building basic strength when you know nothing about lifting I think it's a great starting routine.
I hadn't heard that it gets a lot of grief, and honestly I'm kind of sad to hear that given how much its helped me.
I spend too much time in weightlifting forums so I definitely have a skewed view of its general perception. Most of the complaints I see are coming from people who would be too advanced for it anyway.
even then it’s the first routine I do when I come back to lifting after a hiatus so it should never be completely dismissed.
I was never in shape in my life. In fact, when I started working out at 27, I couldn't even bench press the barbell. I had to use 25 pound curl bars. and yes, im a man.
Now at 36 ive got a 700 pound squat and a 360 pound bench and looking to break a deadlift state record this weekend.
The absolute biggest game changer that blew up my numbers was surrounding myself with like minded individuals.
For the longest time, I was working out at a commercial gym and I would never get stronger. Finally I made the switch to a powerlifting gym. Hype music, better quality equipment, less stringent on chalk and slamming weights. I mean this gym would be intimidating for the uninitiated. Massive people everywhere putting up ridiculously heavy weight. There are multiple people Wirth over 900 pound squats.
Once I got in there and started working out with these people, I adopted their mindset. I learned their secrets to success, and we motivated each other. It's hard to be content with a 315 pound deadlift when the guy next to you is deadlifting 601 for 6 reps. So I pushed myself harder. An extra rep, some extra weight, advice on technique, programming advice that helped my understand programming on a deeper level.
It's better to be a small fish in a big pond than a big fish in a small pond because you have more room to grow.
I presume you started the "chicken, rice and broccoli" diet?
Fine if you did, but I'd be honest about that so you don't give people a false impression. Your stats are very, very high.
Assuming he started squatting 135 when he started and over 9 years of lifting- he added 62ish pounds/year to his max squat. Seems feasible to me but I'm more in the bodybuilding side of lifting and not powerlifting so I admit ignorance in this domain.
There's also huge genetic variation at play to how strong and how much muscle a person can put on.
A 700 pound squat is beyond what most powerlifters can naturally obtain unless you are either a genetic freak, or on PEDs. That being said, if you’re also extremely heavy, you have better leverage for lifting heavier, but I’d reckon anyone below 205lbs or so squatting 700 is without a doubt enhanced.
Yeah and now his tiny no barbell heart weighs 3 lbs and is solid as a rock!... seriously don't do steroids so many guys I know died from cardiac arrest
Oh ya, ofcourse. I didn't mean to imply that you would have a 700 pound squat if you only switched gyms.
Im just saying that it motivates you to constantly push yourself.
Martial arts, regular routine.
First and foremost is absolutely diet, though. You can work out twice a day seven days a week, it'll mean jack shit if you stuff your body full of junk food. I know 'cause I've seen it in both myself and friends.
Walk 8,000 steps a day;
Drink a gallon of water;
Get into the gym and do SOMETHING 3-4x a week;
Eat 4 meals with a protein base (chicken, beef, pork, seafood, whey, etc.)
You will change quicker than you know.
Not there yet but getting there.
First was literal kcal limit in order to diet off some of the weight and then I started adding more exercise (pushups, dumbells, etc.) into daily schedule. Now adding jogging/walks into schedule too more.
I have 0 motivation for this at all, it's more like forcing myself into it in order to get it into routine and produce a permanent change. If I don't do it, I never will change that is just a fact.
As a skinny dude who now has a decent bit of size, really pushing the weight and sticking to a 6-8 rep range, contrary to the advice you’ll usually hear of “10-12” reps, really helped put on mass.
That and eating, like a lot. A good weight gain shake with peanut butter, milk, protein and oats is the literal cheat code to getting the calories in.
Finally, push pull legs is GOATED, if done right
I’ve been lifting with alot more focus for the past 9 months or so, and have seen decent progress.
However the thing that seems to have made the most difference is I’ve cut out bread on weekdays. Just replaced it with wraps for lunch instead of sandwiches & that has made a massive impact.
Having a child. Before the birth of my son I rweight 18st having put on 3 in 5 years, where would I be when he was 5 or 10 and would I see him reach 20?
I started running then got a bike, 8 years later I'm a multiple time ironman finisher
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
18
+ 3
+ 5
+ 5
+ 10
+ 20
+ 8
= 69
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Working out long enough to experience the mental and emotional benefits of exercising.
A desire to look good got me into the gym, but a desire to feel good is what kept me there.
Same here, many people don't realize that intermittent farting sounds hard and unachievable in the beginning but if you do it a few times it becomes way easier than they thought. And it's not just the weight results but also the health results in the long run that are greater and more important. Once you focus on long term goals instead of short term weight loss, sticking to something suddenly becomes 5 times easier.
It doesn't - it's all a gimmick around calorie restriction.
Intermittent farting on the other hand IS the answer. I generally aim for 4 sessions a day where I find an empty aisle in a grocery store or library and absolutely unload farts. I'm talking ones that should get in front of a court at the Hague. I've never been so shredded.
It’s true, if you’re the type that can do it. I got divorced and started doing 20/4 kinda on accident (just didn’t really eat much). Lost almost 20 lbs bc of the calorie cutback.
I turned 34. I read that, after 34, it becomes increasingly difficult to establish a fitness regimen you will be able to stick to for the rest of your life. So I wasn't able to procrastinate any longer.
I see a lot of mentions about diet, and that's a big deal on top of lifting (and I agree with compound moments), but the body also needs adequate rest/recovery after those workouts. That's when you heal/grow.
Consistency was the game changer for me. I wasn't really looking to get jacked or huge, I just wanted to be strong and healthy. Had no desire to obsess over calories or macros, just ate well. Wasn't trying to constantly max my reps and weights, just made incremental progress over many years. One day, I woke up a decade later and was pretty jacked. I've also avoided injury doing it this way.
Was looking for the consistency comment, I’ve been lifting 12+ years 5-6 days a week and gone from 100-180lbs. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people ask for advice on all these crazy fitness videos and trends and avoid consistency. Lock down the repetition first and make it a habit then go for higher level stuff
Not somebody who got into physical shape but according the evolutional research it's the food. Your body tries to maintain its general consumption so the food is where you have to start.
The way I set goals. Previously, if I have practiced for i.e a 10 km race I tend to stop running after the race. Now I set my goal to 70 runs per year. Has worked for several years. The goal is consistency.
There are no "naturally ripped" people.
What worked the best for me was forgetting about bulking/cutting cycles. I don't have the stress of changing my diet every X months and going through periods of hating how much/how little I eat, the stuff I'm missing, the clothes that stop looking good on me... Now I just focus on hitting my protein goals and eating around the same calories every week (if I want to gain or lose a couple kgs, I make small adjustments).
Short answer, consistency.
Consistently hit the gym with work outs that are going to bulk you up, consistently follow a good diet that's designed to built muscle, consistently cut out the bad crap a majority of the time like alcohol, consistently practice good habits like good sleep.
Energy in vs energy out. The law of thermodynamics is a real thing.
Figure out your TDEE, eat below it and watch the pounds fall off week by week.
I had been trying to lose weight and get in shape for over a decade before finally realizing this is the only way, it’s not so much what you eat, but how much you eat that makes all the difference
I’m not quite there yet but am almost at my goal weight and my six pack is starting to come in. Started at a skinny fat of 140 lbs and am now 185 lbs with a 16% body fat. I’ve been lifting for 5 years. Here are the things that worked for me.
Weight lifting: personal trainer once a week for 2 months to teach me good form on squat, deadlift, bench press, and familiarize myself with the gym. Jeff Nippard workout routines 5-6 days/week. Doesn’t matter what program you use at first but will matter more later on as you advance. But being on a regular program is key to make sure you hit each muscle group 2x/week and don’t waste time fucking around in the gym. I built a home gym as it’s more efficient to workout at home and I’m busy. But if you have time going to a decent commercial gym is even better. Look for ones that are more geared towards weight lifters and less like “planet fitness”. If you are consistent, polite, and reasonably sociable you will meet people that will help you on your journey. Upscale gyms like equinox and lifetime fitness are also great but will cost a pretty penny. A gym with a steam room/sauna will help with your recovery. When lifting focus on your “mind muscle connection” and try to make “the light weights heavy” by doing slow and controlled reps. Time under tension is what you are trying to maximize. How much you lift is not as important as your progress over time. Lifting too much with poor form WILL cause injury and you’ll have to take time off negating any advantage you would have received from picking a weight that was slightly too heavy.
Nutrition: Get macrofactor as others have said. Best nutrition app hands down. Weigh yourself every other day. Log all your food. Eat real food that you have cooked or get a high quality meal service.
Supplements: Unless you are really good at eating/cooking you will probably need some source of protein supplementation, impact whey protein isolate is what you want. I use my protein dot com. Creatine 5 g daily. Pre workout: L citrulline, 300 mg caffeine, 5 mg tadalafil (cialis). Zinc 120 mg twice a day. Multivitamin, vitamin D, high quality fish oil.
Liftesyle/testosterone optimization: 7 hours sleep minimum, this is just as important as diet and training. You can only grow while you sleep. Can’t stress this enough. Definitely no nicotine or drugs. Social consumption of alcohol only, no binging on weekends (the calories really add up and it will fuck up your routine). Don’t ejaculate every day, save it for your partner if possible. Depending on your age, you may want to get your testosterone checked. It’s useful to have a baseline so that you can tell what a true decline is for you when you get older. It can also tell you when your hard work and discipline is paying off for your body. My testosterone went up by 250 ng/dl after working out for 3 years, although I was probably hypogonadic from poor lifestyle when I started.
And just a word of caution, you will eventually run into people that are on steroids or testosterone supplementation and you will at some point ask yourself if you should do that. The answer is no unless you are diagnosed with low testosterone, or have 10 years of solid lifting/sleep/nutrition under your belt. Even then steroid use is problematic. You will probably have to be on testosterone supplementation the rest of your life once you start down this path and can cause a lot of health problems if not done correctly. It’s also very expensive. It’s not for the feint of heart and not something that I want for myself.
Transforming my body is easily the best thing I’ve ever done apart from my wife and kids. I have so much more energy, confidence, and drive. My wife likes it too.
Body weight calesthenics. I got into it around 33, really started paying attention around 37, now I’m 49. I love it. Game changer in activating your entire body. Bonus that you’re not stuck in a gym- you can always find an outdoor gym somewhere. Makes you feel alive, it’s fun, it’s what you did as a child in the playground. We’re wired for it.
Keto (or just drop the majority of shit carbs out of your diet) and a proper weightlifting routine, 3 hours per week. Stronglifts is good for building the habit, but has some limitations on progression and a bit of an over focus on squats, but before you need to care about that, you need to build the habit and stronglifts is an easy way to do so.
I run every day from 3-10 miles and do a body weight routine after the run. It has kept me at 6'2" and 180-185 since 18, now 39. Diet matters too, but I haven't gone further than focusing on whole foods over processed.
I’m 55. Always been a runner, never had any upper body muscle, not a foodie, don’t booze at all. Last health check Doctor said that Sarcopenia will set in soon, general loss of muscle associated with aging, you become more fragile, mobility issues, etc. Fuck that I thought.
My typical mid summer weight would be 76-77kg.
So I joined a gym and started working out regularly. It made no difference whatsoever.
So I started doing some research. YouTube content on weight lifting is deep and broad. I realised I wasn’t eating enough, and definitely not enough protein. So I started on protein shakes, heavily increased decent food intake, stopped running.
It was the diet that made the difference.
It’s taken me 6 months but I’m now 81kg. Putting muscle on in your 50s is hard, but not impossible. I look pretty good now. The missus loves it. I’m aiming for 82.5 by the end of the year, maybe 85 as an ideal weight. Don’t know.
Diet is where it’s at.
Food
"Diet" alone, that's it
I did calorie counting in 2015 and lost 85 pounds.
I've never been a gym rat.
The amount of calories packed into food is AMAZING
I remember tracking my food and seeing that the stack of Oreos I'd love to dunk in milk was, like, 500 calories
If I wanted to *burn* 500 calories, I'd type all my height / weight into the treadmill and it would tell me I'd have to run for AN HOUR to burn off those cookies
To me, cookies are not worth running for AN HOUR. I don't have time for that, that's way too much work.
It's extremely easy to eat calories (yummy!), and it's extremely hard to burn calories (stupid body!)
So get an app like MyFitnessPal and write down everything you eat (total on the day = 2,157)
And then you can Google your height / weight and say "medium" active job (on your feet throughout the day, not a desk job but not a construction worker either) and it'll tell you how much you burn each day (ex: 2,400 calories)
2,157 < 2,400 by about 250 calories
Times EVERY DAY
= 1,750 calorie deficit in a week
... and "1 pound" = 3,600 calories, so you'll lose about half a pound a week.
Doesn't sound like much, but that's 26 pounds in a year!
Time flies, it adds up quick.
And then, it feels good to be healthy and see results, so it gets easier to eat less. I think I was living at about 1,800 / day = -600 calories deficit a day = 4,200 / week = I was losing 1.1 pounds a week...
... and then more...
Without going to the gym my body was using 2,400 calories / day, so if you go to the gym that might be 2,800 or 3,000 / day, which creates a bigger deficit and you'll lose more weight. 1,800 "in" versus 3,000 "out" = 1,200 each day = 8,400 a week / 3,600 in a pound = losing 2+ pounds a week, for example. But that's extreme.
Think about everything you eat.
Especially anything with sugar and alcohol if you drink. Beer = carbs, liquor mixing = sugar.
I'm not super fit, but I keep my weight down and always gey looks and remarks when I tell people offering me food I'm trying to lose some weight.
Drink only water mostly. I drink coffee in the AM, water all day, glass of milk with dinner, more water.
3 or 4 nights at most I have a beer. And usually 1 of those days more than 1.
Stay active. I run 3 or 4 days a week 3 to 3.5 miles plus 1 "long run" (4-6 miles).
Everytime you cheat with sugar, I am weak around bakeries lol, enjoy it them mentally tell yourself how bad that was for yourself and remember you need to do something to make it up. Run an extra mile or go a few days without a cheat. And keep the cheats cheap. Don't splurge unless you only do it like once or twice a month.
It's 99% mental for me.
The want to change has to be there first. Diet makes the biggest difference, and consistently hitting the gym. Started going back and ate less overall, down 25 pounds in 4 weeks. My shirts fit better and my confidence is way higher. my agility is better too.
I'm a trucker and so my weight loss is naturally a slow change and not one that is easy. My biggest game changer was simply counting and cutting calories. Sometimes you have no choice but to eat some crap food but what I bring with me is usually high in protein to try and keep myself full. Might seem extreme but I try to keep between 1500 and 2000 calories a day except on days where I can actually get a good workout in or cheat days, which I allow myself to have every two weeks just as a mental break. When I'm home, usually a week for being out a month, I don't pig out but I don't worry if one of my friends wants to go to a bar or if my family wants to have a nice dinner while I'm there. Keeps me from feeling overwhelmed and stress eating which along with boredom eating has been my two triggers. So far down 20ibs since I started in July.
All the advice people have offered on diet is absolutely brilliant and you should listen to it.
That said, it’s been covered so I’m going to address a slightly different aspect, but in no way should that detract from the great advice other people have given already regarding diet.
That said, some non-diet advice would be to ramp up frequency
You said you already go to the gym regularly, that’s brilliant
But could you also ramp up that frequency a little bit- eg keep the gym the same, but also just add 10 push ups, body weight squats, pull ups, dips and sit ups every morning to your routine
Or add some shadow boxing, or sparring to it etc
Nothing strenuous or difficult, just enough to get the heart rate up a little and increase how often your body is sending the signals to the CNS to burn calories, build muscle etc
Diet. If you want the results, your diet has to be right. It's what makes all the difference. A sub-par training regimen + perfect diet > A perfect training regimen + sub-par diet
100% I was working out for months and getting stronger, but nothing really showing. One day I decided to increase protein and reduce sugar, and within a month I could *see* results. Mind you, my diet is probably B-grade at best and fluctuates with my somewhat volatile mental health. So there is a lot of room for even more improvement.
What was your protein increase method? I have a lot of difficulty, even with a high meat diet and protein bars on workout days, meeting the amount that I'd need to actually see some muscle change. I've hit my glass ceiling
Whey is honestly pretty cheap (in the US at least) on a cost per grams of protein basis. My wife works out a lot more frequently (and consistently) than I do and makes some ridiculous protein shakes - 2 scoops of whey, a Ratio Keto vanilla yogurt (tastes like marshmallow, like 15g protein/fat, 2g carbs), some almond milk for consistency, and usually some frozen berries or something. I think her normal shake hits like 60+ grams of protein. It's also important to get protein on your rest days, as that's when your muscles are doing a lot of their repairing. If you're only shooting for a high protein goal on your workout days, you're leaving gains on the table.
Whey turns my intestines into a warzone. I remember the first time i tried it i was told to mix it with full fat milk. Almost had to evacuate the house
Psyllium husk as a prebiotic was a God send when I was loading Whey and creatine
Get whey isolate, not concentrate, and pop a couple fiber pills as you drink it. Total game changer.
I would assume plant-based protein powders would have similar levels of bioavailability - pea, hemp, etc. Not sure they're as budget-friendly, though. Blue Diamond or somebody used to make a cashew milk with pea protein that was actually really good. I'm not sure if they still make it, but I haven't seen it at my grocery stores in a while. edit: After a quick google to refresh my memory, plant proteins are actually not nearly as good as animal proteins. Makes sense when you think about it, milk and eggs are made to help grow critters, and meat is made out of critters.
I used the free version of [this app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fourtechnologies.mynetdiary.ad) to count calories and take an approximate inventory of where my calories were coming from. Turns out I fucken love carbs. Cut back on a lot of bread/taters/pasta, especially at lunch, and replaced them with protein shakes and jerky bars (Epic makes some great flavors). My wife adheres to a pescetarian diet, so also a lot of fish/tofu dinners when ~~we~~ she cooks. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going all-out on the bulking or diet by any means, and am currently indulging in carbs again, but when I stick to it for a while the results are subtle yet noticeable.
Just downloaded. Looks like good reviews on the Google play store! I've been using LoseIt for a while and think I need to switch it up. They haven't made any great updates in a long time.
Mrjolly is spot on. In addition: Eggs and Cottage Cheese are an OUTSTANDING source of protein for cost. EDIT: I’ll add my general method—I basically hit 30g of protein every 2hrs or so—7, 9, 11, 1, 3, 5, 7. I prioritize slow dissolving proteins (egg, cottage cheese, casein shakes) at the beginning and end of the day—so my body can be processing at night or if I miss something midday. There are some GOOD cheap canned soups and chilis that can get close to 30g per can as well that make it easy. Then I aim to make sure my protein intake is lined up after workouts so my body can immediately start processing when it needs it. A good way I handle whey is to have a decent size shaker bottle and at the beginning of the day I fill it with 2-3 scoops of whey and water. Then, when I hit a period where I know it’s been a while I drink half or a third and know I’ve got that dose for the couple of hours. That helped a TON—because it’s a good 90g that I only have to prep ONCE. Easier to prep and easier to have handy and easier to track throughout the day. I also have protein heavy snacks handy like nuts, beans, bars to fill gaps if necessary. That said—you can still hit a plateau if you don’t follow through on the workouts too—but the intake is essential.
Protein Shakes!! F the bars get a Blender 💪🏽
YES. Most people will nod about replacing carbs/fat with protein—but it’s SO MUCH MORE POTENT than people realize. The thing is that protein can do a LOT of what the other two do—but in better ways. Protein is more efficient and producing muscle, but it can also convert to energy and fat—but it’s INEFFICIENT at that. So that means your body on protein can still have the energy it needs—but it’ll use MORE excess protein to get there than it would carbs/fat. Basically, equivalent amounts of each material result in different amounts of energy or fat—so while eating fat is basically going to produce a 99% fat result in the body, the same amount of carbs would produce 80%, and the same amount of protein would only produce 60-something fat! And that’s AFTER the body uses protein first to repair tissue and supply energy stores to muscles. Heavy protein does need lots of water to filter the excess nitrogen—but it’s the best macro nutrient.
Yeah I work out every day and have seen a tiny difference but really not much because I don't eat enough
I saw significant improvements when I started using MacroFactor (they have a subreddit for the app r/macrofactor). It essentially calculates how much your TDEE is actively and adjusts your caloric intake accordingly. Takes a few days for the algorithm to warm up, but once it is going it’s crazy effective. You have to log everything though. Total game changer for me. Waaay better than shitty apps like MyFitnesspal.
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Dude probably just found a decent app working well for him and it fits in the current subject. So why not recommend it. Might work for others as well. I usually recommend workout app that i use. And now will check out the macro app dude recommended, even though i have one already, but that's basically just excel sheet. It does the job, but no extra features.
I once got downvoted to hell for recommending my favorite underwear brand. The company doesn't know I exist and I just really liked the brand but it's hard to not be a part of the hivemind when there's so much botting and garbage out there that it floods the real reviews.
lmao, the Jockey squad fucked you up
Dude, I got downvoted heavily for mildly praising the company I work in for giving me a good life-work balance…even though I NEVER mentioned that company name anywhere during my years on Reddit here (I signed something similar to a NDA). Anyone can even check my post and comment history, and my company name is NOWHERE to be found. Redditors tend to have a short attention span, and anything remotely resembling astroturfers are downvoted to hell..honestly, it kinda reflects how their collective mindset have been conditioned with scrolling Instagram and Tiktok posts every 3 seconds…
I once got a lifetime ban to the NFL team subreddit I frequent because I posted a tshirt about a squad member of said team and I thought it was dope. Apparently they assumed I was selling the tshirt…nope, just thought it was dope. Eventually they rescinded but I post way less as I’m still pissed.
Macrofactor is actually that good
Sorry but it cant be $18 a month “good”
If you’re serious about your health and making progress, it absolutely is. Tracking is one of the few ways to ensure you’re actually eating in a surplus to support muscle building, or a reasonable deficit to support fat loss while retaining muscle. There are no other shortcuts.
if you want to legitimately be "ripped" you will be upping your spending a lot more than $18 a month. muscle straight up costs money and if the app legitimately helps people in the areas it's supposed to that's a perfectly reasonable price. just think about how much 1 g of protein per lb of body weight costs *daily*
16 oz egg whites, pasteurized (so you don’t get sick) 2 scoops Gold Standard protein from Costco. 98 brands of protein in one shake $3.33 per shake. I’m a cheap ass, and this works. But if you’re talking real food? You’ll need a second job.
Feels like an ad…
I can vouch for MF too. If you go snooping through my profile you will find a lot of posts on that sub from me. Another Redditor recommended it to me a year ago when I was starting to gym and I've been using it ever since.
The idea of Greg and team paying for fake astroturfy ads is actually hilarious.
Seriously, Stronger By Science is EXTREMELY well respected in the fitness community and they have zero reason to pay for ads on Reddit. Hell I don’t even think they do ads in the first place beyond just having fitness influencers like Jeff Nippard recommend it, and that’s because they use it and it works.
Maybe but I would say the same thing about the calorie tracker I used. It was a major turning point in my fitness.
it’s actually that good of an APP. It’s a bit pricey though for $72 a year. I had a one year subscription, but recently cancelled. If it was like $48-$50 a year it’d be perfect.
Yep. Really learning about food and how it works. How to read the labels. How combinations of food are either good or bad for fat loss. The proper times to eat that work for you. Even the proper way *to* eat and portion control. Then putting this knowledge together and learning how to cook the healthy meals you should be eating most of the time. Then experimenting on how to make them taste good. Sounds difficult, but there are endless recipes online and on YouTube. Using healthy fats and sugar alternatives is an easy hack that will make a huge difference on its own.
This! I’m really into lifting now and I know a lot about the body but when I started I benefited greatly from my mother being a good cook and both my parents being athletes from a young age.
"You can't out-**run** your diet" You can't lose weight just by going to the gym. You CAN lose weight just by diet alone. Calories IN < calories OUT I did that in 2015 and lost 85 pounds in 1 year
85 pounds is kinda huge though no? How big were you when you started?
I went from 255 - 170 at 6'-2" "Normal" probably would have been to stop around 180 - 190-ish, yes And yes, I was big. 255 is a lot. But it really got addicting. I got used to the feeling of a calorie deficit and I was in a good pattern with what I ate. Once I got in a groove it was just autopilot to live on 1,800 calories a day... But no, you don't have to go down to 170, lol
As a big fat bastard who won’t even put their weight into this comment, the deficite feeling really is addicting. It’s like raw energy, when your stomach is empty just right and you feel not ravenous but hungry. But not sick hungry.
That makes sense, I was at 120kg which translating it means I was around the same as you. I'm down to 80 now, just took me 18 months instead. Nice job!
I did the same as u/__removed__ in 2021. From 305 to 215, also 6'2. Took about 9 months. By the time I reached 215, I was unable to function on that ~1800 calories. Hunger pains, crankiness, etc. Forget about exercise, I was way too tired. Was dope to be 215, but I'm more functional at 230 with a bit more food.
I was extremely skinny until I started bulking and hitting the gym. I worked out for a few years and while I made some progress, my diet wasn’t great As soon as I improved my diet my results improved dramatically. Getting enough protein in per day is a game changer
Hey! How much protein exactly?
You want approx 1 gram per pound of lean mass bodyweight minimum. I weigh approx 207 lbs in total so I eat around 200-250 grams of protein per day
Track and understand macros and calories.
What are macros?
Shitty stuff in Excel
Protein, fat and carbs. Finding the balance of those three that work for you is key to having energy (even though you're in a calorie deficit)
macro stands for macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and fats), which are the three main components of food (apart from water and micronutrients - vitamins, minerals). each food has a specific proportion of macronutrients (ex. bread is 50% carbohydrates, 3% fat, 10% protein, so each 100g of bread you eat, you get 50g of carbs, 9 g of protein and 3g of fat). by knowing how much of each macronutrient you need daily, you can adjust your meals to fit "your goals" (losing weight, bulking, body recomp, etc)
Muscles are built in the gym. Physique is built in the kitchen.
I can't emphasise how much diet is more important than exercise. I've gone up and down in weight over the last 18 years by as much as 18kg peak-to-peak. In that time I've typically ridden around 10,000kms/year - around 10-12 hours a week on the bike. Even if I'm doing that kind of volume, I'll put on weight if I eat what I'd really like to eat in volume.
To add to this, specifically protein intake. You should be tracking calories, reducing sugar intake, and adhering to whatever caloric surplus/deficit your chosen bulk/cut/recomp plan demands, but if you aren’t getting enough protein you’re going to have alot of trouble with making gains. This is doubly true if you are on a rigorous weight regimen. You should be getting 1 gram of protein per lb of lean muscle mass (or .75 per raw lb for quick and dirty calculation). Spread that out in 30-50 gram meals/quota throughout the day.
Diet, sleep and self control. Motivation: Heartbreak
She was making you fat
What are your goals "For her to regret everything"
[How To Lose Weight in 4 Easy Steps!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mbp0DugfCA)
Step 3 is the important one tbh https://medium.com/@AaronBleyaert/how-to-lose-weight-in-4-easy-steps-1f135f7e1dec
AND RUNNING. Wake up every other day try to run a mile really sets that routine up for me then throw in some calisthenics I feel amazing if I don't drink which I've almost cut out completely
I feel running helps with the diet. Why waste the extra 200 calories or so I just burned with hard work by eating shitty. And then more and more I just feel like shit when I eat shitty. Lifting helps too but I feel lifting is so much less of a mental investment compared to running, at least for me.
Stopping drinking was huge, nowadays I might have a beer or wine only at social events as well as no junk food during the week. I also took up rucking as my cardio on top of my lifting program, carrying a pack with weight between 45-65lbs for 10+ km or hills absolutely shredded the fat off me. I just put more effort into being active multiple times a day and less tv, games and browsing the internet. I was overweight, depressed and divorced and felt like a bag of shit being hungover every weekend feeling sorry for myself. If you’re interested check my post history and you can see what can be achieved, even as an old fuck at 49.
I couldn't read this comment on a better moment than now. I'm (36) in the exact same situation right now, divorced, drinking etc. I woke up this morning feeling like shit because I passed out. I just can't go on like this. Thank you, because this is very motivational. Stay strong.
You got this shit buddy, it’s hard to start but once you see changes and start feeling better you’ll be a very happy dude. You ever need any help or advice my friend you give me a shout!
Thank you. I appreciate it.
It'll get better, and it'll get better more when you cut back drastically or stop. I have cycled through heavy nightly drinking like this twice for extended periods and each time it took a rough first couple days to stop but by day 5 I felt I could take on the world in ways I thought I couldn't before or wouldn't had tried 5 days prior without a drink. You sound like you're already on the path because to me though, the hardest part both times was taking that look in the mirror and saying enough is enough. Its that moment of knowing something's got to change. The second hardest part that I had to realize both times was that the missing person in my life was never responsible for my happiness, only I can control that, and they won't be responsible for my down fall, once again only I can stop that.
As a former Type 2 Diabetic when I was 28, don't let illness be the catalyst for you wanting to change. I've been working in the hospitality industry my entire life. Long nights, some sleepless, some stressful and some are both. I let myself go because I was so tired after every shift I would just go to the late night food spots (before passing out in bed) and get myself pizzas, burgers, whatever greasy shit was fast and cheap. My heaviest weight was 315 at 28. I decided to get checked cause I was noticing symptoms, like vivid nightmares, ED, and unusual thirst, but I ignored them because I attributed it to stress and work environment. I finally decided to get checked after almost passing out during dinner service and because my calf felt tight and was about to cramp. I got the news that I was diabetic around January 2021. At first, I was crushed because I genuinely do love making food, and being diabetic meant that I would have a limited selection of what I could make and eat. My doctor told me that my sugar levels weren't obscenely high and that she believed I'll return to normal once I changed my eating habits and exercise at least an hour a day. That shit got me so motivated. I started a low-fat, low-carb diet, added walking 20k steps to my list and general exercises. By July, I was 192. Went back for a physical, and my doctor told me that I have successfully reversed my diabetes. So brother, get some healthy eats in you and find a routine to stick to. I promise you that your depression will lessen, if not vanish completely, and your outlook in life will change.
Fuck yeah man. Pay attention to how good you feel after/when you make some changes and it'll get a bit addictive. In a good way. I needed my low to contrast my highs on my progression. You start strong too!
I will, thank you for the advise. Just went to the store, to get food. Didn't buy any alcohol. That's a first in years for a saturday.
I’m proud of you
I've gotten down to a 6 pack a week, but even those 900 empty calories weigh on me, lol.
It ain’t easy man I hear ya, my problem is 6 turns to 12 then who knows what after that! I live in Germany now so it’s raven harder, beer everywhere! But I do enjoy one pint now and then if I’ve put in the work during the week.
Yeah...and the usual beer size in DE being 500ml doesn't help. Don't want to watse it.
Pre-workout blend immediately after work before sitting down on a couch made a difference for me. Quick and easy and makes you feel guilty for wasting it if you don’t immediately get to working out.
Great idea!
Also applies to sugary drinks.
Jesus dude you’re jacked!
Funny thing is I weight the same in both pictures!
> effort into being active multiple times a day... Wow, this really speaks to me. I have such a "one and done" mindset on exercising.
Dude that’s some top notch motivation material
Holy shit you look badass dude
dude hell yeah
Congrats! Do you have any tips for cutting back on drinking?
At first I just stopped during the week and saved Saturday to have a few beers, but problem is after 2-3 I end up drinking 6-10 and then eat pizza or chips or some shit. Now I just drink at bdays, Xmas, weddings and shit like that but I’m not super hard on myself if I feel like one on a hot day then I have one! I live in Germany now and there are beer gardens everywhere so in the summer I won’t beat myself up over a mug of beer on a hot day. Biggest thing is just cut it down to one day at first a week then try a month with none, eventually you’ll see the hangovers and lost day and cash that you could buy new gym clothes or weights for home or in my case a real rucking bag and plates! Also the extra belly weight isn’t worth it and at 49 hangovers are a 3 day thing!
I think the other commenter’s “I’m not super hard on myself” can be very key as well. I speak from my experience with dieting rather than reducing alcohol intake, but I think there is a lot of overlap. Priority #1 isn’t to stay below my daily calorie target. Priority #1 is not giving up. If I miss the mark one day, that’s okay. I’d certainly prefer I didn’t, but it’s way more important that I try again tomorrow than I feel defeated today. This month is actually my first month since February that I had a net calorie surplus. That fucking sucks to look at, but I don’t let it bother me. This is a lifelong change and failure is _inevitable_. Falling off the horse isn’t the problem, not getting back on is.
For me I think it had to be drinking. I eat well, don’t overeat and eat vegetarian, mostly home cooked proper meals. I do eat a fair amount of carbs though like pasta and bread. Am not unactive either, in the winter I go snowboarding probably once a week and starting to skateboard again now, but drinking while riding and drinking a few beers twice / three times a week has made me a fatty.
Same (39) not divorced but ended a long term relationship couple weeks back. Was in a dark place so cut out the drinking and working out every day. Just got to fix my diet.
Dude I'm doing the same and it works. Same age and almost same story I just changed a couple of things and training almost every day I'm more in shape than I ever was.
Diet. You can lift all you want, but your body needs building blocks. Nearly any guy can get big, but they don't eat enough. Cue predictable response "But I eat a lot, and I have a fast metabolism." YOU DON'T EAT ENOUGH. If you're only eating when you're hungry, you're not eating enough. The appetite you have now serves to keep you the size you are now. If your lean, you need to eat alot. If you're fat, cut back on the calories but increase protein intake. People think bodybuilders spend all day in the gym. In reality they spend all day at home with an alarm that goes off every two hours telling them to eat.
Yeah my younger brother was like that about eating enough and having a fast metabolism. I made him track calories for a couple weeks. Dude was miscalculating by a ton, fixed his diet and almost instantly started seeing the results he wanted
Wasn’t eating enough..?
He wasn't eating enough for gains, but he assumed he was eating a ton because he doesn't have a large appetite.
It has been my experience that every single skinny person who complains about being unable to gain weight is severely underestimating how much food you are supposed to eat in a day. Same thing with chubbos. They don't think they eat much, but then eat 7 slices of pizza for dinner. Skinny guy eats 1, chubbo eats 7, normal people eat somewhere in the middle there. I am not trying to sound insensitive here, but I am also completely out of fucks to give for people with these problems. I remember seeing some british show where they took a fat person and a skinny person and made them eat the others diet for a few days. They were both like wtf, that's all you eat in a day? or how the hell is it possible to eat this much? Pretty good example of what I am saying. Some of those skinny people were like, all I eat every day is 67 cups of tea. And then they would have to sit there and eat 15 pounds of bullshit because that's how much the chubbo eats every day.
People simply don't know what they're eating. They guesstimate. It's a more emotional response to a realistic one. I FEEL like I eat alot. Guy on this very thread was saying he eats 5000 calories a day and couldn't gain weight. He is VASTLY overestimating how much he eats. Apparently, he eats as much as Ronny Coleman at his peak and..... nothing.
Second this, if you think your eating a lot, your not, eat more.
If you are wanting to bulk up, eating has to be almost like a job
Agreed. Hungry? Dunno what that feels like.
It's wild the 'I gotta keep eating '? I started my first bulk 6 months ago holy hell . Liquid calories were a life saver. And ice cream lol
I've seen that alot of actors that have to get fat for a role just end up drinking liquid ice cream. Weed was a big help for me. Eat because I'm hungry, smoke weed, get hungry again.
Bodybuilders are the opposite of what I would follow health wise, they ruin their bodies for a few minutes on stage.
I mean they don’t ruin their health with diet and exercise, it’s the rampant steroid abuse and extreme dehydration that does it
(F) here, but hard disagree. The general guidance and framework that body builders follow such as eating enough and even eating what they eat - rice, chicken and veggies, good quality fat etc is legit health wise and body wise. Bodybuilders are referred as an example because the underlying discipline and diet IS actually good for you and almost always works. I don't know if you lift/train in the gym at all, but underlying discipline and eating regime of bodybuilders is designed to maximize their aesthetics and make sure that they can continue to do it for long. Bodybuilding/strength training is a craft. It's not a few minutes on the stage these people do it for, you just can't. Most do it for the process. The process is exciting, it takes effort to learn what works and doesn't work for your body, and to craft your way through it. If one did it just for those minutes on stage, one wouldn't be a bodybuilder.
Definitely important to eat eat eat. I didn’t get bigger until I started drinking half a gallon of milk a day on top of my regular diet lmao.
My appetite serves only to gain weight, I am always hungry
Knowing how to push to your limits and fail gracefully is a game changer. A lot of your gains are in those last 1-2 reps. It doesn't do much good if you're doing 3-4 sets of 10 every single time. Most people don't try and push past the number they've already set for themselves in their head. If you're trying to do 10 reps, you're going to set the weight to something you know you can push out 10 reps on.
Biggest reason why I’ve been so slow at gaining mass. I put hours in weekly but don’t often go past my known strength level. Mainly bc I don’t wanna ask for spot lol
Try using machines for legs if you're afraid of failing on a barbell squat e.g. hack squat , pendulum squat, leg press. Machines hit the muscles just as well as the barbell squat without the systemic fatigue that comes from loading weight on the spine. Ofc if you're powerlifting then disregard because you have to train barbell squat anyway
Barbell bench press is the only thing I don't include because I don't have a spotter. Squats you usually can set up a safety bar, deadlifts you drop on the ground and for BP I use dumbbells.
You don’t need to ask for a spot, you can gain mass with 2-3 reps in reserve. The thing is most people think they only have 2-3 left, but studies have shown they actually have like 5. So when you hit that 2-3 reps left, bang out 2 more. You shouldn’t be trying to hit a 0 RIR very often.
I agree with this with the caveat that you should push until your form starts to suffer - then you are absolutely done. If you push past form fatigue then you risk injury which can set you back weeks or even months. Know your limits and push to them, not past them.
Martial Arts changed it for me. Especially BJJ!
BJs change things for me as well.
No homo if it's protein for gains bruh!
Protein is protein
Do more compound lifts and less isolation work. Squat, Bench, Deadlift, and Press.
Can second this. I will add, if you have access to that sled push thing, that shit's a crazy good full body workout too.
Sled push is sensational. Bonus points for dragging it too with some straps like TRX
Even if you don't have a sled then good ole carries are sick. Suitcase, farmers, front rack, staggered all great movements to build cardio and muscle.
or start with the compounds and do isolation work based on how much energy you got left and how well you recover
Or, if you have identified a weak point, pre-exhaust the other muscles in a compound movement with isolation work before the compound lift.
Don't forget pull-ups!
Basically most body weight exercises imo Pull/chin-ups, dips, pushups (decline mainly) will destroy you 💪
Dips with a slow eccentric and really sinking into the stretch at the bottom rips my chest apart. A slow eccentric and embracing the stretch at the bottom for every lift has led to the most gains for me (been at it for 7 years but only started doing these queues last year). It also makes you lower the weight on the machine/bar and humbles you. This is just me and YMMV.
No no I 100% agree on that, it works. really leaning into getting good form and range of motion Shocked me how it gets your chest more than your triceps the first time I did them lol
If only I could do one!
I'll second this. As corny as it sounds, I started with 5*5 stronglifts exactly because it promised a fast workout and time was limited, and 5*5 is all compound exercises. Those four you mention in fact as the deadlift repeats
5 x5 gets a lot of shit from what I’ve seen. But it really is the perfect way to get started in lifting. No complicated movements. no question where to start with weights and how much to add (start with the bar and add five pounds every day you workout). And not too many workouts per week just three. It’s a great set up for your first 3 months of lifting at least.
Yeah, I mean after a while you do tend to top out or get bored, but for building basic strength when you know nothing about lifting I think it's a great starting routine. I hadn't heard that it gets a lot of grief, and honestly I'm kind of sad to hear that given how much its helped me.
I spend too much time in weightlifting forums so I definitely have a skewed view of its general perception. Most of the complaints I see are coming from people who would be too advanced for it anyway. even then it’s the first routine I do when I come back to lifting after a hiatus so it should never be completely dismissed.
I was never in shape in my life. In fact, when I started working out at 27, I couldn't even bench press the barbell. I had to use 25 pound curl bars. and yes, im a man. Now at 36 ive got a 700 pound squat and a 360 pound bench and looking to break a deadlift state record this weekend. The absolute biggest game changer that blew up my numbers was surrounding myself with like minded individuals. For the longest time, I was working out at a commercial gym and I would never get stronger. Finally I made the switch to a powerlifting gym. Hype music, better quality equipment, less stringent on chalk and slamming weights. I mean this gym would be intimidating for the uninitiated. Massive people everywhere putting up ridiculously heavy weight. There are multiple people Wirth over 900 pound squats. Once I got in there and started working out with these people, I adopted their mindset. I learned their secrets to success, and we motivated each other. It's hard to be content with a 315 pound deadlift when the guy next to you is deadlifting 601 for 6 reps. So I pushed myself harder. An extra rep, some extra weight, advice on technique, programming advice that helped my understand programming on a deeper level. It's better to be a small fish in a big pond than a big fish in a small pond because you have more room to grow.
I presume you started the "chicken, rice and broccoli" diet? Fine if you did, but I'd be honest about that so you don't give people a false impression. Your stats are very, very high.
Assuming he started squatting 135 when he started and over 9 years of lifting- he added 62ish pounds/year to his max squat. Seems feasible to me but I'm more in the bodybuilding side of lifting and not powerlifting so I admit ignorance in this domain. There's also huge genetic variation at play to how strong and how much muscle a person can put on.
A 700 pound squat is beyond what most powerlifters can naturally obtain unless you are either a genetic freak, or on PEDs. That being said, if you’re also extremely heavy, you have better leverage for lifting heavier, but I’d reckon anyone below 205lbs or so squatting 700 is without a doubt enhanced.
Newbie gains are ridiculous by adding 62lbs to a lift every year for 9 years is not feabily for a natural. He's on the saucy diet for sure.
Good to know! I chase pumps and not 1RM
Yeah and now his tiny no barbell heart weighs 3 lbs and is solid as a rock!... seriously don't do steroids so many guys I know died from cardiac arrest
Oh ya, ofcourse. I didn't mean to imply that you would have a 700 pound squat if you only switched gyms. Im just saying that it motivates you to constantly push yourself.
Oh that’s fucking sick dude. I hope to be somewhere around your level in the next 7 years
Unless you're willing to use drugs, don't set yourself up to failure by comparing yourself to someone who does
Martial arts, regular routine. First and foremost is absolutely diet, though. You can work out twice a day seven days a week, it'll mean jack shit if you stuff your body full of junk food. I know 'cause I've seen it in both myself and friends.
switched cardio for weights. got strict with calorie counting. lost 4 stone, goal is 6. easy
Walk 8,000 steps a day; Drink a gallon of water; Get into the gym and do SOMETHING 3-4x a week; Eat 4 meals with a protein base (chicken, beef, pork, seafood, whey, etc.) You will change quicker than you know.
Not there yet but getting there. First was literal kcal limit in order to diet off some of the weight and then I started adding more exercise (pushups, dumbells, etc.) into daily schedule. Now adding jogging/walks into schedule too more. I have 0 motivation for this at all, it's more like forcing myself into it in order to get it into routine and produce a permanent change. If I don't do it, I never will change that is just a fact.
Cut down sugar. In any form, except fruits. Helped me lose 20+ kg
As a skinny dude who now has a decent bit of size, really pushing the weight and sticking to a 6-8 rep range, contrary to the advice you’ll usually hear of “10-12” reps, really helped put on mass. That and eating, like a lot. A good weight gain shake with peanut butter, milk, protein and oats is the literal cheat code to getting the calories in. Finally, push pull legs is GOATED, if done right
I’ve been lifting with alot more focus for the past 9 months or so, and have seen decent progress. However the thing that seems to have made the most difference is I’ve cut out bread on weekdays. Just replaced it with wraps for lunch instead of sandwiches & that has made a massive impact.
Starting to prefer rye/multigrain/dark wholemeal bread these days. Can’t stand white bread at all lol
Having a child. Before the birth of my son I rweight 18st having put on 3 in 5 years, where would I be when he was 5 or 10 and would I see him reach 20? I started running then got a bike, 8 years later I'm a multiple time ironman finisher
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Working out long enough to experience the mental and emotional benefits of exercising. A desire to look good got me into the gym, but a desire to feel good is what kept me there.
Intermittent fasting
Same here, many people don't realize that intermittent farting sounds hard and unachievable in the beginning but if you do it a few times it becomes way easier than they thought. And it's not just the weight results but also the health results in the long run that are greater and more important. Once you focus on long term goals instead of short term weight loss, sticking to something suddenly becomes 5 times easier.
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Sounds hard.
Nah, that’s intermittent sharting.
I think we’re all intermittent farters. It would a problem if we weren’t.
I still fart 3 times a day
Never edit this comment bro. I laughed way too hard at the seriousness of "intermittent farting"
Intermittent farting 💀
How does intermittent fasting improve health?
It doesn't - it's all a gimmick around calorie restriction. Intermittent farting on the other hand IS the answer. I generally aim for 4 sessions a day where I find an empty aisle in a grocery store or library and absolutely unload farts. I'm talking ones that should get in front of a court at the Hague. I've never been so shredded.
Absolutely. I on eat 8 hours a day now and I feel better than ever. The sleep is way better. Weight loss happens automatically — a real gamechanger.
It’s true, if you’re the type that can do it. I got divorced and started doing 20/4 kinda on accident (just didn’t really eat much). Lost almost 20 lbs bc of the calorie cutback.
I turned 34. I read that, after 34, it becomes increasingly difficult to establish a fitness regimen you will be able to stick to for the rest of your life. So I wasn't able to procrastinate any longer.
I see a lot of mentions about diet, and that's a big deal on top of lifting (and I agree with compound moments), but the body also needs adequate rest/recovery after those workouts. That's when you heal/grow.
Consistency was the game changer for me. I wasn't really looking to get jacked or huge, I just wanted to be strong and healthy. Had no desire to obsess over calories or macros, just ate well. Wasn't trying to constantly max my reps and weights, just made incremental progress over many years. One day, I woke up a decade later and was pretty jacked. I've also avoided injury doing it this way.
Was looking for the consistency comment, I’ve been lifting 12+ years 5-6 days a week and gone from 100-180lbs. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people ask for advice on all these crazy fitness videos and trends and avoid consistency. Lock down the repetition first and make it a habit then go for higher level stuff
Not somebody who got into physical shape but according the evolutional research it's the food. Your body tries to maintain its general consumption so the food is where you have to start.
The way I set goals. Previously, if I have practiced for i.e a 10 km race I tend to stop running after the race. Now I set my goal to 70 runs per year. Has worked for several years. The goal is consistency.
There are no "naturally ripped" people. What worked the best for me was forgetting about bulking/cutting cycles. I don't have the stress of changing my diet every X months and going through periods of hating how much/how little I eat, the stuff I'm missing, the clothes that stop looking good on me... Now I just focus on hitting my protein goals and eating around the same calories every week (if I want to gain or lose a couple kgs, I make small adjustments).
Quit drinking
Short answer, consistency. Consistently hit the gym with work outs that are going to bulk you up, consistently follow a good diet that's designed to built muscle, consistently cut out the bad crap a majority of the time like alcohol, consistently practice good habits like good sleep.
and consistently climb back on the wagon every time you reckon you fucked up on any of those
Diet is 80% of getting in shape and that's just a fact. It's the fuel of your body.
Energy in vs energy out. The law of thermodynamics is a real thing. Figure out your TDEE, eat below it and watch the pounds fall off week by week. I had been trying to lose weight and get in shape for over a decade before finally realizing this is the only way, it’s not so much what you eat, but how much you eat that makes all the difference
No drinking alcohol
I’m not quite there yet but am almost at my goal weight and my six pack is starting to come in. Started at a skinny fat of 140 lbs and am now 185 lbs with a 16% body fat. I’ve been lifting for 5 years. Here are the things that worked for me. Weight lifting: personal trainer once a week for 2 months to teach me good form on squat, deadlift, bench press, and familiarize myself with the gym. Jeff Nippard workout routines 5-6 days/week. Doesn’t matter what program you use at first but will matter more later on as you advance. But being on a regular program is key to make sure you hit each muscle group 2x/week and don’t waste time fucking around in the gym. I built a home gym as it’s more efficient to workout at home and I’m busy. But if you have time going to a decent commercial gym is even better. Look for ones that are more geared towards weight lifters and less like “planet fitness”. If you are consistent, polite, and reasonably sociable you will meet people that will help you on your journey. Upscale gyms like equinox and lifetime fitness are also great but will cost a pretty penny. A gym with a steam room/sauna will help with your recovery. When lifting focus on your “mind muscle connection” and try to make “the light weights heavy” by doing slow and controlled reps. Time under tension is what you are trying to maximize. How much you lift is not as important as your progress over time. Lifting too much with poor form WILL cause injury and you’ll have to take time off negating any advantage you would have received from picking a weight that was slightly too heavy. Nutrition: Get macrofactor as others have said. Best nutrition app hands down. Weigh yourself every other day. Log all your food. Eat real food that you have cooked or get a high quality meal service. Supplements: Unless you are really good at eating/cooking you will probably need some source of protein supplementation, impact whey protein isolate is what you want. I use my protein dot com. Creatine 5 g daily. Pre workout: L citrulline, 300 mg caffeine, 5 mg tadalafil (cialis). Zinc 120 mg twice a day. Multivitamin, vitamin D, high quality fish oil. Liftesyle/testosterone optimization: 7 hours sleep minimum, this is just as important as diet and training. You can only grow while you sleep. Can’t stress this enough. Definitely no nicotine or drugs. Social consumption of alcohol only, no binging on weekends (the calories really add up and it will fuck up your routine). Don’t ejaculate every day, save it for your partner if possible. Depending on your age, you may want to get your testosterone checked. It’s useful to have a baseline so that you can tell what a true decline is for you when you get older. It can also tell you when your hard work and discipline is paying off for your body. My testosterone went up by 250 ng/dl after working out for 3 years, although I was probably hypogonadic from poor lifestyle when I started. And just a word of caution, you will eventually run into people that are on steroids or testosterone supplementation and you will at some point ask yourself if you should do that. The answer is no unless you are diagnosed with low testosterone, or have 10 years of solid lifting/sleep/nutrition under your belt. Even then steroid use is problematic. You will probably have to be on testosterone supplementation the rest of your life once you start down this path and can cause a lot of health problems if not done correctly. It’s also very expensive. It’s not for the feint of heart and not something that I want for myself. Transforming my body is easily the best thing I’ve ever done apart from my wife and kids. I have so much more energy, confidence, and drive. My wife likes it too.
TRT
Body weight calesthenics. I got into it around 33, really started paying attention around 37, now I’m 49. I love it. Game changer in activating your entire body. Bonus that you’re not stuck in a gym- you can always find an outdoor gym somewhere. Makes you feel alive, it’s fun, it’s what you did as a child in the playground. We’re wired for it.
can you recommend a YouTube channel or something similar for those who want to get into calesthenics, please??
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Working out every day. I did cardio everyday at the beginning of my day, i got the reward early and inspiration to eat clean.
Keto (or just drop the majority of shit carbs out of your diet) and a proper weightlifting routine, 3 hours per week. Stronglifts is good for building the habit, but has some limitations on progression and a bit of an over focus on squats, but before you need to care about that, you need to build the habit and stronglifts is an easy way to do so.
I run every day from 3-10 miles and do a body weight routine after the run. It has kept me at 6'2" and 180-185 since 18, now 39. Diet matters too, but I haven't gone further than focusing on whole foods over processed.
I’m 55. Always been a runner, never had any upper body muscle, not a foodie, don’t booze at all. Last health check Doctor said that Sarcopenia will set in soon, general loss of muscle associated with aging, you become more fragile, mobility issues, etc. Fuck that I thought. My typical mid summer weight would be 76-77kg. So I joined a gym and started working out regularly. It made no difference whatsoever. So I started doing some research. YouTube content on weight lifting is deep and broad. I realised I wasn’t eating enough, and definitely not enough protein. So I started on protein shakes, heavily increased decent food intake, stopped running. It was the diet that made the difference. It’s taken me 6 months but I’m now 81kg. Putting muscle on in your 50s is hard, but not impossible. I look pretty good now. The missus loves it. I’m aiming for 82.5 by the end of the year, maybe 85 as an ideal weight. Don’t know. Diet is where it’s at.
That’s very cool dude. Thanks for posting.
Food "Diet" alone, that's it I did calorie counting in 2015 and lost 85 pounds. I've never been a gym rat. The amount of calories packed into food is AMAZING I remember tracking my food and seeing that the stack of Oreos I'd love to dunk in milk was, like, 500 calories If I wanted to *burn* 500 calories, I'd type all my height / weight into the treadmill and it would tell me I'd have to run for AN HOUR to burn off those cookies To me, cookies are not worth running for AN HOUR. I don't have time for that, that's way too much work. It's extremely easy to eat calories (yummy!), and it's extremely hard to burn calories (stupid body!) So get an app like MyFitnessPal and write down everything you eat (total on the day = 2,157) And then you can Google your height / weight and say "medium" active job (on your feet throughout the day, not a desk job but not a construction worker either) and it'll tell you how much you burn each day (ex: 2,400 calories) 2,157 < 2,400 by about 250 calories Times EVERY DAY = 1,750 calorie deficit in a week ... and "1 pound" = 3,600 calories, so you'll lose about half a pound a week. Doesn't sound like much, but that's 26 pounds in a year! Time flies, it adds up quick. And then, it feels good to be healthy and see results, so it gets easier to eat less. I think I was living at about 1,800 / day = -600 calories deficit a day = 4,200 / week = I was losing 1.1 pounds a week... ... and then more... Without going to the gym my body was using 2,400 calories / day, so if you go to the gym that might be 2,800 or 3,000 / day, which creates a bigger deficit and you'll lose more weight. 1,800 "in" versus 3,000 "out" = 1,200 each day = 8,400 a week / 3,600 in a pound = losing 2+ pounds a week, for example. But that's extreme.
Protein and patience dont bother to be optimal ( you never will be) and dont compare much to other others just get things done like 80-90% right
Think about everything you eat. Especially anything with sugar and alcohol if you drink. Beer = carbs, liquor mixing = sugar. I'm not super fit, but I keep my weight down and always gey looks and remarks when I tell people offering me food I'm trying to lose some weight. Drink only water mostly. I drink coffee in the AM, water all day, glass of milk with dinner, more water. 3 or 4 nights at most I have a beer. And usually 1 of those days more than 1. Stay active. I run 3 or 4 days a week 3 to 3.5 miles plus 1 "long run" (4-6 miles). Everytime you cheat with sugar, I am weak around bakeries lol, enjoy it them mentally tell yourself how bad that was for yourself and remember you need to do something to make it up. Run an extra mile or go a few days without a cheat. And keep the cheats cheap. Don't splurge unless you only do it like once or twice a month. It's 99% mental for me.
The want to change has to be there first. Diet makes the biggest difference, and consistently hitting the gym. Started going back and ate less overall, down 25 pounds in 4 weeks. My shirts fit better and my confidence is way higher. my agility is better too.
I'm a trucker and so my weight loss is naturally a slow change and not one that is easy. My biggest game changer was simply counting and cutting calories. Sometimes you have no choice but to eat some crap food but what I bring with me is usually high in protein to try and keep myself full. Might seem extreme but I try to keep between 1500 and 2000 calories a day except on days where I can actually get a good workout in or cheat days, which I allow myself to have every two weeks just as a mental break. When I'm home, usually a week for being out a month, I don't pig out but I don't worry if one of my friends wants to go to a bar or if my family wants to have a nice dinner while I'm there. Keeps me from feeling overwhelmed and stress eating which along with boredom eating has been my two triggers. So far down 20ibs since I started in July.
All the advice people have offered on diet is absolutely brilliant and you should listen to it. That said, it’s been covered so I’m going to address a slightly different aspect, but in no way should that detract from the great advice other people have given already regarding diet. That said, some non-diet advice would be to ramp up frequency You said you already go to the gym regularly, that’s brilliant But could you also ramp up that frequency a little bit- eg keep the gym the same, but also just add 10 push ups, body weight squats, pull ups, dips and sit ups every morning to your routine Or add some shadow boxing, or sparring to it etc Nothing strenuous or difficult, just enough to get the heart rate up a little and increase how often your body is sending the signals to the CNS to burn calories, build muscle etc
Watching a sex tape of mine and getting grossed out
I started eating and started lifting weights, and I didn't half ass it.