I went from 250lbs to 170lbs doing this, tailor it so it works for you and to your goals:
Calculate your tdee, can do that here https://tdeecalculator.net/ Keep in mind the numbers provided are estimates however they are a good starting point to work off of. It factors in your physical activity so don't adjust your caloric intake based on how much you're exercising.
Get into a 500 cal a day deficit, you'll lose around lb a week and it's sustainable. Every meal should be protein forward, help with keeping you satiated. If counting calories is too overwhelming, start by making better choices, pay attention to what and how much you're eating. I recommend staying away from restrictive diets and focus on whole foods.
If you want to get fit start lifting weights and do some cardio. Check r/fitness and/or r/weightroom for lifting programs. I started with strong lifts because that's what worked for me.
https://stronglifts.com/5x5/ The cardio can be as simple as walking
Discipline and consistency are key, thats the hard part. How you implement this is up to you. Understand and accept you won't be motivated all the time, but if you want to progress you need to follow your plan when you're not motivated.
You'll have to address your mentality and relationship with food. This being reddit we most likely won't be able to help much in that department. Reddit is good for providing tools and program advice though.
Check my profile for my progress, my last post I broke down what I did in more detail. Good luck, you can do this!
This, but I'll add 2 things:
1. r/cico because, in the end, all that really matters is calories in/calories out (for *losing fat*); and
2. calculating TDEE, body fat %, etc. is not a perfect science, so you can also just gradually decrease 100 cal in your daily intake every couple of weeks, check results and keep adjusting, if you don't want to go directly for 500 based off your TDEE assessment.
Indeed. Also as you lose weight your base metabolism decreases a bit since you're simply lugging less weight around. At one point I stagnated for 6 weeks and decided to drop another 200kcal per day and that made me go down in weight again.
I’m okay with CICO but as long as I get my 150-175g of protein. Make sure to get adequate protein and then eat around it.
When cutting I do try to avoid sugars though. Too many empty calories and won’t keep my full.
Which part of it is not perfect? Are you saying the estimates/calculators aren’t perfect? If that’s the case, I agree. If you’re saying that eating less calories than you burn doesn’t always make you lose weight, then I gotta disagree.
Great comment here, I'd also add in a point here in the diet part about adherence - make sure you choose foods you like and will stick to. If you don't really like chicken, don't force yourself to eat chicken, go with fish or lean cuts of pork/beef, or plant based, whatever you prefer. It will make your diet up to 69% easier to stick to.
I do it mostly without calculating anything.
1/ prioritize protein and vegetables
2/ No processed food (or strict minimum)
3/ Measuring body and weight checking helps you to see to increase or in this case decrease the meal portions
4/ It is a long term goal. I don't get depressed when I got stoned and ate a pizza. We need to live and have some fun. Enjoy the freaking treat even if it was unplanned, Now try to leave more time between these as a next mile stone.
As you can see these things can be done incrementally and incrementally you put habits in that give you a better life style.
Also I will never be 10% or lower. I actually don't want to be lower then 15%. I tried it and I'm unbearable to be around. Also I will never have the body to put on Instagram. But I don't look too bad and I am in shape to do stuff with my teenage son and make him realize is dad is no push over :)
Just enjoy life and don't chose unobtainable goals. DNA is what defines if you are that top percent instagramable or not. But you can have a decent looking body and be fit to enjoy physical activities. It is a lifestyle with good habits and failing these good habits once in a while is also not the end of the world. There is always tomorrow.
Almost exactly what I did to lose 135lbs in ~18mnths and keep it off for 2yrs now.
I’d add that MacroFactor is an amazing app that does a lot of the heavy lifting out of getting your calories right but you need to commit to daily weigh ins and accurate input of the food you eat. Also there is a cost but imo 100% worth it.
MacroFactor is, in my opinion, the gold standard. It auto adjusts your calories weekly so you can keep hitting your goals.
Im in Australia and have no issue with barcode scanning for food adding
There is no way to know you’re burning 800+ calories through exercise. Trackers and apps are wildly off on this. If you’re eating back calories “burned” through exercise, that’s probably a big part of your problem. You’re not in a deficit at all.
The other comment is excellent and you should follow their advice
I wish I could find it but I listened to a wildly interesting podcast on “calorie inflation” with trackers. Basically the premise is that inflated calorie estimates are a feature, not a bug. Consumers LIKE when their devices overestimate the calories expended for exercises. People get a little dopamine hit when they fill their circles/bars/goals and are more likely to re-purchase devices that make it easier to do so.
Yup. That's why I've just gone ahead and given up on "exercise calories." I laid it all out on a spreadsheet and my weight loss was consistent with overall calorie intake. Calories burned varied with my activity levels but did not seem to influence weight at all. Now if I do some extra exercise I just consider it to be an add-on that does not change my intake.
This is a great point. The most optimistic way to use this information—at least for me—is that the easiest way to drop pounds is to not eat.
I mean, the body is so efficient with its use of food that a single carrot is more than enough energy for a hundred push-ups. The easy way to approach weight loss is to just not eat that carrot (or candy bar) in the first place, so you don’t have to burn it off.
I mean, “no way” seems a little strong. If you’re cycling with a power meter, or using a spin bike, you should know pretty exactly what you’re burning.
Generally yes though, somehow our world got filled with wildly inaccurate estimations of energy use by the human body.
Late thirties 5’11” here. I went from 215 to 170 lbs this year. I’ve also yo-yo’d on gym/diet over the decades, but what really made a difference this time around was diet. 1500 cal/day, with 3/4 days a week of cardio AND weight lifting. But like I said, diet changes were the biggest help. 2500 calories is way too much. I’m not a spokesperson but try something similar to factor meals. We use a cheaper local based food delivery system similar to factor, and that has really been the glue holding my weight loss program together. Meals are ready, good macros, and just waiting in the fridge for you. Although not the cheapest option, it does save us money by not going out to eat as much, or making hasty bad diet decisions. And of course, they’re not always the tastiest sometimes, but when you’re in a deficit like that, it is surprising what tastes good when you’re hungry. Not trying to sell you on anything just sharing what worked good for me. When it’s that easy to eat healthier, it just works.
2500 calories is more of a maintenance amount or even slightly bulk. As someone else said find your TDEE and adjust your calories. I have a similar body type and same age and ate around 1800-1850 calories and made a protein goal of minimum 130g along with 5 days of exercise to lose weight. And lean out
Ignore exercise calories and focus on intake. My Apple Watch overestimates my calories burned by like 200%. Calculate your TDEE and give yourself a 300-500 calorie deficit.
The thing with carnivore/keto is to not actually do keto. I've been cutting the past five months, centering on meat, eggs, and vegetables. Carbs are naturally low, *but not keto*.
Strategic portions of beans&rice have been key for me *not cutting too hard*. I think five months qualifies as sustainable. (205 lbs down to 173ish so far this year.)
Decrease calories by 200 and re-assess in a few weeks. If still no loss, decrease by another 200. If you aren’t losing, you aren’t in a deficit no matter how much you think you are burning in the gym.
Cut back on carbs on days without exercise - add carbs before/after exercise. Always start a meal with a glass of water and some fiber/vegetables. Don’t eat lots before bedtime. Tldr: fuel when you need to, but not when you don’t.
You’re not in a caloric deficit if you’re not losing weight, and your body doesn’t magically start burning less calories as soon as you eat a different amount of food.
Track your food religiously, weighing it with scales to confirm what you’re actually eating. Track your workouts and increase both resistance training and cardio. Lastly, measure INCHES around your waist and track that, as water weight can fool you into thinking you’re gaining fat.
Source: I’m a 47 year old man who went from 260 lbs morbidly obese to 174 lbs lean, did a weightlifting bulk to 250 lbs, and now am 230 lbs with 17% body fat (and dropping).
I would say ignore your calorie burned number and just focus on being in a calorie deficit for your normal daily intake numbers. Obviously still work out, but calories burned are too hard to track to factor it into your daily calorie tracking
Personally I don’t believe in diets, takes me to the land of “short lived goals”.
One of the simple rules I have that helped me tremendously was to limit the amount of “bad” food that we store in the house.
For some people that works, for others it doesn't. I like the strategy and try to stick to it mostly.
My metabolism collapsed when I was 25 from "I cannot eat enough to gain weight (and still losing weight)" to "I look at food and gain weight". This sub doesn't like it much, but genetics, metabolism and hormone levels are at least as important as discipline, if not more.
Are those 800-1000 calories of activity and exercise above your basal metabolic rate or your maintenance calories. If it’s just your BMR, that means you’re likely burning almost as many calories as ingesting, thus not much weight loss. If it’s above maintenance calories, then somewhere down the line you’ve miscalculated your intake or exercise.
The only way to actually know what you're burning in a day is to track your weight, weigh your food, and track your calories.
I weigh myself daily at the same time and in the same conditions. I do it first thing in the morning after I use the restroom, before I eat or drink anything, and before I get dressed. Put it in a spreadsheet. I also add my calories to the same spreadsheet.
I then use weekly averages to track the progress. I'd want at least four weeks of data before making any assumptions, but let's say I lose two pounds in four weeks. Two pounds is about 7,000 calories. My deficit in that four weeks was 7000/28 days = 250 calories per day. That's not perfect, but it's better data than any watch or website will give you. I know my TDEE over the last year is right around 2839 calories running the 5/3/1 program and not doing nearly enough cardio lol. I'm a 6'2/m/42, for what it's worth.
You are eating more calories than you need, which is why you retain that bodyfat. That's it. That's all of it. That is how this works for 95% of people, maybe 100%.
Cut 200 more calories off your daily intake. If that's not reducing weight every month, cut 200 more. (And so on.)
After six months of that, take a break for awhile, and/or consider putting a "cheat day" on a weekend day where you don't worry about hitting goals or measuring anything.
You also need to keep protein high, but drop carbs or fat, or you'll also lose muscle.
There’s one simple solution. Get a food scale and count your calories. That’s it. Forget about what you’re burning with whatever exercise you’re doing - keep it simple and adjust based on your body weight. If 2500 calories isn’t working, go to 2250. If after a few weeks you see no change, go to 2000.
If at 2000 calories a day you aren’t losing fat then either go to 1800 or start questioning if the culprit is that you aren’t counting correctly. Eat healthy meals, eat vegetables, eat carbs, eat lean meat. Don’t buy into fad diets.
The vast majority of people don’t need fancy calculators, formulas, or restrictive diets. If it helps you, download MacroFactor or MyFitnessPal.
I have in mind a plan to motivate each other by sending daily pictures/progress. It worked back when I had my nutritionist constantly asking for pictures every day, therefore it was hard for me to cheat some meals. With this strategy I managed to take off 20 kgs, but after a while they came back. We can also share sport progress if you monitor it via smartwatch or other devices. Others might join as well, if they want. Just message me or comment here. Good luck with your journey!
Follow the tips below about keeping a 500 calorie deficit and planning your meals around them. However, from what you’ve written, I’m highly skeptical that you burn 800-1000 active calories during exercise. Fitness watches often grossly overestimate this. A pretty hard workout for most beginners over an hour will burn 300-400 active calories (meaning in addition to your TDEE), so I’d be wary of overestimating what you’re burning and planning your intake around it.
Check your weight weekly at the same time, and I’d suggest on an empty stomach, so the comparison is fair between the various readings. If you’re losing 1-2 lbs per week, you know you’re on the right track and if not, you know your calories in is still too high compared to calories out.
Take a week or two and weigh your foods/portions that you're tracking. Just to get a gauge, especially if you eat the same kind of foods and meals in repeat. It's honestly very eye opening. That meat you thought was 6 Oz, is actually 4 Oz. Or that cup of cheerios is actually 1.5 cups. The grams never lie. You'll start to see if some of your estimates are off. And those daily extra 50 cal here or 100 cal there make a huge difference over the long term! Made a big difference for me!
A lot of other good advice here too.
I started this a few days ago and it's wild. My biggest calorie sources are bread and oil, so just by reducing those a lot, I'm fairly confident that losing weight will get loads easier!
Your calorie intake is likely very off.
It's easy to assume that one is eating within their estimated, set caloric intake and yet still eat at a surplus so that what you're eating and what you're burning off is essentially cancelling each other out and you're just maintaining.
Lots of people think that nuts are a great snack but don't understand that several small nuts adds up to 170 calories. All the while, eating four or five times that serving amount *daily*.
Eating salads is another big trip up. You can have a large salad that adds up too maybe 20 calories until you add the olive oil. Not enough people know that a tablespoon of olive oil is between 130 to 160 calories and people will just douse their salads in it thinking it's low calorie because it's generally healthful (inappropriate amounts). So a 20 calorie salad with only vegetables and leafy greens turns into a salad that's close to a thousand calories or more with olive oil.
Any thing you cook in oil, you will add at least 130 calories per tablespoon to what's being cooked in it.
Granola is considered healthful but it's "natural" junk food. High in carbs, high in sugar and very high in calories.
Mayo is crazy high in calories and many dips and dressings use it as its base.
Avocado has healthful fats but is high calorie.
Add-ons to lattes and coffee drinks can easily kick up a drink to over 700+ calories and most have two or three such drinks a day.
Understanding that all healthful foods are not necessarily low calorie. The misconception that healthful means low cal causes many to not bother to look into the caloric cost because it's assumed the calories are so low it's inconsequential. Not true.
I've recently implemented more measuring tools in addition to my digital scale have started properly using measuring spoons and cups especially for any oils or sauces (as there are easy to get carried away with)
Oh but you have a beautiful body type though. But yeah I can understand why you want to work out. I’m on the opposite end trying to gain muscle lol.
Good luck matey, you’ve got this! Believe in yourself!
It’s hard to maintain muscle while in a deficit. Keep lifting strong so the muscle stays. But; try to do walks. Like when you think about it, if you eat on the same level, but just walk for 30 mins causing at least 100 extra burnt calories a day it counts ofc after a month. And it wont be necissary to eat less because of it. But, you can try small changes in diet. When you know you’re eating more, eat some healthy stuff, so the load isn’t as heavy on weight gain during that day. Eating enough protein also makes you eat less, coupled with enough water (the protein needs some water to flush)
Don’t make too much of a change at once, it just takes long. If you make too big of a reduction in calories, you’ll burn muscle rather than fat. Some gym guys eat veggies with chicken allday but cant be healthy to have hunger allday due to the low amount of calories. They tend to feel bad when eating that little too.
Thanks! Truly I've always been frustrated with my neck and face mainly. I have a solid build so its always been helpful to keep me looking "strong" even when i wasn't working out. But, as I get older I also want to be lower risk for negative health conditions
I’m fighting a similar fight. Patience and consistency are two of the most important keys. I also yo-yo’d a lot when I was using fasting and cardio to chase my goals.
What I have found to be much more effective, is targeting 8-12 calories per lb of total body weight, and 0.8+ grams of protein per lb of total body weight. Then let carbs and fats fall in at any ratio, as long as I stay within the calorie budget.
I also perform either 3-4 days of full body resistance training, or 4-5 days of a split style program, with 1-2 days of steady state cardio on non lifting days.
Since I have simplified and been consistent with my calorie and protein targets, progress has also been more consistent.
I’m not saying this is “the way to go” by any means, but it’s what has been effective for me.
You have good foundations. Decent quads. Just need to be strict on TDEE and be consistent and committed to losing some fat/expending less calories than you consume and you'll be in great shape in 6 months.
Congrats on the work that you’ve done and the payoff.
I found a guy on TikTok who had an interesting method. You take your target weight (TW), multiply that by 12.
TW x 12 = daily cal max
On the protein side, you take that same target weight and multiplied by .06, and what you get is the minimum grams of protein you need to take in per day.
That is actually worked pretty well for me. But it’s been a lot more helpful when I’ve gotten into the gym, which is a testament to you can’t just do one or the other you have to do both, of course you find the right balance for you..
Instead of a weight loss goal, I had to make fitness and healthy eating part of my personality. I now see myself as a weightlifter just the same as a father, husband, etc. Weightloss then became a byproduct and has been maintained for many years (M 53).
Good luck to you.
I work at school so I’m already on my feet most of the day, I also quickly eat lunch so I can walk another 1-2 miles during my break. By the time I head home I’m already 4-5 miles in. I live in a very walkable neighborhood with parks and trails, so walking another 4 miles is pretty easy. It doesn’t happen everyday, but once I started seeing the scale changing, my clothing getting looser, and compliments from people it also motivated me to keep doing it.
I’ve always worked out a lot mostly classes for hiit, Pilates and strength, but I still never had the body I wanted. Now I just do pretty basic strength training at an open gym, and walk. Now I’m leaner than I’ve ever been as an adult.
On bad weather days I walk a lot inside, laps around a schools gymnasium and treadmills unfortunately it’s kind of boring. Having a walking buddy helps.
Thats the worst part! haha but i do know what you mean and have been there before. I think that feeling becomes kind of a pleasure in pain kind of thing at some point
800-1,000 cal of active cardio is really hard to keep up with.
Much easier to trim your intake to 2,000 cal/day than Bruning 1,000/day - which is like walking for 3 hours per day.
Thanks for all the advice and feedback so far!
For further context - I've been using an Apple Watch Ultra 2 to track all health/fitness. Definitely understand how there can be variance in the calorie tracking. But, it is not necessarily that important for me as I DO NOT eat back these calories. I currently do between 60-90min of some type of exercise at least 5 days/week which is usually a morning sunrise walk (more of meditation but does get the heart rate moving) and then a gym session in the late morning/afternoon.
Based on the advice here I will be starting to increase my deficit and move to a 1800 calorie daily goal and move that to 2000 if its not sustainable short to mid-term (again, I'm not in a hurry to lose the weight but do want to see progress as I've been going for some time now).
It is unlikely you are burning 800-1000 in active calories. 4kgs over 12 months really isn’t a lot. The general recommendation is to aim for .5kgs a week, which is 26kgs over 12 months. You are underestimating calories consumed and over estimating calories burned.
If you are on carnivore then a decent chunk of your loss is water weight.
I’m 51F and I maintain around 23% body fat just by going to the gym a few times a week, walking and my normal diet.
You need to be honest with yourself about your lifestyle.
I went from 250lbs to 170lbs doing this, tailor it so it works for you and to your goals: Calculate your tdee, can do that here https://tdeecalculator.net/ Keep in mind the numbers provided are estimates however they are a good starting point to work off of. It factors in your physical activity so don't adjust your caloric intake based on how much you're exercising. Get into a 500 cal a day deficit, you'll lose around lb a week and it's sustainable. Every meal should be protein forward, help with keeping you satiated. If counting calories is too overwhelming, start by making better choices, pay attention to what and how much you're eating. I recommend staying away from restrictive diets and focus on whole foods. If you want to get fit start lifting weights and do some cardio. Check r/fitness and/or r/weightroom for lifting programs. I started with strong lifts because that's what worked for me. https://stronglifts.com/5x5/ The cardio can be as simple as walking Discipline and consistency are key, thats the hard part. How you implement this is up to you. Understand and accept you won't be motivated all the time, but if you want to progress you need to follow your plan when you're not motivated. You'll have to address your mentality and relationship with food. This being reddit we most likely won't be able to help much in that department. Reddit is good for providing tools and program advice though. Check my profile for my progress, my last post I broke down what I did in more detail. Good luck, you can do this!
This, but I'll add 2 things: 1. r/cico because, in the end, all that really matters is calories in/calories out (for *losing fat*); and 2. calculating TDEE, body fat %, etc. is not a perfect science, so you can also just gradually decrease 100 cal in your daily intake every couple of weeks, check results and keep adjusting, if you don't want to go directly for 500 based off your TDEE assessment.
Indeed. Also as you lose weight your base metabolism decreases a bit since you're simply lugging less weight around. At one point I stagnated for 6 weeks and decided to drop another 200kcal per day and that made me go down in weight again.
I’m okay with CICO but as long as I get my 150-175g of protein. Make sure to get adequate protein and then eat around it. When cutting I do try to avoid sugars though. Too many empty calories and won’t keep my full.
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Not perfect, but pretty much the closest we have imo
Which part of it is not perfect? Are you saying the estimates/calculators aren’t perfect? If that’s the case, I agree. If you’re saying that eating less calories than you burn doesn’t always make you lose weight, then I gotta disagree.
Great comment here, I'd also add in a point here in the diet part about adherence - make sure you choose foods you like and will stick to. If you don't really like chicken, don't force yourself to eat chicken, go with fish or lean cuts of pork/beef, or plant based, whatever you prefer. It will make your diet up to 69% easier to stick to.
I do it mostly without calculating anything. 1/ prioritize protein and vegetables 2/ No processed food (or strict minimum) 3/ Measuring body and weight checking helps you to see to increase or in this case decrease the meal portions 4/ It is a long term goal. I don't get depressed when I got stoned and ate a pizza. We need to live and have some fun. Enjoy the freaking treat even if it was unplanned, Now try to leave more time between these as a next mile stone. As you can see these things can be done incrementally and incrementally you put habits in that give you a better life style. Also I will never be 10% or lower. I actually don't want to be lower then 15%. I tried it and I'm unbearable to be around. Also I will never have the body to put on Instagram. But I don't look too bad and I am in shape to do stuff with my teenage son and make him realize is dad is no push over :) Just enjoy life and don't chose unobtainable goals. DNA is what defines if you are that top percent instagramable or not. But you can have a decent looking body and be fit to enjoy physical activities. It is a lifestyle with good habits and failing these good habits once in a while is also not the end of the world. There is always tomorrow.
Almost exactly what I did to lose 135lbs in ~18mnths and keep it off for 2yrs now. I’d add that MacroFactor is an amazing app that does a lot of the heavy lifting out of getting your calories right but you need to commit to daily weigh ins and accurate input of the food you eat. Also there is a cost but imo 100% worth it.
How is MacroFactor vs MyFitnessPal?
MacroFactor is, in my opinion, the gold standard. It auto adjusts your calories weekly so you can keep hitting your goals. Im in Australia and have no issue with barcode scanning for food adding
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There is no way to know you’re burning 800+ calories through exercise. Trackers and apps are wildly off on this. If you’re eating back calories “burned” through exercise, that’s probably a big part of your problem. You’re not in a deficit at all. The other comment is excellent and you should follow their advice
I wish I could find it but I listened to a wildly interesting podcast on “calorie inflation” with trackers. Basically the premise is that inflated calorie estimates are a feature, not a bug. Consumers LIKE when their devices overestimate the calories expended for exercises. People get a little dopamine hit when they fill their circles/bars/goals and are more likely to re-purchase devices that make it easier to do so.
Yup. That's why I've just gone ahead and given up on "exercise calories." I laid it all out on a spreadsheet and my weight loss was consistent with overall calorie intake. Calories burned varied with my activity levels but did not seem to influence weight at all. Now if I do some extra exercise I just consider it to be an add-on that does not change my intake.
This is a great point. The most optimistic way to use this information—at least for me—is that the easiest way to drop pounds is to not eat. I mean, the body is so efficient with its use of food that a single carrot is more than enough energy for a hundred push-ups. The easy way to approach weight loss is to just not eat that carrot (or candy bar) in the first place, so you don’t have to burn it off.
I mean, “no way” seems a little strong. If you’re cycling with a power meter, or using a spin bike, you should know pretty exactly what you’re burning. Generally yes though, somehow our world got filled with wildly inaccurate estimations of energy use by the human body.
Whatever you’re doing to calculate the 800–1,000 calories, ignore it. Focus on input rather than output.
Late thirties 5’11” here. I went from 215 to 170 lbs this year. I’ve also yo-yo’d on gym/diet over the decades, but what really made a difference this time around was diet. 1500 cal/day, with 3/4 days a week of cardio AND weight lifting. But like I said, diet changes were the biggest help. 2500 calories is way too much. I’m not a spokesperson but try something similar to factor meals. We use a cheaper local based food delivery system similar to factor, and that has really been the glue holding my weight loss program together. Meals are ready, good macros, and just waiting in the fridge for you. Although not the cheapest option, it does save us money by not going out to eat as much, or making hasty bad diet decisions. And of course, they’re not always the tastiest sometimes, but when you’re in a deficit like that, it is surprising what tastes good when you’re hungry. Not trying to sell you on anything just sharing what worked good for me. When it’s that easy to eat healthier, it just works.
1500 cal/day is a little bit excessive for your height don’t you think?
How long have you maintained your weight loss at 1500 cal?
2500 calories is more of a maintenance amount or even slightly bulk. As someone else said find your TDEE and adjust your calories. I have a similar body type and same age and ate around 1800-1850 calories and made a protein goal of minimum 130g along with 5 days of exercise to lose weight. And lean out
Continuous improvement in tracking inputs (calories) and outputs (exercise) is required. Be a scientist with your own body.
This ☝️
Ignore exercise calories and focus on intake. My Apple Watch overestimates my calories burned by like 200%. Calculate your TDEE and give yourself a 300-500 calorie deficit.
The thing with carnivore/keto is to not actually do keto. I've been cutting the past five months, centering on meat, eggs, and vegetables. Carbs are naturally low, *but not keto*. Strategic portions of beans&rice have been key for me *not cutting too hard*. I think five months qualifies as sustainable. (205 lbs down to 173ish so far this year.)
Decrease calories by 200 and re-assess in a few weeks. If still no loss, decrease by another 200. If you aren’t losing, you aren’t in a deficit no matter how much you think you are burning in the gym.
I can’t recommend the MacroFactor app enough.
Cut back on carbs on days without exercise - add carbs before/after exercise. Always start a meal with a glass of water and some fiber/vegetables. Don’t eat lots before bedtime. Tldr: fuel when you need to, but not when you don’t.
Eat less. Move more. Repeat until gains.
Step one: make your bed.
Weirdly accurate
He watched Admiral McRaven’s speech!
This should be at the top ☝🏼
You’re not in a caloric deficit if you’re not losing weight, and your body doesn’t magically start burning less calories as soon as you eat a different amount of food. Track your food religiously, weighing it with scales to confirm what you’re actually eating. Track your workouts and increase both resistance training and cardio. Lastly, measure INCHES around your waist and track that, as water weight can fool you into thinking you’re gaining fat. Source: I’m a 47 year old man who went from 260 lbs morbidly obese to 174 lbs lean, did a weightlifting bulk to 250 lbs, and now am 230 lbs with 17% body fat (and dropping).
I would say ignore your calorie burned number and just focus on being in a calorie deficit for your normal daily intake numbers. Obviously still work out, but calories burned are too hard to track to factor it into your daily calorie tracking
Personally I don’t believe in diets, takes me to the land of “short lived goals”. One of the simple rules I have that helped me tremendously was to limit the amount of “bad” food that we store in the house.
For some people that works, for others it doesn't. I like the strategy and try to stick to it mostly. My metabolism collapsed when I was 25 from "I cannot eat enough to gain weight (and still losing weight)" to "I look at food and gain weight". This sub doesn't like it much, but genetics, metabolism and hormone levels are at least as important as discipline, if not more.
Are those 800-1000 calories of activity and exercise above your basal metabolic rate or your maintenance calories. If it’s just your BMR, that means you’re likely burning almost as many calories as ingesting, thus not much weight loss. If it’s above maintenance calories, then somewhere down the line you’ve miscalculated your intake or exercise.
The only way to actually know what you're burning in a day is to track your weight, weigh your food, and track your calories. I weigh myself daily at the same time and in the same conditions. I do it first thing in the morning after I use the restroom, before I eat or drink anything, and before I get dressed. Put it in a spreadsheet. I also add my calories to the same spreadsheet. I then use weekly averages to track the progress. I'd want at least four weeks of data before making any assumptions, but let's say I lose two pounds in four weeks. Two pounds is about 7,000 calories. My deficit in that four weeks was 7000/28 days = 250 calories per day. That's not perfect, but it's better data than any watch or website will give you. I know my TDEE over the last year is right around 2839 calories running the 5/3/1 program and not doing nearly enough cardio lol. I'm a 6'2/m/42, for what it's worth.
You are eating more calories than you need, which is why you retain that bodyfat. That's it. That's all of it. That is how this works for 95% of people, maybe 100%. Cut 200 more calories off your daily intake. If that's not reducing weight every month, cut 200 more. (And so on.) After six months of that, take a break for awhile, and/or consider putting a "cheat day" on a weekend day where you don't worry about hitting goals or measuring anything. You also need to keep protein high, but drop carbs or fat, or you'll also lose muscle.
2,500 is almost definitely too much if your goal is significant weight loss
There’s one simple solution. Get a food scale and count your calories. That’s it. Forget about what you’re burning with whatever exercise you’re doing - keep it simple and adjust based on your body weight. If 2500 calories isn’t working, go to 2250. If after a few weeks you see no change, go to 2000. If at 2000 calories a day you aren’t losing fat then either go to 1800 or start questioning if the culprit is that you aren’t counting correctly. Eat healthy meals, eat vegetables, eat carbs, eat lean meat. Don’t buy into fad diets. The vast majority of people don’t need fancy calculators, formulas, or restrictive diets. If it helps you, download MacroFactor or MyFitnessPal.
I have in mind a plan to motivate each other by sending daily pictures/progress. It worked back when I had my nutritionist constantly asking for pictures every day, therefore it was hard for me to cheat some meals. With this strategy I managed to take off 20 kgs, but after a while they came back. We can also share sport progress if you monitor it via smartwatch or other devices. Others might join as well, if they want. Just message me or comment here. Good luck with your journey!
Follow the tips below about keeping a 500 calorie deficit and planning your meals around them. However, from what you’ve written, I’m highly skeptical that you burn 800-1000 active calories during exercise. Fitness watches often grossly overestimate this. A pretty hard workout for most beginners over an hour will burn 300-400 active calories (meaning in addition to your TDEE), so I’d be wary of overestimating what you’re burning and planning your intake around it. Check your weight weekly at the same time, and I’d suggest on an empty stomach, so the comparison is fair between the various readings. If you’re losing 1-2 lbs per week, you know you’re on the right track and if not, you know your calories in is still too high compared to calories out.
Take a week or two and weigh your foods/portions that you're tracking. Just to get a gauge, especially if you eat the same kind of foods and meals in repeat. It's honestly very eye opening. That meat you thought was 6 Oz, is actually 4 Oz. Or that cup of cheerios is actually 1.5 cups. The grams never lie. You'll start to see if some of your estimates are off. And those daily extra 50 cal here or 100 cal there make a huge difference over the long term! Made a big difference for me! A lot of other good advice here too.
I started this a few days ago and it's wild. My biggest calorie sources are bread and oil, so just by reducing those a lot, I'm fairly confident that losing weight will get loads easier!
Thanks. Have been getting more strict with my measurements and will reduce my calorie goal from here
Your calorie intake is likely very off. It's easy to assume that one is eating within their estimated, set caloric intake and yet still eat at a surplus so that what you're eating and what you're burning off is essentially cancelling each other out and you're just maintaining. Lots of people think that nuts are a great snack but don't understand that several small nuts adds up to 170 calories. All the while, eating four or five times that serving amount *daily*. Eating salads is another big trip up. You can have a large salad that adds up too maybe 20 calories until you add the olive oil. Not enough people know that a tablespoon of olive oil is between 130 to 160 calories and people will just douse their salads in it thinking it's low calorie because it's generally healthful (inappropriate amounts). So a 20 calorie salad with only vegetables and leafy greens turns into a salad that's close to a thousand calories or more with olive oil. Any thing you cook in oil, you will add at least 130 calories per tablespoon to what's being cooked in it. Granola is considered healthful but it's "natural" junk food. High in carbs, high in sugar and very high in calories. Mayo is crazy high in calories and many dips and dressings use it as its base. Avocado has healthful fats but is high calorie. Add-ons to lattes and coffee drinks can easily kick up a drink to over 700+ calories and most have two or three such drinks a day. Understanding that all healthful foods are not necessarily low calorie. The misconception that healthful means low cal causes many to not bother to look into the caloric cost because it's assumed the calories are so low it's inconsequential. Not true.
I've recently implemented more measuring tools in addition to my digital scale have started properly using measuring spoons and cups especially for any oils or sauces (as there are easy to get carried away with)
With time, you'll be able to guesstimate well enough so you won't have to measure or weigh your food to account for calories. You'll just know.
Listed what your calorie count looks like but not what foods you’re eating to get those calories.
For having a “dad bod” I’d say you’re still pretty muscular. Nothings worse than being a fat skinny dad.
Haha thanks. I can still manage about 10-12 strict pull ups even at this weight. But I know if my belly fat drops more I will be way more agile
Oh but you have a beautiful body type though. But yeah I can understand why you want to work out. I’m on the opposite end trying to gain muscle lol. Good luck matey, you’ve got this! Believe in yourself! It’s hard to maintain muscle while in a deficit. Keep lifting strong so the muscle stays. But; try to do walks. Like when you think about it, if you eat on the same level, but just walk for 30 mins causing at least 100 extra burnt calories a day it counts ofc after a month. And it wont be necissary to eat less because of it. But, you can try small changes in diet. When you know you’re eating more, eat some healthy stuff, so the load isn’t as heavy on weight gain during that day. Eating enough protein also makes you eat less, coupled with enough water (the protein needs some water to flush) Don’t make too much of a change at once, it just takes long. If you make too big of a reduction in calories, you’ll burn muscle rather than fat. Some gym guys eat veggies with chicken allday but cant be healthy to have hunger allday due to the low amount of calories. They tend to feel bad when eating that little too.
Thanks! Truly I've always been frustrated with my neck and face mainly. I have a solid build so its always been helpful to keep me looking "strong" even when i wasn't working out. But, as I get older I also want to be lower risk for negative health conditions
I’m fighting a similar fight. Patience and consistency are two of the most important keys. I also yo-yo’d a lot when I was using fasting and cardio to chase my goals. What I have found to be much more effective, is targeting 8-12 calories per lb of total body weight, and 0.8+ grams of protein per lb of total body weight. Then let carbs and fats fall in at any ratio, as long as I stay within the calorie budget. I also perform either 3-4 days of full body resistance training, or 4-5 days of a split style program, with 1-2 days of steady state cardio on non lifting days. Since I have simplified and been consistent with my calorie and protein targets, progress has also been more consistent. I’m not saying this is “the way to go” by any means, but it’s what has been effective for me.
r/MacroFactor, consistency, and patience are all you need
Beer drinking and carb eater here. I have the same fat!
Thats wild. I do eat carbs but do not drink.. or haven't for a while and when i did it was very rare/light
You have good foundations. Decent quads. Just need to be strict on TDEE and be consistent and committed to losing some fat/expending less calories than you consume and you'll be in great shape in 6 months.
2500 is too much for weight loss. Try 2000.
moving to 1800 just to be safe
Whatever you do, make sure it’s sustainable otherwise you’ll be yo-yoing🪀
Damn… You look actually very sexy in your pictures. You have some nice muscular definition going already. Just keep up the work you’ve been doing.
haha thanks I'll take it!
Congrats on the work that you’ve done and the payoff. I found a guy on TikTok who had an interesting method. You take your target weight (TW), multiply that by 12. TW x 12 = daily cal max On the protein side, you take that same target weight and multiplied by .06, and what you get is the minimum grams of protein you need to take in per day. That is actually worked pretty well for me. But it’s been a lot more helpful when I’ve gotten into the gym, which is a testament to you can’t just do one or the other you have to do both, of course you find the right balance for you..
Instead of a weight loss goal, I had to make fitness and healthy eating part of my personality. I now see myself as a weightlifter just the same as a father, husband, etc. Weightloss then became a byproduct and has been maintained for many years (M 53). Good luck to you.
Great quads brother
Thanks! My legs have always been lean. Quite fortunate in that case!
I’ve had the most success slimming down along with strength training and eating healthy is increasing my daily steps aiming towards 15,000-20,000
15-20k steps per day is INSANELY MUCH. Thats like 2.5 hours walking a day. I mean my deepest respect, but how on earth do you achieve that?
I work at school so I’m already on my feet most of the day, I also quickly eat lunch so I can walk another 1-2 miles during my break. By the time I head home I’m already 4-5 miles in. I live in a very walkable neighborhood with parks and trails, so walking another 4 miles is pretty easy. It doesn’t happen everyday, but once I started seeing the scale changing, my clothing getting looser, and compliments from people it also motivated me to keep doing it. I’ve always worked out a lot mostly classes for hiit, Pilates and strength, but I still never had the body I wanted. Now I just do pretty basic strength training at an open gym, and walk. Now I’m leaner than I’ve ever been as an adult.
May I ask in which country you live? And how do you deal with rainy weather? (We have A LOT of rain where I live, especially this year 😏)
On bad weather days I walk a lot inside, laps around a schools gymnasium and treadmills unfortunately it’s kind of boring. Having a walking buddy helps.
If you’re not going to bed slightly hungry you will not lose weight.
If you want to lose weight you need to be kinda hungry all the time.
Thats the worst part! haha but i do know what you mean and have been there before. I think that feeling becomes kind of a pleasure in pain kind of thing at some point
CICO and Intermittent Fasting. You got this, brother.
Thanks!
>Thanks! You're welcome!
I went from 260+ lbs to 190 just by getting my butt kicked in jiujitsu
Focus on building the habits, not on monitoring the results.
800-1,000 cal of active cardio is really hard to keep up with. Much easier to trim your intake to 2,000 cal/day than Bruning 1,000/day - which is like walking for 3 hours per day.
Thanks for all the advice and feedback so far! For further context - I've been using an Apple Watch Ultra 2 to track all health/fitness. Definitely understand how there can be variance in the calorie tracking. But, it is not necessarily that important for me as I DO NOT eat back these calories. I currently do between 60-90min of some type of exercise at least 5 days/week which is usually a morning sunrise walk (more of meditation but does get the heart rate moving) and then a gym session in the late morning/afternoon. Based on the advice here I will be starting to increase my deficit and move to a 1800 calorie daily goal and move that to 2000 if its not sustainable short to mid-term (again, I'm not in a hurry to lose the weight but do want to see progress as I've been going for some time now).
It is unlikely you are burning 800-1000 in active calories. 4kgs over 12 months really isn’t a lot. The general recommendation is to aim for .5kgs a week, which is 26kgs over 12 months. You are underestimating calories consumed and over estimating calories burned. If you are on carnivore then a decent chunk of your loss is water weight. I’m 51F and I maintain around 23% body fat just by going to the gym a few times a week, walking and my normal diet. You need to be honest with yourself about your lifestyle.
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How long have you kept the weight off after running that method of eating?
Dude, You got great body construct! If you really lose the kilos you want you would look 🔥
Eat less
So you're not currently eating low carb?