Starting a brutal diet + exercise

[Reincarnate]

Maybe a point of reference (I used to eat 3000-4000 cals/day before I started dieting):

I'm around 184 lbs @ 6'2" (I started @ 230 lbs) -- I don't have much muscle, so I'm still "fat" in many ways. Eating around 1500-1600 cals/day.

Originally Posted by kommisar

been under 2600 calories for 3 days. i'm feeling the effects of it. i don't want to starve but feel like I get the shakes around supper time haha. maybe not enough sugar?

I felt this way for a month or so when I first started (shakiness, lightheadedness, and several headaches). In a funny way, it was as if my body felt like crap as a result of no longer eating so much crap. I just chalked it up to some kind of transitional adjustment thing -- it went away after a while on its own. Eating a lot of whole foods (like Reach said) helps a ton, too.

tl;dr 2600 calories seems too high IMO

[kommisar]

Stopped at 2070 calories today. Can def. do less. Water helped cope with the empty stomach feeling and tje hardest period was from 1pm to 4pm. Feeling pretty optimistic towards having a routine set.

The headaches kinda come and go, it feels mostly like a shock haha. I was a bit lightheaded and had a few moments of short breath (prob from slight anxiety or withdrawal from eating so much shit) but went away if i kept myself occupied. Did some gym and felt great, no loss of energy or anything.

[SCWolf]

Yeah, changing your eating patterns can definitely shock the system. You'll adjust though, for sure.

I remember for the first year of training I felt like throwing up all day every day. Was a mixture of going from an average of roughly 900 calories a day to 3000 calories a day and a dairy intolerance. Needless to say, every diet change/lifestyle change comes with some speedbumps, but in the end you always end up with a better understanding of your own body.

[kommisar]

I'm leaning that quickly haha. Also which foods fill me better.

I made it fam

[SCWolf]

You still doing this? if so how is it going?

[Reach]

Better still be doing it!

[kommisar]

bump


still doin' it~


my daily max is now 2250 calories, I'm optimally aiming for 1800. Cutting calories won't be enough though I suppose if I want to cut fat%. Any diet suggestions?

Also going to Dalhousie University next sept (hi reach) so it'll be nice to have a swimming pool and facilities literally on site (I'll be living on campus too).I'll be broke as fuc so managing diet will be for both health and economic reasons lol.

from last october I went from 179 to 183lbs. Goal is 175.

[SCWolf]

Originally Posted by kommisar

bump


still doin' it~


my daily max is now 2250 calories, I'm optimally aiming for 1800. Cutting calories won't be enough though I suppose if I want to cut fat%. Any diet suggestions?

Also going to Dalhousie University next sept (hi reach) so it'll be nice to have a swimming pool and facilities literally on site (I'll be living on campus too).I'll be broke as fuc so managing diet will be for both health and economic reasons lol.

from last october I went from 179 to 183lbs. Goal is 175.

First of all, good job man

Secondly, cutting calories is precisely what is going to cut fat. Pretty much exclusively. The only time it may seem otherwise is when you're building muscle much faster than you're putting on fat giving the person the illusion of losing fat while building muscle, when really you're just pushing the fat out with your new found muscle.

Swimming is ultra good cardio so that will definitely help with cutting.

[kommisar]

I always thought there was more to it than that, like i could eat 1700 calories but it be complete garbage and it would make me lose weight differently.

[Reach]

No it really doesn't make any difference unless you are going for a competitive bodybuilding look and need to be as muscle sparing as possible.

Increasing the protein quality of your diet on a deficit will help retain muscle, and so will doing resistance training.

But unless you're already quite muscular this isn't really something you have to worry too much about.

Cutting calories is probably all that is necessary.

[kommisar]

so I'm at 175lbs

it's pretty much where I want to be.

difficult to figure out where to go from here

[leonid]

You want to maintain that, by keeping at your diet. (without caloric deficit this time)

[Reach]

Are you happy with the way you look?

With the way you feel?

With your physical performance?

If the answer to all of those things is yes, then as Leonid said, make a plan to maintain your current condition.

If your answer to one or all of those questions is no, then make a plan to work towards those goals.

[kommisar]

i'm not 100% with the way I look, not for any reasons aside from aesthetics

I feel it's easier to work for longer amounts of times but physically I'm not very capable.

is it as simple as just switching from cardio to more weights proportionately? I could probably lose some more body fat as well, but the girlfriend is starting to say I'm too obsessed with this whole thing (it's at 23%ish). like if I were to go down to 170 or 165 would it be unhealthy? I'm not super worried about the weight itself but if I want to be more lean or have more muscle in general I don't know much haha

I'm definitely not starving myself, doing myself any harm physically or affecting my day to day life so I don't really -think- taking this kind of endeavor seriously is a detriment. I come home from work tired from being on my feet 10 hours a day and I'd like to be able to be more productive.

[Blue June]

This whole post was so informative. I'm happy with the way I look, but not at all pleased with physical performance. So those three questions were probing!

[Reach]

Originally Posted by kommisar

i'm not 100% with the way I look, not for any reasons aside from aesthetics

I feel it's easier to work for longer amounts of times but physically I'm not very capable.

is it as simple as just switching from cardio to more weights proportionately? I could probably lose some more body fat as well, but the girlfriend is starting to say I'm too obsessed with this whole thing (it's at 23%ish). like if I were to go down to 170 or 165 would it be unhealthy? I'm not super worried about the weight itself but if I want to be more lean or have more muscle in general I don't know much haha

I'm definitely not starving myself, doing myself any harm physically or affecting my day to day life so I don't really -think- taking this kind of endeavor seriously is a detriment. I come home from work tired from being on my feet 10 hours a day and I'd like to be able to be more productive.

If you goal is to become more aesthetic, than you would need to assess what about your physique you don't really like so you know what you have to do to make it better.

For most people, yes that involves doing more resistance training to put on muscle.

It's one thing to know your stats but it could be much easier to tell you what you should be doing if you posted pictures of your physique and said what you don't like about it. You could PM them if you don't want them public.

Though if you have a very generic body type without much muscle or definition, and you want to just generally improve all of it, most beginner lifting programs will probably benefit you.

So yeah, you probably need to lift more and change your diet. Losing weight and changing your physique are really two different processes and involve a different approach.


It hardly sounds like you're 'too obsessed' with the whole thing though. I obviously don't know your girlfriend but this sounds an awful lot like someone that might be trying to sabotage your progress. Not intentionally; this is just something that a lot of people will subconsciously start doing especially if she is not also getting involved in self improvement. She should be supportive of your goals. Working towards improving your fitness and becoming happier with yourself is something everyone should be doing, honestly. If she isn't already, I would get her involved in what you're doing. My fiancee jumped on the fitness bandwagon with me and now we just workout together and have been doing so for at least 3 years now. It makes it a lot easier that way.

[kommisar]

that helps a lot actually thanks~


I'm literally starting from scratch at this point so I think i'll just start with basic resistance training until I figure out where I want to go. (arch gave me a good starting point too)

girlfriend wants to go to the gym as well, maybe if it's a consistent habit she won't see it as obsessive and more of a lifestyle.

[Reach]

Sounds like a plan.

My only tip would be to make sure you keep a log of some sort to continue to track your progress. It helps, a lot.

Also, take some pictures, if anything just so you can look back on them in a year and you'll be really surprised by how much progress you made.

[DJAirWave]

I find this thread.... Totally inspiring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <33333

[SCWolf]

Chris if you're moving to the same area as Reach, maybe try to work the gym into your schedules once or twice so he can at least show you a thing or two