Looking to shed a small man

I have not been to the doc in a while,
Im feeling fine regarding heart rate and so on, Hence me staying on the bike.

Im avoiding sweets and sugars as much as possible. I dont want the craving to come back too hard.
its been a month now since my last hit

Obelix wrote: I realised that a short while ago, I cant always just eat this diet.
BUT
I also dont have to eat like i did before.



My main changes in december so far, Today was the start of cardio time. I have stopped weights as of this week, increasing time on the bike until i can get on a treadmill and not break it.

this morning was a good 35minute cycle, keeping my heart rate over 140. My smart watch is a little screwey, it showed my heart rate at 195, but after a 1minute rest i was down to 90 again.

Why would you want to stop doing weights and only focus on cardio? This is a stupid move. Weight training is always the goal, and just move more during the day focusing on a step goal of 10 000 a day, you can get at least 2500 of those steps done in your work out session. Finish a set and during your rest you walk around to recover. Going steps is low impact and does not affect your recovery at all.

It's like saying I want to drive a performance car but instead of constantly running a 4L engine just going to put a 2.0l in so I can burn more fuel. Not going to happen. Constantly striving to build muscle is going to use more fuel (calories consumed and when you aren't consuming enough, excess body fat) over doing cardio. The more muscle mass you have, the more energy you burn through on a daily basis. Cardio does nothing for obtaining a good physique in terms of muscular nature. This is far from a good idea and cardio is there to expend excess energy, weight training is there to create longer term muscle mass that is going to burn more calories at rest, as well as during training.

The energy expenditure of a 100kg male vs an 80kg male would probably is only about 300 calories difference in calorie burn if you are sedate, how ever the increase in energy consumption during a weight training session may be larger. The 80kg male may burn 300 calories during his weight session, but the 100kg male may burn 500 calories doing the same thing. Muscle makes you more efficient at burning energy.

Hey man, Missed you! thanks for checking in


So firstly, 193 this morning, not 193,4 or ,5 ... 193 on the dot! next weight update monday


As for focusing on cardio.
I might have phrased it wrong, im not giving up on weight training for ever, its more just for this month, the last 2 weeks.
I have a bunch of aches and pains, I hurt my right bicep a little while moving a UPS around and figured it would be a good time to give them all some rest. I have not taken a rest week in ages, and feel I need it for my joints. They take a hammering already with my weight, then add in the heavier weights i hit in the gym and its gonna need some time to rest.

Gym closes next friday and then opens again on the 3rd of jan. Thats when im hitting the weights again.

I get that weights burn weight philosophy. Thats why I started with weight training too.

Obelix wrote: I realised that a short while ago, I cant always just eat this diet.
BUT
I also dont have to eat like i did before.



My main changes in december so far, Today was the start of cardio time. I have stopped weights as of this week, increasing time on the bike until i can get on a treadmill and not break it.

this morning was a good 35minute cycle, keeping my heart rate over 140. My smart watch is a little screwey, it showed my heart rate at 195, but after a 1minute rest i was down to 90 again.

Get a chest strap. It would be impossible to drop from 195 to 90 in 1 minute.

Monday morning weigh in.

Looks like I really need to relook at my goals,
191.4!

New years is at 189.9 or lower and march goal has changed to 170kg's



Changed up the cardio session a bit, Speedwalking around the gym, managed about 1km in, while dodging some kettle bells and big ass balls. They dont have a running track and im over the treadmill limit so I struggle on that

cycling is still about 20-25minutes

Cardio is harder than I thought...

Cycling for 1 episode of Family guy on netflix, Then walking for one episode of the Its always sunny in phili podcast (At 1.2x speed)

Works out to around 2km's walking


Also, since I started this thread, my daily steps have doubled, I have setup my goal as 10000, But am hitting 11k regularly. Almost purposefully forgetting things in other rooms just to walk twice. Parking further from the shop entrances etc.


Home scale now shows that im 191.6, Its generally been 500g over the gyms one




Side note, Changed protein powder on sunday, I was using Clicks brand, and then a VitaPro branded peanut flavour.

Switched over to the USN hardcore whey, Its on special at clicks now for R300/kg. USN has creatine in it, so I am expecting a little more water retention now, Not sure how much. Havent used since starting the diet

I am very impressed with your progress, brother.

Keep hitting the weights. What worked for me was one hour max in the gym. But then I didn't mess around. Shortish rest between sets, not paying too much attention to the kg's I could lift (only lifted what I could lift to form failure, and a drop set on the last set of an excercise.

Cardio has its place for heart health, so I aim for about 1.5 hrs (that's 15 mins a day) of moderate intensity (say 60% of heart rate max) AFTER the weights.

I also use a cheat day when I'm cutting (usually Sundays) where I eat some junk. No, not a license to go fully bos on it, but I make sure my weekly macros work out to 50% protein, 25-30% carbs, and the rest fat.

It worked for me, so I hope you can take something positive out this. Good luck bro!

Thanks man.
The support from this forum is really something else.


Even when Empire moans, I know he cares.


This morning, last weigh in at the gym for the year 190.7, Was super pissed off when I weighed at home it showed 193.6 for some reason, even after a toilet stop. Took my shoes off and it was all better at 191.2. So still showing the 500g difference.

The fat % on the scale has also dropped from 49% to 45.7% , I dont think they are the most accurate, but changes are changes.

I think its pretty much me for the year, going to walk alot more next week, hopefully get the wife into it too

Really good progress man!
It helps when things are consistently moving in the right direction.
Dont be too hard on yourself over the next week and take time to also enjoy life a little.

Most of the scales arent accurate with BF etc, but they are generally consistently inaccurate. So you can at least see the numbers move in the right direction.

I agree with keeping up the weights but I am a strong advocate for walking for those who are over weight and want to ease into things. It is great for the heart, it is easier on the body, it helps build general endurance which will help you later and it creates mental toughness.

Keep it up and way to go to end the year well

The main big day is tomorrow... after that , theres no tempatation and I should be back on the good path

This morning my home scale showed 190.4, so technically im on 189.9 if i were on the gym scale.

Will be interesting to see on monday what it is .

The weight is a big thing, But I have also lost over 5cm over my belly, neck has shrunk a few cm's too.
Scary to think that when i started i couldnt weigh myself on my home scale, I couldnt measure myself with a tape properly.While walking in the shops today getting the last few things for tomorrow, I had to hold my pants up, How awesome is that?????

Well done man, super happy for you.

Just remember that while burning fat you're adding muscle, so dont let the numbers on the scale get to you when that 0.5kg would have taken you under 190kg. I personally love seeing the cm's being lost. I also dont look at the belly, generally fat loss happens everywhere else before you start seeing it on the belly.

Keep it up man, very inspiring to others who are on the same journey.

Thanks again guys, The support is helping alot!


So, post Xmas weekend report.

Steps, Failed badly, Got to 8,5k average per day. Quite short of my 10k goal. Started up walking again this morning. Its been surprisingly wet this weekend so was stuck in the house alot more than I wanted

Food, I indulged a bit this weekend, Including 1 portion of Malva with custard, I kids sized portion of Lamb Potjie ( dont dig it),3 beers and probably around 1 big bag of Lays chip over the weekend (Friday to yesterday)

Weight wise, Im sitting at just over 191 now on the home scale. Im dissapointed, but considering the lack of walking and the cheats I had over the weekend, it wasnt too bad. Plus its my home scale which threw me a really weird reading last week too.

Im still within reaching distance of my 189 goal for friday. Back to eating healthy as of yesterday, This mornings feeling better already



No more temptations after this , so it will be smoother sailing.

Cant wait for the 3rd, back to the gym

Obelix wrote: Thanks again guys, The support is helping alot!


So, post Xmas weekend report.

Steps, Failed badly, Got to 8,5k average per day. Quite short of my 10k goal. Started up walking again this morning. Its been surprisingly wet this weekend so was stuck in the house alot more than I wanted

Food, I indulged a bit this weekend, Including 1 portion of Malva with custard, I kids sized portion of Lamb Potjie ( dont dig it),3 beers and probably around 1 big bag of Lays chip over the weekend (Friday to yesterday)

Weight wise, Im sitting at just over 191 now on the home scale. Im dissapointed, but considering the lack of walking and the cheats I had over the weekend, it wasnt too bad. Plus its my home scale which threw me a really weird reading last week too.

Im still within reaching distance of my 189 goal for friday. Back to eating healthy as of yesterday, This mornings feeling better already



No more temptations after this , so it will be smoother sailing.

Cant wait for the 3rd, back to the gym

Sounds good.

I must say I personally still don't like the chasing of X mass by Y date.

I don't think I can convince you to change.

However, I think you can add taking progress pics, one morning and one afternoon if you like to help track body composition.

And use weekly averages to track mass change.

Of course you will need to lose weight to look good, but honestly as you start leaning down, you will realize body composition is everything. I think right now you are at a good place to keep targeting fat loss, but chasing these numbers down the line will cost you precious muscle.

Obelix wrote: Thanks again guys, The support is helping alot!
Food, I indulged a bit this weekend, Including 1 portion of Malva with custard, I kids sized portion of Lamb Potjie ( dont dig it),3 beers and probably around 1 big bag of Lays chip over the weekend (Friday to yesterday)

You did well, considering it was Xmas weekend. Don't beat yourself up. Just carry on with what was working before until that stops working, then reassess.

MPhilosopher wrote: Sounds good.

I must say I personally still don't like the chasing of X mass by Y date.

I don't think I can convince you to change.

However, I think you can add taking progress pics, one morning and one afternoon if you like to help track body composition.

And use weekly averages to track mass change.

Of course you will need to lose weight to look good, but honestly as you start leaning down, you will realize body composition is everything. I think right now you are at a good place to keep targeting fat loss, but chasing these numbers down the line will cost you precious muscle.

I need constant wins to keep going, its just how I am wired. Short easy small wins trump big long term ones, even if the long term ones are better
Im like that in everything and am working on it, but for now this is working

I have taken 2 sets of pics, im waiting until end jan then I will post some progress pics. If you guys can stomach them. you will then be able to see why I dont notice differences in my body composition over the course of one day. Just a reminder, Im 191.3 with a body fat of 45%? , so 10% loss is 19kg's, if you lost 10% you would see it because your body fat is low teens or single digits.


I have always been able to get muscle quickly, I just need to set my mind to it. At the end of the day my main goal is to lose weight,
there after its to be strong
after that , well I havent thought that far to be honest.


also, thanks Muscleaddict, Im back on the diet now and eating clean again. I have been adding spices and trying to get it less bland, but without sauces its hard.