Weight Loss Thread

Tmac said:

What was your start weight and what do you use to count your calories? And why 2000 calories?

I need to lose 14 pounds. I'm 5'9" and weigh 189, so I need to get down to 175.

Losing weight has been on my mind for the past two months and I've tried implementing different things, but nothing's going to work for me until I start being intentional about it and making a plan. So, I'm starting to work out a plan.

Weight has never been an issue before, I played football in high school and college, and maintained my physique until a couple of years ago (I'm in my mid 30's). Until COVID hit I was pretty ripped and had been part of a boxing gym for close two two years. So, the whole getting fat thing has definitely caught me off guard.

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237 and my brain or a tracking app on my ipad called myfitnesspal, it has a great database with just about anything you can throw at it. And 2000 because that's what it suggested.

If you boxed then go box again. Hit your local rec center if your gym closed, etc. Dropping weight won't make you less pudgy unless you are planning to lose a lot of weight. Calorie counting will lower your weight, but you still need to exercise if you want to have your new weight be muscle instead of fat.

slippery said:

I've been thinking about getting a stationary bike for at home. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on any of them?

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I have a rig that sets my road bike up as a stationary bike. I can ride in my basement and watch a show or listen to music or a podcast when the weather is crap. It's pretty great. This isn't it exactly, but it's similar.

Tmac said:

Started using myfitnesspal after I posted and it recommended 1700 calories per day. I really like being able to easily count calories bc it keeps my portions smaller.

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Random plug, this was an app I got into the beta for and was just released by the Stronger by Science team. MacroFactor app – Diet sidekick and macro tracker.

The app is pretty great and a step up from MFP / Cronometer in my opinion. The thing I have liked about it the most is their 'adherence neutral' approach. Basically, as long as you enter your food and your weight the back ground formula will do their work regardless of if you adhere to their program. You can do the typical maintain / cut / bulk approach, but it is more of a guide than an accountability partner, they try to avoid the app telling you what to do. So far, the app itself has taken over for lots of my custom spread sheeting.

It did just launch so it isn't as mature and the nutrition database they utilize (Nutrionix) isn't great for international folks. It is also a paid app with no free tier. I think they have special pricing until the end of the month due to the launch.

I am a pretty big fan of the duo that run things (Greg Nuckols / Eric Trexler) and their podcast so I am a bit biased.

Tmac said:

Started using myfitnesspal after I posted and it recommended 1700 calories per day. I really like being able to easily count calories bc it keeps my portions smaller.

The only challenge is that most of my food is homemade, so it’s hard to easily nail the nutrition. However, I did go to the state fair yesterday and only missed my goal by 10 calories, so I consider that a pretty big win.

I’ve been walking a lot, but will start working in a short workout every days. Both of my shoulders are messed up (CrossFit/dirtbike), so I’ll have to figure out how to make that work. I finally worked through the CrossFit injury when I laid down the dirtbike and hurt my other shoulder, lulz.

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Good. Good. Myfitnesspal on my ipad can scan bar codes. It also lets you specify amount of servings. So if you are making your own food just find something similar in the db and math it out. Alternately just use your list of ingredients and add those in individually. Best of luck on reaching your goals!

slippery said:

I've been thinking about getting a stationary bike for at home. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on any of them?

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Just make sure to get one with magnetic resistance rather than friction because the magnetic ones last forever and are much quieter. Other than that, I don't think you need to spend big money on them. I got a $250 one 15 years ago and it still works fine, only thing that eventually broke on it was the pedals because they were plastic. I bought some regular bicycle pedals for $15 and it was back in service. it's not as smooth as the $1500 ones my gym had but it works fine for getting some exercise. I wheel it out in front of the PC and watch videos.

Tmac said:

What’s the benefit over mfp?

I don’t really care if I count every calorie. I just want to be near the bullseye. I don’t have to hit it.

Having said that, being able to type in whatever food/meal and have nutrition pop up makes my life super easy.

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If you are just using the food logging functionality, not much benefit for MacroFactor. Especially if you are just getting into things and want the habit to stick before paying for something.

In my opinion, the main differences start with their calculations, dashboard, and macro programs. SBS is in the evidence based community and the app follows their recommendations from the literature, etc. This can be a pro / con depending on if you agree with their recommendations in general.

They have a handy weight trend widget that smooths out the day to day weight fluctuations into a perceived 'true weight' with some rate of change metrics. The expenditure widget is handy for honing in your maintenance calories based on food / weight logged within the app. This is just convenient for determining the surplus / deficit you want based on your active goal.

The app also has a hourly / timeslot based food entry system rather than a meal bucket based system. It took some getting used to, but it is semi-convenient for not forcing all of your foods to fit into a meal / snack bucket if that trips OCD. It also allows for some cute intermittent fasting setups where you can limit your logging window to a feeding window as a subtle reminder (you can still log foods at other times and they show up).

Other than that, it is personal preference around UI, presentation, and so on. A food logger is a food logger is a food logger.

I have one of these for like 7 years now, works great. I paid like $125 or so back then.


It's very basic, but it has a resistance dial. I've never been able to work out in the mornings but i've been forcing myself with this thing during COVID and I've found the energy benefit throughout my day is better than coffee, even if I only do a quick 1-2 miles.

Break said:

I have one of these for like 7 years now, works great. I paid like $125 or so back then.


It's very basic, but it has a resistance dial. I've never been able to work out in the mornings but i've been forcing myself with this thing during COVID and I've found the energy benefit throughout my day is better than coffee, even if I only do a quick 1-2 miles.

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Yes, exercising has very big ancilliary benefits beyond just losing weight.

slippery said:

That's basically my intent. Watch TV/Youtube shit on it while I'm not really doing anything. I don't game as much these days, so when I'm just fucking off I might as well be putting some miles in.

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When Dark Souls 3 came out, I would play it while using my stationary bike. I probably pedaled at 70% of my normal intensity due to focusing more on the game than on biking, but I could put in 2 - 3 hours on the bike without issue.

Forgot to add, make sure to get one with a regular seat instead of the narrow racing bike seat because those are linked to numbness of the genitals.

It's been a while since my last post and I'm feeling pretty psyched about how I've been doing.

I took this latest shot for my father after he made a comment about my arm muscle after showing him a pic of me ripping a disc golf disc 334ft *flex*. I was actually shocked at what I saw. This is not the figure I see in my head when I think about myself. It's been a long road since I was 300lbs in 2002. Feels good man. Well aside from that bulge. That's muh hernia. Faggot thing.

I'm really enjoying the carnivore diet. Been solid into it for about a month now. As someone who has no colon and has had a couple bowel resections I've never eaten a diet that is as physical comfortable as carnivore is for me. Zero inflammation and I'm not in and out of the bathroom all day anymore. Have bowel issues? Give it a try.

I eat a lot of bacon, chicken, various crockpot roasts, and a good steak every now and then. Epic meat bars and Nick's Sticks jerky are my go to snacks. I do grab a protein bar now and then and sprinkle on some cheese on something but that's it for non-meats.



Posted this previously.

Burnem Wizfyre said:

My wife has got the flu shot every year, swears by it and I did as well when I was a fatty. I’m never getting a shot again, congratulations liberals you’ve completely eroded any and all trust I have with the medical community between Covid and how to lose weight properly.

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Well, losing weight is easy, and it has never ever changed. Control your calories and/or exercise more.

moonarchia said:

Well, losing weight is easy, and it has never ever changed. Control your calories and/or exercise more.

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Eat less move more is bullshit, not rehashing this again.