Weight Loss Thread

Haus

Haus

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Rezz said:
I -really- wish exercise had a larger impact on weightloss. It's a super healthy habit that will only improve your health and enhance weight loss results, but on the pure "loss vs. effort" scale it's very little loss for a -lot- of effort. It totally helps, as burning that extra 1600+ calories a week (totally depending on activity level) is almost half a lb before diet even comes into consideration, so it's always good. It's just the people thinking that doing light-moderate exercise/activity over the week is going to double/triple the lbs they drop and then realizing that it's roughly 10-15% of their total loss on average can be a bit disheartening. The other benefits besides pure weight dropped are the incentive, and it does increase the speed at which you lose for sure. But getting a handle on actual intake and needs and fine tuning the specifics is waaaaay more important for pure weight loss.

Good on ya Haus. I would personally recommend maybe looking into eating veggies occasionally instead of a diet of meats, fats, and empty carbs. But if it is working it is working, just keep following doc's advice regarding the heart stuff.
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On the topic of working out and weightloss. As explained to me by a few trainers I know, and it seems I am becoming an example of, working out does primarily three things :
A) Improve cardiovascular health, which allows you to be more active.
B) Build lean muscle mass
C) Burn some calories.

The real weight loss benefit of working out though, isn't point C. You really don't burn such a huge number of calories that it's going to seriously impact your weight loss. In one of those hour long HIIT workouts I do, which thoroughly kick my ass still, I burn MAYBE 750-800 calories. With the generally accepted math of 3500 calories == around a pound of weight that means I'd have to be working out 5 days a week to get a pound from just working out.

The benefit comes from A and B. Specifically how they affect your body's passive caloric burn rate. This is how many calories you burn just existing. Muscle takes calories to keep alive, fat really doesn't. As you add lean muscle (point B) it increases this amount you need per day to stay alive, which also means burning calories passively to lose weight. Say I added enough muscle mass to increase my passive daily caloric burn (which Google fit seems to indicate for me is around 1900 calories a day) by 10%. That's over 1300 calories a week more you're dropping. That's 1/3 of the pound of weight you want to lose per week.

The Cardiovascular aspect of it has to do with increasing your body's oxygen consumption/use rate. There was a study done at Baylor that showed that for 24-48 hours after doing HIIT training (hitting 90% of max heart rate or more for at least 1/4 of their workout) people burned more calories than people doing traditional moderate heart rate workouts (around 60-70% max heart rate). So if you amp up your metabolism for 48 hours after a HIIT workout for another few hundred calories burned that adds on to the muscle mass factor.

Of course I will add the obligatory YMMV here, I know this has worked for me, maybe it will help others. Although if I had to give any advice it would be what my doctor said to get me started :
Haus's Dr said:
Start off small with what you can make part of your regular routine, then over time as one better habit becomes your norm add another..
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Itlan

Itlan

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Cynical said:
I'm 6'2 roughly 205lbs, and if I hazard a guess I'm probably around the 14-16% bodyfat mark. I just can't quite get rid of that thin layer of fat or "paunch" over my abs. Mainly cause I'm lazy with doing abdominal exercise I guess.
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No. No. No.

Also, it depends on the person as far as what you want to cut from your diet. I rarely cut my carbs, cutting fats does the trick for me. I eat just enough to keep my hormones up, but that's about it.
 
Itlan

Itlan

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Himeo said:
I wasn't cheating, I was doing everything right, but the scale wasn't moving. Then, every three or four weeks, I'd lose a month's worth of weight in a day or two (~6-8 lbs).
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This is called a "whoosh." It's completely normal, and most people who begin weight loss experience their first whoosh in the form of losing excess water.

That's really all it is. You're burning fat, your body holds extra water. Then after a few weeks, your body says "fuck this" and flushes the water. You've been burning fat the entire time, it just doesn't show on the scale.

If you KNOW you're doing shit right, DO NOT focus on the scale. The only people who should use a scale daily or weekly are those trying to cut down to sub 10% body fat and it requires weighing in every morning under the same conditions.
 
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Itlan

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Haus said:
My secret weapon?
As part of the cardiac scare my Dr ran a comprehensive metabolic panel on me. Discovered that I had the testosterone level of a 95+ year old man. Put me on a schedule of getting these pellets once every 6 months to regulate that shit back to "guy in his 20's" levels. And that seems to cause lean muscle mass to add and fat to burn faster.
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Lol so your doctor gave you TRT? You're essentially on a low dose of steroids, that shit works.
 
Haus

Haus

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Itlan said:
Lol so your doctor gave you TRT? You're essentially on a low dose of steroids, that shit works.
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Yeah, the reference range for it was to be between 300-1200 and I clocked in around a 60. With the treatments I'm in the 700-800 range. The levels athletes hit when juicing seems to be considerably higher.
 
C

cypis

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A standard beginner's cycle is 500 mg of test per week, that should put you around the 4-5k mark. TRT is usually somewhere around 100-150 mg per week.
 
Mures

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Haus said:
OK, well I will now tell my odd tale to add to the list...

I'm always been a short stocky lunchbox. After a dozen years of marriage to the lovely and saintly patient Mrs Haus her cooking didn't help this. I had a small "coronary scare" earlier this year, which the Dr thought was a blocked up artery. Turns out I have a condition called Hypotrophic Cardiomyopathy which just means my 4th chamber doesn't stretch enough because I had untreated hypertension for a while, ergo I don't pump as much blood as fast as I should. That's background, and it's why I decided I needed to get in better shape.

Started off this year at 246 lbs, at 5'5" at 46 years old. I'm old and grumpy enough to know that radical diet changing won't work for me. So my golden plan was "eat the same shitty diet, just eat less of it."
My favorite foods are a list of crap to avoid : Bread, Mashed Potatoes (how my wife won my love), Fried chicken, Burgers, Macaroni and cheese... and saltine crackers (I essentially live life on the kids menu)
The only positive really is that my favorite snack is watermelon (which turns out is good.. yay my southern heritage) Those mini personal watermelons are like Babies! I love them, but can only eat about half of one in a sitting.

The only notable changes I made :
A) Switched from Mexican coke to Coke Zero (took two weeks to adjust to the taste)
B) Actively avoided anything I knew had serious processed sugars in it (candy, etc..)
C) Targeted a goal of 1800 calories a day, since a website said that would target me towards around 1 lb a week weight loss. (With dramatic sacrifices like going from the #1 at Whataburger to the #6...) And so far I have done a mean of 1950 calories per day so far this year.

The only notable exercise...
A) Set a 6000 step a day goal on my google fit on my phone (to which I average around 4000 steps a day so far this year)
B) Started going about once a week to a place called Orange Theory Fitness for something called a Hi Intensity Interval Training workout.

The results?
As of today, 206 pounds.

My secret weapon?
As part of the cardiac scare my Dr ran a comprehensive metabolic panel on me. Discovered that I had the testosterone level of a 95+ year old man. Put me on a schedule of getting these pellets once every 6 months to regulate that shit back to "guy in his 20's" levels. And that seems to cause lean muscle mass to add and fat to burn faster.
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Have you also tried either a shot or androgel, or you just started out with the pellets? Curious how you feel about the differences if you have.
 
Itlan

Itlan

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cypis said:
A standard beginner's cycle is 500 mg of test per week, that should put you around the 4-5k mark. TRT is usually somewhere around 100-150 mg per week.
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It's actually 580 a week if we're being pedantic lol, but the point remains. I've seen test reports showing people over 10k, so that should give you an idea of what some people are cycling on.

Enjoy your steroids!
 
Haus

Haus

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For me I looked at the Gel, versus shots, versus pellets and this was the breakdown...
1) Gels - Daily ordeal, smells like shit. This did not seem like a "good time"
2) Shots - Weekly intramuscular shot was what they said for me
3) Pellets - Once every 4-6 months an hour visit to the Dr and some soreness for a day or two at the implant site.

I was able to get my insurance to cover whichever I wanted, so I opted for the twice a year routine and it's worked out well for me. They do the pellets then 6 weeks later a blood draw to make sure levels are maintaining right.
 
Mures

Mures

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I'm doing the gel now, considering the pellets, but was curious how your energy levels felt between the two had you tried both. I don't mind the gel, I wouldn't say it smells like shit, it just smells mediciney, and after it dries in a few minutes you don't notice the smell. I got a shot the first time around while I waited on them to fill my px on the gel and I felt like superman the first 2 days after the shot and after a week it felt like my energy levels were much lower and shots would have been bi-weekly. Do you notice a lot of energy after a new pellet that starts to slack off after awhile?
 
Burren

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Cynical said:
I'm 6'2 roughly 205lbs, and if I hazard a guess I'm probably around the 14-16% bodyfat mark. I just can't quite get rid of that thin layer of fat or "paunch" over my abs. Mainly cause I'm lazy with doing abdominal exercise I guess.

I used to be a fatty in my 20's though, probably 315ish at my worst. Still have stretch mark scars all over, sucks.

My number one thing for losing the weight was cutting out sugar of any kind, not even artificial shit.

Then cutting way down on carbs, which sorta = sugar putting it simply.

Never went super nuts about cutting down on fat, watching my carbs took care of a lot of fat intake too.

Then it was was basically time and being disciplined with a regular exercise routine. Took me about 3 years to get to around what I am now. I started lifting weights towards the end of that time, which really sped my fat loss and helped toning, instead of that floppy skin shit.

Pretty much stick to the same diet, although I eat a lot of protien.

I have issues doing most forms of weights these days though, I have osteoarthritis in most of my major joints, I'm only 37, but its passed on from my fathers side. I tend to stick to those resistance bands, I'll tie a bunch together, to get a good "weight" and seems to do the trick combined with work.
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That's some pretty good progress, Cynical. Stomach fat is the last thing to go for everyone; it's just tough to burn off. As boring as it sounds, a tad more cardio would help. And, this suggestion plays into the arthritis thing a lot too; do you have access to a lap pool? That's a great way to burn a ton of calories without stressing joints.
 
Itlan

Itlan

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Most people avoid the gel if they have children, just the off chance your little brat rubs it all over themselves lmao.
 
Cad

Cad

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Itlan said:
Most people avoid the gel if they have children, just the off chance your little brat rubs it all over themselves lmao.
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My oldest son has gone through puberty like a goddamn freight train, I bet his test levels are > 1000. He eats fucking junk food 24/7 and is lean like a goddamn meth head. I wish some of that shit would rub off on me, not the other way around...
 
Itlan

Itlan

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Cad said:
My oldest son has gone through puberty like a goddamn freight train, I bet his test levels are > 1000. He eats fucking junk food 24/7 and is lean like a goddamn meth head. I wish some of that shit would rub off on me, not the other way around...
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Test "levels" are honestly a bunch of bullshit. The whole 300-1200 range or whatever range your doctor gives you, it's bullshit. But yeah, I ate like a house from 13-17. Didn't catch up to me until probably junior year of college when I ballooned to 235+.
 
Cad

Cad

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Itlan said:
Test "levels" are honestly a bunch of bullshit. The whole 300-1200 range or whatever range your doctor gives you, it's bullshit. But yeah, I ate like a house from 13-17. Didn't catch up to me until probably junior year of college when I ballooned to 235+.
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Well, whatever you want to call it, it'd be nice to sit and play video games all day and destroy like 5 bags of chips, eat 4 real meals and do no exercise whatsoever and still be hard as a fucking rock.
 
Itlan

Itlan

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Cad said:
Well, whatever you want to call it, it'd be nice to sit and play video games all day and destroy like 5 bags of chips, eat 4 real meals and do no exercise whatsoever and still be hard as a fucking rock.
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We all went through it. Unless you were fat in high school, in which case... I'm sorry man.
 
McCheese

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Itlan said:
We all went through it. Unless you were fat in high school, in which case... I'm sorry man.
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:(

Really though, people who say they used to eat as much as they wanted, never exercised, and never put on weight are almost always vastly overestimating how much they actually ate. If you're destroying 3000+ calories a day (which is what I used to put down in high school) and living a sedentary life, you WILL gain weight, even if you're a teenager.
 
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