bsoltan's log; lose weight, make gains

[bsoltan]

Hello Sports Arena,
Time has come to create my own thread, hopefully to get advice from you (knowledgable) lot and also some motivation and a way to motivate myself. Sorry for the long first post, if you have patience there are some questions near the end.

Stats
Age: 33
Height: 170cm (5'7")
Weight: 107kg (~17stone)

Objective
1) Lose weight; I want to be around 75-80kg that will obviously be dependant muscle build etc. So it's more about getting to a place I'm happy. I know I'd like to drop a few clothes sizes so that may be better indication.
2) Strength, Fitness, Stamina, all the good gains.

Lifestyle/Diet
Day to day is fairly sedentary - I work a desk job with minimal moving around. Same when I get home.
I plan to change that up and now days are longer spend less time sat around outside work.
I love food, cooking and to eat and this can be a benefit and curse when it comes to diet! I'm going to start tracking my food and preparing things. Recently I'll skip breakfast, maybe fruit in the morning, salad at lunch then dinner which wouldn't be too bad but I'd be starving so I'd eat meat/veg when I got in the door plus a meal. Then at the weekend maybe some sweet treats. Cutting that out, doing some meal prep and tracking on MyFP should see me right. +Water water water.

Exercise
For years I've been playing football one or two nights a week. Keeps me ticking over but no means great workout.
In Dec '15 I started with a personal trainer and gym. Continued until start of this year, due to his personal circumstances he is likely to stop, so rather than finding another I'm going to try going alone (hence this log!). It worked well when I started, probably dropped about 10kg when my diet was on point. Gradually faded off when I was less focused, but now I'm back!
The benefit of this was I got advise on most exercises and form so at least have some idea in the gym.

Routine - This is where I would like some advice.
Monday: Football/Cardio
Tuesday: Football
Wednesday: ?
Thursday: ?
Friday: Gym
Saturday: Gym
Sunday: Gym?

This was a workout that I was given by the PT, not something we stuck to on sessions though:

Q1: How does it look? Anything I should be changing? My plan was to do two workouts each day at the gym after a bit of warmup. I've been reading about the 5x5 which I could do as well.

Q2: Calories in vs Calories out. I've read a lot of threads about losing weight but I'm not sure the accurate way to know how much you use during exercise to know how much to eat. My base target is ~2000kcal with protein and fat high. I'm back to tracking on MyFitnessPal (bsoltan).

I need to find a gym routine thats going to be sustainable and I can learn so I know what I'm doing on x day. The benefit of the PT was I didn't need to think about it, I just turned up and he said what to do.
What I'm concious of is trying to do too much to start with.

Wouldn't be a log thread if I didn't post some stats so here's yesterday's workout:
Warmup: 1km in 8mins on treadmil

Legs
Saturday, 22 April 2017 at 18:17

Squat - All the bars were in use so I grabbed a kettle bell just for something to try and get my form back.
Set 1: 20 kg × 5
Set 2: 20 kg × 5
Set 3: 20 kg × 5

Squat
Set 1: 20 kg × 5
Set 2: 20 kg × 5
Set 3: 20 kg × 5
Set 4: 20 kg × 5

Leg Press
Set 1: 79 kg × 10
Set 2: 79 kg × 10
Set 3: 79 kg × 10
Set 4: 89 kg × 10
Set 5: 100 kg × 25

Leg Extension
Set 1: 39 kg × 10
Set 2: 39 kg × 10
Set 3: 45 kg × 10
Set 4: 59 kg × 12

Shoulders
Saturday, 22 April 2017 at 18:47

Shoulder Press
Set 1: 10 kg × 10
Set 2: 10 kg × 10
Set 3: 10 kg × 10

Upright Barbell Row
Set 1: 15 kg × 10
Set 2: 15 kg × 10
Set 3: 15 kg × 10
Set 4: 15 kg × 10
Set 5: 15 kg × 10
Set 6: 15 kg × 10

Upright Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 10 kg × 8
Set 2: 10 kg × 8
Set 3: 10 kg × 8
Set 4: 10 kg × 8

Lateral Raise
Set 1: 6 kg × 8
Set 2: 6 kg × 8
Set 3: 6 kg × 6
Set 4: 6 kg × 8

Lat Pulldown
Set 1: 45 kg × 8
Set 2: 45 kg × 8
Set 3: 45 kg × 8


Thanks for looking, advice and motivation is most welcome.

 

[Kris_90]

Q1 - research starting strength. It's a 3 day per week strength programme focusing on the compound movements (squat, deadlift and bench), that's what most people recommend. It's an added benefit that there are only two workouts so it's easy to remember.

Q2 - There are loads of TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators online which give you an estimate as to how many calories your body burns due to your height, weight and the amount of exercise you do. Everyone's body is different so eat the number of calories the calculator tells you and adjust based on how your weight changes. Aim for anywhere between 1-2lbs per week.

2,000 cals per day is too low if you weight 17 stone. Try eating a bit more - I know this goes against logic when you first start trying to lose weight but trust me it'll benefit you in the end.

Some quick tips if I may:

Don't do more cardio than what you are doing now.
Aim to keep your activity levels the same for the time being.
Slowly adjust your calories until you find the sweet spot of consistently losing about 2lbs per week.
When your weight loss starts to slow down/plateau, then add more cardio.

All that said, I'd recommend just cutting out the crap to being with. Realistically the weight should be falling off you in the first couple of weeks. It might be worth tracking what you are eating now just to see exactly how many calories you are consuming and where the high calories are coming from. Until you track your calories, it can be difficult to see what caused the weight gain e.g. you think you are being health drinking squash but when you track the calories, you see there's 250 cals per diluted pint.

 

[GSVBagpuss]

Starting Strength is an excellent suggestion - it looks simple but can get hard fast. Complex movements will burn more calories than machines as they require more muscles (including the important stabilisers). I'm pleased to see squats, deadlift and bench already in your program- once they get heavy you won't need the accessories to feel the burn!

Logging is guaranteed to help so keep that bit up!

 

[bsoltan]

Thanks very much for the feedback and comments guys.

Q1 - research starting strength. It's a 3 day per week strength programme focusing on the compound movements (squat, deadlift and bench), that's what most people recommend. It's an added benefit that there are only two workouts so it's easy to remember.

Thanks, I'll have a look. The book is pretty long and pricey. Is it necessary or is there enough info around on the web?

Q2 - There are loads of TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators online which give you an estimate as to how many calories your body burns due to your height, weight and the amount of exercise you do. Everyone's body is different so eat the number of calories the calculator tells you and adjust based on how your weight changes. Aim for anywhere between 1-2lbs per week.

I understand the TDEE, using a recomendded spreasheet it came out at 3155kcal.

2,000 cals per day is too low if you weight 17 stone. Try eating a bit more - I know this goes against logic when you first start trying to lose weight but trust me it'll benefit you in the end.

I get that you don't want to drop the food intake too drastically to have enough headroom as you level out so it can keep being dropped. I'll try to aim for more than 2000 to allow for that.

What I was trying to explain is that I can base my daily kcal on my TDEE, but how do I account for exercise. Should I only base it on a TDEE deficit or do I need to then eat more on workout days, and how much?

Some quick tips if I may:

Don't do more cardio than what you are doing now.
Aim to keep your activity levels the same for the time being.
Slowly adjust your calories until you find the sweet spot of consistently losing about 2lbs per week.
When your weight loss starts to slow down/plateau, then add more cardio.

All that said, I'd recommend just cutting out the crap to being with. Realistically the weight should be falling off you in the first couple of weeks. It might be worth tracking what you are eating now just to see exactly how many calories you are consuming and where the high calories are coming from. Until you track your calories, it can be difficult to see what caused the weight gain e.g. you think you are being health drinking squash but when you track the calories, you see there's 250 cals per diluted pint.

Great advice, much appreciated. I'd be prone to picking up a pack of biscuits or some chocolate on a Friday, I'm not a prolific drinker of alcohol and rarley have fizzy drinks. So far it looks like I probably need to up my protein, but as you say. I'll keep tracking for now, watch my kcal total and see how it is in a week or so. Thanks for the help.

Starting Strength is an excellent suggestion - it looks simple but can get hard fast. Complex movements will burn more calories than machines as they require more muscles (including the important stabilisers). I'm pleased to see squats, deadlift and bench already in your program- once they get heavy you won't need the accessories to feel the burn!

Logging is guaranteed to help so keep that bit up!

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Kris_90]

What I was trying to explain is that I can base my daily kcal on my TDEE, but how do I account for exercise. Should I only base it on a TDEE deficit or do I need to then eat more on workout days, and how much?

It should be built into your TDEE so if you go to the gym 3 times per week in addition to your football/cardio then your TDEE will include that. The calories burned during those 3 gym sessions will be spread over the week instead of eating that bit extra on workout days.

 

[bsoltan]

It should be built into your TDEE so if you go to the gym 3 times per week in addition to your football/cardio then your TDEE will include that. The calories burned during those 3 gym sessions will be spread over the week instead of eating that bit extra on workout days.

Ah, I wasn't quite understanding or using it correctly then. I filled in the calculator here: https://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
which came out as:
Your BMR Is: 1413 Your TDEE Is: 2054 Working out 5 times for 60 mins at a good intensity.

I'll continue logging and tracking the food this week and post something at the weekend.

Today was just a bit of cardio running about at football.

 

[bsoltan]

About a week in. I'll weigh myself tomorrow and see where I am.

Monday: bit of running about at football.
Tuesday: football again, there is more intensity on a Tuesday night.

Today:
Start: 1km Warmup in under 8mins. Surprising how taking my own audio distracts me so I don't focus on the time for cardio.
End: A few minutes on the cross trainer just to get the heart rate back up.


Legs
Sunday, 30 April 2017 at 09:03

Squat
Set 1: 25 kg × 10
Set 2: 30 kg × 10
Set 3: 32.5 kg × 10

Squat
Set 1: 32.5 kg × 5
Set 2: 32.5 kg × 5
Set 3: 32.5 kg × 5
Set 4: 32.5 kg × 5
Set 5: 32.5 kg × 12

Leg Press
Set 1: 79 kg × 10
Set 2: 79 kg × 10
Set 3: 86 kg × 10
Set 4: 86 kg × 10
Set 5: 93 kg × 12

Leg Extension
Set 1: 39 kg × 10
Set 2: 39 kg × 10
Set 3: 39 kg × 10
Set 4: 45 kg × 10

Chest
Sunday, 30 April 2017 at 10:18

Incline Bench Press
Set 1: 20 kg × 10
Set 2: 25 kg × 10
Set 3: 30 kg × 10

Incline Bench Press
Set 1: 30 kg × 9
Set 2: 35 kg × 5
Set 3: 32.5 kg × 10
Set 4: 32.5 kg × 9
Set 5: 32.5 kg × 5

Bench Press (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg × 10
Set 2: 6 kg × 10
Set 3: 10 kg × 10
Set 4: 10 kg × 10
Set 5: 10 kg × 10

Pectoral Fly
Set 1: 18 kg × 10
Set 2: 23 kg × 5
Set 3: 18 kg × 10

Not going too hard on myself until final sets as I'm just starting out and working on finding the right form and technique.

Based on the table in my first post, which exercises are better to do on the same day? Today I did legs and chest as it seemed to make sense, and I was thinking to do arms and shoulders together. Then fit in the back stuff.

I want to share my diet stuff for the week too. I think you'll probably say I'm under eating and this weekend I want to work out my macros because it feel like I'm getting too much fat and not enough protein.

 

[bsoltan]

Well, my legs are aching today!
About to head to the gym for Arms and Shoulders but here is a bit on the diet:

As you can see I've been well under 2000, never mind higher. It is keeping me full and satisfied which is important as I tend to snack more if I don't eat something satisfying. Preparing meals/food at the weekend to allow me to eat through the week. Next step with that is preparing lunches although getting a salad at work isn't too bad, unless they runout of tuna/chicken and it's tuna mayo but I'll probably switch it up for eggs.

I made my food diary publically viewable: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/profile/bsoltan





When I get back later I'll do some reading into what my macro split should be. I think it is surprising just how much I need to eat, but just cutting out the really bad stuff should help dramatically. No weekend snacking on biscuits etc.

 

[Kris_90]

For exercise splits you can't pretty much do what you want, do whatever suits you best. I like to do chest & biceps, back & triceps and legs and shoulders because I'm indirectly hitting my biceps on back day and triceps on chest day so they are getting worked 4 times per week. Also I hate training legs and love training shoulders so it helps me not skip leg day

Macro split:

1g of protein and carbs contains 4 kcals and 1g of fat contains 9 kcals.

Aim for 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight, about 50g of fat and the remainder carbs. It's trail and error to what suits you but the most important macro to hit IMO is fat. I'd always recommend never going below 50g per day as your hormone levels will likely decrease. This happened to me early last year and it was awful - I do not recommend it

You could try this:

200g protein - 800 kcals
50g fat - 450 kcals
212.5g carbs - 850 kcals (the remainder)
Total - 2,100 kcals

I still think your calories are too low mate. I know it's easy when you first start out but you can't sustain eating less than 1,600 cals per day.

 

[bsoltan]

So what ever feels best to the individual then, felt OK doing what I've done this week but I'll just adjust to what feels right as I get into the routine of it.
Legs is my strongest area (I think) so I really enjoy them. They must be used to carrying the weight around.. My arms are actually quite weak so as you'll see from today's log I've got plenty to build up.

I agree the calories are low, I haven't been trying to under-eat. I've just cooked and eaten what I thought was right and logged it to see what the outcome is. I'll adjust as I go.
Thanks for the recommendation on macro splits, I calculated my weight in lbs and used the figures you gave. Pretty similar outcome.

236g protein = 944kcal
50g fat = 450kcal
176g carbs = 706kcal
=2100 kcal

Now to work out that into meals.. then I'll be following IIFYM I suppose.

Based on today's food I'm currently at
206g protein (-30g)
69g fat (+19g)
45g carbs (-131g)

So as I thought, even based on this one day's intake I need less fat and find some more benefitial carbs to add to the diet.

Thanks very much for the help @Kris_90.

Now for today's log:
Start: 1km on treadmill warmup.

Shoulders
Monday, 1 May 2017 at 10:54

Shoulder Press
Set 1: 8 kg × 12
Set 2: 8 kg × 12
Set 3: 8 kg × 12
Set 4: 8 kg × 10

Upright Barbell Row
Set 1: 15 kg × 10
Set 2: 15 kg × 10
Set 3: 20 kg × 10
Set 4: 20 kg × 10

Upright Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 10 kg × 8
Set 2: 10 kg × 8
Set 3: 10 kg × 8

Lateral Raise
Set 1: 2 kg × 15
Set 2: 4 kg × 10
Set 3: 4 kg × 6
Set 4: 2 kg × 10

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delts
Set 1: 4 kg × 10
Set 2: 4 kg × 10
Set 3: 6 kg × 10
Set 4: 6 kg × 10
Set 5: 6 kg × 5
Set 6: 4 kg × 10

Arms
Monday, 1 May 2017 at 11:29

Bicep Curl
Set 1: 15 kg × 10
Set 2: 15 kg × 10
Set 3: 15 kg × 10

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 8 kg × 8
Set 2: 8 kg × 4
Set 3: 6 kg × 6
Set 4: 6 kg × 8
Set 5: 6 kg × 8

Preacher Curl
Set 1: 6 kg × 12
Set 2: 6 kg × 12
Set 3: 6 kg × 10

Tricep Extension (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 6 kg × 15
Set 2: 8 kg × 15
Set 3: 8 kg × 15
Set 4: 8 kg × 15

Tricep Pushdown
Set 1: 17 kg × 8
Set 2: 14.7 kg × 12
Set 3: 14.7 kg × 12
Set 4: 14.7 kg × 12

Midday Workout
Monday, 1 May 2017 at 12:04

Lat Pulldown
Set 1: 45 kg × 8
Set 2: 39 kg × 6
Set 3: 36 kg × 8

Standing Calf Raise (Machine)
Set 1: 66 kg × 15
Set 2: 66 kg × 15
Set 3: 66 kg × 20

 

[bsoltan]

I'm getting better with the calories and macros. Having it broken down like this is very handy, and I got a 1 month free trial of MFP Premium so I can see my food log by macros.
I'm still struggling to eat exactly the amount, coming in a bit under. I really need to make the push to take my own food for lunches.

I'm ending up with 1500kcal for the evening at the moment.

Going out tomorrow so I tried to lift tonight.

Back
Thursday, 4 May 2017 at 20:19

Deadlift
Set 1: 40 kg × 10
Set 2: 40 kg × 10
Set 3: 40 kg × 10
Set 4: 40 kg × 10
Set 5: 40 kg × 10

Bent Over Row (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 8 kg × 10
Set 2: 8 kg × 10
Set 3: 8 kg × 10
Set 4: 8 kg × 10
Set 5: 10 kg × 14

Cable Crossover
Set 1: 10.2 kg × 10
Set 2: 10.2 kg × 10
Set 3: 10.2 kg × 10
Set 4: 10.2 kg × 10
Set 5: 10.2 kg x 10

 

[bsoltan]

Ended up with a weekend off start of the month, but getting back on it.

Weigh in today was 104.5kg

Legs
Sunday, 14 May 2017 at 13:23

Squat
Set 1: 35 kg × 10
Set 2: 35 kg × 10
Set 3: 35 kg × 10
Set 4: 35 kg × 10

Squat
Set 1: 40 kg × 10
Set 2: 40 kg × 10
Set 3: 40 kg × 10
Set 4: 40 kg × 10

Leg Press
Set 1: 86 kg × 10
Set 2: 93 kg × 10
Set 3: 100 kg × 10
Set 4: 100 kg × 10
Set 5: 107 kg × 15

Leg Extension
Set 1: 45 kg × 10
Set 2: 45 kg × 10
Set 3: 52 kg × 10

Chest
Sunday, 14 May 2017 at 14:00

Incline Bench Press
Set 1: 30 kg × 10
Set 2: 30 kg × 10
Set 3: 30 kg × 10

Incline Bench Press
Set 1: 30 kg × 10
Set 2: 30 kg × 10

Pectoral Fly
Set 1: 18 kg × 10
Set 2: 23 kg × 10
Set 3: 27 kg × 10

 

[bsoltan]

Morning weight: 103.3kg (-3.7)

Free weights section in the gym was really busy yesterday but found a spot and a bench upstairs for some shoulders and arms.

Afternoon Workout
Friday, 19 May 2017 at 17:11

Lat Pulldown
Set 1: 45 kg × 10
Set 2: 52 kg × 10
Set 3: 59 kg × 5
Set 4: 52 kg × 5

Upright Barbell Row
Set 1: 20 kg × 10
Set 2: 20 kg × 10
Set 3: 20 kg × 10

Upright Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 10 kg × 10
Set 2: 10 kg × 10
Set 3: 10 kg × 10

Lateral Raise
Set 1: 4 kg × 12
Set 2: 1 kg × 15
Set 3: 4 kg × 10
Set 4: 1 kg × 15
Set 5: 4 kg × 5

Seated Dumbbell Rear Delts
Set 1: 4 kg × 10
Set 2: 5 kg × 10
Set 3: 5 kg × 10
Set 4: 6 kg × 10

Shoulder Press (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 8 kg × 15
Set 2: 8 kg × 10
Set 3: 8 kg × 10
Set 4: 8 kg × 10

Bicep Curl
Set 1: 15 kg × 10
Set 2: 15 kg × 10
Set 3: 15 kg × 10

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 10 kg × 5
Set 2: 8 kg × 5
Set 3: 8 kg × 10
Set 4: 8 kg × 10

Preacher Curl
Set 1: 6 kg × 12
Set 2: 6 kg × 12
Set 3: 6 kg × 12
Set 4: 8 kg × 8

Tricep Extension
Set 1: 10 kg × 15
Set 2: 10 kg × 15
Set 3: 10 kg × 15

Tricep Pushdown
Set 1: 21.6 kg × 10
Set 2: 19.3 kg × 8
Set 3: 19.3 kg × 5
Set 4: 14.7 kg × 10

Hopefully back in today for the legs and deadlifts.

 

[blairw]

Doing good mate!
Please take this the right way... you are filing a lot of your workout with pointless activity focusing on isolated muscles... you likely won't see the progress you wish doing this and will soon get bored.

Consider Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5 for 10 - 12 weeks at least (or until you really stall) to help build the foundations for yourself. Coupled with the correct calorie intake this will guarantee results

 

[bsoltan]

Advice and feedback is always appreciated. I don't really have any starting position so the exercises I mentioned was the only routine I knew.

Availability of equipment is the other limiting factor, if the bars and racks are busy then I need a plan of what to do.