[[[The 2022 Gym Rats Thread]]] ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

[B&W]

I have been hitting calorific deficit -300/200 for 3 months now, lost 2.5 KG. Lifts not impacted, infact bench has gone up by 7.5 KG. However beer belly still there, despite lack of beer, hardly any sugary/fried foods (ok takeaways twice a week).
So I started doing daily walks since last week, taking steps from 3500 average to 8000 around 5 days a week.

Anything else I could do, I really find it hard to eat below 2800-3000 calories.

 

[barmyllama]

I have been hitting calorific deficit -300/200 for 3 months now, lost 2.5 KG. Lifts not impacted, infact bench has gone up by 7.5 KG. However beer belly still there, despite lack of beer, hardly any sugary/fried foods (ok takeaways twice a week).
So I started doing daily walks since last week, taking steps from 3500 average to 8000 around 5 days a week.

Anything else I could do, I really find it hard to eat below 2800-3000 calories.

Just carry on as you are. It's obviously working as you've lost weight. Unfortunately belly fat is the last place men usually loose it from and you can't spot reduce from different areas.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Well I got started as early as my body will allow in the morning. Puked after my first set, but otherwise carried on fine. Nowhere near my deadlift PB and doubt I ever will, or that I want to push my back that much, but happy with 190x5x5 and 147.5x3x6. Other than being gassed after each set they all moved easily.

 

[Syla5]

Anything else I could do, I really find it hard to eat below 2800-3000 calories.

How do you find it hard to eat below this level?

Calorie deficit is your most important tool in weight loss and 2.8k cals is a lot of food, and gives you a lot of room to increase your deficit diet wise.

Assuming you are tracking cals etc to know your hitting this sort of level.

You need to be in a 500 per day or 3.5k cals per week deficit to drop 1lb of fat. Youve lost 5.5lb over 12 weeks which means your deficit is likely only 250 cals per day at best.

Reference myself i was cutting on 1650 to 1700 cals and eating enough, you could easily decrease your cals to 2200 be in a nice 700-800 calorie deficit and have plenty to eat.

What does a day of eating look like for you? Why do you struggle to eat below this?

Also in terms losing a beer belly, whats your current weight vs target weight, etc this should give and indication of sorts as to when you would appreciably notice a difference.

 

[Syla5]

Well I got started as early as my body will allow in the morning. Puked after my first set, but otherwise carried on fine. Nowhere near my deadlift PB and doubt I ever will, or that I want to push my back that much, but happy with 190x5x5 and 147.5x3x6. Other than being gassed after each set they all moved easily.

11 sets of deadlifts?! was that the whole session or did you do other work after lol

 

[CaptainRAVE]

11 sets of deadlifts?! was that the whole session or did you do other work after lol

5 sets of 190 and 3 of 147.5. I’ve probably written it incorrectly. No, that was it for today. I’d often do shrugs after, but figured I’d quit while I was vaguely standing. Bench tomorrow and then a rest day!

 

[B&W]

How do you find it hard to eat below this level?

Calorie deficit is your most important tool in weight loss and 2.8k cals is a lot of food, and gives you a lot of room to increase your deficit diet wise.

Assuming you are tracking cals etc to know your hitting this sort of level.

You need to be in a 500 per day or 3.5k cals per week deficit to drop 1lb of fat. Youve lost 5.5lb over 12 weeks which means your deficit is likely only 250 cals per day at best.

Reference myself i was cutting on 1650 to 1700 cals and eating enough, you could easily decrease your cals to 2200 be in a nice 700-800 calorie deficit and have plenty to eat.

What does a day of eating look like for you? Why do you struggle to eat below this?

Also in terms losing a beer belly, whats your current weight vs target weight, etc this should give and indication of sorts as to when you would appreciably notice a difference.

I'm 6 ft 3, 110KG currently. Im ok with around 2800. 2200 would be hard...


Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs , 50gram oats, clear whey.

Pre workout: banana and capuccino

Lunch: whey with water, something homemade like pasta/spaghetti/rice with some meat. Small bit of carb like protein bagel for another snack.

Dinner: same as above without the whey.

Snacks: semi skimmed milk with casein, probably some crisps and tiny piece of chocolate.

I'm guessing maybe I should start going to 2700.

 

[Syla5]

I'm 6 ft 3, 110KG currently. Im ok with around 2800. 2200 would be hard.

What your eating doesn’t look bad, it will be the amounts that drive your calorie total.

In terms of your initial post about wanting to lose the beer belly, and this one, there’s no easy way to put it but weight loss is hard. You have to be in a deficit, and the size of the deficit is what determines your weight loss speed (to a point but your not close to that so wouldn’t worry).

In your position, if you keep intake at similar levels then you need to do something else to create a bigger deficit, so that’s exercise. Why have you only upped your steps to 8k per day 5 days a week? Aim to do it 7 days per week. (Also what tracker are you using out of interest?).

If you don’t have time for this (I know walking can eat up time I have added 1-1.5hrs per day since January to help with weight loss), then get a static bike or a rower and dedicate 20-30 mins per day to this.

Make a conscious effort to just move around more, fidget, do small tasks around the house, get up more often for a glass of water etc, it all adds up to burning more calories.

Bottom line is always energy balance, you need more to go out then you put in.

I offer a final strong recommendation to download MyFitnessPal and actually track your intake exactly for 1 week, and see just how much you are eating to be sure. That’s everything, eat cup of tea/coffee with milk, each biscuit, etc you might be eating more then you think.

 

[B&W]

What your eating doesn’t look bad, it will be the amounts that drive your calorie total.

In terms of your initial post about wanting to lose the beer belly, and this one, there’s no easy way to put it but weight loss is hard. You have to be in a deficit, and the size of the deficit is what determines your weight loss speed (to a point but your not close to that so wouldn’t worry).

In your position, if you keep intake at similar levels then you need to do something else to create a bigger deficit, so that’s exercise. Why have you only upped your steps to 8k per day 5 days a week? Aim to do it 7 days per week. (Also what tracker are you using out of interest?).

If you don’t have time for this (I know walking can eat up time I have added 1-1.5hrs per day since January to help with weight loss), then get a static bike or a rower and dedicate 20-30 mins per day to this.

Make a conscious effort to just move around more, fidget, do small tasks around the house, get up more often for a glass of water etc, it all adds up to burning more calories.

Bottom line is always energy balance, you need more to go out then you put in.

I offer a final strong recommendation to download MyFitnessPal and actually track your intake exactly for 1 week, and see just how much you are eating to be sure. That’s everything, eat cup of tea/coffee with milk, each biscuit, etc you might be eating more then you think.

I use myfitnesspal, I think with some of the meals wife makes (50%is Pakistani cuisine), it's hard to track so I may be underestimating.

Well I've changed my calories from 2900 to 2700 I'll start from Monday. Hard to do more cardio and already work out 5 times a week.

I'm using the built in tracker on my phone, the Samsung health one. Sometimes at work or home I do walk around with phone at desk.

Worth getting one of those smartwaches,?

 

[Syla5]

I use a Fitbit just because it’s always on my wrist unlike when I leave my phone somewhere so I just find it a little more accurate.

Any fitness tracker will do if you want one, doesn’t have to be a smart watch.

Sounds like your biggest factor in speed of weight loss will be how much of a deficit you can get yourself in to.

The good thing is you sound to be on track everywhere, don’t expect miracles with weight loss it takes time to lose, just think how long it took to put on! I’ve done 27lb from December to July, with an average -500 / -600 deficit, maybe a little more given how I’m still losing weight while eating up to 2650 now, reverse dieting back up from 1700.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Getting my workout in before my black gazebo gym reaches 35C plus (saves heating in the winter, not so ideal in the summer!)

Still quite cool luckily. I don’t often do a squat session pre breakfast

On the plus side today’s workout felt effortless. The first time in weeks and weeks (having had Covid) where the weight feels lower than my strength levels. The next cycle matches my pre Covid working weight I think. It helps being off work and being able to eat effectively - and without being ill in the mornings post evening shake.

 

[wesimmo]

But a double portion bowl of cereal is more quantity then the porridge I've suggested. Ok there's the issue of you not being a fan of porridge so that's a different matter but if volume is your issue you need to focus on what's calorie dense, maybe you really need to focus on upping the fats, consider a keto style diet.

So...this morning I gave the overnight oats thing a go.

It's not that bad to be fair.

2 MyProtein scoops of oats, same of milk and same of black cherry yoghurt, it's ok and I'll probably try and continue it

 

[Syla5]

So...this morning I gave the overnight oats thing a go.

It's not that bad to be fair.

2 MyProtein scoops of oats, same of milk and same of black cherry yoghurt, it's ok and I'll probably try and continue it

Well done for giving it a try thats awesome.

Were the oats instant oats? You could just try standard? With your yoghurts as well consider skyr style for better protein content? I use vanilla or plan personally when I do, but they do cherry and strawberry as well

 

[wesimmo]

Well done for giving it a try thats awesome.

Were the oats instant oats? You could just try standard? With your yoghurts as well consider skyr style for better protein content? I use vanilla or plan personally when I do, but they do cherry and strawberry as well

Just the cheapest porridge oats from Tesco. 79p for 1kg I think.

I did see the skyr yoghurts on special, but the price difference was huge, I think I get plenty of protein for my size from 2 protein shakes a day (70g) on top of my normal diet?

 

[Syla5]

Just the cheapest porridge oats from Tesco. 79p for 1kg I think.

I did see the skyr yoghurts on special, but the price difference was huge, I think I get plenty of protein for my size from 2 protein shakes a day (70g) on top of my normal diet?

It really depends on your goals and your calorie targets, you are probably fine with normal yoghurts like you say. Yeah tesco oats all the way no need for fancy MyProtein ones for example. If you wanted to try a different texture option then i can recommend Jumbo rolled oats as a nice alternative.

 

[barmyllama]

Just the cheapest porridge oats from Tesco. 79p for 1kg I think.

I did see the skyr yoghurts on special, but the price difference was huge, I think I get plenty of protein for my size from 2 protein shakes a day (70g) on top of my normal diet?

Aldi and Lidl do their own brand Skyr for 99p for a 450g pot, which is 50g protein for the plain one.

Mix in some frozen berries with your oats and maybe a zero calorie syrup for sweetness or your favourite protein powder. I also add pomegranate seeds, goji berries and cacao nibs texture and flavour as well as vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients.

 

[wesimmo]

Aldi and Lidl do their own brand Skyr for 99p for a 450g pot, which is 50g protein for the plain one.

Mix in some frozen berries with your oats and maybe a zero calorie syrup for sweetness or your favourite protein powder. I also add pomegranate seeds, goji berries and cacao nibs texture and flavour as well as vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients.

I love the Lidl creamy yoghurts (just for a bit of thread history, calories are where I'm lacking), but why do they do that thing where each tray on the shelf has a mix of flavours and someone has always picked out the cherry ones?

 

[shifty_uk]

So...this morning I gave the overnight oats thing a go.

It's not that bad to be fair.

2 MyProtein scoops of oats, same of milk and same of black cherry yoghurt, it's ok and I'll probably try and continue it

Good meal for getting calories down in the morning. The only difficulty I found was adjusting to the extra fibre

Cheap Lidl oats, 80g of peaches and walnuts with some cinnamon over the top is my go-to at the moment.

 

[Syla5]

Those cals for the oats seem quite high if it is only 80g as that’s what I have most days normal and jumbo rolled only about 300 cals, same Lidl/tesco/Quaker etc.

*edit oh wait it’s 80g peaches

 

[Freefaller]

I do miss yoghurt sometimes, and dairy in general. *Sigh*