Go get some!

Always feels good to get back after a layoff.

LFG!

About 9 weeks until Christmas. 184 by then is a good challenging goal. At the beginning of this year I'd let myself get all the way up to 230. I got down to 205 and kinda fell off for a while, got back up to 213, on aggregate I've been dropping 2 lbs per week since I recommitted myself.

I would LOVE to get to 179 by 12/31. Sub-180 is getting really close to "lowest weight since I was a fish at A&M" and dropping 50+ in a year for would be a hell of a thing.

You can do it. I've gained a ton of dietary knowledge working with my nutritionist. PM me if you want to discuss.

It was simple math once I dialed in my macros, tracked my calorie intake and understood my calories burned!

Yeah I'm tracking everything right now. Keeping it relatively simple.

Calories < x
Protein > y

Repeat.

Makes it a lot easier when you eat basically the same thing every day.

Also got a walking pad at work so I get in a ton of steps and I'm lifting 5 days a week.

I agree with you… I think it can be done!!!

What are you using to track output?

My Apple Watch has been a very useful tool on this journey.

I don't really track output. The only thing I really keep an eye on is steps for which I use my Oura ring and my treadmill itself. I go for the arbitrary but effective 10,000 steps per day. On days when I'm at the office and don't have a bunch of meetings (lots of treadmill time) I get a whole lot more than that. Everything that I've ever read on this topic basically says you've gotta get NUTS when it comes to walking before you need to fear any upper limits. REALLY active weeks (lots of treadmill time plus playing golf on the weekend) I average about 16k per day but this isn't the norm. And even that is nowhere close to being "too much walking."

I'd say I'm going with a pretty aggressive calorie deficit. But nowhere near the levels that I'm doing anything dangerous or risky. When I check any TDEE calculators around the internet, it looks like my daily calorie deficit is around 800-1200 calories per day depending on how much I'm moving that day. Rate of weight loss seems to back that up.

Other factors I've been on the lookout for that all seem good:
- I'm hungry but not starving at mealtime, no issues being hangry
- I'm sleeping fine
- Libido is healthy
- Workouts are okay and I feel reasonably vigorous at the gym
---- NOTE: when I start easing calories back into the diet in the coming months adding in a pre-workout snack is probably the first thing I'll do

I use my Apple Watch track day to day but calculate a true TDEE using actual weight lost.

((3500*weight lost per week)/7) should give you a true calorie daily deficit. Add that to your tracked intake and you have a true TDEE.


If you can figure this out and adjust your diet or exercise plan accordingly, you will, without a doubt, hit your goals.

Ran some math. Not sure if anyone but you and me will nerd out on this but I enjoyed running the numbers.


I have lost 9.2 lbs in the last 27 days (that's to say my seven-day average weight has dropped by 9.2 lbs). That's a total deficit of 32,200.

During this time span I've averaged 1840 calories per day. That's total consumption of 49,680.

Total calorie intake plus deficit is 81,880.

Divide that by 27 days and you get an average 3,032 TDEE.


Put that into some calculators and for someone my weight during that time frame:

At 210 lb:
Some exercise = 2778 TDEE
A lot of exercise = 3148 TDEE

At 200 lb:
Some exercise = 2710 TDEE
A lot of exercise = 3071 TDEE


Before doing this math, I would've guessed that I was between "some" and "a lot" of exercise. So all this seems to line up nicely.


Right now my seven day average is at 201.2. That is 21.4 lbs (74,900 calories) away from my goal.

I have 64 days left in the year. That means I need to average a deficit of 1171 calories per day.

So if I maintain my current calorie intake, I need to keep my TDEE at 3011 per day (on average).


Looking at these numbers I probably need to ramp up the steps a little bit and get that average calorie intake all the way down to 1800. As my weight drops, my TDEE will drop a bit as well. All the way down at 179 lb the estimates for a lot of exercise are about 6% lower.

So I'm on a good trajectory right now but I want to slam dunk this thing.

Don't need any drastic changes from what I'm doing. Just a tad more intentionality.

This is where I recommend an Apple Watch or some of fitness tracker. It will be an absolute game changer for you.

Work on getting your heart rate up in zone 4 for at least 4 min per 30 min of exercise. Also, start resistance training now! Building muscle will help you keep the weight off long term. The way my nutritionist described it is having muscle vs not is like having a v8 vs a 4 cylinder. The v8 takes more fuel, even at idle.

Come nerd out with me! Or as my wife says, "weight loss by numbers".

Consistently below 220 last week and through today. Bouncing around 216-218. Seem to have hit a wall. Few more weeks of cardiac rehab and then a heart doc visit and possibly get the OK to get a little more active with the workouts. Hopefully that will help.

Per rec here, downloaded a food tracker (myfitnesspal) and that has helped and been interesting. Goodness it is hard to keep sodium and cholesterol below daily limits. I shop along the walls and keep tinkering with different things to get those lower. Carbs are usually pretty low.

Big thanks to all for sharing y'all's wisdom (for example this TDEE stuff above...) and recommendations. And keep hitting y'all's goals!

texag06ish said:

---

This is where I recommend an Apple Watch or some of fitness tracker. It will be an absolute game changer for you.

Work on getting your heart rate up in zone 4 for at least 4 min per 30 min of exercise. Also, start resistance training now! Building muscle will help you keep the weight off long term. The way my nutritionist described it is having muscle vs not is like having a v8 vs a 4 cylinder. The v8 takes more fuel, even at idle.

Come nerd out with me! Or as my wife says, "weight loss by numbers".

---

I've been lifting consistently for about ten years and am continuing to do so. I've certainly had my stretches of time away from the gym but never more than a few months when I let life get in the way.

Overall I'm pretty strong. Even though I let my weight get a lot higher than I ever wanted it to be, I carried it pretty well. Looking forward to seeing these big muscles have a little more definition to them as the pounds keep coming off.

Awesome! You have a great starting point.

I'm work down to 10% body fat at 185 and hope to get back up to 200lb by gaining 15lb of lean muscle.

ENHANCED NERDERY!

Big fan of spreadsheets and graphs. Updated my tracker to include some additional numbers.

Every day I input my weight from that morning and calories from yesterday.

Main things I'm tracking is my 7-day average on both since weight (and less-so calories) have some volatility in there.

But based on our conversation from a few days ago I'm also tracking my "required daily deficit" number for my goal weight:

(7day avg weight - goal weight) * 3500 / days until Dec31

Right now I'm sitting at 1102 and trending downward. That translates to an average weight loss of about 2.2 lbs/week which is slightly higher than I'd like. Maintaining that deficit is going to be a little bit harder as I lose some weight.

Gonna keep the hammer down and find a way. Can't let myself get derailed if the Ags make the playoffs.

That's awesome. I also nerd real hard with my spreadsheets.

Do you have a way to import your macros into your spreadsheet automatically or do you do it manually?

Manually, that's why I do it daily. It's part of my morning post workout routine now.

Macros come from carb manager. Calories burned and active calories come from Apple Fitness.

The columns in yellow are the input columns. Everything else auto calculates. The yellow row on my macros tab signifies DEXA scan days.