Background
I have a pretty typical story. I was in decent shape in university, but ever since I started working full time, it’s been largely a downhill trend with some brief periods of getting better.
I’m around 40lbs heavier than my best shape in my 20s, and my health is a lot worse. I turned 30 last year, and I’ve been thinking about my health more – I can’t really take things for granted (and I never should have before either).
Age: 31
Height: 5’11’’
Weight: 241.6
Waist: 45”
Stats above are as of today morning.
Primary Goal: Fat Loss
By the end of the year, I’d like to get down to 200lbs with a flat stomach (visible abs not necessary), which was where I was at when I was in university. I looked good in a t-shirt, never had any type of joint pain, and had way more energy. No clue on other health markers, like resting heart rate and blood pressure but those must have been way better back then, too. As a midpoint, I’d like to get to 220lbs by the end of September.
Secondary Goals: Strength and Cardiovascular Fitness
I was never all that strong, but I’d love to get back to the peak strength and cardio levels I had in my 20s. I didn’t have peak strength and cardio at the same time, but that would be nice now. My lists were ok for upper body, and lower body I’d say below average for my size. My approximate (based on my memory) personal bests for some key lifts were: 285lbs for 5 reps on squat, 325 for 3 reps on deadlift, and 225 for reps on incline bench, over 20 bodyweight dips, and over 12 pull ups. No clue on a great measurement for cardio, but I used to be able to go for an hour on the elliptical machines at my gym at the highest difficulty setting, and I was moving at a good pace.
These are secondary goals, which means if I’m losing bodyfat but my strength and cardio are not improving I’d still call that making progress. And for now, the focus will be more on strength training than cardio while I lose weight, so I can maintain muscle easier. But, I’m in bad enough shape that I think I will probably make progress on all of my goals from month to month.
Training and Nutrition
My training right now will consist of strength training and walking. I haven’t figured out my exact training split, but it will be something along the lines of (1) Back-Shoulders, (2) Chest-Arms, (3) Legs, with Legs and Back-Shoulders being 2x a week. Every day I will get 10,000 steps in, minimum.
I’m not going to track calories or macros starting off, as I think I can make good progress just by adding good and removing bad food habits, such as:
- No more junk food snacks like chips, cookies, chocolate, etc.
- When I eat out/get takeout, just clean up the choices a bit more, and try to pick a high protein meal
- Eating protein and vegetables with every meal
- Water as the main beverage aside from one cup of coffee in the mornings
- Don’t eat so much that you need to lie down afterword; no need to eat until you are full
Eventually I will have to start tracking calories and macros, but I want to get as far as I can without that. I think more than the training this will be the thing most difficult to do, and I may as well save it for when it is really needed. I have lost 20+lbs before in late 2016-early 2017 from a similar starting weight without tracking calories and macros.
Other than that, a focus throughout the day on not being as sedentary during the day. I figure out small things to so to stay active and not be seated so much.
Data, Frequency, and Sources
I’ll track the following data:
- Weight - Daily; in the morning
- Steps – Daily; using my Apple Watch
- Resting Heart Rate – Daily; using my Apple Watch; I don’t think the Apple Watch takes a perfect measurement especially since I don’t wear it when sleeping, but I’ll focus on long term trends here; with weight loss it should drop. Won’t post this here.
- Stand Minutes (lol) – Daily; Apple Watch, and then weekly I will calculate an average. Probably won’t post this here.
- Waist Measurement - Weekly on Sunday Mornings, I measure this right around the navel so not exactly the same as traditionally.
- Front, Side, and Back Pics – Monthly; starting July 4. (I probably won’t be posting these here)
Today I hit Legs at the gym and went for a walk, but I will make a full post about this tomorrow morning so I can update with the full set of stats.
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