It’s a shame about the way this thread has gone, and thanks to chris and prof for trying to steer it onwards on such little information.
Maybe to try to move it though on because for me this is right now a very relevant subject and one that i was hoping would go the ‘right way’ :
My own situation (at 53) is that at just 8 months into training with weights (and decent eating)for the very first time is that just over a month ago i decided on and planned for a quick and hard cut of body fat while i am still making decent beginner gains in the gym.
Background :
Going back 2 years i was in a pretty grim state both physically and mentally and very stressed in my work situation.
I had to turn things around i was slipping into the early stages of metabolic syndrome–and pretty well everything that goes with obesity.
I did turn things around mainly by re learning just to eat proper meals instead of incessant high carb snacking at work and by doing a shed ton of walking–luckily i have always walked and aside from a lot of aches and pains it did shift the weight problem steadily downwards, first year was around 15kg loss.
(starting weight around 105kg and around 90 at end of first period)
I didnt’t in any way think of this as ‘training’ simply a big self rescue and it was only at the end of the first5 year that i started doing anything other than walking…a pt got me to start doing some outdoor running with a bit of calisthenics thrown in.
Then i suddenly got serious (after an injury that layed me up for a month) read everything from textbooks, medical articles, high street books on fitness etc…even the internet !.
(discovered T nation)
Pretty soon i joined a gym, hit gold with a new pt who was really into basic weights work and did a 10 week programe with him, havn’t looked back and not regretted a single moment so far !!.
Since then : pretty steady progression : weights generally going up.
So : decision time last month based on :
Me …height 6ft 1.5 inch and sitting at around 185 lbs but acording to a bf scale still with just over 19 % body fat.
So not a pretty picture…gone from fat n skinny to just skinnier…however with some strength amd muscle coming back.
It might (on those numbers) seem like a strange decision to deliberately lose even more mass but from my perspective that 19% (some 35 lbs) of fat is just a waste of effort to be carrying around–especially given my goals and the things that i want to do.
So : in fact the composite plan was first a quick hard fat loss aiming at around 5-6 lbs over 5-6 weeks and then a longer slower lean build over 6 months …hopefully ending at around the same overall weight but with a better body composition.
And then repeat !.
Well…a lttle about my method : firstly i did a shed load of reading , once again getting my head in the textbooks and reading what respected t nation authors (like chris thibs) have to say.
Then producing a plan : (short version)
Lifting as per my programme–to preserve muscle mass , lifting as heavy as i can 2-4 times a week (with the right nutrition)
Caloric defecit from diet and exercise.
Lactate producing workouts.(epoc)
Fasted walking.
Further slight clean up of diet ie increased protein and reduced carbs.
Slight change in supplement regime.
Diet and training log maintained.
Etc etc – i havnt written the whole thing out !–whole thing is written up as a plan each week and then run as closely as work/life allows.
Results so far : disapointing ! ?..well i seem to have at least hung onto what strength i have (even set a new dl pr) but the objective weight loss has been very small !!.
Does not compute !!
So hopefully this shows why i have a serious interest in the thread and have high hopes that the thread might be resuscitated.
Specific questions ? …no not really, i would like to hear from the experienced guys who have been in a similar situation …how you did it…what the pitfalls are etc.
EDIT . my own thread is over in the over 35s -with the training and food logs reproduced from my journal : (give the monkey a banana) don’t seem to be able to set up a ditect link tonight.
