What to Focus on Next?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Just wanted to start of with a thanks to T-Nation. This has been the best resource for me getting back in shape I have found anywhere!

I don’t want to bore you with background info but I was 247 in september 06 and went on a strict diet of 800-1200cal/day and walking. I lost a lot of fat but also a lot of muscle mass since I wasn’t lifting. I have changed a lot of things since then but here is my current routine:

food:
~1800cal/day
no procecssed foods
chicken, fish, fresh fruits and vegetabes are 99% of what I eat
EAS Protien shake’s(have about 10lbs left to use so I’ll have these for awhile)
Fish and Flax seed oil
I eat 6-8 times day or more.

Lifting:
the Complexes routine in the complexes for fat loss article awhile back. I have been doing this for ~5 weeks now with some minor modifications. Since I am so out of shape and haven’t lifted in 10 years I started with 8reps/set with lower weight. I am still doing 8reps/set just with more weight. When I first started I thought I was going to die from being out of breath but now it’s lack of strenght that’s more a factor at the end of the complexes.

I do this every other day or every 3rd day depending on how sore I am. I also normally have a EAS shake about 15min before and one during/after this routine as that seems to help.

I still walk to work some days but life has been pretty busy and I would rather spend my time doing complexes than walking.

Basically I’m wondering what I can concentrate on next? I have read a lot of posts saying not to try to focus on too much too fast as a beginner so I’m wondering what the vets would suggest? I’m sure I left out something important and I will probably get some before/current pictures up tonight when I have time.

Thanks in advance!

PeterD

2

Id pic a solid resistance training program and see it to completion

Phill

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Thought you guys might like some before/after pics.

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Here’s an after pic. Hopefully the before pic posted

5

You lost a ton of fat good job. I think it’s pretty obvious you lack muscle mass though so I’d work on eating more and becoming stronger in the gym. Check out Berardi’s articles here on nutrition to get a solid plan for your goal.

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Thanks for the info Scott. I’ll have a read over and see what I can come up with.

7

Congrats on the fat loss, you did a great job. And, yes, Berardi’s articles are pure gold. Good luck.

8

Focus now on strenth gain and keep the eating the same. Increase slowly as you reach plateaus…something along the lines of 500kcal.

You have been using low calories therefore your metabolism will have a rebound that could make you fat again if you aren’t careful.

Good job