This has always bugged me. If I just need to get calories to my family, it’s cheaper to get McDs than it is to even cook up some chicken breast, broccoli and potatoes when all costs are considered (gas to get to the store, electric to cook the stuff, food itself, water for cleaning the dishes).
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I’m a pizza man myself, but i think you might be on to something here.
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What’s 12-13% of your bodyweight? Because that’s about the answer.
30 Ft. But it doesn’t seem enough. But you may be right, I just have to fight to get there.
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30lbs is a large amount to lose, and will make a drastic difference to your physique.
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Yeah, even if it isn’t exactly what @deyan has in mind, it will be an improvement. There is almost always more weight to lose to get to the goal than one plans for going into it.
That’s why 200 lb gym bros end up at 155 lbs when they decide to do their first BBing comp. They figure going in that they need to lose 25 lbs, and really need 45 lbs.
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I’ve found going into a fat loss period with a concrete long term goal weight works poorly for me. The only goal weight i have is what number i want to see at my next weekly weigh in.
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Not that it’s particularly important, but this isn’t true. Pearl won 9 major bodybuilding contests before he became a vegetarian. He won 1 contest a year or 2 after he made the switch, and that was it. He built his ‘competitive’ physique while eating meat. And he was no longer competitive after the switch. This is not to say that you can’t look amazing on a vegetarian diet. You certainly can. But also keep in mind that he continued to eat animal PRODUCTS that included eggs and dairy. Between that and ‘special supplements’… there’s nothing really surprising here.
This is just a math question. It depends on what you weigh.
If I’m a 200 lbs man, and I have 30% bodyfat, that means the fat mass on my body is 60 lbs. If I drop exactly 25 lbs of fat, and retain ALL of my lean tissue, then I will have 35 lbs of fat at 175 lbs bodyweight. That is exactly 20% bodyfat.
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I’ll politely disagree, in part. Meat can be costly, for sure. But two eggs, a serving of oatmeal, and a banana will cost you about 55 cents, maybe 70 cents with this current inflation to be fair (US prices). But it’s easier to drive the kid’s to McDonalds for breakfast where a plain Egg McMuffin is currently $2.79 or $3.99 for the full meal “deal.” And they’ll be hungry again in an hour. One trip to grocery store uses less gas than several trips to the fast food joint.
People just don’t want to cook or do math. They don’t get that they can buy a big tub of oatmeal for the price of buying a small serving or two at Starbucks. (Of course, they will have to sprinkle some cinnamon on it and add 1 walnut so it’s fancy.)
I get tired of hearing how it’s “too expensive to eat healthy” from people who eat one unhealthy restaurant meal for $12 when they could make it themselves – healthed up a bit – for $5 (any Mexican restaurant).
Another example: Average cost of grilled trout with rice and veg at mid-level restaurant: $18-20. Average cost of making the meal yourself: $7 to $8 and you get bigger servings. $7-8 isn’t a cheap meal, but it is compared to getting a smaller serving of the same meal at a restaurant. Go ahead and throw in 9 cents for the price of doing some dishes.
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What an irony. In my previous opinion, I said that the gyms I go to have the lowest percentage of obese people. And in reality I myself fall into this percentage 
At least in clothes I don’t look so fat
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I feel like it may be worthwhile to add a more ‘human’ component to the equation I presented regarding bodyfat/bodyweight.
So, I presented a ‘perfect’ scenario that involved ZERO change in lean mass, only altering the fat mass. Reality will rarely actually play out this way. Which can be good news, or bad news, depending on how you approach diet and exercise.
If you’re lifting weights consistently and with high intensity/effort, while also dieting down intelligently, you won’t have to lose as much weight to reach the desired bodyfat level. This is because, in the process of losing fat, you SHOULD also be adding muscle to your frame, even in a calorie deficit. It’s hard to diet down from, say, 12% to 6% and gain muscle. But from something like 30 to 20, it’s very doable, and should be expected if you’re doing everything right.
Now, on the other side of the coin, if you’re dieting down and you’re NOT engaged in some sort of resistance training, and maybe you’re on a not-so-intelligent diet, you may lose that initial 25 lbs, and have lost a substantial amount of muscle along with whatever fat you lost. And at THAT point, you still won’t be at 20% bodyfat. That’s bad. It’s why it’s SO important to keep training through a diet.
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I agree with you for healthy meals and for Someone my size. A small cheeseburger can hold a little one over for awhile (I know it’s not healthy but they can handle it and my kids are all healthy weight). I don’t want to make it a habit but I see why people do, especially those working multiple jobs .
Anything worth eating from a non-fast food restaurant is definitely cheaper to make at home, and most times tastes better.
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This point is an interesting one. I myself am a couple years short of 50 so for me that’s right in middle age, given I intent to live past 100, or so I threaten my kids.
How overweight are these friends you speak of to need multiple prescription meds at this age ? I definitely put myself in the Strong and thicc category and my abs are hiding. Many of you have seen my pics in my log or other posts so can determine for yourselves if is accurate.
Whilst I may be on the heavy side, in fact after 6 weeks of eating like it was my job whilst running super squats I am the heaviest I have ever been. But being this heavy is not in my opinion having a negative impact on my health. My resting heart rate is excellent, my blood pressure is spot on and recent blood work shows no other concerns. I take no medication prescription or over the counter. Now I don’t live in the US so I wonder if the need to medicate is more country specific based on how doctors treat patients.
Now I will definitely agree that the vast majority of middle aged men could lose a few pounds and would be healthier and potentially happier if they were a little leaner.
I wonder if the answer is as simple as the lack of motivation or social pressure for men to look a certain way. I think looking great in your 20’s can be very driven by social pressure, looking good to attract a mate, looking good to be the alpha male, looking good as a side effect of performing well at a sport etc. Generally we start to settle down in late 20’s and then through our 30’s we start families. (I know this is a sweeping generalization, sorry). Once we get to our 40’s the need socially to look good is far less and usually our kids are at a point where they don’t want us to do sports with them any more, so the external influence to be leaner or fitter isn’t as strong. Heck if I tell my daughters I am going on a cut and going to get abs they flat out tell me I am not allowed.
There are a couple of other factors for me personally. The first is; I like being a little heavier, mostly because I am stronger at this weight and that is the key focus for my training right now, also I look like I lift in a shirt (there isn’t many days I walk around shirtless).
The second for me is its just so much easier to maintain bodyweight with a bit of fluff on it, in terms of diet and food than it is to be leaner.
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Pretty much my exact thoughts. I came to the conclusion about the shirtless bit during my first cut where I lost 15-20lbs in 7-8weeks. There was nowhere near the definition I wanted or thought I would get, and I kept looking smaller and smaller in a shirt which was totally demoralizing. I then remembered I live in the UK where we get only a handful of really hot days each year and on those rare days I never, ever take my top off. I never go swimming, if i ever go to the beach it’s super early in the morning to walk the dog and I’ve been in my relationship 7+ years. Being around 18% is still miles better than the majority of the people around my age, so bugger it! Maybe one day it’ll become a goal but right now it’s not on my radar.
Maybe my opinion would change if I had the same amount of muscle that the leaner guys do though. ahem
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As a fellow Brit, i’m amazed at how easy it is to be the most in shape guy at the pool every time i go swimming.
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Since we commented yesterday, I want to say that when I look at pictures of people with 32-33% fat on the Internet, I still think that I do not look like that. In these photos I can see that people are quite fat and without any outlines on the body. But I don’t know - I may be mistaken. What do you think?
Here are some photos from the period in which with a machine on which I stepped barefoot I was measured with such a large amount of fat. Some are older and of poor quality due to lack of light, but at the moment I look the same and my measurements are the same. I apologize for the quality of the photos.
Dude I think you need to stop worrying about what bodyfat percentage you are and comparing yourself to others. You could get it tested in a myriad of different ways and you’ll still never have a 100% accurate measurement. Not just that but it will still be an arbitrary number as we all carry fat in different ways. Feel too fat by your current standards? Go lose some pounds.
Go by the mirror and your mind, not the scale.
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I’m not worried, I was just wondering if I was mistaken. But if I was worried, I already had to make an effort to change that. And I have maintained my current body weight for many years. I go to the Gym, I feel good and maybe that’s why I haven’t taken action.
The common saying is that it is easiest to lose weight. But fat and hungry people don’t believe him
Blood pressure meds are the most common. And hypertension is called the “silent killer” for a reason. Cholesterol meds are common too, but that’s an iffy topic: these may be overprescribed. Usually it’s cardiovascular related stuff.
We all shift around our priorities with age. For me, it’s not about being “ripped and shirtless” all the time, but the fact that just about every disease and malady can be predicted by waist circumference (belly button) measurement. Go over a certain point and you’re going to die early from something that could have been avoided. Thems the facts, sadly.
Now, did I give a shit about that at 30? Nope. But I certainly do at 51.
Anyway, here’s an article I did about the waist thing. This particular standard is VERY strict, but the experts/researchers I was writing about are probably on the right track.
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