Working on Massive Weight Loss and want to Retain / Build Muscle

[kafreeman]

So... im a fat guy.

I hit 311 lbs sometime in the past few years, but I was normally sitting around 295.

Im pretty sure I was (am?) pre-diabetic, no energy, low self-esteem.

Ive never been active my life, when I was young I played baseball a bit, but once I hit middle school I didnt do more than required in the way of fitness. If I ever expressed interest in something, I was always told I'll break my knees or whatever and wasnt allowed to do it.

So screw all that noise of the past. Im sick of being this large, and feeling this bad.

I started working out this month, about an hour to an hour and a half every morning at about 6:30am. Get to the gym, depending on the day I'll hit a few of the machines and then get my ass on the treadmill for a minimum of 30 minutes, up to 60 minutes, varying from a 3.5mph walk to 7.5mph run every 10 minutes at the moment, but this is starting to get easier.

So, I've been researching a free weight work out, I don't feel like the machines are giving me enough of a workout. I spent a little time in the weight room when I was in high school, but not a lot. I enjoyed how my muscles felt after working out then, and I just don't get that on the machines.

Exercise Routine:

Im doing a two week split right now to get my body used to lifting weights again. Below is one week, the second week is legs twice with chest, arms, back once.

Monday:
Chest, Arms, Back, Treadmill for ~30 min.

Tuesday:
Abs and Lower back machines, Treadmill for ~60 min.

Wednesday:
Legs, Treadmill for ~30 min.

Thursday:
Abs and Lower back machines, Treadmill for ~60 min.

Friday:
Chest, Arms, Back, Treadmill for ~30 min.

Right now, I've got two goals.

Primary Goal: Lose weight.
I'm down 20 lbs this month. I changed my diet significantly, and I track EVERYTHING that goes in my body now.

Secondary Goal: Build or Maintain Muscle Mass
I have fat guy legs. They are a decent size, and over size compared to my chest and arms.

Diet:
Ive been tracking this for ~15 days now. These are the averages:
Calories: 1330
Protein: 108 g
Fat: 67 g
Carbs: 46 g
Fiber: 20 g

What Ive been eating:
Breakfast:
1/2 Cup Egg Whites
1 Slice of Cheese
1 Cup of Spinach

Lunch:
Two Eggs with yolk
2 oz turkey
1 slice of cheese
1 cup of spinach

Dinner:
4 oz of some form of protein (steak / chicken)
5-6 oz of a vegetable (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans)

Some days I'll have one of those Atkins snack bars in there between meals depending on if I am feeling hungry.

Now Ive read all kinds of stuff regarding how much to eat while pursuing these goals, some say a little, some say a lot, I have no friggin idea what to believe. Im hoping someone here can give a little advice to point me in the right direction.

I'll be hitting up the doctor in about a week and half, he's an endocrinologist so I'll be getting full blood work.

Thanks all.

 

[BigRed904]

Don't even worry about retaining or building muscle. Get down to about 200lbs and then work to where you wanna be. I weighed 300 at 6'3" when I played college ball in the summer of 2010. I'm down to 230 right now and love the way I look.

 

[lemke28]

Don't even worry about retaining or building muscle. Get down to about 200lbs and then work to where you wanna be. I weighed 300 at 6'3" when I played college ball in the summer of 2010. I'm down to 230 right now and love the way I look.

I couldn't agree more, I think that at your height and weight, your primary goal should be fat loss. I understand you want to build muscle and work on your physique but I'd focus more on knocking off some fat before working towards building muscle. Lifting weights and working out isn't a bad thing for you, but I'd make sure and stay on top of the cardio and diet more so. Being at 300+ lbs you should be able to drop 20-30 lbs fairly quick with some hard work and a solid diet. I hope you get down to the weight you want man. Best of luck and stay focused. Hope this helps!

 

[Night Prowler]

I have been there. Looking at your daily calorie totals I tend to think you need to up that number. Not eating enough will ultimately lower your metabolism. If you are interested PM me and I can give you some advice to help you out. Best of luck.

 

[JajaNe20]

I have a buddy now doing the samething! We got him down 17 pounds in 3.5 weeks. He used to hit the weights for like 30 minutes before the treadmill. I told him his main goal is to lose the fat for his health and his self esteem. Worry about building muscle later, for now strip off what you put on then from there you can implement training and diet regimens that will allow you to build muscle. Honestly, It's impossible to build muscle on 1300 calories a day unless thats above your maintenance calories. First things first bro, good luck!

 

[kafreeman]

I have a buddy now doing the samething! We got him down 17 pounds in 3.5 weeks. He used to hit the weights for like 30 minutes before the treadmill. I told him his main goal is to lose the fat for his health and his self esteem. Worry about building muscle later, for now strip off what you put on then from there you can implement training and diet regimens that will allow you to build muscle. Honestly, It's impossible to build muscle on 1300 calories a day unless thats above your maintenance calories. First things first bro, good luck!

Good results!

Calculators show my maintenance level to be 3115 calories, fat loss at 2492, and extreme fat loss at 2240. Extreme loss seems to be ~1.75 lbs per week.

So I'll start focusing on the treadmill / running quite a bit more then trying to build muscle and increase strength.

I was 302 at the beginning of the year. 280 today. Been hitting them gym for just over two weeks now.

I will continue with the machines just to make sure Im not getting weaker so I can make adjustments to my diet.

 

[JajaNe20]

Make sure your not "running" a lot or too much. Because if your de-conditioned as you say you are and your at 280, running can be very bad for your knees and ankles. Maybe start with lower impact activities like walking up an incline at a slower speed until you lose a little more weight. You can burn the same amount of calories running or walking it just will take a little longer, I'd rather be on the treadmill an extra 5 minutes than to mess up my knees and need a full knee later on in life. I am just cautioning, it seems like a smart move.

 

[D2footballjrc]

In, have comments for later. On phone.

 

[EasyEJL]

Diet:
Ive been tracking this for ~15 days now. These are the averages:
Calories: 1330
Protein: 108 g
Fat: 67 g
Carbs: 46 g
Fiber: 20 g

bad idea, although good you have a decent amount of fats

Don't even worry about retaining or building muscle. Get down to about 200lbs and then work to where you wanna be. I weighed 300 at 6'3" when I played college ball in the summer of 2010. I'm down to 230 right now and love the way I look.

I couldn't agree more, I think that at your height and weight, your primary goal should be fat loss. I understand you want to build muscle and work on your physique but I'd focus more on knocking off some fat before working towards building muscle. Lifting weights and working out isn't a bad thing for you, but I'd make sure and stay on top of the cardio and diet more so. Being at 300+ lbs you should be able to drop 20-30 lbs fairly quick with some hard work and a solid diet. I hope you get down to the weight you want man. Best of luck and stay focused. Hope this helps!

both a terrible idea.

You need more calories, (I saw your later post), particularly geez more protein. you probably need to double that alone.

Losing the fat first before trying to work on muscle is a terrible idea because

• As you lose fat, you'll lose muscle with it - lowering your metabolism, lowering your ability to burn calories, lowering your desire to keep working out
• Muscle per pound burns more calories than fat. If every month instead of losing 6lbs total, you lost 4 but gained 1lb of muscle you'd be ahead of the game by the 3rd or 4th month.
• Adding muscle will help areas look better even if they have more fat - depressing as it sounds at 300lbs @ 6' tall with next to no physical activity, i'd guess you are near 50% bodyfat. Dropping 30lbs of fat alone would put you around 44%. dropping 20lbs but gaining 5 of muscle would put you at the same bodyfat %, but would look better.
• With just concentrating of weight loss only, you will hit some stall periods, where no weight is lost in a week, and its hard to keep motivation high. If you are concentrating on actively doing bodybuilder style workouts at the same time though, you'll be able to see progression there whether in strength, rep counts per set, etc keeping motivation higher.
• An hour of intense weightlifting burns as much calories as an hour at a brisk pace on the treadmill - so concentrating efforts there provides the fat loss of doing the cardio with less stress on your knees/ankles and with gaining more muscle

theres probably more reasons too, but thats the most basic ones.

 

[D2footballjrc]

bad idea, although good you have a decent amount of fats

both a terrible idea.

You need more calories, (I saw your later post), particularly geez more protein. you probably need to double that alone.

Losing the fat first before trying to work on muscle is a terrible idea because

[*]As you lose fat, you'll lose muscle with it - lowering your metabolism, lowering your ability to burn calories, lowering your desire to keep working out
[*]Muscle per pound burns more calories than fat. If every month instead of losing 6lbs total, you lost 4 but gained 1lb of muscle you'd be ahead of the game by the 3rd or 4th month.
[*]Adding muscle will help areas look better even if they have more fat - depressing as it sounds at 300lbs @ 6' tall with next to no physical activity, i'd guess you are near 50% bodyfat. Dropping 30lbs of fat alone would put you around 44%. dropping 20lbs but gaining 5 of muscle would put you at the same bodyfat %, but would look better.
[*]With just concentrating of weight loss only, you will hit some stall periods, where no weight is lost in a week, and its hard to keep motivation high. If you are concentrating on actively doing bodybuilder style workouts at the same time though, you'll be able to see progression there whether in strength, rep counts per set, etc keeping motivation higher.
[*]An hour of intense weightlifting burns as much calories as an hour at a brisk pace on the treadmill - so concentrating efforts there provides the fat loss of doing the cardio with less stress on your knees/ankles and with gaining more muscle

theres probably more reasons too, but thats the most basic ones.

I was going to talk about too low of cals. I am a bit lower in weight then him and im at 2k cals a day. Look into a site like mufitnesspal to help you set calorie goals.

 

[kafreeman]

Got it up to 2000 calories today, with 177 g of protein.

 

[kafreeman]

Went to the doctor Tuesday and he advised no high impact cardio until losing weight and strengthening the legs.

I'm doing the basics at the gym, started on Wednesday. I worked up to these numbers because I had no idea what I could do. I'll probably start with these next session.

Bench: 135 x 3 max
Deadlift: 225 x 8 max
Calf Raise: 315 x 8 all day long on leg press
Triceps: 35 x 8
Pull Ups / Chin Ups: 116 lb assist. ugh.

My weight kinda plateaued this week, but I can feel clothes getting looser.

I am eating only fresh / frozen vegetables, fresh sliced Turkey breast, chicken, beef and cheese.

This week Ive had pork butt and brisket burnt ends from Superbowl leftovers.

Been averaging about 2300 calories for the past couple of weeks now.