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Fat man on a weight-loss kick.

You guys are an amazing lot
I've printed out both your (Oliver) and Macca's suggested foods and given them to the mrs.
I'll ride out the rest of the week on 800 cals a day and start next working week.
 
Romp said:
The beginners lifting guide is a bit black and white. I'll have a go at it every night at the gym. I am unfamiliar with some of the terminology, though.
Click to expand...
Black and white isn't necessarily a bad thing. It may look like a simple but our bodies are all basically structured the same and they will all benefit from a routine that is balanced, filled with good compound lifts involving picking heavy stuff up, putting it overhead and a deep knee bend.

I've been using a previous version of markos' beginner program for a while now and I can tell you it is a fantastic versitile comprehensive workout whether you want to build muscle, lose weight, get stronger or just get in better shape. Throw in some HIIT (high intensity interval training) that you can manage without aggrivating things in between lifting sessions and you'll be laughing.

I know injuries can suck from personal experience. Even if you may feel like you want to punish yourself for being undisciplined, you're not doing yourself any favours by starving yourself. All that will achieve is eat away muscle and mess up your metabolism.

If you want to work hard then do it at the gym by lifting heavy and at a high intensity (without going overboard obviously), doing HIIT and following a healthy diet to the letter with right amounts of good fats, protiens and carbs from fruits and vegetables 5-6 times a day. If you can follow that then you should see great results without having to relly too heavily on supplements or meal replacements.

All the previous advice has been well on the letter. I must say though to be very careful coming back from injury. It's hard not to jump in too hard too fast and aggrivate things. Luckily your muscle memory will probably help you out getting back into things but it can be a big test to swallow your pride and your ego and establish a new pace of working at things at the rate of your weakest asset. Even if things feel easy at the time, if they constantly leave you in pain for days after and it effects the regularity of your workouts then you find out slow and constistant can be the best way forward.

Apologies for the essay. Good luck
 
It's good to see people making an effort to improve themselves. I second getting Starting Strength, it's one of the most comprehensive books on barbell training.

As for your cardio, you may want to consider cycling instead of running. Running can be hard on the knees, especially if you have bad technique and a high bodyweight. And you can progress into sprints or interval training on the bike too.

(Don't do long slow distance training forever, it will work against the strength training and interval training or METCON's are more efficient anyway.)
 

Cheers for the response!. It gave me something positive to read at 7am @ work.

My previous injury is odd. If I lift a box and carry it, it starts hurting untill it's eventually crippling (if it's heavy enough). But then in other ways, where I swear I'm using the same muscle, it never comes up. The pain is on the lower right side of my back and is debilitinng to a point where if it has a whinge, I can't actually move at all / can sometime be stuck in one position for a period of time. It's embarrassing for a man of my age to say the least, and has thankfully not come up in the gym yet. Really,though, it only seems to come up when I'm helping a mate move house or something of that sort. It's strange that it doesn't flare up with weights or similar.

I'm happy to report that I was able to deadlift that weight mentioned above on my first attempt. I came nowhere near anything else (rep wise) even remotely, but the dead-lift I could do. That's with no training for a good few years. I do believe I've retained a lot of muscle somehow - I mean I'm certain, because all of them are killing me right now & have been for around a week. They only stop hurting when I start pumping weights again, but even then I have to push through this initial thresh-hold of feeling like they're going to snap. After that I just feel amazing. My sweet-heart poked me in the pec (what once was) last night and I nearly teared. Fail.


My immediate motivation came about last week seeing people not that much bigger than me (admittedly, that don't carry their weight as well) eating like pigs in shit. Greasy disgusting breakfasts every morning, pancakes and canned-whip for lunch, nachos and coke all night. I have never come anywhere near that kind of sloth. And it's annoying, aggrovating and embarrassing to think they are only a few kilos more than I.

My metabolism is unfortunately very slow and I have a testosterone deficiency (I'm not sure weather the two correlate). My doctor (around a year ago) gave me a private prescription for these "Testo swabs" I was supposed to apply daily but my using them never came to fruition. I'm not sure weather these things are set-backs or not, but I guess I only really started thinking of it now.

Cardio sucks. Even when I was looking amazing I never really did cardio.
I'd super-set weights with push-ups / chin-ups / star-jumps - but I never got on a treadmill and plugged my iPhone in per se. If I could have it my way, I'd go back to eating the alarmingly decent diet I was already on and pump myself to esteem; but things aren't as easy as that.

Also, as per prior recommendatory nods, I got Starting strength last night, I'm up to page 40 of chapter 1 on... Squatting. So far the 40 pages I have read have been about.. Squatting. Pretty full on stuff.

Anyway;

This morning I weighed in at 111.2.
I can not believe how fast I am losing weight.
I just wish I could stretch right now. I get half way and can't go any further
 
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Okay sorry to break your mood, but i am sure you are losing a lot of muscle right now. If your losing weight to fast you're probably losing a large amount of muscle. Which will mean when you get to your goal weight, you won't look as good as losing the weight slower. I think around 1-2kg a month is a healthy weight loss.
 
Romp having low testosterone puts you at a major disadvantage. The only real way to speed up a metabolism (apart from drug use) is to increase muscle mass as is what Muscle burns energy. This is why when we calculate our reccommended calorie intake etc we work off lean body mass. This is also why more muscular trainees and those taking advantage of testosterone's can and need to eat much much more, too fuel workout's and do not seem to gain much if any fat in the process.

Low testosterone = poorer nutrient partitioning = less muscle building ability = higher fat storage and slower metabolism.

I'd go back to the doc's if i was you, get retested and enquire about test replacement therapy. This would put you at least on level pegging's with the rest of us.

I also agree with the above, intially you'll lose weight super quick, but once your body adapts i'd expect to lose no more than a kg a week realistically
 
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That explains everything. Even my partner was telling me I was eating quite healthily and I just chug on weight from *looking* at fatty foods. How depressing. I'm going to the docs ASAP.

P.S, I remember the stuff the docs prescribed for me because I chuckled at it. It was called "Testogel".


-edit-

I've been researching all morning. I don't get much sleep, around 4 hours a night. This has not changed since I saw the doctor. I just read that lack of sleep reduces testosterone significantly. I remember my m/oll (or however the measurement was used) was 12. He said it wasn't major, but it's major enough for me, I still don't have to shave And I rarely feel like smashing it in bed. Could this all be from lack of sleep?
 
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Eh, read up a little more on the stuff I never actually took. I don't think I like the risks.
Going to incorporate lots of Oysters, Avocado, Salmon and natural Testosterone foods to see if it helps. I remember the doc saying mine was 12.
 
Lack of sleep might be related to low test, but it will definitley make you feel like shit.

Aim for 8 hours. Training should make you nice and tired and craving sleep!
 
leachy said:
Lack of sleep might be related to low test, but it will definitley make you feel like shit.

Aim for 8 hours. Training should make you nice and tired and craving sleep!
Click to expand...

Mate, 8 hours is a pipe-dream. I can't sleep because my head races. I've dumped 3 valium and still not been able to sleep. I just can't turn my mind off at bed time and I lay there for hours in an extremely agitated state trying to fall asleep. Before I know it, it's 6 and time for work. Eyes are extremely blood-shot, skin is pasty and it's another day for me.

Me memory is shot because of it.
 

Wow. You probably need to see a doctor then. As taking up physical activity on 4 hours sleep and minimal food probably won't work.

A doctor is going to be much more qualified to deal with these problems.
 
wo wo wo...


Back to stage 1...

You were prescribed testogel?

On what basis exactly?



This sounds like how I used to be...

If you have low test then cortisol will be increased as the low test plus probably low igf-1 the body is not repairing. Cortisol is increased due to the inflamation... Cortisol effects the hippocampus, effects memory and keeps you awake at night as the natural rhythm, is peak morning and be low at night.

Do you have any other health concerns? If you have low test it could be

a. Too much body fat increasing the aromatase enzyme that converts testosterone to oestrogen (oestradiol).

b. condition effecting testosterone thus allowing body fat to increase then refer back to a. for the vicous cycle...

c. burnt out adrenals lowering metabolism and the major precursor hormone 17-Hydroxypregnenolone
 
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Wow, what do I say to that. Awesome stuff.

I haven't slept properly since I can remember. I don't think I really ever have. I've incorporated what little sleep I do get as a part of my life. All of my friends know me as the guy that falls asleep at the movies, because it's one of the few places I ever actually feel tired. Annoying. It doesn't happen anywhere else.

The doctor prescribed Testogel to me as I had a blood test after telling him (this is a year and a half ago now) that I have no sex drive and couldn't sleep. I never really have. Sure, once a month I go mad, but whatever. It's not fair to my partner to say the least. My doc at the time said it could be caused due to depression or other external facotrs like weight. If it was weight, though, it doesn't explain the fact that I'm 25 (26 in feb) and still don't really need to shave. I get little shaggies, but nothing dense, and I have bitch-tits. Yea, crap.

The more I research, the more worrisome I become, because I really don't want to have to go through any crap. I just want to smash my body in to something I feel proud of and not stop until I'm done. I hate the thought of going on to something from the docs and having there be external factors that deter, impede or control my success.

You seem extremely knowledgeable on the subject. I remember my Testosterone measurement being 12. Maybe you can shed light on weather I need to be desperately seeing a doc to continue or not.

Much appreciated all the same.
 
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We need new updatedresults..

Depending in your financial situation you can

A. Order from a private lab
B. Try and beg a dr to do for you on Medicare..

Basically we need besides the basics.

Shbg - a binding protein for sex hormones
E2 oestradiol - the most potent form of oestrogen in the body
Lh/fsh - stimulating hormones from the brain to trigger testosterone production
Testosterone -
Cortisol - adrenal hormone increased during inflammation/ stress essential for metabolism.

These are basics that need to be done, from here you can explore other possibilities such as adrenals, thyroid or even pituitary.

But this will give us a good induction of if. Your primary meaning your testicles don't produce or secondary, the problem is elsewhere.

Remember e2 is made from testosterone in fat cells.. The hypothalamus receptors sometimes see e2 high as being testosterone so the body decreases production as it thinks it has enough... In this instance drugs that prevent aromatase can be used to lower oestrogen and get the hypothalamus recognizing the low testosterone and kick starting production.

I suggest you visit the dr and ask for the tests or order them yourself.
 


I was up until 3am (couldn't get to sleep prior) researching a lot of stuff based on what you've said, and I think I've narrowed it way down. I remember a doctor about 8 years ago telling me she thought I had PTSD. It was resonating through my head for some reason last night and I looked up some stuff. Apparently it messes with cortisol, testosterone, moods, anger - especially sleep. All of which I can honestly say is me in a nut-shell. I'm about as angry, sleep deprived and all over the place as they get. How I hold down jobs is pretty amazing, I'm luckily in a managerial position now that I can't just get fuck off with and leave from.

Anyway, without over-sharing, which I've already done - I think there may be deeper-seeded concerns. I'm not prepared to go on meds, nor will I ever be.

110.4 today, btw
 
Well as I said pregenolone effects the nmda receptor.. And new study's are showing statins cause depression through this mode of action.

Your problems all probably come down to a hormonal imbalance or lack of an enzyme..

That then takes us to another problem, the lack of metabolism and reapir capability of hormones has allowed your intestinal mucosa to become compranised allowing foreign undirected proteins to enter your body and provoke an immune response... IgG antibodies are created And cause delayed allergy reactions. An anxiety, insomnia, depression...

There is alot of investigating todo..

I dont like drugs much like you, however sometimes they are very necessary problem is today things are prescribed while the cause is not investigated simply for the reason that it is too hard and time consuming for a gp to do these things.
 
Interesting thread.

I'd love to see your blood work results. Are you doing much work directly supervised? With your condition, deadlifts &/or squats could be problematic
 
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