Back at it - Suggestions please

[net1994]

Hi Guys - I'll try and make this as short as possible. Seven years ago I lost about 60lbs (from ~260lb) through proper diet and exercise. Over the years the weight would fluctuate from time to time. However in the last 20 months, it has started to come back. Poor diet and zero exercise. Surprise, I got fatter. The last 2-3 months the weight has come back even faster. What's odd is that in these 20 months, I have added maybe 10 pounds when I stand on a scale. However the scale is misleading. I have lost A LOT of muscle mass and packed on the fat. So I feel like I've really gained 30lbs

I'm almost 42, 5'10" and weigh ~215. My basal metabolic rate (BMR) is 2,050 calories. BMI is certainly over 30%. I will count my calories via the Daily Plate app. As I've done this several times, I will quickly get the diet part down, based on the calorie goal. However one of the biggest issues (if not the main/only one for now) is that I have a torn rotator cuff on my left side. I need to maintain lean muscle mass during this, and this will make it complicated as I always did compound lifts before this. I plan to go to the gym 3-4 days just to start and ease back into things. Questions:

1. The one thing I know I can do is cardio in the gym. 25-35 minutes on elliptical. Too short? Too Long? Then get some compound lifts in.
2. With mostly cardio and some lifting (for now), should I be getting more protein or carbs in my diet? What ratio is good? If protein, how many grams per day?
3. What do you suggest a calorie goal to start out with? I don’t want to go too low as I won’t have any room later on to cut if I must.
4. When I did lifting, I’d take l-glutamine capsules for muscle recovery and BCAAs while working out. Still necessary/good idea? Something else?

This is more of a ‘to get started’ type post. I’ll post a screen shot of my planned daily intake if it helps. If you have any other advice/tips/warnings/suggestions, please let me know!

[BS57]

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=165843261

[net1994]

Yes I did read that. Good tips and lots of common sense. I was more interested in thoughts on my questions. Much appreciated.

[BS57]

Yes I did read that. Good tips and lots of common sense. I was more interested in thoughts on my questions. Much appreciated.

1- Irrelevant

2- Know how we know you haven't read the stickies?

3- See #2

4- Worry about your diet, before unnecessary supplements.

ETA- OP has been here 8 years?

Again, go read the stickies.

[sunsean]

There's no such thing as too long/too short cardio, only whatever works for you and your goals. If you're concerned with keeping your muscle mass, I'd keep it to under 1 hour per session, as that is roughly the point the body will start burning your lean mass to continue fueling your cardio.

Do whatever lifting you can, as that is crucial in maintaining your lean mass. If you do a lot of cardio and no weights, you WILL lose muscle mass. If you do NO cardio and no weights, you will lose muscle mass. Moral of the story = resistance training is vital to keeping your muscle. IMO if your lifting is minimal, I'd also keep cardio minimal and focus on the diet part. Too big of a risk with heavy cardio and light lifting that you will be too far under your TDEE and lose additional muscle mass. The cardio itself won't cause muscle loss, but if your deficit is too large, that will...

Calories depend on your training - the more cardio you do, the higher your TDEE will be. Generally, aim to eat around 500 calories below your TDEE. Minimums for macros are .8g protein and .4g fat per lb of bodyweight.

I wouldn't stress about supplements, especially if you aren't lifting hard. Eat a balanced diet and pop a multi-vitamin to cover the bases.