Overweight my whole life. Can I beat it? New here.

[LoveYouChunk]

As many of us, I find myself with some serious time on my hands. I haven't really gained anything since COVID happened, but haven't really lost anything, either. I waste a lot of time on Reddit and gaming related stuff, and I'm finally moving past all that. Starting to take my health seriously, and I'd like for this thread to be my new "click it when I'm bored" link, as opposed to derpy waste-of-time sites as I wish to stay motivated. There is a TON of info on here, so I'm still getting through all of that, but I figured I should introduce myself and get this ball rolling.
I'll be back on tomorrow to share starter pics, but for now, hello there! Here's to hoping this is the start of something great, and I can't wait to hear from and meet all of you folks along the way :-)

[Motiviert]

Welcome, good job on deciding to take control.

I have a thread with some good motivation. Check it out if you're ever interested


https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...1016421&page=1

Now go kick some ass.

[Willh5080]

Hello! I also new here and i ahd the sae thing as you. It's really good that we finally thought about health and came here. Have a good day!

[LoveYouChunk]

Welcome, good job on deciding to take control.

I have a thread with some good motivation. Check it out if you're ever interested

Now go kick some ass.

These are intense! Seems like a great way to start each day, thank you!

[Motiviert]

These are intense! Seems like a great way to start each day, thank you!

They can be, but don't let the intimidate you. That power and focus and intensity isn't reserved for only pro bodybuilders or strongmen. It's for anyone. Use that fuel to become the best chef or a better baker or painter or mechanic or whatever. Just believe in your dream, work your ass off, and keep grinding .

[LoveYouChunk]

Okie dokie, so as it is now, my scale currently shows me as 258.8lbs, and somehow the scale figures on 26.9% body fat. Not really sure how it gets that number, but I'll go with it for now. My ultimate goal weight is 185lbs, around or under 10% body fat. I'm a pretty big guy already (I'm 6'1"), so I'm not really sure how realistic those numbers are, but again, for now I'll just go with it.

I took a couple of starter photos tonight, and let me just say I'm not too happy with them. I guess the one isn't terrible, but the arms-up photo is probably the worst photo I've ever taken of me. That being said, I'll post it, since it's probably the most "honest" photo I have at the moment.

I deleted my bookmarks to all my go-to, waste-of-time websites. I've gotten back into working on some of my old creative projects, and it feels great. I also spent some time learning about nutrition and exercise a bit, but to be honest, nutrition still feels like a gigantic hurdle and when it comes to exercise I feel like there is more bad information out there than good. As I'm getting started, I'm going to try and keep it fairly simple and stick with the basics of CICO to get my body fat down and lean into some classic dumbbells for weight training. Staying under 2000 calories per day seems to be pretty reasonable, and I found a simple "total body" dumbbell set that I can keep up with.

I can't post links yet because I'm a new member, but I'm basically mirroring the set from Barbarian Body (it's the one on youtube at watch?v=G3q3NVBaSSQ). All I have to get started is an old set of 30lb hex dumbbells and they definitely wear me out. I do each exercise until failure, and the set is as follows: Clean & Press, Back Flys, Push Ups, Front Squats, Dead Lifts, Swings, Calf Raisers, Lying Skull Crushers, Russian Twists, Hammer Curls, and Iron Grips. I'm not sure how ubiquitous those names are, but that's just what the trainer on the video calls them :-)

The only cardio I'm doing is the lightest you could imagine, mostly walking the dog around the block a time or two a day. Honestly, intense cardio literally scares me, because increasing my heart rate always worries me that I'm just going to have a heart attack or something. Hoping to get into this at a later date, but for now I'm just too freaked out by it.

I have what I would consider to be very few bad eating habits. I tend to only eat once per day, which I know has kind of become a dieting thing, but I've done it basically my whole life and the result hasn't been great. I also shy away from "trendy" types of foods, like Quinoa, lentils... Anything that isn't terribly traditional American stuff. I'll start exploring other stuff soon, hopefully with some recommendations. I am extremely dependent on pop (soda) and have been from a very young age. Diet pop sucks and gives me a headache (all artificial sweeteners do), so I'm going to have to drop this habit altogether, at some point, as I have never been able to find a reasonable replacement. I also love me some chocolate milk, but I'm still allowing myself to have that after a workout just because the protein in it feels like a great excuse to keep it around.

Lastly, I smoke, and more than most people who smoke. I'm still of the mindset of not even being able to imagine how to function without it, so quitting is a little ways off. That being said, it is definitely on the list of things that are going to change as I make these transitions and adaptations to a new way of living.

Thanks for listening and following in this very young journey with me. I know not everyone is going to be as hyped as I am to read stuff like this from someone they don't know, but I'll try to drop by here at least once a day with progress and updates. I guess kinda like a fitness journal? I dunno :-)

[schrickm5]

Welcome, and good for you that you found your way here. There is a lot of info here and a group of helpful and knowledgeable people.

You had the same weight as I had when I started out in June 2019, ie 117kg's - my bodyfat was definitely touching almost 40% - I think the impedence scales are a little unreliable, I am sure someone here will tell you that you are in the mid 30's% for BF. I have pics on my profile.

Nothing shredded my BF as quickly as lifting weights, I gained noob muscle whilst losing fat. I started doing the cardio about 3 months into my lifting journey....try cycling if running scares you.

The other advice I would give is get an App to work out your calory needs and track your macros, I think you will quickly find out that sugary drinks need to be consumed with caution if at all.

Also - have you thought about using Nicotine patches?

I would also reccomend going into this lifestyle change by understanding the first stage is all about building a good base, and that training and diet should be consistent, never give up if you miss out on training or slip up on your nutrition.

Just my opinion from my own experiences.

[JamesReid1]

Hi, Im also new here. Our case is almost the same I've been trying to lose weight first before to build muscles, whenever starting my diet I usually break it in a couple of days. Instead of losing some weight I'm gaining more than when I started to my diet. Sometimes I try to eat much less in a day, but when I check my weight it seem I'm not losing anything even half a kilo.

[SuffolkPunch]

Hi, Im also new here. Our case is almost the same I've been trying to lose weight first before to build muscles, whenever starting my diet I usually break it in a couple of days. Instead of losing some weight I'm gaining more than when I started to my diet. Sometimes I try to eat much less in a day, but when I check my weight it seem I'm not losing anything even half a kilo.

Try counting your calorie intake and reducing it to something that you can sustain long term. What you are doing is not working because it isn't sustainable. Fat loss is a long process, you can't win a marathon by sprinting off the line.