I'm not a doctor. There is evidence the lower your LDL level is the better. In other words, the idea isn't just to be within an acceptable range, it's best to be in the lowest part of that range. Improve your diet, start exercising AND take the statin.
Cholesterol is nuanced for sure. I'm not a doctor but I have knowledge of nutrition as I am a coach. There's a large genetic component to it, also the ratio of good to bad is important as is the "density" size, plus your triglyceride levels. Studies demonstrate that a diet lower in Sat fats and higher in fiber can help to lower cholesterol levels.
Bump. I'm at a plateau at 208. Been there for about 3-4 weeks. Or at least hovering between 208-212. Trying to get down to 185-195 at 6'2" before I start a bulk phase. I started at 270 in late March. Super happy with my progress though. Guessing I started around 30-35% body fat and that I'm between 15 and 20 now. I just started a new 5x3-5 rep bro split that I'm going to do for 12 weeks. I'm hoping this will help me get stronger yet, though I'm happy with where my strength is at. Anyways, a big change I've made since March is to move more. I'm averaging about 14,000 steps a day. I'd like to get that up to 20-25k. I work from home 4 days a week, and I walk on a walking pad while working. Problem is, these walking pads are all fairly cheap and overheat after about 30-45 minutes. If it were up to me, I'd walk for most of my workday, but I have to shut the treadmill off for cool down, limiting myself to maybe 2 hours a day. Which brings me to a question. Has anybody used any of the motorless, curved treadmills, such as the one that assault makes? I've googled around, and I think I could probably use one of these to walk the entire day without having to worry. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with them? Hope you're all making great progress!
Thanks, bruh and great work!!! This is a good motivator as I'm at a lull right now. Summers are always a disruption in my routine since I work from home (and work out here) and my wife and kids are home all day. It's hard to tune out people you like. I've also been dealing with back issues and had surgery a few weeks ago. I'm around 220 and I've definitely lost muscle. Seeing stuff like this reminds me to get my **** together.
Not a bulk phase where I just eat whatever I want. A bulk phase where I increase my diet by about 200 calories a day- as close to all protein as I can.
One thing that's made me stronger on my diet is reading psychology books. I recommend yall read the compound effect. You train your mind and everything follows after that. I get disgusted and sick looking at fast food or snacks.
You need a maintenance phase so badly your body is doing it for you. You should probably try to stay 208-211 for 8-9 weeks and let your hormones, appetite and mind recover. 62 pounds is a long journey but the hard work is the long term. Also the only bf% that works is 35% to 15% but that only works if you lost 0 pounds of muscle so my guess is both of your estimates are low. I would get a definitive weight goal and then do cut, maintenance in periods of 8-12 weeks. It will take longer but oherwise you will burn out and blow up.
I'm positive I've added muscle overall, so maybe it works? I'm probably around the upper end of the 15-20% range. Maybe low 20s tops. Kind of have the top row of the six pack starting to come in and the subtle outlines of the rest of the 6 pack. Defined arms, chest, and legs. But I get your point. You're probably right on being in maintenance for a while. Thanks for the advice.
Adding muscle while losing almost 2 pounds a week for 5 months straight would be pretty difficult even with newb gains. Just keeping all your muscle over that period would be almost impossible considering the amount of cardio you are doing unless you are injecting testosterone. BF % is accurately performed with an MRI and not much else. Even DEXA scans vary wildly. I wouldn't worry about it. You should think more about your end goal (175 or 185) and set time limits on how long you stay in a calorie deficit for each stretch.
Fair. I did no cardio though, and not a newb. I do take supplements that are supposed to increase testosterone production, and because I was so overweight, I was probably super low on testosterone. But yeah, I'm not even sure what my end goal is to be honest. I just want to look healthy, which I do. I've always wanted to be under 200 for psychological purposes, but that is very difficult for me. It will just take some time. I think I should just keep eating the way I am eating and not worry too much about the scale, like what you're saying. My weight loss stalled when I tried to bring my calorie consumption up as a kind of recomp/maintenance. So I've kind of been doing something similar for a bit. I enjoy these kinds of discussion, as I'm not a newb to diet/exercise/nutrition or health. I've been in the health field for almost 20 years and have had many in depth courses on this kind of stuff. I appreciate your advice as well. I do agree, and don't want to get caught up in numbers/semantics. It's just cool to put the numbers down in paper because I think I have a slight dysmorphia thing. It's hard for me to see my results unless it's in a photo. But I'm getting better at that. I've been yoyo dieting for years. Typically ran around 235, but had some lifestyle/job changes in the last 4 years that caused me to gain weight. I think this time is for good. I'm not really dieting, just making sure I get adequate protein and an tracking my calories. I'm done with the yoyo. Been working out for 25 years, just with spurts of consistency. I am getting treated for ADHD and have been uber consistent with both working out and diet since. Edit: I have been making sure I average above 12k steps a day (currently average about 14,500 since I started). This means I walk in a level 2ish type cardio state for an hour or two a day, as I said in the initials post. I guess that could be considered cardio.
great, I would say the best way to yo-yo diet is to grind yourself down in massive diet fatigue. also I think at your age doing under 5 reps is begging for injury.
Trying something new. Been on a high rep/low weight kick. Not only that, but I’ve been doing supersets (usually something like one push exercise, one pull exercise, one leg exercise) with the mindset of grease the groove. So I get in one superset, rest an hour or two and repeat all day. By the end of the day I’ve usually done 6-8 supersets. I’ve been doing this while working from home so I can get my little break in and get back to work. Friday thru Monday 4 days on and 3 well deserved days of rest after that. Tuesday thru Thursday at the office I try to do as much walking as possible and I’m super duper trying to watch my portions. Still on the wrong side of 200 but I’m closing that gap. It’s mentally a much different mode which I think I needed. Focusing for longer and being more precise with form since it’s lighter weights… but by the end of the set, later in the day it’s still falling apart so I know I am indeed approaching some hypertrophy, although that isn’t a goal necessarily. Physically it kinda feels the same by the end but since I’m kinda chasing the pump more than I normally do I actually feel swole af. What I’m really looking forward to is how my next strength run will go, switching back to high weight/low rep stuff. Maybe this will become a regular switch off.
Yeah, I think that's the point where I was at. I would diet and then get bored and rebound with awful foods. Where I'm at now is a much better place. Not really dieting. Not beating myself up if I have a slice of pizza or two every so often. Or some candy. Just doing it in moderation. Most days I am eating whole foods and keeping my protein intake high. That's been my key. I am a little gun shy on lifting heavy. It's been a long time since I've lifted super heavy. I definitely don't want to be one of those injured dudes who has to take months off because they were trying to be a hero. I do feel like my form is good though. Always have been a form guy. I've been kind of lacking on compound lifts at the gym, not doing as many of the main ones as I should be, but I'm trying to ease my way back into them. I don't feel old, though. Other than a couple meniscus injuries, I haven't had many injuries through the years. Do you think I'm too old to lift low reps?
37. I do a mix of dumbbells, machines, and heavy resistance band work. Trying to get back into incorporating more barbell stuff. Also trying to figure out if I want to incorporate more cardio into my routine. And what type of cardio that looks like. I'm thinking HIIT type stuff would be best if I did. Open to any advice here. Thank you. I was just able to add an extra gym day onto my routine, so I have 5 days to mess with now. Potentially a 6th where I can do some cardio type stuff at home. I realize this is a process and an ongoing thing that will evolve, but I'm not opposed to creating a whole new routine at this point, if low reps isn't advisable. Curious to hear opinions. Shooting for hypertrophy and overall just want to look/feel good.
Literally no reason to go under 5 reps for hypertrophy and unless you are 18 and competing for powerlifting don't do it.
