18 Month Healthy Body Recomp Project.

[arakboss]

I have been resistance training for about a month and half now and put together what I believe is a sustainable routine. My weight has been relatively stable at around 240lbs for a few months. I know 240lbs is not a healthy weight and would like to get down closer to 200ish pounds (hydrated). I learned from my last insane weightloss challenge that I need to lose weight slower and in a healthier manner. Although I succeeded in reaching my goal weight, I felt like absolute dog crap at the end of the challenge. My energy levels were in the toilet. It was not a healthy situation.

I will be turning 55 in March of 2026 and would like to be in a healthier body by that birthday. My focus between now and then will be to keep working out hard in the gym 4 to 5 days a week while maintaining sufficient calories to promote muscle protein synthesis. On my off days I will eat at a calorie deficit and focus on rest & recovery and burning some stored fat.

The ultimate goal is to have a healthy body and easily sustainable habits to keep it that way.

Edit to add starting measurements.

Weight: 240.0 pounds

Waist: 46 inches

Chest: 44 inches

Thigh: 26 inches

Bicep (not flexed) 15 inches

Hit the ignore thread button if this type of thread annoys you.

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[arakboss]

As for speed of weightloss, 40lbs over 18 months, averages out to roughly a half pound a week. With two or three days of eating in a calorie deficit that shouldn't be too terribly depriving. Sleep more and eat less on R&R days.

Current gym routine is:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are gym days.

Monday and Thursday are off days.

Sundays are short days for me and a lighter workout, so I should be able to eat at a deficit and still preserve muscle.

 

[Jay Walk]

Quit sugar, follow a pre-diabetic diet.
The weight will melt off.
Been doing this for 14 months, joint and back pain has all but went away.
Was 200 lbs and have maintained 175 with no problems.

Weight loss and health is 80% about what you eat.

 

[Kruel J]

Don't you already have threads on weight loss? This is you basically saying you want to lose a 1/2 pound a week. Any other point?

 

[Certaindeaf]

In sparta they'd just eat barley and do a bunch of front kicks.
So do that.

 

[arakboss]

Don't you already have threads on weight loss? This is you basically saying you want to lose a 1/2 pound a week. Any other point?

Weightloss while gaining or at least not losing muscle. Tougher row than just dropping lbs.

 

[Kruel J]

Weightloss while gaining or at least not losing muscle. Tougher row than just dropping lbs.

Right....so are you going to post updates or something? We all know you want to lose weight and exercise more and that's great. But what is the point to this thread? You state a generic goal with a loose 18 month timeframe. Is that it?

 

[arakboss]

Right....so are you going to post updates or something? We all know you want to lose weight and exercise more and that's great. But what is the point to this thread? You state a generic goal with a loose 18 month timeframe. Is that it?

I will post updates and share info I learn, along the way. This weekend I will get some before measurements. My focus will be more on the hypertrophy aspect than on the weightloss. I have low testosterone so I will be attempting to optimize my androgen receptors. That will be a big challenge for me.

 

[Nosferatu]

If you supplement protein powder with gunpowder you'll lose all the weight.

 

[CountryGent]

To quote Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again."

Jokes aside, you didn't mention anything about diet @arakboss. A lot of gym time, but a crap diet, and you're still going to get crap results. If you are still eating and/or drinking garbage, completely remove that if you want to see results.

 

[Nosferatu]

To quote Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again."

Jokes aside, you didn't mention anything about diet @arakboss. A lot of gym time, but a crap diet, and you're still going to get crap results. If you are still eating and/or drinking garbage, completely remove that if you want to see results.

It's like driving a nail with a platypus corpse.

 

[arakboss]

To quote Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again."

Jokes aside, you didn't mention anything about diet @arakboss. A lot of gym time, but a crap diet, and you're still going to get crap results. If you are still eating and/or drinking garbage, completely remove that if you want to see results.

Maintenance calories on gym days, deficit on non-gym days.

 

[CountryGent]

Maintenance calories on gym days, deficit on non-gym days.

OK. For whatever it is worth, drop-kicking alcohol completely plus getting serious about diet (particularly carbs) resulted in the pounds melting off for yours-truly. Doing the gym 4—5 times a week, plus what I call "mini workouts" 6 days a week helped with weight loss, strength, and stamina. And, if I am honest, straightening out issues and/or jettisoning toxicity in the mental, spiritual, and relational realms had a harder to measure, but most certainly noticeable effect too. But none of those things would have amounted to much if the diet was still a mess.

Good luck with your plan and here's hoping it bears the fruit you seek.

 

[titsonritz]

Ah, it is good to know there are still constants in the universe…I guess. lol

 

[monkeybutler]

Quit sugar, follow a pre-diabetic diet.
The weight will melt off.
Been doing this for 14 months, joint and back pain has all but went away.
Was 200 lbs and have maintained 175 with no problems.

Weight loss and health is 80% about what you eat.

You are correct about constraining carbs and eating as if one has the Beeetus.

I would not underestimate working out for muscle building as a weight loss technique. When I was in a medical field my company partnered with some of the leading experts on this kind of stuff. They stressed increasing metabolism through lean mass.

 

[Kruel J]

There's actually whole forums dedicated to health advice. NWFA ain't that.

 

[Indy62]

I have been resistance training for about a month and half now and put together what I believe is a sustainable routine. My weight has been relatively stable at around 240lbs for a few months. I know 240lbs is not a healthy weight and would like to get down closer to 200ish pounds (hydrated). I learned from my last insane weightloss challenge that I need to lose weight slower and in a healthier manner. Although I succeeded in reaching my goal weight, I felt like absolute dog crap at the end of the challenge. My energy levels were in the toilet. It was not a healthy situation.

I will be turning 55 in March of 2026 and would like to be in a healthier body by that birthday. My focus between now and then will be to keep working out hard in the gym 4 to 5 days a week while maintaining sufficient calories to promote muscle protein synthesis. On my off days I will eat at a calorie deficit and focus on rest & recovery and burning some stored fat.

The ultimate goal is to have a healthy body and easily sustainable habits to keep it that way.

Hit the ignore thread button if this type of thread annoys you.


View attachment 1957028

Buy some dumbbells...10-50lbs..2 each. Keep your calorie intake to 1500cals a day. Workout every other day for 1hr (for the first 4 weeks)..then every day (for the next four months). Progressively increase your dumbbell use through that time. Record your workouts. Don't overdo anything. You'll be where you want to be. Stop over-thinking it.

Edit. And btw, leg workouts give more bang for the buck (energy expenditure vs results). Much larger muscle groups.

 

[MTpockets]

There's actually whole forums dedicated to health advice. NWFA ain't that.

Me serving up a healthy slice of NWFA advice…with a cherry on top.

(MmmMmmm that's some good advice..)

 

[Certaindeaf]

Me serving up a healthy slice of NWFA advice…with a cherry on top.
View attachment 1957291
(MmmMmmm that's some good advice..)

Channeling Fejos..

View: https://youtu.be/ZvE0ezIfyiM?feature=shared

 

[arakboss]

Edit original post to add measurements. Ideally I would like to drop 40lbs while maintaining chest, thigh and bicep measurements. I realize that probably won't happen. While a relatively high percentage of my fat is stored in my gut, it's also stored in my arms, legs and chest. The best likely outcome is to see a higher percentage of circumference reduction come from my waist versus chest, legs and thighs.

My waist doesn't like to give up the fat storage and that is probably related to my low testosterone issue. If I can get my body to make better use of my testosterone production, it might make the belly fat easier to lose.

Effect of testosterone on abdominal adipose tissue in men - PubMed

Recent studies in men have shown that abdominal fat increases with age and decreasing testosterone concentrations. Furthermore, in cell culture, testosterone expresses an increased lipolytic potential and depresses lipoprotein lipase activity (LPL) in adipose cells. These metabolic...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

My current body comp looks no different than this pic, I took a few years ago at 245lbs.