Hey all, hoping someone can chime in here. Ime closing in on my mid 50s, and have fallen far out of shape. The past decade has been a loss (physically) and covid made it worse. Post covid i have discovered that ive lost all willpower/discipline when it comes to dieting. I’ve lost considerable amounts of weight twice in my life, and both times slagged off and put it all back on for various reasons/excuses. My recent efforts have just all fallen flat.
Ongoing depression finally forced my hand, to do a couple of things I was previously very resistant to… I got my testosterone checked, and it was low, so I have gotten testopel treatment… and that has made a definite difference in several ways. I always said I would not supplement testosterone… But I feel better today than I have in years. It hasn’t been a cure all, but in general, it has made me feel better. The second thing, was finally getting on the standard GLP1. Again, something I never thought I would do, but again, desperate times…
For more background, I am a generally large framed man with a comfortably fit weight of around 260-280. Less than that I start to look sickly. However, I am well above that, and around 340, though I am losing. I am going to the gym and since I am doing solo workouts, mostly using machines, and still trying to figure out the weight ranges to use on them. It has been a slow process. I have always worked out with free weights, but I feel safer now on the machines, since I don’t have a spotter. Right now I am just doing a push day, a pull day and a leg day. As I proceed I plan on adding reps to duplicate muscle groups in each of these… but right now, I am just doing 3 sets of each exercise.
My primary focus is currently to keep moving and keep at it in the gym. I do not expect to get ripped, but I do want to build muscle… I hope that getting some power back is possible. Anyhow, I felt like that was all a lot of background for my main question… Is a whey powder like Gold Standard something I should be taking to supplement my exercising? I used it when I was very regularly in the gym before, but I was also younger and much more fit. I didn’t know if that owuld be considered flushing money down the toilet or not. I have already ordered some Creatine HCL, on the recommendation of a trainer at the gym. I have done some reading on it, and realize there is some debate on if it is better than Creatine monohydrate, worse, or generally undecided… But I figured something was better than nothing, and I didn’t want to deal with possible side effects from the monohydrate.
At any rate, I appreciate any input that anyone more learned on the topic can offer.
Thanks!
I mean…
That’s just crazy tho, even if you’re like 6’8 and were decades deep on a sustained body building program, and it still wouldnt be healthy then.
Even if it’s all muscle and low body fat, you’re going to have heart issues.
And you’re taking creatine to bulk up?!
You’re making you’re problems worse. Start doing cardio instead of weights, and focusing on eating high fiber foods instead of “dieting” by not eating anything.
But you probably need to talk to an actual doctor bro.
No, im not taking creatine to bulk up. Im taking creatine to hopefully help boost muscle growth. Im not looking to get big, im just looking to get generally stronger.
And no, 280 is probably not a healthy weight, but when i cut down to 245 i looked anemic. And really, i just want to have some level of fitness, where i can do a bootcamp, or workout, then go on a hike or cut grass, and end the day feeling ok. I asked about cardio, and was told to include it, but not focus on it … that going into old(er) age they recommend strength training over cardio.
Again, im not trying to get swol, but im relatively weak and want to get back to being strong.
I appreciate your concern, and its noted. If i manage to get down to 280, ill look into trying to trim down some more while building actual muscle bulk, but right now, im just trying to do some work while I drop lbs. The glp1 has given me control of my diet i have never had before… Its not even that it helps curb my appetite, but how i think about food as a whole. Like when im out, the urge to eat fast food isnt gone per say, but I just think “meh, ill go home and have something healthier.” That was NEVER part of the thought process before… Even at my lowest it was a tooth and nail struggle. All of that to say, im eating much healthier… And def a lot more fiber.
Sorry for over explaining. Im probably a little defensive. But i am trying to do better, and that plan may evolve as i (hopefully) do. I see a lot of people going on these meds and not changing their lifestyle. I dont want to do that.
That’s almost certainly body dismorphia tho…
Don’t get me wrong, BMI doesn’t work for outliers, but there’s other things that do:
https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/ponderal-index
But you’d need to be 6’5 to barely squeak under obesity at 245… That certainly wouldn’t be the cutoff where you think you look anemic, which doesn’t really make sense but I’m assuming you mean weak looking?
Like, I’m absolutely massive, 6’4, played sports thru college. I just got down to 225 for the first time in a long time, and I definitely expected it to look slimmer than I do. Like, I have some ab definition but not the full blown six pack I thought I’d have at this weight when I was a lot heavier.
As a wise man once said:
Most importantly:
It’s not giving you control, it’s drugging your body so it stops sending hunger signals. As soon as you go off those drugs, you’ll gain the weight back.
Like I said in the beginning, just start eating high fiber foods, and then you can literally eat as much of everything else that you want. You just won’t want anything else because you’ll be full of fiber.
It’s the same result as those drugs, except essentially free, a lifestyle change you can do forever, and even if you eventually give up, you’re more likely to keep the weight off due to changing habits.
Seriously man, I’m not trying to just tear you down, but if you redirect the same energy you’re already putting in, you can see some really good results.
All you gotta do is:
Cardio
Eat fiber
Youre debating something that im not.
I realize its the glp1, thats why i said “this drug has given me control…” i fully recognize its the drug. And in my first post I said that i had lost massive amounts of weight twice before, without it… And understand what it takes to do it, and it hasnt been from lack of trying. Im not sure if its age, or a combo of that and the endless wall of shit being thrown at me every day from the political atmosphere in the us… But i cannot do it anymore. Im at wits end with this. You can look at it as a weakness. I probably would have 15 years ago… Hell i pretty much looked at it like that 6 months ago… So be it.
Im losing weight with the drug. Im going to the gym with the drug to try to help build myself up for if/when inever do go off of it. Im trying to eat healthier with it in an effort to lay down tracks for when/if that day comes. But tbh, im not doing this to try to stretch my life out another 35 years. Im just doing it so maybe my knee hurts less, and i can do more shit right now. Inam probably not as worried about a massive heart attack as you might think. Hell, thats the lotto ticket. Cancer is more likely to hit me before coronary failure does. My arteries are clean according to my sonographer, and my heart is in good condition according to my cardiologist. Im not sure how, but it is… Maybe from a very active lifestyle when. I was younger… Who knows.
My goal isnt to be classified as not obese, its to be classified as “i just cut the grass on the back hill and didnt have to collapse on the garage floor for 20 minutes afterwards to regain the energy to take a shower.”