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!

  • Paragone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    13 days ago

    I’m a little older than you, much less large-framed ( I ought be around 150-160-lbs ).

    1. optimize your diet for YOU: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ayurvedic-healing-a-comprehensive-guide ( you may also find Frawley & Kozak’s “Yoga For Your TYPE” key to improving your health! )

    IF your metabolism is 1 fundamental-metabolism/dosha, THEN the experiment is:

    • make pairs of dishes which have 1/2 be all pacifying-for-YOUR-metabolism ingredients, & the other 1/2 of the pair be all aggravating-for-your-metabolism.
    • sit down without any distractions going-on, & experience each pair, & see what your body tells you, about the difference.

    IF your metabolism is mixed, it may be harder to get clear signal.

    IF your metabolism is all-3 mixed, then there isn’t any point doing the experiment, unless 1 is stronger or weaker than the others.

    1. DGLS: Dairy + Grains provides better-completeness of protein.

    Grains + Legumes/Pulses does, too.

    Legumes/Pulses + Seeds/Nuts does, too.

    IF you’re using whey-protein, THEN you probably want some grain-protein with it, to give your body more-complete protein.

    DGLS is from a hiker’s handbook, from a decade or 2 ago, btw.

    1. An experiment you’ll need to do, & periodically redo, is to find YOUR protein-requirement.

    I don’t eat meat, anymore.

    Not compatible with the meditations I need/love.

    Ideally I do mungs+rice, but tofu’s MUCH less work than sorting mungs, to get the bad ones out, & eggs are much cheaper, per day, than tofu.

    I need at-least 1/2-doz eggs / day, when on them.

    ( cooked is better than raw: more bioavailable for human digestion )

    The diff beween 6/day & 3/day is like instant-disability.

    When you find YOUR threshold for protein, you’ll KNOW.

    Once you know, then you simply don’t need to bother buying more than you need, see?

    Do well, & find your right-way.

    _ /\ _