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Thread: Yet Another Weight Loss Question (Sorry!)

  1. #1
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    Default Yet Another Weight Loss Question (Sorry!)

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    Stats

    - 5'8", 194 pounds, 33 years old.
    - Male.
    - Waist is about 42.5"
    - Many years of on-and-off dicking around in the gym without ever actually DTP for real. My best ever squat is 235 x 5 and best ever press is 125 x 5, with the squat being performed years ago and the press more recently. So, in short, I'm pretty weak.


    I recently went to see my doctor for the first time in 6 years for a variety of minor health issues (difficulty sleeping, headaches, anxiety/depression). We did some bloodwork and my LDL cholesterol came back at a whopping 203. Yikesh! Of course, he prescribed me a statin and made me feel like death was right around the corner. In response to allthis I said to myself "I am going to clean up my shitty diet and do the SSLP, once and for all!" I figured I could just maintain my weight while I did the program.

    However, I gave Jordan Feigenbaum basically this same information in one of his Instagram Live Q&A's and he told me he felt that I needed to lose weight while doing the LP. I have to admit that his answer surprised me a little bit. Really? I should be losing weight while doing LP at 5'8, 194 pounds?

    I have been following some of the more recent weight loss threads in this forum and I've read some great stuff , but most of those guys are quite a bit fatter than I am. I guess I just fall at an age/weight where I'm not totally sure what I should be doing. If I follow the macronutrient numbers for weight loss in the To Be A Beast article, what modifications to the program should I be making, if any?

  2. #2
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    I’d say it’s your waistline that has the doc making that recommendation - there is a correlation between 40” plus waists and various poor health outcomes.

    I don’t think you need to make any modifications to the SS program in terms of lifts. Just eat at a slight caloric deficit and add in a little cardio on off days IF you can do it without hurting recovery too much. At your size and training age you should be able to gain some strength while recomping if you play your cards right.

  3. #3
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    I'm not qualified to give you advice re: what you should be doing but can I just check something?

    You have asked Jordan what you should be doing and he's given you his opinion - so are you sure you're not just hoping that someone will come along in this thread and give you an answer that you like more? Do you think if that happens they are more qualified than Jordan to give you advice?

  4. #4
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    Over a 40 inch waist isn't good. Your weight wouldn't be bad if that was a good body composition but 42.5 inches at the waist rules that out. Do the LP on a slight (200-300) caloric deficit and see how that goes. If that doesn't get things moving add in one LISS cardio session and one HIIT session.

  5. #5
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    As Ben said, there is a strong correlation between health problems associated with obesity and 40" waists. When I was your weight and 4" taller than you, with a smaller waist (38") I was at least 20% bf. Probably more. Your waist size, weight and height probably make you borderline "obese".

    I made the mistake of gaining weight on this program with my starting stats (thinner than you) and I mostly just got fatter. My waist is 40" now. My manboobs are bigger.

    I defer to Jordan for any question like this, admittedly, but even if he hadn't told you to lose weight I'd beg you to learn from my mistake and lose weight. Why? Because YOU CAN. You have the recovery resources you need in your mid section. Let your body do it's incredible magic and use it to help you recover. I did recomp by accident for the first 4 weeks and I still added over 100 lbs to my squat, 70 pounds to my pull and 20 pounds to my press without gaining a pound.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by FredM View Post
    I made the mistake of gaining weight on this program with my starting stats (thinner than you) and I mostly just got fatter. My waist is 40" now. My manboobs are bigger.
    Once again, your experience is a result of not knowing how to gain weight healthily. I'm not trying to be an ass, but a properly executed weight gain on the program will result in a 50/50 split or even favoring lean body mass over fat gain. Anybody who gets substantially more fat on the program is executing their diet improperly. A lot of us really get annoyed at these comments because it contributes to this idea that the Starting Strength methodology encourages large amounts of fat gain. If you are gaining large amounts of fat during training, it indicates that you are in such a large caloric excess that your body has an abundance of extra calories to store. This implies that you are eating more than the calorie partitioning for muscle protein synthesis demands and - indeed - not gaining much additional lean mass by eating that much.

  7. #7
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    I agree that the 42" waist is the kicker here that indicates weight loss.

    OP doesn't sound like a large framed guy. What do you measure around the hips?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dalton Clark View Post
    Once again, your experience is a result of not knowing how to gain weight healthily. I'm not trying to be an ass, but a properly executed weight gain on the program will result in a 50/50 split or even favoring lean body mass over fat gain. Anybody who gets substantially more fat on the program is executing their diet improperly. A lot of us really get annoyed at these comments because it contributes to this idea that the Starting Strength methodology encourages large amounts of fat gain. If you are gaining large amounts of fat during training, it indicates that you are in such a large caloric excess that your body has an abundance of extra calories to store. This implies that you are eating more than the calorie partitioning for muscle protein synthesis demands and - indeed - not gaining much additional lean mass by eating that much.
    Please Dalton, with your early intermediate knowledge and expertise from being on this program for under a year -- enlighten me on what was so unhealthy about gaining under a pound a week on a clean diet?

    40" waist is a decent rule. But it's a freaking estimate. When you're storing a lot of fat you have a different hormonal makeup than someone who isn't. As a result you can't skew the weight gain toward muscle like a healthy person can. My argument isn't that I gained only fat, but it wasn't a 50/50 split or better.

    The fact you think human bodies are so simple that you can guarantee a 50/50 split of muscle gain or better for the general population as long as they "eat right" is kinda sad. I once ate 1800 calories a day for a month while doing light resistance training and cardio and lost no weight. The next month of doing the same thing I lost 10 lbs. The body is a complicated system.

    Please stop responding in these forums like you're a SS coach. You have literally no experience with being an obese or overweight novice trainee and it baffles me why you'd assume you have more insight into that situation than someone who HAS that experience.

  9. #9
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    I am not an early intermediate. I am still a novice because I do things correctly. If you increase in waist size without wanting to on the starting strength program you are either not being diligent enough with your diet and/or have a case of special snowflake-itis. The differences in hormonal make-up due to carrying even 20 pounds extra of fat is not substantial enough to create a radically different opinion. I have been obese for the vast majority of my life. I have lost and gained 30 pounds in 3 months. I have learned how to manipulate my weight - to lose it or gain it and to control it within a narrow margin as a result of my battles with being fat. I was a novice with a 39 inch waist. Seriously, check the attitude as if you come from some special population with special concerns and special needs. What you, and Timelinex, and likely others needed to do was realize what your growing waist was telling you. You failed to do this.

    I'm not going to keep arguing with you on this, but as someone who has been on the program for two months on his own, you might find the opinions of someone who has been on it for 6 months, 5 of which has been under the guidance of a SSC as useful information. If you are not willing to realize that you are in complete control of your body composition and that negative changes are entirely a result of your own poor choices, I can't help you. Maybe one pound a week was too aggressive for you. Maybe you should have aimed for half a pound a week. Maybe your lifts started to get hard due to a form issue, or some other reason. More likely they got hard because they are supposed to. Your lifts getting hard is not an excuse to add additional calories to a diet unless recovery is clearly lacking. Your poor results are due to misapplication on your part - just as it is with everyone who makes the exact same mistake you did.
    Last edited by Dalton Clark; 12-05-2017 at 10:22 AM.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dalton Clark View Post
    I am not an early intermediate. I am still a novice because I do things correctly. If you increase in waist size without wanting to on the starting strength program you are either not being diligent enough with your diet and/or have a case of special snowflake-itis. The differences in hormonal make-up due to carrying even 20 pounds extra of fat is not substantial enough to create a radically different opinion. I have been obese for the vast majority of my life. I have lost and gained 30 pounds in 3 months. I have learned how to manipulate my weight - to lose it or gain it and to control it within a narrow margin as a result of my battles with being fat. I was a novice with a 39 inch waist. Seriously, check the attitude as if you come from some special population with special concerns and special needs. What you, and Timelinex, and likely others needed to do was realize what your growing waist was telling you. You failed to do this.

    I'm not going to keep arguing with you on this, but as someone who has been on the program for two months on his own, you might find the opinions of someone who has been on it for 6 months, 5 of which has been under the guidance of a SSC as useful information. If you are not willing to realize that you are in complete control of your body composition and that negative changes are entirely a result of your own poor choices, I can't help you. Maybe one pound a week was too aggressive for you. Maybe you should have aimed for half a pound a week. Maybe your lifts started to get hard due to a form issue, or some other reason. More likely they got hard because they are supposed to. Your lifts getting hard is not an excuse to add additional calories to a diet unless recovery is clearly lacking. Your poor results are due to misapplication on your part - just as it is with everyone who makes the exact same mistake you did.
    Except I did. My waist went up all of 1.5" and now I'm not gaining weight.

    On the other thread you said you started at a 34" waist. Which is hysterically skinny. Unless you're confused and measuring pant size. In your logs you're doing back off sets, light squats, and the weight isn't going up every session. Maybe some people call that "advanced" novice, but you're splitting hairs here. You did not start this program overweight.

    You suffer from pretty classic advanced beginner delusions. You think that your ability to parrot something from a book we've all ready makes you an expert. I'm not claiming to be an expert either, I'm just trying to help people avoid my exact mistakes.

    And I really don't get why you're jumping down my throat. You told the OP to lose weight. So did I. You just didn't like my explanation?

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