Nutrition Recommendation for Obese Novice

[Justiceburdetti]

Hey all, new to the forum and fairly new to SS. Just started with phase 1 last week.

Squat 3x5 205
Deadlift 3x5 225
Bench 3x5 185

Male 34
6'3
328 lbs
Probably over 35 percent body fat

I lost 90 pounds doing Whole 30/Paleo a few years ago and gained it all back slowly and then gained a great deal this past year and a half. Quarantine + terrible relationship.

I really enjoy the paleo framework but I have found that not eating grains and legumes makes me ornery and I perform far better in the gym when I eat higher carb.

For about 3 weeks I followed a macro recommendation from bodybuilding.com for cutting fat - body weight × .8 for carbs and protein and pretty low fat (which is tough for me coming from paleo)

261 Carbs
261 Protein
58 Fat

2500 calories MFP. Ate lots of lentils, rice, chicken breast, sweet potatoes, eggs, etc. And whey protein. Stayed very bloated and didn't lose a pound. Lifting performance stayed high. I hit 245 x 3 on squats with ease during this time. But I found it very tough to consume 261 grams of protein without a. Over relying on whey and b. Eating way too much per meal. I'd prefer to eat vegetables as carbs over grains but I think it greatly improves my performance to eat higher carb. Keeps me bloated though.

Anyone have any advice? Is 2500 enough calories for strength training? Hopefully that's not too long of a first post.

Thanks

[Robert Santana]

It should be fine for you since you have room to lose weight. Eventually it won't be the case though. What other protein sources are you consuming?

[Justiceburdetti]

Thanks for the reply Robert

Trying to stay with leaner cuts of meat. Thats been tough coming from paleo where I ate lots of fatty meats (and lost lots of weight, albeit at the expense of muscle mass as well). At my weight do I need to be consuming less fatty meats?

I stayed off protein powders for years but tried them again recently. I felt I was over relying on them because I was getting 100g or more from whey. Also it was keeping me bloated and messing with my digestion.

If I really buckle down I can get in around 200g of protein from food per day. But to get more than that I feel like its pretty tough.

[Robert Santana]

Probably not at this stage but I can't imagine that you are hitting 58 grams of fat with ribeyes. Eventually all roads lead to leaner meats the leaner you get. So just make some common sense choices for now and start swapping things out where it is feasible for you and not too overwhelming. 50-75 g from protein powders is probably a good threshold. What do you mix the with? 200 grams per day is fine. More will help curb your appetite more but I don't think you need 250-300 g. Can you hit 150 g + two shakes?

[Justiceburdetti]

I was mixing with either water or almond milk. Haven't drank one in a few weeks. I think I can reasonably hit 200g total protein without shakes. I'm assuming 200g of total protein. Or is that 200g only from complete protein sources? Between protein from lentils, rice, sweet potatoes, etc, and meats, I can get 200 or more.

[Robert Santana]

200 grams of total protein. I'd aim for at least 100-150 grams of complete. Just a rough estimate.