The answer is not an either/or digital situation. You obviously can do both at the same time.
A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe
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What are the realities?
I am currently pretty weak -- Squat 210 lbs -- and pretty fat -- waist circumference: 45 inches -- (height 6'4", but I know that doesn't matter in terms of the health effects of the abdominal obesity) -- and pretty old -- 54. One voice in my head says: "focus on getting out of the high CVD risk range in terms of adiposity" and another voice says: "get your squat to at least 330 while you still can" (I'm early days in NLP).
Sometimes I am surprised at how clear these things are to you, Rip -- would you more likely say "at your age, don't be an idiot about CVD - quit eating" or "you are old, you don't have much of a shot at NLP -- maximize it for 6 months, then do what is necessary to make adjustments to your waist circumference"?
Is there an obvious answer?
TMPHBITEU
The answer is not an either/or digital situation. You obviously can do both at the same time.
A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe
Member
Georger, I can relate some to what you are going through. I too, was a pretty big guy waist wise and I'm only 5'6". I got close to 300 pounds when a friend of mine lost parts of his feet to diabeates. No way did I want that to happen. I started with the Nutrisystem crap, then some other food supplement thing that was just a pyramid scheme for someone (and the food tasted like crap) when I started hauling my lazy ass out of my cube at lunch time and heading to a gym on post to sweat a little. Then I stalled losing weight on that system, as even though you are moving, sooner or later you got to do more than get on an elptical or a treadmill for 20 mintues. I stumbled into Cross Fit. Hey..cool, there is a gym on the militrary base I work at that has redone everything to cross fit stuff. So I played around with the WOD (Work out of the Day) getting all hot and sweaty...lost more wieght....hurt my back doing deadlifts in their WOD, mainly..because I wasn't training them consistantly, nor was I using proper form. A young lieutenant at the gym asked me if I was doing anything to improve my strenght, as I was getting frustrated that I couldn't put more weight up for my Power Snatch. He mentioned "try adding 5 lbs each time" or something like that, which led me to Google...which led me to Starting Strength. I read that article Coach Rip posted...scared as hell after the first month when that scale started to creep back up...but the amazing thing, the other part of that article...my pants were not feeling "tight"...stayed about the same. I am almost four months in, and while I am not always 100% doing the program, my shirts do feel tighter, my wasit band is looser, and I feel much better and more confident than I did before. Trust the process, and listen to this guy, as if you search around, you will find that he is not bull shitting you at all.
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The Starting Strength program is an excellent exercise program for older fat people. I too am 6’4 or so and was pushing an unathletic 350 pounds. Just keep working the program while not eating like Augustus Gloop. Aim for 200 grams of animal protein per day and the lard should fall off you as you get stronger. You will never be able to “eat through the sticking points” like a 145 pound 18 year old might, but that just means you willhave to be smarter with diet (learn what that means - hint: its not egg whites and broccoli, nor is it vegan) and be faithful to your programming.
Eventually, at our age (im 49) you become the strongest guy in the globo gym bc you can squat over 400, bench over 300, dl over 500 and press 225. That feels good, esp when rocking a sub 40 waist.
Ultimately, you realize your testosterone is low. Then the fun really starts.
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Thanks for the pointer -- re-reading that article with my particular question in mind made me pay more attention to the fluffy through-line. I think you coaches probably spend a lot more time frustrated by the underweight obsessions of the younger males of the species. I had really gotten the impression that I just had to ignore such concerns if I wanted to not kill my progress -- but there is a sentence in there about "dropping 4 inches" in the waist in the first 3 months of a well-run program if you start off where I am that spoke directly to my question. Many thanks. So: "You still eat a lot, but you don’t drink the milk and you cut your carb intake if you don’t see bodyfat levels drop during these first couple of weeks."Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
And thanks to the others for the responses. I know testosterone levels in aging males has been kicked around here as a subject, from time to time. Is there a solid resource on it anyone could share a link to? I assume the training and dropping some adiposity has a positive impact in those levels without any supplementation -- and the supplementation route seems a bit messy (both the administration of the exogenous hormone and the measurement of levels and the science as to what levels are right).
Member
You need to get your total, free and estradiol levels checked. You can do that on your own without a doctor's invovlment in most states. If your levels are high to medium, youre fine. Keep training. If your levels are low, you need test. Its your choice if you want to bother with a doctor or not. As with training, outsourcing any of your body's own needs to "experts" results in highly variable mileage. Educating yourself on these subjects (such as with training) is well worth the time and energy. BUT its also beyond the scope of these boards. Others abound.
Member
I think, regardless of running starting strength, you need to clean up the eating, no matter what. Cut out bad habits. Only drink water. Start eating clean. You don't necessary have to "restrict" calories", but just change the bad habits. Combine that with a properly run LP and yea you will aboslutely change your body composition while simultaneously getting stronger.
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