Raarrwwgghh!

[Raawwrrgghh!]

So guess this should go here. I'm Josh and really dig the whole vibe of this site so here I am.

Bio:

Ok so my story may be a little different. I've always been the big kid or big guy with a waistline to match. After years of having no luck and honestly well being concerned about being around for the family that plans were laid out for I took a drastic approach had a gastric bypass(Jan 2010). I did alright with it I went down from 515+ to 320ish. Divorce and all that threw me way off track not even a year after going through it and needless to say, I feel mostly like a failure and don't really discuss it any more.

So I found myself gaining back into my older clothes and it was a wake up call. I found this site and Ive been mostly primal for going on 4 weeks(slipped here and there) but Im down from 360 at the start of the month to 338 as of Sunday. I will admit I used Starting Strength several months back to start eating however I wanted, although the eating continued the gym did not.

I'm a Warrior, no doubt, currently working back up through starting strength while trying to recomp instead of gain.

This feels like a good community from what I've seen so looking to hanging around a bit.

[BeigeTurtle]

Welcome! I'm a newbie as well - I think lots of us are starting out on this journey together! What are your goals? And what kind of exercise routine are you doing? I've been impressed at how many great suggestions there are on this site.

[Razor]

Welcome! Good job on getting back on track and losing that weight. Diet is the main fight here, exercise is just the support fire.

You really should focus on losing weight before trying to gain strength. By all means lift weights, but studies have shown that overweight individuals make somewhat less strength gains in resistance training than those at normal weight. (I couldn't really understand part of the second one, but the conclusion seems to support that of the other). So lift them for the activity, maybe even try endurance training (might help down the road) rather than strength training.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21139562

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17530988

Also, even going on an SS program doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want. Just because you get your calorie and protein macros doesn't mean you're necessarily doing something good for yourself. Dirty bulking has no (scientifically establishes) effect on muscle gain, but it's a bad habit many can't (or just don't want) to break, most of the stuff you eat is bad for you, and it is often much easier to over-consume.

[Go Kixxy]

just to echo what razor already said, you can have a great workout sesh and burn lots of calories but if you are eating badly then you're spinning your wheels. a lot of the times losing weight is calories in vs. calories out. i find that keeping a food journal is what keeps me accountable, and I can tweak it when results start to slow. great job on the weight loss so far, and keep up the good work!

[Raawwrrgghh!]

Thanks you all for replying. Interesting reads on the gains vs. weight thing.

Maybe I should have clarified that better about the SS attempt before. It wasn't really dirty bulking but it was quite a bit of food, and nothing close to paleo/primal and I made great gains on it doing it. Only went up like 10 pounds in weight over the 4 months I did it but I started stalling at Squat:345 Bench 190 DL: 405 Press: 140 PC: 160. I came a long way with it. But then got busy with other things/ got discouraged on the stall and just slipped from trying, but for a while was still eating like I was lifting that heavy. Currently Squat: 235 Bench 145 DL:305 Press:100: PC: 130. So I lost mostly lower body strength in the 4 or 5 months I quit from it.

Currently finish up a month of SS just to get back into things, then starting 5/3/1 next week with a good cut on the my maxes so I can progress a while. Biggest issue is trying to eat enough to fuel my workouts while staying primal. I'm fully aware that I will not make much if any gains while cutting and I'm accepting of that. I just need to play around a bit more and dial it in, so I get what I need but don't have to eat all day to do so due to volume restrictions from surgery. Currently been running about 1600 most days and it just isnt enough, but I feel sated and sometimes too much so. `

I've been a big guy my whole life so my bone structure is pretty stout in itself so only looking to go down to about 250 or so over all then Ill worry about cutting/bulking and managing the recomp more closely. Going with 5/3/1 because I did a few cycles before getting away from the gym and liked the theory and program, looking at boring but big, then adding hill sprints after a couple weeks when I adjust to the volume because it does indeed take its toll.

[Go Kixxy]

Muscle memory is a great thing I don't know much about 5/3/1 so I can't comment on that. Hill sprints literally kick ass!