# Johnny's fat loss journey



## Johnny Mac (Jan 2, 2017)

Hi guys, I'm a newbie on the forum and wanted to share what my training and diet is like at the moment, what my immediate goals are and would really appreciate any kind of feedback any of you could give me about any of it. 

I'm hitting the gym six times a week, mainly on an evening as I work through the day. I do 30 minutes of cardio followed by roughly an hour's worth of high intensity lifting, 30-60 second breaks between 4 sets of 8-12 reps for 5 different exercises all focusing on one body part per lifting session. I'll generally do a full body workout to kick start the week then the next day I blast my arms, chest, shoulders, back, legs on each day until I get back to my one day of rest. 

My diet is this at the moment . . .

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs on 2 slices of wholemeal toast and 2 glasses of water.

Morning snack: 1 medium banana and 1 tangerine.

Lunch: A full can of tuna or baked beans and a double helping of my protein powder which I mix with water. I currently use Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% whey. A double serving of the shake contains 226 calories, 2.2g fat, 2.4g carbs, of which sugars 1.2g, protein 47.8g. 

Afternoon snack: a medium sized apple

Tea: Lean beef, chicken, Turkey, Salmon or a bit of white fish with a cup of peas and one small potato, either baked or boiled.

post workout: Another double helping of shake, a cup of pumpkin seeds, a handful of grapes. 

fluids: I'm constantly sipping water through the day.

My immediate goal is to shed body fat while protecting what muscular gains I've created in the past six months of training. If anyone thinks I could or should be doing something different or extra to help with my fat loss, then please feel free to leave any suggestions that come to mind.

Cheers in advance for any help you guys can give me.


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## snake (Jan 3, 2017)

My advice; sit tight until Bigdog shows up and posts.


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## silvereyes87 (Jan 3, 2017)

Pretty nice detail of what you're doing. How many lbs list so far?


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## Johnny Mac (Jan 3, 2017)

Thanks for the replies guys, I've been on the plan above for only week so far and am already down 2lbs, but that could be just water weight as I usually look like I've jumped in a river by the time I leave the gym.


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## BigJohnny (Jan 3, 2017)

Welcome and good luck! I'm a fatty trying get leaner myself, so I know your pain! Like Snake said, wait til bigdog post up. That ****er lost an entire grown ass man!


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## Johnny Mac (Jan 3, 2017)

Hoping that this will work. Here's a pic of me in the gym tonight. Just so you guys can get an idea of my body shape and size. Sorry about the baggy T, it used to be a lot tighter.


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## bigdog (Jan 3, 2017)

ok fellas, sorry I missed this post! im just getting back in the office after 2 weeks of vacation so ive been busy. ok johnny mac.. diet looks pretty good but I wouldn't do the baked beans personally. I went from 472lbs down to 200lbs. started lifting when I got to my lowest weight and strength, mass came back good. im 239 today and in the best shape of my life. I will say my biggest help was eliminating ALL carbs after 4pm! I did a lot of swimming and cardio before and after lifting. get in your lean protein and drink at least a gallon of water a day! im here anytime so feel free to pm me if you need help brother! here is my journey post link. keep on killing it brother! https://www.ugbodybuilding.com/threads/20364-New-guy-just-finishing-a-huge-weight-loss-journey!


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## Johnny Mac (Jan 4, 2017)

Thanks for the tips bigdog. I'll ditch the beans, start increasing my water, if it's possible and start doing cardio at the end of my gym session as well as at the start. 

I'm currently 210, but I'd guess my body fat is about 30% at the moment. All my fat sits on my chest, belly and love handles, so any advice for these areas is most appreciated!! I'm going to get my body fat measured tomorrow, so will let you all know how I get on.


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## Johnny Mac (Jan 4, 2017)

Does anyone know of any good protein options for lunch? I usually work through the day, so something I can prep the night before would work well.


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## bigdog (Jan 4, 2017)

my protein comes from chicken or turkey at lunch. I bake it the night before. on the chest and love handle fat, just diet and cardio will help it. do you have access to a sauna? sweat it out in there if you do! I loved using it daily in my gym.. keep your cardio intensity up and that fat will fall off buddy...


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## PillarofBalance (Jan 4, 2017)

Hey Johnny. Wishing you luck.  Best advice I can give you is don't over complicate this stuff. Losing weight isn't magic or even hard to figure out. You need to eat less calories than you expend thru the day. That's it. It doesn't matter what you eat or when.  If you want baked beans go for it. But you need to get a handle on how many calories you are eating so read those labels. Baked beans can have a lot of calories in them due to the added ingredients like sugar in the sauce.

Try Google and look up how to calculate your total daily energy expenditure. Eat less than this number.

Also to maximize the calories burned at the gym you should consider dropping the body part split and just focus on big compound lifts that work the whole body.

Squats bench deadlift barbell rows overhead press cleans and anything variation of those lifts. That will get you the best training economy and will put on more muscle - and don't forget muscle over the long term will keep you leaner! 

Sometimes it can help to focus on building muscle rather than losing fat. They both get you to the same place for the most part but mentally it feels better.


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## Johnny Mac (Jan 4, 2017)

Cheers for the further replies guys. All your advice and encouragement is really appreciated. 

I had my body fat measured today and it is worse than I thought. Below is a pic of the bit of paper with all my results. Will give you all a really good idea of where I am at the moment. 




I've checked out how bad the results are on the internet and from what I can find it would seem I fall into the obese range rather than the morbidly obese range, so I guess that's a plus!


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## Johnny Mac (May 10, 2017)

Hi guys, sorry for being so quiet. I have been working my butt off, almost quite literally, in the gym and have been lurking around the forum and soaking up as much info as I can to help me with my goals. 

I have discovered that I love raw spinach and am really trying to eat things that are going to help me build a stronger, leaner body. I hope the photo above shows an improvement from my last one! 

Cheers,
Johnny


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## BigSwolePump (May 11, 2017)

Its hard to get a complete idea of lost BF wearing a shirt but you definitely look smaller. Congrats


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## Johnny Mac (May 11, 2017)

Thanks for taking an interest, mate. 

I'm glad that even through the shirt the loss is noticeable.


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## Johnny Mac (May 11, 2017)

Hi again guys. I've been to the gym this morning and had my body fat measured. I am the same weight as I was last time, but my body fat has dropped 8% and my visceral fat is down 1%. 

I know those figures aren't earth shattering, but I'm pleased with the progress I'm making and am determined to keep on going.


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## Summer (Jul 6, 2017)

That's impressive!


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## Atom1 (Jul 18, 2017)

Good job man! I lost 45 lbs many years ago. It took about a year to peel it all off. Started at 5'8" 205 and 27%. Got down to 160. Now, approximately 10 years later I am at 195 and 14%. Made some gains and still could be leaner. Point of the story is that I could not have lost the weight without keeping a diary of everything I ate and drank. Prior to the diary, I just floated along thinking I was eating clean. Fast forward to 2017 and there are smart phone apps that can track all of your foods, spit out calories and calculate macros. Easy as punching a button while you eat. Not selling an app and most are free, or have free versions. Just check around and see what's out there. It WILL make a difference. Also, get some professional input on your macros (protein/fat/carbs). From my experience you will hit a plateau somewhere around 8 or 9 months and that is when it is time to switch it up. Change something to boost your metabolism. Change carb/ fat ratios around. Carb cycling. Stuff like that. Lots of ways to shock your body into doing what you want. Let me know if I can ever be help to you. Keep on making it happen!


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## Gibsonator (Jul 18, 2017)

hell yeah man keep up the good work!!!


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## Genuineraws (Jul 19, 2017)

success belongs to the persevering, fighting!


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## Jamz (Jul 21, 2017)

Nice work dude! I don't have too much to add that hasn't already been said, but it looks like you've got this covered already. Cheering for you!


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