i've been grinding hard for over a year now. if you are over 35 years old and have 30+ pounds to lose, here's my advice:
- the first step is understanding that something in your lifestyle is very broken. probably not just one thing, either
- you didn't gain all of that weight in a few months, nor will you lose it in a few months. to make it truly sustainable and fueled by permanent lifestyle changes, adjust your time horizon to 1-2 years
- focus on improving your fitness first rather than losing weight, with a foundation of progressive overload resistance training (lifting heavy weights to within ~3 reps of failure) at least 2x per week some other activity you enjoy 2x per week (for me it's yoga). make sure you walk long distances on off days, and on every other day that you reasonably can
- spend ~3-4 months building up muscle (especially if you are de-conditioned) before making big changes to your diet
- cook your own meals for 80% to 90% of what you eat. meal prep absolutely works if you don't eat junk snacks in-between meals (look for recipes on YouTube). use AI to create healthy, batch recipes of your favorite foods if needed. cook batches of 6-8 servings and freeze them in high quality containers designed for this purpose. plan out what you will eat in advance the next day
- prioritize protein intake (up to 1 gram per pound of target bodyweight, though i personally do closer to 0.75-0.8 g). don't regularly eat junk carbs (like chips, candy, and cakes). eat only when you are hungry, but try to get 3 meals per day to keep your protein intake consistent
- when you start to lose fat, your appearance might not change much due to muscle backfilling it. you may go ~6 months without noticing any big visual changes. monitor body fat mass vs lean muscle mass using either dexa scan or a well-calibrated impedance sensor scale for directional data
- so instead, focus on your improved fitness, feeling in your body, and how your clothes start to fit. forget the number on the scale. it will drop when it is time
- losing fat is like removing sheets of paper from a roll of paper towels. when there are 100 sheets on there, if you remove one, you can barely see it. when you are down to 10-20 sheets, removing one sheet is noticeable
if you put in the work consistently, and are patient and focus on the right goals (improving your health, and weight loss is just one part of it) then you can achieve your goals
get out there and crush it 💪