cmb
Level 3 Valued Member
Greetings, all. After a lower-back injury about 3 years ago, I had to quit my progress with Simple & Sinister. But I'm back on track now, albeit early in the game, and have been training consistently for a few weeks. I'm an early 40's male, 5'11", weighing about 160 lb. After my injury, my weight went up, but I got it down over the past several months by a calorie restricted diet. My metabolism has surely dropped since I was younger as, now, if I don't weigh myself regularly and consciously control my eating I will just gradually gain weight continually. My weight seems to me to be in a healthy place right now.
I have two main questions I'd like to ask:
1. Could you please point me to a Nutrition 101 article that could propel me in reaching the simple goal? I recently got The Warrior Diet, but haven't had time to dip into it (and don't know when I will!). An important part of how I restrict calories is intermittent fasting: I don't eat breakfast, usually eat a late lunch and then dinner, but sometimes only one meal. Anyway, when I do eat I aim for healthy foods (little to no processed foods, so, e.g., I eat a lot of spinach with olive oil) and make a conscious effort to have proteins (eggs, nuts, chicken, and/or protein powder). So that's my diet: healthy foods + an emphasis on protein. Is there anything I'm missing? I'd prefer a simple, maintainable diet. Years ago when I had about 35 lb I had to lose, I counted calories; I learned from that, but don't want to do that sort of thing again.
2. What should I do with my weight as I continue to train with the S&S routine? I'm afraid to just "let it go" and not watch it. I'm of a mind to keep my weight the same. But maybe I should let it rise to some other specific goal? I'm inclined to think I fit in the "skinny fat" category, as I have some extra stomach and waist chub (dadbod here), even though I'm at a pretty low weight. So my idea would be to press hard with my training, and just eat to maintain my weight around 160 lb. But then I've also read that this is a bad idea and bulking/cutting cycles are better. I honestly want the simplest, most maintainable plan, which is what I think keeping my weight static would be. Is this a bad idea? What do you recommend?
I'm not a trainer or expert in any way--please consider me a layman in your answers! Thanks, everyone!
I have two main questions I'd like to ask:
1. Could you please point me to a Nutrition 101 article that could propel me in reaching the simple goal? I recently got The Warrior Diet, but haven't had time to dip into it (and don't know when I will!). An important part of how I restrict calories is intermittent fasting: I don't eat breakfast, usually eat a late lunch and then dinner, but sometimes only one meal. Anyway, when I do eat I aim for healthy foods (little to no processed foods, so, e.g., I eat a lot of spinach with olive oil) and make a conscious effort to have proteins (eggs, nuts, chicken, and/or protein powder). So that's my diet: healthy foods + an emphasis on protein. Is there anything I'm missing? I'd prefer a simple, maintainable diet. Years ago when I had about 35 lb I had to lose, I counted calories; I learned from that, but don't want to do that sort of thing again.
2. What should I do with my weight as I continue to train with the S&S routine? I'm afraid to just "let it go" and not watch it. I'm of a mind to keep my weight the same. But maybe I should let it rise to some other specific goal? I'm inclined to think I fit in the "skinny fat" category, as I have some extra stomach and waist chub (dadbod here), even though I'm at a pretty low weight. So my idea would be to press hard with my training, and just eat to maintain my weight around 160 lb. But then I've also read that this is a bad idea and bulking/cutting cycles are better. I honestly want the simplest, most maintainable plan, which is what I think keeping my weight static would be. Is this a bad idea? What do you recommend?
I'm not a trainer or expert in any way--please consider me a layman in your answers! Thanks, everyone!