If your main goal is to lose weight, then your focus in nutrition is energy balance. Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator asks you for a binary gender, but it’s the gold standard of estimation[1]. One time I went to a medical campus to do a bomb calorimeter test and it was within 5% of the online estimation. The weight loss game has a few rules to it:

1. you have a single pool of energy (you cannot choose where you lose fat from)

2. there are (as far as you’re concerned) 3500 calories in a pound of body mass

3. you will burn some ratio of muscles:fat

4. resistance training (bodyweight/weights) and protein make sure the ratio is as small as possible (and you do want that)

5. you want 2g of protein per day per kilogram of mass. For example if you weigh 100kg you want 200g protein/d.

A good baseline is to try and record what you eat[2], analyze how many calories you are consuming, and then endeavor to eat 500 less calories than you expend. How you do that is your own prerogative. If you’re like me, you might find the deficit too harsh or your daily activity dependent on taking more calories than what’s on the paper - you may have to adjust by consciously adding more calories. Our sticky to the right of the comm has a good list of resources from R*ddit regarding meal prep, fitness meals, recipes from lifters, etc. you can make your own[2].

Let me start with the conventional wisdom for the purpose of lifting weights and then speak to the resources you currently have. The idea is that you are trying to undergo a practice called progressive overload. In essence, exercise will rip your muscle fibers apart. Like a callous for skin getting ripped, if your muscles get adequate building blocks (protein) and rest then they will build back stronger than they were before. At that point, if you continue to use the same weights, your muscles will have adapted and no longer rip appreciably. Therefore, you need to use a more intense workout (usually bigger weights and sometimes 1-3 more reps) to continue to rip them so that they grow back bigger and stronger. Bodybuilding is the art of using the most efficient methods of targeting individual muscles with the most muscle tearing, growth signals, fuel, and conditions to help the muscle grow.

Your goal of weight loss is typically seen as antithetical to muscle growth. If you don’t have enough calories then you’re losing mass instead of gaining it. Therefore the #1 easiest way to get someone to engage with your youtube channel is to answer the question “can I lost weight and gain muscle at the same time?” And the answer is sometimes if you’re super dedicated and precise. I don’t like recommending unattended newbies shoot for that. If you’re having trouble taking turns in Mario Kart, I wouldn’t recommend you switch from auto to manual steering. Once you know your lifts, you have a nutrition plan, and you don’t have much need for my advice, you’re better equipped for exploring unconventional ideas.

I think, most fundamentally, a split (a schedule of lifting that separates different muscle groups for different days) might consist of

A - back & bicep

B - chest & tricep

C - shoulders & legs

x - rest day (see: cardio)

Then during your 7 days of the week, you might split it up

AxBxCxx

So Sunday back & bi, Wednesday chest & tri, Friday shoulders & legs. As much as I’d rather just recommend you a full routine, running off to find someone to teach you how to squat and deadlift is both difficult and not fun. It also sounds like you’re more committed to doing your own thing with additions. So, for my money, I’d just look at ExRx’s directory and do whatever looks fun with the cables and dumbells[3]. Anything with dumbells you could probably do with a kettlebell. I’d just mess around with it, do plenty of cardio, and look back at all this if/when you actually want to build muscle to get more regimented. I just wouldn’t expect to build a significant amount of muscle on a deficit without a plan.

[1] https://tdeecalculator.net/

[2] https://thefitness.wiki/improving-your-diet/

[3] https://exrx.net/Lists/Directory (note: to avoid overwhelming yourself, it’s much more approachable to just look at the headers. For example I would look for lifts for your thighs, not for your quadriceps.)

If you can afford it download macrofactor there is just no better nutrition tracker out there imo. In a nutshell you should be proteinmaxxing (if this isn’t something you’ve thought about before you probably need to triple your protein intake and that’s not an exaggeration). It’s not about cutting out certain nutrients but about adjusting the balance between protein fat and carbs. All three have their place. And yes that means a sustainable diet includes dessert.

Tons of info available on programming so I would say read what is out there and do what you think is fun/sustainable. Nutrition will address the body composition piece.

For example Google the CrossFit Cindy workout, you can run that every day and get jacked if you are eating right. Would get boring but the point is there are many ways to skin that cat

oh my goodness it’s the squid from Dicey Dungeons

what a cutie

If your goal is to lose weight, then do your best to start counting calories. That, along with consistent exercise, is how I lost about 45 pounds a few years ago. There’s plenty of calorie counting apps out there, try them out and see which one works best for you.

That kettlebell is a bit on the light side, or maybe not, depending on your body composition. Either way, it’s a crazy powerful piece of exercise equipment, a whole-ass gym in one item. I highly recommend Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell video as a great starting point which is actually scalable as you get stronger. Also, even though he’s very much chud-adjacent, I find the Soviet Red Army Comrade shtick he does in the video very entertaining.

Do try to find some stuff that doesn’t depend on going to the gym, as well. Think of it as your rainy day workout protocol. Maybe get a jumping rope if you have the space to do it at home. Learn how to do burpees and basic bodyweight stuff like proper-form pushups, planks, elastic bands and the like. There’s plenty of cool stuff you can do at home with just bands, a towel, a couple of chairs and a bit of resourcefulness. This is what saved me during the pandemic - I couldn’t go to the gym, started doing calisthenics workouts at home and I’ve been doing them exclusively ever since. Haven’t skipped a single day in nearly five years I reckon.

In terms of supplements, the only one that I recommend is creatine. The rest is doubtful at best and actively harmful at worst. Creatine is the most widely-studied supplement that’s commercially available, and there’s plenty of scientific literature that shows it’s useful. Forget pre-workout, just drink a nice cup of coffee, it’s cheaper, tasty and just as effective if not more. Obviously avoid Insane Monster Blaster Destroyer Bad Ass Deathwish Heart Attack pre-workout with 2000mg caffeine and taurine.

I liked intermittent fasting but I don’t do it nowadays. The best advice I can give you regarding diet is to only pick a “diet” if you can see yourself eating like that for the rest of your life. Sure, you can have a cutting phase in which you go really low-calorie, but ultimately I don’t think most people can handle a strict caloric deficit for very long - watch out for the rebound. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint.

Other than that, the key aspect is to just enjoy yourself. Really, at first it was a slog and I had a hard time getting my ass to the gym. Like I said, my rainy day home workout became the key to being consistent, as I had zero excuses to skip a day. Of course, don’t be hard on yourself if you do skip one or two or five, you can always pick it back up until it becomes second nature to you. Doing stuff that you enjoy will go a very very very long way towards motivating you! Nowadays I’d have to make an active effort not to exercise.

Now go get 'em, glory to the swoletariat!