The Plan
A concerted effort for G-Force and JD to cease being sad sacks and become chrizzled beasts.
1. Competition
Seventeen weeks. November to March. First DEXA scan was on 05NOV. Scan again in March. Whoever loses the greatest percentage of body fat between the two scans is the winner.
Same machine, same operator, both times. Same prep both times: fasted 8+ hours (water only), normal water intake, no hard workout the day before, same morning time.
Weekly Discipline
- Weigh in every morning. Same scale, same clothes, ideally after blasting a shit. Judge the 7-day average, not any single day.
- Hit your protein number daily. Write down your training each week. Sleep 7+ hours.
- Holiday weeks aren't for losing — details in Holidays below.
Holidays
Holiday weeks aren't for losing — they're for not starting January in a hole. The cap is ~1 lb over baseline. The reason is the stickiness: holiday gains are modest, but people never take them back off, and that's what piles up year after year.
- Eat the dinner. Skip the week-long leftovers binge.
- Keep weighing every morning, holidays included — catch it the week it happens, not in February.
- If the average ticks up, back on template until it's gone. A pound is a few days, not a ruined month.
Loss rate
- Aim about 1 to 1.5 lb a week.
- Faster than ~1% of bodyweight loss per two weeks risks slowing down the plan.
Call the clinician
Chest pain or pressure. Fainting. Blood pressure 180/120 or higher. Steady dizziness or deep fatigue. Sleep under 5 hours three nights running
2. Diet
The thinking
Protein is the lever. Past ~1.1 g per lb of bodyweight a day adds nothing. Calorie calculators run 10%+ off the person — weigh daily and steer by the trend, not the app.
Daily protein
25 y/o 0.7–0.8 g per lb · 35 y/o 0.8–1.0 g per lb · 45 y/o 1.0–1.1 g per lb. Work it off goal weight (or fat-free mass from the DEXA), not current weight — protein feeds muscle, not fat. That puts the 45 y/o near 185–245 g a day across 3 meals, roughly 25–60 g under the old current-weight figure. Recheck the target every 10–20 lb lost.
The template
November Week 1 cut: two cooked meals a day + one whey shake. Planning target ~2,000 cal a day, not a hard ceiling — steer by morning weight, hunger, and lifting. - 12:00 PM — lunch, cooked meal - 3:00–4:00 PM — whey isolate shake (~30–35 g protein) - 5:30–6:30 PM — dinner, cooked meal - No bread, pasta, or rice (easy to overeat); carbs from veg, yogurt, sauces, optional fruit.
The dishes
Lunches — Gochujang beef & cabbage, Mediterranean chicken salad, Smoky taco salad, Peanut-lime shrimp salad; dinners — Philly cheesesteak skillet, Garlic-Parmesan chicken, Red curry salmon & shrimp, Korean beef lettuce cups, Steakhouse sirloin, Tex-Mex chicken skillet, Lemon-rosemary chicken. See the kitchen for more.
Shake + snack
One whey isolate shake daily. Optional snack: blueberries, boiled egg, cucumber + measured hummus, or plain nonfat Greek yogurt.
Watch-outs
Per-serving estimates run 500–900 kcal — two meals + shake + snack can run past 2,000, so judge by the scale. Most days may land short of protein — weigh portions, confirm shake label, add lean protein as needed.
3. Exercise
The thinking
Activity starts light while getting used to eating less. As sleep, strength, and mood hold up load increases. Lifting while eating less keeps muscle: 10+ sets per muscle a week, 2+ sessions, full range of motion. Keep lifting and conditioning 3+ hours apart, and let daily steps do the calorie work, not extra cardio. Sessions are per week: weeks 1–4 means 2 lifting days and 3 cardio days out of 7.
Every couple of months a planned easy week — same moves, half the sets, no added load — drains built-up fatigue so the next block climbs higher. Skipping it stalls you; taking it makes you stronger the gym.
Ramp
| Period | Tier | Lifts/week | Steps/day | Cardio/week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 01–04 | Good | 2 | 8,000 | 3× easy cardio |
| Weeks 05–08 | Better | 3 | 9,500 | 3× easy cardio |
| Week 08 | Deload | 2 | 9,500 | easy walks |
| Weeks 09–12 | Better | 3 | 10,000 | 3× easy cardio |
| Week 12 | Deload | 2 | 10,000 | easy walks |
| Weeks 13–16 | Best | 4 | 12,000 | 3× easy cardio |
| Week 16 | Deload | 2 | 12,000 | easy walks |
| Week 17 | Taper | 1 | — | re-test |
Conditioning
Two gears, both simple. Easy cardio is a 35–45 minute brisk walk (or bike, or a walk with a weighted pack) — fast enough to warm you, slow enough to talk. Recovery is a 20-minute easy walk plus 10 minutes of stretching. All of this counts toward the daily step total — the 8,000 (or 10,000, or 12,000) is the whole day, not steps-plus-walk.
Lifting
Seven moves do nearly all the work: squat, Bulgarian split squat, push-up, row, single-leg RDL, plank + side plank, farmer carry. Fewer moves means each one gets loaded heavier over time, and loaded muscle is kept muscle. Anything else is garnish.
Taper
Hard training leaves muscles inflamed and holding water, which can muddy the final scan. The last week goes easy so the March reading shows real tissue, not swelling. You test your maxes fresh instead of fried.
Details
Keepers, load rules, and day-by-day: The Gym.