Advice needed

frick the cardio and get that muscle back. Find a macro program that works for you. I use Macro Factor. You need to eat 1 gram of protein for every 1lb of body weight to maintain. You obviously need to eat more if you want to gain back muscle.

The problem with these quick weight loss medicines is that you are starving yourself. 12lbs a month is extreme. Id be surprised if you didn’t have some rebound weight gain. Don’t be discouraged. You need to dial in your nutrition and don’t fall back into your pre-medicine diet.

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The information I'm trying to find is what I should be doing

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Since really bulking isnt your primary goal I would say a good mix of cardio to strength training which is the cornerstone of any good fitness program. From the strength perspective design or look up a simple routine and follow it. An example would be a simple push-pull-leg routine where one day is push movements, one is pull movements, and third is legs training. rinse and repeat on a schedule. you can change, adapt, or begin new programs as you get more experience. Dont start with something advanced or overly complicated.

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what kind of supplements yall would recommen

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this early on, not much. Caffeine pre workout to get you some extra pep if needed. The other most popular supplement is creatine and one of the few that i think are really grade A supplements. For muscle building, even if not necessarily wanting to bulk, protein is more of something you want to nail down and a good balanced diet all around. If you're not looking to get huge like you said, then you could do well one 0.7 grams protein per lb of ideal body weight daily. You will see recommendations all over the place for that, 1.0g/lb is common. Some crazy arse body builders will say 2.0/lb. thats just nuts to me.

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Any recommendations, tips and information would be greatly appreciated.

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design a program and fitness activities around things you enjoy. Simple. The reason i see people leaving their fitness goals early is because they have this mindset that "this is what fitness is and this is what i must do!". then they burn out because they hate it.

Some good suggestions here. I would like to add that you do NOT want to lose too much too soon. I find that keeping weight loss to a rate of around 1-1.5lbs per week is a great pace for losing almost all fat and keeping muscle, provided you are lifting weight and getting adequte amounts of protein. Hats off to you for losing that much weight, and I understand those who want to lose a bunch of weight quickly, but you do NOT want to do that at the expense of losing muscle, and too much too soon will absolutely take a lot of "good" weight with it.

If you lost a ton of muscle I’d want to get that back before anything else. That means you’ll be bulking for a while and will gain some fat with it. How much fat depends on your diet. Lift 3-4 times a week, little to no cardio.

Track calories in and track calories out. Make sure you’re in a surplus. A 500 calorie surplus a day is the most recommended. After you get your muscle back you can start to tone up. You’ll want to be at your maintenance calories (TDEE calculator online) for 6-8 weeks to ensure you don’t lose muscle by losing weight too fast. After the maintenance phase you can start to shed the fat by cutting. (500 calorie deficit per day which will equate to around 1 pound lost per week)

And yes, 1g of protein per desired 1 lb. of body weight daily no matter which phase you’re in.

Don’t worry too much about supplements until you get your routine down. Caffeine for gym, creatine, protein can be it. Maybe some fish oil, as we get older it lubes up our joints.

Good luck!

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I've been reading through the Health/Fitness threads for the last few weeks trying to figure out how to start my fitness journey. Figured it was about time to just come out and ask the experts.

A little background, I'm a 40 year old male from Ascension. I recently lost 75 pounds in 6 months courtesy of Mounjaro. Went from 270 to 195. 5'10" if that matters. The problem is that I lost a ton of muscle instead of just fat. I don't want to get bulked up and huge, just fit and healthy. I recently purchased a home gym, the type with a smith machine, cabling and all that jazz.

The information I'm trying to find is what I should be doing, what kind of supplements yall would recommend, etc. Any recommendations, tips and information would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR: 40 year old ex-fat dude needs recommendations on getting fit.

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That's definitely an issue with GLP-1 agonist drugs - loss of lean body mass along with fat. I would say it's worth it for you though to have gotten down to 195 from 270. Based on your height and current weight, I would say you should probably still try to stay in a caloric deficit, and as many here have suggested, tweak your macros to really emphasize your protein intake, and I would be shooting for 1gm/lb of body weight and limit your carbs and really emphasize when you do have carbs "natural" ones rich in fiber. I would not get rid of cardio, but my advice would be 4 hours/wk of vigourous walking to get your HR in say 60% zone sustained (this is assuming level of health that doesn't put you at risk with this level of exertion). Use some app for meticulous logging of meals and I would recommend weighing every day with obtaining some method of measuring body fat (either bioelectric impedance scale or Amazon Halo which uses 3D body imaging). You can use progression of measurements without getting hung up on how deadly accurate they are.

If you don't have any specific injuries, I would go for a linear progression type of lifting program like Greyskull LP (maybe aesthtetics template -see 777's primer thread on this board) or PPSA (Pen and Paper Strength App) grasshopper (that would be my first choice in your shoes). But at the very least, have some program to follow and log it.

You can totally do a body recomp while in a caloric defiict. Nothing is gonna happen overnight, and none of what I mentioned above is easy, but it can definitely be very rewarding, both physically and from a self-satisfaction standpoint. You are definitely at the age where you can make a significant impact. Gets harder if you wait.

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I searched and found a Halo watch.

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That's it. If I'm not mistaken, you have to have a halo wrist unit (it's not actually a watch) to get the app and thus the 3D body composiition measurement capabiilty which uses your phone's camera. It is not expensive, or at least it used to not be.

It purports to be very accurate. I feel like it is actually brutally honest, and I come in about 1.5% above other methods. I haven't compared to DEXA, but using visual scales with my abs as an indicator and indody/BEI scale for comparison, I consider it valid.

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If you're not looking to get huge like you said, then you could do well one 0.7 grams protein per lb of ideal body weight daily. You will see recommendations all over the place for that, 1.0g/lb is common. Some crazy arse body builders will say 2.0/lb. thats just nuts to me.

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Thank you, perfectly stated.

For the OP, I'd recommend finding any activity or goal and designing training for that. Maybe tennis or a race. Build up to it and there are lots of programs that are already out there for those.

You will find that your body will react over time and you will get fitter. Just don't expect immediate results or to get shredded.