The Time Has Come For Change...

[Mathias 394]

 

 

Watch your SUGAR intake. Most people look at calories, carbs and sodium (which is good) but ignore how much sugar is in what they are consuming.

 

 

If people are really dying for the sugar intake, and need a healthy alternative I would highly suggest using Nutella spread. It's good stuff.

 

[Patriots2994 43]

My dad used to be a hell of a personal trainer, and would do very well helping people with this kind of thing. PM me if you want me to see if he'd give you advice/tips for this.

[BwareDWare94 723]

I'll go on about the diet thing a bit, because I'm actually fairly good at cutting weight when I need to due to diet.

 

First of all, make yourself eat something in the morning, and alter it every day. Bacon and eggs is not a bad thing for breakfast as long as you're active later on in the day. Swap it around with cereal and skim milk and perhaps a smoothie using low fat vanilla yogurt and your favorite fruits.

 

One thing I always try to do, and I don't know if there's any credence to it or not, is I try to eat meat only once a day when I want to cut weight. It just helps a guy feel better better, IMO. Salads aren't that hard to eat if you know what you like. Also, ranch on a salad (if that's your preferred sauce) isn't going to hurt anything unless you have shredded cheese, bacon bits, ham pieces, etc on the salad as well. People go apeshit about how much weight they'll gain if they get ranch on a salad. It's paranoia. There's nothing wrong with it if you don't pile on other fatty additions.

 

I'm sure you like burgers just as much as I do, so start simple there. Forget about cheese most of the time, especially the cheddar slices that you get at every restaurant known to man. It's sub-par cheese and completely unnecessary. If you're going to eat some fatty foods, make sure you LOVE those foods and eat them sparingly, maybe once a week. If you love veggies, put them on the burger to give it more taste. I never get cheese on my burgers. Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles. Light mayo or just ketchup and mustard. Burgers taste fine on un-toasted buns. There's no need to lather the bun in butter and then fry it, right?

 

One of the easiest ways to eat healthier is to cut out the exceptionally fatty additions to an entree. Whatever isn't necessary, leave it out.

 

Also, ALWAYS cut out fast food bacon. It's not good bacon and just like fast food cheese, it isn't something that you love so much that you need it.

 

Basically, any fatty food that you are OK with but don't love, cut it out of your diet. If you aren't going to miss it, why let it add fat to your body?

[Tridentdawgpound 1,043]

Don't wanna be fat anymore? You disappoint me.

[NaTaS+ 958]

 

Focus on cardio before weights. Once you feel more energetic and see some results from the cardio, begin lifting weights which in addition to building muscles, helps trim fat.

 

Meh. Anyone looking to shed fat and increase lean muscle should hit the weights and leave the cardio to heart healthy conscious people. I'm not saying cardio is bad but for weight loss and body composition -- hit the weights hard. I see Starting Strenght has has already been mentioned, that is an EXCELLENT way to go.

 

For fast loss - it's easy...consume fewer calories than you burn. Track that shit (fitday or the like) Make sure you're eating less and eating healthy(ier). Start off with just eliminated snacks and once you're past the snack and soda phase you can worry about advanced dieting like keto, low carb, low fat etc.

 

Remember, you can't target where you lose fat. Dont watch the scale - watch your results. This is very important to remember. I've seen some fatties at the gym give up because the scale wasnt moving but I could see their increase in motivation and muscle tone.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Wow.... 29 replies the first time I check this. Honestly... I am a bit shocked.

 

But definitely very appreciative of any and all advice I can get. I am (trying) to take all of next week off work so I can simply focus on this (just to start) and get off on the right foot. Start a routine, and then stick with it.

 

Again.. not expecting this many replies. Haven't read through all of them yet, but I will definitely do my best to respond to most of everyone that I can.

 

Again.. I appreciate all the comments and advice. This is a lifestyle change that is long overdue for me.

[Maverick 791]

Soccer.

[Socal 524]

I'll be nice and not single anyone out, there is some great advice in this thread and some not so great. If you want my advice, JD, you are certainly welcome to it, but it never hurts to see what options are out there. What I will say for now, is take the time to learn it the right way and take "baby steps" as you say. You don't have to have a new diet, workout, or life routine figured out in a week, it's an evolving process that always has room for improvement.

[WindyCitySports 407]

So I am a swimmer and therefore do not lift a lot, so I wouldn't know a whole lot in that department. Something I do know a lot about though, is a good diet. Here are some tips:

 

-Eat several small meals a day. The further away from three huge meals the better.

-If you can, put yourself on a "never eat out" diet. This means no fast food of any sorts. If you cam do it, it can work wonders.

-You said you like fruits and vegetables, eat them. Plenty of them. Again, they work wonders.

-Continue to drink a lot of water throughout the day. It's a classic way to lose weight and it's worked for many people I've known.

-Stay away from too much protein. Eliminate protein bars/shakes. Those are for bulking up.

 

Hope I helped. I have more if you'd like.

 

One more thing, I don't want to call him out, but Philly's statement that you need 2200-2400 calories a day is highly inaccurate. A fully grown man who works out often is going to need upwards of 2500-3000 calories each day. It's not about how many calories you intake, it's about taking in the right kinds of calories.

Edited October 13, 2011 by WindyCitySports

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki

 

This is a good place to start for basic lifting routines and proper form/technique.

 

As far as your diet goes...the "eat 6 meals a day to boost metabolism" myth is just that...a myth. What's important is how much you eat, not how often. Based on your height/weight I'd try a healthy diet of around 2200-2400 calories. I've never actually had to watch my diet so maybe someone else can give you better advice in that department aside from the obvious of staying away from saturated fats, trans fats, sugar, etc.

 

Good luck, and I hope you stick with it. Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.

Good info on the numerous meals a day thing. Was wondering about that, and thanks!

 

Get on a treadmill and run for as long as you can and as fast as you can (shoot for at least a mile at a time). You don't need to set the speed to 8 though; maybe set it at 6 or 6.5 at first, and see how long you can go. You'll be surprised how it doesn't take long for you to improve both speed and the length of time you can run for. The good thing about treadmills compared to actual running is you can pace yourself and run at a consistent speed.

 

You want to try to burn 600 calories a day, and if you can get to the gym 5-6 times a week, that's ideal; especially if you really want to see results and shave off fat. Elliptical machines and stairmasters are also very good to use in addition to the treadmill.

 

Focus on cardio before weights. Once you feel more energetic and see some results from the cardio, begin lifting weights which in addition to building muscles, helps trim fat.

 

I'm about 5'6-5'7 and was 145 pounds going into the summer. I shaved about 10 pounds of fat doing the above over the summer. Unfortunately, school has made it more difficult to get to the gym, but I need to get back on that. I definitely felt better but physically and mentally when I was going daily.

 

As for dieting, cut out soda, and drink only water. I began doing this when I got to college. It might seem impossible, but you get used to it. Now I think soda is disgusting, and it only makes me more thirsty. As for eating, limit the junk food as much as you feasibly can, don't stuff yourself, and most importantly: if you're not hungry, don't eat.

 

Ya, I was thinking about doing some cardio at first would be benecial. At this local place I go to, they have a bunch of treadmills, ellipticals, and stairmasters.

 

Soda isn't a huge problem at all. I do drink approximately 1 a day, but I don't NEED it or anything. Like I said, I already drink anywhere from 3-5 liters of water a day. Definitely my drink of choice already, and moving forward.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Great to hear your looking to turn that around man. That's the first (and biggest) step you need to take.

 

If you're looking to slim down the best things you can do are aerobic exercises (eg. jogging, swimming, rowing). If your gym has a rowing machine I highly suggest you do that. Prob my fave thing to do actually. Great cardio workout and also helps tone your abs, arms and thighs. It's probably the best generic workout you can do. It's super tiring though, so I'd only suggest doing 15min blocks to start off with. 15min then take a 5min break, then do another 15min. Doing that 3-4 times a week is a good start.

 

After that you can move onto a basic weight training circuit, which I can tell you more about if you're interested in that.

 

Also don't forget diet plays a HUGE role in weight loss and muscle gain. If you eat a lot of carbs you'll need to start cutting that down, as well as sugary foods. And of course, more protein whenever possible! You gain "muscle" when your body has to repair the tissue that was stressed during the workout, and a good protein intake will optimise that revival process.

 

A lot more stuff I can say here, but I'll leave you with that for now

Definitely interested in anything labeled as "basic"... hahaha.

 

They don't have a rowing machine, but they do have a couple of these... "All In One" kinda deals where you can adjust them to do just about anything. Not sure what it is called.

 

More protein, less carbs. Got it. (I'm actually taking notes. ha)

 

Thanks Ranga.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

cardio first definitely before lifting weights. thing about lifting weights when you're already big (and wanna slim) is that the muscle builds on top of the fat and you go nowhere. saw a few cases of that with guys in my grade s:

 

slim down first by running 20 minutes about 3 or 4 times a week. each week, push it up by 5 minutes until you get to about 1 hour 3-4 times a week (or by 10 minutes if you think you can).

 

if you wanna lift, it should be lightweights with high reps, to burn calories and not build muscle.

 

tl:dr - cardio first on the treadmills or outside to slim down, and lift lightweights with high reps.

 

I liked the tl:dr portion. haha. Thanks man!

 

Well im seeing these posts and while they sound good they are misleading.

 

u have to eat right when u get up in the morning or wutever ur schedule is. It gets ur metabolism going and energy lift. Now running is a good way to lose weight BUT u cannot do the same thing everyday. Ur body will adapt to it and u will be running for no reason. Well ur progress will slow down quickly and ull be stuck.

 

What i think u should do wut im doing bcuz i went from 24% body fat to 14% in a months time. U have to mix it up in anything u do. Shock result.

 

Lets say u decide to run monday, u run for a hour, thats good and all but the next day put it on a harder setting and run for 30 mins. Then wednesday put it on a very hard setting and run for 15 mins. Now running isnt the only thing u should do, stairclimber machine is wut u need. Again mixing it up is wut keeps ur body from adapting. Lift weights too. U burn alot of calories that way and when u start to get into it, lets say week two ull notice ull eat alot more thruout the day. Thats gunna help u bcuz itll keep ur metabolism going and burning the calories. Its not a myth its fact. Ive been thru 4 trainers, two in reg gyms, one in hs and one for college. I was pose to play football for college but got hurt. I have two homeboys in the NFL and i talk to them on this shit so i think i know wut im saying. Make sure when ur eating u check wut ur consuming tho. If u dieting then u know the nos and yeahs. Drinking two cups of water before a meal will help u eat less for that meal. If u feeling sluggisb , eat some trail mix, fruit , raisans, nuts, cereal they give u energy.

 

My schedule for the gym has kind of changed for the moment but its gunna come back. I go 2 straight days then i take the third day off. Course this is for lifting so for u u could use that third day to run alot. Keep it realistic dont make a schedule u know u wont follow thru. Thats why this 2 straight one off works for me. First day i do biceps, back, and shoulders. Then some ab work, then i run for 20 mins. The next day i do chest triceps, and legs. With some ab workouts. Then run for wutever mins. So its really four parts everyday. And with this schedule u give ur muscles three day rest in between the next workout. Now the mixing it up part ia light days and heavy days and then buildup days. After each time i come back from the day off i change the setting. If i did light last time its heavy this time. And then the build up after that. Keeps ur body guessing n ull get cut and lose weight fast. Remember when u lose fat its all over ur bosy not just one area so ab work will not make u lose atomach fat.

 

Light days - 3 sets 12-15 reps for each muscle u do. This should be like 60-70% of u using ur strength. This is how u get cut.

 

Heavy days - 3 sets 6-8 reps. This should be ur max. Everything u have and pushing urself. If u cant get 8 then at least 6. This builds strentgh.

 

Buildup days - 3 or 4 sets. Now this is diff. On ur first rep u do light. Then u add weight lets say 10 pounds. U do ur second set. Add more weight u do ur third set. Add more weight u do ur fourth set. So u go from light to pretty heavy so ur really using ur muscles. This is really all of the above for getting cut and strentgh but also endurance.

 

Now u should wait 30-45 seconds in between sets. No longer then a min TOPS. Bcuz when u sit there n wait that long ur muscles will get used to the workout and ull lift and not get max results. Its very important to keep track of time. As soon as u finish ur set count to 40 then do it again. This is a common mistake by ppl. Oh and one more thing, make sure ur form is perfect. U get the most of it when ur form is good. Dont worry about how much weight it is, bcuz ull get there eventually.

 

Now if u need super set work outts i can tell u some so u really tear down ur muscles. And i guess ill tell u this as well since ALOT OF PPL dont know it. Besides the fact ur power comes from ur lower body , leg work, overworking ur legs like killin them til ur sore for three days, when u overwork them ue body releases massive tostostrone and thats not how u spell it but fuck it , and that will help get u bigger. Its wut steriods is used for so this is natural. It blows ur muscles up quick. That is if u want some muscle or to be toned. But lifting weights is a must to lose weight effectively and quickly.

 

Wow, definitely a lot of good stuff in here. And the best part is I didn't need a translator.

 

Thanks Mikey.

 

Just make sure you make your diet is as an important part of getting fit as working out....

 

And be ABSOLUTELY sure that you use proper form when lifting, J-Dizz....Don't try to be a hero and lift more weight than you think you should be at the expense of form, IMO....You're just gonna most likely hurt yourself....Even if it means that you gotta start out at lower weights than you originally envisioned, get your form down, first and foremost....

 

Ya, I had one of my buddies who works out all the time warn me of the same thing. Appreciate it, Blue.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Whoever mentioned cutting out soda ("pop", F4E) is right. That stuff is awful for you. If possible just drink water.

 

Portion size is huge. Lower you calorie intake and you'll see results.

 

I'm no fitness guru but that coupled with daily exercise worked for me to drop about 50 pounds. I would mix it up with different cardio and weight sessions. I'm not a big or strong guy, so the 20lb curls was plenty for me. yea i'm weak.

 

Yup, starting about 3 days ago, I cut pop out of my diet. Pretty much water all day long. Good to hear some personal stuff that helped you out too. I hope to get there in the future. Just feeling better. Thanks GA.

 

I think everyone pretty much hit up on everything. I'm no expert, but...

 

Watch your SUGAR intake. Most people look at calories, carbs and sodium (which is good) but ignore how much sugar is in what they are consuming. Like GA_Eagle said....cut the soda out completely...that means no DIET BS either. Just cutting soda out of your diet alone you'll notice a difference in how you feel etc.

 

WATER WATER WATER.

 

If you drink REAL 100% juice that's great (grapefruit juice is great for you) but even 100% juice has a lot of sugar in it. Cut it with water.

 

But yea everyone here, to me, has given some really good advice/ideas. Socal, when he sees this, I'm sure will eventually give some spot on really good stuff too. IIRC this is what he does for a living or is going to school for it...or both...something to that effect.

 

GL bro...and good for you.

 

 

Another good tip. Sugars will probably be harder to cut out, but gonna do what I can. Something I don't want to do right away is just expect too much too soon. Or putting too much on myself out of the gate. I know a lot of people who have started these strict diets or whatever, miss or "cheat" one or two days... Feel like crap, then just give up completely.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

I'll go on about the diet thing a bit, because I'm actually fairly good at cutting weight when I need to due to diet.

 

First of all, make yourself eat something in the morning, and alter it every day. Bacon and eggs is not a bad thing for breakfast as long as you're active later on in the day. Swap it around with cereal and skim milk and perhaps a smoothie using low fat vanilla yogurt and your favorite fruits.

 

One thing I always try to do, and I don't know if there's any credence to it or not, is I try to eat meat only once a day when I want to cut weight. It just helps a guy feel better better, IMO. Salads aren't that hard to eat if you know what you like. Also, ranch on a salad (if that's your preferred sauce) isn't going to hurt anything unless you have shredded cheese, bacon bits, ham pieces, etc on the salad as well. People go apeshit about how much weight they'll gain if they get ranch on a salad. It's paranoia. There's nothing wrong with it if you don't pile on other fatty additions.

 

I'm sure you like burgers just as much as I do, so start simple there. Forget about cheese most of the time, especially the cheddar slices that you get at every restaurant known to man. It's sub-par cheese and completely unnecessary. If you're going to eat some fatty foods, make sure you LOVE those foods and eat them sparingly, maybe once a week. If you love veggies, put them on the burger to give it more taste. I never get cheese on my burgers. Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles. Light mayo or just ketchup and mustard. Burgers taste fine on un-toasted buns. There's no need to lather the bun in butter and then fry it, right?

 

One of the easiest ways to eat healthier is to cut out the exceptionally fatty additions to an entree. Whatever isn't necessary, leave it out.

 

Also, ALWAYS cut out fast food bacon. It's not good bacon and just like fast food cheese, it isn't something that you love so much that you need it.

 

Basically, any fatty food that you are OK with but don't love, cut it out of your diet. If you aren't going to miss it, why let it add fat to your body?

 

Thanks man. Again, I like the personal info, or stuff that has worked for people in the past. Like I mentioned before, I am not that picky at all. I do crave a good burger every now and again, but who doesn't? Ha.

 

I have nothing against a good salad. And no need to worry about the ranch, I don't like it anyway. Haha.

 

Thanks Bware.

 

Meh. Anyone looking to shed fat and increase lean muscle should hit the weights and leave the cardio to heart healthy conscious people. I'm not saying cardio is bad but for weight loss and body composition -- hit the weights hard. I see Starting Strenght has has already been mentioned, that is an EXCELLENT way to go.

 

For fast loss - it's easy...consume fewer calories than you burn. Track that shit (fitday or the like) Make sure you're eating less and eating healthy(ier). Start off with just eliminated snacks and once you're past the snack and soda phase you can worry about advanced dieting like keto, low carb, low fat etc.

 

Remember, you can't target where you lose fat. Dont watch the scale - watch your results. This is very important to remember. I've seen some fatties at the gym give up because the scale wasnt moving but I could see their increase in motivation and muscle tone.

 

Ya, that's always been my biggest downfall. Portion control. Sometimes I eat when I don't really feel hungry. Sometimes I keep eating after I begin feeling full. It's kind of sad, when I think about... But definitely the reason why I am where I am today.

 

I do want to track my weight loss... Hopefully if the results don't come, I won't get down. I will try to keep my expectations to a minimum.

 

I'll be nice and not single anyone out, there is some great advice in this thread and some not so great. If you want my advice, JD, you are certainly welcome to it, but it never hurts to see what options are out there. What I will say for now, is take the time to learn it the right way and take "baby steps" as you say. You don't have to have a new diet, workout, or life routine figured out in a week, it's an evolving process that always has room for improvement.

 

Of course I want the advice, hence the thread. lol

 

And being that you are the resident expert, I find your opinion to be extremely valuable. If you would rather PM me, feel free. I just want (need) the help, and I will take it anyway I can get it.

[RANGA+ 1,210]

Definitely interested in anything labeled as "basic"... hahaha.

 

They don't have a rowing machine, but they do have a couple of these... "All In One" kinda deals where you can adjust them to do just about anything. Not sure what it is called.

 

More protein, less carbs. Got it. (I'm actually taking notes. ha)

 

Thanks Ranga.

 

Haha awesome...I'll try writing some basic weight-training circuits up for you this weekend

 

Ahhh okay...do they have any bikes? That's probably the best thing for pure weight loss. When you hear about guys that need to lose 15-20lbs before the start of the season, guaranteed they'll be in the gym, 7 days a week doing some killer spin sessions on the bikes. The weight just drops off. But yeah that all in one thing can be pretty handy. Ask what sort of things you can do with them. I'm pretty sure they should have something similar to a rowing set-up.

 

Yup protein, protein, protein! If your thinking about taking protein supplements (eg. protein shakes), right before your workout and right after your workout are the best times to take them. Make sure you gradually adjust your diet though. As too large a change in too short a period of time will just be a massive shock to your body and you can end up doing more harm than good. Also 6 smalls meals throughout the day, is better than 3 large ones. It can be quite hard to start off with, but just slowly get used to eating smaller meals and having a healthy snack in between them (eg. fruits, muesli, yoghurt). And soon enough you'll be having the 6 meals. Not only will it help with weight loss, but you just feel better in general, as you don't get bloated from having large lunches or dinners.

 

Also, when I used to train with my friend (who's a total fitness freak), one thing he always reminded me was that fitness isn't about how fast or strong you are, it's about how quickly your body recovers from physical exertion. The best example I can give is an offensive lineman in the NFL. You look at some of those guys, who are easily over 300lbs and they don't really look "fit" in the generally accepted definition of the word. But those guys are working their ass off every play of the game, and putting their bodies under incredible stress. And not only do they do it for 3-4 hours straight, but they turn right around and do it again the next week. They are INCREDIBLY fit.

 

And no problem JD...happy to help

[badgers 380]

I am about 6 foot 2, 280 pounds.

 

If you're bald, you'd be exactly like my dad.

 

As for the weight loss advice, my family is genetically obese. But I manage to keep it off by every day tasks involving a few simple things that aren't hard to do at all:

 

Instead of driving: walk. To friends houses, bars, movie theaters, etc. Unless you're taking a date out or something don't make them walk lol. I know it's a pain in the ass and your legs will probably hurt for a while, and every time you see a car or bus you'll want to hop in but don't. Walk.

 

Eating: avoid eating/drinking too much dairy.

 

I know you play video games so this applies to you: don't eat when you're playing. Don't even have food near your gaming area. That applies to the following as well:

 

Don't bring food around the house with you. Keep it all in the kitchen, fridge, pantry, cabinets wherever you store them. All that does is make it more convenient to eat.

[Duck Fallas 209]

I have lost over 30 lbs in the last 8 weeks by doing three simple things.

 

1. Walk 5 miles a day. (Seriously)

 

2. Don't drink soda. At all.

 

3. No fast food.

[rzb+ 367]

Glad to hear ya wanna make a change F4E. That's the first step! Now all ya gotta do is get a plan in place and stick with it. Of course that's the hard part but it's also what creates the results.

 

My advice to you would honestly be to send Socal a PM with where you are and where ya wanna be. He helped me get not one, but two routines suited to me. I've been working out for about six weeks now and noticed huge differences in my strength, mentality, and just overall personality. And I owe a lot of that to him. The guy knows what he's talking about and does a great job answering questions about how and why certain workouts should be paired together.

 

Good luck to ya man. Let us know how you progress.