Wrenny

So I started my diet about 4 weeks ago. 5 meals a day, mostly protien. I started at 245 and I'm 230 now. My goal is just 2 pounds a week so I can motivate myself that its not hard and keep with it. So far so good.

I also told myself I was going to do cardio to help the weight along. I'm mainly going to lose weight and not bulk up. So in these 4 weeks I've probably did some cardio about 4 days. ;/ This last week I only lost one pound so its motivated me to go back into working out really good. Usually sat or sunday is my day to cheat because wife likes to go out and eat which means I can't hold myself back from getting a nice burger or something bad for me.

Anyways. I work odd hours, always on call, not enough money, etc to get a gym membership to its full extent. At home I have a treadmill(incline broke ;/).

So what cardio do you suggest and for how long? Usually I've been running/walking for 30 minutes on treadmill, then doing situps, pushups, and like random things with 10 pound hand weights for my arm while I do situps or running.

Occassionally I'll do Tae Bo with resistance bands. Man I'm afraid to admit it, but those bands kick my ass. I'll be sore for a few days and I think I need to stick to that workout or make up my own with the bands.

So under these circumstances, what do you guys suggest?

Crashsti

just keep doing what you're doing. the treadmill is fine and if you feel you get a good workout from Tae Bo with bands then stick with that too. you're just going to have to make the best out of the situation unless you change your work schedule/career. on days when you only have 20 minutes to work out use them!!! don't think you can't get a good workout in 20 minutes. do the Tae Bo with bands or really push yourself on the treadmill for 20 minutes. on days when you have no time try to squeeze in a few sets of pushups, situps and bodyweight squats. you appear to be happy with your progress so far just keep with it.

Wrenny

Yeah, I am definately happy with my results and it amazes me just by eating right how I can lose weight. I used to be a twice a day fast food and just stopping that is probably the main reason. I went from at least 10 cans of pop a day to nothing but water(caffeine headaches were killer at the beginning).

I'm just telling myself if I do just at good at working out as I do with my eating, it will pay off even more. My goal is around 200. I'm 61. I used to weigh 210 in my prime.

Is it true body can only process about 50g of protien an hour? Basically I'm asking because if I eat tuna in the morning + a protien shake/milk is that fine or should I put tuna later in the day?

sitnspin

My understanding is that it's even less than 50g -- more like 30. So yeah -- the more you space it out through the day, the better.

When you say "mainly protein", I hope you're still getting plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially the green vegetables like spinach and broccoli -- they're packed with iron and calcium and vitamins, and they also reduce the acid buildup in your muscles that contributes to soreness.

Really keep it up with the pushups, and google for a variety of them. You won't get bulky with muscle mass, but you'll still strengthen and develop your muscles, and that really contributes to fat burning.

If you got to that weight drinking TEN cans of pop a day, you're accomplishing a lot of the work just by cutting it out. Check this out -- because of the amount of sugar in a regular can of coke, they say that if you drink ONE a day for seven days, that's the equivalent of just eating one of those half-liter mason jars of white sugar each week -- like sitting down and pouring it down your throat. Ten cans a day? I don't even want to think about it. Be glad you're not already a diabetic (if you aren't), and enjoy getting back in shape while you still can.

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Wrenny

Yeah, the pop was crazy. I'm not exagerating either. If it wasn't 10 cans, it was more.

I'm doing fruits a lot. Usually applies, bananas, and oranges. The only vegs I do is mixed vegetables(at dinner), carrots, cucumbers, and celery. Spinach I can't handle the taste but I can handle broccili, just never bought any yet.

I usually buy one of those ground turkey meat tube things and make patties out of them. How many calories should I aim for dinner when I'm eating good? I think they are like 200 per serving in one of those or lower, I could be wrong. I usually do about 3 patties.

Pushups really help if I can only do about 10 right now before I die? Should I just do like 5, take a breather, 5, take a breather, 5? Or just try to max out when I do it once or twice?

sitnspin

As far as I'm concerned, you got to your present weight drinking all that pop. So by cutting it out, you're going down to a fraction of your usual caloric intake, so for now, don't even worry too much about how many calories you're taking in from food.

As for vegetables, you should know that contact with direct heat kills the vitamins and nutrients, so they just become empty calories. Frying is the worst way to cook vegetables for that reason. Steaming is the best, followed by microwaving them (which is basically steaming, since you put a bit of water in with them and cover them). Eat them raw whenever possible. Learn to love salads.

Also, you haven't said anything about starch, but that's a big culprit for bodyfat. Stay away from white flour and white sugar, and anything made with them. Less evil but still not great are potatoes and white rice -- they all stimulate insulin production in your body, and when you've got more insulin in you than you can process, it leads to more fat stores. You definitely need a few servings of grains a day, but try to get them from whole grain breads and cereals -- the darker, the better. Brown rice is better than white rice for the same reason, and sweet potatoes are better than regular white potatoes.

Drink a lot of water throughout the day. It raises your metabolism, gives you more energy, speeds digestion, and flushes toxins out of your system.

As for your question about pushups, I would recommend doing three sets of five per day, Monday to Friday, with a short rest in between. On week two, try doing three sets of six, and each week, try to up the number. When I first got into doing pushups, I couldn't do many more than ten at a time either. But I kept at it, and now I can squeeze off 40 or 50 in a set.

Your muscles grow (and you get stronger) when they're resting -- when they're healing up from getting taxed. So make sure not to overtrain, or you won't make any progress. But at this point, if you're only doing 15 pushups a day, that's not a problem.

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Wrenny

I usually microwave the veggies but wife has been frying them so now that I got your advice, I won't be doing that anymore.

I'm not really counting calories that much but I look at the back of boxes to see how many are in each. Like heres what I ate today and its usually not that much different every day.

6am protien shake
7am plain yogourt smoothie and oatmeal.
10am tuna.
12pm turkey lunch meat, 2 sandwiches only using 1 piece of bread per sandwich.
2pm carrots
4pm is workout
6pm is dinner which is baked/grilled chicken or turkey meat.

so basically from what im gather is im gonna take out like one pattie of meat and add more veggies to my diet.

im doing at least 100+ ounces of water a day.

Seems I'll have to figure out something for grain.

Edit, seems like the oatmeal is grain. ;p

sitnspin

Yeah, the oatmeal is a good source of grains and fibre.

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RO3434

then keep up the good work. i think you'll know it when it i time to change things up a bit.

sitnspin

Also, 2 lbs a week is a lot to lose, and you'll probably find that after a while it doesn't come off that fast. Don't get discouraged. The first weight you lose is the easiest, and then you have to look for new ways to challenge yourself to burn more off.

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rugger

Looks like you are making some good progress. Cut out all refined sugars, that makes a huge difference.
Crash and Sit hit a few great points.

I am a huge advocate of empty stomach morning cardio to shed fat the fastest, it's safe and you will not lose muscle as long as you do moderate cardio, nothing high intesity or your body will switch over to gluconeogenesis (converting protein[muscle]) to glucose.

As for home workouts, there are tons of BW (bodyweight) exercises that you can use, pushups are so underrated by the masses. Sprints are also very underrated - they are awesome for building explosive power, strength and even mass(diet dependant).

Before and after resistance workouts make sure you are getting plenty of carbs and protein to replenish and rebuild.

With your body composition changing it's likely you will see a plateau in your weight loss, since you will be creating muscle, muscle is a good thing, the more you have the more fat you burn.

Good luck.

Wrenny

I was going to start a new thread but I guess i can keep it here and hope for more responses.

I started at 245 and I'm 228 I dunno, 6 weeks later. Datebook at home. ;p

I've been stuck at 228 these last two weeks. My diet hasn't changed but my workouts are getting less and less because of working storms lately I've only been working out 3 times a day. Softball is coming up soon this summer so thats 4 nights a week I'll be doing that so thats hard.

My main question is how do I get rid of my gut? I'm one of those guys with the small legs, girl legs, that I do all these leg work outs and never get tired. So I'm not worried about my lower body. So far all the weight has come off my face and gut but my gut is still there and since I hit this brick wall I think I need to focus on my gut more.

Should I just keep doing the walking/running, lunges, pushups, pullups, crunches routine but keep more intense until I break this weight? Not losing weight these past two weeks is motivating me more but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. Should I be doing 2 protien shakes a day(morning and night) if I'm not doing weight lifting and just cardio?

Crashsti

genetics determine where fat is stored. in men it tends to be around the waist. its the first place you gain it and the last place you will lose it. just keep working out and if you have to up the intensity during workouts to make up for missing one or two a week do so. weight loss is about a lifestyle change and you have to stick with it. as for the protien shakes? if your not lifting they become less important, basically it just becomes extra calories.

sitnspin

The gut always seems to be the last to go. Just keep at it. If you're finding that your cardio isn't burning anymore fat off, there are always ways to work harder and sweat more. I know I'm a broken record about burpees, but they're a pretty effective fat burner. So are hills. If you run on a treadmill, crank that incline way up. If you run outside, look for a hilly area that'll really challenge you.

Also, to really lose your gut it has to be your diet. Lower your daily caloric intake. Make sure you're cutting out all refined sugar and starch. Keep your fat intake to 30% of your total calories, and make sure it's just good natural fats. In general, eat clean, which Rich Franklin describes as "Unless it grew from the ground or it came along and ate what did, don't eat it." If you think about that, bread didn't grow from the ground. Pasta didn't grow from the ground. There's no part of an animal that's already cheese. You're breaking it down to just eating meat, fruits and vegetables, nuts, eggs, whole grains, etc. And drink a lot of water.

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rugger

Again, Crash and Sit hit it, but I have to say it again, "EMPTY STOMACH MORNING CARDIO!" After a fast (sleep) your body's glycogen stores in the muscles and liver are depleted (or close to it), your body will use fat as it's primary energy source, assuming your intensity is relative low to moderate. The awesome thing about this type of workout is that the workout can be pretty short and not difficult at all. Even a brisk walk for 30-40 minutes or a light BW workout will be sufficient to burn fat.
Replace water with Green Tea (atleast sometimes), more and more research is proving the benefits of Green Tea. It will not be a significant diurectic, so it is a good replacement for water, you are getting the water in the tea plus you get addition nutrients.

If you workouts are lessening then you need to cut back the calories, you need to be below maintenance if you are not training. For softball "training" (I can't believe I put training and softball together) I think that being around maintenance will be just fine...honestly, there isn't much activity in this err...sport. You might consume a relatively low calorie meal real placement afterwards, but not much more...unless you actully do sprint/interval training doing the softball thing.

If you have bird legs, it could just be cursed genetics, but I went from bird legs to 28-30inch muscular thighs with squats and sprints. You can easily overtrain (or under recuperate) legs if you train them too often or do not get the recovery nutrition in place. Legs are a big muscle group that require lots of rest and nutrition - keep that in mind. Good exercises - squats, lunges, jump squats (YES, JUMPING SQUATSw/weights), and SPRINTS.

Good Luck.

Wrenny

Haha, I wasn't saying softball is apart of my training its just 4 nights a week, 2 games each, doesn't leave much rest for my family if I added in working out.

As for working out in the morning, I already get up at 5am to go to work. If I woke up at 4am then I'd be in bed pretty early and once again, no time for family then. ;/

But I'll cut bread out, I've been eating sandwiches every now and then. But the rest of the diet seems I'm sticking to.

Just gotta make a decision about the protien shake.

rugger

The carb content and timing of the protein shake should be the real question...if this is a meal replacement you want to use a low glycemic carb source like Oat Muscle or Rice Oligodextrin, and you should get some healthy fats in there (flax, olive oil, egg yolk). If you are using the shake pre and post workout then slam plenty of dextrose (and/or maltodextrin) in the shake, maybe creatine and NO FAT. This will create a nice environment for replenishing the lost glycogen and cram the protein into the muscles to repair and rebuild.

Like the carbs, the protein source can vary depending on the timing...as a Meal Replacement, you may want something with slower digestion (egg, soy, whey). These slower digesting proteins are also good for night time intake is. If you are using the protein pre and post, use something light and lightening fast like PeptoPro (this will absolete Whey as "The" Protein).

Oh, and just because you have a day or 2 off between workouts doesn't mean you should ax the protein...those are the days your body is trying to repair itself...however, unless you are trying to gain mass (which you are not), whole foods should serve you well on non-training days.

You could scrap all of the above on go on a CKD (cyclical ketogenic diet) - in which should burn fat like crazy, or go with a less drastica method like the Paleo Diet or Zone - all of which, IMO are great.

Good Luck.

GSPALLTHEWAY

normally id jump in with some ideas about diets... but that looks pretty good to me! esspecially if you can stick to something like that... i can see im going to become a huge fan of the fruit drinks in the morning too.. tons of better carbs EARLY on in the day, to be burned through normal activities...
i guess the main thing for you is cardio and more cardio... with cardio and that diet youll definently start shedding fat
*also, while carbs will add to body fat if you do not do cardio or eat at night, do remember you do need SOME carbs in order to do aerobic workouts at the levels you need to be working at to get your HR up for longer periods of time.. so dont forget that!

Wrenny

I'm a complete newbie. All these things you said I have no idea where to look for them or what food they are in. I am doing a protien shake in the morning and I'm not doing it at night for now because I don't feel I'm doing enough working out to justify it.

I don't know why I'm stuck when I think I'm not even eating enough calories to begin with. Like yesterday I had protien shake in morning, 200 calories. Banana 100 calories, carrots 50 calories, 1 turkey sandwich 150 calories, oatmeal 100, dinner i had 4 pieces of baked chicken which reads 110 per serving each serving is 4 pieces and then canned veggies for like another 100. so thats like barely 1,000 calories. wow. maybe im not eating enough. oops. or my calorie count is wrong.

second question, no to sugars but milk has 12g of sugar. so im doing at least 12g a day if not more. is that okay? i cant do anything else with my protien or it tastes nasty.

sitnspin

No to processed sugar. I say you stick with foods that have a natural sugar content like fruits and vegetables and milk, but don't eat any white sugar, or corn syrup, or basically anything where sugar's been added.

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