Help needed!! Thanks.

Abbs

Hi Guys,

Well... I have finally managed to get myself to the gym and am about two weeks in...

I have decided that enough is enough and really need to start doing something about my weight which has crept up over the past few years and now stands at 19.5 stone. I am 6ft 4ins tall.

I have a desk job which makes eating right a bit difficult as lunches seem to be taken 'on the hop'. I know this is not really an excuse but its a bit of a stumbling block for me...

I was once in pretty good shape... i played American Football three times a week and trained and ate well.. since then its basically gone to pot.

I am currently trying to lose about 4 stone in the next year. I reckon that is about 5lbs per month. I think this is reasonable but i may be wrong?

In view of my appalling record with nutrition i am currently doing the slim fast shakes instead of breakfast and dinner... so diet looks like this..

8.00am Slim Fast shake
11.00am Banana
1pm Slim Fast Shake
3pm Celery - 6 Sticks
5.30 pm - Banana
6pm _ Gym
8pm Dinner - Two chicken fillets, salad etc... or tuna.

Now i know this is very low calorie... i reckon 1600 per day MAX. The idea is too lose weight and then start with a blank canvas to pack lean muscle on. I am doing this because after reading articles it seems you cant build muscle and lose fat at same time??

Gym routine is heavily cardio dominated.
I am going 4 times per week... basically every other day.

I hour Cardio - X Trainer, Bike etc..
Core Weights Workout - Light Weights - Many Reps.
Shoulder Press
Bench Press
Dumbell Curls
Lat Bar Pull Downs
Leg Press
Leg Curl
Tricep Press

Now i have no idea whether what i am doing is right so thought i would ask the experts!!

If someone has a couple of mins spare to look at my program that would be awesome..

Thanks.

Simon

andyboro

hello & welcome

i must admit, i did things your way in the past (i.e really low cals - tonnes of cardio) and in all fairness it does work to a point but you are really setting yourself up to make things tougher in the long run... after a while at best you will find that all that happens is the weight stops coming off... but what do you do then? worst case could be that you cut cals further/train harder and become run down/ill and end up laid up recovering (and probably gaining weight lol) - not to mention the higher risk of falling off the wagon due to general hunger!

realistically, with your size and with a good hours worth of cardio you could easily be taking in something like 2500 cals (maybe more) and still reach your goals IMO.

id drop the slim fast and add in some decent food - even something as simple as a tuna/mayo sandwich on wholemeal or something would be far better IMO... or if its a struggle with work (as it is for me) a liquid meal of whey and fine oats or something would be better than that rubbish lol - not to mention LOADS cheaper.

training wise, id say if your goal right now is purely to lose fat then what you are doing is fine.

you could also google carb cycling..... unless theres some info on here?? I know thats the way forward for me and it seems to work well for a lot of guys without the need to feel like your dieting

Abbs

Thanks for that mate...

The plan is too do the slim fast thing for four to six weeks... just to give me a kick in the right direction.. It sounds really lame but if i see some difference quickly i reckon it will be easier to keep the motivation going...

I want something that is long term acheivable rather than an extreme short term fix... So from that point of view its a whole lifestyle change... which i am looking forward to!! Have seen lots of the diets on here and see they all follow the 'little but often theory' so will definatly be getting in on that!!

Hopefully it will be enjoyable too...

Thanks again for the advice...

leglock

4 stone seems a lot of weight to lose mate at that height....im near 6` 4 myself at about 17 stone....i couldnt imagine 2 stone less than what i am !....obviously we are all built different and carry weight different but it still seems a lot of weight to lose...
Maybe after good exercise and good nutrition for a while you will think a couple of stone sufficient ?.....all the best.

mark1cabs

you can do it if you stick to it these guy s will help more than me lol im new too but i was 19.7 nearly 7 months ago now im 13 and trying to bulk up again with muscle not fat lol but if you work hard and do things right youll get there
good luck
mark1cabs

Abbs

Thanks for all the help and encouragement....

I agree Leglock that 4.5 Stone does seem alot... i think like you say i will see what i look and feel like after taking a couple of stone off...

Its hard to judge what i feel like at 17 Stone so will have a think when i get there...

First week results are in.... 5LBS lost. Pretty pleased really.

CMinOZ

Hey Abbs

Good luck with your goals, I am a "Desk Jockey" to and used to find eating on the run much easier but also ended up with a fair bit of excess baggage. Those that have read my log on this site know that I am not a big fan of cardio as IMO it is just time that you wont get back.

I started this time last year at 113kg and very quickly dieted down to around the 100kg mark, I used a cyclic ketogenic diet, which works pretty well while sparing muscle. The problem with you slim fast shakes and such coupled with cardio is that very quickly your body will start to use muscle for energy which no matter what your goals (unless you like the EMO look) is not good. My diet was:

Breakfast - 4 eggs - Poached or scrambled and a cup of coffee with two table spoons of cream (not milk)

Mid morn - Whey protein shake (low carb) with 2 tablespoons of cream

Lunch - 250g Chicken (I cooked at home and took this to work) with 25g of Salted Macadamia Nuts (You could use Cashews)

Mid afternoon - Same as Mid-morning

Dinner - Same as Lunch but with cup of coffee with 2 tablespoons of cream

This is a bit different to Atkins diets and such in that you avoid cheese and fatty meats and also reduce your blood sugar levels below that "get in my way and I'll kill you" phase. Cycle the diet like this 10 days on and then 4 days with some carbs (add 2 slices of bread at breakfast and replace macadamias with almonds, and remove cream).

I lost just over 3 stone.

Whatever you choose to do good luck.

CMinOZ

Abbs

The slim fast thing will definatly be short term.. Its just a fairly easy way to get me started...

After that its going to very much be a lifestyle change in that i will generally be eating alot better... everything in moderation as a pose to eating as much junk as i could!

Have started making stir frys and am enjoying salads with chicken or tuna.

I am really enjoying the gym again and once i got the first session over i realised how much i had missed it.. there have been other good benefits too.. MY sleep pattern has got much better and i am feeling less tired in a morning..

All in all it was a change i definatly needed to make.. i think being able to document my progress on here is also good because i dont like to fail at anything so hopefully that will keep me going!!

Thanks again for the help.

5lbs this week is a good start.. am sure most of this is water but its a nice confidence builder.

Simon.

Abbs

Am a big (In more ways than one!! ) spurs fan so tonight i am planning to watch the game at the gym whilst on the bike...

Anyone else do this type of thing??

I will watch the first half on the cross trainer then second half on the bike.. works out at a decent cardio workout.

Tall

Have you looked at the ingredients... Slim fast are mainly sugar in one form or another.... Just have some MRPs or Whey shakes if you really want to have a shake... Anything but slim fast....