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Help me lose some weight...
urahonky
Cynical Old ManRegistered User regular
Cynical Old ManRegistered User regular
Hey guys. It's that time of the year again... And I've gained a lot of weight as usual. This time I'm hoping to keep it off and keep myself into shape. The problem is that I've started working out on Black Friday and have only lost a single pound, and haven't noticed any changes in my clothing.
Here's a look at my diet:
I've started increasing my fiber... Went from maybe 10g a day to almost 40g... That's with the high fiber bagels, oatmeal, and fiber pills.
Breakfast 1:
3 Egg Omlet
1 High Fiber Bagel
2 Strips of low fat bacon
Breakfast 2:
1 Cup of Oatmeal
2 Strips of low fat bacon
Breakfast 3:
4 Pancakes
2 Strips of low fat bacon
Breakfast 4:
1 - 2 Bowls of High Fiber Cereal
All my breakfasts include a large glass of Orange Juice or Water if I don't have any OJ left.
Lunch usually consists on either leftovers or 2 Lean Pockets or 2 Sandwiches...
Dinner is very random, since my wife cooks. The other day she made some chicken and veggies, the day before that a lasagna casarole.
My workout:
I have started working out 2 days in a row with one day of break after. I first started doing one day on, one day off.
I do either:
30 minutes on the exercise bike without a break
or
10 minutes on the elliptical with a 2 minute break, 10 minutes again with 2 minute break, and another 10 minutes.
On those days. Now I figured since I've changed my diet slightly (got rid of coffee and soda) AND started working out that I'd lose a few pounds easily. But I dropped from 246.5 to 245.5 in almost two weeks. So I think I'm doing something wrong...
I try to eat 4 hours apart, if that helps. Should I be working out BEFORE I eat, or AFTER? What is it I'm missing? Thanks for your time! I'd like to stop looking like a lazy slob...
Here's a look at my diet:
I've started increasing my fiber... Went from maybe 10g a day to almost 40g... That's with the high fiber bagels, oatmeal, and fiber pills.
Breakfast 1:
3 Egg Omlet
1 High Fiber Bagel
2 Strips of low fat bacon
Breakfast 2:
1 Cup of Oatmeal
2 Strips of low fat bacon
Breakfast 3:
4 Pancakes
2 Strips of low fat bacon
Breakfast 4:
1 - 2 Bowls of High Fiber Cereal
All my breakfasts include a large glass of Orange Juice or Water if I don't have any OJ left.
Lunch usually consists on either leftovers or 2 Lean Pockets or 2 Sandwiches...
Dinner is very random, since my wife cooks. The other day she made some chicken and veggies, the day before that a lasagna casarole.
My workout:
I have started working out 2 days in a row with one day of break after. I first started doing one day on, one day off.
I do either:
30 minutes on the exercise bike without a break
or
10 minutes on the elliptical with a 2 minute break, 10 minutes again with 2 minute break, and another 10 minutes.
On those days. Now I figured since I've changed my diet slightly (got rid of coffee and soda) AND started working out that I'd lose a few pounds easily. But I dropped from 246.5 to 245.5 in almost two weeks. So I think I'm doing something wrong...
I try to eat 4 hours apart, if that helps. Should I be working out BEFORE I eat, or AFTER? What is it I'm missing? Thanks for your time! I'd like to stop looking like a lazy slob...
urahonky on
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edit: And I'm 6', 170 lbs.
Also, coffee is very low calorie if you don't mix in a bunch of sugar/cream/etc. You don't need to cut it out necessarily. Soda though is just awful with calories and nutritionally. Seriously, the USDA says black coffee has about 2 calories. Drink that stuff if you like it!
Oh God that sounds horrible.
Plain popcorn, unsalted nuts, carrots, maybe some other stuff. Great snack food. How much do you recoil at the idea of eating 3 instead of 4 pancakes and snacking on stuff/drinking lots of coffee/water?
One person I know has had a lot of success joining a group where they all talk about their days/post facebook statuses about their workouts. I actually enjoy reading them because I know it keeps them motivated. Mutual support is really important too!
Also, for the large OJ, are we talking 10z large or north of a pint large? OJ has a lot of calories in it.
Skip the caloric beverages and stick to water and coffee.
It may not be a direct way to lose weight, but cutting out pre-packaged foods probably will help in the long-term.
Breakfast:
2 eggs, 1 strip bacon, glass of OJ ('bout 6-8oz)
Lunch:
1 frozen lunch (typically lean cuisine because they put the calories right on the front of the box), around 350 calories, with an eye towards protein (aka, not their vegetarian options).
Snack:
1 South Beach/Protein-oriented granola bar, 140 calories or so (around 3:30)
Dinner:
4-5 oz protein-item, typically a fish fillet, shrimp, or chicken breast
8oz green veggie (green beans, artichoke, broc, asparagus, brussels sprouts, etc.)
Both usually cooked or served with a small amount of butter, and tasty seasonings/spices.
That's it!
I also run 4 miles in the morning, and on those days I have an english muffin with stuff on it and a glass of wine at night.
You've got a ton of carbs and should eat more protein. Protein will keep you full, carbs will make you hungry. Fiber will naturally come from trying to fit your diet around those limits, because you will find yourself eating more veggies. Fiber from carbohydrate sources are generally not very useful because you gotta eat a lot of carbs to get that fiber. Fiber from plants, especially green plants, is great! And you're going to want to eat a lot of it at dinner anyway.
Note that if I don't do a frozen lunch, it's leftovers from the previous dinner, so you can substitute "3-4 oz protein, 8oz green plant food" for the lunch.
I've increased my fiber because about a month ago I had a really, really bad hemorrhoid so I've been trying to keep that high to get rid of it 100%. Plus I heard it's good when you're trying to lose weight.
So I'll increase the veggies I eat in every meal except breakfast, lower the number of servings for each, and keep with water/coffee. Is it better to eat before or after I workout? I usually eat before, wait an hour, then go workout. Is that sufficient?
American).
I still don't drink coffee though...
Anyway, you're not going to just magically shed pounds. I encourage you to set up some realistic and small goals you can achieve one at a time. You listed like 5 major changes to your diet like they're nothing.
That's the equivalent of not having that second sandwich.
A big man like you needs to start lifting some big (small to start) weights. Don't hurt yourself, but spend an hour attempting to make every major muscle group in your body exhausted with free weights and you'll be burning some serious calories!
Then focus on doing upper body and lower body on separate days; on your rest days, do 30 minutes of stationary bike or elliptical. Only do cardio work when your muscles are just too tired to lift more weight and it helps you keep your routine up.
When you exhaust your muscle fibers, they are depleted of their reserve energy and have to get more from your blood sugar, or your fat stores. This decision is made by insulin! Understanding this process is important for maximizing the amount of times your muscle fibers get refueled from your fat reserves quickly so you can do more. Many people who have problems with portion control (especially over sweets) and are not used to regular challenging exercise have insulin balance problems. This causes your body to not go get food from your fat supply, even though there is no sugar left in your blood stream. This causes your hypothalamus to spaz out and direct you to the nearest snack, pronto.
Conquer your metabolism with regular exercise, small portions and increase the percentage of protein in the total calories you consume.
Its your time to shine man! Its time to prepare for the coming zombie apocalypse, you need to be able to pull yourself up on to something out of the reach of the undead!
Honestly, this is one of my major motivations for working out when I don't feel like it. Not in a serious, I'm scared of this way, but it makes me smile and I feel better about being able to do more. My wife and I always joke about doing 10 more reps or we won't be able to get away in the coming zombie apocalypse.
Its not easy and I'm still not where I want to be yet either. My biggest downfall is alcohol. Living in Portland with so much delicious beer around me, and when the weather gets colder, I love that warming sensation of whiskey. However, that's what the zombies want me to do. Then I am easier to catch and more succulent; so, I must say no to that second (or 3rd, 4th...) beer and pick up the weights! (also, once you get stronger/more fit, rock climbing is awesome!)
what? no! Drop the pancakes and the bagel. a bagel is like 250 calories; 2/3 strips of bacon is like 80, and that fat and protein means you won't get hungry.
Your breakfast should ideally JUST be eggs and bacon! That's it!
Dieting isn't hard, when it comes down to it. The problem is that you need to make a serious life change in order to lose and maintain the loss. That means you must find ways to avoid hunger, because hunger will make you a) eat more than you should, b) binge on bad foods, and c) cause you to gain weight when you go off the diet.
Buy more bacon and eggs. Buy the Hormel pre-cooked bacon so you can have it in the morning without thinking about cooking it. Don't worry about salt, cholesterol, all that shit -- hypertension and cholesterol are a problem of being fat, so when you aren't fat anymore you will have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol.
Also I'm going to disagree on concentrating on weights. I lost around 60 pounds (was at 260) on pure cardio alone. The trick is that you have to do some form of interval training. Walk for 3 minutes, run for 1. Keep it up at that pace until you're comfortable, then increase it.
Everyone else is commenting on diet, so I'm a gonna tackle the exercise.
First off, the topic of food consumption before or after: Personally I always preferred working out after work, and then eating my evening meal afterwards. Other people like to get their gym time in at the beginning of the day, usually consuming a very light breakfast half an hour before the gym, then working out, and then grabbing some additional food afterwards.
Regarding your current workout, if all you're doing is Cardio, I'd recommend at least two hours every three days, I usually did heavy cardio (60 minutes of running/biking) on one day, and the next I did light cardio (20 minute jog) and then spent about 40 minutes lifting weights, with a third day for rest.
I stopped coffee because I do put a lot of cream and sugar in it. I've tried reducing it, and it isn't bad, but I'd probably still just prefer water instead.
EggyToast I trust you and I'll do that immediately. I always thought I was supposed to have a lot of calories in the morning to keep me going through the day.
Tomorrow is my 2nd day... I'll try to extend it to an hour... Since day 3 is my rest period. The workout room at my apartment complex does have weights. I wasn't sure if that was going to help me lose weight or just gain muscle.
Depends.
Do you like to add alot of sugar to make it taste better, or is the instant packaged stuff (mixed with sugar powder to make it taste better)?
Or are we talking raw steel cut oats that you soaked the night before and turn into a delicious breakfast feast (without using too much sweets, maybe some fruit)?
Cereals, cream of wheat, bagels, bread, rice, etc; drop it all out of your diet. Hell, if it's in a box then throw it out!
Your diet should basically be meat, fats, greens, and water.
Out of curiosity, what would you recommend for someone who is vegetarian?
My wife is, but mostly because she was raised that way and just doesn't like most meat, not for health or ethical reasons. She'll eat some chicken and she really likes bacon oddly enough, but thats pretty much the only meat she can stand and she doesn't really like chicken all that much.
tl;dr what are the best sources of lean protein from non-meat?
Weight lifting, especially exercises that work your Core and Legs, will help you when it comes to improving your cardiovascular endurance. Everyone thinks of their legs when it comes to the muscles uses to run, but the muscles in your abdomen, lower back, chest, neck, and even arms all play a role when we walk or run.
If you're drinking coffee and want something to suppliment your non-water drink choices get hot green tea. I live in a place that's very very cold this time of year so it's easy to add this in.
Unfortunately I'm unemployed so I'm trying not to break the bank... And buying fresh everything will bankrupt me in no time. :P
Weights are a fine way to lose weight but the problem is that most people can't do them for very long. Think of running or biking or elliptical -- you do it for an hour or so, which really uses a lot of your body's muscles. Now compare that to weight lifting, where you use one or two muscles for... 5 minutes? If you actually lift weights for a solid hour you will burn calories but it comes down to efficiency at that point.
As for breakfast, yes, you should eat it, but it's not so much the calories but the *kind* of calories. If you have cereal with sugar and juice, and a bagel, and all very carby things, you'll eat it and then be starving in an hour. BUT if you have a big proteiny breakfast with eggs, bacon, butter, whatever, that'll stick with you until lunchtime (or even later).
You're a dude, and you're kind of a big dude, so you should actually be OK with a little "extra calories" like sugar in oatmeal, a little sugar in coffee, and such. The biggest problem with your current diet is the bagel, the pancakes, and the pastas.
When you do eat bready things, try to focus on whole grain (not just 'whole wheat'). If you look at the nutrition info for whole grains and compare them to the non-whole grain, you'll often find that the amount of carbohydrates involved is around half. I know that's true for my english muffins, at least (something like 40g of carbs vs 22 for my whole grain ones).
The biggest change for me was dropping starchy veggies, like potatoes (the devil, despite how tasty they are). If you want chips (and who doesn't want chips?) get tortilla chips -- corn is at least a whole grain.
I'm sure it's not as scientifically accurate as the Atinks diet or whatever, but I think you'll probably lose weight and not feel deprived if you just eat the foods you love and cut down on the portions. A lot of people on diet sites talk about eating chicken and steamed veggies every single day, which I think is pretty fucking disgusting. If you google "Calorie Calculator" you should get a few sites that will approximate how much you can eat per day and lose weight.
And every once in a while I give myself a treat, now that I'm at my "stable" weight. That way I still get the food I like, but I don't get fat from it.
OH! I just remembered. Do you like cheese? Congrats, it's your new best friend. Your snack is now string cheese. No crackers or bread to have with it, of course. And nuts! Do you like cashews? Peanuts? A handful of nuts will tide you over as a snack — my wife buys the pre-measured nuts from Trader Joes to save herself the trouble.
People are right in the abstract - 30 minutes of bike riding isn't a whole lot when it comes to cardio. But it's a fine way to start. Ultimately you need to find a form of cardio that you enjoy doing. Personally I hate stationary bikes and I hate gyms generally. I get bored staring at a wall, and it's too easy to just stop. I like to go running. It lets me see the neighborhood i'm in, get outside when it's still light out, and I can't get home unless I keep exercising. It's fine to ramp up doing what you're doing now - the trick is to keep pushing yourself. Doing the same form of exercise over and over again also gets boring, so it's important to switch it up.
Right now i'm running 3 times during the work week, lifting twice on floating days when I have time, and then do a long run on the weekend. If I wasn't prepping for some distance races i'd be doing more mixed cardio. I would consider signing up for a 5k and then doing a couch to 5K program. Losing weight is a frustrating goal to have to think about constantly because you have to work out every day but will see differences over the span of weeks.
Exercising just to lose weight is not a sustainable practice - you have to enjoy what you're doing. I find structuring my workouts in terms of training for races keeps me motivated and I can focus either on distance or speed (hah, well, in relative terms. even when i was marathon-ready at a slow 10 min/mi my steady 4 mile time when pushed hovered between 28-30 minutes, which is not too fast.).
Not so much that it haves to be fresh. It's the sad fact that most processed foods is just saturated with non-fiber carbs.
I'm going to start portioning my meals starting tomorrow and working out harder... I'd rather not run outside since it's 19 degrees right now, and I'm not exactly in a safe neighborhood.
I'm not ignoring you CygnusZ... I'm going to portion control my diet now. I thought that acting normal and then adding exercise into it was going to help make a difference, but it didn't seem to be the case.
e: Casually, I noticed. Now that I'm reading labels it's amazing the amount of carbs in things.
Good luck avoiding processed foods without spending a lot of money.
also, focus on health/overall fitness rather than weight loss - if you've always been a big guy. obviously, if you were skinny before, your natural body type is skinny, but it's a futile effort to try and emulate some other dude's body type if it's not your own. you want to be YOU-healthy.
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
This actually is really good news for your fitness. Start working out twice daily for 2 hours total of intense workout each time (early morning, mid afternoon works). Make sure you hydrate well. Yes, you'll feel tired as dogshit at first.
When I exercise 4 hours / week, I have to count every single calorie or I gain weight. But when I was working out 9 hours / week, I could eat anything I wanted and still drop weight, on top of becoming awesome as fuck at running (7:00 mile, 90:00 10 mile without any special prep).
So, yeah, gorge yourself on anything not disgusting unhealthy, but put in significantly more time than you do, in my opinion. That has very consistently worked for me.
Edit: I work out first due to both timing and the fact that really hard cardio training will make you throw up, or at least dry heave. I've never seen anything really solid that timing of eating vs. workouts is uper important, though I've heard some people suggest carb heavy food within 30 minutes of finishing to help reduce the calorie intake due to temporarily higher metabolism.
As far as the food goes, completely changing your diet may be really difficult, and when people change their diets completely around very suddenly, it usually seems to be with the mentality "I'm going on a diet" or "I'm going to lose weight", and it becomes something intended to be temporary (i.e., "once I lose weight I can ease up"). You will have a lot more long-term success if you make small changes here and there, and stick with them as a permanent diet change. I had a lot of success just by cutting out soda, juice, and switching to whole-grain carbs whenever possible. Water and coffee and tea are your best friends.
...and if you're really craving the hell out of that pancake....just have the damn thing. Refusing yourself something you're craving, over and over and over again, can lead to falling off the wagon completely, or bingeing on 6 pancakes, or whathaveyou. If you allow yourself a small amount of whatever you're craving, it'll help you keep your sanity, and won't really be detrimental to your weight loss goals, if it's all in moderation.
I've heard that coupling a cardio routine with weightlifting is really beneficial when you're trying to lose weight, as opposed to just doing pure cardio. I've personally found it to be a lot of help, myself. I'd definitely suggest you start weightlifting - with something light at first, of course, and then build up. My current schedule for gymming is every other day, and so I feel comfortable doing weight training for both upper and lower-body muscles during the same day. When I was going multiple days in a row, however, I would alternate training for my upper and lower body, to allow those muscles to get some rest and repair themselves in between. This might be something that could work for you, too.
Best of luck to ya!
And that is wholly wrong anyways.
Civilization was raised on the back of whole grains, without agriculture we'd still be grunting and farting in caves.
What you need to do is eat more fresh stuff - more greens, fruits, vegetables.
Instead of orange juice, which is pretty much empty calories, eat an orange with breakfast. It's got more vitamins, more fibre and it's way way cheaper.
Eat whole grain products - whole grain cereal, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat pancakes topped with fruit, whatever you want. It is way more filling, higher in protein, and won't give you the immediate spike in glucose, and then insulin, that white flour does. If you're going to eat a bunch of carbs round it out with some sort of nuts or legumes, since they form a complete protein together. If you're working out that will go to good use, but make sure to leave room for it in your meal, instead of just eating extra.
If you aim for 10 servings of different fruits/vegetables a day, and round out the rest of your diet with whole grain carbs, lean meat and fish, you will lose weight and feel fine about it, because you won't have any room left to eat garbage.
Honestly, I eat a ton of carbs, all whole grains, though I am really fit looking with pretty minimal effort...
I'm not going to run any marathons but I can sprint for the bus with the best.
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
I miss playing video games and watching TV when I'm at work making money. But that means I'm at work making money, so I have to cut them out.
Get my point?
And yeah.... I'll save them for a treat, RocketSauce. :P
As a note: I worked out for the full 1 hour today... 30 minutes (15 minutes then 2 minute break, repeated) on the elliptical and then 30 full minutes on the bike. I feel really good right now!
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy