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need some guidance on a lifestyle change.
DarkSymphony
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
ok so last year (2008) my goal was to accomplish a couple of small-ish things about my image and overall a few lifestyle changes. I accomplished the ones I set out to do and now this year I am setting my sights on the big one: Fitness/weight loss.
I'm by no means fat, but I am a little chubby. I'm well enough proportioned that I look good with what I wear, but I definitely want to slim down. Right now (or at least, the last I checked which was 2 weeks ago) I'm very close to 185 lbs and 6 feet tall. My ultimate goal is to drop 20 lbs. I would absolutely love to do this by summer (for a couple of reasons), but it's not a 1 shot deal I'm looking for. I want this to be my eating habbit change, the next part of my image change and a lifestyle change for the better. I want to be eating better from now on, not just to lose the weight.
I'm the kind of person who really needs a structured list/guideline to go by. I do my best when I know exactly what it is I need to have done and when/where. Getting into the routine is usually very easy for me since I set everything I usually do as a game.
So in essence, if possible I would like to find out exactly what kinds of meals are good for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day. I want to (if possible) find out exactly (down to the brand) what foods to eat, how often and which exercises are really good for weight loss and health upkeep. I know running is one of the absolute best things you can do, so I do it when the weather is good enough to where I won't need to constantly use my asthma inhaler.
I know this is asking a lot so if this goes unanswered it's cool, I just would really love some guidance. I know for a fact I can do this I just need to know what to buy at the grocery store, what to eat for meals, in between meals and all that.
Thanks in advance.
I'm by no means fat, but I am a little chubby. I'm well enough proportioned that I look good with what I wear, but I definitely want to slim down. Right now (or at least, the last I checked which was 2 weeks ago) I'm very close to 185 lbs and 6 feet tall. My ultimate goal is to drop 20 lbs. I would absolutely love to do this by summer (for a couple of reasons), but it's not a 1 shot deal I'm looking for. I want this to be my eating habbit change, the next part of my image change and a lifestyle change for the better. I want to be eating better from now on, not just to lose the weight.
I'm the kind of person who really needs a structured list/guideline to go by. I do my best when I know exactly what it is I need to have done and when/where. Getting into the routine is usually very easy for me since I set everything I usually do as a game.
So in essence, if possible I would like to find out exactly what kinds of meals are good for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day. I want to (if possible) find out exactly (down to the brand) what foods to eat, how often and which exercises are really good for weight loss and health upkeep. I know running is one of the absolute best things you can do, so I do it when the weather is good enough to where I won't need to constantly use my asthma inhaler.
I know this is asking a lot so if this goes unanswered it's cool, I just would really love some guidance. I know for a fact I can do this I just need to know what to buy at the grocery store, what to eat for meals, in between meals and all that.
Thanks in advance.
DarkSymphony on
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Really, you need to just do it. Your attitude of "I'm by no means fat" is also not going to do you any favors; you don't like your body, so you're going to run and lift weights to change it. Since you're just trying to drop some weight, I don't think it's necessary to get too bogged down in specifics about your food choices or whatever, just avoid what's obviously bad and try to make good dietary decisions otherwise. This will facilitate a gradual and healthy lifestyle change that can then be ratcheted into high gear once you're feeling successful and optimistic.
And a good website to look into: www.traineo.com
Good luck!
Edit: Also, bar none, the most important thing is consistency. Don't ever let yourself miss a day of working out. Don't ever let yourself reach for that Twinkie if you're really interested in changing how you live your life. It's hard to completely overhaul your habits, but it is possible; you're going to need willpower, is all.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=75545
Men's Health has daily fitness tips, recipes, work-outs. A surprising amount of free information.
edit - biggest trick is calories in less than calories out. I lost almost 50 pounds (~230 to ~180) in a year just by eating less. Same unhealthly diet, just less of it.
I weigh about that and I'm shorter than you and most of it's still muscle (in fact my resolution is to drop off the rest of the fat for muscle)
I'm also 6' and I weigh 180. I didn't want to say it, but I cannot see anyway in losing 20 pounds and still be healthy.
how would I go about either losing some of this weight or converting into muscle without access to these things? I have an understanding that it pretty much won't really happen without the aid of equipment so that's why I wanted to drop the weight instead. I'd much rather convert it to muscle though. I'd love to get into a routine where I'm working on my body I just have *no idea* what routine to make and do.
trust me, convert it to muscle. it is way more rewarding and once you get into the habit of working out it will be a lot easier to maintain the muscle rather than worrying about how many carbs you take in a day
edit: there's a thread in SE++ about it and they have some pretty great routines you can get into. it's always best to find a routine that works for you though.
in short you can still cut weight and gain muscle without a gym membership
I plan to use this as goal.
Now, I gotta figure out what I could do about muscle building without the use of weights or a gym. I have neither and for the next couple months I won't have access to either.
so yes, converting to muscle is absolutely what I'd want instead, I was just under the impression that I just honestly couldn't do it at all without equipment. What would be some things I *could* do without equipment to start myself up with muscle building?
If you're really uber serious, give stuff like those a few days/weeks and see if your local gym has any kind of a trial membership you can give a shot. See if you like it, poke around other local ones, etc.
Best of luck to you, man. It won't be easy, but the results will be worth it.
Consider that the average basal metabolic rate for a male is around 2000~ kcals (calories). Determine how much calories are in the food you're eating and stay away from snacks. If you can go to a gym or have some way of tracking how much calories you're burning when you exercise, it'll help. To lose 20 pounds, what you want to do is to basically consume less calories than you're burning, or simply burn more. I'd recommend a combination of the two so you can eat healthier while working out.
Always eat your breakfast as it increases your body's metabolic rate in the beginning of the morning and lasts throughout the day. I'd say that it's healthier to eat a donut in the morning than to eat nothing at all. Not that I'd recommend donuts, of course.
RECORD EVERYTHING. Nothin is more motivating than progress. Actually seeing your numbers and saying "Wow, a month ago I could only bench 135 pounds and ran a mile in 9 minutes. today I benched 185 pounds and ran a mile in 7:34 AND i lost 7 pounds! This rocks!" is very motivating and keeps you on track. That is why I suggest crossfit. It is not at all about looking good naked, it is a by-product. It is less of a program than it is a philosophy. Exercise should be fun and functional.
Good luck!
Not that a BMI calculator is really the most precise way of determining health in regards to weight, but 180 pounds at 6 feet is actually on the high end of normal, teetering on the edge of overweight. I think a 20 pound goal is not a bad idea here.
What I would absolutely love to do is ditch the weight, but end up looking great. As in, I don't wanna just be thinner, I wanna put on some muscle mass as well. I was reading into it and the general consensus is that you cannot simply convert fat to muscle, you must either gain weight through protein and ditch the fat as you weight-gain through those means, or you lose the weight first then work on gaining it back as muscle.
today so far I've had 3 scrambled eggs for breakfast, a tuna fish sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread, 3 bottles of water and now I am currently eating an apple.
Just watch out for eating too few calories, because that can slow your metabolism. As a man at 6'/180 lbs you want to be eating at least 2000 calories a day(but I really could be wrong, so check that out somewhere). Just be glad that you're a man :-P typically you'll be able to lose the weight easier, and you don't have to deal with cellulite!
Check out www.sparkpeople.com. Since you said you like having a plan of what to do, you might like that you can set it to make menus for you if you want it to(or you can just put in your own) and same thing with exercises, it can make workouts for you varied from day to day.
the last thing I need to fix is my sleep schedule. from my last job I worked graveyard and I got out of it really fast. This was recent, so for example today I woke up at 5pm. now to either push through an all "nighter" and stay up all day or just short myself on sleep for 1-2 days and get back into normal night sleep that way.
Oh geez...I am going through that right now. Good luck. It seems far easier to get onto a graveyard schedule than get off of it.
I think it's easier to force myself through two days of little sleep rather than an all-nighter, if only because the temptation to oversleep is so strong.
Things that were essential to my progress:
*http://www.fitday.com - a calorie counter (or food log, if you prefer) and exercise log.
*http://www.free-dieting.com - various fitness calculators.
*Whey Protein
*My elliptical trainer
*My set of free weights
-I started by just changing habits. Avoiding fast food, soda, candy, and pizza. Switching foods I liked, that were bad for me, for foods that were good for me but had similar consistencies/textures.
-I moved on to keeping track of every calorie I ate each day, and how much I exercised.
-I did/do 30 mins. of cardio (elliptical trainer) six days/week and 30 mins of lifting 4 days/week.
-I weigh myself no more than once per week and take a progress picture, take my measurements, once a month.
How much do I eat each day? I multiply my bodyweight by ten and eat that number of calories every day (right now, 194*10=1940 calories/day). I also make sure I get 1gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day in the interest of maintaining muscle mass. You're always bound to lose some lean muscle while dropping pounds but there are ways to minimize that - getting enough protein is one.
I take one day per week and I have a cheat meal. Some people take an entire day and cheat. Some people don't cheat at all. A cheat is when you either eat something you feel doesn't conform to your diet or you eat a surplus of calories in that day (a surplus being a number of calories above what you have burned that day). Some people don't need it but I need a cheat meal so I don't go off my diet completely; I think of it as a reward for being pretty strict all week.
Anyway, I've read around a lot, on the net, over the last year or so, about fittness and nutrition stuff. I've encountered a lot of good advice and a lot of bad. The bodybuilding.com forums helped me a lot but there's just as much good advice as bad there. So, if you read around, be careful what advice you'll buy as it is highly anecdotal.
This is just the stuff that worked for me. It may not work for everyone. It may not work for anybody but me. So, take it or leave it. There is one thing, of which I feel there can be no question, though - losing weight really is a numbers game: calories in < calories out.
PSN/XBL: dragoniemx
Depends on his frame I guess. I'm 6' even and weigh 185. If I lost 20 lbs. I'd look horribly sick. A friend of mine is 6' 1" and weighs 165 lbs. but he is a light frame.
Sad but true.
I know it seems gimmicky but it appears pretty solid. Theres no gym and his recommended supplies are very inexpensive. I'm only half a week into it and I know I like it. It comes with a diet plan that helps burn fat and build muscle. You might check it out
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