Complete newbie to this all and I didn't read all the threads...

[NewandUnsure7]

Hello All...

WOW... never thought I would be asking the questions I am about to ask. I am not unfamiliar to forums and the like, but I broke all my normal rules because for the last couple of weeks I have been reading on different sites and I would just get more and more confused. So, I am just going to post here and if you want to hate me and tell me I am a loser for not following the culture already established on this site, I guess you will do as you feel you must.

I am here because I would like some help, advice, and a general education on things that I know 0-Zero about.

Me: 35 yrs old. 5'10" if my back isn't hurting. 230 lbs (yes, I am fat and overweight).

I have always been heavier than I should be. The good thing for me is that I never look as heavy as the scale reads. The best years of my life were in 2008-2011 when I was down to 190 lbs and feeling great. I had a couple of life changes in 2011 that sent me back to an old way of being lazy.

Finally, after a few years, I have found my motivation for wanting to get back in shape (or at least better shape). I have no wishes to be massive in muscle. I want to lose fat/weight and be tone. I hired a personal trainer and have been working out for a couple of weeks with him. He has been great. I have changed my eating habits and I eat healthier. I am almost Paleo in diet. I do like sandwiches for lunch so I eat 1 slice of bread a day.

I would like to "encourage" my body to lose more weight faster, help build muscle more quickly, and encourage recovery quicker. I am not going to be working out 4 hours a day. I work out 1 hour MWF with my trainer and I try to do at least 30 min of cycling 5-6 days a week. I have been working up to getting to 1 hour of cycling.

I am 1000% scared to death of doing something to harm my body. Because I have always been heavier than I should, I have never been happy with my chest and I say I have man boobs. I am afraid if I was to take anything that I could encourage gyno and that would kill me (mentally/emotionally).

I have taken Hydroxycut (and almost any other diet pill) before and I think it caused a prostate issue.

I understand that anything I was to do would have a potential for causing a health issue, but I am here to see what you guys think. Like I said, I know nothing about this all. So, if you are someone that has been gracious enough to respond to me with the intent on helping me out, thank you and please use small words with no abbreviations (after defining its ok).

Thanks!

[Cuz]

Look into the diet and nutrition forum. That would be a good start.

[Lifted1]

give it a year of doing what you are currently doing (add a fourth day of lifting) and like cuz said, try to get your diet dialed in. results will come, but it takes time.

[BG]

If you get sides fRom those light supplements the real deal will be worst.

[MeatHead85]

I'd only like to add that AAS are not a magic truck to get results. If you take them now with your past lifting experience you'll cause more harm that good. Besides, anything you did gain from the use if steroids could easily and safely through tweaking your diet and lifting a bit longer.

Steroids are not for "beginners". They are to get you past a point that has already been naturally achieved.

There is much you can still do without the aid of AAS and it's much safer and preferred to take your time and build a good base and excellent habits prior to working with steroids.

Just my 2cents.

[MeatHead85]

Sorry for the grammatical errors. Smart phones and predictive text make it ridicules sometimes.

[NewandUnsure7]

I appreciate the comments guys. BG - I think I was not using the hydroxicut correctly, actually I know I wasn't. I was on it much longer than it said and I wasn't taking breaks. I would merely move to another brand because I was told by GNC reps that was ok to do. I listened. I liked using Xenadrine (sp?) way back in 2000 when it contained ephedra alkaloids. It worked awesome for me (got me motivated) and never had a side effect.

I know it sounds like I want to "cheat" and to a certain extent maybe that is true. But honestly, what I want is to see results. I know for me, it is easy to get discouraged and I don't want that. Even though I am determined right now, I need to know I am progressing. My first week and a half of training I lost 7 lbs. This last week and a half 2 lbs. I know that is good, but I wanted more. I have a feeling this next week will be zero and that will suck.

Cuz, I did spend some time in the diet and nutrition and I have been looking around for the last month trying to get an idea of what might be a good way to go. For the most part, I think I am on the right track. For breakfast I have a protein (meal replacement) shake and a hard boiled egg. For lunch I have a sandwich half gluten free wheat bread and half paleo bread with avocado as a spread and meat (chicken, turkey, ham, etc) and a washed pickle. For dinner, a salad with ground beef and almonds (no dressing). For snacks I have been eating apples, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple. No dairy of any kind. Oh and just water (I was really bad with 7Up.)

All in all, maybe posting on a steroids board was the wrong place. Sorry about that. I had seen people mentioning that steroids were being used to help people cut fat and I thought I would ask.

I do appreciate the comments and understanding.

Thanks!

[NewandUnsure7]

No worries!

[Times Roman]

Hello All...

WOW... never thought I would be asking the questions I am about to ask. I am not unfamiliar to forums and the like, but I broke all my normal rules because for the last couple of weeks I have been reading on different sites and I would just get more and more confused. So, I am just going to post here and if you want to hate me and tell me I am a loser for not following the culture already established on this site, I guess you will do as you feel you must.

I am here because I would like some help, advice, and a general education on things that I know 0-Zero about.

Me: 35 yrs old. 5'10" if my back isn't hurting. 230 lbs (yes, I am fat and overweight).

I have always been heavier than I should be. The good thing for me is that I never look as heavy as the scale reads. The best years of my life were in 2008-2011 when I was down to 190 lbs and feeling great. I had a couple of life changes in 2011 that sent me back to an old way of being lazy.

Finally, after a few years, I have found my motivation for wanting to get back in shape (or at least better shape). I have no wishes to be massive in muscle. I want to lose fat/weight and be tone. I hired a personal trainer and have been working out for a couple of weeks with him. He has been great. I have changed my eating habits and I eat healthier. I am almost Paleo in diet. I do like sandwiches for lunch so I eat 1 slice of bread a day.

I would like to "encourage" my body to lose more weight faster, help build muscle more quickly, and encourage recovery quicker. I am not going to be working out 4 hours a day. I work out 1 hour MWF with my trainer and I try to do at least 30 min of cycling 5-6 days a week. I have been working up to getting to 1 hour of cycling.

I am 1000% scared to death of doing something to harm my body. Because I have always been heavier than I should, I have never been happy with my chest and I say I have man boobs. I am afraid if I was to take anything that I could encourage gyno and that would kill me (mentally/emotionally).

I have taken Hydroxycut (and almost any other diet pill) before and I think it caused a prostate issue.

I understand that anything I was to do would have a potential for causing a health issue, but I am here to see what you guys think. Like I said, I know nothing about this all. So, if you are someone that has been gracious enough to respond to me with the intent on helping me out, thank you and please use small words with no abbreviations (after defining its ok).

Thanks!

Mate

There is always room for improvement. At any age or level.

I took the moment to read the bio, and a couple of comments.

3 days in the gym is minimal. No one here is thinking you should spend 4 hours. In and out in an hour is about right for most. But the 4th day would be helpful. Right now, you have 4 days rest (from the gym) per week. That's a lot of resting. If you want results, you need to take charge.

The cardio sounds on track. You are doing upwards of 3 hours of cardio per week. I'm not sure where your heart rate is during this period? Is it where it needs to be? For burning fat you need to be above 50% of your max heart rate. Your max heart rate is (220 - [your age] 35) 185, so half of that is 93 beats per minute. But it is recommended to be "between" 50% and 80%, and 80% is 150 bpm. And to have this duration to be around 40 minutes per session. So utilizing he same 3 hours you are already investing per week, you could fine tune it to 4 x 45 minute sessions with a better result. But this is called tweaking, and it's good you are doing what you are already doing.

Now, the nutrition. The most underrated aspect of health is nutrition. It almost seems to be the red headed step child to everything else. But it is equally as important as exercise, and most miss the boat.

I'm not sure how well you are tracking what you eat (recommended), but I would say it is important to track calories and protein. For example, you probably need to eat somewhere around 250 grams of protein per day



I obviously had to do some "guesstimating" as you can see, but it illustrates a point that at some level, you should take charge and make a plan. If you don't know what you put into your body besides some vague feeling that it isn't too bad, you are going to get vague results.

This is what I have eaten so far today:







and that totals up to:



now, I'm not suggesting you track every morsal for the rest of your life, but I think it would be helpful if you did it for awhile to learn about proper nutrition and how your body reacts. PM me if you want my macro calculator.

But on a general level, you should know what your TDEE is, your protein requirement, and how many calories you actually consume.

The best results usually come from the best planning

Good luck!
---Roman

[NewandUnsure7]

Roman,

Thanks very much for all the thoughtful comments. It means a lot to me that you took the time to do that. I realize 3 days is minimal in the gym, but honestly right now, it kicks my butt. Doesn't mean that I shouldn't try more or anything, but I feel its a good starting point for me. But as I get stronger and recover quicker, I do agree that I should do more. I hope to get there soon.

My self-cardio plan was to increase to 45 minutes starting Monday. I have been able to hit 30 min without stoping and averaging 14-15 mph for 3 days in a row. Which was my goal before stepping up the time. I have no clue what my heart rate is while riding, but I imagine I am in that zone. I am probably above it actually. I have a heart rate monitor and I will wear it next time to see how I am doing. I assume going above 80% is not a good thing for weight loss?

As for calories and protein, I am not sure. I listed what I am eating, but I haven't taken the time to actually figure it all out. I am pretty lazy about measuring out my food although I eat the same thing every day. I have an app that I used to use to log my food, tomorrow I will work on getting it all logged into and see where I am at.

What is LBM (from your picture)? I am probably not getting enough protein, but I will have to check.

What is TDEE? Total Daily Energy Exchange? Idk.

Thanks again for all the feedback and thoughts.

[Times Roman]

Roman,

Thanks very much for all the thoughtful comments. It means a lot to me that you took the time to do that. I realize 3 days is minimal in the gym, but honestly right now, it kicks my butt. Doesn't mean that I shouldn't try more or anything, but I feel its a good starting point for me. But as I get stronger and recover quicker, I do agree that I should do more. I hope to get there soon.

My self-cardio plan was to increase to 45 minutes starting Monday. I have been able to hit 30 min without stoping and averaging 14-15 mph for 3 days in a row. Which was my goal before stepping up the time. I have no clue what my heart rate is while riding, but I imagine I am in that zone. I am probably above it actually. I have a heart rate monitor and I will wear it next time to see how I am doing. I assume going above 80% is not a good thing for weight loss?

As for calories and protein, I am not sure. I listed what I am eating, but I haven't taken the time to actually figure it all out. I am pretty lazy about measuring out my food although I eat the same thing every day. I have an app that I used to use to log my food, tomorrow I will work on getting it all logged into and see where I am at.

What is LBM (from your picture)? I am probably not getting enough protein, but I will have to check.

What is TDEE? Total Daily Energy Exchange? Idk.

Thanks again for all the feedback and thoughts.

you are not competing, and therefore no need to push the cardio to an extreme unless you want to. Between 50% and 80% of max heart rate is sufficient if 40 minutes or more. This is called, or what I call, the sweet spot. It gives you the greatest amount of benefit for the least amount of effort. There have been numerous studies on this, and for most this is where they get the greatest benefit. Every other day is ideal, as it is like putting a turbo charger on your metabolism. This metabolic benefit lasts upwards for 48 hours, which is why I say every other day.

LBM = Lean body mass and the formula is simple... Total weight - total fat = Lean body mass
you can invest in some body fat calipers for around $25 and learn how to do the skin pinch test to get an approximate idea how much body fat you are carrying around.

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is your daily caloric burn rate, and can be reasonably calculated with a formula. I have a spreadsheet you can have if you want to calculate it. it utilizes the Harris-Benedict equation. This is an important number to know, as it is the basis of every plan we put together. Anyways, pm me if you want it. It looks like this

[ironbeck]

Welcome, you sound sincere...you've come to the right place.

[tarmyg]

Welcome,

I suggest you visit us in the DIET AND NUTRITION section where Times Roman and many others will be able to help. As you notice on this website, AAS have its on section because it is only a part of this lifestyle with Diet and Nutrition being the biggest part. Some amazing people around here with great amount of knowledge to help and since you seem very open minded I wish you nothing but good luck.

Some threads to get you started:

http://forums.steroid.com/diet-nutri...men-women.html

http://forums.steroid.com/diet-nutri...penditure.html

http://forums.steroid.com/diet-nutri...1-cutting.html

[NewandUnsure7]

Welcome, you sound sincere...you've come to the right place.

Thanks! I am here to get help and that means honesty!

[NewandUnsure7]

Welcome,

I suggest you visit us in the section where Times Roman and many others will be able to help. As you notice on this website, AAS have its on section because it is only a part of this lifestyle with Diet and Nutrition being the biggest part. Some amazing people around here with great amount of knowledge to help and since you seem very open minded I wish you nothing but good luck.

Will do... Thanks!