20-25lbs fat loss

so I too am also looking for advice. Let me tell you all a lil bit about me. When I was in high school I was always around 10% bf with decent muscular build. I also never worried about diet to a strict line but I also did not consume as much beer as I do these days. After reading an article on carb cycling I am starting to feel maybe this is why my workouts are pathetic these days and my results are minimal which leads me to getting discouraged and failing. About the time I started to want to get back into shape was the atkins time where Carbs were a big NO. I have been following this idea for a while now. What I want to do is transform my diet into something that is proactive for the results in which I desire. As of right now i am approximately 20% bf @ 200lbs and 72". Some what of a flabby mess :(. Also I recently joined the military and during bootcamp I had loos about 17lbs, I dont understand really why this is seeing has how the cardio which I did there is not much different from the cardio I do today. However I put all the weight back on and cant seem to get it all off. Could it be just the beer that I consume? I know that drinking beer is not going to help and yes I am willing to cut it down but do not want to cut it completely out of my diet. I also plan on being in the gym for a good work out 4 times a week. If someone would be willing to give some pointers on how I should go about dieting and how much cardio should be done that would be awesome. I understand there is a lot of controversy on cardio while trying to put muscle on but ay my current command, cardio is a big thing around here so im looking at about running 5-8 miles 3 times a week. my ultimate goal is to be around 180 @ 12% bf while maintaining good muscular shape. All help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Colin

The biggest change in your life as far as your weight was your diet!! I know, I was a Drill Sergeant for 3 years. Now drop and give me 20!! HA HA. Anyway, you lost that weight in boot camp because you were eating 3 squares a day. Now that your done with that your now eating SHIT! Mickey D's, Chinese Buffet's etc. You have heard the term "You are what you eat"? Well if you put shit in your belly, that is what your belly is going to look like. That includes the BEER! You didn't drink it in boot camp. There is no wonder pill, there is no magical contraption sold on T.V. or in a magazine. If you want the pounds to come off, and have great looking abs it takes dedication and diet. Abs are 90% diet, 10% exercise. I haven't gotten my diet to a science yet, but I'm tuning it now. I've been in gyms off and on since I was in High School (mid 80's). I have seen many people killing themselves doing outragous exercises. I knew a guy who after his 2 hr workout, and this guy was huge, do 1000 crunches 4 or 5 different ways! But he had a huge gut! Diet Diet Diet. Do some reaserch on this forum. Basically you want to eat 5 to 6 times a day. Drop the calories, Cut out lots of carbs, take in lot of protien and a good amount of healthy fats. I'm getting ready to post my diet on here for evatuation and feedback. As far as exercises for burning fat. I have found that the best time to burn fat is in the evening. I do about an hour to an hour and a half on the weights and the about 30 to 45 mins of cardio. Your cardio needs to be high intensity! Have you heard of HIIT? You also need to vary your cardio! I do intervals on the treadmill, eliptiglider(sp?) and jumprope. Thats a big difference for you now too. In basic you should have been doing 30-60's and 60-120's. You probablly don't do that in your regular unit. Interaval trianing is the key my friend. Stay away from the long 5 to 8 mile runs if your wanting to build muscle too (unless your packing on the protien before these runs). And for goodness sake, drop the beer! You probablly will not attain your goal drinking that stuff!

yeah the problem is with beer its like an addiction. But i can cut it down to maybe a few a week and a few meaning like 3-4. But the 3 squares I had in boot camp were garbage ass food that was processed and I ate all that crap. Tons of potato's and the crappy deserts yet I still lost. I feel as though I sometimes eat better now then I did when I was there and i even do more cardio now. As far as the run goes, staffy has us running all over NAS pensacola so its about 5-8 and I really cant get out of it unless I am on light limited duty so I do not know what I should do.

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Originally Posted by colinwoods84

yeah the problem is with beer its like an addiction. But i can cut it down to maybe a few a week and a few meaning like 3-4. But the 3 squares I had in boot camp were garbage ass food that was processed and I ate all that crap. Tons of potato's and the crappy deserts yet I still lost. I feel as though I sometimes eat better now then I did when I was there and i even do more cardio now. As far as the run goes, staffy has us running all over NAS pensacola so its about 5-8 and I really cant get out of it unless I am on light limited duty so I do not know what I should do.

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Dude, if beer is getting to be like an addiction to you, I would find help man. No joke, this is something you don't want to play with. Don't let anyone or anything run your life!

I am not going to comment on whether beer is a problem, but it certainly will add to the challenge in front of you. Regardless of how much you eat, drink exercise, you simply need to start making changes in a positive direction as much as you can. Drink more water and less beer. One idea to help when drinking you can finish a beer and before drinking another one, fill the bottle or can with water and force yourself to drink that before drinking another beer. That alone will cut your beer intake in half.
Try to eat several egg whites with just one yolk in them rather than fast food for one meal per day. There are many things, but to make it work you should not try one thing to the extreme, but rather attempt to change everything a little. This makes it easier to adjust you life in a better direction. Too many times people get so pumped up and make such a drastic change they burn out to quickly. Since you said you were not happy with past results, I would suggest doing it differently. Try the beer and water thing for one night and see what you think and good luck to you.

The reason you gained it all back is because you are not as active now as when you were in bootcamp. In bootcamp you ran, walked, crawled EVERYWHERE (at least we did in the Marine Corps). They were someone always on your ass and always something to do. Unfortuneately we can't go back, so you need to assess your situation and make the proper changes. Another thing is WHEN you eat...it's just as important as what you eat and how meals your getting in.

Calories consumed > Calories burned = Weight gain

Calories Consumed < Calories burned = Weight loss