Please help/support me in my comeback goals...

**pegasuskid172** · 11-27-2010, 06:46 PM

Hey everyone...I am new to this site and am very excited to be here and look forward to the support and help as I work hard to reach my fitness goals!!
long story short I was always overweight as a kid my heaviest weight was 260lbs when i was 15. In high school I lost a good amount of weight getting down to 175lbs and was in the best shape i had ever been in. Over the past 10 years i have let myself slip and have gained alot of bad weight back. I am here now to change that and appreciate all of the modivation and advice i can get! I will be posting photos every two weeks to help track my progress and please any comments whether they be good or bad will help and any comments regarding my training/diet will definately help as well! thank you so much in advance.

before i list my stats i will share my goal. My goal right now is to get down to 200lbs and lower my body fat percentage to around 12-15%.

My stats are as follows...

Weight--245lbs --- not sure of my exact body fat percentage at this point but i will be getting this done shortly, if i had to guess i would say around 25%

Age--27

Height--5"11

Diet--Meal 1 - 2 eggs, 2 slices whole wheat toast, banana, glass of skim milk
Meal 2 - sandwhich with chicken breast, two slices whole wheat bread,
spinach salad.
Snack - Apple, almonds
Meal 3 - Chicken breast or Tuna, Spinach salad.
Post workout - 30g Protien shake with water, Glutamine

Water intake - over 3 litres per day.

Training - 40 to 60 minutes of cardio 5 - 6 days a week, each body part worked out once per week, core/ab workouts every second day.

Again, please feel free to critique anything i have written out...i really appreciate the feedback and i really look forward to being apart of this community!! hope to hear from you all soon!!

**tbody66** · 11-27-2010, 08:56 PM

diet needs work, there will be someone along shortly to help with that. One bodypart once a week is not enough, if you post your specific workout I'll fix it.

Props on posting pics, that takes guts, you are in the right place and posting pics shows me that you are serious about making some progress.

Go to the thread entitled "AR remote trainer/members physique transformation challange" and post there asking to participate and have a trainer assigned to you for that twelve week challange.

I'll fix what I can in the meantime and a diet guy will fix the food. Good job on the water, take the bread out of meal two, use chicken breast, not lunchmeat if you aren't already. add two more meals. List the macros for your meal selections. The snack needs to have more protein. Lose the bread, banana and milk from the first meal, add oats and 4 egg whites, berries in the oats if you'd like. No dressing on the spinach salad we hope.

My bf estimate would be 40%. you will need to calculate your tdee for better help with the diet.

**pegasuskid172** · 11-28-2010, 10:53 AM

Tbody66,

This is awesome thanks so much for the input it means alot!! I will definately go to the referred thread and look into participating in the challenge. As per your request here is the info on my training...all of my weight days include 5-6 exercises each in the 10-12 rep range working down to a max out on my last set. for now i will just post my layout if you would like a more specific one with what exercises, supersets ect that i do please let me know...

Monday - Chest, core, 40-60 min of cardio
Tuesday - Arms, 40-60 min of cardio
Wednesday - Legs, Shoulders, Core
Thursday - Back, 40-60 min of cardio
Friday - Chest, core 40-60 min of cardio ( this workout being the second of the week is mostly high reps all the way through mostly different exercises as well )
Saturday - Arms, 40-60 min of cardio ( this workout being the second one of the week is mostly high reps all the way through mostly different exercises as well )
Sunday - rest, usually cardio for 30 min

again, if you need me to be more specific please let me know...as far as the diet goes i will take your advice on the changes, also i use just oil and vinager in my salad is this ok? and i have one question although it may be a dumb one...for some reason ( and i know its normal ) my body craves ALOT after like four days of eating clean...is there any advice you can give on just destroying my cravings any tricks lol my will power is getting there as i just keep looking at my photos and trying my best to gear towards the change...also is a cheat meal or day allowed or no and if so when is the best time to take it mid or late week? thanks again for everything!!

**pegasuskid172** · 11-28-2010, 11:05 AM

Just posted on the challenge thread and am pumped to get started! so i am assuming after posting our interest in the challenge we just wait untill we are assigned a trainer a week or so before the competition? just wanted to make sure i read everything correctly!

**GirlyGymRat** · 11-28-2010, 12:09 PM

you are brave to post pics...awesome for you! I will be cheering for you on the challenge!!

**gbrice75** · 11-28-2010, 07:41 PM

Welcome to the board man, and kudos for posting pics! It really helps us assess where you are at.

The diet needs alot of work, but you already know that or you wouldn't be here. Honestly, it's not worth fixing (no offense), needs to be completely redesigned from scratch. We will work something out. In the meantime, use the info below to educate yourself on proper diet and nutrition. Come back and post up a new proposed diet that we can sort out and make great. Be sure to include time of day for each meal, time of day for workout, and complete and accurate macro info for each meal.

We also need to figure out your TDEE - for now, i'm pegging you at around 2700, based on the stats you provided. Keep in mind that since you aren't sure about BF%, this is a rough estimate and will almost definitely change. I suggest you base your diet around 2300 calories/day. Sounds like you already have the cardio in check, although I'd like to know specifics of what you're doing, and when (fasted? non fasted, etc).

Thanks to Damienm05 for putting this packet together:

_______________________________________________

In terms of food choices, here goes:

I love analogies. Let’s use a good one. Think of your perfect body as a house that you must build. You’ve figured out your BMR and TDEE, so you know the exact specs of the property you have to work with. You know how exercise affects weight loss and how much of a caloric deficit/surplus we must create to lose/gain said weight; so you know how to build - you understand architecture. You also know the pace you intend on losing/gaining weight at based on these other factors, so you know it will be harder to get your house built in weeks as opposed to months. The only thing left is the tools/building material you must use and because you don’t know how to eat, you still can’t build anything. At least, not well. Sure, you can starve yourself for a few months but you’ll just gain all the weight back in a couple weeks of binge drinking and shitty eating on a vacation – you’re house will fall down!

So, let’s talk tools baby. Let’s talk food. First off, there are only 3 types of foods/macronutrients. Protein. Carbohydrates. Fat. That’s it.

Protein – 4 calories per gram - Building material. Bricks. You can’t gain energy from protein, you can only use it to build muscle/skin/hair/nails. It’s basically just amino acids and it’s what our bodies are made of. As such, we need lots of it. 1g of protein per body lb is a good number to shoot for . Go as high as 2g per body lb if you’re lifting weights and trying to build muscle. For example, I am 207 lbs and I eat between 300-400 grams per day. Our body can only break down so much at one time however, so we want to eat 20-40 grams of protein in every meal, several times per day. Protein, being building material only and not energy/labor – the body can rarely find a reason for it to be stored as fat. If you must over-eat – make it lean meat/fish.

Carbs – 4 calories per gram - Think of these as human labor for your house. Think of sugar as dudes you pick up out front of home depot and oatmeal as a skilled carpenter. Both are carbs, both serve very different purposes. Carbs help transport essential nutrients to the muscles, create glycogen stores, and as such, increase protein synthesis but do not build muscle; they are simply an energy source. As such, they should only be eaten/used when we need energy. Any carbs we ingest before bed or before watching a movie, or something sedentary are not used as energy, and as such, are more likely to be stored in the body as glycogen (glucose/water in our muscles that we will use when doing high-intensity exercise). Once our glycogen reserves are full, they will spill over and be stored as fat. Yes, they will make you fat. Carbs can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Fats – 9 calories per gram - Like carbs, fats are an energy source, not a building material like protein. They provide nowhere near as much energy as carbs however. Ask anyone who's on a ketogenic diet. With regard to our house, think of fats as the glue/cement. They provide much needed essential fatty acids, which are great for joint/organ health and increase our protein synthesis. Going back to our analogy, cement/glue increases the effectiveness of bricks! If we give our bodies the right fats, it will be able to burn stored body fat quickly as it won’t see any use in keeping it. Remember, like carbs – not all fat is good and ALL fat is high in calories so watch out. A tablespoon of peanut butter can be a good addition to a meal. Snacking on 5-6 tablespoons, however, means you’ve just eaten over your TDEE for the day.

Acceptable proteins for your healthy lifestyle diet:

The goal is to eat lean protein. Meats/other sources low in fat/carbs.

§ Ground beef (93% lean or better)
§ Lean steak (Flank, flat iron, or top sirloin)
§ Bison sirloin (the highest quality red meat)
§ Chicken breast
§ Turkey breast
§ Tuna (canned or sushi grade)
§ Salmon
§ Tilapia (mostly all white fish)
§ All shellfish
§ Venison
§ Whey protein (post-workout recovery purposes only)
§ Casein/Cottage cheese (before bed only)

Black-List Protein sources. Do not eat these because they are high in fat. And not the
good kind we find in nuts and olive oil – I’m talking about cholesterol raising saturated
fat!

§ Bacon
§ Sausage
§ Expensive fat-marbled Steaks (Ribeye, Strip, Filet)
§ Pork and beef ribs
§ Pork/Lamb chops
§ Restaurant ground beef (80/20 fat – most burgers)
§ Duck
§ Chicken legs/thighs
§ Chicken skin
§ Cheese

Acceptable Carbs for your healthy lifestlyle:

Complex carbs are now your creed. These are slower-digesting, natural, low on the glycemic index carbohydrates that digest slowly and provide us with sustained energy. They do not drastically affect our blood sugar and do not cause insulin spikes. Thus our body sees no reason to store them as fat, it would rather burn them for energy. Simple carbs such as enriched white breads/pastas/rice/potatoes/sugars (including most fruit) cause insulin spikes and are high GI foods. They should not be eaten when on a strict diet. Fruit can be consumed early in the day or pre/post-workout because of it’s high nutritional value but should usually be avoided due to being a form of simple sugar. Remember, healthy, low-calorie foods aren’t always the correct foods and such is the case with fruit.

§ Oats/Oatmeal
§ Grits/Cornmeal
§ Unsalted/non-buttered popcorn (great, low-cal snack)
§ Sweet potato (the best choice)
§ Butternut squash
§ Whole wheat pasta (not enriched)
§ Organic whole wheat bread (not enriched wonder bread crap)
§ Brown rice
§ Ezekiel bread
§ Swedish grain bread
§ Gluten free bread
§ Wheat couscous
§ Corn
§ Quinoa
§ Lentils
§ Beans
§ Many more, look up the GI (glycemic index) for healthy choices

Black List:

§ White pasta
§ White bread
§ Baguette
§ Bagels
§ Cookies, cake, muffins, cupcakes, all sweets basically.
§ White couscous
§ White rice
§ You get the idea…

Don’t get discouraged upon reading this list. I still make desserts all the time with whole
grain flour and splenda. I buy bagels and baguettes at the health food store that use
complex carbs as a base. If you’re dedicated, you don’t have to miss out 100%

Acceptable fats for your healthy lifestyle:

We look for fat sources that are high in omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. Also, many are high in protein. We do not want saturated fats such as butter, cream, meat fat. We don’t want test tube fats like trans (the worst). We want mono/polyunsaturated fats that our body can use for something other than calories. Remember, even good fats are high in calories.

§ Natural peanut butter (no sugar added, just roasted peanuts)
§ Natural almond butter
§ Cashews
§ Almonds
§ Peanuts
§ Flax seeds
§ Flax seed oil
§ Salmon and Trout (great fatty proteins)
§ Fish oil
§ Extra virgin olive oil (should be used on all veggies/salads)
§ Chia seeds
§ Grapeseed oil
§ Macadamia nut oil

Acceptable miscellaneous foods:

These foods don’t provide much as far as macronutrients but are great for adding vitamins/minerals and taste. Notice some of these other foods are dairy. Dairy is another animal’s milk. We lack the enzymes to digest it as they do and it’s high in fat/sugar. It should only be eaten early in the day for nutrient purposes with the exception of whey and casein (cottage cheese).

§ Skim milk (Hood brand is only 45 calories and 3g of sugar per cup)
§ Greek yogurt (no sugar added)
§ Berries (all berries are much lower in sugar than other fruits and packed with fiber/nutrients – eat berries)
§ Green Vegetables. These are technically carbs but they are packed with fiber (a type of carb that isn’t used as energy or stored). In bodybuilding/nutrition – we refer to most vegetables as fibrous carbohydrates. While a serving of Broccoli may have 6g of carbs, 5 are from fiber. Meaning that it contains only 1g of storable carbohydrates. In addition, green vegetables are a calorie neutral/negative food (our body uses more calories to digest them than they contain – think celery). Veggies should be eaten with every meal. Every day. If you do this, you can become almost impervious to getting sick. Some vegetables are better than others for healthy diets.
§ Many non-green vegetables. Most are fine – just check labels, some have a good bit of sugar and should be eaten in moderation only (carrots)

**gbrice75** · 11-28-2010, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by pegasuskid172

Just posted on the challenge thread and am pumped to get started! so i am assuming after posting our interest in the challenge we just wait untill we are assigned a trainer a week or so before the competition? just wanted to make sure i read everything correctly!

Yep - Mods will assign one of us to you guys.

**tbody66** · 11-28-2010, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by girlgymrat

you are brave to post pics...awesome for you! I will be cheering for you on the challenge!!

Why not sign up, and you can cheer for yourself?!

**pegasuskid172** · 11-29-2010, 12:31 AM

[QUOTE=gbrice75;5443656]Welcome to the board man, and kudos for posting pics! It really helps us assess where you are at.

The diet needs alot of work, but you already know that or you wouldn't be here. Honestly, it's not worth fixing (no offense), needs to be completely redesigned from scratch. We will work something out. In the meantime, use the info below to educate yourself on proper diet and nutrition. Come back and post up a new proposed diet that we can sort out and make great. Be sure to include time of day for each meal, time of day for workout, and complete and accurate macro info for each meal.

We also need to figure out your TDEE - for now, i'm pegging you at around 2700, based on the stats you provided. Keep in mind that since you aren't sure about BF%, this is a rough estimate and will almost definitely change. I suggest you base your diet around 2300 calories/day. Sounds like you already have the cardio in check, although I'd like to know specifics of what you're doing, and when (fasted? non fasted, etc).

First of all thanks alot for the post and the information you shared with me...very helpful and much appreciated. Ok so based on what i read i tried revamping my diet and came up with the following ( please bare with me if i totally botched this i apologize lol ) I will post full nutrition info tomorrow as its late here but i wanted to post a basic idea of what i came up with for you to have an idea and critique...i apologize if its an inconvenience...

MEAL 1 8AM - 4 egg whites, half cup of Oatmeal, blueberries, water.
MEAL 2 11AM- 1 cup of Celery sticks, 1 Apple, 1 Can salmon or tuna.
MEAL 3 2PM - Spinach salad w/extra virgin olive oil, green peppers, red onion, red peppers, 1 can of tuna or 1 Chicken breast
MEAL 4 5PM - 1 half of a green pepper, almonds (30 almonds), Whey Protein in water ( 30g)
MEAL 5 730PM - Half cup of brown rice or 1 sweet potato, 1 Chicken breast, green beans or broccoli.
WORKOUT 10 PM
POST WORKOUT MEAL 6 - Whey Protein in water ( 30g )

My cardio is done in the morning on an empty stomach about 3 times per week, and post work out on the rest of the days. I usually do the stair master at fat burner level 8 for 20 minutes and then hit an elipticle uphill for another 20 minutes keeping my heart rate between 140 and 155. My work schedule varies so when i cant make it in there in the morning i do it post workout. My schedule enables me to get into the gym at around 10pm on most days. i hope this is helpful for now and again i will post macro info as soon as i get a chance. please let me know what you think and i thank you very much for all of the help! i cant wait to get on track and start a better lifestyle. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far the encouragement is great modivation.

**pegasuskid172** · 11-29-2010, 12:37 AM

ha ha i definitely replied wrong i accidentally clicked "reply with quote" dumb ass newbie move on my part, will not happen again...

no need to bump this either lol!

**Damienm05** · 11-29-2010, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by pegasuskid172

MEAL 1 8AM - 4 egg whites, half cup of Oatmeal, blueberries, water.4 more egg whites and 1 whole egg - you need more than 12g of protein to start the day!
MEAL 2 11AM- 1 cup of Celery sticks, 1 Apple, 1 Can salmon or tuna. I'd remove the apple in favor of a complex carb such as another 1/2 cup oats, small sweet potato, 1/2 cup brown rice, etc. Apples are a healthy food but not a correct choice for your goal - as a sugary carb will only hinder the fat burning process.
MEAL 3 2PM - Spinach salad w/extra virgin olive oil, green peppers, red onion, red peppers, 1 can of tuna or 1 Chicken breast Good meal but get a food scale and weigh your protein sources - 6 oz. is good. As for the oil, I hope you're measuring carefully as 1 tablespoon is 120 calories and the most you should be eating at any one time. Bell peppers and red onions have some sugar, so use them lightly
MEAL 4 5PM - 1 half of a green pepper, almonds (30 almonds), Whey Protein in water ( 30g) A shake every now and then to replace a meal on-the-go is fine but try to use 6 oz. of chicken or fish instead.
MEAL 5 730PM - Half cup of brown rice or 1 sweet potato, 1 Chicken breast, green beans or broccoli. great pre-workout meal. Space things out in a way where this is eaten 60 minutes before the gym however, not 2.5 hours.See below for how to proceed PWO as your workout time changes things.
WORKOUT 10 PM
POST WORKOUT MEAL 6 - Whey Protein in water ( 30g ) OK, this is a huge problem. You're about to go to bed in a completely anabolic state and fast for 8 hours during sleep with only 30g of whey in your stomach. It'll be digested by the time you're home from the gym. It's a PWO recovery supp, not a meal, remember that. Here's what you do: Cut 250 calories during the day to create leeway if you must but 30 minutes after your shake (as soon as you get home) - eat a lean beef meal with veggies. Preferably 6 oz. of flank steak or 95% lean ground with broccoli. Red meat has a very slow digestion rate and should get you through most of the night with a steady source of amino acids. I'm not exaggerating in saying, going to bed without a real meal PWO is almost a waste of your training session. Beyond the first few weeks of training, you'd literally risk burning up muscle tissue and not capitalizing on the window wherein you should be building it.

My cardio is done in the morning on an empty stomach about 3 times per week, and post work out on the rest of the days. I usually do the stair master at fat burner level 8 for 20 minutes and then hit an elipticle uphill for another 20 minutes keeping my heart rate between 140 and 155. My work schedule varies so when i cant make it in there in the morning i do it post workout. My schedule enables me to get into the gym at around 10pm on most days. i hope this is helpful for now and again i will post macro info as soon as i get a chance. please let me know what you think and i thank you very much for all of the help! i cant wait to get on track and start a better lifestyle. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far the encouragement is great modivation. You get what you put in - shoot for longer cardio sessions every day. I also see your training your core/abs many times weekly. Do it only once or twice and on the other days, put that extra time on the treadmill or stairmaster (Elliptical is for MILFs).

Bold. Good luck my man!

**pegasuskid172** · 11-30-2010, 01:26 PM

Thanks to everyone who has posted thus far your help is greatly appreciated...ok so i tried fixing the diet up based on your opinions and came up with the following...hopefully its getting better each time i write it up...i did have not included macro info on any of my green veggies or berries yet but will get to that asap for now could someone please just let me know how this looks so far so i know that i am getting a grasp on it...

MEAL 1 8am - 4 egg whites, half cup of oatmeal, blueberries - 32/24/8 ( pro/carb/fat)
MEAL 2 11am- 1 cup celery, half cup of brown rice, 1 can of tuna - 32.5/22.5/2
MEAL 3 2pm- 1 cup baby spinach, cucumber, 6 oz salmon, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - 41/1/26
MEAL 4 5pm- whey protein in water, 1 oz almonds - 30/11/16
MEAL 5 8pm- half cup of brown rice or sweet potato, 6 oz chicken, green beans or brocolli - 25.5/22.5/3.5
WORKOUT 9PM
PW - Whey Protein in water - 24/5/2
MEAL 6 - 3-6 oz lean ground beef, green beans or brocolli - 21/0/15

Please critique and let me know what you think...I want to make sure everything is perfected to help me reach my goal!! cant thank you all enough for the positive feedback and advice!

**Damienm05** · 11-30-2010, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by pegasuskid172

Thanks to everyone who has posted thus far your help is greatly appreciated...ok so i tried fixing the diet up based on your opinions and came up with the following...hopefully its getting better each time i write it up...i did have not included macro info on any of my green veggies or berries yet but will get to that asap for now could someone please just let me know how this looks so far so i know that i am getting a grasp on it...

MEAL 1 8am - 4 egg whites, half cup of oatmeal, blueberries - 32/24/8 ( pro/carb/fat) Macros are off here - no way 4 egg whites and 1/2 cup of oats is 32g protein - add 1 whole egg and 4 more whites! Also, you should use raspberries or strawberries - blueberries are nutritious but exponentially higher in sugar, lower in fiber.
MEAL 2 11am- 1 cup celery, half cup of brown rice, 1 can of tuna - 32.5/22.5/2 Good
MEAL 3 2pm- 1 cup baby spinach, cucumber, 6 oz salmon, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - 41/1/26 Good
MEAL 4 5pm- whey protein in water, 1 oz almonds - 30/11/16 Good - a shake here won't kill you and the fat from the almonds will slow digestion well enough to get you through the next couple of hours
MEAL 5 8pm- half cup of brown rice or sweet potato, 6 oz chicken, green beans or brocolli - 25.5/22.5/3.5 Wonderful
WORKOUT 9PM
PW - Whey Protein in water - 24/5/2
MEAL 6 - 3-6 oz lean ground beef, green beans or brocolli - 21/0/15 Brilliant

Please critique and let me know what you think...I want to make sure everything is perfected to help me reach my goal!! cant thank you all enough for the positive feedback and advice!

Bold but it's almost perfect.

**pegasuskid172** · 11-30-2010, 02:11 PM

I knew the macros were off...i was using a nutrition site to count the egg nutrients cause i ran out this morning. i will re do that count...glad to see i did well on everything else. I wanted to ask you if a cheat meal is ok during the week or if i should stay away from cheating at all until i reach my goal and if there is a cheat meal does it matter when i have it in the week? (can i have it in the middle or should i have it near the end of the week) if you could let me know how that works it would be awesome!

As for my cardio...level 8 for 20 minutes on the stairmaster and then 20 minutes on the treadmill 5-6 days per week is ok? 3 of the days i will be doing it on an empty stomach and the remaining will be done post workout. When i hit the treadmill should i run at a good pace for 20 minutes or jog, or uphill walk? thanks again for all of your help i am on my way to the grocery store right now to stock up so i can start this completed diet tomorrow morning! i will post updated pics up every two weeks!! did you need to see my weight lifting routine too? ( what exercises)

**Damienm05** · 11-30-2010, 04:05 PM

Cheat meals once a week are cool at 15% body fat - at 30+ I think you should just stick to the diet 100% - Obviously, an unintentional cheat meal is going to happen sooner or later anyway (day at the amusement park, wedding, etc) - so try to keep it to once a month if you can.