Looking for a major drop..

[Ramble_on]

Hey All,
Age 33
Height 6'3"
Weight 318
Bf% A whole Bunch
Cycle history Not Yet
Years training Not Currently but had history of 10 years of HS College FB Lineman

OK here's the rundown.. I use to be in great shape, even @ 290 lbs while playing ball. If memory serves correctly I was around 19% body fat then, but being a lineman that was acceptable. But glory days gone, knee surgeries and basically life... I have packed on a bunch of fat and lost muscle in the process. So my train of thought is to shed the weight and rebuild the body. I have lost 30 lbs so far on my own, just using a locarb version of diet, trying to eat 4-5 times a day. Alot of grilled chicken and some red meat.. So, question is, I am thinking of clen, diet, plus trying to get cardio going again. Yes I know exercise is the key but me losing 30 has helped fat boys knees tremendously. so I am riding the ebike and I will try to start jogging the straights and walking the corners at the local track. I am 318-320lbs as of now and I am tired of fluxing at the weight. SO i am in a rut and need a pull. I am open for all suggestions and willing to do the deal, be it, posting results, current info, even pics, (well that's ya'lls bad if you want those j/k) whatever it takes. I am tired and ready.

[gbrice75]

Bumping for this guy.

The wife is giving me the stink eye again, so I need to log off and go perform maintenance, but hopefully one of the guys here will get you started. If not, i'll get you tomorrow bro.

[Ramble_on]

I am continuing my loss.. Weight this morning 314.. I would appreciate the help

[maxwkw]

First of all, congratulations on your progress. If your current diet is working I would suggest not changing it too much. If it's getting boring I would try different seasonings, different sources of proteins, things like that. If you post your diet I'll have a look at it.

[Ramble_on]

Down to 304.5 as of this morning.. not getting alot of help here but I feel better atleast posting this somewhere for myself... My fatass has came from 358lbs in almost 6 mos... I WILL GET MY GOAL!!!! I will find me a trainor and get HELLABIG again in the muscle dept... If your in TEXAS hit me up... If your willing to help a fat boy out here!! Thanks

[polarb68111]

I am in the same boat as you, I dont know shit though. I wish someone would get in here and help out, as I need the same help!

[bdj328]

Dude :: Im needing help as well just not enough motovation.. Came on this sight to get positive advice but.. Well some is positive and some discouraging ya know .. Im from texas.. What part are you at.. What kind of diet are you preasntly on ???

[RaginCajun]

do not look at it as a diet. look at it as a life style change. it is not easy to break bad habits and years of doing/eating bad. and yes, it is tough shit but once you start seeing results, you want more! for starters, you need to post your daily eating in the form of protein/fats/carbs/calories. there is a great post by damien that explains everything. gb also uses it to help guide and teach individuals how and what to eat. i will go try to find the link but i think it is in the sticky section. and bdj328, start your own thread and people will chime in. you have to be patient.

[gbrice75]

Down to 304.5 as of this morning.. not getting alot of help here but I feel better atleast posting this somewhere for myself... My fatass has came from 358lbs in almost 6 mos... I WILL GET MY GOAL!!!! I will find me a trainor and get HELLABIG again in the muscle dept... If your in TEXAS hit me up... If your willing to help a fat boy out here!! Thanks

Congrats on the loss so far!!!

Let us know specifically what you want help with. Post up your exact diet, cardio and training regimen for critique. That's the best place to start.

[maxwkw]

Congratulations.

[Ramble_on]

Congrats on the loss so far!!!

Let us know specifically what you want help with. Post up your exact diet, cardio and training regimen for critique. That's the best place to start.

Yeah here is sad part... My diet has been low carb no more than 20 a day, cardio--- none so far... I need to but havent... This is where I need help.. I have always been on a schedule when it came to this from someone else.. I am so outta shape right now its hard to get started.. I weighed this morn @ 302.8 and I know this is where the turning point is..

[Ramble_on]

Im in the Beaumont Area... U?

[RaginCajun]

Congrats on the loss so far!!!

Let us know specifically what you want help with. Post up your exact diet, cardio and training regimen for critique. That's the best place to start.

don't give up son. post everything that you put in your mouth for the day with cals, protein, fats, and carbs. this site is full of educated people that will help you out. you just have to help you first! its not easy, that is why i joined this website, for guidance and help!

[RaginCajun]

and, YOU HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE!

[Ramble_on]

Thanks Cajun... Diet today:
05:30: Atkins Bar
11:00: Grilled Chicken Salad-Subway
3:00 : Atkins Bar
6:30 : 6oz Steak (foreman style) small salad
Water intake on avg 3L

[RaginCajun]

well you definitely need some help with the diet. 4 meals? come on man! i am no guru at this but i know you need to get more food in you. and not some atkins bar! real food. let me go find a post that damien put together and it will help you out. it will help you figure out why and what you are eating. and other things like how many calories is in a gram of protein? like i said before, i am no guru but i can help out. and go look at baseline's transformation thread, very inspirational and motivating.

[RaginCajun]

here is what i was talking about. u can look at other people's diets and go off of them, but look at their goals, they may differ from yours. and go read thru baseline's thread, good shit!


Part 1 - The basics

If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. If you burn less, you will gain weight (via muscle, fat, or both depending on the food choices and planning). Period. There are 3500 stored calories in one pound of body fat. 3500 negative calories equals one pound of fat loss. So let’s break it down a little further, based on our individual statistics and goals.

Stats – BMR and TDEE are the two figures that can tell us a lot about how we should be eating based on our goals.

Let’s start with BMR. This is your Basal Metabolic Rate. AKA – how many calories you burn each day by just sitting on your ass. In order to figure out your BMR, you need to know what your lean body mass is. In turn, you need to know what your body fat percentage is.

If you don’t know your body fat percentage, remind me to test it for you before we proceed. If you’d rather not do a caliper test, just tell me and I’ll give you a pretty good visual estimate.

With your bf % in hand, here’s the formula:

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Total weight x bf % in decimal form = total bf weight

Total weight - total bf weight = total lean body mass

For example:

I am 6'1 210 lbs at 10% body fat... so I would multiply 210 by .10 (converted from percent to decimal) = 21 lbs

210 – 21 = 189 lbs lean body weight

189 / 2.2 = 86.0 lean mass in kg

370 + (21.6 x 86) = 2227.6 BMR (this is high for the average person)

Now that we have a BMR figure, we can move on to TDEE. Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is how many calories we actually use during the day via our BMR and activities such as work, exercise and various tasks. We can figure this number out with simple math but be honest because this figure is to be the cornerstone of your diet and healthy lifestyle. We need to determine your activity level. We’ll choose from a few levels:

1 If you are sedentary (little or no exercise): Calorie - Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2 If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3 If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4 If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5 If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

For example:

I train with weights 5 days for 90 minutes per week. I play hockey three times per week
for 90 minutes. I do 60 minutes of cardio training 5 times per week as well. In addition to games, I also practice my sport 3 times per week for 90 minutes. Either via skating or puck/shooting drills. All are high-intensity. I am between very and extra active. Let’s say BMR x 1.8. My TDEE is 4010.

This is how many calories you can eat and still break even. To lose weight, we must eat below this number. To gain, we must eat above it. 1000 calories below your TDEE daily, will result in negative 7000 calories per week. Remember, 3500 calories is one pound of fat loss; so you’re losing two pounds per week. And that’s with just diet alone. Now, let’s factor in additional caloric deficit via cardio. Say, you also run for 45 minutes in the morning and burn 600 calories in the process. That puts you at negative 1600 calories per day. Now we’re talking four pounds per week. Imagine (and I don’t recommend this) if you ate 1500 below your TDEE and ran for 2 hours per day, burning 1600 calories in the process, putting you at negative 3200 calories daily. Now we’re talking about a pound per day. You could be at your goal weight in a matter of weeks. However, this would destroy your BMR and make you gain weight back quickly if you started eating normally again without a gradual increase in calories over several months. The most appropriate course of action with regard to sustainable results and metabolic health is to be as patient as possible and do more cardio while maintaining a minimal deficit to ensure your body is as nourished as possible while on a fat loss regiment.

Part 2 – Exercise.

I’ll keep this part short and sweet because we’ll do the real work in this area during our sessions in the gym. There are only two major types of exercise that will help you realize your goals.

1 Resistance training: AKA – lifting weights. In doing this, we shred our muscle tissue and force our body to rebuild it, bigger, stronger, and leaner than it was before. This is our body responding to the strain, becoming better prepared to handle it next time around. In rebuilding muscle tissue, our bodies require lots more nutrients and calories. For example, if you work out hard and feel sore the next day, your body is, at this point, a calorie burning machine. Some experts say we burn as much as 30% more calories in a sedentary state in the days following strong workouts. Basically add 30% to your BMR if you lift weights. Ya dig?


2 Cardiovascular training: There are many types and ways to employ this type of training. At a high body fat percentage; high intensity cardio is going to be most effective. This means keeping your heart rate highly elevated (about 80% of max) for more than 20 minutes at a time, usually via running. Our bodies burn calories at an incredible rate when doing this and unless we have tons of carbohydrates and stored glycogen in our body (we’ll get into carbs later) – will have no choice but to burn some fat for energy in this state as well. At a low body fat percentage when the goal is to preserve muscle and gradually shed that last bit of stubborn fat, I recommend low intensity cardio. This involves longer sessions at fewer heart beats per minute (65% of max heart rate). The calorie burn is not equivalent to interval or high intensity cardio but in this heart rate range; fat is targeted, while lean tissue and muscle glycogen are spared. Anyway, enough said, right? Do cardio, create a caloric deficit, burn body fat, lose water weight by sweating, which makes you feel thin. It’s huge.


Part 3 – Diet - Macronutrients:

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. I’ve told you how exercise affects weight loss and how much of a caloric deficit we must create to lose said weight; so you know how to build - you understand architecture. You also know the pace you intend on losing 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 2-nights of binge drinking – 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 210 lbs and I eat between 300-400 grams per day. Conventional wisdom states that our bodies can only break down so much at one time, so we want to eat 20-40 grams of protein in every meal, several times per day. However, more and more literature to the contrary is being published every day and there is no hard evidence to support the 20-40g “max absorption” concept. Still, with regard to metabolic health and maintaining a balanced diet, splitting your daily protein intake up among many smaller meals is going to be most efficient. 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 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 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 are stored as fat. Yes, they will make you fat. Carbs can be your best friend or your worst enemy. As such, I will teach you what carbs to eat and when.

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 and are not the body’s preferred source. 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, metabolism, and increase our protein synthesis (body’s ability to make use of the protein we give it). 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. Snack on 5-6 tablespoons means you’ve just eaten over your TDEE for the day.

Part 4 – Diet – What to Eat:
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 breas
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!
1 Bacon
2 Sausage
3 Expensive fat-marbled Steaks (Ribeye, Strip, Filet)
4 Pork and beef ribs
5 Pork/Lamb chops
6 Restaurant ground beef (80/20 fat – most burgers)
7 Duck
8 Chicken legs/thighs
9 Chicken skin
10 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.
1 Oats/Oatmeal
2 Grits/Cornmeal
3 Unsalted/non-buttered popcorn (great, low-cal snack)
4 Sweet potato (the best choice)
5 Butternut squash
6 Whole wheat pasta (not enriched)
7 Organic whole wheat bread (not enriched wonder bread crap)
8 Brown rice
9 Ezekiel bread
10 Swedish grain bread
11 Gluten free bread
12 Wheat couscous
13 Corn
14 Quinoa
15 Lentils
16 Beans
17 Many more, look up the GI (glycemic index) for healthy choices

Black List:
1 White pasta
2 White bread
3 Baguette
4 Bagels
5 Cookies, cake, muffins, cupcakes, all sweets basically.
6 White couscous
7 White rice
8 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.
1 Natural peanut butter (no sugar added, just roasted peanuts)
2 Natural almond butter
3 Cashews
4 Almonds
5 Peanuts
6 Flax seeds
7 Flax seed oil
8 Salmon and Trout (great fatty proteins)
9 Fish oil
10 Extra virgin olive oil (should be used on all veggies/salads)
11 Chia seeds
12 Grapeseed oil
13 Macadamia nut oil
14 Coconut oil (very low smoke-point, should not be heated directly)

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).
1 Skim milk (Hood brand is only 45 calories and 3g of sugar per cup)
2 Greek yogurt (no sugar added)
3 Berries (all berries are much lower in sugar than other fruits and packed with fiber/nutrients – eat berries)
4 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.
5 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)

[Ramble_on]

Ragin, I am def on board with this.. I have been way off on what I have been putting myself through.. I do need some help, what can I do to get some energy for end of day workout.. I would like to workout in the morning but not really possible due to wake up @ 430 and on the road by 530... 1 1/2hr drive... but by the end of day mentally and physically just wore.. 8 stores and 113 employees tend to get ya down lol... OK so as of Monday I switching to this plan and getting my Big @ss in gear somehow someway... I will start posting weekly weigh ins and scheduled workouts.. I know I want more cardio to help with energy level and burning my fat.. Thanks for your help and looking out for me.. Maybe I can get back into shape and maybe turn into a beast once again.. Which was 320 lbs and 16% bodyfat.. And some big ass guns lol

[kalspic]

i think once you get back into the gym you will start seeing results. and if i didnt miss it, you said you havn't been doing any working out or cardio. so the changes should come quickly. for energy try eating a carb/protien meal about 45min to an hour before your workout

[Ramble_on]

i think once you get back into the gym you will start seeing results. and if i didnt miss it, you said you havn't been doing any working out or cardio. so the changes should come quickly. for energy try eating a carb/protien meal about 45min to an hour before your workout

Will give it a go....