New Member: Please Help Me Out...

[SirMack]

Hi guys,

I'm new here and I am excited to hear all of your opinions! I have been working out for the past 8 weeks, 3 times a week, for about 2 hours per session. Here is the average session:

10 min of cardio, then I work out most every body part 3 sets of 10 (last set is usually hardcore struggle) and then another 15 min of cardio afterwards.

The problem is I have gained a lot of weight, and now I'm 5'10" 248 lbs, with an extremely broad build (46" chest and wide shoulders). I want to lose weight and become cut, but i'm adding muscle, adding weight, and staying the same size. What can I do to lose weight and get buff/cut?

If I'm doing something wrong please let me know, I'm very ignorant on how to 'eat' the right foods to lose weight, or to help me build muscle. Any help would be extremely appreciated. I look forward to all of your replies!

 

[Bobarell]

Welcome

I think that you can find pretty much everything you need to know about getting lean or building muscke on this board.

If you are trying to gain and cut you will have to do a little of trial and error work to make sure you are getting it right.

Take a day and read through the forums and you will learn a lot in a small amount of time.

Let all of us know what your diet looks like now so we can suggest what to or not to do. The most important thing though is calorie intake. cutting diet=your weight*12 Maintain=YW*15 and bulking=yw*20.

Make sure you are also eating the right foods. Search through the board and find a diet the is right for you and than figure out how many cals of each thing you need. You can go almost every route, but the most important constant is protein. High carb, lowcarb, high fat, low fat, but protein is almost always going to be 1g per pound of BW or above.

Good luck

 

[Vageta]

Losing fat is more about diet than your workout and cardio schedule. You can do cardio for an hour a day and workout 4x per week but if your diet isn't setup right you may still gain weight, both fat and muscle. It's difficult to gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously while training naturally so you need to concentrate on just one. By the sound of your post you are more interested in getting cut so just focus on that goal

Just read through the posts on this board for general dieting guidelines and you should fine what you're looking for. The basics of dieting simply are:

1. Create a caloric deficit(eat less calories than your body burns), but don't make it too severe.
2. Keep protein intake high enough to prevent excessive muscle catabolization.
3. Perform regular refeeds to keep leptin levels high and yourself sane.
4. Perform weight training to prevent muscle catabolism and burn extra calories.
5. Cardio is optional but if you're already doing it then continue.

There's a lot more to it then that, but if you follow those simple rules then you should be on your way.

 

[SirMack]

Well my daily schedule is pretty much a lot of rice, meat/beef, vegetables (Corn or Broccolli or Peas), and maybe a bowl of cereal here or there and then a Wendy's Double Stack + Medium Fry and a water.

I don't drink sodas, I only drink water (about 6 glasses a day) and I rarely eat candy or sweets.

My problem is if I don't eat often I get sick (headache, bad mood, can't concentrate, etc). But I don't know what to eat, or when. If someone just listed all the foods I CAN/SHOULD eat and how much of each to eat a day I would do it. I've been trying to eat a salad for Lunch also, but its been tough.

Thoughts?

 

[georgie24]

Originally posted by SirMack and then a Wendy's Double Stack + Medium Fry and a water.

Thoughts? [/B]

lmao!!

 

[georgie24]

j/king bro...just spend a good amount of time researching the right diet for you

 

[_jaap_]

yup your not going to get a suitable diet handed to u, not only beacuse were lazy as well but also because it woulf us hours and hours of time to make one and we have all been through the " please help me work out my training and diet" for a friend only to see them light up a cig, or open a can of beer the very next weekend it gets tiring fast.

But ill give u some pointers.

-start with several small meals spread out over the dat let go of breakfast lunch and dinner. Take in 6 smaller meals rougly 3 hours apart
- take in a good post workout shake use carbs+protein do some research on this.
- take a good look at your macro nutrient profile (prot vs. carbs vs. fat)
- you want to cut so create a caloric deficit
- get yourself some dedication this lifestyle aint easy, if u can get any send $1000 to _jaap_ in rotterdam the netherlands and ill send u an enveloppe with a weeks worth

P.S. read and learn

 

[Bobarell]

Like everyone said....read as much as you can from either books or this and other forums.

Once you decide what you are going to do type up a diet/WO plan and post it and let us tell you what you need to add or subtract from it.

There are many posts on here with peoples complete daily diets. If you like what you see in one of them than adjust it for your calories and post it for us. Once you get an idea of what you need p/c/f on a daily basis and have a diet in place you can start adjusting the diet as needed.

I think I can come up with a diet though........for the right price.

LOL J/K

I personally started an Atkins diet and then started reading forums online to see what I can do to tweak it for my needs. I started 2 months ago at 180+ and am now down to 160 with some pretty good strength gain. I am going to start bulking here in about a month as soon as I get my BF to where I want it. I learned everything I know about my diet on this board and my friends can't believe my progress. I have 2 WO partners and we all do the same WO and I am the only one getting good gains, and I am the only one cutting. It is all about diet......diet......diet.

I ate and ate and didn't WO for a while. I am naturally a skinny MF so 20lbs of fat looked bad on me. I started WO'ing out again and dieting about the same time so that is why I am gaining muscle. I am in no way a person you look at in the gym and see a guy you want to look like, but considering 2 months ago I liked like a POS couch potato I am doing great. Give me another year or two and I will be that guy in the gym.

Oh yah......2 months ago 5'10" 180-185 20%BF??
now 160 maybe 12% BF

Just got done at the gym so I am kinda hyped.....forgive the long post

 

[SirMack]

Wow, thanks a lot guys for the input! I can see that there really are a lot of intelligent people in this forum, very well versed in the ways of 'work out'. I really wish I could find a work out partner for me, the only person that I can get to go with me to the Gym is my GF, and she plays around too much, of course I have told her to 'leave me alone' when i'm lifting. Its hard enough to move weight when your trying to concentrate, let alone when a girl is fooling with ya.

Well, I understand completely in regards to it being pretty tough to put together a 'customized diet' as I figure it would take such a long time. My main goal is to lose about 35-50 lbs, and gain a bunch of muscle mass, that is my DREAM. LIke I said before, i'm at 5'10" 247 lbs or so. I have gained about 14 lbs in 18 weeks of working out, and my arms, legs, back, butt, shoulders, etc hvae all gained a lot of muscle, but its under that dang layer of fat. I need to be more 'cut' and its a tough one.

I suppose I'm lucky that I have TOO MUCH weight versus NOT ENOUGH and trying to add the weight eh? I mean I guess I could work with what I have, but I really DO NOT want to be this big.

Are there any posts or good books you guys can recommend that may 'target' the type of diet that I would need? basically a diet to help me lose weight, body fat, and gain muscle?

I'm not that familiar with 'shakes' and 'drinks' and stuff, and as you can see I'm very new. I'm just been hitting the gym and seeing some pretty good improvement in my build, but i havn't used any supplements or anything, nor have I been really altering what I've been eating, as I'm so unsure. According to the formula given to me earlier, I have to eat at, or below 2,964 calories/day in order to lose weight. I have a hard time believing I eat that much now! I guess I'll have to 'calorie count' and see for myself.

I am so excited that I ran across this forum! I can't wait to get on the right track, eating right and working out the right way!

 

[Vageta]

Since you have a lot of weight to lose I'd suggest getting the book "Body for Life". It has a lot of great information in it and if you follow the eating plan you will lose the weight. After 12 weeks on this diet your body will be much leaner and you'll be ready to start a more specific diet suited to your needs. During those 12 weeks continue to research on dieting but don't let it change what you're doing. Any diet will work if you stick to it so just follow what your plan is and after you get down to < 15% bodyfat or so you can start changing things up.

Also cut out the Wendy's meal. Go check out Wendy's website and look at how many calories you're eating with that meal. If you must have fast food then eat grilled chicken sandwiches with no mayo or something. Burgers and fries, especially double stackers, are loaded with fat and calories.

 

[SirMack]

Since you have a lot of weight to lose I'd suggest getting the book "Body for Life". It has a lot of great information in it and if you follow the eating plan you will lose the weight. After 12 weeks on this diet your body will be much leaner and you'll be ready to start a more specific diet suited to your needs. During those 12 weeks continue to research on dieting but don't let it change what you're doing. Any diet will work if you stick to it so just follow what your plan is and after you get down to < 15% bodyfat or so you can start changing things up.

Also cut out the Wendy's meal. Go check out Wendy's website and look at how many calories you're eating with that meal. If you must have fast food then eat grilled chicken sandwiches with no mayo or something. Burgers and fries, especially double stackers, are loaded with fat and calories.

Wow, thanks for the suggestions in regards to the book I'll see about buyint it today! BTW, I have heard of a book called "HealthY Body, Healthy You" or something to that nature, is that a good book also?

I have to eat Fast Food at least once every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, since I am nowhere near home and the only food I can buy is Fast Food. I sometimes eat a BK Big Fish Sandwhich minus mayo. I suppose you are right though, the fast food is what kills me.

But if the book has a good diet I will follow it TO THE T, I am really wanting to lose weight and get in shape. I've been working out, as I said, for about 8 or 9 weeks now, and I'm so into it, its awesome! i'm addicted to the gym, I only wish I could spend 4 hours a day, 6 days a week there! But I guess you do need to let your muscles relax every day or so.

I'm going to Half.com now to look for that book. Thanks for the advice. If you know of any other good books to help me shed a bunch of weight please let me know.

 

[Vageta]

That book will do you fine for now. Too much information at one time will make you start 2nd guessing your plan and that's not a good thing. You'll notice while researching diets that there is a lot of conflicting information and you may feel like making a change trying to "better" your diet. Don't. Just stick with the inital plan and continue researching, many times you'll realize later on that what you wanted to change wasn't the best idea anyways. The worst thing to do while dieting is to change things up every week. Stick with something that works and don't change it until fat loss begins to slow. Also on Body for Life I don't recommend skipping the free day. However don't go overboard, eat decently but enjoy yourself a little. I'd still recommend skipping empty calories like mayo, butter, etc... but eat a higher volume of food so you feel full.

Fast food isn't all bad. I always eat it while dieting, you just have to know what you're getting. Some of the "better" fast food items off of the top of my head are:

Wendy's chili
Wendy's grilled chicken fillet
Jack in the Box chicken fajita pita
Jack in the box grilled chicken fillet (-mayo)
Burger King BK broiler (-mayo)
Taco Bell Steak and/or Chicken soft tacos
Carl's Jr. BBQ Chicken Sandwich
etc....

When I'm on a lower carb diet phase I usually will go to Wendy's and get a chili and grilled chicken fillet and just throw away the bread.

Go to the websites of these places and you can find out what the best lower calorie, lower fat foods are. General guidelines are stay away from breaded items, drop the sauces except maybe ketchup and mustard and drop the fries totally. If you want some carbs get a potato with nothing on it. Or get a potato from Wendy's and put a small chili on top of it.

Body for Life won't have you count calories but it does have you estimate portion size by the size of your hand/fist which is a good start. After 12 weeks on this diet you'll have a better understanding of what good healthy eating is and then you will have to actually start counting calories and macronutrients in your foods to get the best results.

Also don't overdo it in the gym regardless of how motivated you are. You grow on your days off not while working out so keep that into consideration. I'd recommend no more than 4 days of weight training and 3 days of cardio. Take one day completely off from both. Body for life recommends 3 days a week for weights and 3 for cardio with Sunday off. I followed this when I first started dieting a couple of years ago and it worked out great.

Check out this thread for some motivation. I lost most of my intial weight on the Body for Life plan. After I learned more I came up with my own diet but BFL got me down to about 14% bodyfat from where I started in only about 14 weeks. I lost 45 pounds in that time just following that book so it does work. Just don't buy into the EAS supplement crap. You don't need what they say, a simple ECA stack and some protein powder is all you need.

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