Tired of being out of shape
- Thread starter jkittle99
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2015
- Messages
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I know it might sound lame and over the top but have you thought about P90X? I've completed one go around and its one heck of a workout. I was thin when I started so I didn't lose any weight but its worth a shot. If it doesn't work out, that's only 90 days that is wasted but it gets you off the couch and in motion. Plus you don't have to leave the comfort of your home to do it.
Jfire
BoM 9/9' 9/11' 8/12'
Lots of great info here!
Last spring... 5'10" (still a little muscle.) Was 204. Sound familiar!?!?
Difference was I am not really over weight for too long. Maybe a year before I said enough was enough. I Cut out: soda and deserts. Started gym 3 days and running 4 days a week. Lost 20 lbs (184) in 3 months and put back on a decent amount of muscle last summer. To the point my wife wouldn't leave me alone again. Back up to 194. But springs a coming and the running shoes are getting warmed up again.
My bullet points:
Don't restrict calories. Eat what you are suppose to eat daily! For your age group! Feed your body good nutrition 5-6x a day. This can not be overlooked. Fuel the furnace!!!!!
Take a high potency omega 3 2x a day. It's a miracle food pill. (Along with a HQ daily mens healthy multy)
Do not eat anything: prepackaged (with more than 1-3 ingredients).
No fast food at all.
Switch to organic raw sugar if you must have some in say your morning coffee.
And like everyone else said. DRINK YOUR WATER PEOPLE!!!!
Last spring... 5'10" (still a little muscle.) Was 204. Sound familiar!?!?
Difference was I am not really over weight for too long. Maybe a year before I said enough was enough. I Cut out: soda and deserts. Started gym 3 days and running 4 days a week. Lost 20 lbs (184) in 3 months and put back on a decent amount of muscle last summer. To the point my wife wouldn't leave me alone again. Back up to 194. But springs a coming and the running shoes are getting warmed up again.
My bullet points:
Don't restrict calories. Eat what you are suppose to eat daily! For your age group! Feed your body good nutrition 5-6x a day. This can not be overlooked. Fuel the furnace!!!!!
Take a high potency omega 3 2x a day. It's a miracle food pill. (Along with a HQ daily mens healthy multy)
Do not eat anything: prepackaged (with more than 1-3 ingredients).
No fast food at all.
Switch to organic raw sugar if you must have some in say your morning coffee.
And like everyone else said. DRINK YOUR WATER PEOPLE!!!!
- Joined
- May 16, 2013
- Messages
- 965
I'm going to echo what a lot of others here have said. Start with Diet. There is absolutly no way to out train a bad diet!!!!!
I used to go to the gym every morning before work, watched my diet pretty good and was down to like 203 lbs.....I'm 6'4" and lanky so that's not terrible for me but i'd like that to be a more solid 200lbs if that makes sense. that was before i hernated a disc and have been rehabin that for like 6 months. Hoping to get back soon. ANyway, don't worry about the scale, worry about how your clothes fit, how your body is shaped and so forth.
Starting with "your diet" not "a diet" is the way to go. Eat foodst hat you can pronouce. Pile on the green veggies, they are filling, full of nutriants and realativley cheap. Frozen brocoli takes up a big part of our freezer and ussusualy a big part of my plate. Eat more whole un processed foods, stay away from simple carbs and filler foods. Drop the soda and fancy coffee!!! Our bodies are made to metabolize foods in thier natural state, not in the over processed state that our diet is comprised of. Make small changes, for starters do good during the week, then alow yourself a couple beers on the weekend. The law of averages says you'll loose fat. keep building from there.
Oh yeah, the most important thing. POUND IN AS MUCH WATER AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!
Good luck!
I used to go to the gym every morning before work, watched my diet pretty good and was down to like 203 lbs.....I'm 6'4" and lanky so that's not terrible for me but i'd like that to be a more solid 200lbs if that makes sense. that was before i hernated a disc and have been rehabin that for like 6 months. Hoping to get back soon. ANyway, don't worry about the scale, worry about how your clothes fit, how your body is shaped and so forth.
Starting with "your diet" not "a diet" is the way to go. Eat foodst hat you can pronouce. Pile on the green veggies, they are filling, full of nutriants and realativley cheap. Frozen brocoli takes up a big part of our freezer and ussusualy a big part of my plate. Eat more whole un processed foods, stay away from simple carbs and filler foods. Drop the soda and fancy coffee!!! Our bodies are made to metabolize foods in thier natural state, not in the over processed state that our diet is comprised of. Make small changes, for starters do good during the week, then alow yourself a couple beers on the weekend. The law of averages says you'll loose fat. keep building from there.
Oh yeah, the most important thing. POUND IN AS MUCH WATER AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!
Good luck!
usually with a big gut like that is that's its a lot of bloat and inflammation . try switching to a high fiber diet (veggies have tons of fiber), with lots of H2O . get in the habit of carrying water with you and drink up . cold brewing unsweetened lipton reen tea is also great.
if your gonna lift , hit the big muscle groups the most - quads , glutes, and back - how ? the basics - deadlift / squat / bench press
Take Creatine . 40mins is plenty. eat as much as you want , but do it in a grazing fashion, trail mix, lean stuff.
if your beat tired and need help, pick up yourself up some bronkaid and do the old ECA stack - 25mg ephedrine 200mg caffeine and an 325mg aspirin 2-3 times a day w/at least 16oz of water , last dose no later than mid afternoon.
all this is addition stress and it will tax you, so take an antioxidant blend supplement
Lastly, get some solid sleep - melatonin is fast and powerful, but is your friend. comes in .5mg, 1mg, 3mg, & 5mg increments, so start low and find which one allows you to sleep all night, too much will have you waking too soon.
if your gonna lift , hit the big muscle groups the most - quads , glutes, and back - how ? the basics - deadlift / squat / bench press
Take Creatine . 40mins is plenty. eat as much as you want , but do it in a grazing fashion, trail mix, lean stuff.
if your beat tired and need help, pick up yourself up some bronkaid and do the old ECA stack - 25mg ephedrine 200mg caffeine and an 325mg aspirin 2-3 times a day w/at least 16oz of water , last dose no later than mid afternoon.
all this is addition stress and it will tax you, so take an antioxidant blend supplement
Lastly, get some solid sleep - melatonin is fast and powerful, but is your friend. comes in .5mg, 1mg, 3mg, & 5mg increments, so start low and find which one allows you to sleep all night, too much will have you waking too soon.
^ This. There was a long discussion about this in chat the other day, and what Hoshy wrote is what I truly believe. It is true that changing every aspect of your diet to eat only fruit/veggie/lean protein is the ultimate in healthy nutrition, overcoming the way we look at food is the first step. Want a doughnut? Eat it. Cheeseburger? Do it. BUT, and this is a big but, you have to track it. Making yourself accountable is the most important thing.
I started at 318lbs January 4th 2013. One year later I weighed in at 208. I ate whatever I wanted as long as it stayed within my fitness pal goal. I exercised 4-7 days a week and never felt better.
The problem I have with the "remove this from your diet" plan is; what you can't have, you want it most. Cut out bread? I'll trade my left arm for a breadstick. Cut out sugar? I want a cookie more than life itself. This holds true for anything you can't have.
Use MFP and be honest and accountable to yourself. Portion control is key. If you put it in your mouth, log it. With out exception. No tasting.
As far as the calories go, if your not hungry, don't use them. If your hungry, eat them. Including your exorcise calories if you need them. Try to keep yourself occupied and drink as much water as you can handle. Boredom is a killer.
I have already added you on MFP and just added Hoshy. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or just need an ear. You can do it, brother!
One thing I forgot. A food scale. You must, and I mean must, weigh and measure everything. This is a pain in the ass at first but you get used to it. One trick I learned is to build recipes in MFP of meals you make at home. Weigh the empty pan you will cook it in before you start. Then build the recipe in MFP. Weigh the entire dish when complete. Make a serving size one ounce. You can then weigh your food on a scale and have an accurate calorie count for the number of ounces you eat.
About 2 years ago I was in a similar situation and was able to drop 30lbs, 15% of my body weight at the time, in about 3 months all while building muscle. My routine is similar to Mad Cow but with your knees I don't think that'd work for you. Use My Fitness Pal and pair that with a macro(protein/carb/fat) split of 50/30/20 and aiming to eat 1g protein per pound of your body weight. It takes a little getting used to putting together your meals to hit these numbers but if you do it ahead of time it makes things easier. The app won't tell you to eat for that macro split but with those macro levels your body will build muscle and cut fat. You can also run a couple cycles with a fat burner. I ran 2 cycles of Alphamine and Alpha T2 and they definitely increased my weight loss when I was taking them.
On the workout side cardio should be fine for leg days but I'd try to mix in some core exercises like a few sets of planks. Its good for dropping weight and won't tax your knees like heavy lifts. For upper body you can pretty much do everything with a set of dumbbells and a bench. Flat press, incline press, Arnold press, shrugs, rows, curls, fly, incline fly, and one of my personal favorites... incline reverse grip press. Keep the weight heavy enough to stress the muscles so they grow but not too the point where your straining and hurt yourself.
On the workout side cardio should be fine for leg days but I'd try to mix in some core exercises like a few sets of planks. Its good for dropping weight and won't tax your knees like heavy lifts. For upper body you can pretty much do everything with a set of dumbbells and a bench. Flat press, incline press, Arnold press, shrugs, rows, curls, fly, incline fly, and one of my personal favorites... incline reverse grip press. Keep the weight heavy enough to stress the muscles so they grow but not too the point where your straining and hurt yourself.
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This is very good advice.
Also cutting dairy out (80-90%) will also make dramatic improvements. I am in my winter weight right now at about 199-200lbs but in summer I get to 185. Simple small changes and persistence my friend.
Good luck brother. Losing weight is tough, but it's doable. I went into college weighing 180 lbs, lost 30 lbs freshman year when I was in Army ROTC, and then put about 15 lbs back on every year after I dropped out. After I graduated I went to work for a construction company and ate fast food for lunch, typical bachelor food every night for dinner, and was hitting the bars anywhere from 3-5 nights a week. I had acid reflux, just like you. I changed jobs to get out of that environment (and for other reasons) and moved to North Carolina to live with my girlfriend (now wife) after she moved out there. I started doing Couch to 5K, and had the worst shin splints until I figured out that I just needed to stretch better. I'm 5' 6", and at my peak I was pushing 225 lbs, and I was about at a 38 inch waist. It took a couple of years, but I'm down to 145 lbs. I wear a 32 inch waist, and my wife jokes that if I lose any more weight she's going to start shopping at Baby Gap for me.
Exercise was the biggest thing, and it was the hardest thing to get motivated to do, but eventually I started to enjoy going out for my nightly run by myself. Changing my diet was next. I cut out the fast food. I bring a diet frozen meal for lunch (I love the frozen Healthy Choice steamers), another portion of veggies, a fruit cup, and some yogurt for lunch. I switched from regular soda, to diet, and then to V8 fruit juice at lunch time. I drink a ton of water. My best friend is my 32 ounce Nalgene bottle, which goes pretty much everywhere with me. I drink about 4 of these a day at this point. I started taking a multivitamin and a B12 supplement every day. I started eating breakfast everyday. I pack a couple of relatively healthy snacks into my lunchbox for the morning and afternoon. Friday is typically the only day I'll go out to lunch anymore. I have a serious sweet tooth, and cut out sweets for a long time.
The weird thing for me was that this all of this has sped up my metabolism. I stopped running and working out about three years ago and eat whatever I want, so I'm very lucky at this point. My wife struggles with her weight, so she pretty much hates me for this - she accuses me of having a tapeworm. I'm still not happy with my body, because I still have a bit of fat around my stomach and on my legs. I'd like to put on some muscle to help my golf game. Maybe next week....
I guess my advice is to just keep trying. It's tough, but it gets easier. You'll find the stuff that you don't even miss, and there's some stuff that you don't want to give up, so you'll make sacrifices for that piece of pizza, or whatever it is you can't live without. Just don't give up.
Exercise was the biggest thing, and it was the hardest thing to get motivated to do, but eventually I started to enjoy going out for my nightly run by myself. Changing my diet was next. I cut out the fast food. I bring a diet frozen meal for lunch (I love the frozen Healthy Choice steamers), another portion of veggies, a fruit cup, and some yogurt for lunch. I switched from regular soda, to diet, and then to V8 fruit juice at lunch time. I drink a ton of water. My best friend is my 32 ounce Nalgene bottle, which goes pretty much everywhere with me. I drink about 4 of these a day at this point. I started taking a multivitamin and a B12 supplement every day. I started eating breakfast everyday. I pack a couple of relatively healthy snacks into my lunchbox for the morning and afternoon. Friday is typically the only day I'll go out to lunch anymore. I have a serious sweet tooth, and cut out sweets for a long time.
The weird thing for me was that this all of this has sped up my metabolism. I stopped running and working out about three years ago and eat whatever I want, so I'm very lucky at this point. My wife struggles with her weight, so she pretty much hates me for this - she accuses me of having a tapeworm. I'm still not happy with my body, because I still have a bit of fat around my stomach and on my legs. I'd like to put on some muscle to help my golf game. Maybe next week....
I guess my advice is to just keep trying. It's tough, but it gets easier. You'll find the stuff that you don't even miss, and there's some stuff that you don't want to give up, so you'll make sacrifices for that piece of pizza, or whatever it is you can't live without. Just don't give up.
Some dairy is good, but for the most part it's reduced/cut out because of it's fat content. Most dairy products are made with whole milk, thus the high fat content. Now some fat is good/necessary but not in the quantities that we usually consume them.
You see the difference when you stopped working out?!?
And we all need to remember that when we're in shape it allows us to carry a little more weight because muscle is heavier/more dense than fat.
Yeah, I actually lost about 15 pounds after I stopped working out. And really, in the 6 months to a year before that I wasn't running nearly as much. I cut back to maybe two days a week from four. And it's not like my eating habits were crazy at the time, either. It was weird, but I went with it. Right now, the constant small snacks and my water intake seems to keep everything going.
Absolutely! I tell everyone that I talk about it with, eating right/clean is the hardest part of living healthy. Someone can workout two hours a day but shovel down 3 big macs afterwards and ruin the whole thing (unless you are 19 yrs old and have the metabolism of an Acella train)!!
Your body comp probably shifted too!
But as you said, the eating of the small/clean meals often is keeping your metabolism going.
Hi Josh, Good for you man. Hard to fix a problem if you don't acknowledge it.
I had just turned 34 and weighed over 260 lbs at 5'10". That's about when I woke up and realized i could not be the person (husband, father, etc.) I wanted to be being that unhealthy. About 6 months later I weighed about 185 lbs and was in good shape, but still had some bad habits. The first thing I changed was my diet. People have already said much of what I would say, but the big thing is stop eating processes foods and wasted calories like breads. I lost probably the first 30 lbs just by walking. 30 minutes of a good pace EVERY day, even if it meant walking around town during my workday.
I've never enjoyed running or being a gym rat, so I had to find something active I liked to do. At first it was rock climbing, but then I tried Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I've been doing it ever since. This is important for a bunch of reasons. But here's the big 3.
1) It's much easier to get up and go do something I like doing
2) Eventually, I felt like what bad habits I still had (smoking, dessert binges, lots of meat, not a lot of fruits and veggies), were a hindrance to my improving at BJJ. It's been almost 5 years, and I've continually cleaned up my diet, to the point where I eat almost exclusively whole foods and I'm vegan. Cigars are my last vice.
3) Again, wanting to improve in BJJ made me get into the gym for strength and conditioning training. It was much easier for me to say, I'm going to the gym so I can not get my ass kicked so bad, than I'm going to the gym so I can go the gym. Frankly, I hate the gym, but I'll put in the hard work for a meaningful result.
4) Added after some thought: By finding an active hobby/pastime that you enjoy, you'll find like-minded individuals who can help or add to your own lifestyle, or who you can help and advise. The BJJ community has become really important in my life, those are the guys that keep me showing up sometimes when I'm mentally out of it.
So now I'm 39, still weigh around 180 lbs, have been as low as 170 for a BJJ tournament I entered (got a silver medal in my age/weight division). It's never to late to start a journey like this, and the starting is really the hardest part. You'll find your own methods that are good for you, and you'll likely adapt them over time as you get healthier and learn more. Just keep reading and researching and be willing to take advice. And don't ever listen to people who are unhealthy and telling you to take it easy on the exercise or giving you shit about your dietary choices. Misery loves company unfortunately, and folks are super eager to tell you why you should stop doing what's good for you.
Feel free to message me with any questions.
I had just turned 34 and weighed over 260 lbs at 5'10". That's about when I woke up and realized i could not be the person (husband, father, etc.) I wanted to be being that unhealthy. About 6 months later I weighed about 185 lbs and was in good shape, but still had some bad habits. The first thing I changed was my diet. People have already said much of what I would say, but the big thing is stop eating processes foods and wasted calories like breads. I lost probably the first 30 lbs just by walking. 30 minutes of a good pace EVERY day, even if it meant walking around town during my workday.
I've never enjoyed running or being a gym rat, so I had to find something active I liked to do. At first it was rock climbing, but then I tried Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I've been doing it ever since. This is important for a bunch of reasons. But here's the big 3.
1) It's much easier to get up and go do something I like doing
2) Eventually, I felt like what bad habits I still had (smoking, dessert binges, lots of meat, not a lot of fruits and veggies), were a hindrance to my improving at BJJ. It's been almost 5 years, and I've continually cleaned up my diet, to the point where I eat almost exclusively whole foods and I'm vegan. Cigars are my last vice.
3) Again, wanting to improve in BJJ made me get into the gym for strength and conditioning training. It was much easier for me to say, I'm going to the gym so I can not get my ass kicked so bad, than I'm going to the gym so I can go the gym. Frankly, I hate the gym, but I'll put in the hard work for a meaningful result.
4) Added after some thought: By finding an active hobby/pastime that you enjoy, you'll find like-minded individuals who can help or add to your own lifestyle, or who you can help and advise. The BJJ community has become really important in my life, those are the guys that keep me showing up sometimes when I'm mentally out of it.
So now I'm 39, still weigh around 180 lbs, have been as low as 170 for a BJJ tournament I entered (got a silver medal in my age/weight division). It's never to late to start a journey like this, and the starting is really the hardest part. You'll find your own methods that are good for you, and you'll likely adapt them over time as you get healthier and learn more. Just keep reading and researching and be willing to take advice. And don't ever listen to people who are unhealthy and telling you to take it easy on the exercise or giving you shit about your dietary choices. Misery loves company unfortunately, and folks are super eager to tell you why you should stop doing what's good for you.
Feel free to message me with any questions.
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OP, if you can afford it, I would highly recommend getting a gym membership instead of getting a Bowflex. Too many people get these "all-in-one" home gyms and end up getting lazy after using it a few times. When you're at home and have the option of relaxing, or working out, it's too easy to get tempted into putting off exercise.
As it sounds like you're a fitness newbie, I'm going to recommend baby steps here.
Find a weight lifting workout program online and STICK TO IT.
For a complete beginner, I'm going to recommend not using MyFitnessPal. I think it's too easy to get overwhelmed with weighing food and tracking calories/macros especially when you're just starting off and it's easy to get discouraged. Just make an effort to cut out shitty foods from your diet. No more sodas. Keep the sugary juices to a minimum. Drink LOTS of water. Eat smaller portions. Stop snacking on junk food - snack on fruit, protein shakes, nuts, etc. As long as you're consistently hitting the gym and making an effort to eat healthier, I guarantee you will lose weight and get stronger within a few months.
Results take time. Don't expect to lose a bunch of weight overnight.
One more thing.
Find your inner drive that motivates you to keep you going. That's up to you to figure out what that is. On days where you wake up feeling lazy and decide you're going to skip a workout, think about why you're doing it all to help light a fire under your ass.
As it sounds like you're a fitness newbie, I'm going to recommend baby steps here.
Find a weight lifting workout program online and STICK TO IT.
For a complete beginner, I'm going to recommend not using MyFitnessPal. I think it's too easy to get overwhelmed with weighing food and tracking calories/macros especially when you're just starting off and it's easy to get discouraged. Just make an effort to cut out shitty foods from your diet. No more sodas. Keep the sugary juices to a minimum. Drink LOTS of water. Eat smaller portions. Stop snacking on junk food - snack on fruit, protein shakes, nuts, etc. As long as you're consistently hitting the gym and making an effort to eat healthier, I guarantee you will lose weight and get stronger within a few months.
Results take time. Don't expect to lose a bunch of weight overnight.
One more thing.
Find your inner drive that motivates you to keep you going. That's up to you to figure out what that is. On days where you wake up feeling lazy and decide you're going to skip a workout, think about why you're doing it all to help light a fire under your ass.
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Cigary43
Just Another Ashhole
At my age I just don't give a $hit anymore....when I was younger I used to be a healthnut and would work out everyday....used to bench 380 and shoulder press over 700 and I weighed in at 170 pounds. When I hit 50 it was like the health Gods told me to go eff myself and now I still weigh about 180 but the muscles moved to someplace else or completely disappeared. I'm not in the best of health but I can still fall out of bed and wipe my own a$$ so I'm grateful for small things.