danielstl's diary

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danielstl

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Hello everyone. I have been perusing this forum for a while and I thought I would set up my own diary. I have seen the wealth of information you all have provided for others and look forward to joining the community. Anyway, a little background:

Five years ago, I was 5'9” and 270 lbs. I had the opportunity to move to California and worked hard to lose a chunk of it. I was down to about 200 when, for financial reasons, I moved back to the midwest. I have since gained almost 40 lbs. The time has come to make a change. I know what it is like to be well, really fat, and don't want to go down that path again.

I will try to post daily, with a weekly weigh in.

My current routine is:

M-W-F
5-10 min. Warm-up(treadmill/recumbent bike)

1x12 Tricep Extension
1x12 Bicep Curl
1x12 Chest Press
1x12 Bench Press
1x12 Seated Row
1x12 Leg Extension
1x12 Leg Curl

30-60 min. Cardio(HIIT)

5-10 min. Cool Down(Walk)

T-TH
5-10 min. Warm-up

3x20 Ab Crunch

30-60 min. Cardio(HIIT)

5-10 min. Cool Down

If anyone has any suggestions to improve this routine, I am all ears.

I will get into my diet and all that on subsequent posts.

Thanks for your time!
 
1/30/06

Breakfast - Yogurt and Nutrigrain Bar
Snack - Nutrigrain Bar
Lunch - Tuna Sandwich, apple sauce, and bag of Doritos
Snack - PowerBar
Dinner - Stuffed Pepper, Salad, and biscuits

Gym:

10 min warm-up on recumbant bike
1x12 Tri Ex
1x12 Bi Curl
1x12 Bench Press
1x12 Leg Ex
1x12 Leg Curl
1x12 Row
60+ min cardio on elliptical(HIIT)
5 min cool down stretches

Weekly Weigh in: 226 lbs.
 
I took the routine straight from Bally's website(where I have my gym membership). How many sets should I be doing? What kind of squats?
 
I would start with
2X12 squat (regular squat to parallel or below)
2X12 bench
2X12 rowing movement
2X12 back extensions or reverse hypers (you can google the latter)
1X12 curl
1X12 tricep extension or close grip bench (12" grip)
 
1/31/06

breakfast - yogurt and a banana
snack - orange
lunch - leftover stuffed pepper/apple sauce/doritos
snack - banana

was about to start cooking dinner when I got called into work(I have a second job delivering pizza 2 days a week), so my dinner plans were ruined. I ended up bringing home pizza for a starving girlfriend and her mom. :( I also had no gym time. Bad day.
 
2/1/06

breakfast - nutrigrain and a banana
lunch - tuna sandwich/apple sauce/doritos
snack - banana
dinner - hasn't happened yet, but my gf and I are going to her mom's for dinner. should be fairly healthy, will limit portion

gym:

10 min warm-up on recumbant bike
1x12 shoulder press
2x12 tri ex
2x12 bi curl
2x12 led ex
2x12 leg curl
2x12 bench
2x12 row
2x12 seated leg press*
2x12 back ex
60 min cardio on elliptical (HIIT)
5 min cool down on treadmill
5 min stretches

*couldn't find "squat" machine. is this a suitable alternative? if not, what would be?
 
Not all gym's will have a squat cage (barbell), which is probably the best/safest option for doing a squat.

Some will have Hack-Squat machines, they sorta look like a torture device that you are standing at an incline, but from my experience they work the quads more than a normal squat, which will give you a more core workout.

You can always do squats with dumbell's.
 
2/2/06

Had to work tonight, so no time for the gym. I am going to adjust my workout plan to better fit my schedule. Since I work at my second job on Thursdays, I am going to shift Thursday's workout to Friday and Friday's to Saturday morning. I also found a more comprehensive plan online and will try it(with evo's alteration). Here it is:

M-W-S
5-10 min warm-up
2x12 Squat
2x12 Leg ex
2x12 Leg curl
2x12 Bench
2x12 Bicep curl
2x12 Tricep ex
2x12 Back Ex
2x12 Row
30-60 min cardio
5-10 min cool down
stretches

T-F
5-10 min warm-up
2x12 Hammer curl
2x12 Ab crunches
2x12 Chest fly
2x12 Calf raise
2x12 Leg abduction
2x12 Leg adduction
2x12 Tri push down
30-60 min cardio
5-10 min cool down
stretches

Again, I am totally open to suggestions.
 
danielstl said:
Breakfast - Yogurt and Nutrigrain Bar
Snack - Nutrigrain Bar
Lunch - Tuna Sandwich, apple sauce, and bag of Doritos
Snack - PowerBar
Dinner - Stuffed Pepper, Salad, and biscuits
Click to expand...

No way!!!!! That is not enough food!!!!

1, if your trying to lose weight or gain muscle breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day.

Your muscles have been fasting throu the night and are hungry, so you need protien
Its the start of your day and to get your bowls moving you need fiber
You need energy in the form slow burning carbs so you can get thru the day.
Its also the time where its not so important if you eat fattyer foods, as you will burn off fat thru the day. You need good fats like those found in extra virgin olive oil.

So... do what you like for the rest of the day, but in the morning you should be eating some sort of meat or eggs, with wholegrain bread, eggs fryed in extra virgin olive oil, or poached for the healthy option.

2, your not eating your 5 fruit and veg a day, salad does not count if your eating just lettice.

3, stop with the bars, there expensive and not good for you. rather than a nutrigrain bar, you'd be much better off with a sandwich.

your diet is very extreme, try eating sensible meals rather than starving yourself.

If i was to alter your current plan I would say to do this.

breakfast - egg sandwich
snack - dried fruit and/or nuts
lunch - Tuna Sandwich, apple sauce, and bag of Doritos
snack - 1 or 2 fruits and a nutrigrain bar
dinner - Stuffed Pepper, potatoes or pasta, and chicken breast. small dessert if required.

This way your not fasting, you'll feel better, get more from your workouts and be healthyer. You'll find that if you keep going like this in one year you'll have lost more weight and be healthyer that if you stuck with current diet.

hope this helped
 
manofkent said:
No way!!!!! That is not enough food!!!!

1, if your trying to lose weight or gain muscle breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day.

Your muscles have been fasting throu the night and are hungry, so you need protien
Its the start of your day and to get your bowls moving you need fiber
You need energy in the form slow burning carbs so you can get thru the day.
Its also the time where its not so important if you eat fattyer foods, as you will burn off fat thru the day. You need good fats like those found in extra virgin olive oil.

So... do what you like for the rest of the day, but in the morning you should be eating some sort of meat or eggs, with wholegrain bread, eggs fryed in extra virgin olive oil, or poached for the healthy option.

2, your not eating your 5 fruit and veg a day, salad does not count if your eating just lettice.

3, stop with the bars, there expensive and not good for you. rather than a nutrigrain bar, you'd be much better off with a sandwich.

your diet is very extreme, try eating sensible meals rather than starving yourself.

If i was to alter your current plan I would say to do this.

breakfast - egg sandwich
snack - dried fruit and/or nuts
lunch - Tuna Sandwich, apple sauce, and bag of Doritos
snack - 1 or 2 fruits and a nutrigrain bar
dinner - Stuffed Pepper, potatoes or pasta, and chicken breast. small dessert if required.

This way your not fasting, you'll feel better, get more from your workouts and be healthyer. You'll find that if you keep going like this in one year you'll have lost more weight and be healthyer that if you stuck with current diet.

hope this helped
Click to expand...

I agree - good advice.
 
I think you need to completely re-work your routine. You're doing triceps MTWFS, that's a bit much. If you'rw going to lift more than 3x a week you need to split the workouts with different muscle groups. Upper/Lower, Upper Push/Upper Pull/Lower, Push/Pull..
 
Would something like this be good?

M - Upper Push
T - Upper Pull/Lower Pull
W - Abs
F - Upper Push/Lower Push
S - Upper Pull

(on all days light ab work)

Finding a concrete routine has been harder than I thought it would be.

As for food, I am a recovering overeater, so perhaps I have been over-compensating. I didn't ever feel very hungry on what I was eating, but I understand what you mean about fueling my workouts and such. Here is what I am having today and will be typical(pending any good advice recieved).

BF - Yogurt, banana, and egg thing (recipes from men's health, put 1 egg, veggies and turkey into a cupcake tin, bake, then freeze, nuke when you want it...tastes pretty good and is quick(which I need since I work at 5:30 in the morning))
Snack - 1-2 pieces fresh fruit, dried fruit
Lunch - left-over dinner from last night, apple sauce, and small bag of chips
Snack - 1-2 pieces fresh fruit, dried fruit.
Dinner - Grilled chicken, veggies and baguette

I also take a couple GNC Mega Men Vitamins a day.

Thanks for all the input, it is greatly appreciated!
 
Thats better but still dont think thats enough food for your size (no offence)

You got to remember that your extra weight is not gonna drop off over night. You gotta lose weight at a healthy speed. Try aiming for 1-3lbs per week.

as a basic rule you could stick to the plan you typed out, but you can eat up to double the amount every day of the good foods, i.e. fruit, veg, white meat.

have a look online for health recipies including rice, pastas with tomato sauces (not creamy) lamb, 100% lean beef, mince beef steak, lean steak, chicken, unleaven breads i.e. pitta bread. and thnings like that.

I dont mean to be rude but your a bug guy, so your prob gonna get really hungry durng the day, being uncomfortable is just gonna make you more likely to give up and reture to the dark side. stay healthy and comfortable, lose the weight slowly and dont put it back on.

good luck.


as for the routien, its goos other than the legs push/pull part, to me this says that your using machines. dont you should work your legs how you do in real everyday situations, bending down to pick things up (deadlifts) and squats and lunges.
 
2/6/06

Breakfast - yogurt, banana, egg thing
snack - orange, dried fruit(about one cup)
lunch - leftover lasagne, apple sauce, doritos
snack - orange, banana
dinner - falafel, steamed broc/caul/carrots, couscous

Gym:
10 min warm-up recumbant bike
weights - upper push
cardio - 35 min ellip(HIIT) and 15 min treadmill(HIIT-incline/speed)
5 min cool down treadmill
stretches

protein drink after gym($4...ridiculous)

I didn't feel hungry at all today, except when I left the gym, so I had a protein drink and that helped.
 
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