Ok, still trying to understand..

Well, I've started this new diet and exercise a month ago, and after reading through the forums again tonight, I still have questions / problems..

Age 28, ~260, 6'3"

According to my BMR, my body burns 2447 per day. So, per day, as in lying still, doing nothing.. right?? Which is what I think i got from other posts.. I'm vary active at work, meaning, I do a TON of walking, and lifting heavy press parts and paper rolls, so I know I'm pretty busy during the day.. How do I add that into my BMR??

I've cut all sweets, diet colas, and junk food for the last month, Stop eating before bed (sometimes 5 hours before), and I now only drink water.. Recently, I did the math, and on some days I take in only 1000~1500 calories.. which I've read is bad.. What I can't get my head around is: Eat more, and it will help you loose weight! :sad2:

Ok ok.. My workouts are the same per week...
20min 1.5mile walk, with 3/4 pretty hard uphill.
100~150 crunches...
20mins of dumbbell workouts. (Arms one day, shoulders/chest the other)

Friday - Sunday I jog 3~4 miles all three days. I have noticed I'm able to stay jogging longer now. Yay.
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So, It looks like I need to eat more healthy foods during the day. With the way I'm living my life, how does 2k calories per day sound??

I know a lot of people here might say I'm not doing enough exercise during the week, but working 10 hour shifts, and constantly lifting, and walking at work, I can get burned out fast. I don't need to do 60mins of something and another 30 of another, and not be able to do my job either... Speaking of burned out, I'm still new to exercising, and My body can't run yet for an hour straight.. Still a noob! :D

I have noticed a difference in more mussel in my arms and my legs are a bit tighter, but I still have the beer gut, and I can still see fat in my arms/legs. Although, people who I haven't seen in months have noticed a chance, and have asked me if I'm loosing weight.. So that's a helpful positive!

Comments?? Helpful suggestions? :)
 
Ok, so first what are your goals? Is it just to lose weight? Or do you want to weight train and add some lean muscle?

You should post an average day of eating, including foods and times you eat. ;)
 
Ok, so first what are your goals? Is it just to lose weight? Or do you want to weight train and add some lean muscle?

You should post an average day of eating, including foods and times you eat. ;)

Both.. I want to loose fat, and build/tone mussel. I want to be down around 200~210 lbs.

Breakfast(1pm): Bowl of cereal, and an apple.
Snack(5pm): Med apple
Lunch(9pm): Can of tuna, and another apple.
( i love apples if you didn't notice)
I'm usually in bed by 4pm.

Some days I eat something else extra, like a small sandwich, or something else in a respectable portion, but healthy. Other days, I don't eat this stuff.. Sometimes it's some beans and rice in the morning, fruit for the sack, then the typical lunch schemes..
 
Both.. I want to loose fat, and build/tone mussel. I want to be down around 200~210 lbs.

Breakfast(1pm): Bowl of cereal, and an apple.
Snack(5pm): Med apple
Lunch(9pm): Can of tuna, and another apple.
( i love apples if you didn't notice)
I'm usually in bed by 4pm.

Some days I eat something else extra, like a small sandwich, or something else in a respectable portion, but healthy. Other days, I don't eat this stuff.. Sometimes it's some beans and rice in the morning, fruit for the sack, then the typical lunch schemes..
I don't understand your diet/times at all. Can someone please explain this to me?
 
Yeah i see the issue. you time/space continuum is messed up. j/k yeah same here i dont get the times either. and just eating an apple will lower the weight but in an unhealthy way i think any way.
 
Siroaf i`m not surprised you dont know what time of day it is...you`re not eating enough food to start your brain up ,let alone live:food::eek:

Try and read the nutritional stickies
 
Guess it might help if I told people I work swing shift. I'm up around noon, and goto bed around 4am.

Green apples rule!! I've replaced sweets, and snacks with 'em, and I'm sure that's ideal.

I understand the labels.. What I don't get is, eat what your body needs, and you'll loose weight.. Why does this work???

Wasn't the problem before that I ate too much?? ( yeah yeah.. I know the answer.. :) "Yes & no.. You must eat healthy!" )

Then why can't you eat less then 1500 calories, bump up / start exercises, and loose weight?? Are our bodies that picky?? :D
 
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M'kay......help has arrived, but unfortunately he's busy, so you get me instead. I can solve this for you. Been there, ate that.

It is very common for people to experience this. If you were only dieting you'd see a drop on the scale....but because you are active and doing weights, your body is going through an initial gain in lean-muscle to cope with the physical demands you have placed upon it. When untrained subjects are exposed to training, they quickly develop more muscle as well as associated glycogen storage and other such things.

From personal example: when I first started I wanted to make that first big windfall loss on the scale. I mountain biked for hours while sweat poured from my helmet. I weight-trained, swam and upped my racquetball to 2 nights per week. I ate lean and did everything right. I looked leaner, felt lighter and people made positive comments.....BUT when I got on the scale, I had GAINED about 2.25 pounds!!!!! I was crushed, devastated and utterly disappointed. Then my nutritionist pulled-out the body-fat calipers and we found I had lost a fair amount over 2% body-fat.

So what happened? Well, the calipers don't lie...I truly had LOST PURE NASTY FAT.....yet the scale was up. Bottom line, muscle weighs more then fat and the gain in muscle actualy offset the apparent loss of fat that would otherwise show on the scale. And dude, this happened frequently...my weight would stay the same yet the body-fat calipers would sink deeper & deeper as my body-fat% went down.

So, what will happen? Eventually your body will taper-off on muscle gain and adapt to your exercise routine....provided you don't keep pushing it harder & longer (which I encourage) you'll then start to see more loss on the scale.

Btw, F**** the scale....it's a blind instrument that only tells you what you weigh. It won't tell you how much muscle you have, bone-density, hydration level, etc.

I also disagree with needing to eat more to lose weight. Even in severe caloric restrictions the body can't slow down the metabolism enough to compensate for the caloric short-fall. It's still calories in vs. calories out. Shoot for a 20% calorie deficit.

Do NOT expect results. I lost 40 pounds and kept looking in the mirror (depressed) wondering when I'd finally start to see a difference. Expecting to see weight-loss is like trying to watch your hair grow. It took a while to put on, it's going to take a while to get off.

Another thing you won't see is how your blood-work is improving....your good cholesterol is going up, the bad going down and your life-expectancy is increasing.

Frankly, my nutritionist thought it was the greatest thing in the world that a person can lose fat while gaining muscle at the same time. Too often his clients would come in weighing much less....and then he'd do the body-fat pinches and realize that of their 6-pound loss, 2.3 pounds of those 6 pounds was not fat but instead lean-muscle. Ever see an Atkins dieter? Sunken chest, gaunt face, skinny biceps??? You're trying to lose FAT, not just WEIGHT.

So what I'm saying is that you're "lack" of results on the scale is actually the result of losing fat AND gaining muscle. You're doing it right and your taking the proper route. Celebrate. Keep up the good work and don't let that scale get you down!!!
 
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Keep up the good work and don't let that scale get you down!!!

Thanks for the great read!!.... and a good thing that I don't own a scale then!! :D

I'm just going to stick to it. Keep up the exercises, and stick to the routines.

I know I may not do ALOT of exercises as some of the 'fit' people here, but you have to make small moves. A new person coming into exercises can't do 10 miles runs every other day, or 2 hours of workouts. I can already see a difference from when I started a month ago, as what I can do now. So, every week there's something different, and it makes you feel good.. Keeps that 'push' going. :)

Like I said in a previous thread, I ate TONS of fast food, junk food, and ice cream all the time, with NO exercise.. Now I've cut that ALL out, and eat healthy foods, AND exercise! So.. I'm not expecting perfection over night... Time I have! :)
 
Like I said in a previous thread, I ate TONS of fast food, junk food, and ice cream all the time, with NO exercise.. Now I've cut that ALL out, and eat healthy foods, AND exercise! So.. I'm not expecting perfection over night... Time I have! :)


Good attitude!

I run the same program....and over time you'll notice you don't miss the junk food and you'll quickly adapt to your exercise too! And btw, dark chocolate with high% of cacao (not cocoa) is very good for you, just keep it to a few pieces. ;)

One thing that amazes me is how adaptive our bodies are. When I first started it wiped me out to do a basic bike ride, I'd be in my lowest gears needing to take breaks along the way! I'd be sore the next day and couldn't understand how those people were so easily able to pass me. In no time my endurance & stamina built....you too will gain performance and be looking back one day and realizing how far you've come.

Running is really tough....of all exercises, it burns about the most per hour and that's entirely why it's so tough. I'd really suggest checking out some spinning or biking...it's much lower in impact and you can probably build some serious conditioning there too. Spin-classes at the gym are a wonderful way to burn some serious calories and if your gym has a pool.....try some spin & swim routines; the perfect blend of lower & upper body cardio!!!
 
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