Greetings all,
Just found these forums a few days ago, been reading what I can and have learned a good bit already, and finally decided to post
This might end up really long, and for that I apologize, but from what I’ve read and seen, its best to be as thorough as possible to get the best advice possible, soooo . . .
A little background:
I’m a 22 year old Senior at the University of Georgia. I’m ~6’1” Male, and in May 2006 the scale weighed in at 311 pounds. During the summer I started walking on the treadmill after I got home from work. At the end of the summer I was walking anywhere from 30-60 minutes (speed b/w 3.5-4), depending on the day, how ****ty work was, etc. I also cut back on how much I was eating. For breakfast I ate a scrambled egg and a piece of toast, lunch was often Quizno’s (Small Turkey Lite and side caesar salad), or some other lunch place where I would try to be good and get a Chicken salad, or something. Dinner varied way too much to describe. I lost 50-60 pounds from Mid May to August.
Now that classes have started back, my routine is pretty simple
On MWF, I walk to and from campus to my apartment – I believe its approximately 2.5 miles one way. One way this walk takes me approximately 40-45 minutes including cool down.
On Tuesday and Thursday I have a long break between classes and will try to ride my bike for 25-30 minutes; or I will walk home from campus in the afternoon after my last class.
On Saturdays I either go for a 2 mile walk or so, or ride my bike for 30 mins or so. Sundays I typically rest, unless I slacked off on Tuesday or Thursday, in which case it’s the same as Saturday.
Lately on Saturday and Sunday I have done a lesser version of HIIT I guess you could say. I’ll walk for ~5 minutes, jog for ~5 minutes, walk for a few minutes, jog, and then walk again until I’m back home. I can’t give exact times because I mainly switch at different parts of my walk along the road outside my apartment. Doing this though I do about 2 miles in ~30 minutes. Not great, I know lol
Also I have started trying to do some pushups and crunches every morning, and before I go to bed – 30 crunches, and 10-20 pushups.
I have not lifted any weights since I was a freshman in high school when it was required in PE
Diet:
In short, my diet is not very strict at all – I don’t really count anything, but I guess you could say I “watch” my carb intake more than anything else. I do not take any vitamins or supplements or anything
My eating habits so far this semester have been like this (for the most part):
Breakfast: Bend over Peanut Butter Sandwhich – it’s the Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. The last 2 days though I have tried eating quaker low sugar Instant Oatmeal – I read here oatmeal was a good breakfast to eat, so giving it a whirl.
Lunch:
Typically a salad (spinach or Romaine, whatever’s cheaper when I go to the store) w/ a little shredded cheese, onion, sometimes a cut up hard boiled egg, and Balsamic Vinegar dressing.
Also usually a homemade tuna fish sandwhich – I buy the StarKist “family pack” or whatever its like $2.50 at Wal-Mart, and mix in some Hellman’s Light mayo, some mustard, and some no sugar added relish, salt, pepper. If I had to guess at measurements, I would guess 2 Tbspn Light Mayo and 1 Tbsp Mustard per “family pack” of Tuna. One pack usually lasts about 5 days I think, depending on if I eat the same for dinner, or my roommate has some.
Dinner:
Dinner is extremely varied, but I will list what I eat the most often. Pretty much always have the same salad as I have for lunch, along with something of the following:
1) Grilled Chicken Breast (sometimes half, sometimes a whole breast), peas (frozen, and boiled in water – salt, pepper, but NO butter), and carmalized onions
2) Hamburgers and Fries – I know not good at all, but its football season lol
3) Sesame Noodles – not very often, but occasionally – pasta w/ some of the Skippy Natural Peanut butter, some soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds
4) Stir Fry – white rice (switching to brown tho!), some chicken, and various veggies.
5) Tuna fish sandwhich as described for lunch
I don’t snack tooo much, but if there is salsa around, I’m gonna be having some Tostitos. Often times my snacking amounts to “hey, there’s some dinner left” and I take a bite or two from the pan or plate its on.
Drink:
I drink a boat load of water. I’ve never actually really kept track, but I would guess I drink anywhere from 7-10 24 oz Sam’s Club waters a day. I go through a case of 24 every 2-3 days, and 2 cases per week. The Athens water tastes like ass, so I buy the cheap bottled stuff, and I buy lots of it!
Also, being a college student, sometimes on the weekends I hang out with friends and have a few beers, get a little drunk. Sometimes the 2am Papa John’s pizza is ordered ;-)
To date I have lost ~90 pounds since May. As of this morning my weight was 221.0 on the nose. I have been stuck in the 221-225 range for about 3 weeks or so; my mini goals for myself were 218 by thanksgiving, and 210 by the New Year, but since I’ve hit this plateau, not sure if I’ll be able to hit that mark.
My overall goals are:
1) Lose my gut and man-boobs. This is my primary goal. When spring and summer roll around, I want to be able to go to the pool and not be embarassed about being shirtless. I don’t need washboard abs (tho it’d be a plus, lol)
2) Increase Strength and tone up/gain some definition. I’m a weakling, want to change that; but want to drop the pounds first before I worry about bulking up
3) Increase Endurance. Right now I think I can walk about as long as I want to without stopping – but would like to be able to run too. I’d like to be able to jog a mile by the year end, but not sure I’m starting early enough to make that happen. As stated above I’ve started working on it, and I’m working in running into my routine (probably going to sub my weekend walk/run into Tuesday/Thursday and cut out the bike for now)
Where to go from here?
Currently I am planning on starting to try to move to the 6 small meal a day plan after Thanksgiving weekend, but after 22+ years of eating 2-3 times a day, I’m not sure how easy it will be to transition.
Also planning on finally stepping into the Ramsey Center (a big athletic center on campus with a gym, pool, tracks, etc etc) after the holiday weekend to start some weight training along with my walk/runs. I was thinking about starting waking up about 6am, hit the gym for an hour or so, get back around 7:30 or 8am, shower, eat breakfast, and then catch the bus to campus for my 10:10 class. And then maybe doing some cardio in the afternoon. Tuesday and Thursday staying the same with cardio either during my long break, or in the afternoon. I could REALLY use the advice on what type of lifting plan I should start with
As stated earlier, I don’t necessarily want to bulk up right now, but I think maybe the change in routine might help my body to start shedding the pounds again?
I’m really sorry this is so long – if for some reason you need clarification, please say so and I’ll do my best to clarify!
Thanks!
Wimclend
Just found these forums a few days ago, been reading what I can and have learned a good bit already, and finally decided to post
This might end up really long, and for that I apologize, but from what I’ve read and seen, its best to be as thorough as possible to get the best advice possible, soooo . . .
A little background:
I’m a 22 year old Senior at the University of Georgia. I’m ~6’1” Male, and in May 2006 the scale weighed in at 311 pounds. During the summer I started walking on the treadmill after I got home from work. At the end of the summer I was walking anywhere from 30-60 minutes (speed b/w 3.5-4), depending on the day, how ****ty work was, etc. I also cut back on how much I was eating. For breakfast I ate a scrambled egg and a piece of toast, lunch was often Quizno’s (Small Turkey Lite and side caesar salad), or some other lunch place where I would try to be good and get a Chicken salad, or something. Dinner varied way too much to describe. I lost 50-60 pounds from Mid May to August.
Now that classes have started back, my routine is pretty simple
On MWF, I walk to and from campus to my apartment – I believe its approximately 2.5 miles one way. One way this walk takes me approximately 40-45 minutes including cool down.
On Tuesday and Thursday I have a long break between classes and will try to ride my bike for 25-30 minutes; or I will walk home from campus in the afternoon after my last class.
On Saturdays I either go for a 2 mile walk or so, or ride my bike for 30 mins or so. Sundays I typically rest, unless I slacked off on Tuesday or Thursday, in which case it’s the same as Saturday.
Lately on Saturday and Sunday I have done a lesser version of HIIT I guess you could say. I’ll walk for ~5 minutes, jog for ~5 minutes, walk for a few minutes, jog, and then walk again until I’m back home. I can’t give exact times because I mainly switch at different parts of my walk along the road outside my apartment. Doing this though I do about 2 miles in ~30 minutes. Not great, I know lol
Also I have started trying to do some pushups and crunches every morning, and before I go to bed – 30 crunches, and 10-20 pushups.
I have not lifted any weights since I was a freshman in high school when it was required in PE
Diet:
In short, my diet is not very strict at all – I don’t really count anything, but I guess you could say I “watch” my carb intake more than anything else. I do not take any vitamins or supplements or anything
My eating habits so far this semester have been like this (for the most part):
Breakfast: Bend over Peanut Butter Sandwhich – it’s the Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. The last 2 days though I have tried eating quaker low sugar Instant Oatmeal – I read here oatmeal was a good breakfast to eat, so giving it a whirl.
Lunch:
Typically a salad (spinach or Romaine, whatever’s cheaper when I go to the store) w/ a little shredded cheese, onion, sometimes a cut up hard boiled egg, and Balsamic Vinegar dressing.
Also usually a homemade tuna fish sandwhich – I buy the StarKist “family pack” or whatever its like $2.50 at Wal-Mart, and mix in some Hellman’s Light mayo, some mustard, and some no sugar added relish, salt, pepper. If I had to guess at measurements, I would guess 2 Tbspn Light Mayo and 1 Tbsp Mustard per “family pack” of Tuna. One pack usually lasts about 5 days I think, depending on if I eat the same for dinner, or my roommate has some.
Dinner:
Dinner is extremely varied, but I will list what I eat the most often. Pretty much always have the same salad as I have for lunch, along with something of the following:
1) Grilled Chicken Breast (sometimes half, sometimes a whole breast), peas (frozen, and boiled in water – salt, pepper, but NO butter), and carmalized onions
2) Hamburgers and Fries – I know not good at all, but its football season lol
3) Sesame Noodles – not very often, but occasionally – pasta w/ some of the Skippy Natural Peanut butter, some soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds
4) Stir Fry – white rice (switching to brown tho!), some chicken, and various veggies.
5) Tuna fish sandwhich as described for lunch
I don’t snack tooo much, but if there is salsa around, I’m gonna be having some Tostitos. Often times my snacking amounts to “hey, there’s some dinner left” and I take a bite or two from the pan or plate its on.
Drink:
I drink a boat load of water. I’ve never actually really kept track, but I would guess I drink anywhere from 7-10 24 oz Sam’s Club waters a day. I go through a case of 24 every 2-3 days, and 2 cases per week. The Athens water tastes like ass, so I buy the cheap bottled stuff, and I buy lots of it!
Also, being a college student, sometimes on the weekends I hang out with friends and have a few beers, get a little drunk. Sometimes the 2am Papa John’s pizza is ordered ;-)
To date I have lost ~90 pounds since May. As of this morning my weight was 221.0 on the nose. I have been stuck in the 221-225 range for about 3 weeks or so; my mini goals for myself were 218 by thanksgiving, and 210 by the New Year, but since I’ve hit this plateau, not sure if I’ll be able to hit that mark.
My overall goals are:
1) Lose my gut and man-boobs. This is my primary goal. When spring and summer roll around, I want to be able to go to the pool and not be embarassed about being shirtless. I don’t need washboard abs (tho it’d be a plus, lol)
2) Increase Strength and tone up/gain some definition. I’m a weakling, want to change that; but want to drop the pounds first before I worry about bulking up
3) Increase Endurance. Right now I think I can walk about as long as I want to without stopping – but would like to be able to run too. I’d like to be able to jog a mile by the year end, but not sure I’m starting early enough to make that happen. As stated above I’ve started working on it, and I’m working in running into my routine (probably going to sub my weekend walk/run into Tuesday/Thursday and cut out the bike for now)
Where to go from here?
Currently I am planning on starting to try to move to the 6 small meal a day plan after Thanksgiving weekend, but after 22+ years of eating 2-3 times a day, I’m not sure how easy it will be to transition.
Also planning on finally stepping into the Ramsey Center (a big athletic center on campus with a gym, pool, tracks, etc etc) after the holiday weekend to start some weight training along with my walk/runs. I was thinking about starting waking up about 6am, hit the gym for an hour or so, get back around 7:30 or 8am, shower, eat breakfast, and then catch the bus to campus for my 10:10 class. And then maybe doing some cardio in the afternoon. Tuesday and Thursday staying the same with cardio either during my long break, or in the afternoon. I could REALLY use the advice on what type of lifting plan I should start with
As stated earlier, I don’t necessarily want to bulk up right now, but I think maybe the change in routine might help my body to start shedding the pounds again?
I’m really sorry this is so long – if for some reason you need clarification, please say so and I’ll do my best to clarify!
Thanks!
Wimclend
