I didn't want to put this in a specific category as I feel it is a bit more general.
I am 6' tall, 25 years old male, I currently weigh 204 Lbs.
I started dieting just over a month ago when I got on the scale and saw I was 210 Lbs.. it was time. I'd LOVE to be in shape for the summer so that when I go to the beach my belly isn't hanging out.
At first the weight loss was steady, but it seems to have stopped at about 204 for the past week or two. I don't know what a realistic goal is .. or even what I SHOULD weigh.
I am a computer programmer so 90% of my day is sitting in front of a computer, which doesn't make things any easier. This is my M-F daily routine. Please critique it and help me to improve.
7:45, wake up
8:40 - Get to work, grab a small breakfast
-------------- Normally it is a large muffin. Banana nut or cranberry. If they don't have that, I go for a honey wheat bagel with light cream cheese.
-------------- I recently got a call from my doctor saying my vitamin D levels were at a 7 (severely low, I guess). I'm taking pills to bring them back up, but to assist I've been drinking vitamin water with breakfast (does this actually help?).
10:30 - I grab a coffee. Small, regular coffee with some half+half and 2 splendas.
1:30 - Lunch. Many times I'll grab a salad (lettuice, tomato, some pieces of grilled chicken, peppers, and cucumber). I put a little lite dijon dressing on it. It's normally about .9Lbs. There's days when I feel like a salad won't be enough so I grab a wrap (turkey or roast beef with lettuice tomato onion mayo and american cheese).
With lunch I always drink water.
1:45 - I go for a 30 minute walk. I don't know exactly how far it is, there's a racetrack outside the office and I do 2 laps around it.
From 2:30 to 5:30 I am constantly drinking water, usually 2-3 cups.
5:30 - Work's over, I go to the gym. Normally on the elliptical for about 20-25 minutes. I always work up a big sweat and it's just pouring off me by the time I'm finished. I like the elliptical because I feel I can just keep going on it for a long time before I need to stop and the intense sweating makes me think it's working well. The machine says I burn around 200 calories.
Around 8:30-9:00 We usually eat dinner. It's really dependent on what we have, many times it's pasta (wheat) or chicken with rice. Nothing too fancy.
11:30 bed.
I have a very hard time approximating how many calories are in everything I eat. I've looked up some averages online but I don't know how accurate they are.
Muffin - Guessing around 150-200 calories?
Bagel - Guessing 150 calories?
Coffee - 50 calories?
Salad - Maybe 300?
Wrap - Maybe 400?
Dinner - On average, maybe 500 calories?
I feel like I'm guessing really low because with these numbers, at worst, I'm consuming 1150 calories a day. I read that we burn 2200 calories a day just from .. living. Is this accurate? If this was true and if my numbers were right, I'd be burning at least 1000 calories a day, not including my exercise .. but this is not reflected in my weight loss.
I know there are plenty of resources online but nothing is specific enough for me to actually use as a guide. I'd love to be able to lose 2-3 lbs a week but I understand with only being able to go to the gym about 100 minutes a week this isn't entirely realistic. I'm not sure why I've stopped at 204 though.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan
Edit: Looks like I typo'd the title .. and it doesn't seem I can edit it. Oh well.
I am 6' tall, 25 years old male, I currently weigh 204 Lbs.
I started dieting just over a month ago when I got on the scale and saw I was 210 Lbs.. it was time. I'd LOVE to be in shape for the summer so that when I go to the beach my belly isn't hanging out.
At first the weight loss was steady, but it seems to have stopped at about 204 for the past week or two. I don't know what a realistic goal is .. or even what I SHOULD weigh.
I am a computer programmer so 90% of my day is sitting in front of a computer, which doesn't make things any easier. This is my M-F daily routine. Please critique it and help me to improve.
7:45, wake up
8:40 - Get to work, grab a small breakfast
-------------- Normally it is a large muffin. Banana nut or cranberry. If they don't have that, I go for a honey wheat bagel with light cream cheese.
-------------- I recently got a call from my doctor saying my vitamin D levels were at a 7 (severely low, I guess). I'm taking pills to bring them back up, but to assist I've been drinking vitamin water with breakfast (does this actually help?).
10:30 - I grab a coffee. Small, regular coffee with some half+half and 2 splendas.
1:30 - Lunch. Many times I'll grab a salad (lettuice, tomato, some pieces of grilled chicken, peppers, and cucumber). I put a little lite dijon dressing on it. It's normally about .9Lbs. There's days when I feel like a salad won't be enough so I grab a wrap (turkey or roast beef with lettuice tomato onion mayo and american cheese).
With lunch I always drink water.
1:45 - I go for a 30 minute walk. I don't know exactly how far it is, there's a racetrack outside the office and I do 2 laps around it.
From 2:30 to 5:30 I am constantly drinking water, usually 2-3 cups.
5:30 - Work's over, I go to the gym. Normally on the elliptical for about 20-25 minutes. I always work up a big sweat and it's just pouring off me by the time I'm finished. I like the elliptical because I feel I can just keep going on it for a long time before I need to stop and the intense sweating makes me think it's working well. The machine says I burn around 200 calories.
Around 8:30-9:00 We usually eat dinner. It's really dependent on what we have, many times it's pasta (wheat) or chicken with rice. Nothing too fancy.
11:30 bed.
I have a very hard time approximating how many calories are in everything I eat. I've looked up some averages online but I don't know how accurate they are.
Muffin - Guessing around 150-200 calories?
Bagel - Guessing 150 calories?
Coffee - 50 calories?
Salad - Maybe 300?
Wrap - Maybe 400?
Dinner - On average, maybe 500 calories?
I feel like I'm guessing really low because with these numbers, at worst, I'm consuming 1150 calories a day. I read that we burn 2200 calories a day just from .. living. Is this accurate? If this was true and if my numbers were right, I'd be burning at least 1000 calories a day, not including my exercise .. but this is not reflected in my weight loss.
I know there are plenty of resources online but nothing is specific enough for me to actually use as a guide. I'd love to be able to lose 2-3 lbs a week but I understand with only being able to go to the gym about 100 minutes a week this isn't entirely realistic. I'm not sure why I've stopped at 204 though.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan
Edit: Looks like I typo'd the title .. and it doesn't seem I can edit it. Oh well.