Help out a fat dude, please

Hey, I was wondering about something that I can't seem to find a specific answer to. I'm 27 years old, about 300lbs, 6'4" male, and I would say very active. I have a pretty physical job delivering construction material (millwork, mostly) and I work out every day either weight training, cardio, or just walking the dog for an hour, or some combination.

I've only just started doing this over the past month or so and in that time I've been reading up on stuff and changing things in my routines as I go along. But there is one thing that I'm still just not sure of, or not trusting what I've read.

I carry a lot of body fat and I am trying to both lose fat and gain muscle. I mostly want to lose the fat right now, and when that is under control I'll start focusing more on bulking muscle. Everything I read says I need to be eating anywhere from 3,000 to over 4,500 calories a day. When I first started I was only taking in about 1,000 to 1,400 a day, then I increased it to 1,800. Starting today I decided I could be safe as long as I stayed between 1,800 and 2,100.

My problem is that I feel like eating this much will prevent me from losing fat. I do want to feed my muscles, and I do try to eat as well as I can. I'm getting about 150 to 250 grams of protein a day, drinking shakes and eating fish or chicken for the bulk of that. They say increasing my caloric intake can help me build more muscle, which in turn can help me lose fat.

So, finally my question is for a 27 year old guy at 6'4" and 300lbs which is mostly fat, should I be trying to eat like a body builder or should I focus on slimming down before I try to pack on muscle? Can eating as much as some websites say I should just go to my gut and moobs, or will it really go to my muscles?

Remember, I'm not eating deep fried cake and drinking liquefied pork fat. I think I'm doing fairly well at picking the right foods for the right times of day, eating 5 to 6 times a day. But the thought of increasing calories scares me a bit. I just equate more calories with more jiggle.

And this is a little off topic, but if someone can answer it I'd appreciate it as well: I know I've been over training and am correcting that now. They say not to work a muscle group more than 3 times a week, however my job has me doing heavy lifting and walking with it 5 days a week. How can this affect my weight training, since my muscles don't really get much rest? Also, again off topic, but if I do only cardio one day is it important to still try to get as much protein on that day? Like is my post-wo shake necessary after 30 minutes on the elliptical and 60 minute brisk walk in the park, or can I save that whey?

Okay, I guess that's kind of a lot of questions. I've been reading a lot, but haven't found those specific answers yet. Thanks to anyone who can help this fatty out.
 
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Calculated your BMR with this and came up with 2716 calories. That's what you'd burn if you spend the day in bed. Using this , you can compute your daily caloric needs. It takes about a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1LB. Do the math.

As far as your other questions, don't worry about your work vs. your workout. Your work my be very strenuous, but it's not your workout. And as far as protein on cardio days, don't make this harder than it needs to be. Eat a complete diet, but less than your daily need if you want to lose weight.
 
Thanks Skivvy9r. That's pretty much what I was looking at, but I figured it out that I would have to have between 3100 and 3500 a day (using two different activity levels, as I wasn't really sure which applied better) so I just met in the middle with 3300. My old ways (pre working out) would have me taking in 2800 to lose weight at just under 2lbs/wk. So I'll meet in the middle again and say about 3000 calories a day which would have me losing close to 3 lbs a week if I did all the math right.

That sounds like a HELL of a lot of calories. I mean, way more than I ate even before I started dieting. I never paid attention to calories before, so I dunno. I got myself up to 2100 today and I felt like I ate like a pig to do it. But then again, I guess I'm working out a hell of a lot more, too. I guess I just needed to hear someone else agree with what I was reading. I'm comfortable eating less than 2000 calories a day, but I guess I'll try to take in more for now. I'll have to do some adjusting to my diet plans now...

Anyway, thanks. Gave me a lot to think about. I'm still scared to increase my food intake, but I guess since I'm only eating healthy foods now it's not so bad.
 
Many people think they eat properly or are making good choices. If you truly want to get your diet straight, then you need to keep a food journal. You can use fitday.com or thedailyplate.com. Do not cheat the journal. Anything that goes in your mouth gets recorded in that journal. Then, you will be able to get your exact caloric intake and be able to target a proper diet and exercise program.

Just remember, like stated above, you need an average caloric deficit of 3500 kcal to lose 1lb of tissue. Depending on your metabolic rates, you may need more or less of caloric deficit.

Keep the diet clean and the activity up. If you average 1-2 lbs / week, then you could lose 50-100 lbs in a year. That may seem like a long time, but it likely took you a long time to get to 300 lbs as well. Bring the weight off in a slow, methodical, healthy manner and you have a better chance of keeping it off.
 
Thanks. Yeah, I just started doing a food journal thing. I'm just using a notebook, though. My problem isn't getting too many calories, though, it's trying to make myself get enough. I'm just not hungry... I was never a big eater. I just always ate badly I guess. But I'm planning my daily intake the night before every night and adding up trying to get at least 2800 to 3000 calories. That 3500 mark is just insane. I can't do it. Unless maybe I eat a lot of really calorie dense food, like almonds. A cup of almonds is like 800 calories...

Another thing I've been thinking is the whole diet and exercise "program" thing. I've just been kinda winging it so far. I should structure everything a little better, I think. Kind of difficult to plan any workout times or meal times with my job, though. I go in and get off at different times all the time. I just got home (4:30) and have to go to bed in 3 1/2 hours... hardly enough time to hit the weights for an hour and eat, then give my food time to digest before going to bed.

Yeah, this whole thing seemed a lot easier before I actually started doing it. :)
 
Using one of the online food journals will also give you a breakdown of carbs, proteins, fats and other vitamins/minerals/etc. You don't want to focus on just total calories. You want to have the proper ratio of protein / fat / carb. Don't cheat on the journal. If you eat a 5 calorie Tic-Tac, put that down. I have seen a lot of people say they keep a food journal, when it is really just a general menu plan and not really a detailed accounting of what they eat - breaking down calories/fat/protein/carb/etc.

For most people, exercising is the easy part. The diet is the hard part. A healthy diet is counter to most of the western world diets.

Also, you may want to focus on increasing intensity in your workouts to help shed fat. You don't need to do cardio for 60 minutes every day or whatever the latest fad is. You want to have shorter, high intensity workouts to help cut down the body fat. Do a search on high intensity interval training. Educate yourself on methodology and incorporate it to your schedule when possible. Don't forget to lift properly and realtively heavy. Look at any gym, the majority of the overweight people are on the treadmills, exercise bikes and ellipticals. Look at the people that are moving the iron. They tend to be the leaner people in the gym.
 
Yeah, I looked at the fitday site and it seems cool. I'll probably start using that soon. I'm put down detailed info in my notebook, and I don't eat anything that's not recorded and budgeted there. Like I said, my problem is getting enough food. Like today I only ate 2100 calories and I have no desire for more food right now. They say I'm supposed to be eating 3500. I just don't see it. Maybe I'll try for 2500 a day. I think that BMI stuff might not be accurate for everyone.

I was reading about HIIT the other day and am trying to incorporate that into my cardio workouts. As far as lifting, that's my main focus right now. I just need to watch myself because I tend to try to do too much. I need to give myself more time to rest.

I'm thinking about joining a gym, but I'm unsure. I have some equipment at the house and am going to buy more. I'm not sure how comfortable I am working out around other people.

But I agree, diet is the hard part. Except I seem to be having the opposite problem as other people I know who are on or have been on diets. They all want to eat... I'm never really hungry. Still fat though, that sucks. :)
 
You should look around gyms in your area and find one you like. My personal experience in gyms has been nothing but positive. Everyone is there to workout and on many occasions I have had people help me (spotting or what not) and give me advice if I asked them.
 
I'm definitely considering it. The problem is that in the real world I'm kind of a strange dude. Not really a people person. Besides feeling self-conscious benching my puny 180lbs for 10 reps by Mr. Schwarzenegger while making sounds like a turkey getting raped, it's mostly that I'm just not comfortable around people in general.

Plus I work out naked. :D
 
I'm definitely considering it. The problem is that in the real world I'm kind of a strange dude. Not really a people person. Besides feeling self-conscious benching my puny 180lbs for 10 reps by Mr. Schwarzenegger while making sounds like a turkey getting raped, it's mostly that I'm just not comfortable around people in general.

Plus I work out naked. :D



LoL. Go to planet fitness. They arent supposed to be grunting there.

180 pounds aint bad compared to my bench press which is like 90.

I laughed a bit at that naked thing. lol, Ive never tried doing that...
 
Well, I sweat like a beast when I work out. I can't stand having a sweaty shirt on while I'm working out, lifting or cardio. I just wear a bandanna. But I also live in southern Louisiana and try not to use my a/c any more than I absolutely have to. So nekked in front of a box fan is about the only way to go.

Plus looking down at this physique... yeah, baby...

you know... it gives me motivation to keep my fat ass working out. :D
 
LoL. Go to planet fitness. They arent supposed to be grunting there.

Didn't get that at first... I just looked it up on YouTube. That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of... there's a vid on there of this one dude getting asked to leave and he starts trashing the gym on his way out.

I could definitely never work out there. I grunt some even when the weights aren't that bad. And when they're really heavy sometimes the last 2 or so reps get more like growls and barks... I'm a noisy dude... But I also make noises when I sit down, stand up, pee, poop, pour milk, whatever... what a stupid rule...

Hey, I just thought of something. What do they do to a guy who farts during squats? :yelrotflmao:
 
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You should look around gyms in your area and find one you like. My personal experience in gyms has been nothing but positive. Everyone is there to workout and on many occasions I have had people help me (spotting or what not) and give me advice if I asked them.

There are many gyms that are very good in providing support as trainers will definitely help you there and if you are fat and working out then they will better help you in almost every aspect. So fat people should not be worry about any stuffs :action2:
 
I started working out seriously in January. I am 6'4" and when I started, was 280lbs. or so. I began to run and do a lot of cardio 6 times a week, watching what I ate very closely and only lift a little bit until March. I slimmed down to 250lbs by March and then really focused on gaining muscle while running 2mi 3/week. I am now down to 238lbs and gained a lot of muscle. Basically, I lost weight first and then began to focus on gaining muscle, and it worked. Give that a try.
 
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