Hey, a little about me and some questions

[(ExtraX)]

Hi everyone

This is my first post here so I'll just describe my situation real quick. I'm 19 and man am I fat..305lbs at 6ft tall with a 42"(ish) waist. I used to play football in high school (offensive line, go figure haha) and I've been weight training for about three years. I started college two years ago and my weight ballooned from 250-260 up to my current weight. Stress, fastfood and sitting on my ass are to blame.

I've been dieting off and on for about three years. But this time I'm very serious and think I'm going to stick with it because I've never felt so motivated.

For the most part my diet looks like this

Breakfast
low sugar instant oatmeal or a whey, plain yogurt with raspberries smoothie.

Lunch
Usually chicken cesar with a little ranch dressing (35cal tbs) or a half can of tuna on whole wheat.

Dinner
Usually grilled chicken again or small lean steaks with lots of veggies.

Snacks
Hardboiled eggs, homemade beef jerky, cheese, almonds or just a bunch of veggies.

I've got back into my weight training with a passion. Mostly I've been doing circuits. I've stopped thinking about reps, sets and weight so much and have started thinking about form, intensity, breathing, my heart rate and my muscle pump. I do every possible exercise standing up and if I have to sit down I stand up in between sets. I do everything possible free weight or cable.

Just a few things have been confusing me. (Hopefully these questions aren't tooo newbish "

Pizza is one food I can't say goodbye too. But I don't see why I have too. I've been plotting to make myself an extra healthy pizza. So I was gonna make a thin whole wheat crust and going light on the sauce and top with a bit of low fat cheese, lots of veggies and some lean meats. Now, this got me really confused today. I was standing in the grocery store holding the regular white flour in my hand and the whole wheat flour in the other hand looking at the nutritional information.....Hmm. Same amount of calories...slightly more fat in the whole wheat but it's not saturated so that's okay....well surely there is more vitamins in the whole wheat....... but there wasn’t.. More vitamins were actually listed in the white flour!!..what gives? What's the advantage of using whole wheat other then a bit more fiber?

My second question has probably been asked a million times but I'm very curious to hear what recent active members have to say... What is the very..I mean VERY best thing I could eat close to bedtime other then nothing. I'm assuming something that's filling but low in calories with a very low GI. But I have no idea what would fulfill that description. Kind of along the same lines what breakfast cereal is the absolute best to eat other then unsweetened oatmeal?

And my last question, I promise, is about cardio and weight training. I've heard they mix like oil and water. But I'm also hearing this from the same guys who are actually happy about putting ON 5lbs. I'm thinking being an endomorph has gotta pay off some place.. Can an endomorph get quick results from cardio before or after a workout? If not when is the best time to do it, will it screw up my muscle growth if I do hard cardio the day after?


Thanks a million to everyone who took the time to read my whole post

 

[maleficent]

welcome to the site... glad to have you here...

What is the very..I mean VERY best thing I could eat close to bedtime other then nothing. I'm assuming something that's filling but low in calories with a very low GI

the question about nightime eating gets asked a lot around here and if it relates to weight gain - long story short is that it's the amount of calories that you eat in the day that m atter -not when you eat them.. for a bedtime snack - i'd probably go with turkey becausse of the chemical that it contains that promotes sleepiness (tryptophan of something like that) I'm partial to yogurt myself.

I'm sure one of the knowledgable folks will be by to answer the rest of your questions - if not pop down to the harsh truth for an expert opinion

 

[hayley_cookie]

heya and welcome! sorry i can't answer any of ur questions but hopefully someone will! haha.. glad u're motivated and determined.. so all the best to u! =)

 

[stuco]

About the eating at night thing. For me, if I eat close(2-3 hrs) before bed I will not lose any weight regardless of what I've done all day. That may not be true for everyone but I'm a guy almost your size. You could be different though.

 

[KissMyHuman]

Well your diet currently seems pretty nutritious at the moment, theres only a few things I question. The first is the ranch dressing as you could probably go with a low fat alternative, or get in some healthy fats by using an olive oil vinaigrette but use it sparingly. Another is nuts, although healthy don't go overboard on them, a small handful should be your serving for the day. Lastly is the cheese snacks, I'd replace them with some fruits high in fiber (with skin) things like apples, grapes, blueberries, etc. I don't know how big your portions for some of those meals, but chances are you might be under eating for your weight, even while dieting.

The next thing is you HAVE to get some cardio in there. You're a big guy and fat will come off easily in the beginning so try things like walking at a fast pace for 30 mins to an hour every day, or even just going out and shooting baskets for an hour. You could also try swimming. I don't recommend high intensity cardio, not because I don't think you can handle it, it's that most are high impact and you might injure yourself or put yourself through unneeded pain.

You may have to talk to one of the trainers in the Harsh Truth forum about weight training. While dieting, your body can't readily gain muscle (thats why they say cardio and traditional weight training mix like oil and water) so you'll have to tailor your weight training to act like an interval workout rather than a strength gaining routine. This is just something I'm beginning to incorporate into my workout, so I don't feel confident recommending anything yet. In other words, forget about gaining a large amount of muscle while you're dieting, you can't do both at the same time.

The reason white flour has more nutrients is because it's probably fortified. Wheat flour is the way to go, not only because of the fiber, but your body processes it differently than refined and simple carbs.

As far as the pizza, I'd skip the cheese and go for raw spinach leaves. They wilt in the oven and taste quite delicious with the pasta sauce. I'm Italian, trust me.

With eating at night, like mentioned before, the just of it is caloric intake throughout the day. When people put a stop to eating at night, its to help them control general overeating. Just eat a dinner high in protein and fiber like you're doing, brush your teeth after you're done and say thats it. If you feel hungry, drink a big glass of water and watch tv, read a book, or some other activity to get your mind off food.

Hope that clears a few things up.

 

[(ExtraX)]

Thanks a lot for the tips. I'm going to try the spinach on next week's pie. I was asking a couple people about the wheat flour and what they said backs up what you’re saying. Although I was aware of simple and complex carbs I guess I was just focusing on nutritional labels a bit too much in the last few days.

You’re right about the long jogs. Although, I do like to push myself hard on the treadmill for 10mins or so to help improve my breathing and lactic threshold (which I find helps improve my lifting) anymore then 10mins and my lower back will be killing me that's why I'm very fond of circuit training.

My favorite circuit is starting off with dumbbell presses for the chest then going into dumbbell rows for the lats then moving over to my pre-setup barbell on the floor and doing clear and jerks then dead lifts then cooling down with alternating dumbbell curls. I do this circuit for 4 - 5 cycles. It's pretty much a workout within itself but I'll usually do some supersets after to try to target the triceps and shoulders some more then finish with Abs.

Seems to be working pretty good right now. But considering I was only hitting the gym once a week before endurance and strength gains are comming easy.

 

[TomO]

Welcom to the forum! Here is a very good that may help you with some of your questions about cardio and weight lifting programs and their effects on your metabolism.

Basically, as long as you are in a calorie deficit, you can't put on muscle mass. However, you can minimize the loss of lean body mass, which is what you want to do until you get closer to your target weight.

You may be much better off concentrating on compound exercises that get at large muscle groups while you're in a calorie deficit. Exercises that focus on the smaller muscles like biceps and shoulders will tend to be far less productive than some of the ones you're already doing like deadlifts, presses, and squats.

You might try some HIIT training for the cardio. At 305, you'll have to ease into it, but it can be far more effective than SS cardio. And. like weight training, you continue to burn calories long after the workout, which you do not do nearly as much with SS cardio.

If you do cardio and weight training on the same day, do the cardio first. Otherwise, you'll be partially exhausted, and won't get nearly the benefits from weight training that you should. Ideally, you can do them on separate days, so you get maximum benefit from both.

At your weight, where you want to lose a lot of pounds, it's not a question of either/or as far as cardio & weight training goes. You'll need them both, and perhaps a bit more cardio than weight training. If you have a good full body workout focusing on compound exercises, you should be OK with 2 weight training sessions a week, leaving the rest of the days free for cardio.