Hey, I need a bit of help.

J

jaehyeon

0
Hey, my name's Zach. I'm 19 and I have some body problems.

I'm pretty thin. I have a really small build. I'm about 6' tall and weigh around 155lbs. I'm not really sure how much of this is relevant as I've never done this sort of thing before. I don't really know much about fitness.

I have a spare tire around my midsection, like, fat in my lower stomach/sides/back. It's not too bad because I'm so thin, but bad enough that when I try to do ab workouts I only get upper abs and my lower abs are invisible behind flab. I know it's not just that I'm not working that area out well enough because I can feel how tight that section is under my fat.

It's been kind of a never ending struggle with me, because I don't exactly know what I'm doing. I can't afford a gym membership, I can't afford weights. Even if I could I wouldn't know what to do with them. I mean, sure there's tons of resources for me to look into but I don't know what I need to make my body toned and fit like I want it.

I have asthma that's pretty bad. I guess my endurance is pretty low as I can only do about 15 minutes of cardio before my lungs are burning and I can't breathe. Not that that didn't really stop me from trying. For about 2 months I did as much cardio as I could (15-20 minutes every other day, then ab workouts and other workouts on the off days) and didn't really see any results. So I figured it had to do with my diet.

My diet's kind of messed up, I guess. Often times I'm in such a rush because I work 9-6 on most days that I don't have time to even do much of anything. I'm pretty new to working so I'm almost too tired to do anything physical after work since I'm on my feet all day. Point is, most times I skip breakfast. I know it's bad so I try to snack on something on my way out the door but often times it doesn't seem to make a difference for me because I'm just not hungry. I'll eat lunch as normal, my lunch is probably the healthiest I eat all day, then at dinner I eat whatever. I'm not good at cooking, like at all. We (my mom and I) eat out often, and I try to get things that are healthy but that's damn near impossible, let's be honest.

I know I'm supposed to eat 4-6 small meals every day consisting of protein, a healthy fat and a ... carb? Something like that. But it's pretty unrealistic for me because I can't really cook and I'm picky. Like, I don't eat eggs, they literally make me throw up. So there's a quick breakfast thing filled with protein out the door. I don't eat much fish, either. There's another thing. I get pretty bored with just grilled chicken breast, almonds and red meats though. Like it gets old fast. Also I work as a hairdresser so I don't really have much time to take between clients back after back to eat a small meal. I've tried doing the whole healthy diet thing and it only lasts me about a week before I'm back to how I was before because I just get bored and run out of options.

I guess I just don't know what to do with myself. Maybe I just need a kick in the pants. Maybe I need to learn how to cook. I literally have no idea.

I just need advice, I guess. Maybe my body isn't even as bad as I think it is. What should I do?

Thanks for all advice. Try to be gentle. Haha. I'm pretty new as I said.
 
I would definitely start with learning how to cook.

I hear what you're saying about grilled chicken and almonds. People tend to go one of two ways when planning their diet: severe underplanning to the extent of "I eat lots" or "I don't eat much"; or severe overplanning to the extent of listing out how many grams of oats, chicken and broccoli they'll eat each day (with those being about the only foods in their diet). It's generally better to think in terms of food groups than specific items within those groups. You don't need 3 grilled chicken breasts per day; you do need some protein. You don't need 200g of oats twice a day; you do need some complex carbs. You don't need 6 bowls of broccoli per day; you do need a variety of vegetables. If there's specific foods you like, great, eat them. If you need variety, great, variety is good for you and increases the odds of you getting all the nutrients you need.

Meal timing isn't drastically important. Your metabolism won't shut down if you go 12 hours without eating; make it 60 hours and then we'll start talking. If you don't feel like eating early in the morning, ride that fact. Perhaps intermittent fasting is a good tool for you to use: just have water or coffee in the morning, have lunch as your first meal, have a quality dinner, have something to satisfy your stomach in the evening so that you can sleep comfortably, rinse and repeat. It's how I did my last cut, going down from about 75kg to 66kg. Of course, I was also doing strength training -- I'm not sure what results would be like without strength training. Meal timing should come down to what works for you, because so long as you're eating on a daily basis and you're consuming the most amount of calories you can while allowing weight loss, your metabolism will be alright. It's when you cut total daily calories too low that you run into trouble.
 
5X5 Deadlifts!

But really, you've got the perfect starting point for muscle. I would kill to be 6 foot even. Being 6'5 is a real pain from time to time. You also work a great schedule as well. 9-6 is fantastic for working out in the morning and feeding your body for the rest of the day. If I were you and didn't have the money for a gym membership, I would get on YouTube and search "Home made weights". I would link a couple videos, but YouTube is blocked at my job. You'd be surprised what you can do with paint cans filled with sand. Also, you don't have to eat just chicken and red meat. There are a lot of ways to get your cals, protein, fats and carbs for cheap. Natural Peanut butter(I live by it), wheat bread, Greek yogurt, fruits, peanuts, beans, brown rice, oats...The list goes on. You could make your own bulking shakes with a blender, some peanut butter, greek yogurt, chopped fruit and milk. If I had your schedule, I would lift in the morning before work on an empty stomach(burn a little fat), have a home made shake on the way to work, and then feed myself for the rest of the day. Pack on some muscle, and when you want to cut some fat off, change the diet up a bit and keep lifting in the morning. Honestly, I kind of envy your size and schedule lol. I could do so much more now if I were 19 working 9-6 every day.
 
What are some examples of meals I could be eating for lunch at work? Like, taking with me? Or if I ate out somewhere (like Whole Foods or something) what are healthy ideas that would be good?

I don't have a blender so protein shakes are out unless I get the prepackaged ones.

How long does lifting take and what can it do to work my whole body? Because I don't really understand what doing 5x5 deadlifts with paint cans every morning will do for my body at all (I hardly know what those are or what weight I should start at haha!) and I thought that cardio burned fat? :s I don't know anything so I guess just more information on that whole thing would be really helpful.

Recently for the past couple weeks I've just been doing random body weight exercise videos on youtube. Like, I'll do a 12 minute chest workout/8 minute ab workout on one day, then I'll do some form of cardio video (as much as I can get through) on the next day, then do the chest workouts/ab workouts the next day and so on.

I also tried Jillian Michael's 30 day shred thing which I could hardly get through the whole first video without dying so I'm too afraid to do the second level. Haha; I've had friends that have done it before anyways and they say it works but they gain the weight right back, and that's probably because they didn't follow the same diet and didn't keep working out. However, I don't really want to do 30 day shred my whole life, nor do I even wanna do youtube video workouts my whole life. They're boring and if I don't have anything to entertain me or keep me motivated I lose interest and start self loathing.
 
jaehyeon said:
What are some examples of meals I could be eating for lunch at work? Like, taking with me? Or if I ate out somewhere (like Whole Foods or something) what are healthy ideas that would be good?

I don't have a blender so protein shakes are out unless I get the prepackaged ones.

How long does lifting take and what can it do to work my whole body? Because I don't really understand what doing 5x5 deadlifts with paint cans every morning will do for my body at all (I hardly know what those are or what weight I should start at haha!) and I thought that cardio burned fat? :s I don't know anything so I guess just more information on that whole thing would be really helpful.

Recently for the past couple weeks I've just been doing random body weight exercise videos on youtube. Like, I'll do a 12 minute chest workout/8 minute ab workout on one day, then I'll do some form of cardio video (as much as I can get through) on the next day, then do the chest workouts/ab workouts the next day and so on.

I also tried Jillian Michael's 30 day shred thing which I could hardly get through the whole first video without dying so I'm too afraid to do the second level. Haha; I've had friends that have done it before anyways and they say it works but they gain the weight right back, and that's probably because they didn't follow the same diet and didn't keep working out. However, I don't really want to do 30 day shred my whole life, nor do I even wanna do youtube video workouts my whole life. They're boring and if I don't have anything to entertain me or keep me motivated I lose interest and start self loathing.
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The "5X5 Dead lifts" thing is more or less an inside joke of mine.

Dead lifts are the most compound lift you can do though. Any real weight lifter will tell you that if you could ever do only two lifts, they should be dead lifts and squats.

Honestly, I hate cooking meals for work. I keep it simple when I take food with me. Turkey sandwich on wheat. Greek Yogurt. Hell, I take natty pb&j's on wheat to eat haha. I'll take a couple cans of tuna and throw in some Balsamic dressing and eat that with some whole grain wheat thins. Snack on almonds, peanuts, stuff like that.

Cardio does burn fat, but to an extent. Constant cardio can deplete your glycogen surplus and cause your body to tap into your muscles for energy during cardio sessions causing your body to break down it's own muscle. Cardio with a bad diet and no weight training will give you the "skinny fat" look, which you don't want. 99% of people that walk in to a gym wanting to lose weight get mad and quit when running on a tredmill and doing crunches doesn't fix their problem in a month. There's far more to it than that.

Any of those 30 Day Shred, Insanity and P90X are gimmic workouts that cost too much money and don't last.

If you could buy a cheap bench with a barbell and some weights, you could setup a good full body routine that would only take an hour a day, 3 or 4 days a week. Now, if there's no way you could get the money together to do that, the only thing I can tell you is to look at some of the youtube videos to see if there's anything you can make your self to lift and we can go from there. You could get cinder blocks and a steel bar and dead lift that for a start. Dead lifting works your legs, back, arms, and grip and is a great way to lay a foundation of strength. You could take that same bar and do hack squats with it for your legs, for example. I wouldn't recommend doing overhead presses with it though ;) . You could fill milk jugs with sand and do one arm overhead presses with those. You could take those same milk jugs and lay on a bench and do chest flies for your chest. It's all about being creative, if you don't have the money. And if you need to see any of these lifts to find out what they are, just google "chest flies" or "one arm overhead presses" and all kinds of instructional sites will pop up.

You can have a good looking body with 3 one hour(Chest, Back, Legs) lifting sessions a week and a good diet, but that diet has to be good.

Do you live in the states? If you live in the U.S., there are countless chains of gyms that offer memberships for only $10 a month, which is realistic for anybody with a job.

I'm willing to answer any questions you have if you're willing to give what I say a shot, as are any other regular members of this forum. There are some pretty smart guys around here. You have to have the drive to do it though, by any means necessary.
 
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Food at work is easy for desk jockeys like me. Cook up rice with a few eggs and keep munching a fork full at a time all day everyday. Not exciting but it works.
Blender is OK but in fairness there are shaker cups now that cost next to nothing and enable a similar effect with a bit of arm work. I do tend to think those using them look as if they are masurbating but that's because so many seem to shake at hip height.

I am not a short term fix fan. Most who use them find themselves looking OK for a few days then lapse, better than at lapse for a few days lapse, until the better is not as good as they started with. View this as a long journey which means you have to make sure the activities are enjoyable. When I started weights as an adult it was spring time and many there wanted a hot bod for summer, I did too but was thiking of the summer after at the earliest. Net result over 2 decades later I am still doing it, and for an old fart who enjoys function over form I don't look too bad, I have seen most of those who were in a rush since and hardly any stuck to it when they didn't get what they wanted.

Bodyweight work and some basic kit will be fine for a beginner while you figure out what you want to do. if you enjoy it and aren't in a hurry this may be all you want. As someone who trains at home, play area is on my profile, I would advise training at a gym first. My set up is something I would never have dreamed of needing at first so I used the years at gyms to tell me what I wanted then got it. If you do get stuff for home go one level above your expectation to avoid disappointment later. My rack will withstand impact of 6,500kg I will likely never need that but knowing it's there means I can go full on without fear.

Start small and build up, something the quick fix vids will never show you. My first ever bench press was little more in weight than an olympic bar, and even though it is still my weak event I can now push around 4 times that initial weight with the same effort, if I wasn't so obsessed with still being able to run etc. I would have done better still, and on stronger events like deadlift this is over 6 times initial with same effort.
 
CrazyOldMan said:
Blender is OK but in fairness there are shaker cups now that cost next to nothing and enable a similar effect with a bit of arm work. I do tend to think those using them look as if they are masurbating but that's because so many seem to shake at hip height.
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I've been wondering how well those cups work. Could I put peanut butter in there and get decent results?
 
if you shake it hard enough and don't mind looking daft I expect so. The worst part is the way so many seem to bite lips and shke to the point where they go a bit red, looks so dodgy.
 
I seem them all the time. I hear it works great with greek yogurt and milk. Maybe I'll just buy one and see. I imagine peanut butter having a hard time breaking down without more than just shaking it. Half the time, the dish washer doesn't even get peanut butter out of my containers and I have to wash them by hand.
 
I would say be sure you put that in last when there is liquid surrounding it, otherwise will stick like glue.
You may want a coloured one too so it doesn't look as if you are eating diahhorea.
 
CrazyOldMan said:
Start small and build up, something the quick fix vids will never show you. My first ever bench press was little more in weight than an olympic bar, and even though it is still my weak event I can now push around 4 times that initial weight with the same effort, if I wasn't so obsessed with still being able to run etc. I would have done better still, and on stronger events like deadlift this is over 6 times initial with same effort.
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You got to add a tiny bit of weight first time you bench pressed? Dang, making me feel weak all over again. I remember 3x8x20kg destroying me on the bench press first time I did it through a full range of motion. Now I rep out 60kg and am working towards a 100kg max (not sure I'll get it this comp, but definitely intent on beating my 92.5kg PB).
 
Need to remember that I had been training in a gym with only a few dumbells for free weight for a few months by then. Your bench is better than mine now and I am unlikely to beat you again.
 
CrazyOldMan said:
Food at work is easy for desk jockeys like me. Cook up rice with a few eggs and keep munching a fork full at a time all day everyday. Not exciting but it works.
Blender is OK but in fairness there are shaker cups now that cost next to nothing and enable a similar effect with a bit of arm work. I do tend to think those using them look as if they are masurbating but that's because so many seem to shake at hip height.

I am not a short term fix fan. Most who use them find themselves looking OK for a few days then lapse, better than at lapse for a few days lapse, until the better is not as good as they started with. View this as a long journey which means you have to make sure the activities are enjoyable. When I started weights as an adult it was spring time and many there wanted a hot bod for summer, I did too but was thiking of the summer after at the earliest. Net result over 2 decades later I am still doing it, and for an old fart who enjoys function over form I don't look too bad, I have seen most of those who were in a rush since and hardly any stuck to it when they didn't get what they wanted.

Bodyweight work and some basic kit will be fine for a beginner while you figure out what you want to do. if you enjoy it and aren't in a hurry this may be all you want. As someone who trains at home, play area is on my profile, I would advise training at a gym first. My set up is something I would never have dreamed of needing at first so I used the years at gyms to tell me what I wanted then got it. If you do get stuff for home go one level above your expectation to avoid disappointment later. My rack will withstand impact of 6,500kg I will likely never need that but knowing it's there means I can go full on without fear.

Start small and build up, something the quick fix vids will never show you. My first ever bench press was little more in weight than an olympic bar, and even though it is still my weak event I can now push around 4 times that initial weight with the same effort, if I wasn't so obsessed with still being able to run etc. I would have done better still, and on stronger events like deadlift this is over 6 times initial with same effort.
Click to expand...

I guess this .. kind of helped me, but .. I don't eat eggs and I can't afford a gym membership. At least, not any of the chain gyms in my area. I live in Oregon and if someone knows of any $10-a-month gyms in that area without any secret costs or gimmicks like Justin recommended then let me know. Like, I really don't know what I should be doing or how any of this will help me get what I want. Even if I did get some kinds of weights (whether they be homemade or if I bought them) I honestly wouldn't know what to do with them or what sorts of exercises I need to do with them to get what I want. I'm completely incompetent when it comes to fitness and exercise and eating healthy and all of these things.
 
Depending on where you live in Oregon, you may or may not be near one of the two Golds Gym's located in that state. If you're near Portland, there's one there.

I could give you routines all day long to build strength and muscle, but not knowing what you're working with makes it hard to do that. A "typical" gym membership runs about $30 a month in a privately owned place. If there are any chain gyms near you(like Golds), they typically have a $10 month to month no contract membership. Or if you could even take a few months and save a couple hundred bucks, you could buy an ok bench and a barbell and weights and get the good, basics down. Besides that, learning form is up to you, as well as finding out what is and is not going to work for you. Our bodies all respond differently. What works for me may not work for you.

Diet, in my opinion, isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I mean, at the end of the day you know what's good for you and what isn't. If you're trying to lose weight, you're not going to go to Burger King or have pizza for dinner, and eat ice cream and all that crap. Sometimes, people read too far into diet until they get so stressed about it that they don't want to bother with it anymore. You could start by trying out the Paleo Diet, aka "The Caveman Diet". If a caveman couldn't eat it, you can't. Meats, seafood, fruits, veggies, you get the point. The basics. Real food. I'm not one for diet fads, but that one's pretty legit, because it's not really a "fad" diet like Adkins. It''s how you should actually eat. I've heard people refer to it as only being able to buy and eat foods that are around the outside of the grocery store(Produce section, deli, ect).
 
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