Just a few questions

I just thought I'd introduce myself, and ask a few questions

My name is Stephen, I'm 19 years old living in Louisiana. I'm 5'8 tall.

Last September I moved to Texas, and at the time I weighed 260 lbs. In November, I moved back to Louisiana, and I had dropped about 20 lbs...I'm not sure exactly how..I just did.

So I came back home..and my weight loss continued, and when I got down to around 220, about a month ago, I decided that I want to go ahead and get rid of this fat once and for all. In a month, I've gone from 220, to 205, and that's been with me cheating every now and then. I've had moderate exercise on some days...some days I don't exercise at all. My exercise is mainly playing basketball a few times a week. Is that a good way to exercise? I might average now, 1 coke per week..the rest is mainly water, and I try to watch what I eat, but I'm not particularly on a set diet. My goal was to get to 200 pounds, because I cannot remember the last time I was at 200 lbs! But since that mark is approaching pretty quickly, and I only have 5 lbs to go, I'm wondering what my next goal should be?

Also, my plan is to get toned. I don't want to be a body builder, but I would like a six pack, and just a decent upper and lower body. One question I have is..do I need to start doing things like sit ups, and exercises like that NOW to build up my abs, or do I need to wait until I'm closer to a desirable weight for my body size? I could have swore that someone told me that there's no sense in working on your abs, if there's a layer of fat over them lol, but I'm just wondering what I need to do.

Also any suggestions and tips would be appreciated, thanks.
 
if you're 5'8" you can get a lot slimmer than 200lbs, and will have to if you want to be as toned as you mentioned. to get there you'll need to eat a really "clean" diet, there are many threads in the fat loss section with advice on what to eat and how to exercise, check some of them out. also, you should start doing your exercises now, whoever told you you should wait until you lose fat is lazy & full of it. you should start getting into the habit now of doing the workouts you'll need - plus exercise promotes fat loss. it sounds like you have a great start, BTW. just clean it up a bit and you should be able to reach your goals.
 
You're on a good way to loose weight, however not a very fast one. Be sure to quit all the junk food and the sodas, a cheat meal once-per-week is acceptable. Try to eat healthy, do cardio, and start weight lifting. Include in your meals, grilled skinless chicken breast, wholewheat bread, a lot of fruit and veggies, read this forum for many other tips and make sure to drink a lot of water 3-4 liters per day (about a galon for the Americans) . You have a lot of fat to loose in order to get a six-pack and to be honest that won't be something that you could achieve in a short period of time. However if you keep your diet clean , do cardio , and workout your abs you can do it. In order to have abs you need : 1st - Clean diet, abs are made in the kitchen, eat 6-8 smaller meals per day, 2nd - Cardio, so you can burn off the fat, 3rd the physical excersize in order to develop your abs. Because now at the present time, you can have the biggest ab muscles, however if they are covered with a layer of fat, you will never see them.
 
shimmering said:
if you're 5'8" you can get a lot slimmer than 200lbs, and will have to if you want to be as toned as you mentioned.

Not to hijack this post but im only 5'8'', 200lbs and i am toned up... im about 5lbs from a good showing six pack... i have put on muscle in the past 2 months but still 195lbs at 5'8'' could give you a nice toned body...
 
Well, I very seldom drink sodas, and I might only cheat on my meals once or twice a week. I have been eating white bread, but after reading on this forum, I'm about go to buy me some wheat bread. And I know that this is going to take awhile to get myself in the shape that I'm talking about. It took me 19 years to put on the weight...so if it takes me awhile to get it off, it's fine. Now that I'm in the best shape I've been in, in years, it's inspired me to keep going until I get the body that I want. I don't plan on staying at 200 lbs once I get there...that was just my goal..I've been trying to set small goals, rather than to set a large goal and get discouraged.

One question is...what should be my weight goal limit per month? In the month of June, I lost 12 lbs, and I don't feel like I did everything that I could have to lose weight..I cheated a few times...didn't exercise some days.. etc;.

Also, starting today I started lifting some hand weights, and doing sit ups. I've heard sit ups aren't the best exercise from a few people on here, but I'm not a fitness guru, so I'm not too sure of different exercises to do.

But yeah..I've gotten a significant cut back on my pants size. I went from wearing 42's, to 36's now.

And another question is this...I measured myself with a measure thing today..my waist that is..and it said 45. If it's 45, why can I fit in 36 pants? I wear them at my waist too..just a little confused on that. Thanks guys
 
i think you have the right attitude, stephen. it did take a long time to put on the weight, so it wont come off overnight. but you've already made great progress and it will only get better. use some of the advice on this baord and stick with it and you'll reach your goals.
on your question about weight loss, i dont know that i'd look for a specific goal weight to lose each month. just make your goal to stick with the workouts and eating right and the rest will happen.
also, i prefer crunches and leglifts to situps. do both - crunches one day, leglifts the other, 50 each. & try to focus on proper form, they should be hard to do.

to the other poster: i stand corrected. :)
 
I know this is a really stupid question, but what's the difference between a crunch and a sit up? And how do you do a leg lift?

And I'm still wonderin about that waist size question
 
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