start pics...the journey begins!

Hey guys an gals, thank you for reading my first ever post, here's what I'm working with on this new journey:





Jeez that stomach is so big...!

I found this site after staying awake all night tring to research fitness. I'm so glad I did!
Cut to the chase:

Im 26
Weigh around 160lbs
6 Feet 1 tall

I'm asking for your help really...I so desperately want to change my lifestyle, I've made a choice tonight to quit smoking and drinking, and even though I realise you can achieve fitness at home, might join a local gym, because its got a really good vibe, and I need human motivation/contact.

This site seems amazing, in that certain people are on here constantly giving help, such an inspiration!

I've let myself go tbh. I have never had muscle, and have always had a gut, and drinking BEER nearly EVERY DAY. isnt helping. CUT IT OUT.

Smoking is just plain DUMB. CUT IT OUT.

My problem is that I get so damn confused by all the numbers, the reps, cycles, it kinda confuses me, damn, I would do it all if I could only understand it! There's so many exercises, variations, can someone out there help me set up a plan or something? I'd appreciate that so much.

What should I be aiming to do?

I dont want to be Massive, but some nice toned rippage has long been due. Do I need to lose weight? Gain weight? Arrgg!

I'm sorry for the blathering, I feel excited and nervous and confused, but I know I need to do this, and I know I need support, hopefuly some kind soul out there can guide me!

Love + Peace,

Matt
 
First of all.....WELCOME :D

I agree with NBS. Read the stickies in the weight training section on diet and lifting. 6 months of hard work and you will see a huge difference in physique!

For any desired physique and goal, DIET is the most important factor, followed by training and rest.

Ideally you want a pre-set programme which is simple and effective.

Starting a journal would be a good idea, so we could all help and give you advice.

Good luck mate.
 
Thank you

Big-up both of you! Thank you for the replies so quick.

I'm enroling to the Gym at the end of the month, they have a £99 for 6 months - all classes included, which I'm going to use to do Yoga and maybe even mixed martial arts as a supliment.

Skinny fat. It seems quite embarrasing. I've always had the damn podge, seriously ever since I was young, just as my height increased, so everything kinda stretched. ANYWAY...lol

I'd imagine from what I've read so far, that it'd be really good for me to do Cardio as well as a really good weights program?

Should I tell the guys at the Gym that I'm 'skinny-fat'? Will this help them provide help for me? I imagine they will measure my waist and do all the tests.

I know that if I stop drinking beer it will help enormously, and if I do cardio on top of that, in the early stages can only be a good thing.

I'll start taking a Journal and also post what the guys say after my first visit to the Gym!

Speak soon,

Matt
 
I dont think your nowhere near fat, your very slim. It just looks like you have a small beer gut :p which can be solved with a bit of dedication.

Generally, its very hard to lose fat and build muscle. It's either one or the other.

BUT, since your at a novice level. This is the stage where your body can potentially grow the fastest it will ever grow (naturally - with good diet & training) so therefore you could probably lose fat and gain some muscle at the same time.

If i were you and i had to choose though, whether to bulk or cut....I'd definately bulk.
 
Arrghh confusion ensues allready!

Ok, I've hit one of my confusion points. My students get them when they read different solutions to problems faced with building websites - differing information leading to confusion, doubt and possibly giving up! I don't want to give up, but...

...I went onto nutritiondata.com and worked out my BMI & BMR. supposing a similar, active lifestyle, their readings for me are:

Daily Energy Expenditure: 3167 kcal ( 13260 kJ)

less 500 calories: 2667 cals - a difference of 280 calories, which is a big difference! How do I treat such information? I know it's all estimation, but which side is it better to edge towards do you think?

Cheers people

(a confused) Matt
 
ok, dude. heres what you do:
go one day eating normally. dont really give thought to what you eat, just eat what u usually do.
however, that day, you are going to track all of your calories.
it IS possible. there are nutrition labels on everything, and if there arent, they are online.
so say you wake up and eat some cereal. measure the milk based on cups, measure the cereal in however large the serving size is and put down the calories. HOWEVER, still eat as much as you usually do.

at the end of the day, you will have the total amount of calories you ate that day. that will be a good place to start out.
say you ate 3000 calories that whole day. you know that on an average day, you eat somewhere around 3000 calories. so if you want to diet, just subtract 300-500 from that. since you are eating less every day(2500 now), you will begin to lose weight because your body will have to make up for the caloric deficit by eating some of its lipids it has stored. of course, if 3000 calories was enough to make you gain weight, you will have to subtract more from that, like 600 calories so that you can get under your maintenance.
next week, you weigh in. say you went down a pound. good job. its working.
say you are still the same, and you were eating 2500 calories a day. that means you should eat a little less. try 2300.

its all basic, actually. you may want to track your calories over 3 days, and take the average to get a more accurate starting point.

tell me how it goes,
jon
 
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I shall do this, although I feel the results will scare me. I sometimes eat nothing except a fried egg. this is all looking so wrong lol. I'll post my 3 days results in the Journal section.

Thank you so much for all the advice so far, It's so, so very much appreciated.

Matt
 
OK man, a few things. You are 160 lbs, there is no way that you should be consuming 3,200 daily unless you are trying to gain weight. Honestly, shoot for 2,000 per day. A general and simple rule of BMR is just take your bodyweight and multiply it by 10 (for resting) or 11 (for miminal movement), etc... you get my drift.

I was in your boat about 1.5 years ago man. Here is what I did and worked for me, might not work for you though.

1) Excercise a lot
I changed my sleeping habbit so that I woke up 1-2 hours earlier before work so I can hit up the gym for cardio session. Why? Twofolds: first, the endormfins release helped me reduce my craving to smoke, secondly it boost my metabolism and I rack up more calories burnt.

I even workout at lunch (quickly) to help reduce hunger / craving. On extremely stressful days, I went in at night. Usually, I would go 1-2 times per day for 5-6 days per week.

2) I ate a lot more fiber (salad / veggie) with minimal dressing

3) Ate more protein and started taking whey right after working out and ate lowfat cottage cheese at night. You will need about 130g of protein per day.

4) Clean up your room man, a clean environment will help you with clear thinking. :)
 
yo tic

lol Hi Tic,

Yeah, im going to clean the room tonight...

Thanks for the advice man - did you really work out that much dude? That seems like a heck of a lot. Couldn't you get results doing less, or was it just that you were into it and just went to the gym a lot?
I'll probably do a few minutes cardio after the weights, 15 mins or so...it seems like there's so many different approaches!

I just did a food budget and an online shop, cottage cheese is in there ;-)

Do you have any pictures of your progress Tic? It'd be interesting to see what 1.5 years has done :)
 
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