What do I need to do?

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I lifted weights back in college, but since then have gotten married, wife has had three children (which I gained weight with each one) and have landed a desk job.

I now weight in at around 230 lbs. I want to get back to my 180 lb physique.

I have recently purchased a new dirtbike and the bike is set up for a 175 lb rider (factory default for all bikes of this nature).

I want to start working out again and controlling my diet to help shed the unwanted pounds. So, I went for my first work out last night and man am I sore today.

So far, I have devised the following schedule:
Sun - ride the dirt bike. This works all sorts of muscles that you would not think

Mon - light cardio. I have a gazelle

Tues - upper body work out. Lighter weight more reps

Wed - light cardio

Thurs - lower body work out. lighter weights more reps

Fri - light cardio

Sat - ride the bike - again a workout that you wouldn't think.

I am more concerned with losing weight and toning up as opposed to building an enormous physique.

What do you think of the schedule?

Also, I am looking for a diet that would help me shed the weight. My biggest failure is late night snacks - I have got to quit them.

What things can I eat for breakfast. morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and then dinner?

I know this is kind of general, but I need help.

Thanks for any and all advice.
 
Fat loss is a function of raising your metabolism. You raise your metabolism 2 ways, eating properly and frequently, and exercising. The calories you burn at the gym are far outweighed by what your body is capable of burning throughout the day. The more muscle mass you put on, the more calories you burn across the board.

Lets start with diet, because (IMO) its the most important.

You are 230 lbs now. Without knowing your height (im assuming around 6 foot) and age (college + 3 kids, Im gonna guess 29) Your intake should be 3300 calories to MAINTAIN your weight. (If your vital stats are close to my guessing, that number is good enough) In order to lose 1 lb a week, you cut that number by 500. For 2 lbs a week loss, cut it by 1000. Eat 2300 calories a day to lose 2 lbs a week. I know what your thinking, this crazy dude on some fitness forum wants me to count calories! What a moron! Well, I may be crazy and a moron sometimes, but theres an easy way to count them. Go to and sign up for a ----FREE---- online food journal. All you do is plug the food in, it figures up protein, carbs, fat, and calories. This brings me to my next point. Eating proper amount of calories isn't enough, you need to try to eat the proper amount of macronutrients. Try for 40 percent carbs, 40 percent protein, and 20 percent fat intake. Last but not least, drink water, plenty of it. I drink approximately a gallon a day.

About your exercise routine. Can you be more specific? There are a couple of us workout nerds (Ducks as Bear, Evo, and Adler starts throwing stuff at me :D) Who LOVE to dissect workouts, we can give you some advice.
 
Thanks Allen. Your numbers weren't too far off the mark, but I feel as if I left out some very important info.

OK, here goes:

Name: Kevin Andrews
Age: 32
Height: 5'-8"
Waist: Tight 34 to a loose 36
Chest: 48"
Shoulder width: 26"
Occupation: Residential Designer

By those numbers, you should be able to guess that I am not all fat. I am thick and was able to retain alot of my chest mass. I am also very broad shouldered. My legs are all muscle and I am very proud of them. I have no butt though.

My problem is my stomach. Maybe you have heard of the "****ydo" syndrome - I have it. Sorry if that was inappropriate to say.

My belly pretty much rolls over my belt line and bubbles up to my chest. Here is a most recent picture of me, sorry that you really can't tell a whole lot because of what I am wearing and what I am doing, but this is what I look like:


Seeing as how I just started working out again last night, I will post my regular days activities along with my diet and then seperately list what i did last night during my workout.

Here is my kicker though. You mentioned metabolism. I have no natural metabolism. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when I was 17 and had my thyroid removed shortly after (came home on my 18th birthday).

The thyroid controls your metabolism along with several other aspects of the body. I am now having to take a thyroid suppliment called synthroid.

My doctor is aware that I have started working out, but has advised of any dietary suppliments - even though I did take stacker 2 a few years ago until the ephedra became a big issue.

My diet is harsh and very disturbing, but that is one of the main reasons why I am here - to eat better.

Daily routine:
Wake up @ 5:45
Leave for work around 7:20
IF I eat breakfast, I usually do it while I am driving.
Get to work around 8:30
Eat lunch between 1 and 2
Leave work around 5:30
Supper around 7:00
Play with the kids or work around the house until 9 (put kids to bed)
Late night snack somewhere between 9 and 10
Watch TV, play Playstation (yes, i am a kid at heart), play with the wife until about 11 - 11:30 (sometimes 12:30 - 1:00).
Go to sleep

Diet:
Breakfast (if) - McDonald's biscuit/coke or two doughnuts/milk
Lunch - usually bring lunch like a frozen dinner or a sandwhich of some kind with chips and a coke.
Afternoon snack - some kind of little debbie snack thing
Supper - if wife is working, HungryMan dinner - if wife not working, some kind of prepared meal
Late night snack - anything from a brownie to a bowl of cereal (this is my major downfall)

Work out routine last night:
(3 sets of 15) 70 lb incline presses
(3 sets of 15) 70 lb reversed curls
(3 sets of 15) 70 lb butterfly
(3 sets of 15) 70 lb incline press (seperated)
(3 sets of 10) 50 lb curls
(3 sets of 10) 120 lb ab crunches

All of this was done on Nautilus style machines - no free weight. Remember, this was my first time in a long time, so I went light weight and will build from there.

I apologize if my nomenclature is incorrect because I am not sure what some of these machines are called.

Here is my plan for tomorrow night:

Leg press
Leg extension
Calf extension
Machine where you spread your legs while sitting
Machine where you close your legs while sitting
Other lower body work outs

My cardio comes from the Gazelle I have at home, or some treadmill work at the gym before workout.

As far as diet goes, I am willing to cut anything out with the exception of my sweet tea or my meats. Preparing them in other ways is an option though.

Any and all help is very much appreciated.
 
Your workout routine is good, for a beginner you really made good choices. The only thing you need to add is exercises for your shoulders (military presses, push presses, and lateral raises etc) and stuff for your back (chin ups, lat pull downs, cable rows) You get lean by training the big muscles. Check www.bodybuilding.com for some workout routines, there are a lot of good ones there.

Meal wise, it won't be that tough to fix. Your sweet tea won't be too big of a problem, just make room in your calorie intake for it.

For breakfast eat oatmeal. Oatmeal is a great source for slow burning carbs (makes you feel fuller longer). Its great way to start the day. Kill the soft drinks though, the sweet tea is liveable, but the more sugar you kill, the better. The sandwich you have at work, make it tuna fish or turkey on wheat.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, we're all pretty helpful here, and welcome to the forum :D
 
Someone suggested that I use splenda in my sweet tea as opposed to sugar. is this a good idea? Will it taste the same?

I try to avoid soft drinks as much as I can. Maybe I need to mix up a gallon of sweet teat and bring it in.

I will definately try to make the changes that you suggested and I will check out that site for work out advice as well.
Thanks again
 
I don't have too much experience with splenda. Try drinking more water. Its all I (and most of the people on the forum) drink during the day. It may take some getting used to, but drinking at least a half of a gallon of water a day helps with shedding fat also.
 
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