Advice and Encouragement needed

[stumben32]

Hey everyone I have been browsing these forums for a while. One thing I love about this place .. there are some real knowledgeable people here no matter what subject you browse whether it be computers, programming...or this health and fitness board.

Anyway

I am 33 Years old
5'11
235 lbs

Most people are shocked when I tell them what I weigh. I have a good amount of muscle And a really big frame. But still... theres no way to slice it other than I need to lose some serious weight and get back into shape.

A little history... I have been working out ..."casually" on and off since I was 18. But I can never really keep a routine or get serious about it. Back when I was in my 20s I was in really good shape - but that was due to many things, being younger..I did constuction for work, played Hockey. Now I am a manager at a tech Company so I am sitting in a chair ( making better money though!: )

My other big problem right now that I will freely admit is Drinking. I am not ashamed to say ... I love my Scotch! I love having some beer while I BBQ Outside on a nice day. Basically Monday-Thursday I am good boy then Friday Saturday comes and I am playing Poker with the guys, Grilling... so out comes the scotch and I am eating too much - I am sure some of you are familiar with the picture.

I actually eat pretty well 6 out of 7 days a week. Some of that is out of necessity because my wife - she has very strict diet.

I have started a new "routine" trying to get back into shape and lose some weight. Right now my goal to start is just to lose 20lbs and tone up - just feel and look a little better. Here is a break down of what I am doing - I am not going to extremes yet calculating percentages and calories... I am just winging it, so sorry if I am not giving you exact measurements:

Diet
Monday - Friday
Bowl of Cereal for Breakfast ( Allbran, or something reasonable )
Apple or other piece of fruit at 10:00am
Sandwhich - Lean meat + mustard for lunch at 12:00pm
sometimes I will have a small snack at 2:00pm - like a trail mix bar.
lean meat + vegetable/salad or a Str-Fry for dinner at 5:00pm

Now as I mentioned about as far as my diet I know where I am breaking down and thats Friday-Saturday with a few scotchs/beer maybe a fat Ribeye on the grill... and maybe then I start snacking late at night. This is the hardest part for me to stop or cut back on. My willpower breaks down!

Excersise
When I am at work I do get out for walks - I would on average 1-2 miles during the day. Not much but better then nothing.

I have a bowflex home GYM at home. Right now I am trying a M-T-T-F routine so 4 days a week resistance training on bowflext, with walking and stretching mixed in. I have been doing this whole routine for only 2 weeks. I can feel my muscles getting strong and toned but no weight loss yet!

Start with Stretching excersises every day - about 4 stretches I do that I learned in PT - I had a sciatic nerve pull which still CREEPS back now and then so I just kept doing these.

MONDAY/THURSDAY

Then:

Bench Press 10-14 reps X3
Shoulder Press 10-14 reps X3
Bicep Curls 10-14 reps X3
Tricep pulls 10-14 reps X3
Squats 10-14 reps X3
Situps/crunches 10-14 reps x3

I go for low weight high reps... but if I can do 14 reps easily I increase the weight.

Follow up with 3 mile walk with the Dog. LIGHT jogging mixed in but right now... I cant run for crap. Always hated running

TUESDAY/FRIDAY
Lat Pull downs 10-14 reps X3
Seated back Rows 10-14 reps X3
Crossover shoulder pulls ( I forget exact name of these, works backs of shoulders )
Bench Press 10-14 reps X3
Bicep Curls 10-14 reps x3
Situps/crunches 10-14 reps x3

Follow up with the walk/jog

So I am trying to alternate muscle groups - but I realize its not perfect. I could probably do a better job alternating/isolating but its a start. One thing about the bowflex.. i absolutely love it for most excersises... but its just not comfortable for certain movements....

So, let me know what you think. You know.. its simply amazing and Depressing just HOW FRIGGING hard this is now that I am 33. When I was in my 20s - this routine would have me looking and feeling damn good and I could party every night. NOW.. its like I have to have the perfect diet and excersise.

 

[zebano]

Everything is harder when you get older, welcome to the club =) I was similar weight and height, but little muscle so at least you have that going for you.

My advice:
Diet - I suggest counting calories and portion sizes at least for a week or two. Even if it is healthy food, if you're eating too much, you will gain weight. Assuming you can eat 500 calories below maintenance Sunday through Friday, a cheat day where you're 1000 calories over isn't going to kill you and you're body may actually respond well to it (google cycling & diets if interested).

Exercise - Most people here recommend free weights because they avoid the uncomfortable motion. Since you own the Bowflex, I suggest you use it, but be very careful with anything that feels uncomfortable. Consider picking up a bar or dumbbells. I won't comment on your exercise selection since I know little about that stuff. I just chose to do stronglifts 5xx5 and I'm sticking to their plan.



Walking is infinitely better than nothing. I've been a code monkey for 7 years and even during my less active years I was noticeably better off walking over lunch than doing nothing. I ran cross country in high school, and while running highs are great, the first 2 weeks of the season were pure torture. If you keep at it, it will get easier but it's a tough road. If you decide to try
a. Get running shoes! These will help avoid lots of injuries.
b. Take it slow I suggest you start out running as many blocks as you can, walk 2, run 2 etc. Next time, try to run x blocks + 1 then walk 2 run 3. Running every other day is probably wise in the beginning. Start slow, don't burn yourself out. Ultimately you want a cardio exercise you can stick with, I prefer swimming.

 

[KoolDrew]

Start tracking what you eat on fitday.com and we'll go from there.

 

[Kaido]

My only real advice is start small. If you try to do a bunch of huge changes all at once, you can only maintain it for a day or two. So start small and really focus on the changes you're trying to make - the more simple and specific, the better. Two keys I've found are (1) daily logging and (2) accountability. You can do both if you post every day to your thread here - it both keeps a record of what you do and keeps you accountable to everyone reading your thread here in H&F. I did it for 6 weeks with great results and I'm prepping my summer plan today! Regarding diet, I think you only really need to count food if you're a professional body builder. I know a lot of guys who have model-like physiques who simply eat well. If you feel you need a cheat day, then take a cheat day once a week, but don't binge. Here is more or less what I've learned about changing your eating habits:

1. Make a very, very, very specific eating plan, even if it's only for one week. You can't follow what you don't have, so write it down so that you know what's going on
2. Eat 6 small meals, no more than 3 hours apart
3. Stop eating at 5:00pm (no later than 6:00pm)
4. Go to sleep early (9-10pm, no later than 10pm), otherwise it's really easy to eat late
5. Make sure every small meal IS a meal, not just a snack. Every meal except the first one should have protein (the first one should be fiber)
6. Eat until you're full - not stuffed and not hungry. This took me awhile to learn because I am used to just eating until I am stuffed, but start listening to your body. It's not easy!
7. Carry a water bottle with you throughout the day. It's your new wallet - don't leave home without it! I drank a lot of sugar drinks before so this took some getting used to.

Some of those changes are incredibly difficult to make. Sleep was the hardest for me. I go to sleep and 9:00pm now and I would say it's made the single biggest difference in my health life. The rest of the changes are infinitely easier if I have a good night's sleep behind me. The key is consistency - going to bed once or twice a week isn't going to cut it. It's like having a salad once a week and then eating crap the rest of the week, it just doesn't get results. Switching over to water instead of juice or soda was also a small challenge. Stopping eating after 6pm and learning to listen to my body when it said "I'm full!" were also pretty decent challenges for me. So those are the rules that worked for me. Your diet looks pretty good. There are a couple changes I would suggest: first, add in a protein shake. This is a really quick meal that fills you up for a couple hours and adds something tasty to your day that won't hurt you. You can get chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, apple-cinnamon, banana, etc. Make your last meal your smallest meal. That combined with stopping eating at 5-6pm completely took away my acid reflux, it's amazing! If you want to lose weight, it's really all about diet. Diet doesn't mean starving yourself or eating nasty food, it just means eating better food. Diet is 80% of the equation. Since the beginning of April 2008, I have lost nearly 25 pounds simply by eating well and pedaling on my exercise bike for 10 minutes a day. MINIMAL exercise. Let me repeat that: it's all about diet! I didn't know this before I started my new program; I always thought you had to spend hours in the gym to lose weight. Your body is made in the kitchen!

I also suggest dumping running. Doing an exercise you hate every day is an exercise in frustration. What do you personally enjoy doing for exercise? Wii Fit? Buns of Steel? Riding a bicycle? Playing soccer? The key to exercising on a regular basis is finding something you enjoy. Cardio combined with a healthy eating plan (as outlined above) is really all you need to lose weight. I like to ride my bicycle and I use my exercise bike on rainy or cold days. My friend likes to play soccer; he started eating right and joined a soccer team and lost over 200 pounds. If you hate running, don't do it! There are plenty of other options - rowing and kayaking machines, fast walks with your spouse, kids, or dog, elliptical machines, football with your friends, raquetball, etc. Basically get out there and get your heart pumping for 10 or 15 minutes and eat right and within a few months you'll drop that 20 pounds like nobody's business!

 

[KoolDrew]

Regarding diet, I think you only really need to count food if you're a professional body builder. I know a lot of guys who have model-like physiques who simply eat well.

I'm always an advocate for the simplier approach and only making things more complicated when need be. However, over the years I've come to a realization - people absolutely suck at estimating calories and tracking what you eat makes everything a hell of a lot easier. The OP even said himself he hasn't been losing weight the way he's doing things now. It may seem like more effort at first, but you'll quickly get the hang of it and it will benefit you in the long run. Losing eight is all about calories in versus calories out. If you are tracking calories and are not losing, it's a lot easier to make adjustments until you are losing weight at a steady pace, which is important as any diet will stall sooner or later and need adjustments.

Also, to the OP about your routine - if you're going to workout 4x a week you'd probably want to split it up more as you said. I'd suggest an upper/lower split. For example...

Monday - Upper Body
Tuesday - Lower Body
Thursday - Upper
Friday - LOwer

Stick to things like squats, RDL's leg press, and maybe leg curls on lower days (two quad & two hamstring movements). Could throw calves in their as well if you really wish. Aim for 3-4x6-8 on the main lifts and maybe 2-3x10-12 on other stuff. For upper body day stick to bench, row, shoulder press or incline bench, chins, and a little bit of bicep and tricep work (limit to one movement each) and maybe only 1-2x12-15 for those.

Alternatively, you could just do a full body workout 3x a week.

 

[zerocool1]

something that was helpful for me was setting goals for weight and performance.

Like I want to weigh XYZ and be able to run a 5 k in 22min. By having realistic/clear cut goals it I have found that I can build a routine. Also you can "chain" meaning create "chains" of days where you keep your routine and reward yourself.

 

[citan x]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Cardio combined with a healthy eating plan (as outlined above) is really all you need to lose weight.

I would change this to "exercise, any exercise and a healthy eating plan is really all you need to lose weight." The healthy eating part gets ever more important with age (unfortunately).

If you hate running, then just do you workout in a circuit fashion and you will get the cardio too. You can alternate between slow, heavy sets and fast circuits. Also, consider dropping some of the bowflex exercises for some body weight excercises.

Also, consider having the wife join you or some other partner. It is more fun with people.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: citan x

Originally posted by: Kaido
Cardio combined with a healthy eating plan (as outlined above) is really all you need to lose weight.

I would change this to "exercise, any exercise and a healthy eating plan is really all you need to lose weight." The healthy eating part gets ever more important with age (unfortunately).

If you hate running, then just do you workout in a circuit fashion and you will get the cardio too. You can alternate between slow, heavy sets and fast circuits. Also, consider dropping some of the bowflex exercises for some body weight excercises.

Also, consider having the wife join you or some other partner. It is more fun with people.

:thumbsup: I agree with citan, but don't give up on the prospect of running. It's not fun at first, but it goes grow on one over time.

Here's my story (briefly). I was 35 and weighed 275lbs with only 5'11" of height, severely obese. I started a circuit workout (2 actually, one core and one whole body resistance) and a walking routine. Within a year I was down to 200 lbs and began a walk/run routine. Now at 38, I'm running half marathon distances and continue my circuit training sessions. I'm 165lbs and about 10% BF.

My diet is one I adapted from the Men's Health ABS Diet, and I rarely eat more than 2000 calories a day. And I log what I eat every day at Sparkpeople so I can keep track of things. Up your good fats, lower your bad carbs, and consume plenty of proteins. You'll have improved endurance to workout and plenty of fuel to get through the workouts and recover from them.

Good luck stumben, the effort is well worth the while.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: citan x

Originally posted by: Kaido
Cardio combined with a healthy eating plan (as outlined above) is really all you need to lose weight.

I would change this to "exercise, any exercise and a healthy eating plan is really all you need to lose weight." The healthy eating part gets ever more important with age (unfortunately).

If you hate running, then just do you workout in a circuit fashion and you will get the cardio too. You can alternate between slow, heavy sets and fast circuits. Also, consider dropping some of the bowflex exercises for some body weight excercises.

Also, consider having the wife join you or some other partner. It is more fun with people.

Although the cardio thing is literally true, there are some other, often unforeseen consequences. If you only do cardio to lose weight, you burn not only fat, but muscle. They become "skinny fat" people, losing mass all around. Some form of weightlifting (body weight exercises and the bowflex are fine at this point) must be around to provide resistance training. Keep up with that and your diet and you'll see your body change. Most people I know don't want to lose muscle - they just want to lose fat. I just want to let you know what some possibilities are depending on what choices you make.

 

[lucasorion]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Although the cardio thing is literally true, there are some other, often unforeseen consequences. If you only do cardio to lose weight, you burn not only fat, but muscle. They become "skinny fat" people, losing mass all around. Some form of weightlifting (body weight exercises and the bowflex are fine at this point) must be around to provide resistance training. Keep up with that and your diet and you'll see your body change. Most people I know don't want to lose muscle - they just want to lose fat. I just want to let you know what some possibilities are depending on what choices you make.

This is what happened to me when I was 19 and housesitting for a summer. I ate a spartan diet, ran 4 miles on hills every other day, and went from 225 to 180-185 - but I lost a lot of muscle too. Now, in my early thirties, I'm doing it more gradually. This time I am focusing on body recomposition, rather than weight loss.