Well, I've gotten sick of all the extra weight I'm carrying around, and I've finally gotten motivated to do something about it. I had gotten myself down to 230, but its been creeping up now that I have a sedentary job again, and I'm now at 255 (I'm 6', BTW). Time to lose some weight. My goal is to be down to ~210 in 8 months. None of the guys in my family are small, we're all pretty stocky, heavy shoulders and big chests, and I've got plenty of muscle, so while I wont be skinny at 210lbs, I wont have much fat, either. But 45lbs in 8 months works out to ~1.3 lbs/week. Beating that is going to be easy at first, but as I get thinner it'll get harder to come off. I think this is a very do-able goal, and hopefully I can do it in 6 months or less.
Exercise (cardio): I've started using the stationary bike in my basement, keeping ~45 RPMs at medium resistance for 30 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, I change that to heavy resistance for a minute, then turn it back down. After the 30 minutes, I go 5 minutes at ~35 RPM at very light resistance to cool down. I know this probably isnt as good as running, but I live in Ohio, its February, there is ice out, and I dont feel like busting my leg. Besides which, I hate running, and I have a TV right in front of the bike, to keep me interested. Currently, I'm biking at night, I may start doing this in the morning, or eventually doing both. How long do I have to keep my heart rate up to be effective? 20 minutes? 30? Doing it at night is much more convenient, I already have to get up at 6AM most days. Right now I'm hitting the bike 4 times a week, I'll be trying to up that, though. Does it matter if I do it twice in a day, or is that not as effective in increasing my metabolism as once a day, two days in a row?
Exercise (non-cardio): I've been doing push-ups, three sets before going to bed, one set of 25 followed by two sets to exhaustion, three times a week. I'm doing them correctly (back straight, legs and torso in a line, hands shoulder width, head up, down till my sternum is ~3 inches from the ground), not girly style. My upper body strength has always been pretty good, I'm mainly looking to maintain as much muscle mass as possible during this diet, not gain. I'm going to try to get to my college gym once a week so I can do some actual weight lifting, with varied exercises, rather than just push-ups.
Diet: I dont have much of a firm plan here, except to stop eating out for lunch at work, and to stop drinking any regular soda or other drinks with significant calorie content in them, with the exclusion of skim milk occasionally. I like those Crystal Lite flavored iced teas, so I'll be bringing that to work, instead of Pepsi. I may need to spinkle a little No-Doz in it to get me up in the morning
, but I can deal with that. One day a week I will be doing some reasonable splurging (beer, chicken wings, etc).
Anyway, I posted this for suggestions/criticism of my plan, and most suggestions are welcome (I say most since there will likely be at least one or two pricks posting in this thread). I'm looking to lose weight, more than increase my overall fitness level, or build muscle. I also want to have a plan I can stick with, which is why it isnt a Nazi lose-4lbs-each-week plan.
Exercise (cardio): I've started using the stationary bike in my basement, keeping ~45 RPMs at medium resistance for 30 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, I change that to heavy resistance for a minute, then turn it back down. After the 30 minutes, I go 5 minutes at ~35 RPM at very light resistance to cool down. I know this probably isnt as good as running, but I live in Ohio, its February, there is ice out, and I dont feel like busting my leg. Besides which, I hate running, and I have a TV right in front of the bike, to keep me interested. Currently, I'm biking at night, I may start doing this in the morning, or eventually doing both. How long do I have to keep my heart rate up to be effective? 20 minutes? 30? Doing it at night is much more convenient, I already have to get up at 6AM most days. Right now I'm hitting the bike 4 times a week, I'll be trying to up that, though. Does it matter if I do it twice in a day, or is that not as effective in increasing my metabolism as once a day, two days in a row?
Exercise (non-cardio): I've been doing push-ups, three sets before going to bed, one set of 25 followed by two sets to exhaustion, three times a week. I'm doing them correctly (back straight, legs and torso in a line, hands shoulder width, head up, down till my sternum is ~3 inches from the ground), not girly style. My upper body strength has always been pretty good, I'm mainly looking to maintain as much muscle mass as possible during this diet, not gain. I'm going to try to get to my college gym once a week so I can do some actual weight lifting, with varied exercises, rather than just push-ups.
Diet: I dont have much of a firm plan here, except to stop eating out for lunch at work, and to stop drinking any regular soda or other drinks with significant calorie content in them, with the exclusion of skim milk occasionally. I like those Crystal Lite flavored iced teas, so I'll be bringing that to work, instead of Pepsi. I may need to spinkle a little No-Doz in it to get me up in the morning
, but I can deal with that. One day a week I will be doing some reasonable splurging (beer, chicken wings, etc).Anyway, I posted this for suggestions/criticism of my plan, and most suggestions are welcome (I say most since there will likely be at least one or two pricks posting in this thread). I'm looking to lose weight, more than increase my overall fitness level, or build muscle. I also want to have a plan I can stick with, which is why it isnt a Nazi lose-4lbs-each-week plan.
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