its time to lose some weight

[EDM6-zoom zoom]

I think I lost 5lbs today pulling out weeds in 80* weather.
Yes I do need to let go of the sodas but can i use crystal light in my water for flavor?

 

[NCZ13]

yeah thats fine.

i also like watered down juice. but thats just personal preference.

 

[magnumP5]

NO! NO! and NO!
If there is one thing pretty much every nutritionist on the planet agrees on it is that diet soda is death to a diet. If you are thirsty drink water. Get plenty of sleep (most people have no idea how important enough sleep is to maintaining your weight). Eat healthy meals and keep low calorie healthy snacks around so you don`t get hungry. It is important to eat several small meals spread out over the day instead of two or three large ones.
Get up and get some exercise. Instead of watching Jeopardy, take a walk.

Yes, I know all this stuff, but no, I don`t do a good job of following it. I`m one of those who have researched the hell out of the subject but can`t seem to get off my ass and put it into practice.

I never said diet soda was the answer. His post made it sound like he couldn't kick the soda habit so I suggested at least switching to diet. The energy drinks are the kicker though...

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

yeah thats fine.

i also like watered down juice. but thats just personal preference.

That`s a better idea than something with artificial sweeteners in it.

If you have to, add a teaspoon of raw sugar for sweetening. I know, "my god, what is he saying?!" It`s only 16 calories. Two drinks a day is a total of 32 calories. It won`t break your diet, but it very well might help you stay on it.

Cut unsweetened apple juice or orange juice, or better yet cranberry juice as thin as you can stand it (the juice is to provide healthy flavoring to the water). If you have to, put in up to one teaspoon of raw sugar in a tall glass of this mix. Trust me, you won`t want the whole teaspoon. Wean yourself off the sugar over a couple of weeks.

 

[ecniemann]

its hard because i have class at 9 in the morning...

but it is something i will do during the summer. on the weekends sometimes i wake up and walk my dog... but thats rare. so itll be good for me and good for him.

im going to try to cutback as much on the carbs as possible. i honestly believe if i change my diet i can drop a few pounds just from that.

the reason i dont want to hit the gym, is because i dont want any muscle gain. i know that some people get discouraged when they try to lose weight, they hit the gym, and even though they are working out hard, they arent losing the weight like they think they should be. and its because they are working out and building muscles that hadnt before... and muscle weighs more than fat does. so i want to focus on my diet first, and see where im at with that, before i factor in working out heavily.

Definitely got to lift. It burns calories, maintains the muscle you have, improves endurance, and elevates metabolism. Keep reps between 10-20 and 2-3 sets each. Less reps build more strength and muscle but are also more dangerous and for advanced workouts.

first you need to start eating breakfast. As far as cardio get a heart rate monitor, because at certain heart rates you acually are burning just fat instead of muscle and fat. Watch your calories and modify your portions. The key is to burn more calories than your intake calories. 3500cal=1 pound. Also start doing light weight lifting so you can strenthen and tone your muscles. Light weight and lots of reps followed by some mild cardio and you will drop the weight in no time.

+1 on the HRM. It is a must, but not for the reasons mentioned. You will never burn muscle (protein) as long as other energy stores are there. The body first burns glycogen stored in the muscles being used, then glycogen stored in the liver, then goes to fat stores. It is not all or none though. If you are working very hard (usually anaerobic), your % of fat to glycogen burned will be low, BUT total calories will be high. Problems? Injury, fatigue, overuse, non-compliance to exercise. So most exercise specialists suggest a 60-80% of maximum HR target (target HR) to exercise at for 20-30 min minimum, in the aerobic range. If you go lower than this, sure, you will burn a greater % of fat, but absolutely will burn LESS calories. This is safer, but is usually only done by someone extremely out of shape. It's all in how you look at it, % vs. absolute numbers.

Great to see a thread like this, should of started one like this myself a couple of years back.

I will first off start by saying, YOU CAN DO IT! STAY POSITIVE! Remember that this should be a lifestyle change not a "fad diet".

Personally I've lost over 100lbs, it took me a year almost to the day to loose a 100lbs on the mark. This was done a healthy and all natural way. There are some great pointers in this thread:
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, the more you know the more tools you have, read read and read some more. Men's Health is a good mag.

EAT BREAKFAST, I CAN'T STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS. It will start up your metabolic rate, you should try to consume 30%-40% of your daily carbohydrates with this caloric intake. Always try to combine protein, fats and carbs into every meal (read up on this and you will understand why) Cardio in the AM on an empty stomach like stated before will spike your metabolic rate and be most beneficial.

DO NOT totally avoid weight training, I made this mistake and paid for it (but do not do this on an empty stomach). The more muscle mass the human body has, the more effective it is at burning calories, especially FAT! At your current weight, do yourself a favor and do not be so concerned with the "scale". It doesn't sound like you are obese, I was 335lbs size 50 pants, couldn't see my dick or my feet etc. So instead of the scale use measurements of your body to watch your body change and also the way your hardening up.

Like stated earlier in the thread, spreading meals out evenly during the day is great for your metabolic rate and will help you achieve your goal. Protein is great because the human body burns the most calories digesting it, so eat lots of it.

I feel like my post is entirely to long, but if I can help one person...let me know if you would like any more information or places to obtain it. Maybe I'll post some before/after pics when I get home.

All excellent advice! Congrats on your program!

So ive started using this great tool calle fitday.com

basically allows you to add up all the calories and food you eat throughout the day, (theres a giant food bank to choose from, as well as the feature to custom make food) and how many calories you burn just generally for living. Its a great tool, and anyone trying to lose weight should try it.

my average calorie intake is b/w 1600-2300 calories a day, about 1000 calories under what i need to maintain weight. with moderate daily exercise, my plan is to be at 175 by jan 1st. Im just trying to lean out, not bulk up.

Excellent! That was the 1 thing missing from this thread. You HAVE to monitor your intake, and the only accurate way to do that is by counting calories. You can eat what you want, but the caveat is, "good" foods are usually higher calorie, thus you will have to drop the portions. In contrast, some veggies and very low cal foods, you would barely even have to count. Most foods have the calorie info on back. Keep your calorie intake right where it is. That is a good range for your wt. If you drop your intake too much, you will feel fatigued, and may even plateau. Once you reach your goal, you may even find you will have to up the intake a bit if you continue to exercise like you are, just to maintain.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

I've lost around 6 pounds in 2 weeks by training for being a lifeguard. The pool where I work used to be a limestone quarry so it's 15 feet deep... they have to condition us to be able to look for a missing child in that deep and big a pool. So I haven't really changed my diet at all... I've just done a shitload of cardio basically 6 days a week. If I had shaped up my diet to be a bit better I probably would have lost 8-10 pounds... I weigh 196 now down from 202ish... I think I peaked at 205 a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Diehonda]

I've lost around 6 pounds in 2 weeks by training for being a lifeguard. The pool where I work used to be a limestone quarry so it's 15 feet deep... they have to condition us to be able to look for a missing child in that deep and big a pool. So I haven't really changed my diet at all... I've just done a shitload of cardio basically 6 days a week. If I had shaped up my diet to be a bit better I probably would have lost 8-10 pounds... I weigh 196 now down from 202ish... I think I peaked at 205 a couple of weeks ago.

Totally jealous.

My first job was as a lifeguard. I was in excellent condition.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

"You will never burn muscle (protein) as long as other energy stores are there."

This is not true as a blanket statement. It depends on the exercise. Once those glycogen stores are gone, if you need quick energy, your body will eat protein stores before it goes after fat. Where is protein stored? That`s right, your muscles. I`m hardly an expert, but the wife has been in the medical field for 20 years (my cardiologist and primary care doctor don`t bother explaining things to her, they just hand her the test results) and until she blew her knee out competed at 185 lbs and 5% body fat. She knows what she`s talking about. Fat gets burned best during slow, steady exercise with an only slightly elevated heart rate. This is why a long walk is a good fat burner. Other exercises may burn more calories, but not from where you want them burned.

 

[ecniemann]

"You will never burn muscle (protein) as long as other energy stores are there."

This is not true as a blanket statement. It depends on the exercise. Once those glycogen stores are gone, if you need quick energy, your body will eat protein stores before it goes after fat. Where is protein stored? That`s right, your muscles. I`m hardly an expert, but the wife has been in the medical field for 20 years (my cardiologist and primary care doctor don`t bother explaining things to her, they just hand her the test results) and until she blew her knee out competed at 185 lbs and 5% body fat. She knows what she`s talking about. Fat gets burned best during slow, steady exercise with an only slightly elevated heart rate. This is why a long walk is a good fat burner. Other exercises may burn more calories, but not from where you want them burned.

A Calorie is a Calorie, does not matter where it comes from. Obviously we would prefer fat or glycogen and not muscle, but depending on how hard you work will depend on the % of fuel of each and TOTAL # of Calories burned in a given workout. We can burn protein that we eat, but it rarely comes from our own body unless we are in a starvation mode or have some sort of metabolic gentic disorder. It takes 3500 Calories expenditure at any intensity to burn 1# of fat, so Calories do matter. Let's set up a theoretical scenerio.

Pt. A: exercises at 15% max HR for 4 hours (ie. long walk) and burns 800 C. Let's say he burns 80% fat and 20% carbs (glycogen). It will never be 100% fat as our nervous system feeds exclusively on glycogen, so that is an impossible scenario.

Pt. B: exercises at 80% max HR for 45 min and burns 800 C. Ratio may be more like 60% fat and 40% glycogen due to the natural tendency of the body to burn fat after prolonged exercise (ie. first 10 min or so), although this will vary on the pt's conditioning, wt., what they just ate, etc. etc.

So both people exercised to burn the same calories, had different %'s of where the energy came from, but one took MUCH less time. Which would you rather do? Also, AFTER the workout is over is where the more intense workout will shine as the increased metabolism that is promoted will be burning through fat while you rest! Higher intensity will also exercise the heart, whereas low intensity helps (ie. walks), but is NOT aerobic. It will not help conditioning (endurance) at all. So basically, if you want to lose wt. (which will almost always be fat), you want to exercise at a moderate to hard intensity for 20-40 min. 3-5 x/week. Walks and "fat burning" programs are great for the beginner because they are low intensity and minimize injury and soreness, but that is it.