Weight Loss or Weight Gain Thread "2012"

[benner]

Well it's just about that time of year again where every year we all say we're gonna get back in shape so I've decided to take charge and start early. I've been hitting the gym 5 times a week if not 6 for at least an hour and a half each day. Been mixing alot of cardio with strength training. I've also been watching what I eat. 1,700 to 1,800 calories a day with 150 to 200 grams of protein.

So what I'm thinking is we all keep tabs on each other. I"ve also started taking measurements of the following each week.

Lower Leg
Upper Leg
Waist
Stomach
Chest
Biceps
Forearms.

I'm adding them up and keeping track of how many total inches I've lost so I don't get down if I see the same weight but I've dropped inches from week to week.


Name----------------Benner
Starting Weight------318lbs
Last Week-----------314.2lbs
Current Weight-------310.3lbs
Starting Total Measurement------ 236.2
Last Week Measurement----------227.9
Current Measurement-------------226.2

Diet - Whey Protein, Limited breads (wheat/whole grain), No fried/deep fried food, no alcohol, lots Lean turkey, brown rice, SUBWAY (Eat Fresh!!!), No pop, Lots of Water/flavored water.

Also instead of adding a new post every week, just go back and edit your original (if possible) as you progress.

[Bio248]

dude, im totally in on this when the new year rolls around. i have to quit smoking and start doing something else with my time: gym trips. ill start it then, but **** going on a diet for real.

[benner]

dude, im totally in on this when the new year rolls around. i have to quit smoking and start doing something else with my time: gym trips. ill start it then, but **** going on a diet for real.

Actually hasn't been bad at all. I think the fact that I'm hitting the gym and occupying my time has helped. I do allow myself one day a week where I'll have normal food. Sunday I had chinese buffet but actually only ate one moderate plate full of chinese food, then ate a salad and three boiled eggs, cottage cheese, and cucumber. I was actually completely satisfied with it too.

[Bio248]

i have been eating less lately just because im sick of the 'overfull' feeling.

[SlowNA06]

Benner, glad to see you're getting in shape. I think I'll have to start this - sitting behind a desk all day is wearing me out. And the booze isn't helping (alcohol increases estrogen/ decreases testosterone).

Your caloric intake looks good, and your rest period is good.

A couple suggestions:

1) That is a TON of protein. What you don't use gets converted to fat, which is not good for someone that's cutting like you. If I had to guess, I'd say you got your recommended value out of a powerlifting article. You should probably be well under 100... but don't take my word, research it some is all I'm getting at.

2) You stop making gains and start burning muscle around 45-60 minutes of exercise. Burning muscle is bad, because that's the thing that burns fat.

3) You said flavored water, so I assume the sugarfree scented stuff - just watch out for vitamin water/gatorade, etc, which have TONS of sugar.

4) While cardio is great for the lungs and heart, it's no good for weight loss. It doesn't build much muscle, just burns off calories, which you'll get right back as soon as you eat a sandwich. Weight training will increase muscle mass, which increases calories burned at rest as well as how much you will burn the next time you work out. Personally, I start every workout with the largest muscle group (best testosterone output) and continue weight training for 40-50 minutes. Then (and only ever after weight training) I walk on a treadmill for 10-20 minutes at a steep incline, sprinting for 30 seconds every 2 minutes (this will burn ~300 calories, which covers you for a meal).

[matt5112]

a slice of cheese is 100+ calories.

300 calories is NOT a meal.

700-1000 is a meal.

Unless you do 5 small meals per day (which you're supposed to)

[SlowNA06]

Unless you do 5 small meals per day (which you're supposed to)

Yeah, I'm talking little meals. 1700/5=340

[dirtmaster88]

I need to do something similar myself but I don't think I'd be able to cut out alcohol/beer :/

[matt5112]

instead of buying 24's buy six packs.

You wont drink as much nor be tempted to just grab one outta the fridge because they simply wouldnt be there.

[Bio248]

I need to do something similar myself but I don't think I'd be able to cut out alcohol/beer :/

agreed, no way in hell im quitting drinking. ever.

instead of buying 24's buy six packs.

You wont drink as much nor be tempted to just grab one outta the fridge because they simply wouldnt be there.

that's just economically taxing. just use self control.

[Juanmiguel]

For weight loss I would recommend just running either outdoors or on a treadmill. I used to do boxing and weight lifting and all that together takes a lot of time to do and eventually gets annoying.

Running for about 30 minutes ever other day and quitting drinking coke every day has been good enough for me in the past few months, I'm currently 227 lbs. and 5.971 ft. I didn't want it to get out of control.

By the way I also smoked for 10 years and quit 3 years ago, the thing that ultimately worked for me best were nicotine patches if anyone is trying to do this I would recommend you try it and if you do, go through all the "phases" until the end. I had other friends who stopped using them earlier because they felt "they didn't need them anymore" but got back to smoking after a while.

[TLSheff]

Start of the year I aim to start the P90x vids I've had for 2 yrs lol

Kept putting it off, I think Ill start on the 1st and see how I am different, if at all in April

[dirtmaster88]

Completely agree on the patches. I used to be a smoker as well and the only way I could kick the habit was to bite the bullet and shell out the cash for the nicoderm patches. Follow their quit plan exactly and don't stop early like Juan said. There's 3 kinds of patches step 1, 2, and 3. Each step slowly cuts down on the amount of nicotine.

[SlowNA06]

Start of the year I aim to start the P90x vids I've had for 2 yrs lol

Kept putting it off, I think Ill start on the 1st and see how I am different, if at all in April

No reason not to start now.
At 3 months, you'd better keep exercising. While short term goals can be helpful, you don't get to break routine without losses until you hit about 6 months, and even then only for a few days. I am extremely guilty of this, too.

[footballplaya3k]

When you are trying to include lots of protein in your diet the most common mistake ppl make is consuming it all at one time. The average human body can use 20 to 30 grams of protein per hour usefully, any more than that is wasted. Even heard of protein farts? Easy way to tell when you are eating too much protein per hour. Eating lots of protein is fine, just space it out remembering how much your body can use per hour.

I guess I'll be the opposite person here. My goal is to get up to 200lbs from the 185lbs I'm at currently by continuing to go to the gym 4-6 days a week like I do now. Curls to get the girls! Goodluck guys.

[TheOtherNick]

Im in I am at 230 now and want to drop to about 200, while finding the strength I used to have. I will have to work hard tho, cuz im not stopping drinking.

[matt5112]

290 and will be 220 by summer hopefuly...

The terrible thing is I was 285 once then i got all the way down to 208.

Never felt better.

[TLSheff]

No reason not to start now.
At 3 months, you'd better keep exercising. While short term goals can be helpful, you don't get to break routine without losses until you hit about 6 months, and even then only for a few days. I am extremely guilty of this, too.

Im a (not litteral) Fat kid, and holiday feasts and grandmas wont work with it.... So start of the year I can burn it off, and if I get any kind of good results by the end of the 90 days then I will definately stay with it and keep pushing thru the summer to keep looking good. I used to be in great shape in High School. Played soccer at 135lbs, 8yrs later i break 200... granted some muscle mass over the time but alot of fat and water weight, if I could tone up and lose the belly Id be happy at 175lbs

[Bio248]

135 pounds isnt in good shape, thats a stick figure. if i weighed in at around 180 right now id be super thin. im gonna shoot for 220 or less when i start getting into it, but i plan on getting bigger in some areas so im not sure i can actually lose weight for real.

[TLSheff]

< Kinda short too... 135lbs isnt THAT bad when your only 5' 8"

was happy with my look at 175lbs, just stayed there and got a beer belly
sad thing is I only drink liquor, laziness belly is what it is, but hopefully next summer Ill be all back to fit