So I'm intent on finally getting my ass in shape, and ideally I'd like to get my big sexy ass in shape before the summer months. I keep reading one needs to create a calorie deficit to lose any weight. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. How true is this? Because this doesn't explain how certain people like my older brother can sleep all day and get little to no physical activity, and eat whatever he wants, yet has absolutely no body fat. I figure: I'm 6'6", about 300lbs, and almost a 29 YO Male, I should just get a good workout everyday, drink hella water, and moderate my diet as best I can, because I can't necessarily eat clean. I cut out coffee/caffeine, as well as sugary/sweet juices & drinks. I did yoga for a few weeks, and did a YouTube abdominal exercise today, all of which was about 30 minutes or so, I definitely got a sweat, but IDK... just doesn't feel like it's enough, maybe I should up to an hour of HIIT/Cardio every single day? Maybe I should do some simple exercises like squats, pushups, sit ups, lunges, etc? Most of my weight is carried in my stomach, sides, thighs, and my goal would be to have a 6-pack by my birthday (April 22nd) is it possible or entirely unrealistic?
No need to calorie count just eat better no processed food lots of leafy greens veggys lean meat I can go on but I'm not. Get your ass on a treadmill and run your ass off and by April you'll have a six pack.Everyone has a six pack it's just hidden
Once you burn off all the fat you want start lifting to fail when i was working out i would fail 9 times in the gym and id leave i was only their for 30 min or so. Deadlifts are your friend my friend
Burn more calories than you consume = weight loss. It really is that simple. Up the cardio/ circuit training and cut back on extras that you know are bad. No need to cut caffeine. Black coffee and unsweet tea all you want. Eat protein. Every meal plus all the veggies you want. Raw or slightly cooked is best. Cut WAY back (better to take in almost zero) on potatoes, pasta and bread. Don’t have to go crazy but if you can avoid pasta dishes, having a side of bread with your meal, and that extra helping of potatoes you’ll be on track. These are complex carbs that take your body forever to burn thru. Brown rice is a good sub. Cut out completely or massively reduce the junk food. This is crucial but doesn’t have to be taken down to zero at first. For instance, if you are running late with your spouse and have to grab fast food burgers, instead of ordering two #2’s with biggie fries and biggie coke (shit ton of zero nutrition calories), you order 2 burgers and ONE small fries (to share just to get that flavor you love so much). Instead of the cokes you get unsweet tea. You’ve turned a 2000 calorie meal into a 750 calorie meal and still ate fast food!!!. Those calorie numbers are a guess but you get the point. Go way back on the seeets. Cold turkey is best but if it’s tough reduce the amount dramatically. You love ice cream? Have a coffee mug of it instead of a cereal bowl of it. And you’re right, sweat. If you find a way to sweat everyday you’ll be on your way. Don’t compare what you need to do to get in shape to anybody else. The guys I work with all want to do the same workout but their bodies are all different. They need to do different types of workouts to get THEIR body in shape. GL
Since you sound sincere I'm going to make this long so be patient and I hope it helps. I would start by cutting certain foods out of your diet that have little nutritional value and lots of calories. In my opinion, you don't have to cut caffeine. Just don't overdo it. No excessively sweetened caffeine drinks. I'm skeptical about energy drinks in general so I don't touch the stuff. I do like black coffee, however. Things like totally cutting soda out and even most juices are a good idea - eating fruit instead of drinking fruit is a lot healthier for you. More vitamins and more fiber. No Cool Ranch Doritos - A few ideas for snacks are things like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli(I make my own ranch with greek yogurt, quick and easy), natural chips with guac/salsa, popcorn without/with easy butter (homemade popcorn is super easy and fun) or trail mix. Good snacks don't have to be complicated to be delicious. Fuck it takes 3 minutes to cut up a tomato, ribbon up some fresh basil and some slice some fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with extra virgin, balsamic and salt and pepper. Bangin ass food and relatively healthy. Even a bowl of the right cereal can be fairly good for you. Snack and meal options are limitless fam, you just have to find what YOU like eating and how much work you like doing/have the time for. For a little while you're going to have to experiment and try new things. There are tons of ideas on pinterest and even a simple google search will kick up 27 pages of results. I just ate a PB&J with strawberry preserves I canned myself and all natural peanut butter on 9 grain bread. It kicked the shit out of any wonderbread monstrosity I've ever eaten flavor-wise and it wasn't the worst thing I could have eaten for a snack. I'm a chef so I put a lot of work into my food at home. However, you don't have to in order to eat well. There are tons of things that come precooked at Cosco, Sams and even Walmart such as boneless skinless chix breasts. These are inexpensive - even the ones without nasty shit in em - and they can be seasoned in countless ways and quickly prepared into anything hot or cold - from sandwiches to burritos to salads. Usually in 10 minutes or less. Did I mention it's good practice to read every label that goes into your shopping cart? It doesn't take much time to familiarize yourself with common ingredients in most foods and 9/10 times, after you've done your homework, it's pretty quick and easy to recognize what to avoid on a nutrition label. As far as exercise, I don't have as much advice. Make sure you stretch before/after. My workout regiment begins with leg day and ends with leg day. I also do box jumps on leg day. I do 2 days on-2 days off, followed by 3 days on-3 days off. This can be tweaked depending on your gains/plateaus or to fit your work schedule. Every workout day is a different muscle group and I try to incorporate a different exercise I haven't done before each time. If all you do are curls and situps everyday, then you're a fuckin meathead and you probably haven't even read this far and I wasted my time. I lift for strength and not to be pretty. There are different workout regiments for mass and different regiments for strength, though there is quite a bit of overlap with both. Again, google and some forums will be your friend with this. If i had one last piece of advice for lifting it would be to get the fastest digestible protein into your body as soon as you're done working out. Whey protein isolate based shakes do a great job at this. Just make sure to buy one without too much shit in it - aka read the damn label. A tub will run you 20-50 bucks and last maybe a month. I ride my bike damn near every day because cardio is just as important as lifting and I abso-fucking-lutely hate running. The only time I can do running as cardio is if I'm playing basketball and I'm not thinking about it. I play in a 5 on 5 (3 man benches)league at my local athletic center in Chicago. It's a good way to keep 16 ex cons off the street as well as building our social skills and a sense of community. You can see if you have a community center near you and if there are groups playing sports you that you enjoy. Chances are there is and there are, you just have to sign up for one at the appropriate skill level. Also, try to keep your goals realistic. In fact, I never set time based goals when it comes to exercise. I set a goal, work as hard as I can and it takes as long as it takes to get there. April may be a little premature for that 6 pack. It may not be. Everyone sees gains at the gym and loses weight at a different rate. You may even hit a point where you begin to put on lbs again but it will be muscle and it will be functional and look good. We all have different bodies. It's important to monitor your progress and give yourself credit where it's due. It's just as important to not put too much pressure on yourself when it comes to weight loss goals and exercise. Any progress is commendable, especially if you genuinely try as hard as you can. Oh yeah. If you drink a lot of alcohol, try to cut down or stop altogether if possible. Tons of empty calories in booze.
I'm definitely trying to get my eating under control. I've noticed I tend to over eat, even if it's something healthy like tonight's chicken wings (just some plain wings, no greasy fast food shit) I stuffed myself. I stopped consuming coffee/caffeine b/c I noticed it was causing me to have depression, and no energy when I wake up. Huge difference after I cut that out. I've been reaching for nothing but that H2O, up my hydration. Lol definitely not a meathead. I did enjoy yoga, and it was challenging, but it just didn't feel like it was enough. I'm very interested in more muscle and an even tone, not that gorilla look one might see on a Friday night at the bars. I think I'm more critical of my body than others because nobody thinks I'm "fat", I just got a MFin Buddha belly. I can't really join a gym or anything, just simple workouts for now. I'm broke as fuh, and any income has to go to child support, bills, and saving up for a place. YouTube has plenty o free workouts though and I'm getting that nice muscle stiffness after em.
Got ya. Well, you're already on the right track. There are plenty of body weight exercises that will get you up to speed pretty quickly. I still have one of those $15 door jamb pull up bars for days I don't have time to go to the gym. I can still break a sweat on one. If your body weight isn't enough for your arms, chest and shoulders you can always do handstand push-ups at varying inclines. Since your goal is more muscle tone/definition - Don't skip the cardio. You may want to get out and jog every morning or something. Like I said I personally hate running so I ride a bike.
My advice would be as follows: do not restrict yourself so much that it forces you to give up.... -150 min a week of cardio (in 60-80% HR output) - strength train 3x per week -drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day (more when you exercise) -cut out white flour. get 100% whole wheat, and multi grain (complex carbs take longer to digest, simple carbs like pasta white bread etc turn into sugar during digestion) -try to eat food as close to it's purest for. as possible, steamed veggies, lean meats, very little pre packaged foods. -get enough sleep!!! sleep and rest are just as important as exercise and diet. - do not drink anything but water for a month (I say this, however I still need 3 coffees a day, which I drink w/o sugar and a splash of coconut milk) - PROTIEN go for at least 1/2 your body weight in grams per day. -eat all the time, small meals all day long to keep that metabolism up. -join a group (I'm in one on FB) with other people trying to lose weight, the encouragement is helpful. and we all share workout ideas and recipes. You can do it!! I am going to school for physical education and health and nutrition.....i can tell you, this will help. just stick with it. also, give yourself 1 day a month where you eat whatever you want, just make sure it's only 1 day, and you don't go overboard with it. it's for your mental health. I added a before and after of me, I have been living this way now for 2 years. you can do it!!!! Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
You look awesome, Sweet Lady Jane! I'll be picking your brain as the last 7months has been a struggle for me to keep eating healthy and keep consistent with my work outs. I get lazy and make excuses, but to be honest am surprised I haven't given up completely, I want and need this change in my life!! Kudos to you and thanks for the inspiration man
anytime!!! just remember it's a process, you will have great days and awful days. just keep pushing. also, it's a lifestyle change, bot a diet, so don't implement changes you don't see yourself adopting for life. slow and steady wins the race :d Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
hahhaa yes! it's an original linocut from a local artist. I LOVE The Cure <3 Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
of course. and Morrissey. I had tickets to see Morrissey in buffalo a few hrs ago and the show was cancelled because of his health issues I was crushed. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
I would describe that as entirely unrealistic if you're starting at 300 lbs. I would ditch that goal and focus more on the daily battle of more activity (exercise) and healthier choices for food/beverage. Remember that it takes a fair amount of time after consistent improvement to notice the difference. My most successful improvement was when I started running. The only way I was able to work it into my lifestyle (for me) was to take off work a half hour early. I only jogged about 1 mile out then that same mile back but I got better at it and instead of going longer I pushed myself harder over time. That way it didn't cut into my day more thus I couldn't make excuses. After about a month I noticed that I needed that run or I'd get antsy but I also noticed how much more toned I was and I was actually dropping some lbs. Then I lost all that gain when I stopped. So don't stop, this goes for ANY lifestyle improvement.
Maybe not Consider for a moment that I'm 6'6", and I'm not some fat blob, I'd say a good portion of my body weight is muscle, most of my fat is centered around my stomach, sides and inner thighs.
THROW THE SCALE OUT THE WINDOW! Have you seen what five pounds of lean muscle looks like compared to five pounds of fat? Focus on becoming healthy in all aspects of life, focus on clean eating and working out. Lift weights man, push yourself! Not only will you feel better, you will look better and on your way to your six pack of abs without the stress of the scale!