After browsing these forums and reading the articles for a week I decided to make a post. I’m 5’10" and 240 lbs. My main goal is to get down to about 200 lbs. and in shape. I know this will take a long time, but I am looking for some advice on how to help achieve this.
My current routine has me going to the gym before school everday at 6 for about an hour, I do light cardio either treadmill or eliptical for 10 minsand hit the weights for rest of the time.
My current breakdown is
Monday - Shoulders/Shrugs
Tuesday - Back/Biceps
Wednesdays - All Cardio/Abs
Thursdays - Legs
Fridays - Chest/Triceps
On Tuesdays and Saturdays I play basketball for cardio in the evenings.
I have a few questions:
What should I be eating if anything before hitting the gym in the morning?
Should I include a cardio session before or after a workout?
Any other tips regarding nutrition or how to better reach my goals will be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Depending on what you can stomach in the morning. I cant eat anything after I first get up.
I like to make a 7am Weight Gainer Mix…
and a Multi Vitamin,
2 Whole eggs 2 Whites,
and a 12 oz Steak after the workout in the morning. Along with 2 Slices of whole Grain toast with Peanut butter.
Also… Before you goto bed at night i like to Slam a Water and Protein Shake… too keep your body posted overnight.
Cardio is really dependant on what your goals are… I only do… 10 Mins of Cardio a day and its a walk… on a high incline.
Eat Multiple small meals a day… Try for every 2 hours… with a good solid form of Protein, I find, Eggs, Tuna and the such are nice and portable.
(I got a Goerge Forman at my Work with a box of chicken Breasts in the Freezer)
Take your time clean up your diet and keep at it and your body fat will drop over time.
lol thats my 2 cents worth
[quote]thirstybear wrote:
What should I be eating if anything before hitting the gym in the morning?
[/quote]
Should be your biggest meal for that day, complex carbs + protein
If you only have 1 hour, i wouldn’t do any cardio at all (except 5-10mins warming up)
If you really want to do cardio, don’t do steady state but some form of HIIT, and do it on the non lifting days
If you really want to do cardio on the lifting days, do it after lifting
Ditch the crappy bodypart split. For fatloss, focus on heavy compound movements and maybe complexes.
Read. Alot.
Start with the threads on top of this forum and follow the links
New to T-Nation?
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=817951
Are You A Beginner II
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=640350
basics on nutrition :
(7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs
by John M. Berardi)
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459493
Your focus right now needs to be on nutrition, there are a lot of great articles on this site about nutrition that will help you. Weight loss is mostly nutrition with exercise playing a much smaller role.
Also, I’ve found it better to set a goal body fat percentage rather then a goal weight. 10% body fat is a pretty good goal.
Thanks a lot for the advice so far, I think I’m like the first poster where I can’t eat a whole lot first thing in the morning, however after my workout I can probably have my biggest meal of the day. Should I do a light snack before the workout then?
Drink the Weight Gainer… Make sure it has lowwww Sugar for carbs and mostly Complex… You can usually see some form of oatmeal on the label.
That will kick start ya. Then eat after 
works for me