Newbie - Help With Fat Reduction

Hi, I’m in the process of fixing my life style. Two months ago I weighted 406 pounds. I’m 6ft tall. 42 years old.

Today I’m at 369 pounds. I really need to take off fat. I’ve read some of the info on the site and it really looks like the people here know what they are doing.

Long ago I was at 208 pounds and 12% bodyfat. I’d be very happy to just get to 225 and 20% bodyfat these days.

Three weeks ago I joined a gym. Currently, I’m doing 40 minutes of cardio 4 or 5 times a week and 5 basic toning exercises with light weights. All of the weights are on Free Motion machines.

Squats - 3x15 @40 pounds
Lats - 3x15 @50
Chest - 3 x 15 @20
Shoulders - 3x15 @15
Row - 3x15 @35

Diet is as follows

Breakfast
Bowl of Special K w/1% Milk

Lunch
Health Choice Steamer

Dinner
Varies usually sometime like broiled Fish, potato & Salad

Weekends
I miss breakfast, eat Chinese or Japanese at least one. Usually have a Steak one meal and 4 Taco’s at another.

I know there is room for improvement.

I have the time.

I really have to fix me this time around.

Thank You for your time.

V.

im not sure what to say that would help with the working out considering your weight and age

however i would say eat more times per day. if you eat more times per day your stomach will be used almost all the time of the day in order to digest the food and as such you’ll actually lose more weight

veggies, salads, fruit have pretty low calories and you need them anyway so if you dont know what to eat, eat a bit of any of these.

also maybe more protein, fish and chicken are great with low calories. try to eat about 50-100 grammars with each meal

if you eat like 7 times per day, instead of having your stomach working 8 hours, you’ll have it working 16 hours, losing more weight, plus you’ll be more healthy.

you said you have time, so i guess you can eat 7 times a day

by the way if your choice is only to lose weight then i wouldnt change the program much, however im guessing at 400 lbs and 42, if you just lost weight like this you would still have extra skin so that wouldnt look great.

plus you’ll barely make, probably maybe lose muscle. to keep those you need to lift heavier and eat at least more protein. if your goal is only losing weight though then i wouldnt change much i guess

[quote]Virel wrote:
Hi, I’m in the process of fixing my life style. Two months ago I weighted 406 pounds. I’m 6ft tall. 42 years old. Today I’m at 369 pounds.
[/quote]

You’re making excellent progress, keep up the good work. Everyone overestimates how hard it will be and underestimates how long it will take.

I’ve learned a ton from this site, so much so it actually influenced me to buy their products as well.

This is a great start, in the beginning the absolute most important thing is to get in the gym. Your routine has some room for improvement, but I wouldn’t stress too much about it just yet. Keep trying to lift heavier weights each week. Over time, you’re going to want to transition to more weight lifting and less cardio.

Definitely not optimal, that’s going to hit your insulin level fairly hard, try oatmeal instead.

There are basically ten things you need to do to lose weight.

Diet (quantity, quality, timing, protein, water, supplements, log)
Exercise (weights, cardio)
Tracking

  1. You’re losing weight now, so you’re probably already in a calorie deficit. At some point you’ll have to track this more closely.
  2. Your food quality choices need improvement, focus mostly on avoiding sugar, white flour, corn syrup, potatoes, and unfermented soy. I’d recommend not buying any product that has one of those items in the first three ingredients.
  3. Eat six meals a day, approximately one every three hours
  4. Get more protein, for someone of your size I’d use 1.25 grams per pound of lean body mass.
  5. Drink enough water, 64oz. + 8oz. per 25 lbs overweight is considered the minimum.
  6. For supplements, you’ll want protein powder, creatine, fish oil, multivitamin, and green tea. Other items may or may not be useful, but are mostly optional at this point.
  7. Either use a food log to track everything you eat, or create a meal plan each week and track compliance.
  8. Keep lifting weights, heavier is better, compound movements are better, free weights are better. Check out some of the great routines on this website, preferably by one of the authors that talks about fat loss.
  9. Your cardio is almost too much, you’ll want to scale it back a bit as your weightlifting picks up.
  10. Create yourself a plan or checklist and track how well you’re doing in meeting all your objectives.

blue9steel gave some good advice.

I only want to add that you shouldn’t be afraid to add a 10 minute (or longer) walk before/after breakfast, lunch or dinner. This will do a few things, A) keep you out of the kitchen, B) give you a little extra exercise, C) relieves some stress.

The last one is probably going to be an important one since you are putting yourself through some different types of stress (exercise, lower calories possibl plateaus). Go for a walk, enjoy the fresh air and just let it all go.

Good for you for getting in the gym! Read Berardi’s articles on nutrition - especially the one about the 7 habits. Its a great start. Also, keep a food log on a site like fitday.com. The site is easy to use, free, & it really helps to have hard data when you start seriously tweaking your diet. Don’t skip breakfast, & eat lean protein w/ veggies. Above all, be patient with yourself. You’ll get there. Good luck!

I agree with Arioch with taking walks, especially pre-breakfast. Fish oil also aids in fat loss, so pop a couple of pills and go out for a 20-minute walk every morning or whenever you can.

Other than that, looks like you are heading in the right direction. Good luck with your goals.

Virel, It’s a long road you’re own but it’s well worth it. Make sure you are not alone along the way. Talk to your freind and encourage them to give you there support. if they are not supportive, get new friends.

Make sure your doctor is on board. Many don’t beleive it’s possible to make that big of a change and pay lip service to the lifestyle change that’s required. If you sense that your doctor is not on board, get a new doctor. Make use of this board. There is a lot of good advice and encouragement available here.

There will be plateaus and setbacks along the way so be prepared. This support structure you need to have in place now will carry you through those rough spots.

Stu