Health Challenge Update Thread

[joel]

I thought we could keep each other udpated on our progress so that we can help motivate each other and keep ourselves accoutable.

[joel]

I weighed in at 189pds last night.

Although I probably am back to 190 this morning. Just too hard to resist that bag of popcorn at the theatres.

I am trying to up my 4-5days a week to 6-7 with an aerobic - mostly weightless regiment on the weekends. Let me know if any of you start some swimming or other activities.

[supersuk]

If anyone wants some advice or a plan of some sorts, I can help. I've spent a huge amount of time reading up on diet, nutrition and exercises in the last 2-3 years.

Results guaranteed, up to you to stick with it.

[joel]

ok Keian give me a plan. If i don't get results I will blame you though.

[supersuk]

only if you stick with it.

I'll need to know, how much do you weight, whats your body fat % at, how often do you exercise, what your is your current diet like and what kind of workouts/exercises do you do.

[joel]

weight 189-190pds
body fat %: 20.9% (39 pds)
was excercising 4-5 days a week (45 minutes stationary bike cardio 155bpm, followed by about 30 minutes of targeted muscle groups, full rotation takes about a week, mostly weights i do about 3 sets of 12 with as much weight as I can manage for that quantity, throw in some lunges, russian twists and crunches too.)
started doing some aerobic excercise on the weekend, including targetted crunches and pushups.

Current Diet:
Roughly 600-700 cal at breakfast/lunch (yogurt, sandwich, banana)
Roughly 1300-1400 cal dinner/dessert/snacks (varies)
started drinking green tea every other day for some caffeine supplement now.

[joel]

note my knees cannot do any medium to heavy impact excercises, like jogging/running or even weighted squats.

[supersuk]

the 600-700 cal is for breakfast and lunch combined?
or
600-700 for breakfast
and 600-700 for lunch

[joel]

combined... i usually have my yogurt when i get to work around 930-10:00 start my sandwich around 11ish, start the banana around 1p. try to eat it all slow like.

[supersuk]

Anyways, based on your numbers.

your lean body mass is somewhere around 150 lbs.

your BMR, basal metabolic rate based on Lean body mass is somewhere around 1675 calories.

Now we multiply based on how active you are, you seem to be moderately exercising 3-5 days a week. we multiply by 1.55
So you're estimated to burn off roughly 2600 calories a day. (this is not totally accurate but it gives us a good estimate to start with)

Say you want to lose about 1lb of fat a week, we need to create a deficit of 3500 calories a week or 500 calories per day. (about 3500 calories in one lb of fat) You'll want to eat about 2100 calories per day.

Weigh yourself maybe every week or two and check results. Reduce calories OR increase calorie expenditure(working out) till desired weight loss is achieved. Remember, if you reduce your carb intake, your body will retain less water, its very common for people to lose extra weight on the first few weeks of their new diet thinking they're losing a lot of fat when in actuality it’s just water weight. Of course a larger deficit means you'll lose weight faster, at a risk of losing muscle, getting hungry and lacking energy.

Of course people burn calories differently, some have a faster metabolism, some slower and its very easy to over/under estimate the calories in what you eat. We'll start you off with a 500 calories per week deficit, and you should lose about 1lb of fat per week. Some people make a huge fuss about proportions of what they eat (ratio of fat/carbs/protein), but its really not all that important as long as you eat a balanced diet through out the day. Of course eating foods higher in fiber, nutrient dense and etc will keep you full for longer and be better for your overall system, but you have the will power you can theoretically starve yourself all day and eat just one meal (you might develop other problems by doing this though).

Continue lifting weights to maintain muscle mass and burn calories.

Now if you want a stricter bodybuilding diet plan, you can try eating things with lean protein(chicken breast, tuna, egg whites), complex carbs (oatmeal), healthy fats (fish oils, nuts) and nutritious filler (broccoli, carrots, other icky greens)

For a while this was my diet:

Breakfast - 2 servings of plain oatmeal, protein shake (or you can substitute with 3-4 egg whites) - about 300-400 calories
Snack - Banana - 100 calories
Lunch - 2 small servings of flavored Canned Tuna (usually on a whole wheat bread) OR boiled Chicken breast, and vegetable soup - 350-500 calories
Snack - handful of nuts - 100-200 calories
Diner - whatever my mom makes me for diner, but I mostly eat the meats, vegetables and less rice - 800 calories?
Snack - bowl of cottage cheese mixed with yoghurt - 200 calories

That’s somewhere between 1850 calories and 2200 calories. Remember to pop a multivitamin if you're not eating a balanced diet, get sick less, metabolize fat better..

cliffs
- Eat about 500 calories less than what your body needs per day to lose 1lbs per week. Yours is estimated at 2600, so you'd want eat about 2100
- Adjust by reducing your calories or increasing your work out till desired weight loss rate is achieved. Sum of fat gained/loss = Calories eaten - calories spent
- You'll probably lose more weight in the first few weeks of a new diet, likely just water weight.
- Work out to keep muscle and increase calories spent
- Lift heavy and pop a multivitamin

[joel]

that plans not really different then what i'm already doing ~ 2000 cals a day with my current excercise regiment.

Thumbs down.

[supersuk]

[joel]

just used one of those online calorie calculator thingys.. and read a bit about it.

[se7entse7en]

Here are some tips that I picked up from when I lifted weights more often:

Do what ever's most important to you... first. If you want to lose weight, start with cardio. If you want to gain muscle, start with weights. If you want hooge legs, start with squats/deadlifts.

There's no such thing as spot reduction. If you want to lose weight around your gut... exercise your whole body. Want to lose your double chin? Excersise your whole body. Avoid the foo-foo isolation exercises... or at least, do them last. ie. wrist curls, bicep curls, tricep extensions, flys, etc. Stick to the big muscle groups (chest, back, legs) and avoid the machines like Smithmachine, pec-dec, leg extensions machine, etc. Machines, though they seem safer for you, actually are not as they force your body to conform to their strict movements. We do not move in perfectly straight lines. Also, machines add in too much stability. This may mean we can push more weight on them, but when we get to real-life, we end up pulling our stabilizing muscles.

Compound movements are key. Benchpress, squats (@$$-to-the-grass), bentover rows, and deadlifts. Deadlifts will work out virtually every muscle in your body. Quads, calves, hams, glutes, most of your back, traps, forearms... the list goes on and on. Regarding deadlifts, I found it helpful (form-wise) to focus more on driving the hips forward and less on trying to lift the weight.

Low and high pulley cable rows/pulls are ok. I would not consider low/high cable pulls to be 'machines' as they do not restrict your movements. If done correctly, many people with bad knees can still do squats (and some claim that doing them actually helps their knees... just make sure your knees never extend past your toes) but I don't know your situation... only you do. It's your call.

Eat many, but small meals throughout the day. Try to eat something every couple of hours... just don't try and eat a huge plate of pasta every time. An apple here, a handful of nuts there... etc. In other words, graze.

[se7entse7en]

Oh, and I'm sure you know already, but I'll add anyway for the sake of your wives.
Lift heavy. If Ryan can lift it, you're definitely not going to get a good workout with it.