The Diet and Exercise Section

Depends. I don't know what his diet and regimen look like entirely, so It's hard to really say where the stall is coming from. Although, you can't shed pounds without having your diet in check first and foremost. The greatest hour of your life in the gym will not save you from 23 hours of poor nutrition. There is no cheating it, no matter what way you slice it.

Being able to closely monitor your intake is the first step in the right direction when all else fails. it's not necessary, but if you're honest with yourself when tracking food, and you understand how to properly fuel your body with micro/macronutrients, losing/gaining weight will be easy.

Most people underestimate how much they consume. Some of the smallest things you wouldn't think of add up.

sorry, forgot to respond. what i posted, is what i have been eating etc. no cheating, no bs, nothing etc (except for a cheat meal on Saturdays for dinner).

ive just hit a wall, possibly with the routine etc. ive mixed up my workouts etc, different exercises etc etc.

went from 263 down to 193/96.. ill take it! ha. i just want to lose another 10 or so..

i feel great, better than i have in 8 to 10 years. awesome feeling!

I've read up on some of your previous posts. It's very impressive how far you've come, so for that I congratulate you.

I hear you on your clean eating diet, but just know dieting gets harder the longer you've been on it and the leaner you become. It's critical to maintain high leptin levels for optimal fat burning. it's quite possible with the diet you are on that you have simply burned through your leptin and it's possibly running on empty. A refeed may in order, which will replenish your leptin supply and boost it's production (until the next reefed).

To refeed, you will need to know what your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is, and you will need to sacrifice one day every 7-10 days (based on body composition/varies) to eating at a maintain calorie level and consuming 100% more carbohydrates while keeping fats/protein at their minimums (.4g/lb for fat; .82g/lb for protein)

The carbs will also give you a much needed energy boost in addition to getting your leptin levels firing again. You can read more about it here if you want to full details on how to do a refeed day:

Layne Norton's Refeeding Advice (scroll down)

I know I sound like a broken record, but you'd really be doing yourself a service to track your calories online if you want to get those last 10 lbs. It's your choice, but it gets incredibly difficult to shed the last lbs of fat when you don't know a) how many daily cals you should be taking it; AND b) how many calories you actually are taking in.

Clean eating or not, calories are calories.

thanks for all the information man. i really appreciate it! i need to def look into getting that stuff, all i know is i cut out the crap, started exercising, watched what i ate, and the pounds just fell off. LOL. now i know i need to look into that a bit more for me to hit the next goal. as i have been just treading water for a few weeks.

No problem.

Don't get frustrated., everyone hits a wall. Knowing how to get over it is 99% of the battle.

Any suggestions on how to get cardio in with a sprained toe ? Also have a half shitty hand with recovering dislocated finger.

On a positive note I've let my handgun get dusty with my recent bad luck & injury proneness lol

Off of the top of my head:

Swimming
Stationary Bike
Rowing Machine (Low resistance)
Punching Bag
Medicine ball Circuits

Well I can't swim lol
I can't make a great fist with one hand as I have a finger recovering from injury


I did however find the rower helpful , but also much more exhausting than I imagined.

So new question , how the hell can you gain a lot of strength in the big 3 lifts if you've lost it all over the last 16 years?

I was never powerful but I was able to at least squat & dead lift 300+ in my youth. I needed to move somebody's 145lb dead lift shit that was in my way and straight struggled lol , I was stunned.

Guess that's what 10 years of office work and golf as only exercise will get you. Who has A-Rod's trainer on speed dial ?

I have to do a 7 day tracking for my fitness class and we have to use this site. www.supertracker.usda.gov . It's an awesome site and it tracks EVERYTHING and gives you a break down of your surpluses and deficits, on both exercise and diet.

I'm only on day 2 of 7 and its pretty eye opening.

It usually is. First time I made a go at tracking my workouts and food, I was stunned at what I thought I was eating/burning vs the reality of it.

Would it be fair to assume that you've earned some form of Phd in nutrition? Or you're atleast well versed and employed within the field? Youre knowledge is quite extensive. I've never even heard of the 'leptin'.

Tell me about it. When I imputed the alcohol I was like... ohhhhhhhh thats where all my calories are!

Dam, I'm in trouble. Not that i drink that much, but i like the social pint here and there.

A social pint is perfectly fine. Just don't go binging if you have goals of weight loss, and limit the number of days you consume alcohol. Weight loss and boozing do not go hand in hand, but in moderation you are fine.

I find hard liquor is better on a diet than beer. About 100 less calories and no carbs (just sugar)

No Sir, but thank you for the compliment. But it would be an insult to anyone with a PhD to lump me in with them after all the hard work they put into their field.

Nutrition/Fitness is just a big passion of mine. I'm by no means a "qualified expert," but I know a thing or two about this field and I have no problem helping anyone out that wants a little bit of direction.

ChaoticUT Is there an app version of this site, or would somthing like 'My Fitness Pal' be the closest thing? Looks great, thanks for sharing.

I don't think there is an app and I don't know if I would use it long term-- not that user friendly. But the reports it gives are the most detailed I've found. Would be perfect for a short term, but I'm sure there are more accessible app/programs that aren't so in depth but still accomplish a similar goal.

SparkPeople is a great site. Is very user-friendly, customizable, and has an iPhone app as well (I think it's $2.99 for the app)

O.K, so i won't lie. I need some help.

I'd like to start my Journey on Monday morning. I have about an hour to spare in the mornings before leaving for work. (sacrificing my usual routine of playing Fifa for an hour)
I have no equipment at the moment but i'm saving for some Powerblocks.

Ideally, i'd like to get some recommendations for a good workout DVD that an out of shape, 226lb, 5'11" 38yr old can handle. lol

Also ( klaximilian , I'll tag you for this part ) I'd like to develop a daily meal plan of what things i ought to be eating. Just want to start off with regular groceries for now rather than getting into hard core supplements and such. I could possibly handle the cost of some whey powder and such.

I work in a Grocery warehouse in the Freezer department where i'm mainly an order selecter (a.k.a I pick boxes all day, Turkey season right now with the odd box weighing up to 80lbs) so i figure that i'd burn a significant amount of calories doing that. Would an HRM/Calorie counter Watch be a good idea? I've read that the Polar FT7's are a good entry level one.

So, in a nutshell...

1) Good Body Weight Workout DVD for a begginer
2) A meal plan.

This post is probably very vague so feel free to ad any info.

Thanks.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that i have weak shoulders due to multiple dislocations on both sides. I can work with them fine, but just have to watch it.

If you want a calorie counter, there's an app called MyFitnessPal which works pretty dam good. It has basically every food, and even a barcode scanner, built into it. It calculates your daily intake of sugars, carbs, etc., etc. I would check that out before buying anything. It's free, it's at least worth a shot! Lol. Good luck.

I have that app and actally mentioned it a couple replies above. thx for looking out though; and i suppose the point here is that there's not real plus to getting one?

Not sure, I've never had one. Apps seemed to always keep me in check, when I want to be. Lol.

Aside from your job, do you have any other times in your week where you're up and moving? Walking the dogs, jogging, bikes rides, etc?

And what does your typical weekly menu look like?

I think these two questions will give a little more perspective on your situation and what might work best specifically for you.

Well, you wouldn't want to know. lol

A typical day would be...
Breakfast 4:30 am: Two packs of Maple & Brown Sugar Quaker Oatmeal

Break at work 9:30am: A twin pack of Raisin butter tarts (totalling a whopping 640 calories alone, not to mention the sugar and sodium quantities) and bottled water w/water enhancher

Lunch 12pm: Anything from Pizza, Burger, Bacon sarny, whatever i could grab from the fridge.

Home 3:30 pm: Grab wahtever, usually a granola bar, chocolate bar or Ice Cream. Basically anything unhealthy that was lying around.

Dinner approx 6pm: Chicken Alfredo, Pizza, Burgers & Fries, Lasagna, Jerk Chicken w/Rice & Peas (Kidney Beans) .....all in big portions; gut bursting big portions.

Between dinner and bed (anywhere from 9:30 - 10:30pm) there was the usual snacking on items such as Honey roasted peanuts, Ice cream cones, Cookies galore (would polish off a bag of Chips ahoy within 2 days) or any random selection of chocolate bars (twix, Cadbury fruit & nut, snickers etc etc)

This was a daily routine, especially the raisin butter tarts. Been eating those every work day for years. disgusting really. Self inflicted abuse.

Since then....

Last Sunday i got up and weighed myself: 226 lbs which is unbelievable considering what i'd eat. If it weren't for the physical demands of my job, i'd certainly be a lot worse off.

Started exercising with the (N)ike + (K)inect (T)raining game. Chose the 'Get Lean' option and 5 days a week

Changed the eating habits so that a typical day so far looks like this.

- Just after waking up at 4am: Slice of toasted Weight watchers multigrain bread, 1 boiled egg, and about a tsp of miracle whip. Bottle of water.

- About 4:45am: 25 minute excercise routine with NKT

- 5:30am: another slice of toasted W.W multigrain bread with about a 1/4 cup of canned Salmon

- Break 9:30am: Banana and a Fibre 1 Choc & Oats bar

- Lunch 12pm: Pita bread w/ Lettuce, combo of canned Salmon or Tuna with a cut up boiled egg, Honey Almond slivers, about a tsp of Epicure selections Honey Mustard and a tbsp of Calorie wise Miracle Whip.

Get home 3:45 ish: 1/2 cup of 1% Nordica Cottage Cheese with a combination of Rasberries, Blueberries, Papya, Strawberries

Dinner approx 6pm: maybe a Grilled Chicken Salad with a little Caesar dressing, Honey almond slivers and sprinkle of bacon bits.

Friday night I got back into playing pick up soccer after a number of lazy years. 1 & 1/2 hours and it was great fun, but i paid dearly for it. Cramped up in the hamstrings calves and groin area. WOW. I could barely do a Quad stretch because my Hamstring would cramp. Was not nice at all. I think I was low on carbs before playing.

While my eating habits still allow room for improvement, I do feel that they are a hell of a lot better. I will continue to do my exercises 5 days a week and playing pick up soccer at least twice a week.

As i said in the beginning of this long and boring post (lol) I weighed myself last Sunday morning and was at 226lbs before eating anything.

This Sunday morning, I had a couple of fried egg sandwiches using a quick spray of Canola oil. Weighed myself after and was at 222.2lbs

I'm guessing that the 4lb loss within just 1 week is more down to how poorly i used to eat, rather than the fact that i've changed my habits and started exercising.

All that said, I'm motivated to keep going now and this thread plays a BIG part. So please don't stop posting.

The eating habit switch is awesome! It's soooo much easier not to consume those extra couple hundred calories then to burn them. Seems like your on the right track for sure. Eating more lean protein and less processed food. Not gorging on all that junk food and limiting portion sizes. And getting back into exercising.... so what do you need help with?! haha