Dunno if this is in the right section of the forum, but...

Ok, call me impatient - that's OK - cause I am

I weigh 330 right now, have begun working out and counting calories. But... it's all so confusing.

Here on traineo under "my diet" it says I should eat 3370 calories per day. To me... that seems INSANE, and more or less impossible to lose weight eating so much every day. But... how much should I be eating to melt (yes, melt. I want to lose all the weight YESTERDAY ). Right now I'm eating tons of veggies, very low fat proteins (lots of grilled chicken and fish), 5-6 pieces of fruit per day... and green tea like there's no tomorrow

I also need help with my workout. How many calories should I be burning daily? I burned 400 the other day, is that too little? I do mostly cardio, and am trying to get about an hour in of intense cardio every other day (check out my profile to see my last workout - I'll be updating it again in a few hours after I workout again after work today). I'll set my time up as time goes on, but an hour is about all my fat butt can handle for now. Doing mostly cardio because when I weight train I tend to overdo it, build up a crapload of muscle and gain weight. I know I should be happy for that, but right now I need the scale to show me good numbers so I don't lose my motivation - AGAIN.

Am I doing it all wrong? Should I be doing other exercises to dump the weight?

spyke-i dont know to calculate for you in terms of calories. im sure others out here will reply and help you. but as a far as working out, how do you define intense cardio? after you respond to this question, it will help me answer some questions for you.

Well... remember that for ME, "intense" probably means something else than for others

Basically, intense is there, where I can't have a discussion with anyone while I'm doing it! Heart rate at a constant 155 bpm (more or less), which is a tiny bit over 80% of 220-36, but it's a good rate for me I feel. If I keep my pulse in the "fat burning zone" I feel like I should be doing more!

My last workout on Sunday:
10 min on the eliptical @ 70 rpm (gotta love the podrunner podcast that paces me real nice) - I'm working my way up to more but the other day I just got too breathless the other day.
30 min on the stationary bike @ 90 rpm - good sweaty workout for me, I could easily do more than 30 minutes I think. I don't get as breathless but my heart rate gets up there anyway.
10 minutes on the rowing machine and holy CRAP is that a tough machine - I'm hoping to do more - I can see on the machine that it burns calories faster (about 600 per hour) and I can feel it in all my muscles.

Mathematically the calories that you have been told to consume is about right for weight loss when considering your weight. I can understand how this seems confusing however mathematically you should be consuming over 4000 Cals to maintain that size.

Personally I am not a massive advocate of counting calories. I focus on WHAT I'm eating oppose to how much, and it generally works for me. I fully support your appetite for fruit and veg and you seem to have picked great protein choices. Don't be overtly scared of fats. Naturally, be mindful of the types of fats you eat as trans fats and the likes are never ok, but you do need fats. If you consume less than 10% of calories from fat sources then you are likely to lower your testosterone which is your key to success. You need to fire up your testosterone which will carve through lard like a hot knife through butter.

My one major reservation is your enthusiasm to predominantly do CV. Maybe this is a personal opinion, but I believe by dieting and pounding the treadmill you will compromise your lean mass before you start blubber busting. Yes, weight loss will be from muscle and you may still be fat afterward. Not the way forward. Of course, CV does burn calories but muscle is a use it or lose it commodity, so dust off the cobwebs and fire up the engine. Also, decent servings of protein combined with a lust for heavy weights will get that testosterone going and relight the fire inside thats makes you feel like a man. Testosterone is fats biggest enemy, which is why men naturally have much lower bodyfat percentages than women. Also, you will see results much faster!! I know that is what you are talking about. So if you match the time you spend on the CV kit with good old grind in the free weights room you will get a phenomenal boost to your workout. Thats my humble opinion.

Start pumping, boost testosterone and get back to that 18 year old physique!!

Hmm, LOTS of great ideas there Dean - and it all sounds more than logical - thanks!!



So... freeweights instead of machines? (I don't have a workout partner yet, so spotting is a problem - and I don't feel very comfy asking the gym rats yet - at least until they stop pointing and snickering )

Are there certain exercises that I should be doing more than others? Muscle groups that are more important than others?

Target those larger groups, by doing stuff like squats for eg.

And don't forget Google, one of your most powerful lift enhancers.

If you start on good old dumb-bells you'll be able to spot yourself. Dumb-bells can substitute all of the good exercises including bench press and military press and actually improve your form and technique so are an ideal choice for starting a new routine and getting into the swing of it.

After 6-12 months you'll be confident enough to order people to spot for you or you'll eat them. However, you'll probably feel nice about it and just say please and thank you knowing they want to make the kind of gains you just have. Winners always get respect.

Try to get a good mix of exercises. I prefer power lifting exercises as you get a good workout without loads of pointless exercises. If you do bench press, then your triceps will get a good workout anyway. If you do bent over dumb-bell rows then your bi's will be pumped. After about 9-12 months as you see your body come through slowly you may want to focus more on the arms but initially I wouldn't waste your time. Spend quality time on chest, back and legs. The rest will get results as a by-product. Gyms often have a smith machine where you can safely do a bench press or squat without a gym buddy. If not try and find a good leg press. Squats are an amazing part of the workout so try and find a way to incorporate them. Like I say, ideally you would be able to find a smith machine to get you started. Also, if you can find space do some clean and jerks, with an overhead press, that is a great exercise too.

Again, no need to do loads of little exercises. Concentrate on the ones, where you can use the most weight safely. So one arm curls and tricep kickbacks etc.. are immediately binned. We want results fast, so we'll only do what is going to get us there in a short amount of time. A lot of people take longer to hit goals, not beacause they are not trying or are not dedicated, but because they waste time doing the most useless activities. Make your hour of power count! Which brings me to another tip: Do weight training and CV on separate days, and when weight training concentrate on intensity and be in and out the gym in 45 mins. More than that and your testosterone begins to drop and you are actively burning muscle as fuel. 45 mins gives you enough time to do 3-4 sets of 3-4 exercises. More than enough to feel the burn. I frequently see people trying to cram about 3 sets of 12 different exercises into a workout and get nowhere.

Hope my little rant helps

One of my fave websites to point people to and use myself is caloriesperhour.com. On this website you can calculate how many calories you burn daily based on your weight, gender, height, and daily activities. You can put in anything from sleeping to exercise. The list is very thorough. What I usually do is plug in my laziest day of activities. Then subtract one thousand Cal from how many you burn daily (1,000 is generally accepted as the maximum deficit you should have to lose weight safely). That number is how many Cal you should be consuming daily. Plus there's a lot of other great stuff on that web site too. Hope this helps!

Ok, now I'm beginning to get a good idea of what I should be doing... I love bench presses, and my gym has a great leg press...

Just to confirm - more weight/fewer reps is better than less weight/more reps?


Whassat?

Rachael - thanks for the link - I calculated my last workout just for fun... it told me that I burned 3 TIMES more calories than the machines did - so I think I need to use a little more time to figure out those calculators!!

I'm guessing it would probably be best for you to train bodybuilding style, as ultimately you are looking to see a marked change in appearance. That would suggest 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps, ideally failing on the 8th rep of the last set. (I appreciate this isn't always easy to recreate in the first couple of months, but you get the idea).

The general guidance is 1-6 reps is strength training. (Good for improving raw strength and power and muscle density). 8-12 reps is hypertrophy or bodybuilding. (Designed to grow the muscle and increase its volume). and 12-15 reps is conditioning. (Cutting up existing muscle and building on muscular endurance. Also, used in final stages to shred last stages of fat. I never use this range personally as I find it is more aimed at sports specific performance, though some gyms recommend it as a beginners routine.)

Clean and jerk. I probably used the wrong word actually, it should be simply clean and press. It is a weightlifting technique literally from like how they do weightlifting in the olympics. You pick up a loaded bar-bell from the floor and stand with it at thigh height. Now the movement where you snatch it from the thigh level to shoulder level, I refer to as 'cleaning' the bar. (No nothing similar to housework at all). Then from shoulder level you 'press' the bar overhead, like a standard shoulder/ military press.

Hope that kind of explains it.

Spyke - When I went to another website (don't remember the URL) and calculated how many calories I should be consuming to lose weight, I got around 2600 (that's with a 500 calorie deficit). I found that when I had traineo calculate how many calories I should be consuming for me, I got the same number. Not 100% sure, but I think traineo has it designed that the number of calories it's telling you to consume is with a 500 calorie deficit, so after 7 days, you have a deficit of 3500 and have burned a pound.

Indeed it does -

but one last thing - should I do the 3-4 sets in a row, or rotate the exercises? Or does it make no difference whatsoever?



How much of a deficit is ok? And am I supposed to eat more calories when I exercise or keep it down to the same level?

I've heard that generally you shouldn't have more of a deficit than 1,000 calories in terms of diet.

I generally don't consume more calories when I exercise. The calories you burn during your workout are added to your deficit.

Here's the formula I use:
(Calories consumed) - (BMR) - (Calories Burned from exercise) = Calorie deficit

The BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories you burn just from being alive and doing nothing.




LOL, look at me posting like I actually know what I'm talking about, LMBO!

Good question.

I normally do one exercise at a time, but that is purely because I feel guilty using up all the kit at the same time.

However, if you can make a mini-circuit it will get your heart rate up and save you time. Meaning you will probably burn more fat in less time. Circuits are not as good for building muscle as focusing on one exercise at a time, however it will still increase muscle mass and be better for fat loss so long as you keep up the intensity and maintain your heart rate. If you relax between sets until you fully recover, then they will be about the same in turns of results.

Hope that also makes sense

You should stop worrying so much about making sense - you're doing a bang-up job so far!!


So... Saying I need 4000 calories daily to maintain, with 500 calories burned during a workout I should actually be eating 3500 calories?. Seems hardly possible to lose weight that way - but then again, there's probably something I'm not considering somewhere, it seems like a LOT of food to eat if I'm not eating junk anymore.

Next question (I wonder if I'll ever end up with a "last" question):
How many calories should I be burning during cardio - is 500 good? bad? painfully n00bie?

I imagine it's probably next to impossible to calculate calories burned with weight training...?



p.s. Oh gawd, I just used an online calculator to find my BMR - is 2829.6 possible???

Sorry for all these questions - I'm beginning to realise how much I really DON'T "get" about all this. Another explanation for how I ended up so big...

Wow...I might need to look at my BMR again. When I did it, it was 3150 calories.

If you eat 3500 calories, then burn another 500 from working out, that's a 1000 calorie deficit. You will lose weight. And don't forget that sometimes even when the scale doesn't move, you're making progress. You can burn bodyfat without losing weight (according to the scale).

As far as calories burned during your workout, 500 is good. But my suggestion would be to concentrate more on the intensity then how many calories you burn. And that's hard for me to do, because I'm obsessed with numbers, lol.

Under the workout tab, there's a listing for weight training, so traineo will calculate the number of calories you burned.

That BMR website url, I found it. Check It Out

ok spyke go for it! im not going to give my 2 cents as i value deans advice and he could say much much better anything that i would have said. i wish you luck and keep us posted!!!

Ummmm. I worked out today (just got back actually) and weighed myself again.

GREAT workout - I actually started to enjoy it a LOT

45 min on the bike ("hill" program, great interval training) @ 90 rpm. I wanted to puke sooo bad but DAMN was I happy when I made the 45 minute mark!!!!

½ hour working HARD with the weights - dunno what that means exactly in calories but it was nice to get some weights in - I'm gonna alternate cardio/weights from now on, with a switch every other day. It was fun, and also fun seeing people giving me funny looks the harder I grunted

Then I weighed myself - and the weighed myself again. Then I asked the trainers at the gym if the scale was good. They say it's a professional scale calibrated last week.

Is it possible?? I've lost 7,6 kilos (16.7 lbs)??? Since Saturday?????

I admit, I probably haven't been eating 3500 calories - more like 2500. I've replaced all snacks with apples or carrots (I'm a HUGE sugar/white flour binger), gave up soda for green tea, no more coffee, minimal carbs, lots of dark green veggies... so on the one hand I can understand the drastic loss, on the other hand...

Anything's possible...LOL

I think, but don't quote me, that you can have a dramatic loss like that in the beginning when your body gets that shock of diet and exercise. And they say that the more weight you have to lose, the more you drop in the beginning.

Either way, congrats and enjoy it! Nice work out too!

I thought about that too. Without going into detail since I don't want to embarrass myself COMPLETELY, let's just say that there has been many a moon since my body has seen anything remotely similar to a veggie. Somewhere along the way I found out that carrot CAKE does not count as one either!



That's GREAT to hear you think so - I get worried that I'm patting myself too hard on the back but actually only doing about a fraction of what I SHOULD be doing...

I get jealous when I hear the people on The Biggest Loser get 4 hours with their trainer every day - no wonder they lose so much weight and end up looking so damn hot - and gawd I wish I had 4 hours a day to use in the gym lol

All ya need is one good hour, spent wisely sweating and you'll be where you want to be in good time, Mr. Spyke.

It sounds too simple, but it must be working...

with the HUGE change in my diet (see above) + the 1-1½ hours workout every day with lots and lots of sweat (didn't know it was humanly possible to sweat THAT much!!!), the scale gave me good news AGAIN TODAY

I'm liking this.


p.s. I want to share a little triumph - yesterday at work our cook made cinnamon rolls. TONS of them.

And I walked right by the table with all that cinnamonny goodness and reached for the apples on the other side. I am SOOOO proud

Way to resist temptation Spyke!

I would've had one...or 3

They were fresh out of the oven. A couple weeks ago I would've had 6

I should have had 6 - found out today that I'm VERY far away from eating enough calories

Haha. Really good job on not succumbing to the temptation. If you need to up your calorie intake, don't do it with cinnamon rolls!!

NO to the cinnamon rolls! Then you'll spike your blood sugar and crash, or have to keep eating to keep that sugary energy. I would take some of the suggestions from the other thread about tuna (which is what I eat), hardboiled eggs, or some other type of protein.

Hmm - I might have to make another thread about cinnamon rolls - I LOVE CINNAMON (sorry for shouting, but i love cinnamon THAT much )

ANd the beauty of cinnamon is that it's not only great for you, but can make almost anything it's added to awesome--it need not be a doughy mass either.