Hey everyone. Im the new guy. My goal is to drop some of this fat (35lbs) and to reveal some of this muscle ive built up.

Ive done diet plans and worked with trainers in the past, but essentially I want to forget all of that and start fresh. New diet, new workout routine, etc.

So any tips you have would be appreciated.

I am a big dude, Im 6'4" and depending on the scale, anywhere from 285 - 290#.

I work in sales, so my schedule during the day is very unorthodox, which makes it hard to pin down meal times.

Right now, I work out 2-3 times a week, lifting, doing mostly low reps, high weights. Usually I do lower one day, upper another day, and usually some sort of cardio on the 3rd (my current choice for that is racquetball).

Let me know what has worked for you, and what you might think will work for me.

Sorry if you guys get a lof of these posts...Im just sick of being the fat kid haha.

WELCOME BRO!!! GLAD TO HAVE YA!!

Tricia

Sounds like you have the muscle already -- have you tried HIIT yet?

I'm being a bit hypocritical here, because I haven't seriously tried HIIT yet -- I prefer my running. But I lifted weights for a number of years, and you really need a strict cardio routine (that you can control and progressively increase intensity/duration) to shave the fat off.

Welcome aboard!

Ii started 6'6" 305 so i know where are coming from...but since you want to start from scratch start by stop making excuses.

You have an odd schedule, i understand that, but that doesn't mean you can't prepare for how you need to eat to lose the weight. You probably want to eat every 3 hours, and you need to make it a priority. If you put everything else before your eating habits and your fitness goals, you'll never achieve them. make your eating habits priority and plan for the day/week/month whatever works for you.

Get to the gym twice what you do now. 4 - 6 days would be better. Lift and run on same day too, no problems there. Keep in mind that you won't build any muscle if you are eating to lose weight. Eating less than maintenance will not allow your body to add mass of any kind. So you're a big guy you're eating 2000 calories a day to lose weight. Keep exercising, be strict on your diet, and you will achieve your goals.

Make it a priority.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Hi and welcome (I'm new too).

You might want to try the Johnson up day down day diet - there's a thread about it.

hm I wouldn't suggest that diet unless you could really comit to it, and it seems a bit sketchy... and if you really don't stick to it or when you're done, you're most likely to going back to the bad eating habits and gaining more weight back!

plus I love eating (not so much what I'm eating as more the fact that I'm munching on stuff) so that would NOT be the diet for moi

Welcome AJ

First of all make sure you pack healthy snacks for work so your not grabbing one of those big fat donuts sitting in the staff lounge. You need to prepare yourself for the day. Did you ever think about looking into Weight watchers, it's really easy to follow and you don't strave yourself. I have managed to lose 35 pounds on it. Good luck!

Hi, and welcome!

The advice about having 6 or so meals works well for odd schedules because you don't need to take 30mins out to eat. 6 smaller meals are more 'snack sized' and can often ( with a bit of creativity ) be the type of thing you can eat on the run.



Nathan, I know you meant well by this post, but please try remember that personal constraints are not always 'excuses'. I know a number of sales people whose sales negotiations last 4-6hours at a stretch so regular 3 hour eating is sometimes impossible. If you live life by other people's schedules ( as sales people often do ) planning to eat at 9, 12 and 3 every day is a fantasy.

The goal here is to find a method that meshes with one's life as smoothly as possible. There is a solution for everyone, but that might not be the same for everyone - or the most perfect.

I'm not a sales people but I deal with sales people, they don't want to be in a meeting or sales pitch for more than 3 hours, i don't want them there that long either.

A.J., do you consistently (let's say more than once a week) have meetings and things that last longer than three hours?

If you do you have to plan your meals to contain long digesting protein and carbohydrates. Oats, regular old-fashioned stone gorund oats (only ingredient should be Whole Grain oats) are slow digesting carb, great carb, arguably the best carb for this. Secondly, casein protein, takes 2-7 hours for it to process completely (cottage cheese, or a casein protein supplement powder). These two things will get you through a 4 hour or longer meeting. There you go, you still don't need excuses.

Like I said before and I say it to people who ask me here at work and family members, how important is the weight loss? Do you WANT to stop eating 'this' or 'that?' Do you REALLY WANT to? It's up to you. If it is that important you'll do what you need to do to accomplish your goals. I'm not saying you don't have a hectic schedule, I honestly don't know what it looks like. But, playing the odds, there are few people who really have consistent 6 hour meetings.

Also, if you have a 6 hour meeting, tell your client up front, "hey this is going to be a long one, do you mind if I bring a fruit tray?" I've had sales people bring us shit all the time, that person you are selling to doens't want to sit there for 6 hours either.

Chereen, what the hell are these people selling that takes so long? We have contract payment negotiations with our Local County Board of Mental Retardation (we run group homes) that don't take 6 hours?

Well, the people I know do large-group benefits ( pensions, group life, medical ). Takes a hellish long time to get through all the fine print and legal rubbish. I'm very grateful I don't do it.

The other thing I mentioned was the 'regular' meals ( also a problem for those in sales ). The chances you are free to eat at 9 every day is unlikely - usually you are free at 8 one day, 11 the next. Most sales people have to work their meetings around what other people find conveinient ( and put their own needs aside ).

I agree that it is very likely that AJ doesn't work in a sales environment where meetings are very long ( I'm aware these cases are rare ). The 'regular' meals issue is far more likely to be a concern. I was simply trying to illustrate that some people do have legitimate constraints and it is unfair to tell them that the way they go about life is somehow 'wrong'. I prefer looking for solutions that fit the lifestyle as opposed to changing the lifestyle to suit the solution. I just feel it creates a more workable solution - maybe I am wrong.

He knows let's say 90% of the time when all of his meetings are going to be. He can PLAN. I'm not saying his scheudle will be the same everyday, I'm saying if he really wants it, he'll plan accordingly. And he'll eat when he can, work meals in when he's driving, etc.

You work 8-10 hour days let's say, so you eat before you leave, let's say 7am, and you know you should eat again between 9 and 11a, somewhere in there. That's a pretty good bet you can get 10 minutes to throw some oats and eggs in your mouth.

And then again between 11 and 1p (depending on the prvious meal), and then again between 1 and 5p (depending again on the previsous meal).

If you start work at 8am, you're off at 4 or 6p, eat a big breakfast, and plan accordingly around your lifestyle, I'm not telling him to change his work schedule, I'm suggesting planning around it.

I never said what he does is wrong, I only suggested that he plan his eating around his work schedule. But, on the contrary, why not change your schedule? If A.J. makes his own appointments, he can schedule them far enough apart that gives him ample time to "get his snack on." There are too many options for the blanket "I-have-a-hectic-schedule-I-don't-have-time-to-eat " excuse. Sorry A.J., not being rude, I just calls 'em likes I sees 'em.

You are right, of course. That's how most of us who eat on the as-close-to-every-three-hours-as-you-can-get way. I concede that many people do use "I'm too busy to eat properly / exercise" as an excuse.

So back to my first post: small meals are easier to eat on the run ( when you can ) and some creative planning can help a lot to make the change easy

Definitely!

AJ.... I think that if you added in a cardio workout every other day...that would help considerably (along with some dietary suggestions made earlier) You'll be able to tell after just a few weeks if it is working for you not.

Good info from everyone.

Regarding my schedule - I used to be able to book around eating times etc, or at least get close to it. My meetings last anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 hours, its sales, so depending on what the scenario is, its quite unpredictable. On top of that, I now have another company that is booking appoinments for me, and they book them and then send me the notification, often times 2 horus before the appointment is scheduled.

Im just going to invest in a small cooler and some ice packs, and deal with it.

My daily schedule looks like this:

6:00am - wake up /three s'/ eat something
7:00am-8:15am - driving to the office
8:15-10:30 - doing prep work for the rest of the day
10:30 - 5:00 - on the road/appointments/etc
5:00-6:15 - commute home
6:30 - 7:30 - Work out
8:00 - 10:00 - relax!
10:00-12:00 - bed time

There are plenty of ways for me to do this. My schedule isnt an excuse not to eat, it was more of a way of saying - I am not in a position to prepare a meal or have something complicated to eat, cause often times Im eating while driving. If that makes sense.

Here is what I had in mind:

* Six days in strict with 1 "cheat" day per week.
* Cardio-Training 30 minutes before anything.
* workout 1 hour a day---1 gallon of water a day.

Meals:
Breakfast
* Oatmeal (1 cup)
* 1 tablespoon peanut butter
* 2 raw eggs
* or: 4 scrambled eggs (2 yolks)

10:30 am (1/2 meal)
* 3 oz grilled chicken
* 1/2 cup brown rice

12:30 pm Lunch
* 1 chicken breast
* 1 piece wheat bread
* 1/2 cup brown rice

2:30 pm (1/2 meal)
* protein shake
* 5:00pm (1/2 meal)
* 3oz tuna or white chunk chicken

7:00 pm Dinner
* 2 chicken breast
* 1 piece wheat bread
* 3oz brown pasta


I lifted that from bodybuilding.com, and I need to adjust it to reflect my base coloric needs and such, but I think that is probably pretty damn close.

For my work outs, I am going to do 30min (minimum) cardio per day, first thing when I wake up, or directly after my weight workout.

This is one thing I was wondering.
Some people say that cardio is better for losing fat, then other say weighttraining. I figure a combination of both is definitely neccesary, but where should the emphasis lie?

Weight lifting keeps the metabolism going longer though. But then, what kind of a routine would be best? Shaping? Or? I dont know.

That's good make sure you get some veggies in there too. repllace some of the carbs in the late morning and early after noon with veggies, get your crabs before and after your workouts.

Do both, cardio and weightlifting. why not.

Start you lifting with something basic. how experienced of a lifter are you?
A good full body program:

Pick 4:
Chest: Incline, decline, or flat, BB or DB presses
Back: Pulls ups, Pull downs, seated rows
Shoulders; BB or DB Military press (in front or behind head)
Quads: front/back squat
Lower Back/hips/hams: traditional/sumo deadlift, good mornings

Pick 2:
Bicep: hammer/preacher/BB curls
Triceps: DB or BB extensions, or pressdowns
Delts: front/side/back raises
Hams: leg curls
Calves: any calf raises

Do three days a week (MWF) or every other day (M W F Su T Th Sa M...)
rotate 3 sets of 5, 3 sets of 8, and 3 sets of 15,

So example workout:

Monday (60 secs rest in between sets)
Flat BB Bench Press 3 x 5
Lat Pulldowns 3 x 5
Back Squat 3 x 5
Traditional Deadlift 3 x 5
Side shoulder Raises 3 x 5
Calf Raises 3 x 5

Wednesday 3 x 8 (90 secs rest)

Friday 3 x 15 (120 secs rest) (will take a little longer)

keep it varied, don't let the body catch on, don't always start with your pressing exercise or don't always start with squats. You can do the same workout all three days, or switch it up as much as you want. Do't do 1 exercise for longer than two weeks in a row (except deadlifts and squats, but keep changing the type of squat and dead)

Keep it intense and you'll be fine. The other thing that makes it faster is to circuit the antagonistic exercises (Bench press, Pull down, rest, bench press, pull down, rest, etc.) That way you don't rest as much. but, don't do that everytime you have to keep the body out of a routine. This is hypothesized to burn more calories because it works more muscles out. It is higher frequency too, as long as you keep the exercises changing you won't overtrain, you would really have to eat bad and not rest and lift really hard to overtrain, so just train hard and eat right and get enough sleep, you'll be fine.

my advice... take 15 bucks and buy the abs diet book by men health mag editor david zinczenko. it will change your life. it's changed mine!
I'm not a diet thumper type of person,but I will say is that it will change your mind set and when you read it you will be noddling your head agreeing with what the author is talking about. it's not a diet and it just makes good health sense. you'll see.
good luck with your choice. making the decision to start is half the battle to acheiving your goals!