IMHO



You should adjust your goal. If you want to stay away from steriods you are not likely to get to 235 lbs. with a decent bodyfat percentage. Unless you are 6'6".



Adding 10 pounds of muscle while maintaining your bodyfat % over the next six months. That's a much better goal and a good starting point.



How to do that is the real question.

1. Diet- It's probally going to take you a few cycles of overfeeding and cutting back to shed the added bodyfat.

2. Lift HEAVY using as many compound exercises as possible. 3 Sets (10 reps. 8 reps. 6 reps). Two exercises per body part done once a week (Google 4 day split)

3. Don't waste money on supplements. Lift EAT rest and repeat.



Good luck

Your dog looks like it needs a long walk everyday! Get some poop bags and get to it!



Good Luck

500 calories at 6 pm are the same as 500 calories at midnight. As far as working out, some people have trouble sleeping soon after a work out. If you are getting enough sleep and this eatting/workout schedule works for you, You have a good plan.



Just my two cents

My energy levels don't seem to be affected by down days. Yesterday for example I went for a 35 min. swim first thing in the morning. I worked all day. Came home and walked the dogs and then went to the batting cage with my little league team. All that on less than 600 calories and I'm about 197 lbs. I have standardized my down day also but it's not as healthy as yours. I don't eat anything until 2:00. At 2:00 I have a banana. I don't eat agian until 8:00 pm. At 8:00 I have two scrambled eggs, two whole wheat waffles, two pieces of bacon and sugar free syrup. I probally drink 4 or 5 diet cokes during the day and maybe 4 bottles of water.



To answer your question- Sure it will work. You have plenty of stored energy to carry you through your down days with no problems. My biggest tip is to stay as busy as you can to keep your hungry brain occupied.



Good Luck

You knocked out day one. Thats the toughest day. All you have to do now is keep moving forward.



Keep up the good work!

Smart husband! Good answer!

It's important to buy the shoes that are designed for what you need. I run in the Gel Nimbus because it's a very good cushioning shoe. Although the shoes you mentioned are more expensive they are more geared to wards stabilization. A move up in price doesn't necessarily get you what you need. If you have found a shoe that you can run on without pain buy those don't switch just replace them when they wear out.

Hey RTW I saw that your goal weight was 164. That seems pretty low unless you are really short. Anyway welcome! My advice to you and everyone else trying to lose fat is to journal your calories. It's a pain to do but the time spent doing this is the most valuable time you will spend attaining your goal. It's all about what you eat and the numbers don't lie.

It is important to have a good recovery drink after your resistance workouts. Two scoops of protein powder mixed with some Gatorade as soon as you can after you lift. Other than that most of what you spend on supplements will do nothing more than create expensive urine. I wish I had all the money I have spent on the latest greatest pills and powders. The truth is, a good diet a basic free weight lifting program and some moderate amount of carido will get you the results you want with or without spending hundreds of dollars on supplements.



IMHO

Asics Gel-Nimbus works for me and I also have high arches and need lots of cushioning. I just bought a pair of last years model(#9s) for about $90 at Sports Authority but the new model is out (#10s) if you want the newest that are available. I think the brand new model was $110. You might have to experiment a little to see which shoe is best for you but try these they are great.

On a scale of 1 to 10 my PF was about a 6. I could still run and I didn't have the extreme pain in the mornings I've herd about. I'd say it took me a couple of months before it cleared up. I felt it coming on at first, my feet just didn't feel right. I wish at the time I would have known what it was and how to treat it. If you press your finger on your arch near your heel and it hurts like crap that's PF. Start icing and anti inflaming!

Listen to Rachael she knows her stuff. She will have you slimmed down and doing Triathlons by next year.

I had PF last year and it turned out to be caused by running with worn out shoes on concrete and asphalt. First things first get some new shoes. I needed a cushioning shoe because of my running style and lack of flexibility. I have had good luck with Asics Gel Nimbus 9s. I just bought a pair today as a matter of fact. $89 at Sports Authority. The two other things that helped me get rid of PF were Ibuprofen 2400 mil. per day and rolling my feet over frozen water bottles. Go crazy with the water bottles every chance you get. Straight out of the freezer one under each foot and roll them back and forth. They are cooold at first but cold is good. I never herd the don't do squats thing before but if the squats bother your feet take a bit of time off. The pounding of the feet is what causes the inflammation so give your feet a break from pounding for a couple of weeks.

Myfooddiary.com is a super site for keeping track. $9 a month.

Count your calories. I know it's a pain in the ___ but if you want to lose weight you have to know how many calories you are taking in and how many calories you are burning. It's sort of like a bank account if you have no idea what's going in and what's coming out your balance is always just a guess.



Weightloss is all about the numbers!

Forget about the 3200 to 3500 numbers. I'm 5'11 and about 200 lbs. and if I take in 3000+ calories per day I will gain fat it's just too many calories for me. I also share your goal of 180 to 185 lbs. I wish that I could eat as clean as the example you listed. I find that I can lose about 1.5 to 2 pounds a week if I keep my net calories to about the 2000 range. What I do is keep track of all the calories I take in and the I subtract the amount of calories I burned with my workouts. For example Saturday I ate 2650 calories and my workout burned 475 calories to give me a net of 2175. That's a little high but not bad for a Saturday. I try to get a weekly net average of 2000 per day. If I can do that I will lose , thats my magic number. Three days of resistance training and three days of carido per week is a great schedule to follow. Lift heavy 3 sets (10,8,6 reps.) each muscle group once a week. Keep your lifting sessions to an hour or less. Push yourself a little during your carido sessions keep that heartrate up but be careful not to hurt yourself. An important time to add calories is after you lift. Make sure you are getting in some protein after those resistance workouts. My super food is the Power Sandwich. One can of tuna one can of salmon and one can of chicken mixed with mayo and dijonaise. I use 2/3 cup of this mixture on two pieces of whole wheat potato bread. This fat sandwich has about 30 grams of protein and around 400 calories depending on how much mayo you use. You could add another egg to your breakfast and add some type of protein to the apple you have as a snack and maybe a Power Sandwich.



Good Luck and let us know about your progress and what works for you.

Saturday morning on the last 8 minutes of my run my Ipod ran out of power and all I could hear was myself panting like I was about to die. Then you popped into my head. Your situation made me realize how easy things are for me and how it is important not to waste time and how everyday is a gift.



Keep setting goals and moving towards them. However small the goal and however slow the progress.



Thanks for helping me.

Diet-- it's almost always about diet



but forget about that for a minute and take time to congratulate yourself on quitting smoking.



You have added years of healthly living to your life and you should be very proud of yourself.

80% diet

10% cardio

10% weights

Hello Megan



When I first started posting comments on forums everyone told me to stop yelling. It took me quit a while to figure out what they were talking about. When you type in all caps that indicates that you are yelling the words you type. Maybe you already knew that and you intended to yell to let us know how excited you are but if you didn't take the caps lock off. The folks on this site are very friendly and knowledgeable. We will be glad to answer your questions but we need more info.



1. What are your stats? height,weight, age, workout routine, diet



2. What are your goals?



Please ask us some questions we like to help.

A couple more favorites



No One to Depend On Santana

Thrills Cake

Psycho Puddle of Mudd

Video(Main) Indai.Arie

With My Own Two Hands Ben Harper

Children of the Sun Billy Thorpe



What's on you playlist?

I did some JUDDing while training for Sprint distance Triathlons it's no problem. If you are going to be doing workouts that are over an hour in duration you may need to fuel up before them. I like to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich about 90 minutes before I start with my brick workouts. A brick is when you combine two exercises like swim and bike or bike and run. You will most likely only need around 300 calories pre-workout to keep you feeling strong. What I did was count the calories burned to-wards my calories for the day. If you want a 500 calorie down day and you burn 500 calories with your workout you get to eat 500 extra calories. I would still count that as a 500 calorie down day. It is important to have some protein and simple carbs after your resistance workouts. I drink protein powder mixed with Gatorade after I lift weights for instance. The calories burned are about equal to the calories in the shake but that's o.k. with me I need those calorie to build muscle.



This is probably more info than you wanted but Suesue T's last sentence sums it up nicely.

If you take a look at the Runner's Group there is a thread called I need some new tunes. I have listed some of my songs and a few others have done the same. Be sure to give us some of your favorites.



Good Luck

It's a crockpot not a microwave.



Quote provided by Stacy F.

It is absolutely possible for you to be under 200 lbs. by Christmas.



It is also possible to be about 160 lbs. by summer 2009.



If you lose the fat at this pace you will probally be thin/medium the rest of your life.



Your daughter will not even be able to recognize the Sam that once was. You will have to show her pictures and explain that you used to look different before you decided to get healthy.



It's a crockpot not a microwave.

I think that I have IT Band Tendinitis. The pain is on the outside of my left knee. It's just a nagging pain. It does seem to get a little better when I stay off it for a while. I haven't run for about a week and I was planning on starting back on Saturday. Then tonight on my one mile dog walk my knee began to bother me. I did stretch my legs today after a upper body resistance workout. Has anyone found that stretching irritates this type of injury? I began to notice this problem about 10 weeks ago when I got my new Brooks R7 shoes. Has anyone had problems with these shoes? Any words of advice would be appreciated. I want to get back to training ASAP.

Thanks for the tunes Erin



Ball and Biscuit The White Stripes

More human than human White Zombie

In da Club 50 Cent

7 Prince

Roxanne ...All This Time(live) Sting

Treadmill Training Hill Repeats 1 Nike **This is great***

How fat you are is a result of how many calories you eat and how many calories you burn. Diet is 80% of the fat loss equation. If you don't control your diet you will remain overweight. You cannot compensate for a poor diet with exercise. The numbers don't add up.

GREAT JOB! What is your diet like?

Thanks Wendy and Mike



Stupify Disturbed

Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand

Brain Stew reen Day

Closer Nine Inch Nails

Click Click Boom Saliva

Name ofthe Game Crystal Method

London Bridge Fergie

30 Days in the Hole Humble Pie

P**s on the Wall The J. Geils Band

Groove Me King Floyd

Destroyer The Kinks

Feel So Good Mase

It's A Mistake Men At Work

Get Your Freak On Missy Elliot