Beginner seeking Gym/Diet advice. Thanks in advance !

[Adil964]

Hey guys,

 

So I'm looking to join the gym but the problem is I'm not sure of how much or what to eat and what kind of lifting to do, and I'm hoping some experience people could give me some insight.

 

I'm looking to get lean as in the picture, the left is me and right is where i want to get to. Issue is I have a very busy life style in my last year of University so I don't have the time to cook and make food. I'm looking to go 3-5 days a week. I have been asking around and I hear different things from different people. For instance I heard that the Ketosis diet is really good, then another guy tells me it can be bad for you kidney or liver. Guess I'm having some trouble distinguishing fact from Bro-science. 

 

Anyway would greatly appreciate some help and advice as to a workout plan/diet to follow ! Heres my background info. 

 

Age: 20

Height: 186cm

Weight: 78Kg 

Gym experience: On and off. 4 months last year then 4 months the year before that. 

 

[Slow n Steady]

Hi, not really qualified to offer suggestions, but I'll try:

1. Go to the gym more than 4 months of the year.

2. Tinned tuna is cheap as is chomp chomp chicken- you don't have to make it.

3. Water is free - if you know how to turn a tap on

4. Eggs - cheap as 2 trays for $12 at some places. 5 minutes to make scramble in the microwave.

F**K diets - just eat good food. Or if that's too hard sign up for Isagenix................

[Rebel101]

Hey guys,

 

So I'm looking to join the gym but the problem is I'm not sure of how much or what to eat and what kind of lifting to do, and I'm hoping some experience people could give me some insight.

 

I'm looking to get lean as in the picture, the left is me and right is where i want to get to. Issue is I have a very busy life style in my last year of University so I don't have the time to cook and make food. I'm looking to go 3-5 days a week. I have been asking around and I hear different things from different people. For instance I heard that the Ketosis diet is really good, then another guy tells me it can be bad for you kidney or liver. Guess I'm having some trouble distinguishing fact from Bro-science. 

 

Anyway would greatly appreciate some help and advice as to a workout plan/diet to follow ! Heres my background info. 

 

Age: 20

Height: 186cm

Weight: 78Kg 

Gym experience: On and off. 4 months last year then 4 months the year before that. 

 

Beforeafter.JPG

Good food need not be expensive or take a lot of time, but it does mean you are going to need to change both your habits and approach to food.

Tbh the body that you want is not a low maintenance physique, time effort and commitment has gone into it, and to maintaining it. So be realistic and figure out if you have got what it takes to commit to it right now.

At the least 5 visits to the gym per week are necessary, and nutrition being 70% of the effort, will need some changes. Ketotic diets when done correctly will do you no harm but a thorough knowledge of what you are doing will be needed.

Think about it and then let us know whether you want to do the yards!

[Polo]

I would suggest you go on a calorie defecit and train at least 5 days a week. 1 day cardio 4 days weights. That physique is an easily accomplished goal if you set your mind too it. Also note you will need a spray tan and a bit of waxing

[Pseudonym]

Welcome bro!

 

You've got some good advice in the posts above, although I disagree with Rebel about the level of commitment that's required - obviously there's some effort involved, but don't let that put you off. What you are trying to do is perfectly achievable without too much fuss.

 

My advice is just to keep things really simple to start with. You've got no need to do fancy workouts or diets at this stage. The more you complicate things, the harder it is to stick to them.

 

For now, I wouldn't even try to set up a cutting diet. Just get in the gym CONSISTENTLY (4 months on, 8 months off is not going to cut it!) and clean up your diet. That alone will take you a long way towards your goal.

 

It's really not that hard (or expensive) to prepare your own food. It's hard to beat a basic whey protein as the base for a cheap, quick meal. Even chicken breast can be cooked up (I find poaching them is the easiest) a few at a time, and kept in the fridge for instant meals over the next 3-4 days. The trick is just to start cooking meals in bulk.

 

Keep track of what you eat. The MyFitnessPal app is great for this. Once you know what a standard day's eating looks like, you can progressively make changes to it.

 

What does your diet look like now? What have you eaten over the last few days?

[Skeletor]

To be honest i don't think the body you want is hard to achieve at all and I'd say you can look way better than that on just 3 days a week strength training provided your eating right. You haven't really made a solid commitment to training and I think you'll find once you actually do and start building muscle the fat will start dropping. You don't have to train 5-6 days you just need to train smart. You're not exactly obese so just get into it, set small goals in strength and enjoy doing it.

[Rebel101]

Welcome bro!

You've got some good advice in the posts above, although I disagree with Rebel about the level of commitment that's required - obviously there's some effort involved, but don't let that put you off. What you are trying to do is perfectly achievable without too much fuss.

Sorry did not mean to put some one off but just being real. I know what it is like to be in the final year of your degree and being honest this takes first priority.

A physique with abdominal definition takes time and perseverance, it is not a six month project unless it has top priority in your life.

I guess realistic goals along the way can make the project achievable without compromising study obligations. But just don't spread yourself too thin and short change both projects.

[Adil964]

Welcome bro!

 

You've got some good advice in the posts above, although I disagree with Rebel about the level of commitment that's required - obviously there's some effort involved, but don't let that put you off. What you are trying to do is perfectly achievable without too much fuss.

 

My advice is just to keep things really simple to start with. You've got no need to do fancy workouts or diets at this stage. The more you complicate things, the harder it is to stick to them.

 

For now, I wouldn't even try to set up a cutting diet. Just get in the gym CONSISTENTLY (4 months on, 8 months off is not going to cut it!) and clean up your diet. That alone will take you a long way towards your goal.

 

It's really not that hard (or expensive) to prepare your own food. It's hard to beat a basic whey protein as the base for a cheap, quick meal. Even chicken breast can be cooked up (I find poaching them is the easiest) a few at a time, and kept in the fridge for instant meals over the next 3-4 days. The trick is just to start cooking meals in bulk.

 

Keep track of what you eat. The MyFitnessPal app is great for this. Once you know what a standard day's eating looks like, you can progressively make changes to it.

 

What does your diet look like now? What have you eaten over the last few days?

 

Hi there, thanks for your and everyone else's input. 

 

So to clarify. I already go to the gym consistently 3-4 times a week for cardio (Too cold outside haha). 

 

The average days meals for me is:

 

Breakfast: Milk, muesli bar and a scone. 

Lunch: I'll usually get sushi (fish/chicken) or some curry.

Dinner: I'll have a chicken sandwich or just straight chicken.

 

I also snack on nuts/fruit throughout the day and the occasional chocolate bar. I do cook from time to time. But i like that idea of bulk cooking, i'll be sure to start doing that ! 

[Bruce Al]

Lift weights dude. Waste of money going to the gym for cardio.

Ps- to look the way u want to look you'd hardly need to do anything other than drop a little body fat,shave your chest and get a fake tan. No offence but I recon you could easily look better than the picture on the right.

[jimmybro1]

Just get a wax and a tan br0. 

 

That guys physique is more or less on par with yours... 

[Boosting]

Agree with above 2 posts. Rebel101 has no idea. Its not hard to find time for excercise while you study unless you are exceptionally dumb. The guy in pic's physique is easily acheivable training even one day a week with an ok diet. Fella i get my gear off of and train with occasionally says he was 100kg+ at uni with abs year round

[Pseudonym]

OK, I think we've made the point that his goal physique is quite achieveable... (Adil964, I guarantee you'll get there, and decide you want more!)

 

But whatever the goal photo, the point is that the journey starts with the same steps regardless.

 

In this case, I think that means nailing the diet. TBH, what you're eating now doesn't look like much to me - although I guess there are probably lots of hidden calories in your lunch curry.

 

I think a better diet would look more like this:

 

Breakfast

Protein shake with 2 scoops of protein

Peanut butter sandwich (your previous breakfast looked portable, so I thought this should be too)

Piece of fruit

 

Lunch

Chicken, rice, and tomato pasta sauce

 

Dinner

Steak, potatoes, veg

 

That's just a rough outline, and I'm sure others can improve on it. But basically the idea is that it's less fat, better carbs, and more protein.

[_jco]

Hi there, thanks for your and everyone else's input. 

 

So to clarify. I already go to the gym consistently 3-4 times a week for cardio (Too cold outside haha). 

 

The average days meals for me is:

 

Breakfast: Milk, muesli bar and a scone. 

Lunch: I'll usually get sushi (fish/chicken) or some curry.

Dinner: I'll have a chicken sandwich or just straight chicken.

 

I also snack on nuts/fruit throughout the day and the occasional chocolate bar. I do cook from time to time. But i like that idea of bulk cooking, i'll be sure to start doing that ! 

 

The most simple  and low effort way to get in shape is to lift heavy (for your strength, Reps <10, last rep should almost be close to failure). Don't worry too much about your diet but eat at least 2x your body weight of protein in grams. For example, if you're 78kg I would recommend eating minimum of 156g of protein a day. Eat that amount even on your non lifting days.

 

Eating the right amount of protein is probably the hardest part of the diet. For example, a Big Mac (only the burger, not a meal) is 530 cals and only 24g of protein. Any meat on average has about 24g of protein per 100g. Obviously, chicken has more but that's a good enough rough estimate to keep in your mind.  

 

The guy in the pic has a lot of muscle and low body fat. It will take you a few years to get there.

 

If you want to loose fat, lift heavy, eat the right amount of protein and reduce your food intake (while keeping the right amount of protein) until you're loosing around half a kilo a week.

 

To gain muscle just do the opposite with your calories.

 

I hope that's clear. That is the most basic and easiest way of doing it.

[Boosting]

The guy in the pic has a lot of muscle and low body fat. It will take you a few years to get there.

Hope you're taking the piss. He has hardly any muscle (i had more before i lifted) and bodyfat is low compared to a fat person but not super low. Would definately be a low maintenance physique.

It would take to OP afew weeks to get there if he knew what he was doing and actually did it.

[_jco]

+

Hope you're taking the piss. He has hardly any muscle (i had more before i lifted) and bodyfat is low compared to a fat person but not super low. Would definately be a low maintenance physique.

It would take to OP afew weeks to get there if he knew what he was doing and actually did it.

 

 

OP seems to have 20% body fat. That's 16kgs of fat. To be at 10% he would need to loose 8kgs of ALL fat. Say if he looses half a kilo a week of mass and 90% of that weight loss is fat then he would need at least 18 weeks of cutting (4.5 months). That's assuming he is 100% dedicated and committed to his diet and training. That means no binge drinking/eating on the weekends.

 

Which is probably unlikely since he's a student and never stuck to the gym for longer than 4 months before. So lets add another 1.5 months to that time.

 

That means he would need at least half a year to get skinny asf. He might be lean but he won't look like that because he won't have any muscle. Because at the end of that 6 months he should be roughly 68kgs (assuming minimal muscle loss from the cut).

68kgs at his height is barely above normal BMI range so he will be underweight. He would need to bulk up to gain more muscle. Say he bulks for 6 months and gains 12kgs. Hopefully 75% of that is muscle. Then he would be back to 80kgs but he will be around 12-13% body fat.

 

Now he needs to cut to 10% bf. He would need to loose roughly 5kgs of pure fat to get to 10%.

 

5kgs would take him 2.5 months to loose if he doesn't loose any muscle during this cut. So, we can assume he will cut for 15 weeks and loose about 7.5kgs of mass.

 

Now he is at 72.5kgs @10% bf. It took him almost 1.5 years with consistent diet and training.

[Boosting]

Youre wrong. When i first started weights training i put on 5kg in 3 months and also got leaner at the same time and heaps stronger.

Its an equilibrium situation with diminishing marginal returns. Atm OP is small and not real lean, doesnt lift and eats shit. Its obvious to anyone that if he starts lifting and eating properly he will see big results compared with someone who is 110kg at 8% bodyfat trying to get bigger and leaner at the same time.

[Pseudonym]

You stole the words out of my mouth, Boosting.

Basically, JCO, your maths is good, but it doesn't allow for beginner gains -that awesome time where you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Also I think your starting point is a bit out - I don't think the OP is at 20% BF... that's really getting quite tubby. I'd put him at more like 15% (ish).

Having said that, I don't agree with Boosting's estimate of "a few weeks" either. It's more like a few months with dedication, or longer if the OP is a bit more relaxed about it.

[Adil964]

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply but I wanted to get some results and routine before I posted here. 

 

So to update on what's going on. I've gained 5 kg, I've gained muscle and shed a decent amount of fat through my diet change. I am seeing some really good results. going 3-4 times a week consistently doing Push - Pull - shoulders & Legs. As far as mass goes i think ive gained about as much as i want, i am surprised about how much i gained in the short amount of time. But as far as the diet goes here what i eat daily:

 

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast (the tip top protein one). 1 with cottage cheese and other with peanut butter. Also drink a couple cups of milk too.

 

- Snack: Piece of fruit (Kiwi/mandarin). nut bar

 

- Lunch: 200g of Tuna with 2 pieces of same type of bread.

 

- Snack: Can of beans (Varies, sometimes kidney, chickpea or lentils), and handful of almonds

 

 - Workout then take gold standard whey

 

- Dinner: Cook piece of steak, with steamed Swede and Kumara

 

- Snack: More almonds and some tablespoon or 2 of peanut butter

 

So this has been working pretty well for me so far. My question now is what should i be changing to make it better. And my main question is what i need to change to be able t cut fat so the abs show. Right now they are kind of showing but not really. 

 

Thanks in advance !

[Alphens88]

Why not just keep doing what you're doing as it seems likes its working?

 

In terms of abs, you need to lose body fat. You're still making newbie gains (putting on lean mass and losing fat at same time) so I say keep doing what you're doing.

 

To lose fat your energy expenditure has to exceed your daily energy intake. ie eat less. There's 1000s of ways to achieve what you want but I'll try keep it simple. Looking at your diet the easiest place for you to consume less energy would be limit your fat intake ie cut back on the peanut butter and almonds

or (not both, not yet anyway) less carbs and take out 2 pieces of bread, 1/2 can of beans

I would even think of subbing your couple glasses of milk for a protein shake (w/o milk).

 

Alternatively add in some cardio or another weights session and keep diet the same.

 

It's really kind of hard to say without knowing you. Your daily intake really isn't much plus with your training age dieting to lose fat doesn't make sense to me.

 

That's my advice, someone will probably give you better, other than that keep trying to progress at the gym by adding more weight, sets or reps. You'll get there eventually and like most of us when you get there realise you want more haha

 

Good luck hope this helps

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

hey mate good one glad to hear it's going well. tbh you have a system that works and you should keep doing it as long as you are getting results. to get abs to show quite clearly it takes either patience or durastic 'cutting' steps.

 

if you really wanted to up the pace a little for your cut, keep doing what you're doing (eat exactly the same, train weights exactly the same) just add in 15-20mins on the bike at around 150 BPM (heart rate) at the end of every session. after another 8-12 weeks you can see where you're at and revise. the key is not to make big changes to a winning formula, just small tweaks

[donz]

Just get a wax and a tan br0. 

 

That guys physique is more or less on par with yours... 

This ^^ hahaha looks the same to me sept you're hairy and pale..