HELP A FAT BOY

[PorkChop]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to this so don't really know if I'm meant to post this stuff here, so apologies for that. Cutting a long story short, i'm fat and need to sort my shit out or it's going to be a very early death. I've always been a big lad but since coming to University I've ballooned to 174kg.

I love training but as the old quote says "You can't out-train a bad diet". I have tried low carb (less than 50g) and I lost a lot of weight but it was hard to concentrate at University and I found it hard to maintain.

I just wanted to put this out there to get opinions on the following diet and cardio. I've been doing this for 2 weeks and lost 4.5kg. I don't whether this is a good rate of weight loss or below average.

Diet:

Breakfast: 1 cup of rolled oats and 2 boiled eggs

Lunch: 1 chicken breast / 1 cup of brown rice and salad

Dinner: 2 chicken breasts and mixed veges or salad (it's not always chicken and is sometimes just any meat i.e. pork, steak, fish)

As a snack when I'm hungry and before the gym I'd have a protein shake (http://www.nzproteinbars.com/100-whey-p ... ade-in-nz/)

Training:

I'd go to the gym 3 x a week. Which would consist of mostly 5x5 work on bench, squat etc.

As well as the gym I'd walk 5 x a week for 45minutes before breakfast

If anyone could help me with this that'd be amazing. Whether it be a recommended nutritionist I could see, pointers on the diet or cardio, anything.

Cheers!

[jimmybro1]

I wouldn't bother with low carbohydrates as you said its terrible for concentration which is important for most.

I some how think you must be eating more than you mentioned especially if you are doing that amount of resistance and cardio training. Being 175kg you would think that your caloric needs must be much higher.

A loss of 4.5kg in a fortnight for your bodyweight is reasonably average. How tall are you?

The easiest way would be to increase cardio and keep your calorie intake the same. This will also help with your cardiovascular system which is particularly important for someone of your weight.

Good luck

[PorkChop]

Hey Jimmy,

Thanks for your reply. It wouldn't be much more than that. Maybe some fruit in the afternoon and a casein shake before bed. For dinner I'd add stuff like canned tomatos, beans, and other veges in but very little oil and salt.

I'm 184cm tall. I got a skin fold test done a couple of weeks ago. Would it be helpful to upload those measurements?

Also, I've tried to use an online calculator to find my maintenance calories and it came out at 3,820.... does this seem right?

Thanks for your help!

[jimmybro1]

Hey Jimmy,

Thanks for your reply. It wouldn't be much more than that. Maybe some fruit in the afternoon and a casein shake before bed. For dinner I'd add stuff like canned tomatos, beans, and other veges in but very little oil and salt.

I'm 184cm tall. I got a skin fold test done a couple of weeks ago. Would it be helpful to upload those measurements?

Also, I've tried to use an online calculator to find my maintenance calories and it came out at 3,820.... does this seem right?

Thanks for your help!

At your weight that does sound like the right amount of maintenance calories but it is going to be dependent on your metabolism also. If your only eating what you mentioned above your metabolism must be reasonably slow. Do you have any ideas for the amount of calories you are consuming at the moment?

Would be helpful to know as that is your tool to manipulate to fine tune your dieting. A tool to help you with this would be myfitnesspal. Just do a Google search and you will come across it.

It sounds like you are doing a reasonable amount of cardio.

[PorkChop]

If your only eating what you mentioned above your metabolism must be reasonably slow.

Is there anyway to increase this?

Do you have any ideas for the amount of calories you are consuming at the moment? Would be helpful to know as that is your tool to manipulate to fine tune your dieting. A tool to help you with this would be myfitnesspal. Just do a Google search and you will come across it.

Should I record everything through myfitnesspal and come back with a log? Would a week of loggin intake be a good period to get an idea?

Cheers Jimmy

[jimmybro1]

A week of logging would be good. Try get into the habit.

As for increasing metabolism there are probably some methods out there. I don't particularly know any though.

Maybe some other members maybe able to help you with this.

[PorkChop]

Awesome. Cheers for your feedback, Jimmy. I'll post here next Friday with a log of my intake.

By the way, in regards to protein do you have an idea of how much protein I should be having (in grams) at this weight?

[jimmybro1]

I don't know if there is any actual science to back it but but a general rule of thumb is 1-1.5g /lb body weight.

I personality use this myself as I feel its effective for my needs.

[teamfatboy]

Just my 2c worth, but you might be under-eating, setting your body up to hang on to any energy stores.... or, you'd be sacrificing lean muscle along with the bodyfat.

Rather than grammes of protein per kg of bodyweight, I find it's helpful to look at the % of calories from protein/carbs/ good fats:

I'm on a hi-lo carb split:

Weights days: 45:45:10

Cardio days 60:30:10

You can work that out from calorie load - there's 4 cals/gramme in protein and carbs, 9 cals/ gramme in fat.

Calorie needs - there are a lot of tools out there..

I put your stats into my personal favorite calculator - guessed your age, but that doesn't have much effect - and it said "basal metabolic rate" around 3225 cals - adjust for exercise using this tooland to maintain weight you'd need 4400 cals.

That seems a lot - but then consider that to lose weight a figure 15-20% below that is the number you need... 4400 - 20% is around 3500.

So, long answer to short question but yep, around 3500 cals, plus exercise, should work.

I've found that the protein-carbs-fat thing is very subjective so I'd recommend keeping track of diet and girths (tape around chest, waist (navel level), hips (widest point of butt), one quad and one bicep, once a week on the same day/ same time of day, for a month. If it's working, carry on another month - if not, try looking to the protein-carb ratio.

Putting it all together - 3500 cals/ day, on a 45:45:10 split would suggest 1575 cals from protein (395g) and from carbs (395g), and 350 cals from fats (38-40g).

Carbs are about carb sources - brown rice, basmati rice and kumara are great, spuds/pasta/white rice and breads not so much.

Hope that's a little help.

[Bigger]

Hey good stuff man. A lot of respect for what you're doing. I'm no expert, but I found that replacing meals with protein shakes (40grams of protein) and amino acids (5000mg) seemed to satsify my body. If you can do that and eat 2 normal meals per day with a few multivitamins and minerals including calcium tabs then your body should respond. Also I made the most progress when doing 2 lots of 45 minute cardio each day. Good if you can do 3 to 6 days of weights per week, but do the 2 sessions of cardio religiously no matter what, morning and night. Get to like the treadmill, that way if it's raining you never have an excuse. Just try and do 5-6km's per hour for each session. I honestly think that 3500 calories is too much, even if you are 175kg. I'd be trying to do what I mentioned and look at 2500-3000 calories and see how you handle it. Good luck.

[Bigger]

Congratulations on what you're looking to achieve. I deleted my previous post because of potential agro. I'd just go to http://www.leangains.com. Worked for me.

Here are some of my other thoughts. I'm no expert and have edited this 100 times, so hope it's worth reading.

You could look at carb cycling as mentioned in previous post. 3500 calories seems a high maintenance to me, no matter what your weight is. I'd be trying to dip below 3000 for a few days every week, and use protein shakes and Coke Zero or Pepsi Max to satisfy the sugar cravings and help with concentration.

Also would look at using treadmill only for cardio. Whatever the weather is doing you can always get on the treadmill which I think is necessary when we start heading towards the winter. This will police your cardio so it's at a constant rate, and also they have a calorie counter which may not be accurate, but it's a good motivator. Start off at about 4 km's per hour, and keep stepping it up towards 8 km's per hour as you get lighter. If you can increase your cardio to 2 sessions of 45 minutes each day early on and stick to that no matter what, then you should peel the weight off.

If you're short of time to fit weights in with cardio then at this stage I'd pick treadmill over weights, make it a religion. Rest days I'd still do 45 minutes of cardio.

Would seriously look at buying a treadmill. This saves a lot of time in the day and makes cardio a lot more accessible. Occassionally you might be too tired for weights or to get to the gym, then 45 minutes of cardio. If there's nothing on TV, fire the music up and put in 45 minutes. Just keep banking the cardio. Also keep the mat well oiled or you can burn them out. This one here is good, or could look at 2nd hand on trademe

http://www.no1fitness.co.nz/treadmills/ ... 3?nav=5726

Making good progress anyway. Awesome.

[Andre01]

Ok PorkChop,

I used to be 150kgs and now 92 and sitting around 10% Bodyfat, it took me 6 years to get to this stage. I made the decision to enjoy life and have fun, in other words I went on a lifestyle change (weight watchers, which is a good starting point. You learn so much) there were times that I would just eat what the hell I wanted and then got back on tract on next day.

You need to either use www.myfitnesspal.com to track or some other method to track, at this stage don't worry too much about macro just focus on how much your putting in your mouth, don't forgot to allow yourself to fall of the wagon as long as you get back on the next morning. Later get specific for your needs. Change one thing at a time and in the long term it will make it easier to maintain. You will find you are NOT eating near enough to lose weight.

Just a few ideas, please PM me if you want to talk.

[PorkChop]

Thank you for all of your help and feedback. I didn't think I would get this response. Thank you.

Putting it all together - 3500 cals/ day, on a 45:45:10 split would suggest 1575 cals from protein (395g) and from carbs (395g), and 350 cals from fats (38-40g).

As I was saying previously to Jimmy, I'm not too sure how many calories I'm taking in a day. I've been calculating todays input via myfitnesspal and at around 3pm I'm only at 1,038 calories 98(carbs) 38(fat) 83(protein) 498(sodium) 36(sugar).

It doesn't feel like I'm starving myself and feel good after meals. As most of the responses have said that I'm not eating enough, i'm not too sure on how I'm going to make up (healthily) the needed 2,462 calories or in Biggers case - 1, 962 calories.

Putting it all together - 3500 cals/ day, on a 45:45:10 split would suggest 1575 cals from protein (395g) and from carbs (395g), and 350 cals from fats (38-40g).

Given your examples, i'd need to eat nearly 300g of carbs, 0-2g of fat, 312g of protein by the end of the day. It's kind of confusing to me. Unless, I'm recording this completely wrong, I'm not too sure what more I could eat without gaining weight.

Team Fat Boy, do you have an example of what you would eat to meet this macros you've provided?

http://www.no1fitness.co.nz/treadmills/ ... 3?nav=5726

Hey Bigger, cheers for your help! I looked at that treadmill and the max weight is 100kg so I think that'd be out of the picture. I'm a student so buying a treadmill, although it would be great, doesn't really fit the budget and after a day in lectures it would be good to get out there in air, rain or shine.

Coke Zero or Pepsi Max to satisfy the sugar cravings and help with concentration.

I would down this stuff like there was no tomorrow. So trying to cut out soda completely.

If you can increase your cardio to 2 sessions of 45 minutes each day early on and stick to that no matter what, then you should peel the weight off.

Bigger, are you suggesting 2 x 45 sessions twice a day, 5 x a week? I'm currently just doing 5x5 strong lifts at the gym. Would you recommend changing this to something like complexes and supersets to up the heart rate and keep the lifting in there?

I used to be 150kgs and now 92 and sitting around 10% Bodyfat

Far out man, congrats! That's awesome. I'll definitely hit you up. What a legend. Cheers man.

A loss of 4.5kg in a fortnight for your bodyweight is reasonably average

I was just wondering what a safe and achievable weight loss per week/month would be? So correct me if I'm wrong, if I eat more and fit the macro's Team Fat Boy has provided I'm going to lose more weight?

Thank you all for your help

[teamfatboy]

Hmmm - PM'd you the spreadsheet I use for a hi/lo carb split.

Each person's different, and all that most people can do is try, record results, adjust and repeat. What works for me won't necessarily work for you, but the points I've made are reasonably standard. Hell, even Runners' World magazine favors a reasonably high % protein, and they're training completely differently.

No-one would promise that by eating more you would lose weight at the same rate - but you might find it easier to workout harder, to concentrate and so on.

Opinions also vary on safe weight loss.. and if you watch some of the tv shows, people lose 4.5kg in a week - but that's not the real world. Because of where you are on your mission, you can probably continue to lose weight at the rate of more than one or two kg per week for a few months, but then it will slow down. That's normal... and many coaches will tell you that a more realistic figure is up to 1kg/ week, most of which will be bodyfat, some lean muscle.

Andre's had some great results and is doing great things, so his perspective may help, and as others have said, there's a range of approaches out there.

[Bigger]

Porkchop. Hi, yep I would go for 2 sessions each day of cardio, 45 minutes per session. Weights as well is ideal as will keep muscle mass up and burn more fat. Problem could be fitting it all in your day, so supersetting the weights would be ideal. I just think that 45 minutes twice a day using a treadmill is a guarantee that you will burn X amount of calories. BUT, if you are good at maintaining an intense weights workout every time, then yes you could look at dropping a cardio and substituting with your weights. If you are not good at maintaining your weights intensity, then I would still keep my 2 cardio sessions with a superset of weights each day.

I don't know how experienced you are with weights, but when I was skinny my weights were all arms and legs, spagetti, struggling to get a pump and struggling to get a mind muscle connection. That is why I think a treadmill. Guaranteed calories burnt, no guesswork. Also, what happens when it is a hail storm or Tsunami, will you still be walking?. My advice, get a treadmill. Look at second hand. They will handle 175kg, just drench the underside of the mat in oil, manufacturers just want to protect their product saying 100kg max.

[PorkChop]

Out of general curiosity about macros. Myfitnesspal has suggested the following nutrional goal, with a weight loss of 2lbs a week:

2,460.0 Calories / Day

Carbs 338 g

Fat 82 g

Protein 92 g

Or should I follow something closer to what you've suggested, team fat boy?

Putting it all together - 3500 cals/ day, on a 45:45:10 split would suggest 1575 cals from protein (395g) and from carbs (395g), and 350 cals from fats (38-40g).

[PorkChop]

Would any of you suggest going to see a nutritionist? If so, who? Would it be worth it?

[teamfatboy]

Out of general curiosity about macros. Myfitnesspal has suggested the following nutrional goal, with a weight loss of 2lbs a week:

2,460.0 Calories / Day

Carbs 338 g

Fat 82 g

Protein 92 g

Or should I follow something closer to what you've suggested, team fat boy?

Putting it all together - 3500 cals/ day, on a 45:45:10 split would suggest 1575 cals from protein (395g) and from carbs (395g), and 350 cals from fats (38-40g).

Purely based on my experience, I know that I do better on higher protein than other people - but (as it often says in the fine print) "your results may vary".

The reason I recommended a higher-protein diet is the relationship between protein and muscle synthesis. For building lean muscle mass, you can't go past protein - whether it's for bodybuilding or strength sports. Protein is key to conserving lean muscle mass - the difference between shedding body fat and revealing musculature underneath, or simply shrinking... bearing in mind that this is NZ bodybuilding, albeit with a growing strength-athletes side to it naturally one option is more common here.

Being candid, at this stage any calorie reduction would probably cause weight loss... but the added value is in using the time while you're losing weight to learn how your body responds. So, pick an option, any option, but plan it, stick to it, and keep records of what happens - weight, girths, and mood.

By doing that, you will get a feel for what your macros should be.

Yes, either a nutritionist, or a good personal trainer (which tends to rule out most of the hacks out there). If you mention which city you're in, others might have names for nutritionists or trainers.

[PorkChop]

Yes, either a nutritionist, or a good personal trainer (which tends to rule out most of the hacks out there). If you mention which city you're in, others might have names for nutritionists or trainers.

Hey, I'm in Auckland. One of my mates suggested going to see Tarren McCall?

[PorkChop]

Hey all,

After a month on this journey I'm down to 168.8kg from 177.7kg a month ago.

Here are 5 days of calories:

2,324

2,403

1,543

2,918

1,960

In this last week using myfitnesspal and walking I've lost 3.7kg