Need Weight Loss Advice

[dalessandro12]

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I got married 3 years ago and had 3 children since then. I gained a lot of weight but have recently shed 20lbs in the last month. I want to lose another 40lbs but I want to minimize the amount of muscle I lose. I would like to maintain/gain lean muscle mass while losing the unsightly and unhealthy fat.

Currently I eat 6-7 small (200-300 calorie) balanced meals a day with lean meats, fruits/veggies and complex carbs (or meal replacement shakes).

I'm having a hard time figuring out my workouts and supplements. Here is what I currently do:

1. 30 minutes cardio weekday mornings on empty stomach followed by a whey protein shake or oatmeal (with a scoop of OP Any Whey) for breakfast.
2. When at work (M-F 8am to 5pm) I have a snack at 10am, lunch at 1pm and another snack at 3pm - all healthy meals/snacks. On the weekends, I have the same schedule.
3. An hour after a balanced dinner, I do 30 minutes of arms and chest M/W/F and 30 minutes of legs and abs T/Th. Following my workout, I have 5g of creatine and 5g of BCAA in a whey protein shake.
3. Before bed I have a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a scoop of OP Any Whey.

In additional to all this, I take a multivitamin, flax seed oil and fish oil daily. I keep track of my calories and generally average about 1750 calories a day.

Does anyone have any suggestions that can help me reach my goals?

Much appreciated.

[frankiethekid]

Hey how are you? I would suggest that you up your calories to about 2500 per day. This is a little more than 500 calories below your bmr, in theory this should result in 1 pound of weight loss per week. And you can burn an additional 250-500 calories a day doing cardio. Thats between a 750-1000 calorie deficit per day, and you should lose about 1.5-2.0 pounds per week. Also make sure your lifting and consuming protein, this will help you keep your muscle you have while losing fat. Eating those small meals are great, keep it up. Make sure your drinking plenty of water also.

Originally Posted by dalessandro12

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I got married 3 years ago and had 3 children since then. I gained a lot of weight but have recently shed 20lbs in the last month. I want to lose another 40lbs but I want to minimize the amount of muscle I lose. I would like to maintain/gain lean muscle mass while losing the unsightly and unhealthy fat.

Currently I eat 6-7 small (200-300 calorie) balanced meals a day with lean meats, fruits/veggies and complex carbs (or meal replacement shakes).

I'm having a hard time figuring out my workouts and supplements. Here is what I currently do:

1. 30 minutes cardio weekday mornings on empty stomach followed by a whey protein shake or oatmeal (with a scoop of OP Any Whey) for breakfast.
2. When at work (M-F 8am to 5pm) I have a snack at 10am, lunch at 1pm and another snack at 3pm - all healthy meals/snacks. On the weekends, I have the same schedule.
3. An hour after a balanced dinner, I do 30 minutes of arms and chest M/W/F and 30 minutes of legs and abs T/Th. Following my workout, I have 5g of creatine and 5g of BCAA in a whey protein shake.
3. Before bed I have a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a scoop of OP Any Whey.

In additional to all this, I take a multivitamin, flax seed oil and fish oil daily. I keep track of my calories and generally average about 1750 calories a day.

Does anyone have any suggestions that can help me reach my goals?

Much appreciated.

[frankiethekid]

Heres a good calculator you can check out

http://www.hydroxycut.com/calculators/calorie.shtml

Originally Posted by dalessandro12

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I got married 3 years ago and had 3 children since then. I gained a lot of weight but have recently shed 20lbs in the last month. I want to lose another 40lbs but I want to minimize the amount of muscle I lose. I would like to maintain/gain lean muscle mass while losing the unsightly and unhealthy fat.

Currently I eat 6-7 small (200-300 calorie) balanced meals a day with lean meats, fruits/veggies and complex carbs (or meal replacement shakes).

I'm having a hard time figuring out my workouts and supplements. Here is what I currently do:

1. 30 minutes cardio weekday mornings on empty stomach followed by a whey protein shake or oatmeal (with a scoop of OP Any Whey) for breakfast.
2. When at work (M-F 8am to 5pm) I have a snack at 10am, lunch at 1pm and another snack at 3pm - all healthy meals/snacks. On the weekends, I have the same schedule.
3. An hour after a balanced dinner, I do 30 minutes of arms and chest M/W/F and 30 minutes of legs and abs T/Th. Following my workout, I have 5g of creatine and 5g of BCAA in a whey protein shake.
3. Before bed I have a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a scoop of OP Any Whey.

In additional to all this, I take a multivitamin, flax seed oil and fish oil daily. I keep track of my calories and generally average about 1750 calories a day.

Does anyone have any suggestions that can help me reach my goals?

Much appreciated.

[dalessandro12]

Originally Posted by frankiethekid

Hey how are you? I would suggest that you up your calories to about 2500 per day. This is a little more than 500 calories below your bmr, in theory this should result in 1 pound of weight loss per week. And you can burn an additional 250-500 calories a day doing cardio. Thats between a 750-1000 calorie deficit per day, and you should lose about 1.5-2.0 pounds per week. Also make sure your lifting and consuming protein, this will help you keep your muscle you have while losing fat. Eating those small meals are great, keep it up. Make sure your drinking plenty of water also.

I try to drink upwards of 100oz of water a day. I keep a gallon of water at my desk at work and just keep pouring the cups.

[dalessandro12]

Anyone else have suggestions?

[fitlover]

Originally Posted by dalessandro12

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I got married 3 years ago and had 3 children since then. I gained a lot of weight but have recently shed 20lbs in the last month. I want to lose another 40lbs but I want to minimize the amount of muscle I lose. I would like to maintain/gain lean muscle mass while losing the unsightly and unhealthy fat.

Currently I eat 6-7 small (200-300 calorie) balanced meals a day with lean meats, fruits/veggies and complex carbs (or meal replacement shakes).

I'm having a hard time figuring out my workouts and supplements. Here is what I currently do:

1. 30 minutes cardio weekday mornings on empty stomach followed by a whey protein shake or oatmeal (with a scoop of OP Any Whey) for breakfast.
2. When at work (M-F 8am to 5pm) I have a snack at 10am, lunch at 1pm and another snack at 3pm - all healthy meals/snacks. On the weekends, I have the same schedule.
3. An hour after a balanced dinner, I do 30 minutes of arms and chest M/W/F and 30 minutes of legs and abs T/Th. Following my workout, I have 5g of creatine and 5g of BCAA in a whey protein shake.
3. Before bed I have a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a scoop of OP Any Whey.

In additional to all this, I take a multivitamin, flax seed oil and fish oil daily. I keep track of my calories and generally average about 1750 calories a day.

Does anyone have any suggestions that can help me reach my goals?

Much appreciated.

Hi, dalessandro12.

Congrats on the 20 lbs!

First, you should never work out on an empty stomach. Try to eat within a half and hour of waking up to kick-start your metabolism for the day, and try to include lots of protein and some complex carbs (oatmeal, quinoa, etc.) Follow this meal up an hour later with your cardio.

Your plan is pretty good, but if you still aren't seeing results in your weight loss, you may have to alter your training schedule a bit more, or start cutting some carbs. If your body gets too used to the same workout regime, you won't be benefiting from it as much because it isn't as challenging anymore. Try spicing things up with a split-body routine, or adding more weight/reps/sets.

Make sure to drink TONS of water during the day.

Good job on the fish oil and small meals. Looks like you got most of your bases covered .

I hope you reach your goals!! Merry Christmas

[dalessandro12]

Originally Posted by fitlover

Hi, dalessandro12.

First, you should never work out on an empty stomach. Try to eat within a half and hour of waking up to kick-start your metabolism for the day, and try to include lots of protein and some complex carbs (oatmeal, quinoa, etc.) Follow this meal up an hour later with your cardio.

Maybe I'll have to change all of my workouts to evening workouts. I tend to only give myself enough time for a short 30 minute cardio session and then start my hour long commute to work.

Would you suggest I eat a protein/complex carb filled dinner an hour or so before my evening workouts? Currently, that is what I do for my lifting routines. Usually, I follow it up with some more protein or cottage cheese and fruit.

[fitlover]

Originally Posted by dalessandro12

Maybe I'll have to change all of my workouts to evening workouts. I tend to only give myself enough time for a short 30 minute cardio session and then start my hour long commute to work.

Would you suggest I eat a protein/complex carb filled dinner an hour or so before my evening workouts? Currently, that is what I do for my lifting routines. Usually, I follow it up with some more protein or cottage cheese and fruit.

I suggest eating your complex carbs in the morning, when your metabolism is at it's peak. But if you can only fit in your workouts in the evening otherwise, make sure you don't over-do. The majority of your carbs should be eaten post-workout, so get some pre-carbs in, but mainly load up on the protein.
Definitely follow up your workout with more protein, and then carbs to restore glucose levels to normal. If you're going to do cardio and lifting in the same session, make sure that you do your cardio AFTER your weight-training. Why? Because this makes sure you get the most out of your weight-training while your glucose levels are still high, therefore burning the pre-workout carbs for energy, so that when you get around to cardio, your body has no choice but to break into it's fat reserves for energy, in the long-run burning more fat.

[dalessandro12]

Originally Posted by fitlover

I suggest eating your complex carbs in the morning, when your metabolism is at it's peak. But if you can only fit in your workouts in the evening otherwise, make sure you don't over-do. The majority of your carbs should be eaten post-workout, so get some pre-carbs in, but mainly load up on the protein.
Definitely follow up your workout with more protein, and then carbs to restore glucose levels to normal. If you're going to do cardio and lifting in the same session, make sure that you do your cardio AFTER your weight-training. Why? Because this makes sure you get the most out of your weight-training while your glucose levels are still high, therefore burning the pre-workout carbs for energy, so that when you get around to cardio, your body has no choice but to break into it's fat reserves for energy, in the long-run burning more fat.

I was thinking about oatmeal in the morning right when I wake up, spread my meals every 3 hours or so, for dinner have a heavy protein dinner with some carbs (like veggies or some fruit), do my lifting and cardio 1-2 hours afterwards and immediately follow it up with a whey PWO shake and a banana. Hows that sound?

[fitlover]

Originally Posted by dalessandro12

I was thinking about oatmeal in the morning right when I wake up, spread my meals every 3 hours or so, for dinner have a heavy protein dinner with some carbs (like veggies or some fruit), do my lifting and cardio 1-2 hours afterwards and immediately follow it up with a whey PWO shake and a banana. Hows that sound?

Sounds awesome! I'd suggest going no later than 1 1/2 hours after you eat though.
But it looks like you have your bases covered

[dalessandro12]

Originally Posted by fitlover

Sounds awesome! I'd suggest going no later than 1 1/2 hours after you eat though.
But it looks like you have your bases covered

I tried it last night and I was really happy with the routine. I ate about 5oz of white chicken breast and 1/2 cup brown rice and plenty of water. I lifted for about 30 minutes, whole body workout with no more than a minute between sets. After my workout, I ate an apple followed by a PWO shake of whey and skim milk.

I must say....I was exhausted after my workout but felt great! And that apple was the best apple I have had in my entire life!

Thanks Fitlover

[fitlover]

Originally Posted by dalessandro12

I tried it last night and I was really happy with the routine. I ate about 5oz of white chicken breast and 1/2 cup brown rice and plenty of water. I lifted for about 30 minutes, whole body workout with no more than a minute between sets. After my workout, I ate an apple followed by a PWO shake of whey and skim milk.

I must say....I was exhausted after my workout but felt great! And that apple was the best apple I have had in my entire life!

Thanks Fitlover

Fantastic - super glad I could help I hope all your goals and resolutions get fulfilled this coming year!! Have an awesome Christmas!