My fat loss plan - suggestions?

ItsTurboTime · 07-25-2005, 09:03 AM

Hey everyone, first time posting. I hope you're all as friendly and helpful as I've heard!

About me: 21 year old male, 5'10", currently 205lbs. Freshman year of college I went from a flabby 225 to a pretty lean 190. Since then I lost some of the muscle and found some of the fat. I'm certainly not grossly overweight, but I do have excess fat on me that I want to get rid of. I've done alot of reading on the site about diet and exercise, and here's the plan I've come up with and have been following (for almost a week now):

7:00am - High-octane cardio (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler37.htm) I cover 1.5 miles in about 17 minutes with 5 pushup stops and 5 crunch stops. 10 reps at each stop.

I haven't decided exactly how many days a week to do this. Mike suggests 2-3, but that's not enough for me, so I'm going with 3 or 4. Most evenings I also do an hour and a half of yoga (laugh if you must, but I love it!), which is some strength, alot of flexibility, and mild cardio.

For my food intake I have switched to 6 meals per day and have been keeping a food journal where I record calories, total fat, sat. fat, carbs, sugar, and protien. (If the label doesn't tell me everything, or I eat out, I use www.nutritiondata.com) I have also been getting more than a gallon of water a day, spread out over the day. So far a typical day looks something like this:

Cals:2500
tot. fat:70-90g
sat. fat:25-30g
carbs:150-200g
sugars:30-40g
protien:70-100g

This is where I'd like some advice. I think that's a good # of calories to shoot for. Am I getting way too much fat? I expect the protien count to go up considerably (I just bought some mega-whey from GNC and 2 or 3 meals a day will be replaced with a shake) and in doing so I expect I will consume less fat. I have also been taking a multi-vitamin every day. Oh yeah, and I try to get 8 hours of sleep at night, but it usually comes out more like 6 :-/

Like I said, my current weight is 205, and I want to get to 190lbs and evaluate my appearance then. I'm taking a picture of myself every few days so I'll be able to see progress. In a little over a month I'll be going back to school where I'll have access to weights, and pretty soon rugby practice will start up. I'm open to suggestion.

Still_tryin2 · 07-25-2005, 09:22 AM

"Mike suggests 2-3, but that's not enough for me, so I'm going with 3 or 4"..

This is where a lot of people go wrong. The HOC program is awesome, but it's also fairly demanding on the body. You want to make sure that you don't injure yourself due to being over fatigued. It's a lot harder to lose weight when you have a torn ACL or a high ankle sprain because you didn't allow your body to reccuperate. If you feel that you need to be more active, go for something different. 2 full body workouts per week, or just go for a nice long walk. You're just trying to get in shape. Not punish the fat off your body! haha.

Okay, so now for your question. I think you did a great job researching and really trying to nail down your diet (and props for the yoga too!). Don't be concerned about your fats being too high. If anything, I would worry more about them dropping too low. Getting adequate healthy fats in your diet is very important to hormone functions and will greatly assist in your weight loss goals. I even go as far as to take extra fat everyday in the form of Flax oil pills. Godd luck to ya!

ItsTurboTime · 07-25-2005, 10:16 AM

That sounds pretty good. Another concern I have is getting too few calories. I checked a few calculators and based on my height, age, weight, and activity level, I've been told I need about 3000-3200 cal/day to maintain my weight. Since I started the journal (6 days ago) I've only had one day go above 2500, and one day that was as low as 2000 (slept in, didn't run). I'm eating every time I'm hungry, and only eating until I'm no longer hungry. Would my body be trying to hold onto its stores if I'm getting too few calories?

Rane14 · 07-25-2005, 10:47 AM

no, I think your body would be trying to eat muscle if it weren't getting enough calories, correct? Also I am going to give that HOC a shot, sounds pretty damn wicked.

Still_tryin2 · 07-25-2005, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsTurboTime

That sounds pretty good. Another concern I have is getting too few calories. I checked a few calculators and based on my height, age, weight, and activity level, I've been told I need about 3000-3200 cal/day to maintain my weight. Since I started the journal (6 days ago) I've only had one day go above 2500, and one day that was as low as 2000 (slept in, didn't run). I'm eating every time I'm hungry, and only eating until I'm no longer hungry. Would my body be trying to hold onto its stores if I'm getting too few calories?

I always tend to favor the higher end of calories when trying to cut. Try 3000 cals for a week or two and see how you make out. Sounds like you will be training pretty hard, so it may workout. If you start higher, it's easier to come down a bit when you reach a plateau. However, if you go with 3000 and see that your not losing 1-2 lbs a week, then you can try to come down to 2500. You sound like you have some decent mass to you if you were lean at 190. Try to hold onto the size and make the calorie deficit gradual. It may come off easier then you think.

ItsTurboTime · 07-25-2005, 11:49 AM

according to http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html (waist, neck, and height method)

weight: 205
BF: 23%
Ideal weight: 182
Lean mass: 158

It's a place to start. Not horrible, but room for improvement.

ItsTurboTime · 07-25-2005, 12:48 PM

I think some goals for eating during the day would be good, since I keep finding myself at 10pm with only 2200 calories in me, and I don't want to try to make up the difference then. Crunched some numbers and here's what I decided on daily goals to get 3000 calories:

1000 cals by 11:00am
1800 cals by 4:00pm
2800 cals by 9:00pm + ~200cal protein shake at 9:00 and no eating after that.

p.s. - My main reason for posting this is just to see it in writing, I'll stick to it better that way. Suggestions are still welcome though.

ItsTurboTime · 07-26-2005, 07:50 AM

While I haven't actually seen a difference yet, the scale read 199 this morning! Granted I was dehydrated and hungry from sleep, and I'll be back to 204 by tonight, but still that's the first time I've seen a number that starts with a "1" in a long time. I'm still afraid I'm losing some fat and alot of lean mass but I'll deal with that once I'm at school and hitting the weights.

Rane14 · 07-26-2005, 12:00 PM

good luck, turbotime, just keep going, it ill take time and patience.