New to the forum...and serious about losing fat..

[inabox]

Hello,

I have been lurking throughout the forums for the last 2 weeks reading as much as I can on nutrition and fat loss. I understand that the only legitimate way to drop weight is by proper dieting and proper exercising.

Let me tell you a little about myself and my stats. I am 21 years old. I have struggled with my weight since I was in elementary school. I was always chubby growing up. When I was in the 10th grade...I was 5'6" and weight in 190lbs. I decided that I had to do something about my situation so I read about the Atkins diet and managed to drop 50lbs in 6 months. I look back at it and realize how unhealthy it was. I didnt excercise during the diet and I lost tons of muscle. I had a grown spurt a year later and shot up around 6 inches.

I am now 6' and 195lbs - 22% BF. After losing all the weight I turned vegetarian. I have now been vegetarian for almost 7 years. I am unhappy about my physical appearance and it really brings my confidence and motivation down. I am serious about cutting my BF down to 10-12%. I have a few questions on proper eating and proper exercising.

Before I ask questions about proper eating...let me explain my current diet. I am not going to lie to you. I have pretty poor eating habits. I use to eat fast food around 3-4 times a week but I have cut down on it since. I do eat a lot of carbs due to not having any meat in my diet. Lots of cheese, bread, pasta, sugar and soda. I was drinking around 6 cans of soda a day. More soda than water to be honest. Before I get yelled at for this. I understand how bad this is...and I have been cutting back on soda and plan on eliminating from my life all together. I normally dont eat breakfast and usually eat around 2 meals a day. I would say for example my first meal will be around 1 or 2pm (Maybe a cheese quesadilla) and my second meal would be around 7 or 8pm (Maybe a couple Boca Burgers and some potato salad). That is a general idea of how I eat. There are some snacks in between but I wouldnt say it is anything healthy.

I can made this list on what I am going to pick up from the grocery store:

Brown Rice
Mixed Vegetables
Carrots
Broccoli
Fat Free Ranch
Wheat Bread
Fruit
Peanut Butter
Cottage Cheese
Nuts
Egg Whites
Spinach
Garlic
Salad
Unsweetened Ice Tea
Diet Soda
Juice
Sweet Potato
Yams

What would be a general good diet for me to stick to? What would be the best way for me to get back on track with exercising. I signed up to a local gym yesterday and I plan on running 3miles around 4x a week. My weakest areas would definately be my gut, chest, and love handles. I basically need some solid information to put me in the right path and I know this forum is a great place for this. Thank you for time.

[The Director]

Hey, good luck. I'm on the same stats as yourself, 6'0, 190 lbs, 23% bf. I'm also gonna be doing a major cutting phase in acouple weeks carb cycling, look into that. I'm doing keto now, but feel that keto is better when wanting to bulk rather than cut bodyfat. PM me if you want any info on carb cycling, Ill send some articles down your way. Add some meat to your list, Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Lean Turkey, etc.

Good luck.

[Finnegan Bell]

careful with carrots-fruits and drop the juice,u shall make simple carbs minimum and eat ur majority of carbs of complex type.

read this,it will help
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=915014

[martina92685]

Add some meat to your list, Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Lean Turkey, etc.

Good luck.

He's vegetarian

[The Director]

He's vegetarian

Right.


In that case, add in some beans, Id personally stay away from soy.

[vvilliam]

Yeah I was at 210 once, then went to 180, then to 158, and then to 190, then to 185, then I've been mostly 185-180 for a long time (now I'm 175) and I'm still looking to make my six pack a permanent thing for this summer.

and I'm having trouble with keto as well (I think I'll stop it...)

First things first, you're going to learn that THE most important thing for you is nutrition. Because even before you decide to work out during the day, what you eat is going to affect

a) how much energy you're going to have
b) whether or not you gain or lose fat that day

So the most important thing with nutrition is to develop a solid "routine" and to be consistent. And that means being able to prepare your day's meals in half an hour. So portability, cheapness, and ease of preparation are what I consider when I'm thinking of food choices. I eat roughly the same things allll the time, because I'm busy. I don't have the luxury of time to prepare nice stuff. But no matter what, because I have very simple foods, I can eat clean 24/7 (or try to, anyway)

These are going to be common sights in your kitchen. Here are some options as to how to prepare them.

CHICKEN BREAST

a) Boil the breasts in a pot. Overcooking them makes them chewy. Eww. Use hot sauce or mustard (hot sauce is a savior)

b) Cut the 3 breasts (usually 10 bucks or so) into 3/4 inch - 1 inch cubes. Put some olive oil onto a pan and then put in the cubes of ONE breast into it. You can microwave it beforehand if you want, but not too much. Use the olive oil as you see fit.

c) Microwave the entire thing. Tastes pretty good if you season it with salt and pepper and don't overcook it.

d) buy the pack of 6 individually wrapped breasts from costco for 20 bucks. They come in 3 DELICIOUS flavors and at 3.20 a pound they are a TREAT.

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TUNA

a) mix it with a little bit of low-fat mayo (not so much, I don't like the sugar) and possibly some celery. Works great with two slices of whole wheat bread. You've got 35 grams of protein, good carbs, at roughly 350 calories.

b) eat it out of the can. Bring water, you'll need it so you don't choke!
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EGG WHITES

are AMAZING. If you don't eat egg whites you don't know what you're missing.

a) Hard boil them. I get a dozen for 1.69 at Giant. 8 grams of protein each. that's 96 grams of protein. If you do the math you'll figure out it's cheaper than tuna, chicken, or whey. Super portable.

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TURKEY BREAST

It's good. Tastes good and is such a relief from eating chicken all the time. I remember getting them in chunks like you would ham, from costco. It's a good deal.

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WHEY PROTEIN

It's useful for taking in first thing in the morning and after you work out. It's always better to have real food but hey, if you're in a pinch and you're caught with no food around it's good to have some whey.

SWEET POTATOES

They've got 4 grams of fiber, they're a slow-burning carb, easy to prepare, cheap, and portable. Godsend.

Take one tater and lay it down horizontally. Slice down the middle. Cut each half into quarters and rinse it with water just to get it wet. Put them in a ziploc bag with a little opening in it for the steam to get out (but not much). In 2-3 minutes they're ready. If you cook them right they're so soft you can just scrape it off with your teeth, as if the thing were a fruit.

__________________________________________________ _____

KIDNEY BEANS IN A CAN

Lots of fiber, slow burning, and cheap. Only downside is that you can fart a bit if you don't chew well enough. They give me sustained energy for long periods of time, and I swear by them.

__________________________________________________ ______
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD SLICES

Either you use them for sandwiches or by themselves. When rushing out in the morning I've resorted to taking half the bag along with my protein source for the day, and that's my food.

__________________________________________________ _________

PECANS

A good fat source. Portable. Not so cheap though...but I still like them. But eat these guys sparingly unless you're doing keto.

1 gram of protein per pound of lean bodyweight AT LEAST

First figure out your BMR, which is usually 15 x your bodyweight in pounds.

So for you that's 2925 calories. Cut out 500 calories. 2425 is going to be what you eat everyday...PERHAPS.

Depending on how heavy you lift or how sedentary your day is you might not feel that's close to enough, or that's wayy too much. So it's a feeling out process. The goal is to never get tired in the day.

Eat every 3 hours, or perhaps even less. First you'll feel tired. After that you get hungry. At the very least you never want to get hungry, unless it's nightime (and that's hungry, not starving)

So again, with roughly 2500 calories. Divide that by six meals.
You get an average of 415 calories per meal.

Your day is not going to go exactly

Meal 1: 415 7am
Meal 2: 415 9am
Meal 3: 415 12pm
Meal 4: 415 3pm
Meal 5: 415 6pm
Meal 6: 415 9pm

because you're going to require more energy in the morning, less energy at night, and what your body needs could vary because of lifting (the post-workout meal)

So it could be more like

Meal 1: 600 7am
Meal 2: 400 9am
Meal 3: 450 12pm
Meal 4: 500 3pm
Meal 5: 350 6pm
Meal 6: 200 9pm

So eat 40 grams of protein per meal. That's 4x40= 160 calories. So Meal 1 would have 600base - 160 protein = "the rest" as 440. That will come from carbs and fat.

A greater amount of carbs in the first half of the day, and they'll diminish as you get later into the day (again, depending on whether you're working out in the afternoon or not)

....... and at night time, eat salads and tuna.

Now the "little" quirks. I like to have diet coke sometimes. But not much, I LOVE water. But I do need something sweet sometimes.

A cup of coffee before working out is really helpful.
Lifting weights INTENSELY will be ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL TO YOUR SUCCESS.
Doing cardio and BREATHING HEAVILY will be NECESSARY to lose fat noticeably.

You're going to mess up a lot. What's going to happen is that you'll get motivated, rush into it and develop a system, and then perhaps fall off the wagon and stay off the track for awhile.

But as long as you keep on a) pushing yourself and b) improving your knowledge and willpower your body will change, and yeah you'll be edging towards 10% bf eventually.

But know that what you know isn't as important as how much practice you have. After awhile eating clean and being healthy will become second nature, and you'll get sick after eating sugar-loaded foods and learn how to enjoy foods with SUBSTANCE.

and yeah, last thing. ALWAYS look at the nutrition label and keep sugar LOW. Sugar = white death 90% of the time.

[inabox]

Awesome guys. Thank you so much for your input.

I understand how important nutrition is. I guess my biggest confusion would be how to tell what is good vs. bad when it comes to reading nutrition labels. Im not sure what is a good ratio.

I am trying to find a vegetarian diet plan that would give me a general idea of how my 6 meals should look. That would be great.

As far as exercising...would the best choice be to run on a treadmill, use a stationary bike or an elliptical? How long would be good to start with in my situation. How many calories am I aiming to burn in one cardio session? Is weight training is a must while trying to cut? Thanks again!

[Bronkko]

Is weight training is a must while trying to cut?

if you want to keep muscle it is.

[vvilliam]

Awesome guys. Thank you so much for your input.

I understand how important nutrition is. I guess my biggest confusion would be how to tell what is good vs. bad when it comes to reading nutrition labels. Im not sure what is a good ratio.

I am trying to find a vegetarian diet plan that would give me a general idea of how my 6 meals should look. That would be great.

As far as exercising...would the best choice be to run on a treadmill, use a stationary bike or an elliptical? How long would be good to start with in my situation. How many calories am I aiming to burn in one cardio session? Is weight training is a must while trying to cut? Thanks again!

What you eat shouldn't be determined by what you see on the label.
You've already planned what you need for that meal, and you mix and match foods to fulfill that requirement.

The way I do it:

get 40 g of protein > get something mostly protein > eggs/tuna/chicken
subtract 160 from the calorie requirement for that meal. So if I am eating a 500 calorie lunch, I'll take 160 out from protein. Now I've got 340 left in carbs and fat. You're going to take in more carbs than fat. So say... 90 calories in fat and 250 calories from carbs.

That's just the way I think and do it, but that's just my habit.

Fat is not a bad thing. It's just that we get too much of the wrong kind, and too little of the good kind. Bad kind: the kind that is hard at room temp (animal) good kind: the kind that is liquid at room temp

Carbs are good. They fuel you. But... you have to take in the kind that releases its energy steadily and slowly. This is why whole wheat bread is better for you than white. Say you 300 calories from table sugar and 300 calories from sweet potatoes. The 300 from sugar is going to get you hyper, and then you'll feel tired and sick after the sugar high.
The sweet potatoes won't have dramatic effect.
If you look in http://www.glycemicindex.com/

and click on GI Database, you'll find some blank fields.
Type in "50" in the second field. Those foods are good.
Type in "80-90" in the second field. Those foods are bad most of the time, these foods will be eaten sparingly and only in specific times, such as after a workout.

Sugar is bad. If you want to look at why America is so fat just look at all the sugar in the diet. Sugar/hi GI > insulin spike > fat gain

sodium isnt good. water retention first of all, and constricts blood vessels
protein is good. Very good. But there are different kinds.




As for cardio, don't think about calories. At all, ever again. First start off with 10 minutes of something that gets your heart going and makes you pant. As your lungs and heart can take it, increase the time and the intensity. Aim for 30 minutes at a intensity where it's hard to breathe but it's not so hard that you can't continue for the entire 30 minutes.

You can try intervals. Run hard for a minute, then slow down for a minute, then up again for a minute....and so on.

Now I say running because that's hard. I don't like treadmills because I can't change the speed whenever I want to. Stationary bikes are good if you can get your heart rate above 130, but a waste of time if you're gonna cycle at a "nice" pace.

Ellipticals are tough if you mess with the settings. If you're sweating like crazy from the elliptical and you can't hold a conversation because you're breathing hard, then that's good.



and YES, LIFTING WEIGHTS IS ESSENTIAL TO LOSING FAT!!!!!

!!!!
!!!!

a) it's going to raise your metabolism. Imagine revving a muscle car. That's raising the heat of the engine, and that car is going to BUUUURN lots of fuel when someone steps on the gas.

Now imagine a solar powered car. ... not going to burn much just by going long distances and ... it can't even "rev"

So that's metabolism. Lifting weights is going to rev you up and raise the metabolism for 12 hours later (and burn more fat) for that day.

b) it's going to raise your metabolism PERMANENTLY as you put muscle on. http://www.shapefit.com/exercise-que...-calories.html

c) if you don't lift weights while cutting, you will lose more muscle than fat. Five pounds of fat lost the right way looks makes a much bigger difference in how fat you look. than 10 pounds lost the wrong way. So do it the right way

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/vegetari...ybuilding.aspx



oh and go to the library and get 3 good books on bodybuilding/ losing weight. You're not going to succeed if you don't understand these concepts yourself and make them SOLID. Changing the shape of your body is such a huge endeavor that it's worth it to yourself to arm yourself with knowledge for the long haul.

And books will build the foundation of your knowledge, and the net will update it. But if you look to the net only then you'll get a mish mash of everyone's opinion but no solid foundation of knowledge to how it all works together.

and books are superior in this respect anyway. and faster.

[inabox]

Awesome information. Thank you.

[GForce78NJ]

tom venuto - burn the fat feed the muscle... online book can be purchased...i would suggest that for 1 of those books vvilliam is speaking of that has a lot of knowledge on bodybuilding.... wish you all the luck to starting your new lifestyle for so many months

[kunitkrzybear]

i think that being vegitarian is just not healthy. your just destroying your body's ability to break down proteins. I think eating chicken breast and tuna are one of the compound staples to dieting. If ever you decide not to be a vegitarian you would have to very slowly introduce these meats back into your diet becasue your body would have lost some ability to process it. Id say start with 20g of it and add 10g per week would be healthy.