Overweight, Motivated, and need some advice!

[JohnRuck]

First off I just want to thank you for clicking on this topic and taking time out of your day to read what I have to say.

My name is John, I just turned 27 years old, and I am from New Orleans Louisiana. Last time I weighed myself was at a physical for work which was about 4 months ago and I weighed 254 pounds. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember and a few weeks ago something clicked in my head and told me I need to get in shape. I would be thrilled if I could get around the 195-200 pound mark. My body type isn't very typical for someone my size. I am 6 foot tall and believe it or not I am not round. My stomach sticks out but but I am not wide if you know what I mean. My legs are not overly fat, my arms are not fat looking, and my face isn't real big like you would think. I hope that makes sense. Up until the point a few weeks ago when I realized I need to get in shape, I was regularly eating fast foods, soft drinks, WHOLE pizzas,etc. I am very active during work and summers in Louisiana are brutally hot. I climb 60 foot tanks which store oil and do a lot of bending walking,etc. I feel if I wasn't so active at work I'd be REAL overweight.

For the last 3 weeks I have been running/jogging 2-3 miles 5-7 times a week with occasionally doing a 4 mile jog. I also have been very selective on what I eat. I remember the first few days jogging I couldn't run more than a minute without stopping gasping for air. I have gradually worked my endurance up and this evening I timed myself for 7.5 minutes jogging without stopping! I am damn proud of myself. When I first started out I was jogging hard. Because I was getting so sore, a friend of mine suggested I slow down and jog at a slower pace. Since taking his advice, I have not been sore since. I am finding jogging addictive now and I am very motivated to keep doing it. I put my mp3 player on while I jog and go with the flow.

As far as my diet goes, I have cut out ALL fast foods and bad things. I usually eat a apple or two a day, a salad with lite ceasar dressing mixing it with some pre-packaged "good for you" steak strips or grilled chicken. I also eat sandwiches on wheat with chicken breast or turkey with no mayo. I am worried the bread has too many carbs and I am unsure. As far as snacks, I eat bananas and almonds for snacks and fiber one bars sometimes as well. Using the "myfitnesspal" app for my android phone I count my calories every day and usually eat around 1200 calories sometimes less/sometimes a little more,

After reading this, In your opinion, am I on the right track to my goal of 200 pounds or should I be doing something differently? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated!


Also, I know I am gonna catch hell for this, but I do not have a scale and don't even know what I have lost in 3 weeks. I probably should get a scale.

[ryancarlos]

First off I just want to thank you for clicking on this topic and taking time out of your day to read what I have to say.

My name is John, I just turned 27 years old, and I am from New Orleans Louisiana. Last time I weighed myself was at a physical for work which was about 4 months ago and I weighed 254 pounds. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember and a few weeks ago something clicked in my head and told me I need to get in shape. I would be thrilled if I could get around the 195-200 pound mark. My body type isn't very typical for someone my size. I am 6 foot tall and believe it or not I am not round. My stomach sticks out but but I am not wide if you know what I mean. My legs are not overly fat, my arms are not fat looking, and my face isn't real big like you would think. I hope that makes sense. Up until the point a few weeks ago when I realized I need to get in shape, I was regularly eating fast foods, soft drinks, WHOLE pizzas,etc. I am very active during work and summers in Louisiana are brutally hot. I climb 60 foot tanks which store oil and do a lot of bending walking,etc. I feel if I wasn't so active at work I'd be REAL overweight.

For the last 3 weeks I have been running/jogging 2-3 miles 5-7 times a week with occasionally doing a 4 mile jog. I also have been very selective on what I eat. I remember the first few days jogging I couldn't run more than a minute without stopping gasping for air. I have gradually worked my endurance up and this evening I timed myself for 7.5 minutes jogging without stopping! I am damn proud of myself. When I first started out I was jogging hard. Because I was getting so sore, a friend of mine suggested I slow down and jog at a slower pace. Since taking his advice, I have not been sore since. I am finding jogging addictive now and I am very motivated to keep doing it. I put my mp3 player on while I jog and go with the flow.

As far as my diet goes, I have cut out ALL fast foods and bad things. I usually eat a apple or two a day, a salad with lite ceasar dressing mixing it with some pre-packaged "good for you" steak strips or grilled chicken. I also eat sandwiches on wheat with chicken breast or turkey with no mayo. I am worried the bread has too many carbs and I am unsure. As far as snacks, I eat bananas and almonds for snacks and fiber one bars sometimes as well. Using the "myfitnesspal" app for my android phone I count my calories every day and usually eat around 1200 calories sometimes less/sometimes a little more,

After reading this, In your opinion, am I on the right track to my goal of 200 pounds or should I be doing something differently? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated!


Also, I know I am gonna catch hell for this, but I do not have a scale and don't even know what I have lost in 3 weeks. I probably should get a scale.

i'm no expert but from what I've read here over and over again is that a scale is probably the worst thing you can own. Sometimes if you don't see a drop in the scale it will demotivate you and make you lose focus. Go by how you look in the mirror. Also, you didn't mention anything about lifting weights? Again from what I've read weights are just as if not more more important than doing cardio.

[Seachmall]

For someone who's 6' I think 1200 calories is a little low. If you read the stickies it'll tell you how to correctly calculate your caloric needs (I think MyFitnessPal might be leaving you short calorie wise).

Definitely get a scale too. You need some form of measurement to make sure what you're doing is working properly, scales are the easiest.

And best of luck.

[LeanValentino]

First off I just want to thank you for clicking on this topic and taking time out of your day to read what I have to say.

My name is John, I just turned 27 years old, and I am from New Orleans Louisiana. Last time I weighed myself was at a physical for work which was about 4 months ago and I weighed 254 pounds. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember and a few weeks ago something clicked in my head and told me I need to get in shape. I would be thrilled if I could get around the 195-200 pound mark. My body type isn't very typical for someone my size. I am 6 foot tall and believe it or not I am not round. My stomach sticks out but but I am not wide if you know what I mean. My legs are not overly fat, my arms are not fat looking, and my face isn't real big like you would think. I hope that makes sense. Up until the point a few weeks ago when I realized I need to get in shape, I was regularly eating fast foods, soft drinks, WHOLE pizzas,etc. I am very active during work and summers in Louisiana are brutally hot. I climb 60 foot tanks which store oil and do a lot of bending walking,etc. I feel if I wasn't so active at work I'd be REAL overweight.

For the last 3 weeks I have been running/jogging 2-3 miles 5-7 times a week with occasionally doing a 4 mile jog. I also have been very selective on what I eat. I remember the first few days jogging I couldn't run more than a minute without stopping gasping for air. I have gradually worked my endurance up and this evening I timed myself for 7.5 minutes jogging without stopping! I am damn proud of myself. When I first started out I was jogging hard. Because I was getting so sore, a friend of mine suggested I slow down and jog at a slower pace. Since taking his advice, I have not been sore since. I am finding jogging addictive now and I am very motivated to keep doing it. I put my mp3 player on while I jog and go with the flow.

As far as my diet goes, I have cut out ALL fast foods and bad things. I usually eat a apple or two a day, a salad with lite ceasar dressing mixing it with some pre-packaged "good for you" steak strips or grilled chicken. I also eat sandwiches on wheat with chicken breast or turkey with no mayo. I am worried the bread has too many carbs and I am unsure. As far as snacks, I eat bananas and almonds for snacks and fiber one bars sometimes as well. Using the "myfitnesspal" app for my android phone I count my calories every day and usually eat around 1200 calories sometimes less/sometimes a little more,

After reading this, In your opinion, am I on the right track to my goal of 200 pounds or should I be doing something differently? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated!


Also, I know I am gonna catch hell for this, but I do not have a scale and don't even know what I have lost in 3 weeks. I probably should get a scale.

Hey mate.

I think your diet looks pretty good. Question is can you maintain that way of eating? You said "I am worried the bread has too many carbs and I am unsure." which made me frown. You are a big guy, and I don't mean it in a negative way. You are 6 foot and apparently pretty strong, so you HAVE muscles that NEED energy. Don't make the mistake of not eating carbs at all because your body will not react in a positive way (you will probably feel very weak and have a craving for unhealthy foods).

I'd say your first goal should be to just to create a caloric deficit in relation to your earlier diet. Eat like a strong athlete, not like a weak guy (and neither like you did before).

1200 calories is a preeetty low calorie diet.

My last tip is to have a cheat day, where you eat what you crave (go to mcdonalds, burgerking, have pizza, fuark it). This will satisfy you most likely and it will be easier keep eating healthy for the next days.


Also: You might wanna add pictures or at least your stats to your profile on bodybuilding.com it can really be a huuge motivation to hear people complimenting you on your success and helping you out.

[JohnRuck]

Hey mate.

I think your diet looks pretty good. Question is can you maintain that way of eating? You said "I am worried the bread has too many carbs and I am unsure." which made me frown. You are a big guy, and I don't mean it in a negative way. You are 6 foot and apparently pretty strong, so you HAVE muscles that NEED energy. Don't make the mistake of not eating carbs at all because your body will not react in a positive way (you will probably feel very weak and have a craving for unhealthy foods).

I'd say your first goal should be to just to create a caloric deficit in relation to your earlier diet. Eat like a strong athlete, not like a weak guy (and neither like you did before).

1200 calories is a preeetty low calorie diet.

My last tip is to have a cheat day, where you eat what you crave (go to mcdonalds, burgerking, have pizza, fuark it). This will satisfy you most likely and it will be easier keep eating healthy for the next days.


Also: You might wanna add pictures or at least your stats to your profile on bodybuilding.com it can really be a huuge motivation to hear people complimenting you on your success and helping you out.

thanks for the great advice. The "myfitnesspal" suggests i eat around 2028 calories a day. I figured if i ate less than that it would speed up my weight loss. Apparently this is not a good idea and from here on out i will eat more. I would guess when I was eating unhealthy i would consume around 4000-5000 calories a day from eating fast food drinking 5 soft drinks a day,snacking on bad things whenever I want,etc....I would notice after waking up I would feel incredibly tired and just overall bad throughout my day. After the first week of trying to get in shape I had noticed a SIGNIFICANT change in how I feel during my day and now after 3 weeks I feel better than I have ever felt in my life. It's amazing.

Also, in the 3 weeks I haven't had a single cheat day. One time I did eat a dozen charbroiled oysters which in itself was around 1,200 carlories but I also ran 2 miles in the morning and 4 miles at night that day to help offset the extra calories.

Thanks for the reply and if anyone else would like to add anymore advice, I am all ears

[dwyerg]

Keep it up John, you will get there, you will get there.

[Ocampo82]

Hey John- If you don't have a food scale that would be a good investment

[JohnRuck]

Hey John- If you don't have a food scale that would be a good investment

thanks for the heads up!