Thread: Realistic goals?

Your cardio and weights look good, but I really don't think your eating enough. You don't want your body to think it's starving, and if your eating that little you don't have very much room to tweak your diet later on. Do you ever eat any carbs? Do you have a carb up day?

I do have a carb up day, usually on Sundays. Usually some kind of wheat pasta, sweet potatoes etc. I guess I'm kind of brainwashed w/ all the carb talk now, and by cutting my carbs, I have seem some success. I also eat oatmeal (not the instant kind) a few times per week.

One thing I don't want to do is to yo-you back up to the 300 pound mark again. Two years ago, I was entering a body fat loss competition, I dropped 53 pounds in three months, but I yo-yod back up again.

You want to drop 2 pounds a week, max. Anything more than that isn't healthy. Figure out what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is and eat approx. 500 KCAL less per day.
MEN: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Whats wrong with instant oatmeal? It has the same exact ingredients and macro nutrient breakdown as regular oats.

"You want to drop 2 pounds a week, max. Anything more than that isn't healthy. Figure out what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is and eat approx. 500 KCAL less per day.
MEN: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)"

Yes, this is excellent advice.

And I'm curious too--what is wrong with instant oatmeal?

Nothing wrong with instant oatmeal as long as it is plain (not the sugary flavored stuff).

2-3 pounds per week is, in general the most you want to be losing, but it has been my experience that people with BF% above 25% tend to lose more than that in the beginning, then their loss tapers off.

I dont think it is an unrelistic goal (if you shoot for the stars and miss, you still hit the moon)...if you dont hit your goal but you are making progress then just keep plugging away...that is the biggest thing....dont let it discourage you if you dont reach it exactly....keep doing your thing and you will get there...persistence and dedication = results!

I understand the that instant oatmeal, when it goes through processing strips the fiber content that is so beneficial in raw oats. Plus, the oatmeal I used to eat was the sugary kind!

people with BF% above 25% tend to lose more than that in the beginning, then their loss tapers off.

Yes, I forgot about this. When you carry that much weight, changes in metabolism have a more dramatic effect at first.

So, yes, that's a realistic goal!

As someone else stated above, just make sure you don't eat TOO LITTLE--this can send your metabolism falling, and end up doing more harm than good.

processing food does usually strip the fiber...as in white bread....for some reason this doesnt seem to be the case with oatmeal...at least according to their labels.

as you go down, 15 lbs. a month aren't realisitic, in my experinece.

I was 353 lbs. and the first 50 came off fast. then the body adjusts, and you need to stick to a program.

I think you cals are low for a man of your size and activity. I'm in the 260's and I'm losing a pound or two a week eating 2400 cals. (working out 6x a week like you) and I'm not hungry (or not most of the time )