Big guy trying to get smaller

[Built]

sorry, I wasn't understanding you...still a noob here, but appreciate your wisdom. Yes, I did burn more calories than I consumed. Workouts are 6 times a week. 4 days weight training, 2 days cardio.

my before and after can be found here...my stats are here too...let me know what you think..

road2riddick blogspot com (fill in the dots)

You exercised off the weight. It'll work, but it's not the only way to create a deficit. Nice work by the way - 25lbs of fat lost and no net loss of muscle is nothing to sneeze at!

ok, I am looking at foods with more protein, but my question now is this: How much or how often or for how long do I need to workout to burn the right amount of calories?

You don't need to exercise off any calories. You just need to lift heavy and eat less than you require.

 

[kaoticone]

I'm looking as having this as one option for breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled, 2 pieces of wheat toast and 1 tablespoon of jelly, 1 banana.

according 2 fit day, here are the nutrition facts on 1 whole egg cooked, scrambled, doesn't sound right, does it?


Here are the facts according to fitday:
2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of wheat toast with 1 tbsp. of jelly, 1 banana

2eggs:
cals: 730
P: 48
F: 52

2 slices of wheat toast:
cals: 150
P: 6
F: 2

1 Tbsp. of jelly
cals: 33.7
P: 0.1
F: 0.1

Banana:
cals: 105
P: 2.5
F: 0.8

 

[Marat]

That is for a cup of egg. Not for one egg.

 

[kaoticone]

oh. here is for 1 large egg:

I'll update my breakfast up there.

2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of wheat toast with 1 tbsp. of jelly, 1 banana

2eggs:
cals: 204
P: 13.9
F: 14.8

Wheat Toast:
cals: 150
P: 6
F: 2

1 Tbsp. of jelly
cals: 33.7
P: 0.1
F: 0.1

Banana:
cals: 105
P: 2.5
F: 0.8

 

[kaoticone]

I'm starting to think about this, it seems like the more I try to create meals to add to 180 grams of protein, the more it seems like I'll actually be eating A LOT more food than I normally do. is that not gonna backfire somehow?

 

[Built]

I don't understand your problem. I eat over 200g of protein daily and I have no trouble doing so.

 

[kaoticone]

I don't understand your problem. I eat over 200g of protein daily and I have no trouble doing so.

I'm probably just paranoid/confused. seems like I'd be eating more calories too. I'm sure it'll work out.

 

[kaoticone]

I'm sorta stumped on lunch options. Here is 1:
2 6.5oz cans of tune in water(drained) with 2 tbsp. of mayo, 3 pieces of wheat toast.
2 cans of tuna:
P - 85g
F - 2.7 g

2 tbsp mayo:
P - 0.3 g
F - 21.5 g

3 pieces of wheat toast:
P - 9.5g
F - 3.1 g

Thoughts?

Here is my option 2:
2 boneless(can I buy it that way?) chicken breast spiced or marinated, with 2 cups of brown rice with a little butter. Nutrition to come later when I have time.

 

[Perdido]

I've ditched the bread & mayo awhile ago and dump the tuna on top of a salad with just enough dressing to taste for my lunches. Just a suggestion.
Oh and you can do the same with boneless skinless whatever...

 

[kaoticone]

I've ditched the bread & mayo awhile ago and dump the tuna on top of a salad with just enough dressing to taste for my lunches. Just a suggestion.
Oh and you can do the same with boneless skinless whatever...

Not a bad idea, thanks.
I just figured that the bread would help with the fiber. I'm thinking the brown rice may have to go, I think too much fiber might constipate me.

 

[Marat]

Do you track your carbohydrate intake? It seems that you never mention it in any of your meals.

 

[kaoticone]

Do you track your carbohydrate intake? It seems that you never mention it in any of your meals.

no, I have not thought of that, all that's ever been mentioned is calories, protein, and fat.

 

[Marat]

Try this:
Set a calorie level at 2000 a day for now. Try to get in about 180g of protein and about 90g of fat, and about 25g of fibre from food. Your carbs should settle in at or around 100g a day

Do that.

Carbohydrates contain energy, therefore you need to take them into consideration.

 

[socialgym]

A friend who is a nutritionist and a trainer recommend that I use a bicycle, even one of those stationary ones for a good cardio workout to burn fat. what do you all suggest on that? I really need to burn fat.

Ever think of buying the Cyclotrainer attachment for your total gym? It gets you great cardio and is a lot less expensive than a stationary bike. We are Total Gym affiliates and have an XLS in our office so if you need tips on how to burn fat on it I'd be happy to post a video for you and show you how the Cyclo Trainer works. Otherwise it sounds like you need to up the cardio (although what you're doing is good...60-85% max heart rate= fat burning zone. Exercises like jogging are great for that). Muscle weighs more than fat as you know, so don't worry too much unless you really just want to weight less. In that case, you should lift lighter weights and just do less weight lifting in general and more cardio. Let me know if you'd like more Total Gym info on the Cyclo Trainer. Good luck!

 

[kaoticone]

Ever think of buying the Cyclotrainer attachment for your total gym? It gets you great cardio and is a lot less expensive than a stationary bike. We are Total Gym affiliates and have an XLS in our office so if you need tips on how to burn fat on it I'd be happy to post a video for you and show you how the Cyclo Trainer works. Otherwise it sounds like you need to up the cardio (although what you're doing is good...60-85% max heart rate= fat burning zone. Exercises like jogging are great for that). Muscle weighs more than fat as you know, so don't worry too much unless you really just want to weight less. In that case, you should lift lighter weights and just do less weight lifting in general and more cardio. Let me know if you'd like more Total Gym info on the Cyclo Trainer. Good luck!

I have the first or second total gym. everyone here already told me to stick with lifting on my total gym, so that's what I'm doing. I don't know if my heart rate gets very high during my workouts.

 

[kaoticone]

1 small question. How long should my workout last? I usually workout for 30 minutes to 45 minutes as I understand that working out too long can have negative effects. Thoughts?

 

[Perdido]

Ever think of buying the Cyclotrainer attachment for your total gym?

Typical. Don't offer advise just "hey you need to buy this or that and you'll burn fat like crazy" effin spammers.

Typically keeping workouts under an hour is good unless you're an elite athlete IMO.

 

[T_man]

Katicone if you're on a cut, why have something like a banana and jelly for breakfast when you're already having 2 slices of wheat bread. The idea is to increase protein, not carbs. Maybe add some fibrous veggies or some low cal fruit there instead, bananas are not a good idea to add to existing meals on a cut.

 

[Perdido]

^ agree. I've taken a tip from Kelju and when eating my eggs in the morning I top them off with salsa. I've even topped them with coleslaw when I ran out of salsa and wasn't bad at all. I try to get my veggies in all of my meals.

 

[kaoticone]

good observation. maybe an apple instead? I'm confused even more now on exercise, my friend who's a nutritionist says I need to run instead of weightlifting, he thinks I should start off with jogging slowly, and move my way up, but I need to do at least 30 minutes a day, then move to weight training on my total gym.

 

[T_man]

good observation. maybe an apple instead? I'm confused even more now on exercise, my friend who's a nutritionist says I need to run instead of weightlifting, he thinks I should start off with jogging slowly, and move my way up, but I need to do at least 30 minutes a day, then move to weight training on my total gym.

Weight loss from a bodybuilding point of view and fat loss from a generic point of view are different things. Your nutritionist is probably a general nutritionist who wants you to lose weight, not fat. A little running will definately be beneficial for health reasons but if you want to hang on to your muscle you need to keep it low. Remember your body wants to do things as efficiently as possible, and if it means burning muscle that is taking up alot of energy and not assisting you running (aka type 2 fibers) it wont have a problem losing them! Your body doesn't care how it looks.

 

[Built]

Your friend the nutritionist needs to take a look at the forces that hit the feet of an overweight jogger.

If you love to run, and you're fat, lose the weight, THEN run.

Cardio is easily the WORST way to try to lose weight. It just doesn't create that much of a deficit, and it does nothing to retain lean mass.

 

[kaoticone]

Your friend the nutritionist needs to take a look at the forces that hit the feet of an overweight jogger.

If you love to run, and you're fat, lose the weight, THEN run.

Cardio is easily the WORST way to try to lose weight. It just doesn't create that much of a deficit, and it does nothing to retain lean mass.

I think you are right. I do think I need to work out more than 3 days a week, but I could be wrong, I don't want to overdo it. By the way, he suggested I read men's health, he says it has lots of good nutrition and health info, so I subscribed for a year.

 

[Built]

Three days a week while dropping fat is just about perfect. Pretend exercise burns no calories at all; that way you know where to create the caloric deficit: your diet.

I like men's health, but just for the pictures.

I sure as shit wouldn't follow the advice in there.

 

[kaoticone]

Three days a week while dropping fat is just about perfect. Pretend exercise burns no calories at all; that way you know where to create the caloric deficit: your diet.

I like men's health, but just for the pictures.

I sure as shit wouldn't follow the advice in there.

Great. I am confident that I will lose. I still am trying to work up my diet though. Question, someone said to have a salad topped with tune instead of eating it as a sandwich, should the salad have veggies or dressing? and how much protein is salad?

 

[Built]

Eat whatever you like. If you eat fewer calories than you require, you will lose.

Carbs may make you hungrier. If so, you have two choices:
1. if you hate being hungry, avoid eating a lot of carbohydrate and instead focus on protein, fibrous veggies and healthy fats.
2. if you love being hungry (don't laugh, a surprising number of people don't feel like they are "winning" unless they're hungry all the time), eat a low fat diet, lots of complex carbs at each meal, and make sure to eat six or more tiny meals a day. This will ensure maximal discomfort while dieting.

 

[kaoticone]

lol, yes, I desire maximum discomfort while losing weight to feel like I'm REALLY working at it. I needed a good laugh.

 

[T_man]

Haha feeling hungry just makes me feel like my muscles are being burned I don't like it. Maybe I'm destined to be fat

 

[kaoticone]

I got this cool app on my iphone that will help me track my calories. it says I need to have 2,176 calories a day to lose the weight and reach 215 pounds in 1 year ,sounds crazy. By the way, I thought whet toast would be good with breakfast for a complex carb, what does anyone recommend?

 

[kaoticone]

I'm stuck on what would be good for dinner, my current listed options unchanged mean I have to make up 80 or so grams of protein at dinner, so what can anyone suggest?