[jbloudg20]

I knwo there are other forums out there, but having a bajillion memberships already, I thought I woudl enlist the help of my Head-Fi family.

I currently wish to lose some body fat. I am not necessarily looking to lose weight (although that may be a good thing) but I am rally looking to tone up, and drop my body fat %.

I am Six foot three and a half, I weigh around 240 pounds. I don't enjoy working out much (although with some nice music, I don't mind it) but since high school, I have been gaining weight. I have a pretty muscular build already, I am thick and have very broad shoulders. I do not feel I have a weight problem, I just wish to feel better about myself.

I have access to a full gym at school, and I already have a gym buddy, who will be accompanying me everyday (except sunday). I really feel it is important to have someone else to help motivate me, and she goes to the gym everyday anyway, so I figure this is best. I have also just purchased some E2C's for the gym, to make the workouts more bearable.

My question is basically, does anyone have a good workout I can follow, and also maybe how to modify my diet. I usually eat relatively healthy, but I like to indulge once in a while.

Would it help for me to invest ina thermogenic fat burner like Xenadrine EFX? I have looked at these, and have decided on that one, unless someone can persuade me elsewhere.

Thanks a lot everyone!

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

Resistance training 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps on all body parts except abs, and calves which should be 3 sets of 20, or more reps.

Tuesday/Thursday/ Saturday/Sunday

Aerobic conditioning AT LEAST 30 minutes continuous, start out slow then pick up the pace.

Doing some quick stretching after your muscles are warmed up also is a smart idea.

Eliminate fast food, Pop, and excessive carbohydrates.
Eat more vegetables, and lean meat.
Keep your caloric intake below 1500 calories until you look the way you want.
Drink lots of water, and get 8 hours of sleep a night.
Don't eat food 4 hours before you go to bed.
After you have achieved your goals don’t forget to treat yourself to a nice meal once a week.

If you stick to this program your body will burn like a furnace, and the fat will disappear. Good luck!

 

[jbloudg20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRESCENDOPOWER Monday/Wednesday/Friday Resistance training 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps on all body parts except abs, and calves which should be 3 sets of 20, or more reps. Tuesday/Thursday/ Saturday/Sunday Aerobic conditioning AT LEAST 30 minutes continuous, start out slow then pick up the pace. Doing some quick stretching after your muscles are warmed up also is a smart idea. Eliminate fast food, Pop, and excessive carbohydrates. Eat more vegetables, and lean meat. Keep your caloric intake below 1500 calories until you look the way you want. Drink lots of water, and get 8 hours of sleep a night. Don't eat food 4 hours before you got to bed. After you have achieved your goals don’t forget to treat yourself to a nice meal once a week. If you stick to this program your body will burn like a furnace, and the fat will disappear. Good luck!

I dont drink soda, or eat fast food. 8 hours of sleep is impossible during the school year, however the rest of that is all looking good. Thanks for the help!

 

[jpr703]

Stay away from fatburners and take a good multivitamin. It's much easier to curb calories if you're getting the nutrition you need. Keep your diet balanced and eat good quality food.

If you'll keep eating sensibly and stick to a gym routine (especially one that involves both cardio and weight training) you'll be in better shape before you know it.

 

[CookieFactory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRESCENDOPOWER Monday/Wednesday/Friday Resistance training 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps on all body parts except abs, and calves which should be 3 sets of 20, or more reps. Tuesday/Thursday/ Saturday/Sunday Aerobic conditioning AT LEAST 30 minutes continuous, start out slow then pick up the pace. Doing some quick stretching after your muscles are warmed up also is a smart idea. Eliminate fast food, Pop, and excessive carbohydrates. Eat more vegetables, and lean meat. Keep your caloric intake below 1500 calories until you look the way you want. Drink lots of water, and get 8 hours of sleep a night. Don't eat food 4 hours before you go to bed. After you have achieved your goals don’t forget to treat yourself to a nice meal once a week. If you stick to this program your body will burn like a furnace, and the fat will disappear. Good luck!

Under 1500 calories a day WITH all that activity? Maybe if you're a 5'5 girl. At your body height/weight that's a sure fire way to go into starvation mode. Aim for net 1800 calories a day instead.

 

[superjohnny]

I have found that the best exercise is the one I like doing. Since I like it I do it more often and work harder at it. The by-product has been getting into better shape.

In my case it is swimming. I swim 3-5 time per week, 2,000-3,500 yards per. Swimming isn't a fat-burner like running or cycling, but it's tough to find a better all-in-one workout. My heart & lungs have gotten quite strong since I started swimming and that is one of my primary goals.

So find something you like and get out a piece of paper & a pencil and do some goal setting.

 

[Teerawit]

Eat at least 2000 calories but less than 2500 or so. Starving yourself will slow down your metabolism and force your body to burn more muscle.

The three pillars: weight lifting, cardiovascular exercise, and healthy eating. You must be serious about all three.

Eat low fat, low saturated fat, zero trans fat, low sugar, high protein, high fiber, whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies (the greener the better), etc. Eat smart and lean; make your mother proud! It's better to spread your daily caloric intake evenly over several (ie. 6-9) small meals instead of 3 large meals. This increases your metabolism while staving hunger. Eating protein also revs your metabolism (but don't overdo it and eat too much protein; aim for daily eating of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, spread throughout the day in your small meals). The most important meal of the day is breakfast; don't skimp on breakfast, as eating breakfast revs your metabolism for the whole day. Also, take a multivitamin every day. The only two additional supplements I'd recommend are whey protein and creatine. However you have to time the ingestion of these supplements properly for maximum gain.

THE MOST WEIGHT LOSS OCCURS WHEN YOUR BODY IS AT REST, when your cells and muscles are recovering and repairing after your workouts. It's important to eat, rest, and not overdo your workouts.

 

[MD1032]

CRESCENDOPOWER (organ reference?), when I was on a diet before the holidays, I lost 30 pounds eating 2800 calories a day with little exercise. Then again, I'm 6' 1.5", 295 pounds and big basically everywhere. But you're telling me I should exercise like a madman and eat 1500 a day? That's less than a small girl on a diet would eat. You'd run out of energy to work out, period. And you'll feel like total crap since you're not eating enough and your metabolism has shut down, like Teerawit suggested

Basically I'm planning to lose weight again doing basically the same thing: cut the junk (candy, dessert-type stuff) from my diet, eat a diet with plenty of complex carbs, fruits and vegetables, some protein, and unsaturated fat (like nuts). I also do some push-ups and sit-ups every night now, just to condition myself since I'm bad at push-ups and my abs are weak as heck. It's probably not burning anything, but at least I'm better at push-ups now.

 

[fewtch]

First put a Beyer DT880 on your head, it's an especially good headphone to emphasize the sound of whips.

WOCK... shhhhhhh!
WOCK... shhhhhhh!

Work, work, come on! Get off yo' butt and DO IT! Work!

WOCK... shhhhhh!
WOCK... SHHHHHH!

 

[Quado]

I was always skinny, and am slowly gaining more weight. My recommendation is to not exercise--since you are already strong--but to keep yourself busy with a hobby (to tell the truth, I was always skinny because I played video games a lot and was so into it, that I didn't even THINK of eating). All I would eat was the foods that were full of calories (junk food/drinks)... I didn't like to eat lots of meaty or fatty foods along time ago; but of course, that's why we have a libido to usually solve this problem if you're skinny. Calories is just energy, and should not really make you fat (in my opinion), so I recommend to stop eating really meaty/oily/milky/fatty substances (believe it or not, sugary/unhealthy things don't really make you very fat; because usually they only have few calories and contain little fat, but still give you a nice amount of energy + physically, most junk food is very small compared to regular food...). Exercising will just confuse you into eating more food than usual to make up for the calories lost--however, this food will most likely be meaty/oily/milky/fatty, for obvious reasons (hint hint, don't excercise too much or you'll just build up more muscle and fat)... But definately--to me--the absolute fastest way to lose weight (specifically fat), is to not eat at all (compensate for drinking lots of things with calories; fix the eating habit by eating only PHYSICALLY SMALL things). Yes, I'm crazy and a little biased, but this is from MY experience in actually being a skinny person, lol (whether I'm wrong or right, you have nothing to gain from my advice, lol).

 

[strid3r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quado I was always skinny, and am slowly gaining more weight. My recommendation is to not exercise--since you are already strong--but to keep yourself busy with a hobby (to tell the truth, I was always skinny because I played video games a lot and was so into it, that I didn't even THINK of eating). All I would eat was the foods that were full of calories (junk food/drinks)... I didn't like to eat lots of meaty or fatty foods along time ago; but of course, that's why we have a libido to usually solve this problem if you're skinny. Calories is just energy, and should not really make you fat (in my opinion), so I recommend to stop eating really meaty/oily/milky/fatty substances (believe it or not, sugary/unhealthy things don't really make you very fat; because usually they only have few calories and contain little fat, but still give you a nice amount of energy + physically, most junk food is very small compared to regular food...). Exercising will just confuse you into eating more food than usual to make up for the calories lost--however, this food will most likely be meaty/oily/milky/fatty, for obvious reasons (hint hint, don't excercise too much or you'll just build up more muscle and fat)... But definately--to me--the absolute fastest way to lose weight (specifically fat), is to not eat at all (compensate for drinking lots of things with calories; fix the eating habit by eating only PHYSICALLY SMALL things). Yes, I'm crazy and a little biased, but this is from MY experience in actually being a skinny person, lol (whether I'm wrong or right, you have nothing to gain from my advice, lol).

On the remote chance that this works for him, it is not necessarily healthy (at all). Eating a bunch of sugar-rich foods is not the best idea if he is looking to get into shape. Exercising does not necessarily increase muscle mass all that much (a lot of people seem to think that lifting will turn you into a 24-hour muscleman). You might notice a slight increase in appetite, but that shouldn't be a problem if you stick to eating healthy as the calorie offset shouldn't be drastic. Teerawit already mentioned a lot of good info, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Quado]

lol, what does that headphone smily have to do with this?

 

[CookieFactory]

Actually if you are a new to working out, you can do pretty much anything and you'll get positive results. Milk your newbie gains while you can!

 

[EyeAmEye]

Armed with an exercise bike, a Rio Karma, and my trusty Senn PX100, I have gone from 287 to 201 lbs in 14 months, breaking every dietary law known to man. Pizza, chinese food, cookies, chocolate, potato chips and an almost exclusive addiction to soda are all on the menu, and often. Loads of cheese, too. I sleep a maximum of about 5 hours a day. All I have done is 1 hour to 1.5 hours a day, six days a week, on the maximum resistance (haven't missed a day from that yet, no matter how tired or sick). No weight lifting or anything else. To my surprise, there has been muscle buried underneath layers of fat all these years, waiting to be uncovered.

I truly believe there is no tried and true method out there. What works for one will do nothing for another. That said, I probably wouldn't recommend anyone follow this method, but in the end, the best method is going to be the one you discover for yourself. There is a fair amount of good advice already in this thread, and probably more on the way. Experiment, and find what works best.

 

[overlunge]

Interesting replies

Think your body as a bank, if you decrease your saving (energy intake, eating) and increase your spending (exercise), and you will be running out of that fat storage quickly.

To drop the % body weight, and increase your tone. The best way to do it is to have a balanced regime of combined resistance and cardiovascular exercises. It is going to take time, and if you do it correctly, you will retain your body weight or maybe increase your body weight, since your muscle tissues are denser then the fatty tissues, there fore by gaining muscle mass, you would increase weight.

If you are serious about this, best to consult a trained professional, since sudden increase in activity load can put strain on your cardiovascular system and for some people it could carry some risk. Therefore having someone knows you and knowing there exercise science is the best way to minimise that risk.

Watch what you eat, how often you eat, and when you eat is also important. But I won't touch those 'thermogenics' with a high jump pole since some of them could have thyroxine which would acts to boost your metabolism and they carry some health risks as well. And sometimes they would have some substances in them that is prohibit for competing athletes....

Going too far of the tracks, good luck!


Overlunge