I'm a 20 year old male, about 6 feet tall, and weigh 252.8lbs. According to my Taylor body fat analyzer, I'm 44.1% fat. (I don't believe it to be all that accurate.) :d_frown:

This is what I do in a normal day:

Wake up whenever I please, usually around 10am. Hop on the stationary bike for 45 minutes; Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and about 30 minutes on days I lift; Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

Sample diet:
Time Calories Carbs Protein
Post Cardio protein shake 10:30 240 15g 31g
3/4 Cup Egg Beaters 11:00 90 3g 18g
4oz deli meat 11:00 120 4g 22g
1oz almonds 12:00 160 6g 6g
6oz tuna 2:30 150 0g 32.5g
8oz chicken breast 5:30 220 0g 50g
2 Cups green beans 5:30 45 9g 2.25g
protein shake 8:00 240 15g 31g

I usually go to bed around 1 or 2am, but don't seem to get hungry after the protein shake. I've been following this diet since Monday (3/7/05) and have lost about 5.8 pounds. The real question I have is: Do you think I'm eating enough to prevent the loss of muscle? I realize that with any cutting diet, you're going to lose some muscle, but I'd really like to minimize the loss. 5.8 pounds just seems to be alot to lose in 4 days. Also, is it better to do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach, or should I be drinking the protein shake before I do my morning cardio? Thanks in advance for any help/comments.

You're not eating enough - what you posted is about 1300 calories. I'm 6'2" at 215 - and I don't dip below 1700 calories in a day (and some will even tell you thats probably a little low)

Don't stress over the pre/post workout stuff - focus on getting another 4-500 calories at least into your diet.

I do my cardio in the morning fasted - I seem to get better results - but thats just an opinion - everybody has one on fasted cardio. I usually wait at lest 30-45 minutes after my morning cardio to eat anything. (Something suggested in the Eating for Life Book - and it "feels" right)

At this point you are basically starving yourself - while your 5 lbs was probably fat and a lot of water (assuming you just started?) - get the calories out of starvation range and I think you're on the right road. :gl:

Like Vatechguy said, you are not eating nearly enough. The looks like a tiny amount of food.

For starters read this thread http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222

It is a world of information. Look to having 5-6 meals a day and splitting up your calories evenly.

Personally I noticed no difference exercising in a fasted state in teh morning, the most important thing is to get into a routine you will keep. If you cannot see yourself keep it up for a while then you need to consider it. Remember you will be looking here long term and changes are not just for a week or so.

Other than that, read around here and ask questions - everyone here is very helpful and you will find someone who has been in the same situation before so learn from others mistakes and you will be fine.

Oh.... good luck by the way :D

Ditto to what vatechguy and garthus said. If you don't eat enough calories, you will see "weight" loss from fat, muscle and water. However, your metabolism will also be slowing down rapidly in response to sensing that food is scarce. When that happens, your weight loss will slow down to a crawl. It's a bad place to be.

At 253 pounds, I'd say get your calories up to around 2500, at a minimum. You might see a little weight gain as your body responds to getting more food than it's used to. That will taper off and you'll start to see gradual weight loss again, but at 2500 calories of clean food, it should be mostly fat. Don't be impatient, try to shoot for 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week. That may seem very slow, but if you keep at that pace for a year, you'll lose 50-100 pounds. When you look at it that way, it's almost staggering what can be accomplished at a 1-2 pound per week pace.

I made this same mistake when I first started my training program, first mistake was signing up for ediets (allthough a great source for recipes)

I went off the diet they setup for me, they had me eating alittle under 500cals per meal (3 meals a day) after a couple weeks of frustration, I found this site and quickly bumped my calories up over 2600 per day spread out over 6 meals.

as soon as I did that, my weight started dropping consistantly.

Yeah, it is hard putting down this many calories, I tried adding 2-3 extra protien shakes during the day and its working so far, in the future I may try and use heavy olive oil instead of the very light stuff, eat slightly bigger portions, ect. but for now, make sure you bump up your cals AND LIFT WEIGHT!!!!

if your like most people, you dont want to lose muscle mass, PLUS, added muscle raises your metabolism and burns calories (I heard 50cals, p/pound, p/day) so dont forget to work your legs, they will help alot in burning cals.

for me, every other day lifting is great, so only a total of 3 days a week lifting (sunday allways off)

mon - biceps, upper/lower back, shoulders/neck (still dont know what the muscle groups are called lol )

weds - chest, triceps

fri - legs, glutes

so I dont hurt myself, I try and hit the same muscle groups together, triceps are a secondary to chest so I do both on the same day, ect.

it was hard for me to grasp (add calories to LOSE weight?) but as soon as I did, I started seeing results.

good luck

Thanks for the info. I'll try throwing in another protein shake mid afternoon and come up with something else to add after my 8pm shake. :d_smile:

Just wanted to mention that adding extra protien shakes isnt the best idea (comming from a guy who does it heh)

I picked this up off the weekly ediets newsletter that im getting:

*start article

Tip# 6 -- Eat lean protein and good carbs: YOUR BODY BURNS SOME OF ITS
OWN CALORIES WHEN IT DIGESTS THE FOOD YOU EAT. This is called the thermic effect of foods (TEF) and it's what makes protein (which has the highest thermic effect of any food) and good carbs
metabolism-friendly. Lean protein such as turkey and chicken also
builds calorie-burning muscle. Good carbs such as whole grains,
legumes, veggies, and fruit are also your body's major fuel source,
says Shames. They provide the energy to get you up and moving so you can burn more calories.

*end article

so "empty" cals found in protien shakes dont help your thermic effect, you can try it, its worked for me BUT, it may also just be a coincidence, I will probably cut my shakes back in a couple of weeks and increase my portion size and see if it works out better.

try different things, try one thing for a couple of weeks and if you dont like the results, mix it up. doesnt hurt anything and you learn alot.. what works for one person doesnt mean it will work the same for another.

PLUS, added muscle raises your metabolism and burns calories (I heard 50cals, p/pound, p/day) so dont forget to work your legs, they will help alot in burning cals.


Actually, it's ~28cals/day. And working your legs is ESSENTIAL, for numerous reasons.

These dudes know what they are talking about! I just joined last week, or the week before, and asked a similar question. Just about everybody on this thread replied and so far I'm doing great. I'm about 6'1" 251, when i joined this site i was 255. Four pounds isn't much but I can FEEL the difference. I workout 3 times a week, doing an 11 exercise
(1 set each) workout, plus an 8 minute ab workout. I also keep a journal of what I eat during the day and what weights I did. I am the type of guy who hates repetition, hates routine, hates making goals. The only goal I have right now, is to prove myself wrong that I cant lose weight. My goal right now is to (un)prove myself that I cant weigh 249 next monday when i weigh in... I eat 5 - 6 meals a day, usually 250- 300 cals per meal. Dinner is usually a big calorie meal. I eat things such as power bars, salad, tuna, and fruits/nuts for my meals. At first I was always hungry, now I am always satisfied. I suspect soon I will be forcing down the meals because I will always be full.

I did read recently that when your body loses weight too quickly it releases a chemical or poison into the blood stream and causes your metabolism to slow down to a crawl, to preserve your stored fattiness.

Good luck! :cool: