hey everyone,
i am new here and i am looking for some help. here's my story.
i am 25 yrs old. 5'9" 222 right now as i type this. i played football in college and when i was in playing shape weighed in around 187-190.
my first 3 yrs out of school my weight training and cardio was very inconsistent and i gained weight, weighing in around 208-212. This past year(up until 4 weeks ago) I did NOTHING! I am up to 222 and feel disgusted. I want to rededicate myself and get back into doing things right but i dont even know where to start. I have been lifting weights, doing basic lifts just to work back into it and get a little strength back.
I really want to drop this extra weight i am carrying but also build back some muscle and definition. I would like to be around 180-185 in the next 6 months. So that is dropping 35-40 pounds in 6 months would sound very reasonable to me. My question to you guys is, has anyone out there been in the same boat as me? or know what is the best thing to do starting this out or laying out a program.
So my goal is to lose 35-40 pounds by march 1 2006 and build back some muscle to just have an overall muscular in shape look.
I would appreciate any feedback out there.
oh yes, the other thing is with my work and family schedule, my days to hit the gym would be mondays wednesday and fridays. so anyone out there a 3 day workout week is best for me.
thanks again everyone!

I'm relatively new here myself so I think I'm qualified to comment. There is a lot of information to go through. Read the stickies at the beginning of the forums your interested in. Then prepare yourself for some BIG changes. Diet, strength training, and cardio is the way to go. How you combine the three is what you want to read up on. If you have any specific questions then ask them in the proper forum. Good luck.

Monday - Back, Bi's
Wed - Chest, Shoulders, Tri's
Friday - Legs

Light cardio every day except friday
Heavier cardio Tues, Sunday

'Course that's just one way.

Figure out how much you eat now in cals....

use fitday.com or nutridiary.com

If your weight has been constant, then that's maintenance.
eat 5-6X a day (plan this out...it will become second nature)
drop cals by about 500. Remain in deficit while cutting. If you are in deficit, total cals at the end of the day is what matters the most.

Eat clean (meaning little processed stuff....deli meats, packaged products (granola snacks...etc)
==========
Salads, fruit, whole grains, brown rice, oatmeal/oatbran (not instant). Cut back or out refined sugar.
No fast food or fried foods....rely on saturated fats coming from only animal products (steaks etc...).

glucose-fructose = HFCS learn to avoid or minimize this.

Start reading the packages of what you buy.

Fresh food is best

Try different macro ratios (p/c/f) but give it at least a min 2 weeks to see what kind of result each ratio is having. Now your body type and what seem to put weight on....

Too much fat in the diet?....too many carbs?....or simply too many cals.

Make adjustments along the way.

in a nutshell ;)

thanks

Well, first off, congrats on making the decision to improve your physique!

Second - I think your goal of losing 35-40 lbs in 6 months is reasonable. And, since you have a history of training, your progress should come a bit quicker than that of a beginner.

For a training split, you could do:

Monday - Chest/Bi/tri
Tuesday - HIIT or LISS cardio & Abs
Wednesday - Legs
Thursday - Off
Friday- Back/Shoulder
Saturday - HIIT or LISS cardio & Abs

In regards to diet, check out this link. I'm assuming that you have a decent amount of muscle left over from your football days, so I'm recommending a program that will spare muscle while reducing fat through carbohydrate cycling (i.e. glycogen depletion and refeeding). I followed this diet during my last fat loss period and it worked perfectly. I met my goal in the exact week I had planned on.

This is long, but read the entire article as it's quite comprehensive and informative.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne36.htm

Good luck! Keep us posted with your progress and feel free to send me additional questions.