Sex: Male
Age: 25
Height: 5’ 11”
Weight: 213 lbs
Body Fat %: 30.5 %

Intro:
Hello my name is Phillip, and this is my first post here, I decided to jump on the new years band wagon to get in shape.


In High school I was what I’d call morbidly obese, and at the time I foolishly when on a pure calorie starvation diet an massively reduced my weight, now I’ve finished college and I’m merely a little over weight. This time I want to do it the right way and actually enter the realm of the fit. My goal is to actually be happy with how I look and be able to walk down the beach with no shirt and not be a little embarrassed.



These forums were highly recommended by a friend of mine who went though a similar transformation a few years ago, so I’ve decided to start posting here for advice.


I Just joined a 24 hour gym that many of my friends go to so I’d have their moral support and access to a wide variety of equipment to work with. I work in a call center so I’m pretty sedentary during the day.
I’m logging my info in http://pguyton.traineo.com/ as well as a few custom built spreadsheets (I think as many reminders as possible will help) I’m taking a picture every Monday, weighing, and measuring body fat and water %.


Workout:
So far last week I went to the gym Mon – Thurs from 8-9pm; working up my running speed (getting used to actually using my legs) for about 45 min, and cycling for the remaining 15 or so.
This week I intend to continue increasing my speed and I’d actually like to start running a bit as opposed to just a brisk walk. I also intend to recruit two of my friends that lift so I can start a little of that as well after my workout (or before? Which is better?) maybe extending my time in the gym each day by another 30 min or so.

Diet:
I don’t drink soda, just tea and coffee around my meals, and water the rest of the day (several liters while I’m at work)
My food goal for each day is to get less than 2000 calories (ideally 1500) and at least 100g of protein.


For Breakfast I typically eat a bowl of kashi go lean cereal (2cups) with skim milk and a glass of OJ.


For Lunch I’ll typically eat a deli sliced ham, turkey, and cheese sandwich on white bread (I’m slowing attempting the switch to whole grain bread – my don’t like sweets but I LOVE bread; it’s my biggest vice), and some fruit.


My Dinner varies a good bit but It’s usually meat, bread and something green. A boneless chicken breast on a bun with a tiny bit of honey on it, some random fruit or veggie and a nutrition bar (nature valley I think).


I maintain this most of the week, on Friday and Sunday I go out to eat with friends; and I’ve been trying to order something more healthy from the restaurants we go to (steak and veggies or burger and salad).




Me last Monday (1/1/07):
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k100/pguyton/me-Front-1-1-07-20pc.jpghttp://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k100/pguyton/me-Side-1-1-07-20pc.jpg

Well that’s everything I can think to say; I welcome any advice or comments; thank you in advance!
=)

Hey man, and welcome. I'm also new, but you really have come to the right place if you want a supportive environment and the best free info on health and body transformation out there. Congratulations on how far you've already come and for making the commitment to cross over to a healthy lifestyle and doing things "right".


Workout:
So far last week I went to the gym Mon – Thurs from 8-9pm; working up my running speed (getting used to actually using my legs) for about 45 min, and cycling for the remaining 15 or so.
This week I intend to continue increasing my speed and I’d actually like to start running a bit as opposed to just a brisk walk. I also intend to recruit two of my friends that lift so I can start a little of that as well after my workout (or before? Which is better?) maybe extending my time in the gym each day by another 30 min or so.


If you can manage it you'd see better results with separate weight training and cardio workouts! But I can appreciate not everybody has the time for that. Logically, I'd say lifting weights first would be the better idea because you'd have more energy for your lifts and then doing some light cardio (look up LISS) afterwards (maybe some of the vets can advise where a post-workout shake would be suitable in this scenario?).


Diet:
I don’t drink soda, just tea and coffee around my meals, and water the rest of the day (several liters while I’m at work)
My food goal for each day is to get less than 2000 calories (ideally 1500) and at least 100g of protein.


Pretty much everyone here will confirm this -- you'd probably see better results if you increased your calories slightly. I can imagine that in your position it would be very difficult psychologically to actually increase your calories, but if you up them to about 2000-2200 calories, you'll see much better results in the end. You'll end up with a much tighter, firmer, nicer physique.

Looking at your food intake I'd say increase the protein. Not necessarily so you don't "lose muscle" but because protein promotes thermogenesis a lot more than carbs and your metabolism will get a real kick start if you start eating quality protein at every meal! Plus if you're weight training, you'll definitely benefit from the extra Big P. Right now your intake seems to be primarily carbs, some of which are "bad carbs". You mention switching over to wholemeal bread, that in itself would be a big improvement since you eat bread twice a day. There's not really that much difference in taste is there? It's a tiny sacrifice to make, and it could make a difference.

Take a look at John's food logs if you want to see the kind of foods to be eating for maximum fat loss. I'm sure lots of the guys here will have a lot of great advice for you too.

Again, welcome. Best of luck!

Welcome to the boards Phillip:) I hope you learn a lot here and make some great changes:gl:


In High school I was what I’d call morbidly obese, and at the time I foolishly when on a pure calorie starvation diet an massively reduced my weight

That's in the past now, and all that I can hope is that you've learned that starvation is probably not the best way. It does however require much discipline, and it shows me that you are willing to put in some hard work to reach your goals.

My goal is to actually be happy with how I look and be able to walk down the beach with no shirt and not be a little embarrassed.

That's a pretty good goal, and I think many of us have it:nod: But it's unique to each individual. I would be happy walking topless at a beach at 180lbs with 10% body fat and for some that might be too mcuh or too little muscle. What about you? Would you like to simply lose weight, lose fat, put on muscle - or a combination of those?

I Just joined a 24 hour gym that many of my friends go to so I’d have their moral support and access to a wide variety of equipment to work with. I work in a call center so I’m pretty sedentary during the day.
I’m logging my info in http://pguyton.traineo.com/ as well as a few custom built spreadsheets (I think as many reminders as possible will help) I’m taking a picture every Monday, weighing, and measuring body fat and water %.

Great plan, and good work joining the gym:tu:

Workout:
So far last week I went to the gym Mon – Thurs from 8-9pm; working up my running speed (getting used to actually using my legs) for about 45 min, and cycling for the remaining 15 or so.
This week I intend to continue increasing my speed and I’d actually like to start running a bit as opposed to just a brisk walk. I also intend to recruit two of my friends that lift so I can start a little of that as well after my workout (or before? Which is better?) maybe extending my time in the gym each day by another 30 min or so.

If it were up to me, I would have you lifting weights immediately. From my own experience, I've found weightlifting to be incredible for fat loss - much more so than cardio. If you are willing, take up weight training immediately and put it ahead of cardio on your priority list if you are interested in an aesthetically pleasing body.

Diet:
I don’t drink soda, just tea and coffee around my meals, and water the rest of the day (several liters while I’m at work)
My food goal for each day is to get less than 2000 calories (ideally 1500) and at least 100g of protein.

Phillip, I'm not sure what you went through with your starvation weight loss in the past, but I can imagine that it may have changed your mentality towards eating a higher amount of calories. It may be hard for you, but you need to trust me when I say that eating 1500 calories at your current weight may not be the best way to go about doing this. Are you familiar with your basal metabolic rate? Given your stats, your BMR is estimated to be about 2100 (there are other estimation calculators that may give a different estimate). Basically this means that just by merely existing, you burn about 2100 calories a day. Take into account weight training, cardio, and everyday tasks and this number is increased by a fair amount. If we assume an activity multiplier of 1.55, you will burn an estimated 3200+ calories a day. All of this info is available in the stickies at the top of the forum. If you haven't already, I suggest you read through them for help on getting started.

Anyways, back to my point. Eating at such a large calorie deficit may result in weight loss, but that weight may not all be fat. Judging from your pictures, I think we need to focus on fat loss, and muscle retention. We're going to need all the muscle we can get to fill up the space where the fat used to be:) I would personally recommend that you start no lower than 2800 calories, and work your way down as you progress if need be. Again, I know it might be hard to do this given your past and your current mentality, but I have no reason to give you bad advice.

For Breakfast I typically eat a bowl of kashi go lean cereal (2cups) with skim milk and a glass of OJ.


For Lunch I’ll typically eat a deli sliced ham, turkey, and cheese sandwich on white bread (I’m slowing attempting the switch to whole grain bread – my don’t like sweets but I LOVE bread; it’s my biggest vice), and some fruit.


My Dinner varies a good bit but It’s usually meat, bread and something green. A boneless chicken breast on a bun with a tiny bit of honey on it, some random fruit or veggie and a nutrition bar (nature valley I think).


I maintain this most of the week, on Friday and Sunday I go out to eat with friends; and I’ve been trying to order something more healthy from the restaurants we go to (steak and veggies or burger and salad).

Again, I'll point you towards the stickies. They will give you tips on how to eat. Basically you'll want to aim for more meals more frequently. It's all explained in the stickies:nod:

Hi, and welcome!:)

If you are planning to count calories, the first thing you should do is estimate your total daily energy expenditure. See marcus' guide to nutrition for fat loss (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222) for instructions on how to do that.

I don't know what your last calorie starvation diet, but according to Tom Venuto's estimation (http://www.freedomfly.net/Articles/Nutrition/nutrition14.htm), it should take a typical 213 pound adult about 3195 to 3408 calories per day to maintain his weight. Do you have any idea how many calories you normally consume when you're not trying to lose fat? The amount he recommends for fat loss is 12 to 13 calories per pound of body weight. For you, that would be a range of 2556 to 2769 calories. It's possible these recommendations might not apply to you, if your metabolism is not as expected, but it might still be a good starting point. I don't think it's a good idea for you to eat less than 2000 calories per day, if you want to avoid losing muscle, and if you don't want to risk slowing your metabolism.

Since you describe yourself as "just a little overweight", I don't think you need to be on a huge calorie deficit. Here's another thread on determining caloric deficit for fat loss (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=30489). Since you have less than 20 pounds of fat, you don't want a deficit greater than about 600 calories per day, part of which should come from reduced energy intake (food) and part of which should come from increased energy expenditure (exercise).

Of course, those are all guidelines only, and you're free to break the rules, but I think you might be happier without such a restrictive meal plan.

hey phillip, i just started a 2 weeks ago. i'm actually very close in your stats. i'm 5'11" and 207 lbs. I've posted a couple of questions on here and gotten a good idea of what the diet should be. If you want, i can send you a sample of my diet. i'm hovering around 2300 calories a day and while i haven't lost any weight according to the scale, i think i'm gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time, which explains why my measurements are lower....

send me an email if you want... mitcheal@bellsouth.net

Thx for the input guys!

your all correct that increasing my calorie intake will be mentally challenging for me, but I'll certainly try my best.

I look forwarding to seeing what you've got Mitcheal

And I'm still reading though the material thats available in the other posts, and i'm sure i'll have some questions once i absorb all of it.

I def intend to start lifting this week, and by the sound of it i should also increase my caloric and protein input.

I'll see what they say about the best protein/calorie ratio foods.

Thanks again for the input!