Hi, a friend of mine showed me the website www.johnstonefitness.com and I feel that it has inspired me to make a change in my life.

First, a little background. I was always skinny growing up. I was always told that I was skinny, and even now my mental image of myself is that I am skinny. Unfortunately, this mental image is not the same image that I see in the mirror. I am 6'1" and currently weigh a bit over 240 pounds. I was never athletic in high school, but did bike all over the place in the mountains of Ecuador where I lived. Even through my sophomore year of college, I was never over 170 pounds. Then starting in the fall of my junior year of college, I got a co-op job at Kennedy Space Center and I sat behind a desk all day. It didn't help that I decided to buy Philly cheese steaks every day for lunch. Well, by the end of my senior year, I had ballooned up to 220 pounds, and now on the eve of my 26th birthday, I am just over 240 pounds.

I can't stand this and want to get down to 180 pounds, and I want to be able to run around without getting winded as I do now. I have just started looking into the whole weight loss thing, and I still need to learn what and how to do it. I know that I need to change my diet (right now it is a high sugar cereal for breakfast, two ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and then a large dinner). I also know that I need to start excersizing more.

So I guess I need help in coming up with a healthy diet, as well as coming up with a good excersize routine. John has inspired me with his pictures, and since I just recently bought a digital camera, I think I will also be taking pictures of myself (even though the idea is terrifying to me). So, can anyone help me out about where I can find information on creating a good and healthy diet for myself, as well as creating a good excersize routine? Thanks.

First off, good job on deciding to change you lifestyle. It's nice to hear someone say "I want to change my lifestyle" rather than "I need to lose weight". Big difference there *chough* Atkins Diet *cough*.

Anyhow, what you need to start doing is multiply your weight by 10. This will tell you how many calories to eat/stay under a day. In your case, you would need to eat between 2300 and 2400 cals a day. If you are the internet often, you should really start and account at www.fitday.com. It's free. What you do there is enter all the food you ate for the day. It has a big selectiong of foods, as well as letting you enter "custom" foods. It will figure out your ratio's as well. You should get 40% from carbs, 40% from protein, 20% from fats. If you can't go onto fitday.com, or just don't want to then write what you eat down on paper. Add up cals,fat,carbs protein. Then do some math to figure out the ratios for theday. I don't know how, but many people on here do. Some tips...eat oatmeal with nutrasweet and a banana for breakfast, or low sugar cereal like cheerios,wheeties, Firber One...things like that. Remember you can eat fat, if it isn't saturdated and doesnt go over your 20% ratio limit (cottage cheese, natty pb)

Exercise: This depends on what you feel like doing. If you want to keep as much muscle as possible, or if muscle isn't a factor for you and you dont care about it. You need to lift either way, but reps and things will be different depending on your goals. The Workout forms on this site would be a great place to start. Sorry this is so long. I really have to go to class, or I would write more about exercising, as if this isn't long enough, heh. Good Luck.


D

Something that has helped me eliminate the wrong kind of food from my diet is a meal diary.

Get a little note book and carry it with you everywhere. Write down everything that you eat. In two weeks you will know all the bad things that you are eating.

For me it's Dr. Pepper. I was drinking over a half gallon of Dr. Pepper every day!

Another thing for me was Cheezits. Some days I would eat an entire box. I love those things.

The first part of solving a problem is knowing what the problem is and a meal diary will make it very clear.

good luck.

Congrats on your decision!! Good luck.

Good point..Eliminating the wants instead of needs in your diet will cut calories..

I got rid of a small vending bag of potato chips and 3 sodas per day...and instantly shed over 750 calories off my daily calorie intake....most of which was sugar and fat. Useless crap. Now, I drink water...might eat a few low salt pretzels between breakfast and mid morning meal.....

A bunch of small changes, plus exercise can make a HUGE difference....

Congrats on wanting to change your body! It's one of the the best and most rewarding decisions one can make! :tu: If you're looking to create a nutrition and work out program you're in the right place! I suggest reading up in the fat loss forum, there's a lot to learn.

As with any beginner, I would suggest easing into a program.

For your diet- like AMR and Bookcat said- start with eliminating useless eating. Things like candy, soda, sugary snacks need to go! Also you could try reducing the amount of food you eat at each meal, and eat smaller meals more frequently.

For exercise- I would start doing cardio a few times a week. Try going for jog around your block. If you can't jog all the way around the block, just walk and jog, get moving!

And finally, don't get caught up in all the details. Information overload will just confuse you. Start by making small changes and, by continually learning, gradually move into a more advanced program.

Hope this helps, and good luck! Keep us posted with your progress!

Welcome! Congratulations on starting the new you!

Like others have said above, information overload can get you all confused.

Here is a simple start:

First 4 weeks:

Talk to your doctor about the exercise and diet changes you are going to make. Don't be shy about making a phone call and consulting your physician first. Everyone starts off in different shape. Can't stress this enough. You're 26 which is great. You have age working for you but all the same a quick check with your doctor is well advised.

Cut out soda - there is nothing in even diet soda that you need to be drinking.
Cut out coffee with loads of sugar - use splenda or go black. Easy on the cream.
Cut out fast food - period.
Stop eating fatty fried things.
No french fries.
Try to eat more grilled chicken, grilled fish [not fried or breaded] and lay off the fatty beef cuts.
No chips, dips or candy.
No mayonaise.
No butter or margarine.
Minimize your cheese.
Get rid of white bread. Get whole wheat.
Eat some small salad at least once a day with a vinegar dressing. No cream cheese or ranch.
Eat breakfast everyday - even if you are not hungry. Have some natural cereal like Kashi Go Lean Crunch [1 serving size], 1 whole egg and 1-2 egg whites scrambled up with NO butter or margarine. Milk is oK but try 1% or skim. You can throw some veggies in your eggs if you like.
Try to eat at least 3 good balanced meals a day. That means protein, carbs and low in fat. For example: 6oz grilled tuna portion with a cup of brown rice and a small salad with a little olive oil or vinegar dressing.
Don't overload your plate and no seconds!
Drink lots of water all day long.

If you are unsure of portion size use my half rule. If you would normally eat 2 turkey sandwiches. Eat one. If you normally ate two baked potatoes. Eat one. etc. etc. It's not precise but it's a start.

If you are really dying for a snack a small size package of pretzels is 110 cals and no fat. Be warned if you have low self control do not even think about keeping snack items or these kinds of things in the house. Trust me man. If it ain't there you can't eat it. Given that people are lazy generally [no offense intended] you will probably not want to go to the trouble of driving to the store for a little bag of pretzels.

Ok now that's really not too drastic. The list is long but it's not hard. No math required yet. Concentrate on getting in the habit of thinking about what you eat before you pop it in your mouth. Also get in the habit of reading the food labels before you buy something at the store. Later on you'll eat more frequent and smaller meals that are precisely timed. But not yet...

Exercise with some mild Cardio like a good walk or a moderate ride on a bike 3 times a week. You are out of shape and before you dive head first into a heavy workout routine you need to get yourself in some kind of starting conditioning. Don't go balls out and give yourself a heart attack the first week.

At the end of four weeks you should lose a chunk of weight and now you are in the habit of not eating crappy things. You are also in the habit of exercising again.

Once your introductory habit forming period is up read this and design a more comprehensive plan for yourself: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222 :claplow:


You have reached the point I did. You looked in the mirror and were disgusted with yourself. You are tired of buying large size pants and hiding yourself in baggy shirts. Everytime you feel like giving up just remember how embarassing it is going around looking like that and how bad it makes you feel. The first couple weeks are hard but after that it's smooth sailing and you will find that before you know it you are a health junkie. Stay strong. If you feel weak or need help post and we will help you.

:tu:

Just wanted to say...that was an excellent post HunkOLove!

Congrats on deciding to make a change for the better, if you work hard you'll notice the difference in a matter of weeks, if not so much visibly (though you may notice that too) you'll notice in how you don't get out of breath after a short walk/run.
That was the first thing that I noticed a couple of weeks after hitting the treadmill 3 times a week, starting out doing just 16-17 minutes at a time.

Best of luck :tu:

Thanks a lot everyone for the information and the support. What I am planning on doing right now is starting to work out on the ellyptical machines at my school (I'm a grad student). The school has a beautiful, huge sports complex that is free for students, so that is nice, and I can watch SportsCenter while working out, which is nice too. I am also going to be keeping tabs of what I eat, cutting out the snacky stuff that I eat all the time, and am switching from the 5-6 diet sodas I drink a day to water.

My long term goal is to lose 60-70 pounds (go from just over 240 to the 170-180 range), but if I can lose 20-30 pounds by August, that would be AWESOME.