I was all about fast food twice a day (including late at night) and drinking nothing but sodas. I didnt exercise and never lifted. People always talk about people not eating this or not eating that, but If i go from a diet like I had to eating 4-6 times a day, will the results be significant? Im not sticking to some strict diet. Ive cut out all fast food/soda, which is first and foremost. Im lifting 5 days a week for 30-45 minutes, then getting on a Precor for 30 minutes after every session. Im basically eating like this:

Breakfast - Raisin Bran
Snack - Granola Bar
Lunch - Chicken/beef and veggies or beef stew
Snack - Nabisco 100 calorie snack (nutter butter w/o the PB)
Dinner - Turkey burger and salad


i know its not the cleanest diet, but going from fast food and no exercise to this should help me clean up the spare tire Im carrying around, right?

xXx

I think its a good start :claphigh: , but but :confused: , its very important to get the correct amount of food , depending on your age, Height and activity level, that way your results will be more than great.
To calculate your TDEE (caloric maintenance level ) , google this forum for the formula , its really easy. If you cant find it, let be know.

It says my daily calorie expenditure is 4013 cals. That seems WAAAY to high...

xXx

Im not sticking to some strict diet.

Then you're going about this all wrong.

Eating "right" is not a "strict diet." It's a lifestyle change. You either do what you're planning on doing, drop some weight, and find that you'll soon be back to your old ways. Otherwise, you need to change your lifestyle, and by "lifestyle," I mean your long-term health.

Losing weight and keeping it off is a difficult task at hand.

That being said - sure, your meal plan will yield results. Don't expect too much from it, though.

Dont expect too much? Dude, going from fast food and sodas to exercising 5 times a week and eating better wont yield results? I dont understand.

I dont understand.

That's why you should read the stickies in the introduction forum, "dude."

Like I said, you're going about all of this the wrong way. I think you simply want to lose that "spare-tire" rather than improving your long-term health.
Once the weight is dropped through malnutrition, you'll probably be back at the fast food joints.


You are overtraining and eating what looks like less than a thousand calories. The consequences of those two will not be something that you'll be happy to have achieved.

I was all about fast food twice a day (including late at night) and drinking nothing but sodas. I didnt exercise and never lifted. People always talk about people not eating this or not eating that, but If i go from a diet like I had to eating 4-6 times a day, will the results be significant? Im not sticking to some strict diet.


Think about it man, you worked pretty hard to get where you're at downing fast food and chugging sodas. The point is you ate junk to get fat, you have to reverse the model to lose the fat. You keep saying you had pretty much the worst diet. Wouldn't it make sense in order to lose all that weight you would need the opposite of the worst, which is the best diet. You can lift, run and exercise all you want, if you don't get your diet under control (clean eating, calories consumed vs calories burned) you won't lose weight. Read the information on the top of each forum, those are tools to help you choose your diet and your exercises that'll help you succeed. Everyone here is pulling for you. Good luck

Dont expect too much? Dude, going from fast food and sodas to exercising 5 times a week and eating better wont yield results? I dont understand.

Eating better and excersing more will yield results, but I think the responses to your post are concerned about going about this in a healthier and more efficient manner. At first glance, it appears you aren't getting enough total calories to support your routine, so in this case the healthier option is probably to eat a little more. How great is that? :)

Breakfast:
You should add some protein to this meal. Eggs are a good choice. Try substituting oatmeal in for the Raisin Bran a couple days a week and see how you like it.

Snacks:
These can probably be beefed up a bit with more calories, especially pre and post workout.

Post your stats (height, weight, bf% or waist size) and goals for weight loss and we should be able to help more.

BTW: Great decision to cut out soda and fast food from your diet. :tucool: This alone should reduce your total calories quite a bit, all of which were providing very few good nutrients for your body.

My question is how much are you eating?

Every body seems to be assuming you aren't eating enough but for all I know it's

1 large box of raisen bran with a gallon of whole milk

1 whole fried chicken

:lol:

It's not just the food it's how much. Too much or too little good food will cause problems to.

I think you should be congratulated for taking the steps you have taken. Good for you for ditching the sodas and junk food.

If you are like me, you might find you need to go to the next level to acheive your goals. But still, I'm glad that you have made a start.

Im 5-11 230 LBS. Not sure about waist size or anything, but I do have a big boiler LOL (belly). I was 239 pounds when I started 2 weeks ago. So Ive lost 9 pounds, I figure its just water weight and flushing the fast food crap outta me. Im eating and not hungry. When I get hungry, I eat. Typical days are:

9:00 - Bowl of Raisin Bran in 2% milk
11:00 - Granola Bar
12:30 - 1:45 - Gym
2:15 - Chicken or beef and veggies and WHEY shake
4:00 - Small snack (nabisco things or an apple/orange)
5:45 - Hamburger helper/Chicken veggies and always a salad
8:00 - Turkey burger on a whole wheat bun

It puts my calories roughly at 2000. Is that not enough to shed my fat belly? Im also taking fish oil caps, a multi-vitamin, BCAAs after I workout and Syntrax Fyre for a fatburner. 2 servings of veggies a day, multi, and Raisin Bran for fiber. Im getting my necessary vitamins and minerals, so what am I doing wrong?

xXx

Im 5-11 230 LBS. Not sure about waist size or anything, but I do have a big boiler LOL (belly). I was 239 pounds when I started 2 weeks ago. So Ive lost 9 pounds, I figure its just water weight and flushing the fast food crap outta me. Im eating and not hungry. When I get hungry, I eat. Typical days are:

9:00 - Bowl of Raisin Bran in 2% milk
11:00 - Granola Bar
12:30 - 1:45 - Gym
2:15 - Chicken or beef and veggies and WHEY shake
4:00 - Small snack (nabisco things or an apple/orange)
5:45 - Hamburger helper/Chicken veggies and always a salad
8:00 - Turkey burger on a whole wheat bun

It puts my calories roughly at 2000. Is that not enough to shed my fat belly? Im also taking fish oil caps, a multi-vitamin, BCAAs after I workout and Syntrax Fyre for a fatburner. 2 servings of veggies a day, multi, and Raisin Bran for fiber. Im getting my necessary vitamins and minerals, so what am I doing wrong?

xXx

Are you doing anything wrong?

You will hear all kinds of nutritional information, but you're fine for now to get rid of your gut. Stay consistent.

Take your whey shake after working out. You could add a carb source with it. Take the fish oil with another meal later in the day.

You're already doing WAY more right than wrong by dedicating effort to your weight loss goals and you're getting results, so congratulate yourself and stay positive. 9 pounds off the ol' "boiler" already. :claplow:

You mentioned you're not feeling hungry and when you feel hungry, you eat, which means you're listening to what your body is telling you. I think this is a positive sign you're on your way to achieving your goals.

As a suggestion, I'd make sure you're including food with some healthy fat in it such as almonds, natural nut butters, and olive oil. This is in addition to the fish oil supplements. Keep up the good work.

2000 Cal. As a start seems a little low to me, but if its working , who cares :nod:. When you plateau you'll have a little more space to get lower, maybe 200 more calories and then go the other way around , I mean Calories UP UP UP :tucool:.
Now, I dont think your TDEE is 4000 Cal. , where did you get it from ? Do you have your BF % ? if you do ,heres the formula :
According to the Katch-McArdle formula that accounts for Basic Metabolic Rate = 370 + ( 21.6 x Lean Mass in KG ) .
Basic Metabolic Rate x 1.55** = TDEE or maintenance

**My thoughts on your activity level would be Mod. Actively ( 1.55 )

As I stated on my last response, I think this is a great start , I believe this is a process ( you cannot start like a person who has been in the fitness mood for 2 years ). This is why I think it is a process. As you may progress you will tune your Food intake habits :eat:, excercise :bb:, etc,etc :madpimp:.
When I started 3 years ago, I started just like you, but without weight training :spank: . So again , I think youll do a Great job.
Keep it up, an remember : persistence, persistence,persistence is the name of the Game .:tucool::tucool::tucool:

One more thing : dont wait till tomorrow to take some pictures ( back and front , without shirt ) . It will help tremendously to see your progress. I didnt do this , and now I regret it. :bang:

Your Basal Metabolic Rate should be about 10x your weight in lbs or 20 x KG. I've never seen any documentation about using your lean mass for that.

Also keep in mind that popular urban legend agrees that just cutting fast food and soda out of your diet will drop you like 7-15lbs in a month even without exercise.

Congratulations on doing great and taking off 9 already!

I second everyone else's advice: you are doing more right than wrong and it looks like you are creating a lifestyle change rather than a diet so it sounds 100% right.

As your goals change and evolve you may need to reassess what you are doing, but that could be months or years away.

Update:

Started at 239 lbs 3 weeks ago, now Im down to 222 lbs. Been eating alot better and lifting/cardio 5 times a week. Lost alot of initial weight due to cutting the soda and fast food and flushing out all the crap, Im sure. Muscles are slowly getting stronger and starting to show a little more definition on my arms. Starting yesterday, Ive adjusted my diet to cutting out most of my carbs except for right after gym (lunch time). Hopefully that will increase even more fat loss. I had forgotten how good veggies were until recently. Green beans and zucchini have never tasted so good. Thanks for the support everyone....

xXx

220 lbs and counting. I know its not the weight that I care about, but the fat. I still look the same, but people are telling me that they can tell im losing weight. At what point does it become noticable in the belly region that Im losing?

xXx

Depends on how you gain weight and on what you mean by noticable.

The tape measure will notice much quicker then your eye will.

If you gain weight first at the belly it'll be the last place it goes. For me my waist went pretty quickly but my lower belly area took it's time. Still is a little worse then I'd like. But we are all a little different.

Cool. Ive also noticed that the fat in my stomach area is getting softer. Should I take that as a positive sign? Making fat cells are breaking down or whatnot?

xXx