Hi all,
I am a 37 year old, male who has always been slightly overweight or shall we say on the big side. I’ve always played sport but not for over 4 years, enjoying football and squash but never been able to get into weights or able to gain any strength from weights ( probably doing it wrong ). I stopped smoking in January of this year and I am feeling really good with myself. On the down side I have gained about 28 pounds and have made my beer belly even bigger ( although I only drink about once a month now ). I have made the decision to join a gym and have just had my tour and been issued with my pass.
My goals are to lose the beer belly, gain chest/arm definition and hopefully strength, but not neglect any other body part.

.I have the following measurements as of this morning
Weight 220 pounds
Height 175 cms
Bmi 32.7
Body fat 26.4 %

I have made a promise with myself to cut out all the crap I used to eat like fish and chips/curries/kebabs etc and a typical day would now probably look like this

8 am Breakfast cereal and semi skimmed milk
12/1 pm Sandwich/banana/packet of crisps and a yogurt6pm meat and 3 veg or tuna pasta bake etc.

I am a shift worker and so would be able to workout 7 days in a row with 3 days off ( not conventional I know but it pays the bills )

I planned to do weights/cardio 1,3,5,7 and cardio 2,4,6 until I had shifted the gut and bodyfat and would then cut the cardio down a bit

I have searched for a training programme to suit but its so confusing to a newbie, with my goals in mind would a “four way split” be okay and should I do full body work outs or specific body areas on specific days ?.

Sorry it was so long but any help would make this tired unfit old man who is determined this is his year to change very happy.

Thank you

You are going to have to definitely eat more and will want to choose high quality nutritional foods for your program. (no cereal)

Many suggest to read over all the "sticky" posts atop this forum here for very helpful info/valuable keys/etc., so I'll have to mention you will probably want to start there.

Welcome to the JSF.

:madpimp:~SC~:madpimp:

Welcome!

I was almost in your identical shoes 2-months ago. I'm 36 and was 246 then. I just decided enough was enough. Joined the May 100 challenge on here to keep me focused(July's challenge starts tomorrow).

I also have a job that doesn't allow me workout a consistent split. I have to changes days I do which bodyparts week to week. Anyway, 2 months later I'm down 24.8lbs and feeling SOOO much better but obviously still have a long way to go.

Anyway, don't want to bore you with my story other than to say you can do this and it happens so quick.

I do the following split. Again, I have to be flexible due to work so I basically just committed to getting each done once a week.
Push(chest, shoulders, triceps)
Pull(Back, Biceps)
Legs(Quads, hamstrings, calves)

Cardio
Low Intensity Steady State(LISS) -
Started at 30-minutes and now up to 45-minutes on days I don't lift weights

High Intensity Interval Training(HIIT)
First thing in the morning before I eat on days that I lift. Started at 12-minutes. Up to 18 now.

As far as eating, I eat 5 meals a day of clean food adding up to between 1800-2000 calories per day with the majority coming from protein.
Protein: fish, eye of round steak, chick breast
Carbs: Oatmeal, grits, brown rice, vegetables
Fat: Just kinda comes in with the other food
My 3pm snack is usually a protein bar and my evening snack around 9pm is typically a protein shake.

This site has been an invaluable resource to me. I get on here literally every day. I haven't posted a whole lot but there are quite a few people on here with tons of experience and threads that will help you with almost any question or issue you run into.

Good luck!!

cheers guys for the prompt replies,
i think i'm going to have to sit down and really work out the nutrition side of my plan, there just so many stickies to read.
i'm very determined when it comes to going to the gym and what to do i just need to get the same motivaton for the food side.
its quite difficult though being a shift worker and also at your bosses beck and call to change shifts at a moments notice.
i plan to train like this

day1 arms/shoulders
day2 cardio
day3 chest/back
day4 cardio
day5 legs/abs
day6 cardio
day7 arms/shoulders
and then 3 days of complete rest

all i need to do now is figure out how to split 1900 calories into 5 easy to prepare and eat meals a day

now where did i put that camera:confused:

That's a lot of arm work. Likely the least bang for your effort.

Getting the diet cleaned up will do a lot of good. So don't think of it being second on the list. You can half ass the work outs and still lose weight if you have the diet in check. OTOH you can have perfect workouts and not lose any if the diets are half assed.