whats up guys. I've been browsing through the forums and its crazy to see the testimonials people have. I'd like to lose about 40 lbs by march for spring break and I thought I'd come here to see if I am wishfully thinking.

Here are my current stats
I'm a college student 22 yrs old
full access to basically any type of workout equipment
weight: around 250-255
height: 5'11" - 6 feet
waist: usually wear about a 40 jeans

I played HS football and we did heavy weight training, so luckily because of that I am not SLOPPY fat. I still have a tad of form from when I lifted weights so much. When I graduated HS I was around 5'9 1/2-5'10" and probably around 210 or so. I've constantly gained weight over the years.

Last year for a semester I ran a mile about 3 times a week. usually took me around 8-9 mins, and it got me down to about 236, but I got back busy with school, and my schedule got all out of wack and gained the weight back. I tried to get back on the track the other day after stopping for about 5 months and definitely COULD NOT run a mile without stopping. I ran about half a mile stopped and walked off in disgust. My eating habits have never been good. I have been eating 1-2 big fast food meals a day and thats about it. I am usually never hungry until like 5pm and late late at night. I usually grab fast food on both ocassions

my question to you guys. is it possible to lose 40 lbs in 4 months healthily. How much weight training/cardio do you think it will take? I want to start January off right for next semester and dedicate the semester to transforming. Do yall have some good pointers that can help make the transition easier. I know its not gonna be easy and it takes hard work, but I got a tad discouraged the last time I tried keeping a workout schedule because I wasn't dropping pounds quick.

I don't know if you'll be able to loose that much, that fast. At 2 pounds per week that's 32lbs. (EDIT: I thought he said 3 months, not 4)

The first step is to start eating clean- no more fast food. Read one of the sticky threads and go from there. Try Gravityhomer's fat loss thread, it's a great place for beginners to start.

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=19229

yea but i always hear that you can lose a large amount quickly and then after that your weight loss starts to slow down and even out

Welcome to the forums.

I try to stay away from predicting what kind of results are possible as defined by timelines with total lbs lost. The important thing is to realize you can have a substantially different physique staring you back in the mirror along with improved health if you commit to an effective training and nutritional program for 4 months (which hopefully you'd continue with).

What this will mean in the way of lbs lost, I don't know. It's going to depend on your level of effort, diet, training effectiveness, and genetics. What if you only lose 30 lbs, or 15, or hell even 10. You're still going to end up looking and feeling better than you do today, with momentum taking you in the right direction.

I'll take a guess that your previous lack of results had something to do with your diet. You can't out train a crappy diet, and one composed entirely of two traditional fast food meals a day certainly qualifies. :) This will make or break your results, so realize all that effort in the gym is for not if there's nothing backing it up in the kitchen.

The fact that you actually got out there are tried to run is an accomplishment in that it's a conscious effort to chose activity over inactivity. Was that half mile more or less than what you ran the day before?

yea but i always hear that you can lose a large amount quickly and then after that your weight loss starts to slow down and even out
You do lose a lot at first, but "at first" here means the first week or so. You'll likely lose several pounds just to water loss once you start a low-calorie diet.

I think 40 pounds in 4 months is a little outside what I would call healthy.

At 2lbs/week (generally considered the maximum healthy weight loss, for better or worse), you could lose 32 pounds (4 months * 4 weeks/month * 2 pounds/week). Again, though, this is at the upper limit of what you can safely/realistically lose. If you want to get close to this, you're going to have to diet pretty hard and exercise quite a bit.

Just get out there and lose 10 lbs. Then lose another 10. Then another. There are too many potential setbacks in achieving fitness goals to set yourself up for failure from the get go. At 2 lbs a week, you could potentially lose 32 lbs over 16 weeks. But you can get to the 40th pound lost without first getting to the 10th, and then the 20th ........

So, let's lose those first 10 lbs.

my question to you guys. is it possible to lose 40 lbs in 4 months healthily.

It's possible. You should be able to safely lose around 1% of your bodyweight per week in fat without jeopardizing muscle. Over 16 weeks at 2.5 lbs per week you end up 40 lbs down. That's a lot to drop in that time span but people have done it.

How much weight training/cardio do you think it will take?

That's up to you. Best to pick a plan that fits into your schedule and that you can stick with. The nutrition part is where you'll realize the vast majority of your cutting progress.

I want to start January off right for next semester and dedicate the semester to transforming. Do yall have some good pointers that can help make the transition easier.

Yeah: Start now. There's no reason to be waiting until January when you can get in an extra month and a half of good nutrition and workouts. You'll be way ahead of the game and much happier with where you're at when Spring Break rolls around. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about and working towards that goal.

Yeah: Start now. There's no reason to be waiting until January when you can get in an extra month and a half of good nutrition and workouts. You'll be way ahead of the game and much happier with where you're at when Spring Break rolls around. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about and working towards that goal.

I didn't catch this but M@ is right. I know it feels "better" to start fresh on the New Year and everything but this will give you an extra month and a half. If you can start now you'll have a much better chance of losing 40 pounds by your goal.

How about aiming more for changing your bodyfat percentage rather than weight? Alot of folks lose muscle mass because they are aiming to lose pounds, so as the number drops, they think they are doing everything right. The scale can be misleading in so many ways. If you measure your B.F percentage and work toward changing how much of you is fat and how much is muscle, I think you will be alot happier with your results and progress.

I'd imagine you could lose 40lbs in 8 weeks or less if you had time for 4 or 5 hours hard cardio a day.

Unfortunately most of us only have time for about an hour's exercise a day, which means your average punter is doing well to lose 2 pounds a week, so it can be kind of tortuously slow if you have a lot to lose.

Just get out there and lose 10 lbs. Then lose another 10. Then another. There are too many potential setbacks in achieving fitness goals to set yourself up for failure from the get go. At 2 lbs a week, you could potentially lose 32 lbs over 16 weeks. But you can get to the 40th pound lost without first getting to the 10th, and then the 20th ........

So, let's lose those first 10 lbs.

KTM is right here. You didn't gain 40 lbs in 4 months. Now to say you want to lose 40lbs as fast as you can is just talk as you haven't proven you can lose anything. Kick yourself in the butt and lose the first 10. Do it the right way with a good diet and excercise. The second 10 will come if you did the first 10 the right way. After a few months it will become routine.

Even if you starved yourself or do cardio 24 hrs a day and you lose the 40 the likelihood of it being put right back on is high. Losing a few lbs and keeping it off is the difference between taking the stairs verses the elevator. Losing 40 and keeping it off requires a lifestyle change of diet and exercise.

If this is important to you, don't wait another day and get started. Build your plan and get it done.

Good luck.

Yeah: Start now. There's no reason to be waiting until January when you can get in an extra month and a half of good nutrition and workouts. You'll be way ahead of the game and much happier with where you're at when Spring Break rolls around. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about and working towards that goal.

fantastic advice. procrastination only perpetuates procrastination.

I'd imagine you could lose 40lbs in 8 weeks or less if you had time for 4 or 5 hours hard cardio a day.


:lol: that i definitely dont.

I really appreciate the comments thus far. I've been reading up, and sometimes its confusing, but I read that guide and it said the main thing is going to be gaining muscle and dieting and cardio is of last importance.

I plan on doing all, but the thing I thought that was always most important was the cardio. I'm going to try to start off eating right. I've never done it before, but I dont want to lose weight and be flabby.

welp. here we go...day 1 starts tommorrow.

I read that guide and it said the main thing is going to be gaining muscle and dieting and cardio is of last importance.

I plan on doing all, but the thing I thought that was always most important was the cardio. I'm going to try to start off eating right. I've never done it before, but I dont want to lose weight and be flabby.

welp. here we go...day 1 starts tommorrow.

Don't be confused. You want to PRESERVE muscle while losing FAT. Chances are good that you won't gain a lot muscle in such a short time.

In your case, I would say that the main priority is DIET, followed by EXERCISE. And for exercise, I would say that CARDIO should be where you will spend the majority of your time. So if you have eight hours a week, I'd suggest three 45 minute weight training sessions and six 45 minute cardio sessions, with one day completely off.

Don't be confused. You want to PRESERVE muscle while losing FAT. Chances are good that you won't gain a lot muscle in such a short time.

In your case, I would say that the main priority is DIET, followed by EXERCISE. And for exercise, I would say that CARDIO should be where you will spend the majority of your time. So if you have eight hours a week, I'd suggest three 45 minute weight training sessions and six 45 minute cardio sessions, with one day completely off.


For me, it's Diet->Diet->Resistance work->High intensity types of cardio->lower intensity type cardio

There are some here that cut successfully without doing any cardio.

Resistance and higher intensity types of exercise cause your body to spend more energy to repair for up to a couple of days post-workout, so raises your metabolism.

And he may pick up some newbie muscle gains.

Everybody's body is a bit different. Try different things. See what works.

Good read from a highly regarded fat loss coach (http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1526539&cr=).

:lol: that i definitely dont.

I really appreciate the comments thus far. I've been reading up, and sometimes its confusing, but I read that guide and it said the main thing is going to be gaining muscle and dieting and cardio is of last importance.

I plan on doing all, but the thing I thought that was always most important was the cardio. I'm going to try to start off eating right. I've never done it before, but I dont want to lose weight and be flabby.

welp. here we go...day 1 starts tommorrow.


I think diet is the most important thing to get right, and it is many ways the hardest thing to get right, as it's a case for most people of breaking decades old bad habits involving a typical western diet of a lot of junl processed food and not enough fruit and vegetables.

A lot of processed food and and lack of fresh fruit and vegetables will strangle your metabolism, which is why most westerners are carrying excess blubber. I think you need to be looking at 5-6 low calorie, but high protein meals a day, try and get about 30g of protein per meal. Using protein bars and shakes helps a lot in this regard. You need to keep the protein intake high to preserve muscle mass. Also add in a lot of fresh fruit and veg , especially green vegetables like broccoli, celery, cabbage. Also fruits although fruit juices and smoothies should be restricted to one 250ml glass a day, try and eat whole fruits instead. Concentrate on getting at least 5 portions of fruit/veg a day, although more is better. The roughage in the fruit and veg eases the digestion process and carries food through your system, thereby firing up your metabolism and improving health and mood. Without enough fruit and veg you won't get the results you want.

Also drink plenty of water, aim for 3 or 4 litres a day or more. This will also ease digestion and fire up metabolism.

I think you want to be restricting calories to about 2000 a day, maybe a bit less, over 5-6 meals as said above.

Also as you're trying to burn fat quickly, go for cardio as often as you can. I think intense cardio is better than moderate pace cardio. Go for something which is building up a sweat and gets you panting. For this HIT treadmill work, which involves sprinting then slowing down, then sprinting again is better than jogging at a steady pace on a treadmill which doesn't build up much of a sweat at all. Or a hard game of sport which involves intense sprinting and activity is good - eg. an intense game of soccer is good where there's a lot of sprinting, harrying, tackling etc - not a low intensity kickabout with pals which is played at walking pace. Squash is usually played at a fairly frantic and intense pace too so this is also good exercise, and much more fun than boring, horrendous treadmills and exercise cycles.

Also I think you need to be looking at weight training 3-4 days a week, certainly at least 2 days a week. If you're doing just 2 days a week make sure it's two all body workouts. If you can manage 3-4 days you can do a split rouitne, although apparently beginners put on more muscle mass with 3 all body workouts versus a 3 day split routine, where each body part is only worked once per week. Another alternative is a 4 day a week split which consists of 2 upper body workouts, and 2 lower body workouts. But you can mix things up, and it's important to change your programme every 4-6 weeks to avoid your body adapting and your progress stalling.

Concentrate on the big compound lifts and make sure you're doing the following exercises at least once per week :-

1. Squats
2. Deadlifts
3. Barbell or Dumbell Bench Press
4. Lat Pulldowns or Chinups/Pullups
5. Seated cable rows or bent over dumbell rows using bench. The other alternative is vent over barbell rows but this is apparently not recommended for beginners as the form is difficult and you need a strong lower back
6. Barbell or Dumbell Shoulder Presses.

I think probably each of the above exercises shouldn't be done more than twice a week each.

7.The other compound movement which is often touted is parallel bar dips - but I was told by a trainer these can be hazardous for shoulder injuries unless you have very good form and shoulder alignment, so they are maybe not worth the risk. They'd be difficult for most beginners anyway, especially for overweight beginners.


If you read this article by Charles Waterbury, which I picked up off another thread on this website, it's probably an excellent guide to building a workout programme, for beginners at least. Charles Waterbury is an exponent of 3 all body workouts a week. I don't think beginners can go too far wrong with this although more advanced trainees may want to do more of a split rouitne based approach. The article :-

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031


You should vary up reps per set, don't always do 3 or 4 sets of 10-12, you should have workouts where you go for a weight you can lift four sets of 5-7.


Have been training for just over a year on the basis of 2-3 all body workouts Personally am going to try this 3 day a week plan starting this week which is a mix of all body workouts with some isolation work on the second day, ie. shoulders and biceps:-

Tuesday
(1) Deadlifts - 3-4 sets of 5-12 (i.e. aim for 5 reps some workouts and 10-12 on other days)

(2) Barbell Bench Press - 3-4 sets of 5-12
(3) Dumbell flyes or crossover cable flyes - 3 sets of 5-12
(3) Chinups/Lat Pull Down - 3-4 sets of 5-12
(4) Seated cable row or dumbell bent over row - 3 sets of 5-12 reps
(5) Barbell or Dumbell Shoulder Press - 2 sets of 5-12
(6) Abs - 3 sets of swiss ball crunches with medicine ball to failure or weight plate crunches

Cardio - 20 mins HIT treadmill


Thursday

(1) Squats - 3-4 sets of 5-12
(2) Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 5-12
(3) Lateral raises - 3 sets of 5-12
(4) Preacher curls - 2-3 sets of 5-12
(5) Seated Dumbell or Standing Barbell curls - 2-3 sets of 5-12
(6) Abs - 3 sets of swiss ball crunches or weight plate crunches

Cardio - 20 mins HIT treadmill


Saturday

(1) Deadlifts - 3-4 sets of 5-12
(2) Dumbell Bench Press - 3 sets of 5-12
(3) Dumbell flyes or cable crossover flyes - 3 sets of 5-12
(4) Seated cable row or dumbell bent over row - 3 sets of 5-12
(5) Lat Pulldown/Chinups - 3-4 sets of 5-12
(6) Abs - 3 sets of crunches as above

Cardio - 20 mins HIT treadmill.

I think you want to be restricting calories to about 2000 a day, maybe a bit less, over 5-6 meals as said above.

Your post had a lot of good info, but this calorie range is too low for a 250 lb guy just getting started with fat loss and trying to achieve optimal body recomposition results.

Your post had a lot of good info, but this calorie range is too low for a 250 lb guy just getting started with fat loss and trying to achieve optimal body recomposition results.



Fair doos, didn't properly read the bit about the guy being 250lbs and am no expert on nutrition anyway but would guess that an 1800- 2000 calorie level would be okay for guys in the region of say 160 - 190 or so pounds who are looking to cut ?

Fair doos, didn't properly read the bit about the guy being 250lbs and am no expert on nutrition anyway but would guess that an 1800- 2000 calorie level would be okay for guys in the region of say 160 - 190 or so pounds who are looking to cut ?

Hey odin, that number jumped out at me too. I try to aim for around 2000 calories per day and I'm in the low 190s.