I've been fat since I was a kid. Although I exercised a lot, I gained a lot of weight all through childhood by eating a lot of crap. (Candy, pretzels, fast food, etc ...) In my family, food was one primary implementation of love, and neither money nor knowledge of healthy eating was in ample supply, so I ate a lot of inexpensive but tasty and unhealthy crap. During college I lost a bunch of weight because I was prescribed Adderall (2 isomers of amphetamine and 2 isomers of dextroamphetamine) for ADHD. When I quit taking it three years ago [stimulant ADHD medication is a Faustian bargain] I gained back about 10 - 15 lb, and have been more or less steady there since. I had worked out fairly religiously for 6mo (my first attempt at resistance training) at the time I quit the Adderall, but haven't since.

I'm 27, 5'8", stocky framed, 202 lb, and about ~25% body fat according to these calipers I just got. If I had to guess, I'd say I'm rather endomorphic.

My initial goal is 185 lb and <20% body fat by 10/1/2004. One thing that encourages me as I go into this is my relative stability around this weight. I'm in finance, and if you let it--which I have for the last two years--that career entails a lot of drinking and eating.

I'd appreciate any input on my approach. In particular, I can't seem to figure out how to account for the calories I burn exercising WRT my target calories consumed.

This is the approach:

Cardio: 5x a week, either 45 minutes at 70% MHR or HIIT, depending on time available and energy level.

Resistance: 3x a week but I won't go nuts if I miss one. Basic back/biceps, chest/triceps, legs day splits.

Food: Eating 40/40/20 now. Have been targetting 1800 calories a day.

I am guessing that is suboptimal. This is where I could use some help.

Now, http://www.room42.com/cgi/basal.pl set to 'Aerobic Exerciser' activity level thinks my Basal Caloric Rate is ~1895 calories. Other Harris-Benedict calculators have said ~2000. If I'm aiming to lose 1 or 2 lb a week, should I be targetting this number minus 500, or this number plus activity calories burned minus 500?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Also, here's a few representative days of food (6 meals per day):

Day 1:

- Two eggs
- Chicken sandwich on cuban bread (ick) with a little pesto
- Boiled edamame, no salt; banana
- Broiled salmon
- Whey protein w/ skim milk
- 1/2 powerbar (foraging for food)

Totals 1570 39/26/34 P/C/F (oops not enough food, just wasn't hungry)

Day 2:

- 1/2 cup oatmeal w/ a little honey
- 4oz carrot-apple juice; whey protein scoop w/ water
- jerk chicken wrap; some (~10) almonds, 1 stick string cheese
- turkey sandwich on 1 slice whole wheat w/ 3oz turkey & mustard; 4oz carrot-apple juice
- pita pizza: whole wheat pita, a little marinara, skim mozzarella; raw lettuce w/ splash of vinegar
- 1/2 cup no fat cottage cheese

Totals 1875 34/44/23

So far today:

- 1 cup kashi golean; 4oz carrot-orange juice; 1 cup soy milk
- 1 scoop whey protein w/ water; stick of string cheese; 3oz turkey
- zone fudge graham bar
- 1 cup no fat cottage cheese; ~10 almonds; 4oz carrot-orange juice

So far 1067 41/38/21

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated. I've included a pic so you can have some idea about my body type, if that helps.

(ignore the wet butt, I'd just stepped out of the shower and apparently didn't towel my tuchus as well as I could have. ;) )

jon

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on deciding to make a change in your life.

Now I'm no expert but I'll explain the way that I understand it.

I use a site called http://www.fitday.com to track all my meals.

Fitday has estimated my BMR at about 1800. This is the amount of calories I would burn if I did nothing all day. But I don't do nothing, I go to work. At work I sit at my desk, I go to meetings, I use the bathroom, stuff like that. Fitday calls this my "lifestyle" and based on my lifestyle they add another 1100 calories. Now were at about 2900. In addition to lifestyle there's activities. Like today I ran 4 miles at lunch, about 575 calories burned.

So today:
BMR = 1800
Lifestyle = 1100
Activites = 575
total = 3475 calories burned today.

So, if I consume less than 3475 calories today I'll be loosing weight. This is the way that I understand it. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. If I am could someone please enlighten me. Thanks.

Oh and Congratulations again and Good Luck! :eat: :db: :jumping:

I can't wait to see a pic in 3-6 months. Keep up the clean eating and give fitday.com a try. There is some muscle under that upper body fat that with a good workout plan will show up well after you become lean.

It is veru importanty that you eat ENOUGH to lose weight. a 1500 calorie day does more damage for weight lose than it helps. Check fitday and get your calories up a bit.

That on top of building up those legs will work out as a double punch for you in my opinion. You came to the right place for motivation. :tu:

Good luck

four

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on deciding to make a change in your life.

Now I'm no expert but I'll explain the way that I understand it.

I use a site called http://www.fitday.com to track all my meals.

Fitday has estimated my BMR at about 1800. This is the amount of calories I would burn if I did nothing all day. But I don't do nothing, I go to work. At work I sit at my desk, I go to meetings, I use the bathroom, stuff like that. Fitday calls this my "lifestyle" and based on my lifestyle they add another 1100 calories. Now were at about 2900. In addition to lifestyle there's activities. Like today I ran 4 miles at lunch, about 575 calories burned.

So today:
BMR = 1800
Lifestyle = 1100
Activites = 575
total = 3475 calories burned today.

So, if I consume less than 3475 calories today I'll be loosing weight. This is the way that I understand it. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. If I am could someone please enlighten me. Thanks.

Oh and Congratulations again and Good Luck! :eat: :db: :jumping:

Thanks!

Functionally, do you eat anywhere near that many calories per day? How many have you been eating and what has your program/results been like?

This is the approach:

Cardio: 5x a week, either 45 minutes at 70% MHR or HIIT, depending on time available and energy level.

Resistance: 3x a week but I won't go nuts if I miss one. Basic back/biceps, chest/triceps, legs day splits.

Food: Eating 40/40/20 now. Have been targetting 1800 calories a day.


Go nuts if you miss a resistance training session! It is more important than Cardio IMHO.

I would rank Resistance training and Diet as the two key elements to successful fat loss, and Cardio as an optional component used for increasing results. Keep in mind that cardio can play a negative role in some cases. More is not necessarily better.

I am 6'2" and weight 194. I eat around 2100-2300 kcal a day. I was eating less, and stopped losing weight, so I upped it. I think any change is good, but my advice would be up up the calories just a tad. Just my 2 cents. Congrats on the change, welcome to the forums! :tu: