First of all, I must say this site is great. I have read alot of post the last week and alot of them have been very helpful. But now for my Thread. I started my Routine on August 1st, so I have been doing for about a week now. Have no diffucllity doing this routine or sticking to my diet. My Goal is a Ripped 160 with 10% BF no matter what it takes :)

Weight: 261 32% BF - August 1st
Height: 5' 9"
Age: 25
BMR: 2398.33 according to http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

This is my daily Routine. I do this 7 days a week.

5:00 am - Elyptical Traininer 60 min at about 80% max heart rate (156)
6:30 am - Myoplex Shake, Multi-Vitaman
12:00 pm - Very Healthy Sandwich
4:00 pm - Elyptical Traininer 60 min at about 80% max heart rate (156)
6:00 pm - Large Salad
8:00 pm - Protien Bar

Total Intake of Calories is 1200 to 1400 a day
Total Output a day is about 2000 Calories from doing Cardio.

I drink tons of Green Tea and about Gallon of water a day.

Right now I am trying to lose the weight and will start a Ripping Routine once all the weight is gone. I plan on Starting a Calisthenics program next week. That will be about 45 to 60 min a day for 5 days a week.
I am hoping to refine it as I go, but just wanted to get started. Any comments you can give me on this diet/Routine will be helpfull. Thanks

First of all, I must say this site is great. I have read alot of post the last week and alot of them have been very helpful. But now for my Thread. I started my Routine on August 1st, so I have been doing for about a week now. Have no diffucllity doing this routine or sticking to my diet. My Goal is a Ripped 160 with 10% BF no matter what it takes :)

Weight: 261 32% BF - August 1st
Height: 5' 9"
Age: 25
BMR: 2398.33 according to http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

This is my daily Routine. I do this 7 days a week.

5:00 am - Elyptical Traininer 60 min at about 80% max heart rate (156)
6:30 am - Myoplex Shake, Multi-Vitaman
12:00 pm - Very Healthy Sandwich
4:00 pm - Elyptical Traininer 60 min at about 80% max heart rate (156)
6:00 pm - Large Salad
8:00 pm - Protien Bar

Total Intake of Calories is 1200 to 1400 a day
Total Output a day is about 2000 Calories from doing Cardio.

I drink tons of Green Tea and about Gallon of water a day.

Right now I am trying to lose the weight and will start a Ripping Routine once all the weight is gone. I plan on Starting a Calisthenics program next week. That will be about 45 to 60 min a day for 5 days a week.
I am hoping to refine it as I go, but just wanted to get started. Any comments you can give me on this diet/Routine will be helpfull. Thanks
[/url]By doing that much cardio, and eating 1200 - 1400 cals a day...good bye muscle, and hello crashed metabolism.

Read this--->[url]http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?threadid=81315 (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/)

So from that post at the link you gave, I need to decrease my Cardio and eat more food. Wow not something you really expect to hear from a fat loss site lol. So how much of a Calorie defict can I do before my body shuts down and starts survival mode? I am still in the state of mind of if u burn what u eat you will lose weight. But I want my body to lose the weight at the most effective way it can. (i.e Staying out of survival mode) I would love to maintain the muscle to, alot less muscle I will need to pack on after I get to my Goal weight :)

OK..I will give a go.

Your BMR is 2398.33 ...that is what you said. This is how many calories your body needs for its vital functions..ic, breathing and all the stuff that goes on inside the body haha. SO..basically, if u layed in bed all day this is what you would burn. So...You should NOT eat below this number! Or else...your starving your body. Add cardio to that and you are waaaay under your BMR. Your body will use muscle as energy (because its easiest to use and contain more calories per pound) and leave you with a jiggly body :lol:

I suggest you start eating 11x your bodyweight as a start and see how that goes for a few weeks. So..2871 calories/day. You should maybe look into you macronutrient percentages...how many cals from protein/fat/carbs etc...I would suggest starting with 40/40/20 Pro/Car/Fat. Make sure you get enough protein..very important for muscle maintence!

Cardio every morning is great...but I suggest between 65%-75% of your MKR...anything above that and you will be burning muscle!
220-age x 70%
195x.70 = 137 bpm

You have 2 cardio sessions in one day I just noticed that. Gosh....well, not that its a bad thing...but I would HIGHLY recoment substituting that with weight training...you may say, well I wanna lose fat first, but muscle burns fat, and even if u dont gain muscle while cutting, weight training will help you preserve it. If you dont weight train you are likely to lose a lot...then your metabolism slows, and so does your weight loss. You mention this Calisthenics ...should be fine.

Cut out the second cardio session for now, and subsitute with weight lifting. You dont wanna get burned out too quickly....start off slow. When your body hits a plateau what are you gonna do, add a third cardio session? You body will drop fat by doing one cardio session/day and cleaning the diet...dont go overboard!

:gl: Any more questions, go nuts!

OK..I will give a go.

Your BMR is 2398.33 ...that is what you said. This is how many calories your body needs for its vital functions..ic, breathing and all the stuff that goes on inside the body haha. SO..basically, if u layed in bed all day this is what you would burn. So...You should NOT eat below this number! Or else...your starving your body. Add cardio to that and you are waaaay under your BMR. Your body will use muscle as energy (because its easiest to use and contain more calories per pound) and leave you with a jiggly body :lol:

I suggest you start eating 11x your bodyweight as a start and see how that goes for a few weeks. So..2871 calories/day. You should maybe look into you macronutrient percentages...how many cals from protein/fat/carbs etc...I would suggest starting with 40/40/20 Pro/Car/Fat. Make sure you get enough protein..very important for muscle maintence!

Cardio every morning is great...but I suggest between 65%-75% of your MKR...anything above that and you will be burning muscle!
220-age x 70%
195x.70 = 137 bpm

You have 2 cardio sessions in one day I just noticed that. Gosh....well, not that its a bad thing...but I would HIGHLY recoment substituting that with weight training...you may say, well I wanna lose fat first, but muscle burns fat, and even if u dont gain muscle while cutting, weight training will help you preserve it. If you dont weight train you are likely to lose a lot...then your metabolism slows, and so does your weight loss. You mention this Calisthenics ...should be fine.

Cut out the second cardio session for now, and subsitute with weight lifting. You dont wanna get burned out too quickly....start off slow. When your body hits a plateau what are you gonna do, add a third cardio session? You body will drop fat by doing one cardio session/day and cleaning the diet...dont go overboard!

:gl: Any more questions, go nuts!
Good post Diamond...looks like Swole is rubbing off on ya :D

So from that post at the link you gave, I need to decrease my Cardio and eat more food. Wow not something you really expect to hear from a fat loss site lol. So how much of a Calorie defict can I do before my body shuts down and starts survival mode? I am still in the state of mind of if u burn what u eat you will lose weight. But I want my body to lose the weight at the most effective way it can. (i.e Staying out of survival mode) I would love to maintain the muscle to, alot less muscle I will need to pack on after I get to my Goal weight :)
Exactly.

Keep us posted on your revamped plan.

:gl:

OK..I will give a go.

Your BMR is 2398.33 ...that is what you said. This is how many calories your body needs for its vital functions..ic, breathing and all the stuff that goes on inside the body haha. SO..basically, if u layed in bed all day this is what you would burn. So...You should NOT eat below this number! Or else...your starving your body. Add cardio to that and you are waaaay under your BMR. Your body will use muscle as energy (because its easiest to use and contain more calories per pound) and leave you with a jiggly body :lol:

I suggest you start eating 11x your bodyweight as a start and see how that goes for a few weeks. So..2871 calories/day. You should maybe look into you macronutrient percentages...how many cals from protein/fat/carbs etc...I would suggest starting with 40/40/20 Pro/Car/Fat. Make sure you get enough protein..very important for muscle maintence!

Cardio every morning is great...but I suggest between 65%-75% of your MKR...anything above that and you will be burning muscle!
220-age x 70%
195x.70 = 137 bpm

You have 2 cardio sessions in one day I just noticed that. Gosh....well, not that its a bad thing...but I would HIGHLY recoment substituting that with weight training...you may say, well I wanna lose fat first, but muscle burns fat, and even if u dont gain muscle while cutting, weight training will help you preserve it. If you dont weight train you are likely to lose a lot...then your metabolism slows, and so does your weight loss. You mention this Calisthenics ...should be fine.

Cut out the second cardio session for now, and subsitute with weight lifting. You dont wanna get burned out too quickly....start off slow. When your body hits a plateau what are you gonna do, add a third cardio session? You body will drop fat by doing one cardio session/day and cleaning the diet...dont go overboard!

:gl: Any more questions, go nuts!



So if I change my routine to:

60 min cardio 75% MHR
45 min of Calisthenics
2600 Calories a day, doing 40/40/20


Then I will lose weight and not lose muscle? Still seems like to many calories. Also my cardio in the am burns about 1k in calories so is that ok? Also will have to keep adjusting the calories each time I lose a pound?

So if I change my routine to:

60 min cardio 75% MHR
45 min of Calisthenics
2800 Calories a day, doing 40/40/20


Then I will lose weight and not lose muscle? Still seems like to many calories. Also my cardio in the am burns about 1k in calories so is that ok? Also will have to keep adjusting the calories each time I lose a pound?

Yeah, it does sound funny at first to have to up your calorie intake to lose weight. But, as you'll read in other posts, your body will go into starvation mode.

FWIW, I was at a plateau a few weeks ago and asked for some tips on the diet. Bawl and others suggested uping it from 1600-2000 to 2500 or so along with some food changes and an added meal or two. Since then I've broken the plateau.

As far as the 1K calorie burning on the cardio, I believe you'll want to add that much more to your diet, but I'd wait for a more experience/knowledgable person (like Diamond_Star or Bawl) to respond.

:gl:

Yeah, it does sound funny at first to have to up your calorie intake to lose weight. But, as you'll read in other posts, your body will go into starvation mode.

FWIW, I was at a plateau a few weeks ago and asked for some tips on the diet. Bawl and others suggested uping it from 1600-2000 to 2500 or so along with some food changes and an added meal or two. Since then I've broken the plateau.

As far as the 1K calorie burning on the cardio, I believe you'll want to add that much more to your diet, but I'd wait for a more experience/knowledgable person (like Diamond_Star or Bawl) to respond.

:gl:


Well I just read some of the responses to your Threads and there is alot of info there. On one they said do look up your BMR and reduce it by 500 Calories a day (which equals to 1 lbs lost a week). But I thought they just said you should never go below you BMR other wise your body goes into Survival mode. Been reading alot of these post and reading on the web. Seems like alot of them contradict each other its very confusing. But I am open to any suggestions anyone has to make. :D Thanks for the posts

Well I just read some of the responses to your Threads and there is alot of info there. On one they said do look up your BMR and reduce it by 500 Calories a day (which equals to 1 lbs lost a week). But I thought they just said you should never go below you BMR other wise your body goes into Survival mode. Been reading alot of these post and reading on the web. Seems like alot of them contradict each other its very confusing. But I am open to any suggestions anyone has to make. :D Thanks for the posts

Well, it's not an exact science... yet :P Everybody is different. Remember these are rules of thumb, a starting point.

It seems the consensus is to start at your BMR (make sure your calculator takes into consideration your activity level so you get the amount of calories you need to maintain) and then subtract 500 calories.

See how that works for awhile. If you are gaining fat then drop it a few hundred. If you are dropping more than 2 lbs a week of fat, you'll probably want to up it a few hundred. Burst and adjust, etc, etc.

Again, this is how I understand it and if I'm off then the more knowledgable will correct me. :)

:gl:

Well, it's not an exact science... yet :P Everybody is different. Remember these are rules of thumb, a starting point.

It seems the consensus is to start at your BMR (make sure your calculator takes into consideration your activity level so you get the amount of calories you need to maintain) and then subtract 500 calories.

See how that works for awhile. If you are gaining fat then drop it a few hundred. If you are dropping more than 2 lbs a week of fat, you'll probably want to up it a few hundred. Burst and adjust, etc, etc.

Again, this is how I understand it and if I'm off then the more knowledgable will correct me. :)

:gl:


Well I did my BMR on one of the web sites posted here and I got 2398.33. Now if I factor in what i was doing when I gained all this my weight it, then it equals 2878 as my calorie needs for the day. Keep in mind the before this week I pretty much sat around the house eating junk food all day. So if I was to lose weight I should reduce my Calorie needs for the day by 500 to 1000. So 1878 Calories a day should make it so i lose 2 lbs a week by just sitting on the couch all day :D . But where do I factor in Calories burned from exercise? I do cardio in the morning and burn about 1k in Calories so should i just stick with 2878 a Calories a day and consider my 1k from cardio the defict I need to lose weight? If so how do if factor in lifting weights?

Was reading some post on the forum and found link to this site http://www.fatlosstips.com/ Seems they sugguest 10-13x your body weight in Calories a day. I also remember John Stone saying in his FAQ something about eating 10x your body weight in Calories to lose weight. But if I stuck to this and did my Cardio (1k Calories burned) would this be to much of defict in my Calorie intake? Just the diffence in my BMR with my daily activity and 10x my weight is about 100-200 Calories (give or take of few :D ). So what is better to go by BMR or 10x my body weight?

Well I jumped on the Scale today (moment of Truth :spaz: ). I weighted in at 254 lbs and 31% BF. So with my simple math I figured I lost about 5 lbs of fat :claphigh: . Also this is what I think I am going to do for my Routine/diet

Weight 254 lbs 31% BF
254 x 10 = 2540 Calories a day
Doing 40/40/20
1016 Cal from Protien = 254 g protien
1016 Cal from Carbs = 254 g Carbs
508 Cal from Fat = 56g of fat (OMG that seems like alot of Fat!!)

Does this seem right? not sure if I am doing the math right.
Oh ya exercise

Daily Exercise:
Elyptical Traininer 60min/5 to 10 min cool down 75-80 % MHR (1k Cal Burned) 7 days a week
Calisthenics Program 45 to 60 min, Full body workout, 5 days a week / looking into Weight routine.(Max-OT)

So this is what i am going to do. I think :D . I figured my Cardio every day will be my Calorie Defict for each day. So with this I should stay out of Survival mode and lose about 2 lbs per week with out buring muscle? Any info will help this has been such a learing experience :claplow: .

Weight 254 lbs 31% BF
254 x 10 = 2540 Calories a day
Doing 40/40/20
1016 Cal from Protien = 254 g protien
1016 Cal from Carbs = 254 g Carbs
508 Cal from Fat = 56g of fat (OMG that seems like alot of Fat!!)

Does this seem right? not sure if I am doing the math right.

Looks quite right. I'm aiming at 2089 cals a day (as calculated by Fitday PC) also with 40/40/20 and the grams are 46g fat, 209g of carbs and prots.

But from the 46g of fat I have set a goal to have at most 5g of saturated fats.

So, although the fat amount may seem a lot, try to keep most of it as poly- or monosaturated fats.

Well I jumped on the Scale today (moment of Truth :spaz: ). I weighted in at 254 lbs and 31% BF. So with my simple math I figured I lost about 5 lbs of fat :claphigh: . Also this is what I think I am going to do for my Routine/diet

Weight 254 lbs 31% BF
254 x 10 = 2540 Calories a day
Doing 40/40/20
1016 Cal from Protien = 254 g protien
1016 Cal from Carbs = 254 g Carbs
508 Cal from Fat = 56g of fat (OMG that seems like alot of Fat!!)

Does this seem right? not sure if I am doing the math right.
Oh ya exercise

Daily Exercise:
Elyptical Traininer 60min/5 to 10 min cool down 75-80 % MHR (1k Cal Burned) 7 days a week
Calisthenics Program 45 to 60 min, Full body workout, 5 days a week / looking into Weight routine.(Max-OT)

So this is what i am going to do. I think :D . I figured my Cardio every day will be my Calorie Defict for each day. So with this I should stay out of Survival mode and lose about 2 lbs per week with out buring muscle? Any info will help this has been such a learing experience :claplow: .
Excellent job. You are well on your way.

A couple of things. By doing cardio 7 days a week you may burn yourself out aka overtraining. If you are starting to feel overtired, sluggish, etc its a good sign that you are. Every once and a while take a rest day, and manipulate your diet to make up the calorie deficit.

I also can't stress weight lifting enough, as others have said, continue to look into it.

If you feel so inclined, start an online journal to keep us posted on your progress.

:gl:

Excellent job. You are well on your way.

A couple of things. By doing cardio 7 days a week you may burn yourself out aka overtraining. If you are starting to feel overtired, sluggish, etc its a good sign that you are. Every once and a while take a rest day, and manipulate your diet to make up the calorie deficit.

I also can't stress weight lifting enough, as others have said, continue to look into it.

If you feel so inclined, start an online journal to keep us posted on your progress.

:gl:


Awesome job...and BAWL is right...try not to burn yourself out...the first few weeks may seem fine but it will catch up with you. Your body will tell you when it needs a break, and do it a favor and listen to it. I took a full week off from the gym a few weeks ago...best thing I did, i felt guilty everyday nonetheless, but I was back with a vengence and ready to hit it!

Good luck, and yes, keep us posted! :tu:

Thanks for all the info and support. Ya I took today off and plan on hitting my new routine/diet on Sunday. Will be starting journal to. Anyone know of good weight routine that is 3 day split that I can do with out partner?