Hello,

I'm a 25 year old male, 5'6, 187lbs. At one point about 3 years ago I had become very conscious about the way I looked and joined a gym. My goal was to loose fat [stomach and love handles. After about 3 months I saw a big difference, I looked better, felt better, was healthier, ect. My bodyweight was down from 180lbs to 158 lbs and i had put on some muscle, something I never had before.
Then, when I was getting comfortable with working out, eating right and being health conscious, I found a new job which is highly stressfull and demanding and I completly gave up all I was doing an lost all my gains.

Anyway in the last year alone I have gained 25lbs, more or less and I am at a low point, no self esteem left. My basic diet is mostly made up from fast food, soda, ect. due to my stressfull life.

I had joined the bodybuilding.com forums. I used to get alot of info there, but it is information overload and I always get confused about where to start and what to do.So I visited today and tought I would vist John Stone's thread for some inspiration, then the website and discovered these forums! I always looked at John as good motivation, but even that couldn't get me motivated enough. I always get confused by how to go about things and end up failing so I am going to start over, right here right now.

I have alot of research to do and I am sure I will get alot of information here. I will eventually start a fitness log when begin working out, but I have to make a plan.

The first thing I plan on doing is to quit smoking! I had quit while iI was working out but I picked up the habit again. Smoking is a very bad habit and hard to quit but I am determined to do it.
Secondly, I must overhaul my diet. I'm going to look around the forums all weekend to see what's best for me, if you have suggestions on diet, feel free to post.
And last but not least, working-out. Since i haven't worked out in ages I am going to be rusty so i have a long road ahead. Need to create a cardio and weight-lifting plan.

Now that I have my first post out of the way, it has begun!

I visited mybodycomposition.com and found that I have 32.5% bodyfat.
LBM- 127lbs
Fat Mass- 60lbs
Like I stated above, I weigh in at 187lbs- 5'6". My goal until the end of the year is to cut my fat mass in half and hopefully gain some muscle.

So my question is....am I setting my goal to high? I'm not sure what kind of cardio to do, but I definetly have to start with walking, eventually jogging and then HITT.

I think it's possible that you could hit your goal, but it is a little on the aggressive side. Not that that's bad, of course, but if you end up dropping 20 pounds of fat by the end of the year, it's something to be really proud of as well.

As far as cardio, it seems to vary per person. I believe John Stone prefers HIIT, but I tried it for a few weeks and my weight loss totally stalled. Longer, steady cardio seems to work much better for me. I suggest you try both, mixing them up from time to time to keep yourself off balance.

Good luck!

Start out slow. Get a heart rate monitor and make sure you're near the top of your fat loss zone target heart rate. Mix in HIIT after 4-6 weeks to help build aerobic capacity.

The goal is achievable, you might have to sacrifice a bit of muscle mass to do it if you're not doing any weight training.

The first thing I plan on doing is to quit smoking! I had quit while iI was working out but I picked up the habit again. Smoking is a very bad habit and hard to quit but I am determined to do it.

Amen to that! I quit smoking just over 3 years ago and it's the best thing I ever did. I couldn't imagine trying to spar with diminished lung capacity. I already start sucking wind after a few rounds as it is, but that's improving too as I shed fat.

My trick to quittong was to pick a three day weekend and quit cold turkey. I never had any luck with patches or gums. Those just kept the nicotine in my system longer and made me crave more. Plus, quitting cold turkey made me remember what I had to go through to quit. That it wasn't easy and that is my motivation for not picking it back up again. That and the money I spent, the way I used to smell after I smoked, the loss of productivity at work, the coughing, the breathing issues, the dependency on leaving the house with enough smokes/lighter, the extra stuff in my pocket, etc etc etc ...

Welcome to JSF. These boards are great. You will find really supportive and informative people here. I find a lot of the other boards are not as 'homey' as this one. I find this board great for receiving support/motivation, not just a straight out answer to your question, even though we do a great job of that here too ;)

I dont think your goal is too high. I would aim for 1-2 pound loss per week, and if you losing much more over that, try to increase your calories/protein a bit more, as you are probably losing muscle.

It has often been said muscle cannot be obtained while cutting. It can, but not much, however you can try and maintain as much as possible. You may gain some in the initial stages, as you are just getting started!

My personal opinions on the cardio are: if I havent bored you already. I have ran all my life, cross country/long distance/track and competed at that, however...I have cut out running as a means of fat loss 2 weeks ago. Running typically causes your heart rate to go over your desired heart rate range for burning fat, and getting your heart rate too high will cause you body to burn muscle for energy...not good.

Since I have cut out running, I bought a heart rate monitor, because I never paid any attention to it before...I thought, long, hard...must be good (that sounded a bit dirty haha)...but its not. Now I do 45 min at around 70% of my MHR and I have definietly seen a difference in 2 weeks.

Some advice: dont try to do too many things at once. Like dont start your diet and quit smoking the same day. Dont overload on exercise right away you will get burnt out and discouraged. Dont drop cals too low either, not only will you starve, be grumpy and all that nasty stuff, you wont lose weight if you dont eat enough. Sometimes I wish I could just do a bit more, to lose a bit more, but losing weight (fat) takes time, no matter what, especially if you wanna maintain muscle.

Good luck and post ANYTIME, we're all here to help each other! :gl:

First of all, thank you all for posting in my thread!
All your posts are very informative and of help to me.

I think it's possible that you could hit your goal, but it is a little on the aggressive side. Not that that's bad, of course, but if you end up dropping 20 pounds of fat by the end of the year, it's something to be really proud of as well.

As far as cardio, it seems to vary per person. I believe John Stone prefers HIIT, but I tried it for a few weeks and my weight loss totally stalled. Longer, steady cardio seems to work much better for me. I suggest you try both, mixing them up from time to time to keep yourself off balance.

Good luck!

I know my goal is a little high, I mean, I haven't even started yet. So I think I will set my goal when I have actually started working out, but it will be more or less to loose my gut and love-handles first and foremost.

Start out slow. Get a heart rate monitor and make sure you're near the top of your fat loss zone target heart rate. Mix in HIIT after 4-6 weeks to help build aerobic capacity.

The goal is achievable, you might have to sacrifice a bit of muscle mass to do it if you're not doing any weight training.

I am definetly going to invest in a heart monitor. Not sure what my heartrate should be for fatloss, but I'm sure I'll find out one way or the other.

I will also be weight training, but I figured I would do cardio, exersizes and stretching before i weight-train.

Amen to that! I quit smoking just over 3 years ago and it's the best thing I ever did. I couldn't imagine trying to spar with diminished lung capacity. I already start sucking wind after a few rounds as it is, but that's improving too as I shed fat.

My trick to quittong was to pick a three day weekend and quit cold turkey. I never had any luck with patches or gums. Those just kept the nicotine in my system longer and made me crave more. Plus, quitting cold turkey made me remember what I had to go through to quit. That it wasn't easy and that is my motivation for not picking it back up again. That and the money I spent, the way I used to smell after I smoked, the loss of productivity at work, the coughing, the breathing issues, the dependency on leaving the house with enough smokes/lighter, the extra stuff in my pocket, etc etc etc ...

To be honest, the last time I stopped smoking was using the patch. I had joined a gym and started working out and didn't smoke for a year and a half! But then i went out drinking and blah, blah, blah, here I am.I have tried quitting cold turkey many times but it just doesn't work for me. I already have my nicotene patches, and i plan on using them starting tonight! I'll keep everyone posted on how that works out.

Welcome to JSF. These boards are great. You will find really supportive and informative people here. I find a lot of the other boards are not as 'homey' as this one. I find this board great for receiving support/motivation, not just a straight out answer to your question, even though we do a great job of that here too ;)

I dont think your goal is too high. I would aim for 1-2 pound loss per week, and if you losing much more over that, try to increase your calories/protein a bit more, as you are probably losing muscle.

It has often been said muscle cannot be obtained while cutting. It can, but not much, however you can try and maintain as much as possible. You may gain some in the initial stages, as you are just getting started!

My personal opinions on the cardio are: if I havent bored you already. I have ran all my life, cross country/long distance/track and competed at that, however...I have cut out running as a means of fat loss 2 weeks ago. Running typically causes your heart rate to go over your desired heart rate range for burning fat, and getting your heart rate too high will cause you body to burn muscle for energy...not good.

Since I have cut out running, I bought a heart rate monitor, because I never paid any attention to it before...I thought, long, hard...must be good (that sounded a bit dirty haha)...but its not. Now I do 45 min at around 70% of my MHR and I have definietly seen a difference in 2 weeks.

Some advice: dont try to do too many things at once. Like dont start your diet and quit smoking the same day. Dont overload on exercise right away you will get burnt out and discouraged. Dont drop cals too low either, not only will you starve, be grumpy and all that nasty stuff, you wont lose weight if you dont eat enough. Sometimes I wish I could just do a bit more, to lose a bit more, but losing weight (fat) takes time, no matter what, especially if you wanna maintain muscle.

Good luck and post ANYTIME, we're all here to help each other! :gl:

I will not do everything at once, I know it will lead to my failiure. I want to fist quit smoking, fix my diet, exersize and cardio, and then weight train, hopefully it will not take that long to get everything rolling. I know I may loose some muscle mass, but after I loose the fat weight, I will be working on muscle mass. I also know that muscle burns fat, so this is where it all gets confusing. I want to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time, but this time around my priority will be fat loss. last time i tried doing both and i think that was what discouraged me. When I do by a HRM I will experiment with what type of cardio I can do and that I am comfortable with.

good luck to you. Can see we are getting ready to shed some weight at the same time! wanna race :p

I am very close to your height and weight. 5'7.5'' and 191lbs. I started out at 210 about 3 months ago with a goal of 170 and am about halfway there. I think you definitely can make your goal by the end of the year if you're disciplined. I'm basically doing 5 or 6 days of cardio a week 45 min or 1 hour on the eliptical at 75% heart rate and 3 or 4 days of weight lifting as well. I haven't been keeping strict watch of my calories and carb/protein/fat percentages but basically eat 4 or 5 times a day and each meal i try to just eat a fist sized portion of protein and a vegetable or non starchy or simple carb. I eat as clean as possible and seems to have worked so far for me. I look forward to seeing how you progress! Good luck!!!!

BabyFaceMagee :bb:

So my question is....am I setting my goal to high?No, you're not. Now, if you don't reach it and instead only lose 20 pounds in 5 months, don't go seeing things as a failure, but I honestly believe that you can drop 30 lbs healthily in 5 months.

You'll find ample advice around here on what to do to lose weight. You've also done it before, so I know that if you're serious about it, you'll lose it again. Almost anybody in the population has at some point lost weight. The "95% of diets fail" is a bit of a misnomer. Most diets are in fact successful. The problem is that long-term most of them fail. Almost all of them. That's not because people can't lose weight, it's because people can't keep it off. The reason is merely that they can't stick to their diet. So, going forward you need to stick to your diet.

If your diet is ridiculous, like 5 cantaloupes/day, then of course it would be hard to stick to. So, you need a diet that is reasonable and healthy and that, with some continual dedication, you can stick to it long term and embrace the lifestyle more than the short term loss of fat.

The 5-6 meals/day that most people here will recommend is something that can be stuck with long term. Obviously anything away from the norm of eating junk is going to be difficult and require effort. But, much like the fact you have to quit smoking, it's really not an option - or at least it shouldn't be. In my own life the one thing that has kept me working out for years and keeping my weight down (it fluctuates a bit, but never balloons) is the fact that I know I"ve spent thousands of hours so far working out and I'll be damned if I'm going to let several months of laziness sabotage it all. If I was to stop working out for a month I'd be consumed by the reminder that all the clean eating and hours at the gym is being literally thrown down the drain by me.

Hopefully you can find yourself, and work towards, the point where you understand and fully believe that your life simply will not go down the road of unhealthy consumption again. Instead of saying "Quiting smoking is so hard" remind yourself of the fact that to continue with it you're literally killing yourself - slashing years off your life. And, although Denis leary is funny, no they aren't the bad years. The bad years merely come earlier. Surely you don't want your eventual wife and kids looking at you hooked up to oxygen at the "young" age of 62 with a 25% lung capacity. The same approach can be said of weight. Losing it shouldn't be something you want, it should be something you absolutely need. Your quality of life will go through the roof, your longevity will soar, your appearance will enhance, etc. And even if you have to force yourself to find the time to do it, an hour spent in the gym 5 times/week will more than be made up for with saved years and quality of life.

Goodluck. I'm finished :)

Oh yeah, quiting the smoking right now is far more important than losing the weight, since you're not morbidly obese. It's good you're approaching that first, plus it will make the cardio easier later. Quit the smoking and keep off it for a while, then start the working out. Realize that a lot of quitters gain something like 10 pounds after they stop smoking.