Mansiere

SurferDon1 · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 12:45 PM

hey guys,

I am a total newb here and i am looking to get back into shape. I am currently 6'1" and about 195 lbs. I am currently a little more round around the middle and have some man boob action going on and I was wondering if I should follow John's workout plan. I am currently eating lots of veggies and lean chicken as well as a drinking only water and juice. I haven't cut out carbs but limited my intake considerably.

I geuss my real question is if the HIIT workout, along with some weight training, would benfit me in my quest to be able to feel comfortable again in some board shorts on the beach. I want to get more defined and less flabby. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

SurferDon1 · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:07 PM

I was also wondering what would be a good daily calorie intake amount be?

CattleProd · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:10 PM

My advice: start reading! There has been a wealth of knowledge posted to these forums, all of which address your questions and do so in more detail than a single response to this message will do.

Read up!

-CP

Cologuy66 · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:12 PM

Hi it is good to hear that you are starting and are asking questions.

You ask specifically about Cardio and Weight training.

Cardio burns an imense amount of calories. Do the kind of cardio that you like and it is a lot easier stay motivated. However, sometimes you don't know what you like until you try some different types. I never seriously ran in my life, but I picked it up at the age of 33, and now I love to run.

HIIT Training is great and it will really burn up those calories. The nice thing about HIIT is that virtually every cardio exercise adapts to the HIIT method. Do keep in mind that the HIIT method is pretty advanced. If you cannot keep up doing HIIT for 20 minutes, then your intensity level is too high, and you will need to adjust accordingly so that you can finish your workout.

You do need to weight train. If you eat right and do cardio you will lose weight. That's the goal and that's great. But what do you want to look like when you are done--a skinny teenager? I doubt it, otherwise you wouldn't be on this forum. When you workout and build your muscles you gain muscle mass which is a lot more efficient for your body. I have never met a man that didn't want to have nice looking arms or chest or whatever. I don't know if it some primal instinct or just vanity, but the desire is there.

As far as diet goes, that is key to your success. Limiting your calories, and determining what your body needs or does not need to lose weight is the key. Everyone's body-type is different. The key is to eat small low calories meals all day long. Think of yourself as a grazer. You never want to be stuffed, but you also don't want to constantly be hungry (though I think being a little hungry at some points is okay)
Also the key to eating more healthy so that you can lose those pounds is to eat the same thing day in day out. You alway must have a plan and know what you will eat. Pack breakfast, pack lunch, have your dinner ready to go when you get home from work. This is the key to weight loss.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

SurferDon1 · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:32 PM

Thank you. I really appreciate the help. I haven't planned out my meals before and i think thats where I have been running in to trouble. I will def be doing that from now on. I want to also figure out what a good calorie intake would be. Any info on how I could figure this out or where to look. I have been looking over other posts but I haven't found any detailing how to find this number. Thanks again!

CattleProd · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurferDon1

Thank you. I really appreciate the help. I haven't planned out my meals before and i think thats where I have been running in to trouble. I will def be doing that from now on. I want to also figure out what a good calorie intake would be. Any info on how I could figure this out or where to look. I have been looking over other posts but I haven't found any detailing how to find this number. Thanks again!

Sorry, I didn't mean to seem too much like I was brushing you off before.

A good point to start is body weight * 10, so you probably want to shoot for 1900-2000 calories to start out, for fat loss.

I didn't plan my meals out before, either. Doing this will really help you learn about what you're eating, and how much nutrition your body is really getting. You learn a lot more about those nutrition labels!

A good link for nutrition data is http://www.nutritiondata.com/

Check it out. You may want to start by modeling your diet after what John Stone did, and then work from there. Keep reading these forums, and you can learn a lot!

-CP

SurferDon1 · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:49 PM

Thanks Cattle Prod, the site is really helpful and also a huge eye opener. I can't believe the values on some foods that I thought were "good" foods. I think that this will be very helpful in planning out my meals.

CattleProd · Tue, February 3rd, 2004, 01:52 PM

also, you may want to go to www.johnstonefitness.com and read the FAQ's. They're also loaded with tons of info!

-CP