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Another Diet Forum > Trainer's Corner > Anything about Exercise > 285lbs today, trying to lose ~80lbs. Here's my plan...your thoughts? |
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zrothum New Member 
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I turn 28 this May and 10 years ago I weighed roughly 180lbs. Now I'm at 280+ I am determined to lose this weight. I've begun doing 45 min cardio workouts on a stationary bike until I lose enough weight that running does not kill my knees so bad. I'm averaging about 400calories burned just from the bike. It's a 5 mile walk to the gym each way. I'm begun restricting my diet, as well. An average day would be Breakfast: 2 slices of whole grain toast with 2 eggs sunny-side up Lunch: Mixed green salad with sliced chicken breasts, raisins and carrots. Snack: 1 slice whole grain toast with 1tbsp peanut butter Dinner: lean meat of choice (chicken or steak), steamfresh bag of fibrous veggies. I haven't ran the calorie count on that yet but it should be around 1000-1200, severely less than what is recommended for a man of my size. My concerns are (and I've been reading a lot online just can't find an answer thats a definite yes/no) 1. Am I eating way too little? My stamina feels fine, I don't have hunger pangs...but if I'm going to be burning 800+ calories between the 10 mile walk and 400cal bike burn....am I doing myself injustice by eating so little? 2. I have low testosterone (300ish count) and I'm concerned with how that will impact my weight loss goals. 3. Am I missing anything in my diet? Fruits come to mind...just not sure when I should be eating them. I'm trying to drink nothing but water...no milk, no juices...although I've given thought to drinking V8 fusion...I enjoy the taste a lot and the fruit/veggie servings are up there. I have very little sugar in my diet already, so I feel I could be okay with the sugar content of V8 fusion. I'm new to the idea of wellness and I've been doing a lot of reading this past week...figured it was time to put my plan out there and see what other people thought. I've also been reading about intermittent fasting. Going a whole day with next to nothing, then eating regular for a day...I feel I could do this without much problem. Does anyone have experience with IF diets? I'm a big fan of lifting weights as well but I'm afraid to add muscle weight. I assume doing low weight, high reps will aid in fat burning/weight loss and that it is something recommended? |
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Nir Senior Administrator 
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I there. I think I also made my turnaround at a similar age (29-30). Diet notes: I think there is a reasonable chance that you are hitting 0.5g portein per pound of body weight (which would be good to aim for, especially in a deficit). I like that vegetables are represented. Yes I think that counting calories from time to time to give you an idea of where you are is a good idea. If you have the patience for it, then dieting in a way that represents a deficit that is sizeable enough to get results but is not too extreme is going to give you the best results in the long term. In other words eating too little will work wonders in the first few weeks but it may then frustrate you if your metabolism takes a dive, so you are right to be concerned. I think that your concern that using heavy weights will lead to gain is misplaced. Yes it might lead to gain but you should be aiming for fat loss and muscle gain. For a given unit weight (say a pound) muscle is dense it occupies much less volume - loose 20lb fat and gain 20lb muscle you weigh the same but look much better. Besides your low testosterone may be a limiting factor in how much muscle you can gain. Most women have about 1/10 the testosterone of men which is why they tend to lift less (barring exceptions and determination etc.) With your steps to wellness, I'd like to encourage you to explore a book called Eat To Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman to see if it can change your ideas about food. |
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