Need some help losing max weight before August 12th

[Lee]

Ive never been good at cutting but I really need to drop some weight before I go back home for a vacation. Just need some help on what type of diet is best for a long term solution. Should I just cut carbs down to a minimum and keep it at that? Or cut carbs and slowly start eatting more carbs in healthy forms?

 

[partagus]

If you cut all the carbs out of your diet, you will feel terrible. I am cutting now for a trip in July. Eat a lot of chicken, turkey and fish. I stay away from red meat, and only eat it once a month and make sure it is very lean.

Eat your complex carbs (oatmeal, sweet potatos etc). Eat a lot of green veggies. Watch your carb/sugar/fat intake.

I also stay away from milk (I do like light soy milk 2g carbs, 2g sugar). Increase your physical activity.

I find it beneficial to eat a lot when trying cut. It all depends on what you eat though. Like everyone says, eat six meals a day (small, nutrious meals).

I am no expert, but this is what I am doing and I am getting results. I can shoot some recipes or what I eat in a day in a PM/e-mail if interested. Change your diet, exercise more and STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERYDAY. You'll drive yourself nuts. Weigh in once a week. Again, this is just my opinion. You'll get there.

 

[Gordz24]

Im dropping weight right now. Im down about 14 lbs so far. Do you plan on exercising while dieting? Is it strictly fat loss or are you looking to put on some muscle as well?

Im restricting carbs to a certain extent. I eat 4 meals a day but the catch is no carbs in the first and last meal.

An example of my diet is:
meal 1: 5-6 egg whites, 2 yolks and some all natural peanut butter
meal 2: Oatmeal with splenda and a shot of milk
meal 3: chicken salad in wheat tortilla with a side of cottage cheese
meal 4: Steak or fish and a small side salad.

I cheat usually one day every 2 weeks. But i workout 5 days a week. But im not doing cardio because of my knee. Its been about 3 weeks and I am down 14 pounds and I definetly have a strength increase and the pants are fitting much better.

Good luck!


EDIT: drink enough water so you have a dilute urine all the time. Im not happy unless i piss clear.

 

[Nathan]

I think you should do some reading first - I have no idea about your specific goals. The problem with posts liek this is that you leave yourself open to EVERYTHING. If I were to thoroughly answer your question, I would have written four books by the time the post is done.

The best means to go about this is to do some reading, post up what YOU think will work for your goals, and then we will tell you whether or not we agree. It is very hard to offer advice from scratch.

 

[wlmcrae]

Pick up a copy of Body for Life (book) by Bill Phillips, or Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (e-book) by Tom Venuto. Either one of those will give you the best information, all in one place, to start a healthy, targetted cut.

Healthy fat loss will be in the 1-2lbs/wk range, so starting next week you should be able to cut between 18-36lbs of fat mass off. Depending on your training (newbie/veteran lifter) you may be able to gain some muscle mass, even on a cutter, as well, making the remaining mass look much better.

 

[Lee]

Thanks for hte replies. Nathan, I have been doing a lot of reading on here the past couple of days. Im dieting solely for fat loss and im not worried about my muscle mass, simply because Im naturally very big and shouldnt have a problem maintaining my muscle.

Partagus, is red meat really that bad? I eat a steak everyday basically. Should I jsut replace my steak with a chicken breast or two?

Also, what are your guys' thoughts on green tea?

 

[Nathan]

Thanks for hte replies. Nathan, I have been doing a lot of reading on here the past couple of days. Im dieting solely for fat loss and im not worried about my muscle mass, simply because Im naturally very big and shouldnt have a problem maintaining my muscle.

Partagus, is red meat really that bad? I eat a steak everyday basically. Should I jsut replace my steak with a chicken breast or two?

Also, what are your guys' thoughts on green tea?

Green tea is great. Lean cuts of steak are fine - it is calorie-counting you need to get accustomed to. Steak tends to have a lot of calories - unless you eat small portions.

You will need to evaluate your daily maintenance calories and then lower what you eat each day a bit from that. Do some reading on the glycemic index - it gives you an idea how quickly carbs are digested and hence how stable an energy supply they provide. High GI foods like sugar, should mainly be consumed post-workout when your body is hungry for quick nutrients. Otherwise, things like rolloed oats, brown rice, yams, etc. are a better option.

And keep your protein high and you should be concerned about muscle loss - the more muscle you have the eaiser it will be to get leaner. As you lose muscle, you will be making it that much more difficult to reach your goals. If you don't WANT the muscle, the best play would be to keep it until you are as lean as want to be, and then drop it by cutting out lifting weights and focussing more on cardio and burning calories.