Starting Diet/Excersize

[GTZpower]

Yesterday, I decided to make a few changes in my life before it's too late. I am 20, 6'2" and weigh 236lbs as of last night. I wear 38 inch waist pants, and I hope to get this down to 34 inch.

I started this morning by quitting smoking, hopefully for good this time. I usually quit, get drunk 6 months later and pick up a cigarette out of habit. Anyway, that's going well so far. My diet consists of:

blend of scrambled eggs (no milk used to make them), low fat sausage, and american cheese (2 cups of this mix, 4x daily)

1 3oz can of tuna 2x daily

40-60oz Twinlabs low carb protein drink daily (randomly taken throughout the day, especially after lifting)

1000mg Flax oil capsules (2-3 before each meal, 6x daily) I couldn't find actual flax oil so I had to settle for these cold pressed liquid gels.

Goto gym for 2 hours (cardio and weight lifting) 3x-4x/week

This is my new diet for atleast a week. It is a pretty tough transition from McD's, Pizzahut, and taco bell to this. Hopefully I'll start seeing results fast so I can stay motivated.

I am basically posting this here for a few reasons.

1: to keep track of my progress, and let everyone know my daily results. This will keep me motivated because I have people watching to see if "wuss out".

2: so I can get input on my diet and food options/supplements that would help me out. Any help helps!

 

[Burning_Inside]

bro:

Don't do too much too soon, trust me, you'll relapse into oblivion. You want to stop smoking, cool. Let that be prioirty number one. Kick that habit first, THEN start on hitting the gym, Then shortly after you get in the habit of seeing the gym and exercising as a LIFESTYLE, start cleaning up your diet.

I'm telling you, very very few people have the willpower to do all of what you're attempting all at once, and STICK to it longterm.

 

[GTZpower]

I understand what your saying, but I feel that if I don't go in hard, I won't see results soon enough, and I will lose motivation. Turning back now IMO would be like giving up. I am sick of my self and am pretty dedicated to doing this. I have done the GYM thing before, but gave up because it was either too expensive, or not open when I needed it to be. Well, I found a 24 hour place which only costs $20/mo. (fitness america in Peoria IL), and some of my coworkers go there regularly. So I'd have company. The hardest part will be maintaining my diet, or changing my diet permanantly. For now, The diet I have is just to get me going. It will become more leanient when I get to return to a normal diet (NOT meaning my usual diet, but a healthy/normal diet of some sort). Quitting smoking is easy for me. I just never think of a good reason to. Quitting now will help me excersize, so that's reason enough for me.

 

[GTZpower]

Yea, I am worried about that. I have NEVER seen my abs. There have been times where my arms look mildly ripped, cheek bones well defined, but no abs in sight. Then again, I was never trying too hard either. It was either diet or gym, but never both at the same time.

I do feel a little tired right now. I think I might go home and go to bed 3 hours earlier than usual tonight. I have 2 meals left, and I am honestly not hungry enough to rush and eat them. I have so far consumed:

20oz of protein shake,
20oz water,
30oz unsweetened ice tea,
about 4.5 cups of the eggs-cheese-sausage mix,
3oz can of tuna

I usually eat a 12 inch sub from a local Italian restaurant (not a healthy sub though), then a large #2 from McD's for lunch, and a fat juicy pizza for dinner. All this with combos here and cheetos there throughout the day. So, I am eating a LOT less and FORCING my self to eat more (this has never happened to me before)!! I still have 6 waking hours left in my day, so I should be able to meet my eating goals if i don't pass out early.

 

[B0ARDIN087]

nav have u tried yohimburn to any avail???? also GTZ im glad that your motivated to change your lifestyle. I gotta tell you tho man to be honest. I think u should take this stuff in phases. If you quit smoking your body will be chemically mixed up for a bit and im sure u know that. thats why its so hard to quit. On top of that adding a diet ( i cant really tell what kind of diet you are on, may need some tweaking from my point of view), i would not recommend a keto diet if ur quitting smoking becuz not only will ur carb cravings be intense u wont have cigarettes to back u up and its just heading for disaster.

While on the topic of diets, what kind of eggs, all whole or just egg whites. Are u tracking calories? Also during ur gym time how much cardio are u doing? and is it everyday after lifting?

Personally i would talk it in the following steps if i were u. Quit smoking, get that down to a healthy level with few cravings that are quite controllable. Then start to do some lifting and cardio to cut some weight and put some mass on. Also at this point cut back into a somewhat healthier diet but not a low calorie or keto diet. basicly a maintenance diet for you. (which should allow u to lose weight with the shit ur eating now and ur current weight and the cardio u will be doing) . Then when u stop losing weight (plateau), start a hard core keto diet to trim ur body to ideal size for you.

It sounds like a tough and long road but ur a young kid (still older than me but anyway....) If u get through this by the longer road i mentioned it will morelikely be a lifetime success then a temp fix. I realize u may not know some of the terms i used so ask for clarification or search the site for info. Best of luck to u bro, the guys (and girls) here at ef will be here for u 100 percent! good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Toozee]

bro:

Don't do too much too soon, trust me, you'll relapse into oblivion. You want to stop smoking, cool. Let that be prioirty number one. Kick that habit first, THEN start on hitting the gym, Then shortly after you get in the habit of seeing the gym and exercising as a LIFESTYLE, start cleaning up your diet.

I'm telling you, very very few people have the willpower to do all of what you're attempting all at once, and STICK to it longterm.

I just want to say congratulations on your decision. You'll dig it.
I quit smoking and started regular gym visits at the same time. then like Burning said, concentrated on the diet thing later.

All I can say is do a little at a time so it doesnt wig you out.
Also, read, read, read. Do searches on this board for what you want to find out about and keep reading. If you have a question that's unanswered by all means, post up!! That's what everyone's here for. To share info.

You should see enough results from regular exercise to keep u motivated at first. Just be patient.

 

[GTZpower]

If things get too tough, I think I will return to a regular diet, but boycott McD's and the like. That's been the hardest part for me so far. Today I had beef sticks smothered in sharp cheddar, then dipped in sour cream. Then string cheese on the side and sugar free jello topped with whipped cream for desert. Mmmm.. I am starting to like this diet. I lost 1 pound in the last 24 hours, but that could be anything so I am not getting to excited about it. Yesterday was HELL, being the first day and all, but today seems pretty normal. I think my body is adjusting pretty quickly.

As far as the gym, I actually have not started that yet. I Guess I am taking it a phase at a time as far as that goes. I plan on going tomarrow (my day off) and getting a membership, and I will start working out by wednesday, going after work.

Boardin, I eat whole eggs, I am not tracking calories currently, but I am eating a lot less daily. This being because I am just not as hungry, not sure why. I have never tried Yohimburn, but tomarrow I do plan on visiting the local GNC to see if I can atleast find some r-ala. Should I pick some Yohimburn up? And yea, I understood everything you said. In my last few posts, I was pretty messed up, so I was not communicating too clearly. This is supposed to be a low carb diet, just to clarify.

I have taken some "before" pics and can not wait to get them posted, hopefully with some ripped "after" pics. I am consuming about 300-350g of protein a day, so I think I am covered there, and have not exceeded 30 carbs/day yet. Everything else (cals, fats, etc..), I have ignored so far due to ignorance on what to shoot for, and ignorance on what half the food I eat contains. A lot of the cheeses I buy don't have lables with nutrition information. But they are basic types of cheese (like cheddar) so I don't think there would be a huge difference in nutritional value, it's just cheaper, and IMO, tastes a little better. Thanks for the support, and I will post daily progress.

 

[GTZpower]

Can anyone give me some info on monitoring body fat percentage? I read somewhere that you can use some sort of calipers to do this. I don't want to rely on my scale to show progress. I would hate to be discouraged because I lose 5lbs of fat and gain 5 lbs of muscle, and in the end, thinking that I accomplished nothing. Any info/help is appreciated. This board has been great so far, thanks everyone.

 

[Scottyo]

You can buy bfat calipers at most online supp sites or locally as well. There are two standard methods, the three site testing and the seven site testing. Try going here

 

[GTZpower]

Thanks for the link there. I was told hospitals carry them, so I'm gonna check that out tomarrow.

I think I met face to face with what everyone was talking about tonight. (taking too much on at once) One of my coworkers asked if I wanted to go to the gym tonight on his membership. So I went, did about 1/2 hour of lifting weights, (I can only bench press 130lbs 10 times, tried 140lbs, only did it 3 times, LOL) and followed up with 1/2 hour of cardio. It felt like my heart was going to explode after that, and I headed home for the night since my friend from work was ready to leave.

Well, on the way home, I was under what I call a "runners high". You know what I mean, that light headed, tingly feeling you get after cardio. I don't think I have craved McDonalds so much in a long time. But, it seems that the odds are stacked in my favor, there is no McDonalds open at 2:30 in the morning, and I drive an hour from the gym to my house. By the time I got home, my cravings were gone, and I was ready for some good old cream cheese with Budding beef wrapped around it. And cravings for nicotine seem to be completely eliminated at this point. I will try to take this a minute at a time, hopefully staying successful until I reach an acceptable bf%, then switch to a healthy, regular diet. Once I reach that point, I'll be home free (or so I hope). The diet is the hardest part, but smoking is gone for good, and I think I can make gym 4x/week a routine.

I'll be honest now, my main motivation to make these changes are that I want to go swimming without embarrasment, comments coworkers make towards me (it's all good though, friends just joking around), and for my own health. I used to pop in on this board every once in a while to see if any new miracle's have been discovered. That's where I found my inspiration. I noticed a post by SwoleCat entitled "SwoleCat makes T-Mag!". I checked it out and saw this link:
http://www.testosterone.net/nation_articles/256beast.jsp

That guys "before" pictures look so much like my body shape. Seeing the "After" pics made me realize that it is possible for me to make a big difference in my body. That story is a "miracle" in my eyes. Now, i would never expect to acheive results like he did, though it would be nice. I just want to see what my abs look like since I have never seen them before. Every time I feel like I am losing inspiration, I just look at those pics and it comes right back. Hopefully, one day, I'll be able to hire someone like SwoleCat to help add the finishing touches to my sculpture.