Well some of you might remember that I've talked about how I've battled my weight throughout college. Much like the others I put on a crap ton of weight due to studying and mostly just being lazy. This time last year, I tipped the scales at a little over 240lbs. I'm 6'2" and have a very wide frame so I can carry weight pretty good.

After my long term gf and I broke up in May 07 I knew I had to make some changes because I was sloppy fat. The thing I started doing was riding my bike and just cut back on the food. Doing that last summer took me down to around 210 where I was happy, but still wanted to do more. From September 07 until about a month I hovered at about 210. Even though I took up running/jogging for exercise in January, I stayed at the same weight due to my eating habits.

At the end of this past month I knew I wanted to shed off the rest of the weight. So in about 2 weeks of eating little to no fat/sugar and late night carbs (other than beer) I dropped around 8lbs.

I went on a trip to Charlotte this weekend and everyone could really tell after not seeing me for 5 months. So I am going back home for July 4th and I want to drop another 10-15 to get to my ideal weight of 185ish.

With running 3+ miles a day, and eating a steady diet of oatmeal for breakfast, rice and turkey for lunch, and boiled chicken breast and some sort of veggies for dinner, do you guys think it can be done?

Do I need to step up my game here? Any tips/pointers would be appreciated. I tipped the scales at 202 this morning.

Just for reference, this is me at 240 plus:



This is from this weekend:

Sounds like your on the right path.. just stick to the diet even though it will get boring as hell (trust me I've been there). Also, not sure how much free time you have, or whatnot, but some minor weightlifting can be a good way to shed unwanted pounds (might be replaced with muscle weight though). Generally speaking, the more muscle you have the easier it is to burn thru the calories. Keep up the good work man, just make sure you hydrate really well running that much over the summer.

your meals look ok but id add in a bit more protein so with your metobilism up your body is not trying to catabolise your muscles for fuel. and yes the more muscle you do have the more you can burn, especially when trying to gain muscle or maintaining a high muscle mass, your body will chew through calories
also try adding in some eggs (with hot sauce if you like) in the morning

plus add in a midmorning and afternoon snack of nuts, some fruit, or cottage cheese.
little meals throughout the day are actually better for your blood sugar (regulates hunger and metobolism) then the "3-Squares a day" philosophy

and remember after 7-10 days of strich dieting like this you should completly flip your diet for a day to shock your metobolism out of getting used to what your doing. (cheat day theory)

weights,pushups,crunches, cardo get that six pack going and make your ex. jealous.
Good diet plan but skip that night carb snack before you crash. Remember muscle weighs more than fat feel the burn tone-up

split up your meals... i.e. eat 5-6 per day......

it's 80% your diet.... and 20% your gym work/cardio...

start squatting... here's a youtube link:

YouTube.com

p.s. i have lost over 180 lbs throughout my life through exercise and diet...... my latest stint i have lost 70 lbs...

p.s. it isnt too healthy to lose more than 1-2 lbs per week....

good luck......

What everyone here has said is all true and good advice. I just thought I would add (or reiterate) a few things;

First- Breaking the meals up into 5-6 small meals is key. That speeds up your metabolism greatly.

Second- Calculate how many calories you are consuming in a day. Make sure your exercise alone burns more than that.

Third- Keep up the protein so you don't lose muscle mass.

Last- If you are serious about this, think about getting a body composition monitor. You want to make sure that you are losing fat and not muscle or water weight.

Originally posted by RSClipse9d7
Second- Calculate how many calories you are consuming in a day. Make sure your exercise alone burns more than that.

I'm sorry but I would disagree with this statement. There is major repercussions to running that much of a caloric deficit per day. Trust me I've been there and it's horrible on your body. (That can be considered a form of anorexia)

Get a good idea of what your resting metabolic rate is. Meaning if you laid in bed without moving for 24 hours about how many calories you would burn to maintain basic metabolic function of your bodies organ systems. Then get an idea of what kind of caloric deficit you maintain from your exercise. If you run a lot I use www.mapmyrun.com and it gets you a rough estimate (as everyone is different based on body composition). From there lay out a good diet plan with a rough caloric goal of a equilibrium to possibly a 1000 calorie deficit. That's even somewhat pushing it, as you can go into muscle catabolism very easily. Remember your body is going to fight everything you do, just to maintain what it thinks is a current state of equilibrium. Reason I emphasize rough estimates so much, is because really it's not about the amount of calories you ingest per day, it's the quality and kind of calories your body intakes per day. If your taking in 5000 calories per day, some might assume your really going to get fat, well not if 4000 of that is pure clean protein calories. It's very important to take a multivitamin as while your doing this because there is a 99.99% chance you are not getting anywhere near the amount of nutrients you need. You don't have to cut out carbs all together, it's really a matter of what kind of carbs you intake. Since your brain relies entirely on carbohydrates to function. Like someone said, change it up quite a bit and keep your body guessing, once it predicts your actions, it will thwart all your attempt to breakdown that energy source stored in adipose (fat) tissue. A lot of good clean protein (watch your cholesterol), regulated carb intake (granola is great), and essential oils/fats such as Peanut Butter and personally I like sesame oil, can aid in your diet as well. Doing much of this and a lot of cardiovascular activity I've kept my body fat composition very low for a couple years now and remained healthy. The average male is between 14-16% (give or take a few %) body fat, and it's definitely plausible to get that down to 7-8% and maintain it for a long period of time. Keep up the good work, you will thank yourself for years to come if you succeed and don't give up. Getting into shape has been the most worthwhile thing I have ever done..

Week long coke binge IMO.

I've had great luck with the influenza diet }(

lost 10lb in a week

Run a marathon.

laxatives.

But seriously, going by the pics, you've made some pretty good progress. Good job!!

Originally posted by noboost
Run a marathon.

I am planning on doing the half marathon when it comes back in town next year.

I'm actually planning on finishing up doing my distance training this week but next week I'm going to switch over to some interval training. I've been reading that doing so can burn up to 3 times as much fat as distance running.

Also been snacking on some fruit and nuts like foggy said.

I'll try to keep this updated and you guys can call me out if I don't stick to my plan.

Originally posted by ScreaminE

Originally posted by noboost Run a marathon.

I am planning on doing the half marathon when it comes back in town next year. I'm actually planning on finishing up doing my distance training this week but next week I'm going to switch over to some interval training. I've been reading that doing so can burn up to 3 times as much fat as distance running. Also been snacking on some fruit and nuts like foggy said. I'll try to keep this updated and you guys can call me out if I don't stick to my plan.

Pretty sure your right there..
From what I've studied your body is more likely to burn adipose tissue in the first 20 (approx) minutes of intense cardio activity than anytime after that. Of course for every study you read there are just as many studies to refute that, but I've heard it from many personal trainers as well.

Sorry, but most of what's posted is BS. Show me/link me some randomized clinical trials that support any of the things being posted here, and I'll take back my words. Until then - everything I've read (though I skipped through the majority of it) is unproven.

You want to lose weight?

Eat less.

Exercise more.

Doesn't matter if it was "proven in clinical trials" that's not how that kind of things work. There's what you can prove scientifically with repeatable trials, and what happens in real life. You should know how varied it is among peoples metabolism and heredity. Everything I wrote is things that helped me personally. By the way, it is proven that someone of larger mass requires more energy to do the same function as that of someone of smaller mass. So if you have more muscle mass and weight more the activities you engage in will require more energy. That breaks down to simple physics of requiring more input of energy to move a larger mass the same distance and speed as a object with less mass.

please read these and then come back

Barnes and Nobel caries most of these on order, or you can order from my hospitals books store.
Creighton University Medical Bookstore
http://www.bkstr.com/CategoryDisplay/10001-9605-10457-1?demoKey=s

Oxygen Transport to Tissue XXIX 1/e
Springer
0-387-74910-1 $199

Biomechanics And Exercise Physiology 1/e
John Wiley & Sons
0-471-85398-4 $210.00

Exercise Physiology 1/e
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
0-470-84682-8 $205.00

the last one is especially helpful and very useful, the first one is the more indepth stuff about the science of how eating MORE through the day actually helps

eating less then you should is dumb and WILL hurt you
just like feeding your turbo 87 octane, it will work but you will go a lot faster on a tank of C16
eating properly (right amount of the right stuff at the right time) will take those workout results even further

Originally posted by foggy45
eating less then you should is dumb and WILL hurt you just like feeding your turbo 87 octane

My point is you guys are making this WAY too complicated. There is a key to losing weight and it's called being consistent. You can show me all the lab bench research you wish that shows glygogen metabolism is elevated relative to fatty acid metabolism in the first 20 min...etc.., but IMO there is very little to take home practically speaking. Making a regimen so complex and that has not been shown to have any useful benefit to a *true* patient population, is a recipe for failure. Something the medical literature has impressed on me is that most diets fail because people stop working at it - REGARDLESS of the weight loss technique they were using. And the last data I looked at showed the majority of people gain back lost weight within 5 years.

I'm simply saying eat LESS on a consistent basis. What does "less then you should" mean? There is a certain minimum calorie intake you should have based on your gender/age/height, and you should not go below that unless you are under medical supervision. Is this a concern for the poster? Probably not. I never said starve yourself. Americans, and the original poster of this thread, have consumed too much for their energy expenditure.



^This is the average amount of calories and American consumes now. WAY TOO MUCH. For your avg man that's around 1000 calories more then you need. I bet this is where the poster is at. Solution: EAT LESS. EXERCISE MORE. BE CONSISTENT.

Originally posted by ez
What does "less then you should" mean? There is a certain minimum calorie intake you should have based on your gender/age/height, and you should not go below that unless you are under medical supervision. Is this a concern for the poster? Probably not. I never said starve yourself. Americans, and the original poster of this thread, have consumed too much for their energy expenditure.

Originally posted by totaleklipse97
Get a good idea of what your resting metabolic rate is. Meaning if you laid in bed without moving for 24 hours about how many calories you would burn to maintain basic metabolic function of your bodies organ systems. Then get an idea of what kind of caloric deficit you maintain from your exercise. If you run a lot I use www.mapmyrun.com and it gets you a rough estimate (as everyone is different based on body composition). From there lay out a good diet plan with a rough caloric goal of a equilibrium to possibly a 1000 calorie deficit.

Oh, wait.. I didn't say this earlier in the post before you said "everything here is bullshit"? Oh, excuse me that I really have no idea how to lose weight and get into shape! I've only went from 240lbs at about 20% bf to 205 and less than 6% body fat.. running 15-20 miles a week, lifting weights 3-5 times a week and keeping a good diet. It's one thing to sit here and talk about how to "lose weight and get into shape" it's another to actually do it. So when you do it then please by all means come back here and share how you did it.

Originally posted by totaleklipse97
your body is more likely to burn adipose tissue in the first 20 (approx) minutes of intense cardio activity than anytime after that.

the first ~20 min is the body using up its Glycogen stores before it switches over to catabolizing adipose tissue for energy.

remember your body responses are built around the caveman fight / flight mentality. so to run away from the giant sabertooth cat your body burns the fastest most powerful energy source it can find, Glycogen. after you have survived this needs to be replaced. easily for us since we can drink gatoraid and fast digesting carbs, if you dont do this your body goes for the next easiest stuff to break down and that is your muscles.

Originally posted by ScreaminE
Well some of you might remember that I've talked about how I've battled my weight throughout college. Much like the others I put on a crap ton of weight due to studying and mostly just being lazy. This time last year, I tipped the scales at a little over 240lbs. I'm 6'2" and have a very wide frame so I can carry weight pretty good. After my long term gf and I broke up in May 07 I knew I had to make some changes because I was sloppy fat. The thing I started doing was riding my bike and just cut back on the food. Doing that last summer took me down to around 210 where I was happy, but still wanted to do more. From September 07 until about a month I hovered at about 210. Even though I took up running/jogging for exercise in January, I stayed at the same weight due to my eating habits. At the end of this past month I knew I wanted to shed off the rest of the weight. So in about 2 weeks of eating little to no fat/sugar and late night carbs (other than beer) I dropped around 8lbs. I went on a trip to Charlotte this weekend and everyone could really tell after not seeing me for 5 months. So I am going back home for July 4th and I want to drop another 10-15 to get to my ideal weight of 185ish. With running 3+ miles a day, and eating a steady diet of oatmeal for breakfast, rice and turkey for lunch, and boiled chicken breast and some sort of veggies for dinner, do you guys think it can be done? Do I need to step up my game here? Any tips/pointers would be appreciated. I tipped the scales at 202 this morning.

Buy a Total Gym

Bunch of bench dieters...haha

I must say I'm proud of myself for sticking to my diet this weekend. Gave myself a break from running for the weekend because I've been tired as heck. Can't wait to get going again next week and watch the needle on the scale drop.

Originally posted by ScreaminE
Bunch of bench dieters

lol!

Finally less than 200lbs for the first time in 6 years. It's a good feeling.

Stepped up the running quite a bit and cut the calories even more. It seems to be working pretty well.

hmm.. I'm trying to gain. I'm 6'2 and 180. Give me 10 lbs and we'll both be happy.

Weighed in at 191 lbs this morning. Feels pretty good and it's insane how much better I look/feel from losing another 10 lbs.

I still want to lose a few more so I'm sticking to the diet and maybe losing another 10 and then start eating some more calories.

you on the Nicole Ritchie diet? =)

good job btw, keep up the great work!

Awesome job! I'm trying to lose a few pounds myself. I've started simple to try and get myself back in the habit, pushups and crunches before I shower in the morning and DDR in the evening after work.

I hate that I've skyrocketed over 250lbs since moving to a desk job. I was annoyed with floating between 225-230lbs before.

Hey guys, thought I'd update this since it has been a while. I'm down to 175 lbs now and pretty happy with my results. I'm still eating good and training hard for my half marathon in November. It's crazy how much better I feel and my attention from the ladies has been a self confidence booster.

Hope you guys are sticking with it too.

Great job dude! Makes me wonder why the hell everyone in the country is so out of shape when all it takes is some willpower and you can accomplish anything. I've switched up my workout routine to nix the strict weightlifting and cookiecutter cardio and incorporate CrossFit instead. So far it's been a month, missed one cycle but it's kicked my ass. Might want to check it out if your up for (almost) puking after every workout and getting a whole days workout done in under 30 minutes. Keep up the good work man!