Some Advice on Weight Loss Goals

[iconoclassicist]

Hello. I'm new to the boards and fairly new to healthy living and exercise as well. I'm nearing initials goals and was hoping to get some advice on what next steps should be. I'm 6'2, 29 years old, and at the beginning of this year was 235 pounds. I decided between that and high blood pressure it was time to start taking health and fitness seriously. Right now I'm at 201. initial goal was to get to 194, because that technically puts me in normal on the BMI chart, but I was hoping to get some more specific advice on maybe what eventual goal weight should be, and if there are other simple things I can incorporate to get there.

Here's what I did to get to this point. I go run on a treadmill or use an elliptical (with pretty high resistance) for 30-50 minutes 2 or 3 times a week. On days when i don't go run, I do 90-120 crunches and 90-120 pushups (in 3 sets) and lift some small handweights (12.5 pounds). In terms of diet, before I started this I ate whatever I wanted, lots of junk food. Now, I don't drink soda, but I do have 1 or 2 cups of tea or coffee with sugar a day. I drink an instant breakfast drink in the morning, and I eat an apple, a greek yogurt, and 250 cals of nuts for lunch. For dinner I pretty much eat what I want, but try to keep the portion moderate. I've been happy with progress so far, but now that I'm nearing initial goal weight I'm wondering what next steps should be, and if there are some simple things I can do to improve how I'm doing. Note: I work long hours at a desk job, so I don't have a lot of extra time to devote to fitness.

One thing I've noticed is that upper body has gotten pretty strong and is starting to get good muscle definition and has lost a lot of flab. However, stomach area has not kept pace with that. I'm definitely losing fat around midsection, but there's still quite a bit there. Any thoughts on how I should address this would be appreciated.

[Boss Man]

Maybe this kind of system might work for you. It's something I've psoted before.

Breakfast

Option 1.

Bowl of Whole-grain Cereal and 1 rasher of Bacon, fat trimmed off and scrambled Eggs, (2 Egg Whites + Yolk)

Option 2.

Protein shake, small portion of Nuts, (excluding higher carb ones like Cashews, Chestnuts and Grapenuts), + Apple. Give the Apple 10-15 minutes to digest to improve digestion.


Snack

Option 1.

Portion of Turkey + Orange

Option 2.

Small Portion of Peanuts, some Chicken + Raw Carrott.


Lunch

Option 1.

Large Beef Sandwich with trimmings, I.E. Tomato, Lettuce, Cucumber etc.

Option 2.

Bowl of Chicken Soup, + Pot of yoghurt.


Snack

Option 1.

Turkey + Cashews

Option 2.

Ham + 2 large Tomatos


Dinner

Option 1.

Pork with mashed Potato.

Option 2.

Chicken and Rice

Option 3.

100g Halibut + Broccoli


Snack

Option 1.

Beans on Toast

Option 2.

Ham Sandwich, no trimmings.

Easy on the bread with both options.

You could add a few things to certain meals, like Sea Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, Parsley, Mustard, Herbs, Garlic.

As for the training you could do a schedule something like this, which is all bodyweighted.

Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps

Good Mornings, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bent over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps

Vertical Flyes, 2 sets, 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps

Planks 30 seconds.

In relation to the training ideas I gave you above, your bodyweight workouts and cardio schedule could look something like this.

Day 1. Bodyweight

Day 2. Cardio

Day 3. Bodyweight

Day 4. Day off

Day 5. Cardio

Day 6. Bodyweight

Day 7. Day off.

This prevents you doing 5 days straight and 2 days of nothing, as I think that's allowing too much consecutive taxation and 2 days of your body doing nothing, slowly starting to adjust to it, before 5 days of grind again, which might take the edge off progress potential, so the 5 split days should be better for you.

[paclarsheltex]

Make a list of habits that you want to break. These will be habits that are preventing you from reaching your goal weight, like eating too much fried food, drinking too much soda, not exercising, etc. Be as clear as you can, and expand on any items if necessary.
When you break down your goals like this, you end up having such a clear, powerful picture of what you wish to accomplish that you’ll have a much easier time staying focused and motivated. Then you only need to create a daily action plan and start taking the steps that you know will help you reach your goals.

[paclarsheltex]

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/b ... calculator" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Try also to calculate your body fat in this link given to you above.