New member looking for advice

[Ohoopee]

Hello everyone. I am excited and happy to say that I have finally gotten into the mind set to try improve self through exercise and I am hoping to get some helpful advice on these forums so that I can make sure i doing to right things to get best possible results. First a little bit of fitness back ground. I was always a skinny, bonny kid in school up until Freshman year in High School. I played foot ball in Middle school, primarily just riding the bench but I still had the desire to try out for the High School team. One of the couches saw something in me. He said I had some of the best hands on the team just that I didn't have the speed to be a WR. He wanted me to be a Tight end but said that I was just way too little so he personally started training me. Now when I was training for football, I wasn't fat at all, a skinny drink of water so the primary focus was on bulking up. And I did, they stuffed me full of weight gainers and freshman year I didn't even practice with the team much, most of time was spent in the weight room. However, this worked, I did bulk up a lot. And by Junior Year, i was starting tight end for High Schools varsity team. mistake came after High School. I didn't attend a college that had a foot ball team so I basically just stopped working out at all. Then the boy who spend his entire life with his ribs showing through his skin, suddenly found himself battling his weight with weight eventually rising to over 270 lbs. The thing is, that number meant nothing to me and I never really considered myself fat. Until three years ago, I got offered a job in Ireland and moved from the United States to Ireland. Now job requires that I am on feet all day walking and running around plus I don't have a car here in Ireland so I walk everywhere I go. But probably the most profound thing about Ireland is, it got me away from mother who out of love was literally force feeding me into obesity. When I first moved to Ireland, I wore a size 40 waist jeans. By the end of first year in Ireland, that had dropped to a size 36. Two years later, weight loss continued but slowed from that pace. I currently am down to a size 34 waist pants and a few of 34 jeans are a bit too big for me at the moment and require me to wear a belt. They measure in Stone over here not lbs but best I can figure, I weight right at 200 lbs right now that means I have lost a little over 70 lbs in three years here. The amazing thing is, I haven't been doing any extra exercise nor have I been on any diet. I still eat and drink what ever, when ever I want just I don’t have someone like mother always offering me food. It has amazed me how much weight I was able to lose just by lifestyle change and now for first time, I look back on photos of self that were taken four years ago and I am just amazed at how truly fat I really was. I never want to go back to that.

I live in a small town in Ireland and there is only one gym in town and because of that, membership is very expensive. However, six months ago I changed jobs and starting working at the resort that has the one and only gym. I was just told yesterday that because I am an employee, I get free gym membership so I would be stupid not to start going even everyday.

The problem is, I am not sure what kind of exercise I should do to get the results I want. At the moment, I don't really consider self fat anymore. i am still a big guy but the main area of body I am not happy with is . Even though I have lost all this weight, I still have a beer and love handles. Now they have shrunk with weight loss but they are still there. I have been doing sit ups every morning for past two years and I have what I call a three pack, you can see top left Abe and top two right abs before fat covers up the rest. So because I already do have mussel, I am not that interested at the moment in toning or building more, I just want to get ride of this fat and love handles. I am 28 years old so I am still at an age where losing weight should be relatively easier compared to when I get older so I defiantly want to concentrate on losing fat and love handles first, then once I can see entire six pack, I will move on to building more muscle and toning what I have.

So, with a whole free gym at disposal, what should I concentrate on to get ride of this fat most efficiently? I wasn't real clear before, I just said that I moved away from mother who was force feeding me. Some days, I go all day without eating anything, most days I only eat one thing, maybe a sandwich or just some fries. So basically, I don't really think diet is an issue at this point but you guys might disagree and if so I am open to suggestions. I just want this fat gone, for me. i would love to get back into football shape.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Ohoopee]

The only problem with diet and the only reason I go all day sometimes with out any food is because of work. I work well strange hours. I usually don't go into work until about 4 pm 2 at the earliest and I work till about 11 or Midnight. Now with me, it has always been true, I can't eat right after I wake up. I don't know why but I just have no appetite. Now because I am on feet and running around all day, when I get home, edrinilen is pumping and It takes a few hours before I feel tired, so I usually don't go to sleep till around 3:30 am and I usually wake up around noon or so everyday. Because of that, I usually just grab something cheap and fast for lunch before i go into work. There is a sandwich shop just down the street I go to a lot, I usually get a bagget with mayo, chicken, coleslaw, and onions. I also make myself chips if I do have an appetite at night when I get home. The only other thing I do eat, mainly on days off is I get a doner kabob from the local kabob shop but that is one a week max. To try to help get rid of , I have stopped drinking beer all together. If friends do go out and drink, I usually just drink whiskey. I know whiskey is raw calories just like beer but at least you don't have to drink as much of it to get the desired affects. So now, instead of drinking 9 or 10 pints of Beer, I might drink 7 or 8 shots of Whiskey with Ice. Again I am no nutritionist but that sounds a lot better than 9 or 10 pints of beer. And I also don't do it very often any more, about once a month now. Basically, I am the kind of person who actually prefers to eat a balanced meal, with meat and veg and starch, the whole nine yards but it is just hard for me to find time for it now.

[cassiegose]

The only problem with diet and the only reason I go all day sometimes with out any food is because of work. I work well strange hours. I usually don't go into work until about 4 pm 2 at the earliest and I work till about 11 or Midnight. Now with me, it has always been true, I can't eat right after I wake up. I don't know why but I just have no appetite. Now because I am on feet and running around all day, when I get home, edrinilen is pumping and It takes a few hours before I feel tired, so I usually don't go to sleep till around 3:30 am and I usually wake up around noon or so everyday. Because of that, I usually just grab something cheap and fast for lunch before i go into work. There is a sandwich shop just down the street I go to a lot, I usually get a bagget with mayo, chicken, coleslaw, and onions. I also make myself chips if I do have an appetite at night when I get home. The only other thing I do eat, mainly on days off is I get a doner kabob from the local kabob shop but that is one a week max. To try to help get rid of , I have stopped drinking beer all together. If friends do go out and drink, I usually just drink whiskey. I know whiskey is raw calories just like beer but at least you don't have to drink as much of it to get the desired affects. So now, instead of drinking 9 or 10 pints of Beer, I might drink 7 or 8 shots of Whiskey with Ice. Again I am no nutritionist but that sounds a lot better than 9 or 10 pints of beer. And I also don't do it very often any more, about once a month now. Basically, I am the kind of person who actually prefers to eat a balanced meal, with meat and veg and starch, the whole nine yards but it is just hard for me to find time for it now.

I agree 100% with Leslie. You really should try to eat more than one meal a day if you're serious about meeting your goals. We all have obstacles that make it more challenging to make the necessary changes in our lives, for you it sounds like your challenge is going to be finding a way to eat during work hours and forcing yourself to eat when you wake up. Yes, you can eat when you wake up... food might not be all that appealing at that time but you can still eat. I have a close friend that used to NEVER eat breakfast for the same reason. When she decided to change her habits it was a little difficult at first to force herself to eat breakfast but over time it became easier and finally she eventually got to the point where she wouldn't feel right if she didn't eat breakfast. The body is amazingly adaptable... yours has probably gotten so accustomed to not having breakfast that you actually feel like you can't eat at that time. You can, you just have to retrain your brain/body a little.

So meals for you.... If I were you I would find a way to fit in 5-6 meals a day (every 3 hours or so while you're awake). Each meal should include a protein and complex carb and atleast every other should include some form of healthy fat. The "only problem" with your diet is actually a HUGE problem so i would really work on eating more often if I were you.

As far as the exercise goes, I would focus on a combination of weight training and cardio. I realize that you're not interested in "toning or building" at this time however if you just focus on cardio you could easily end up looking like a "skinny fat" guy... not a desirable look. Plus, the weight training will help immensly in getting rid of the love handles and fat as the more muscle you have the faster your metabolism will be. Of course, in order to build that muscle your diet has to be in order so don't expect results until you get the diet thing sorted out.

For workouts I would start with a full body weight routine 3 times per week (every other day is great) focusing on compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, step ups, rows, pullups, pulldowns, bench press, pushups, dips, military press. Sounds like you get plenty of cardio between your job and not having a vehicle so I wouldn't worry too much about adding too much extra cardio if I were you. You could add some intervals, plyometrics, or fartlek work into your routine, however I would definitely focus on the weights more at this time.

[Ohoopee]

Thank you everyone for the advice. To be honest, this forcing self to eat ore is going to be harder than all the excercise. I just don't have much of an appetite for anything anymore but as you said, that is probably body adapting. I'm trying to think HOW I will be able to fit in eating at work. I mean, I am a chef so it sounds funny to say because I am around food all day but..... they highly discourage you from eating the hotels food and I don't know... there is something about working with food all day.... it just eliminates appetite. But I will make a valid effort.

Thanks for the work out advice. I start Sunday so I will keep everyone updated as time goes on to how things are going.

[cassiegose]

Thank you everyone for the advice. To be honest, this forcing self to eat ore is going to be harder than all the excercise. I just don't have much of an appetite for anything anymore but as you said, that is probably body adapting. I'm trying to think HOW I will be able to fit in eating at work. I mean, I am a chef so it sounds funny to say because I am around food all day but..... they highly discourage you from eating the hotels food and I don't know... there is something about working with food all day.... it just eliminates appetite. But I will make a valid effort.

Thanks for the work out advice. I start Sunday so I will keep everyone updated as time goes on to how things are going.

Diet is the most difficult factor for me as well. I've been active whole life and have literally always worked out. However it wasn't until I finally got diet in order that things really started to come together for me. I have some pictures in profile at heaviest weight and those pictures were actually taken while I was training for a couple half marathons, meaning that I was running anywhere from 5-13 miles a day while instructing spinning class at gym. Bottom line, its really difficult to out train a bad diet.

Do you get breaks at work? While I don't recommend replacing food with protein powder or other supplements if you absolutely can't eat while at work you could always just throw some protein powder in milk or water and do that for 2 of your meals while at work. Assuming you get a lunch break you could do something like this:

Meal 1: (eaten as soon as possible after waking up)
complex carb, lean protein

Meal 2: (2-3 hours after meal 1, right before going to work)
lean protein, fruits, healthy fat

Meal 3: (assuming youre at work at this time)
Protein shake with lf milk, handful of nuts (about 25-40 peanuts or 11-22 almonds)

Meal 4: (assuming this is your lunch break)
starchy complex carb (whole grains work well), lean protein, healthy fats (a sandwhich on whole grain bread works really well here. Could do something like tuna, chicken, turkey, lf ham, lf beef for protein source)

Meal 5: (assuming youre still at work)
Protein shake with lf milk, handful of nuts

Meal 6: (assuming youre off work at this time)
lean protein, veggies, healthy fat

[Carlos1980]

Hey,

Yea I think you should eat more, it's not healthy to not eat consistently like that. Just slowly add in the the meals. Start by adding one then two weeks later add two and so on.

For your training, pick three days of the week to workout with full body compound exercises with either your own bodyweight or dumbbells. Stay away from machines, they're a waste of your time.

Then pick 2 more days for your cardio, preferbily high intensity steady state cardio or HIT.

Hoped i helped ;=)