StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Well I finally started making out a dieting plan in a addition to an exercise schedule. I was suppose to start at the beginning of the summer but, I kept doing that "I'll start next week thing". I plan on doing daily cardio. I plan on mostly focusing on the thighs, abs, and the buttocks. I'll probably just focus on one of them, each day. I'll also work on my arms and shoulder muscles, just not as much. Hopefully this works out well.

Height 5'10
Current weight 200
Goal (by the end of the year) 159
Goal (by the time school starts) 180 (looks like I'm going to lose that bet I made)

Yes I do plan on losing 20 in 7 weeks and then taking 4 months to lose the other. My weight fluxuates and my new diet will be a huge change from what I'm used to so I'm sure I could knock about 10 in 2 weeks. I'm just going to have to work a little harder for the next 10 and even harder for the next 21. Especially since I'll be balancing school, a job (hopefully), and other crap.

How tall are you, SC?

5 ft 10 inches

Started at 198 lbs in October 2007...down to 163 at last weighing.

Phantasee wrote:How tall are you, SC?

5 feet 10 inches.

Okay, exercising didn't go to well. I hurt my mid-section doing leg ups and my thighs hurt a little from doing squats and my right arm is sore from, I don't even know. I figured that I would be a little sore from exercising afterwards but, I'm still hurting from crap I did Friday and Saturday.

Suggestion for exercise, just walk. You can do it almost everywhere, gets the heart rate up and if you can find fun places to do it, even better....I taker the stairs if I have a choice as well.

Schuyler Colfax wrote:Okay, exercising didn't go to well. I hurt my mid-section doing leg ups and my thighs hurt a little from doing squats and my right arm is sore from, I don't even know. I figured that I would be a little sore from exercising afterwards but, I'm still hurting from crap I did Friday and Saturday.

You may just be that out of shape and over did it.

When I first started working out after my first year of college (after about 20 months of not doing so) I couldn't straighten my arms for a week.

You don't want to slack off, but you do want to ease into it a little more carefully.

I'm having a lifetime change and staying the fuck away from junkfood forever, since even being moderately overweight could (allegedly) lead to my demise by 40 (supposedly a doctor told my parents this, when I was in hospital, not bothering to inform me directly). While I can easily shift two stone before the year is out and my diet has stabilized, I still think my parents (hardely paradrigms of clean living) are mostly full of shit, but better safe than sorry and being in better shape will improve my prospects of opening doors (since people are shallow).

So my mom decided to go grocery shopping today. She completely forgot that I'm trying to stay away from the fatty stuff. You guys should see the crap she brought. I was weak earlier today and had a sub, damn american cheese and pop-tarts (not together). I feel like someone is holding is holding a box of New York pizza next to my face when I'm trying to eat a salad. The only thing that's keeping me from eating any of the crap she brought now is knowing that I'm going to regret it the second I'm done. The worst of it is I'm not even hungry. I never understood how I got into the habit of eating when I wasn't even hungry.

Current weight: still 200.

You got into the habit because you began associating food with good feelings. You felt bored (or whatever) ate a snack and felt better.

It's why I don't keep snacks in my house.

Back down to around 86kg (again). Did 25 pushups yesterday (a set of 20 and then a set of 5), today I managed to do 30 (20 and then 10). My goal is to be able to do 42 pushups, preferablely all at once.

[R_H] wrote:Back down to around 86kg (again). Did 25 pushups yesterday (a set of 20 and then a set of 5), today I managed to do 30 (20 and then 10). My goal is to be able to do 42 pushups, preferablely all at once.

Why 42? After you manage, let's say, 25-30 in one go any more is only related to practice and endurance and I don't think there are many benefits to it. I can do around 35 in one go, but with a couple weeks of training them I know I can double the number.

I'd say you should start trying pullups (and chinups) as well. If you manage around 10 of those you'll feel great and it's one of the best exercises for the body. You should be able to reach that number with no problem if you can already perform one or two complete ones.

Schuyler: This is not a ranting thread so don't act as it is one. Personally, I'd prefer you to not post your little rants at all, anywhere, but life's not perfect (so far).

Colonel Olrik wrote: Why 42? After you manage, let's say, 25-30 in one go any more is only related to practice and endurance and I don't think there are many benefits to it. I can do around 35 in one go, but with a couple weeks of training them I know I can double the number.

I'd say you should start trying pullups (and chinups) as well. If you manage around 10 of those you'll feel great and it's one of the best exercises for the body. You should be able to reach that number with no problem if you can already perform one or two complete ones.

I've been doing chin-ups, in addition to doing lat-pulldowns with a narrow grip (even worse than chin-ups). I was able to do 2 complete, non-assisted chinups yesterday, and today I did 10 (two sets of 5) with a 22 pound assist. Yesterday was the first time I went to the gym in over a month, so I'm not in that good shape anymore.

Walked 3 miles with my friend last night, walking again tonight. I work at a summer camp with 11 year olds, so I'm on the go constantly, but I can't lose a damn thing.

Resolutions:
-No eating after around 8pm.
-Stop drinking soda. (This one is going to be brutal).
-Try to opt for healthier snacks when I feel like I must snack (fruit instead of chips).
-Try not to eat mindlessly/out of boredom.


These all sound like simple things, but they are hard because I've realized how much I eat without thinking about it. I guess you could say I'm trying to become more aware of what goes in my mouth. We'll see how it goes.

Current weight: 180
Goal: 165 by 9/10 (my birthday)

Did 7 chin-ups in a row today (with 22 pound assist), then 3 more. After that I keep increasing the assist (all the way to 40 pounds) until I couldn't do anymore. I think I need to do more bicep curls. To strengthen my biceps (and the others in general), should I go high reps and low weight or low reps and high weight?

[R_H] wrote:Did 7 chin-ups in a row today (with 22 pound assist), then 3 more. After that I keep increasing the assist (all the way to 40 pounds) until I couldn't do anymore. I think I need to do more bicep curls. To strengthen my biceps (and the others in general), should I go high reps and low weight or low reps and high weight?

Try pullups too, the muscles used are somewhat different from chinups and they're a bit harder. As for strengthening, I'm a fan of doing as many reps as you can with a weight chosen so that you can do at least 12-17 in the first set, and then do a couple more sets. That works for me, has less dangerous impact than high weight reps and is not as boring as low weight, infinite++ sets.

Colonel Olrik wrote: Try pullups too, the muscles used are somewhat different from chinups and they're a bit harder. As for strengthening, I'm a fan of doing as many reps as you can with a weight chosen so that you can do at least 12-17 in the first set, and then do a couple more sets. That works for me, has less dangerous impact than high weight reps and is not as boring as low weight, infinite++ sets.

Ok. Today I first went with the 8kg dumbbells, noticed after a few reps that my arms weren't up to it, then went down to 6kg.

Another question, is powered protein (for shakes) something I could look into? I don't get that much protein in the form of meat in my diet, nor do I eat meat every day.

Thanks for the advice, Colonel.

[R_H] wrote: Another question, is powered protein (for shakes) something I could look into? I don't get that much protein in the form of meat in my diet, nor do I eat meat every day.

The rule of thumb is that in order to gain muscle mass you ought to get as many grams of protein per day as your weight in Kg. I've been told several times by fitness trainers that I should take protein shakes to grow more, but I'm happy with my size nowadays. I look good without looking like a gorilla. However, I do have a careful diet. I eat a lot per day and a mostly lean diet- fish, a lot of dairies, meat (like you, not everyday), vegetables, bread, fruit, etc - which provides me enough proteins. If it's hard for you to have such a diet, I don't think protein shakes are inherently harmful, but you have to exercise often and take them with care.

Both my girlfriend (probably should start saying fiancee..) and my mother are MDs and they have strong views against protein shakes, take that as you will. Besides that obeying them makes my life easier, I'm also not so inclined to pay a significant amount of money to take my dose a couple times a day.

Colonel Olrik wrote: The rule of thumb is that in order to gain muscle mass you ought to get as many grams of protein per day as your weight in Kg. I've been told several times by fitness trainers that I should take protein shakes to grow more, but I'm happy with my size nowadays. I look good without looking like a gorilla. However, I do have a careful diet. I eat a lot per day and a mostly lean diet- fish, a lot of dairies, meat (like you, not everyday), vegetables, bread, fruit, etc - which provides me enough proteins. If it's hard for you to have such a diet, I don't think protein shakes are inherently harmful, but you have to exercise often and take them with care.

I looked at one of the tubs of protein shake powder, and the usage directions state that 20g of it should be mixed with 250ml of milk and to drink it after exercising. So I'd only be taking it on the days I go to the gym (right now it's every day, but that will decrease to a maximum of 3 times a week when school starts again). I'm going to take a closer look at the protein supplements tomorrow, I only quickly browsed through them yesterday.

Colonel Olrik wrote: Both my girlfriend (probably should start saying fiancee..) and my mother are MDs and they have strong views against protein shakes, take that as you will. Besides that obeying them makes my life easier, I'm also not so inclined to pay a significant amount of money to take my dose a couple times a day.

Why are they against protein shakes?

[R_H] wrote:

Colonel Olrik wrote: Both my girlfriend (probably should start saying fiancee..) and my mother are MDs and they have strong views against protein shakes, take that as you will. Besides that obeying them makes my life easier, I'm also not so inclined to pay a significant amount of money to take my dose a couple times a day.

Why are they against protein shakes?

They think it is an excellent way for a person which has a healthy diet to gain weight, due to the surplus of protein, and at the same time overtax the kidneys, for little or more probably no gain. As an aside, a portion of fish, with some accompanying greens like broccoli and sauce, easily provide half the protein I need in one day.

Colonel Olrik wrote: They think it is an excellent way for a person which has a healthy diet to gain weight, due to the surplus of protein, and at the same time overtax the kidneys, for little or more probably no gain. As an aside, a portion of fish, with some accompanying greens like broccoli and sauce, easily provide half the protein I need in one day.

Hmmm, ok. The whole weight gain because of the surplus of protein, would that be the case if I'd have a protein shake two or three times a week, or is that if I'd have one every day?

I'm going to wait until the end of next week, at the very least, so I can tally up the amount of protein I get in my diet. Then I'll decide if I'll buy some of the powder or not.

With the assistance of a doctor, a changed diet, and a workout plan, I have lost 40 pounds this summer.

I'm at 255, and hope to be at 210-215 by the end of the year. My end goal is around 160-180. The doctor said that we'll figure out a more exact target weight when I get closer to it.

I was really impressed with the difference in endurance I have had. At the beginning of the summer, I couldn't walk around for more than about an hour. Today I was able to walk around the San Diego Zoo taking photos for more than five hours before I noticed the time passing, and even that was for food.

EDIT: fixed punctuation

Monster workout today. All together it was a bit more than 2 hours.

I'm 85kg right now. I'm thinking my ideal weight is between 82 and 84kg (that would be me without the fat "roll" around my midsection). I'm going to have to do more running though.

God.... is anyone else facing the problem I have now?

Thanks to my job, I been cutting down on caloric intake massively, to the extent that I lost over 10 kilos and am down to 82kg. The PROBLEM is, I know I lost a good amount of that mass to muscle, since I can only barely do 8 chin up now, this when I could do 10 when I weighed 100kg.

Still, not a huge loss since I'm not a specimen of either strength or fitness, but........ There still this huge belly fat lying around my abdomen and well, since the goal of losing weight is to improve my health, that's not exactly helpful there......... Any tips?

You need to get some cardio and resistance training in. Resistance training to maintain your muscle and cardio to burn off that gut.