Over the past 2ish weeks or so I've been working on my eating habits and adding in some exercise.

Here's an example of my daily routine...

Roughly an hour of exercise, usually a 50-50 split of moderate pace bike riding(13-20mph outdoor and stationary) and basketball 5-7 days a week.

I've been aiming for about 1500 calories. Going by online exercise calculators and calories eaten, I generally end up with a net of between 1350 and 1750. I figure if I go slightly over, aslong as I'm under 2k, I'm beyond fine.

An average day is of eating is 1-2 apples, 1-2 bananas, 1 light yogurt, a lean cuisine-esque tv dinner(270-300 cal), 2 packets of strawberry oatmeal(260 cal), 1 bag of popcorn (375 cal), 1-3 slices of cinnimon bread (110 cal per slice).. occasionally I'll add other, less healthy things, but I keep them in moderation and under the net cal barrier.

Basically, I know there's deficiencies in what I'm doing, but it seems very easily maintainable. Any thoughts or suggestions? I'd like to eventually introduce healthier choices in the future, but I work 7 nights a week, so a lot of my choices are microwave/no-cook dependant.

I'm 6'2", currently 242.. down from an initial 253. My overall goal is to get down to about 180-190. I figure this will probably take me about a year and a half, maybe 2 to get to my final goal.

Again, basically just looking for some tips.

your eating seems t be high in processed foods, very low in protein and fiber -I'd say you can make a lot of improvements there...

I'm not a fan of processed/frozen foods, you can do a lot better by spending an hour or so a week preparing your meals for the week and you'll get better quality, better quantity, better taste and in general -healthier for you...

What made you pick 1500 calories? for your current weight that's low... given your exercising... and that you're looking to achve your goal in a reasonable time frame

Rread the stickied threads in the nutrition and exercise forums and you should get more info to help ou out...

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I ask the same questions Mal asked.

And I'll add, are you only concerned about weight and not health and appearance?

If so, have at your plan.

If not, which I would hope is the case.... you'll need to make some changes.

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I'd been debating on adding some sort of fiber suppliments in the interum, but the big problem is finding food I don't get sick of, that reheats well, that travels well.

I'm not a huge fan of processed foods either, but I've found a couple things I did like..hence them being extremely regular, even prior to this. It's just mainly been more focus on portion control. I'm still on the look out for recipes. I've got a couple pounds of pork loin in the freezer waiting for something interesting. I'm a big pasta and rice guy, so trying to find areas to slowly reintroduce it would be nice, too.

As for the 1500, I work 2 desk jobs roughly 60 hours a week and it was based on the idea that I had been fairly inactive usually. However the weather got nice and I got the urge to get out and do some additional things to get my cardio system a little more active. I haven't completely compensated for the extra workout time, but if I went to 1700ish, I wasn't worrying. I always thought most of the exercise calculators were a little off, as well as factoring any errors in my cal counting.. so I thought I was being reasonable.

I'll take your advice and check out some of the stickies as well.

Overall my goal was to get started and tweak it after the fact. I figured being 60-70lbs overweight was more harm than going about it the wrong was as long as I didn't get too extreme.

While I'm certainly a fan of touching and feeling your way along as you progress and taking baby steps.....

Fat doesn't = unhealthy, just as.....

skinny doesn't = healthy.

As long as you realize that right now you are working on getting your caloric intake figured out. Once this is done, it's time to move onto cleaning up the food selection.

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I would suggest you eat at least 1900 calories, increase your protein, and add some strength training.

At the rate you are going, you are going to lose muscle and your metabolism is going to slow down.

You could also consider Barilla Plus Pasta and instant brown rice.

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Big lifestyle changes lead to fast temporary weight loss.
Small lifestyle changes lead to slow permanent weight loss.
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