Hey everyone,

So I had just graduated college last weekend, and now being home for a few months before I start my new job, I've decided to work on my health.

Currently, I am a 6'1, 235 lb, 22 yr old male. In the fall, I had started eating much healthier and had lost 15 lbs, but in the winter, being a part-time student, I drank much more alcohol, ate more pizza and other 4AM munchie food, and was locked out of the gym (since I wasn't full-time), so I gained some weight.

I love sports, and played them alot in HS, but I've noticed I've gotten winded pretty easily lately.

After going to see the personal trainer today, I found out my body fat percentage was 28.1%, which I expected. Also, he set out a routine for me, which is what I am looking for. Also, I am seeing a nutritionist this upcoming week.

My goal is to lose about 35 lbs of pure fat, to get me down to 15%. This should get me down to 200ish. However, I won't be purely looking at my weight, and I will also be looking to tone back up and build muscle. My main goal is to lower my body fat.

Below will be my diary, where I will list what I've eaten, what exercises I've done, and also where I'll post my weight progress and hopefully my body fat percentage (my body fat scale doesnt seem to be as reliable just yet, so I am hoping to find a more accurate one).

I hope you enjoy it, and be free to post any suggestions or comments.

Morning Weight (unofficial): 233.25 lbs
Morning Body Fat % (unofficial): 29.4%

Those were after a few measurements for the body fat % after the scale was all over the place. Weight was between 233.5 and 233 (scale is in 0.5 increments). Exact numbers won't matter. General trend will.

Meals

Breakfast
Bowl of Crunch Berries (250-300 calories)
Half a mango (50 calories)
Water

Lunch
Chimichanga with hot sauce and salsa (350 calories)
Water

Snack
Croissant (300 calories)
Yogurt (170 calories)

Dinner
Deep Dish Pizza (microwavable) (470 calories)
Piece of French Bread (100 calories)

Total Calorie Count- 1690-1740 calories

Morning Weight (unofficial): 234 lbs
Morning Body Fat % (unofficial): 28.6%

Pretty expected after the high sodium intake from yesterday.

Meals

Breakfast
2 Pancakes with syrup (450 calories)
Water

Lunch
Turkey and Cheese Sandwich with mustard (372 calories)
Water

Snack
Bowl of strawberries (50 calories)

Dinner
Tilapia fish fillet (200 calories)
Rice (100 calories)
Cucumber (8 calories)

Snack
Ice cream with syrup (300 calories)
2 cookies (150 calories)

Total Calorie Count- 1630 calories

Exercise
30 minutes on elliptical
20 minutes shooting hoops

Hi! Welcome to your journal! And congratulations on graduating from College - that is wonderful! What is your field of expertise?

Love it that you have decided NOW is the time to get your body in shape and healthy. Best wishes on your journey - post some pics to inspire yourself and others along the way.

Cheers
ABBA

Thanks ABBAgirl. I just graduated with a degree in business. I have two months of downtime before I start my job so I'm trying to redevelop the routines I had in HS, which I lost in college.

Hope you enjoy my diary!!

Morning Weight (unofficial): 233.5 lbs
Morning Body Fat % (unofficial): 26.5%

Meals

Breakfast
Bowl of Crunch Berries (250-300 calories)
Tea w/ sugar (25 calories)

Lunch
PBJ Sandwich (550 calories)
Cookie (75 calories)
Water

Snacks
Strawberry Yogurt (170 calories)
Orange (70 calories)
French Bread (200 calories)

Dinner
2 slices of NY style pizza (1,000 calories)- Not good!!

Total Calorie Count- 2340-2390 calories

once a college student always a college student

You might want to consider a more -ummm - grown up breakfast that has some fiber in it and less sugar

peanut butter crunch used to be the best cereal

Haha, actually, in college my cereal of choice was Honey Nut Cheerios as a cereal or Chex.

It's really only been the last few days that I've had some Crunch Berries or Peanut Butter Crunch. The box is done now, so I gotta get some more Honey Nut Cheerios or some Chex.

Currently, I'm in a transitional mode from my college diet to my home diet to my full-time living diet, so any help would be appreciated.

Also, according to this site..

Recommended Daily Calorie Intake Calculator for Adult males, females & Children & Pregnant Women - Hpathy.com

It seems like I need to bump up my calorie count to 2,500, so any help finding a healthy way to get to that will be appreciated.

you're never too young to start reading labels...

for cereals -you really want to look for cereals that have at least 5 grams of fiber per serving and preferably less than 5 grams of sugar (but that's tougher to find.. )

OMG, Can I come have breakfasts?? I totally love the peanut butter cereals. And especially the Reese's PB puffs. Yumm.

I agree with Mal though. 5G+ of Fiber per serving some options: Quaker Oatmeal Squares (Cinnamon or brown sugar one), Raisin Nut Bran, Kashi Go Lean Crunch (tastes like Apple smacks), Fiber One Honey Clusters, There is a Kelloggs cereal with Granola and raisins that's 5+ as well. I dont' watch sugar with my cereal as much as I shoudl though. hmm.

Congrats on finishing up your college degree. There are several on here in college, that just finished or will be finishing soon! I'm in the will be finished in July category. =)

Welcome to the forum and your journal.


Ways to help with increasing calories: veggies, fruits, lean proteins (fish/chicken), whole grain breads (first ingredient should say whole wheat or something like that), low fat cheeses, egg whites.. these are just a few things I could thing of off the top of my head.

Hey, thanks so much for reading my diary and my suggestions. It definately seems as if I need to go to the grocery store. So what are you graduating in?

Morning Weight (unofficial): 232.5 lbs
Morning Body Fat % (unofficial): 27.4%

Meals

Breakfast
Bowl of Peanut Butter Crunch (440 calories)- Def need to go to grocery store
Water

Lunch
Ham and cheese sandwich with mustard (450 calories)
Carrots (25 calories)

Snacks
Yogurt (170 calories)
Three Granola Bars (280 calories)

Dinner
Stir-Fry Chicken and Pasta (840 calories)

Total Calorie Count- 2205 calories

Exercise
10 minutes shooting hoops
30 minutes on elliptical
Strength Training

Thoughts and Impressions
Got an appointment set up with a nutritionist for Friday at the health club

Took out my physical report from last summer to fill out the nutritionist form. Interesting to look at...
*Everything was normal, but my triglycerides were just slightly higher, and my blood pressure was high, however according to a test last week, it's normal
*My body weight was 240 lbs, with 28.7% body fat. so both have gone down. However, I did have 171 lbs of lean mass, and now its down to 168-169 lbs, so maybe thats due to lost water weight?

Getting back to exercising is fun. I've really liked the elliptical, though I've never done it before. I wasn't sure if I could last 10 min, but it wasn't because I was winded, but because of the burn in my legs. However, I learned that my covering the clock w/ my towel, I can push through to 30 min. Also, I really never lost my breath, but was sweating like I did in basketball practice in HS. It was also the first time I did cardio and lifting at the same time, and man, was I spent. Usually I did them separately.

I'm concerned that I'm losing weight too fast. 2.5 lbs since Friday seems too fast, especially since I was gunning at 2 lbs/week, maybe 2.5 at most. Also, my diet has been really insane. I definately need to go to the store and drop some of the lingering bad foods while increasing my calorie intake.

I am an English major. I wanted to go into the University Education program, but because straight out of high school I went to a community college for 2 years, that messed it up. The department told me that if I had come straight to the U, then I would have had the Ed classes I would have needed to take my freshman and sophomore years and if I entered as a Junior, I'd have to go 3-4 more years to make up for the route I took. They suggested I just choose a general major and then go for the Praxis and licensure later, so that's what I have done.

I finished up my major classes as of last week, and I have 3 more classes in the summer that I'm taking to hopefully fulfill the state requirements to teach middle school (other than the Praxis tests).

How about you? What are you majoring in?

That's great. Congrats. In the end, it doesn't really matter how you got there, but that you got there. I majored in business administration (with an emphasis on finance/accounting) and minored in economics.