Hi there!

My name is Jonts and I am an 18 year old male from Blackpool, England, basically i'm here for the same reason as most of us are, to shift a few (or quite alot) of pounds.

I currently weight 22st 1lbs and am around 6ft tall. My goal isi to end up around 13/13.5 st (including muscle from weight training, I think this is suitable for my height.

So basically, I just wanted to share my plan and see if it is a plan worth sticking to, any advice is more than welcome as I am new to all this.

Exercise,

Monday AM Cardio 30 mins cross trainer.
PM Weights.

Tuesday AM Cardio 30 mins cross trainer.
PM Same as morning.

I will alternate these days to give myself a day break from weight training, my diet on a average day would look like this

Breakfast: Porridge.

Lunch: Salad Box with Turkey slices.

Tea:Steamed Chicken Breast with veggies or Lean mince beef etc etc.

Basiclly I just want to know if this is a planI should stick to and if anyone has any suggestions Im all for hearing them!

Thankyou for your time.

Hi and welcome.

I'll just jump in and put it right out there - because I'm fairly known for being direct. The plan is not good.

Let's start with food.

Currently it looks like your plan allows you maybe 1000 or 1500 calories a day which is far too drastic a reduction for you. You'll wind up shocking your body, dropping your metabolism, stalling out your weight loss, and then getting frustrated because you're already eating next to nothing and you still won't be able to lose.

Also given the level of exercise you're trying to do, you're not providing your body with enough nutrition to be healthy.

Your current weight is 312lbs (I think in lbs, so I'm converting). At that weight, you need about 4300 calories to maintain your weight. To safely and reasonably lose weight, you should eat around 3000 calories. That's about a 30% reduction in your overall intake, which is a safe level to drop.

I would suggest you register for a free account with a site like fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and start logging your food. You'll easily be able to see where your calories fall and how your nutrition breaks down. You need to make sure that not only are you eating enough calories, but you're getting the nutrition you need to fuel your body.

As for exercise ...

You should not lift weights on two consecutive days, if you're lifting them properly. I would suggest that you work out a plan where you lift 2x - 3x a week and then fill in around that with whatever cardio you want to do. There are several good threads in the exercise area of the forum that will help you build plans. Specifically read posts by Steve on weight lifting - there's one called The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting that will give you a LOT of information.

I hope that gives you something to start with!

I agree with Kara.

Those calories are way too low and there is no way that you could stick to anything as boring as that for long enough to make any difference. Then are you going to have chicken salad and turkey salad every day for the rest of your life. You need something that you can stick to long term.....

You dont want to be like those people that go on VLCDs and have milk shakes with no milk in them all the time and then eat food and gain it all in no time flat when they start to eat. You need a really healthy diet. Something that makes sure that you get all the protein that you need (and that is a fair bit). You also need to be sure that you get enough calcium, healthy fats, fibre plus vitamins. Not just some - but enough.....

You will be eating a fair few calories compared to any diet attempt that you have done in the past - but you want to be spending those calories wisely on healthy food.

Read those stickies in exercise and nutrition and learn what your targets should be.

In the first instance - I would be shooting for

at least
25g fibre (make sure that your fruit and veg hit a number of colours and that you have at least 5 servings a day - predominantly veg - I have a lot more)
1000mg calcium
180g protein

drink 156 fl oz of water a day

no more than 2400mg sodium a day

that should get you started.

Dont just take my word for it - but do the study - because you need to adjust some as you lose weight.

Thanks for all that advice, I knew going into this some of my plans wouldnt be accurate, just needed a guideline to show people what I want to do.

And its also good to see you get helpful information on this forum not just shot down for not going into this with full knowledge, thankyou both so very much.

You are welcome.

We all started out thinking that we knew that we had to cut our calories much lower than sensible. There is a lot of rubbish treated as certain fact - and it kept me up at 21 stone.

The fact is that if you have your calories too low you end up being malnourished because you cannot possibly get the level of nutrients that you need to be healthy.

You feel rotten and cannot wait to give up. I know because I have been there.

Good luck with your project.

Glad we could help. It's easy to get caught up in the mindset of having to do it all at once and do it to excess.

But really, reasonable steps means that you're more likely to be able to sustain your plan for longer. You won't burn out and give up.

Hi Jonts,

According to your exercise you are doing more cardio then weight lifting. To get better result you should do full body work out 3 times in a week. Rest of day you can do high intensive interval cardio. Whole body exercise and high interval intensive cardio burn more fat than regular cardio.
A high interval intensive cardio is combination of sprint and jog. Only 15- 20 minutes high intensive interval cardio is more than enough to burn extra calories. Here is example to perform high interval intensive cardio.

3 minutes--- warm up
30 sec-- go to 75 % of your maximum speed --- (8 miles/hour for example)
1 minute--- go to low speed---- (3 miles / hour for example)
30 sec ---- go to 75 % of your maximum speed
1 minute--- go to low speed
Repeat above steps for 15 minutes.

For whole body workout I am strongly recommending you to join any SPAM. SPAM will show you step by step all exercise that you can perform in home or gym. Best whole body exercises are push up, squat and lunge. Try to do at least 8 -10 repetitions with 3 sets.
Here is workout plan for you that you can easily follow.

Monday --- Do whole body workout
Tuesday---- High interval intensive cardio for 15 minutes
Tuesday --- Do whole body workout
Thursday-- High interval intensive cardio for 15 minutes
Friday-- Do whole body workout
Saturday -- High interval intensive cardio for 15 minutes
Sunday -- Rest

Follow above plan for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks you should change your exercises.
Click here to get SPAM and SPAM reviews.

For your diet.. You are not taking enough calories to lose weight. Keep in mind our body behaves likes an “engine” that requires proper foods at certain time intervals each day. To lose weight you do not need to cut huge portion of calories. If you do that, your metabolism will be hurt.
You need to find out how much calories you need to burn fat. My golden advice is register in fitday.com to find out how much calories you need to achieve your goal. Once you find out your calories , do not forget to write down what you eat and how much calories you have consumed. Also only calories are not important but important is where calories come from.
To get fast result you should eat 6 small meals instead of 3 big meals. Also divide every meal in three portion 1> protein 2> fat 3> fibrous carbohydrates. Make sure fat should be under 30% of total calories and eating enough protein in day. Man should eat 1 g protein / pound. For example if your current weight is 180 lbs you should try to eat 170-180 grams protein every day.

Here are some diet tips that you can easily follow to lose weight.
1> Eat every 2-3 hours, totaling 5-7 meals each day.
2> Eat breakfast every day.
3> Eat some protein with every meal, aiming for approximately 1 g protein/pound
of body weight.
4> Include a Healthy Fat Source at each meal.
5> Eat at least 1 fruit and /or vegetables at every single meal.
6> Drink about ½ gallon of water.
7> Only include a serving of Complex Carbohydrate Post Workout.
8> Avoid processed Non-Foods.
9> Get a few grams of fish oil each day, either through fish and/or supplements.
10> Include a high quality Omega 3 supplement in your meal plan.
11> Eliminate artificial sweeteners and processed sugar.
12> Record what you eat and drink---self-monitoring is crucial to success.

I hope you get everything that you need to lose weight.

This is a diet myth that crops up all the time...

There is no benefit in eating lots of small meals instead of less big meals. It just depends what makes you less likely to go over your calories - and what format gives you a balanced diet involving enough of all the nutrients.

Actually, at 300+ lbs, doing more cardio than weight training isn't such a bad thing. The higher your body fat percentage, the less likely you are to lose muscle. It's only as you lean out that things change. That means that while you're the heaviest it makes sense to burn more calories, and then ramp up the weight training as you start shedding some of the fat.

Also, be aware that if you're just trying to maintain muscle, you only have to do about a third as much weight training as if you're actually trying to build. So a lot of it depends on your goals.

Pretty much the last thing you want to do is be eating a tiny amount of calories and working out almost every day. Your body needs to recover from all the stress, and if you put that much on it and aren't even getting enough calories you might even find your fitness declining. So eat a reasonable amount, and don't kill yourself

Hey man, I think your diet plan is great. I would reccomend oat meal in the morning, has it is slow releasing and can help with energy. But you seem to have the general idea of it all. Keep up the good work. 3000 calories is overkill. I wouldn't obsess over counting calories when you're on an healthy diet. Just make sure you are not hungry and let your body tell you when you are full. You will find with natural foods that your body will be more intuned to what you need. But no 3000 calories is just overkill dont do it.

what are you trying to be a marathon runner?
there is no way (no offense) that you can seriously carry that out for 3-6-12 months.

step one:

tony robbins says... set yourself up to win

make it as easy as possible, the last thing you want is to fall off the routine and hate yourself and end up gaining more weight (hey it happens).

step 2:

even 5 minutes of cardio a day is better than 45mins every other day (believe me).

the reason is because the main thing is what you eat.

step three:

you probably have medical problems due to the weight, and if not now then you will, and then life will really suck, so you need a diet that is not only gonna make you look good, but make you feel good too.

when i lost 25 lbs in a month, i didn't do any excersise. all i did was follow the following meal plan.

morning: oat meal with a raw egg--don't worry about salmonella, all you need to do is wash the egg off with soap and water (crazy i know) for about 10 sec.

don't add hot water, instaed add cold water, and eat a filling a amount, you will eventually find a consistent amount.

lunch:

huge salad (what fun) with sardines (they taste good) and add olive oil adn lemon juice, or in the begining add your favorite dressing. (no bread, or meat or cheese) but eat all the nuts you want (no peanuts, or green peppers).

you can eat as much of these as you want of these things, and you can even grill them for all i care.

supper:

same as lunch

you will skinny and super healthy ( all of your diseases will be removed) in 6 months top.

I cannot be bothered to ridicule JonnyC's spam over again.

I'll just put a link to where he made a pretty much identical posting when he was trying to put his spam somewhere else:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weigh...ork-you-2.html

Plus the dangerous "don't worry about salmonella, just wash your egg in soap" advice!

I have to agree. Great Advice!