Hello. My name is Monty. im new to the site and wanted to see if i couldnt get some good adivice. Im 25, 6'0 tall, broad shouldered and weigh 275. Im looking to lose weight and need help. Never tryed to lose weight before so im very ignorant to the whole process. Im looking to get down to about 240-245 like i was back in highschool. My goal is to get down to my weight goal and then add some muscle mass( i dont know if i should go lower in wieght then gain muscle weight, so any extra info on those would be helpful). Thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome!

The first thing I'll say is that "I want help losing weight" is a pretty broad question. I'd suggest that you read the sticky posts in the various forums *first* - especially the ones on nutrition and exercise. Once you've read those, you'll probably have more specific questions and we can help with those.

OK, i read up a good bit on this site, got alot of questions answered. Didnt see the stickies at first, i guess my main quest still revolves around the working out question. im looking to drop to 245 and im not sure if i should stick with watching my calorie intake, cycle and/or walk to get my heart rate going, or if its also ok to do weightlifting also. my concern i guess it that i will add muscle weight to my current weight and find it harder to lose the weight to hit my target weight.

Hm. Well, if you're having those questions, you didn't read the sticky posts.

However, I'll give you the gist:

The first thing that the sticky posts will tell you is that you cannot gain muscle in a calorie deficit. So this whole concept that you're going to gain muscle and not be able to hit your target weight is pretty much nonsense. You don't exchange fat for muscle, either, so that's not going to happen.

In addition to that, even if you were working hard to gain muscle, you simply cannot gain muscle weight that fast. The figures I've read say that a man working out seriously and eating to bulk (which means NOT dieting) might gain up to 20 lbs of muscle a year. That's with serious, hard-core effort and a non-calorie-deficit diet. For women the figure is even lower - some of them saying 10-12 lbs a year max.

The next bit of information you need to know is that when you diet - that is eat fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight - you don't just lose fat. You lose fat AND lean muscle mass. It's simply a fact of nature - that's the way your body works.

In order to maintain the lean muscle you have while dieting, there are two things you need to do: Make sure you're getting enough protein (most reputable sources recommend 1g of protein per pound of your goal bodyweight) and lift weights. Those things will make sure that you minimize lean muscle loss and maximize fat loss.

So ... what it boils down to is this ... the most effective way to lose weight is to combine these factors in this order:

- reduce the amount of calories you take in by 20% - 30%
- make sure that you're getting a healthy balance of protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats
- lift weights (properly, not girly weights or "toning" weights or low weight/high rep combinations) to help maintain lean muscle mass
- add in cardio/aerobic exercise as you feel necessary to increase your calorie burn

That's pretty much the whole thing in a nutshell.

Just found the sticky after i made the post. Thank you very much.