yuhoo22

Hey all,

I've hit rock bottom. I've gained about 20lbs. over the last 3 years after graduating college, and am sick of looking at myself in the mirror. I am pretty much disgusted at the way I look.

I'm 25, about 5'9" - 5'10" and weight about 190lbs - 195lbs. Back in May 2002 when I was graduating college I was weighing in at 170lbs with a bench press of 190lbs and could play basketball and baseball all day non stop. Basically I was maintaining my weight and looked a "good" size and weight with little effort. Now it seems anything I eat goes straight to my gut.

Now that I work full time and go to school 2 days a week I feel like shit all the time. I attribute this to bad sleeping habits (usually less than 5 hours a night) and even worse eating habits, not to mention that I am fat now. I usually only get 30 minutes for lunch so that local fast food places are usually where we go. No doubt in my mind that my metabolism has come to a halt and I have lost all muscle definition I had. I am just a fat tub of jiggly jello now.

For the last 2 weeks I started working out 3 days a week but I haven't lost any weight at all. I have cut all soda out my diet, and usually drink about 3 liters of water a day. Sadly to say, I run the mile in about 9 minutes and can only bench (flat) 145lbs and I struggle to get the last 2 clean.

What else can I do to lose weight. I would love to drop to 175 with a 32" - 33" waistline again and not have to buy 35-36 pants anymore. I need to lose weight, can you guys help? What exercises should I do? What things should I cut out my diet? How often should I eat? Should I take protein shakes and eat those bars?

ali.ahmed

what are you eating? working out is nice, but when you change your diet, you will see your results.

how do you feel when you work out? are you feeling better now? ABreece had a thread about weight lifting for weight loss, check that out.

you may want to try a new cardio workout or something. have fun with it.

remember, rome wasn't built in a day. just stay motivated and determined. the weight shall soon come off in due time.

re-evaluate your schedule so you can get more sleep. that is key.

yuhoo22

I try to eat a grill chicken sandwich at the fast food places....or a salad since it is the healthiest thing i can get there. Normally I will try and minimize my carb intake and eat lots of veggies.

I am starting to feel better...especially after I work out. When I get out of the gym (which is usually a 1.5 - 2 hour session with cardio) I feel my muscles are straind, but I still have energy.

Since I only really have time to work out 3 days a week Monday - Wednesday I do Chest/Triceps, Back/Biceps, then Shoulders/Legs and abs everyday.

I wasn't expecting to lose all the weight right away, but I figured I'd lose something since I heard and have experienced in the past that the water weight drop quickly in the first couple weeks of working out.

Also since starting to work out again, I sweat like a mad man even when not working out. Is this normal? I sweat just standing in the heat, and when i play sports or do any physical activity I am dripping of sweat.....is this a sign of anything? Muscle growth?

Doc.Booty

Read the stickies.

Don't expect immediate changes. Not even from water weight. If your body wasn't naturally retaining lots of water you won't see weight loss from that. The effects of water on your weight can depend on when you weigh yourself.

yuhoo22

Funny, I was reading the stickies as you were writing this early this morning. I usually weigh myself everyday around the same time which is after work around 5PM. I start my day at 5:15AM everyday except weekends, so it is towards the end of my day.

Time For Sleeep

Your biggest problem and biggest mistake.

Sleeping habits. Bad sleeping habits = feeling shitty = no energy to work out = too lazy too cook = fat you.

RaptorCLS

i see your current weight...

if you tell me the following I could draw up a plan for you if you like...

how many calories do you currently eat per day?
What is your workout level now (nothing, sometimes, 3-5x a week)?

Pug

What really helped me was writing down EVERYTHING that I ate. I use a book called "DietMinder" to keep a log. This got me away from the mental accounting that had me taking in too many calories. Now I'm a lot more careful with how many calories I take in, and make sure I don't waste them on stuff like soda that doesn't fill me up. There are some basic BMR calculators that will give you an idea of how many calories you normally burn each day. If you want to lose 1 pound/week, you'll need to either eat 500 calories/day less, or burn off 500 calories/day more. As far as fast food goes, don't be deceived. Even the stuff that looks healthy like grilled chicken and salads is crap. You can have it once in a while, but everyday isn't good.

Writing stuff down will also help, because you're probably more hungry after you go to the gym.