03bl AC k CL

I'll break it down as brief as possible

3/07 i weighed 220 lbs

strict diet (about 1000-1500 calories a day without feeling starved)
exercise 3-5 times a week (mostly running, a little bit of lifting

by 8/07 i was 160 lbs


now im at about 165-167 and seem to have found where i will stay in terms of weight

im a lot more relaxed on my diet but dont indulge like i used to. my problem is although i went from a 38 waist to 32 and weigh so little i dont have that "beach body" lol. im wondering what i should eat, and what kind of exercise i should do to tighten up and look in shape.

i dont need to be crazy strong, or really cut, i just want to look fit (though a 6 pack would be nice lol)

plus im going away to school and need to make sure i stay disciplined in what i eat so i dont gain that freshman 15 (though im going into my 3rd yr its my first semester away from home cooking)

so basically i just need a step in the right direction, i have slacked off recently, but havent really put on weight i just havent begun to look any better and im ready to improve that. thanks gang.

Whiskers

First off, congrats!

You should find that if you continue to do cardio, you can eat more ( ). Your body is probably at its weight that it wants to be.....My advice is to not loose site of cardio, still do strength lifting, etc...

03bl AC k CL

thanks a lot i feel great... well i still do work out, but its not a set regiment, one day ill run, another day ill lift, and sometimes ill hit the heavy bag... its almost like i work out without a purpose, and dont seem to notice any gains, improvements, etc... i guess i just need to know what exercises shows improvement coupled with what diet

Whiskers

If you feel healthy and your clothes fit, you are doing fine...

03bl AC k CL

oh thats no problem my clothes fit and all, just physically i want to look better, and tighten up, you know? after dropping that much weight in that little time i dont have the "tightest" body lol.

Whiskers

I hear ya...Most of it is skin and wont go.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Here's a recent picture of whiskers after he lost all that weight.

Whiskers

Back to surgery I go...

03bl AC k CL

ahahah really though whiskers you look good in that picture youre just squinting too much...

Whiskers

ankur914

Congrats!

Im not physically trainer, and for all i know, what im doing is probably really bad for my health, but this is what i do every other day.

Run 2 miles on a treadmill
Then....
Do "super sets" (yea, ....right...more like lazy sets...) of Push-ups and sit ups
20 push ups (arms at about shoulder length, if not a little farther out...makes it easier! and feet together.)
Then i rest for 1-2 minutes.
Then do 30 situps with your feet flat on the ground,
and then 30 more with feet up in the air. "crunches"?

For all i know, both are the same, but oh well, lol

Then, i do "super sets" of ....
20 push ups,
rest 1-2 minutes
12 Leg ups (6 straight leg, 6 crossed legged, no knees bent)
rest 30 seconds
12 knee bent leg ups

do this 2 to 3 times...provided how much energy i got left.

So far, my core has tightened up.....not really cut up yet, but I dont know if im doing the right excercises. When people poke my belly, its not jiggly anymore.

Hope this helps
and keep up the good work!

Dr. Colorado

If you want to get cut try this regimen we do for boxing. I posted it earlier but you may not have found it.

2 minutes jump rope
25 push-ups
30 sit-ups/crunches

rest 30 seconds to 1 minute

Repeat for 6 total sets

Sounds easy but trust me you'll feel the burn after set 4 or 5

i used to run quite a bit but feel that hitting the rope is getting me in better shape for sparring

btw, after we complete those 6 "super-sets" we box for another 45 minutes. needless to say i'm pretty gassed by the end of class.

03bl AC k CL

i think i am going to try both regimens maybe give each one a week and see which one works for me. these seem like routines i could get into, i will definitely try them out...

rick, i just had a question for you though... i dont know if youre really into boxing or not, but i usually will do a couple of sets of hitting the bag with 10 lb weights in my hand is this actually good for me to do? i hit a lot faster after i do a set then hit the bag without them it seems to make me feel stronger, but is this necessarily good for me to do??

and to evenly strengthen my arms i switch my stance (im a lefty but will use my right arm for power and my left to jab for a set and alternate)

zguy95135

You're about where I am right now except I was like 30lbs heavier. I'm gonna watch this thead . Right now I do 30 pushups in the morning, and then either do a brisk walk 2 miles with the dog (2x a day) or jog. 3-4x a week I'll do lifting but Im pretty limited on equipment and weights.

I just wish I had 6-10k for an adbominoplasty

808havok_tsx

congratulations on your weight-loss. your current condition is what's called "skinny-fat." your body composition looks the way it does due to a lack of lean muscle mass. "cardio" won't do you any good at this point. high rep bodyweight training will also do you no good.

i dunno what your budget/time constraints are so for now, i'd recommend you try "never gymless" or "infinite intensity" at www.rosstraining.com. they are awesome resources.

Dr. Colorado

Well, I have a pretty rough canvas bag and I always use bag gloves (14 oz) when doing bagwork so my hands don't get jacked up. My concern with holding weights is your not getting proper fist clenching which may be detrimental when you're sparring or in the ring. I've never observed anyone doing bagwork with weights at my dojo. BTW, I've been training muay thai/boxing for 2.5 years and speed>strength. Instead of working with weights why don't you focus on speed? I like the idea of switching stance. Our sensei has us do this periodically, it's good if I'm fighting a southpaw (I'm natural stance). PM me if you have any more questions and good luck

03bl AC k CL

i think that term "skinny-fat" may be appropriate in this case lol... my question is then, if cardio and weight training wont work, what is the solution to this (without surgery lol) thanks for the help though

i'll take your advice then and work more on the speed you would know better than i would . and yeah i like to switch the stance up, because im left handed but playing baseball i bat righty and in hockey i hold the stick righty so switching my stance is a little easier for me to adjust to, i'd like to ideally be as good from both stances if possible... plus i like the extra workout.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Congrats on the weight loss. Ahhhh to be 19 again.

At your age, I think that weight training and cardio will eventually pay off. When I was about 24, I lost about 30 lbs. I was working out with an ex-marine. I had some loose skin like you're talking about. It took a while, but most of it filled in with weight training.

03bl AC k CL

thanks ravi, sounds encouraging, ive been running 2.5 miles the past few days and hitting the heavy bag (working more on speed than strength, as i was advised here) so we'll see how it goes... congrats to you too on the 30 lbs dropped...

what kind of exercises did your weight training consist of, and how long did it take you to tighten up?

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

The weight loss was a long time ago. I gained it all back. Trying to loose some of it again.

I did some cardio, mostly bike. I hated running. I did a lot of weight training. And a ton of sit-ups and pushups when I didn't go to the gym.

I did a lot of upper body since my legs were muscular from soccer. Occationally I would do some leg press or squats. And most of my flab was localized to be stomach, chest and love handles.

For chest, I did bench press and inclines press and flyes. Arms were mostly just bar bell and dumb bell curls for biceps and machines for triceps.

I also did machine for back.

Typically 80% of the times I focused on reps and the other 20% of the times I pushed myself to lift heavier. At the beginning I didn't push myself with the weights as much so I didn't hurt myself. When I was comfortable at a weight I moved up. Just take your time.

I trained with my buddy for a solid year. 3 days a week, for at least an hour. The other days I did situps, pushups and dips at home. I never lost ALL the loose skin, but I would say 90% of it was gone. Never got a great set of 6 pack abs. I always had some hint of love handles.

Again, I was a bit older than you are right now. And I'm sure that if I stuck with it, I would probably have lost all of it. But alas, I rediscovered beer and pool.

Good luck.

03bl AC k CL

thanks for the pointers seems like you had trouble in the same areas i do (chest, stomach, love handles) my back is pretty good though, but im going to be training my upper body evenly so i dont get disproportionate ...

weights discourage me, because when i was fat i was also pretty strong... and now i cant lift anywhere near what i could back then. im happier this way, but it just feels like im not even getting a workout because im struggling with the weight and my muscles fatigue much quicker.

did you do any sort of dieting? what'd you eat, and how many calories did you take in?

im just trying to get into some good habits, me and a friend of mine are going to be living on our own in NC and he is into staying in shape like i am so i want us to stay away from the junk food temptations for the most part, keep our fridge stocked with some decent foods, and get into an exercise regimen that is flexible with being a college kid who has a pretty active social life (consisting of staying up late fairly often)


ravi i appreciate the help
and very OT but now that i think of it when i first joined AZ i think i was talking to you about buying your CL before you sold it haha...

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

^^^^

I think you may have. I miss that car.

I didn't put myself on a strict diet. I did a couple things. I stopped the late night snacking, switched to more grilled foods instead on fried. Watched my fat intake. And switched from regular soda to diet. I just worked out more and ate smarter.

808havok_tsx

did you check out "never gymless" or "infinite intensity" at www.rosstraining.com? as much as i like hanging out at AZ, you should go to a dedicated forum (www.rosstraining.com/forum) for fitness and nutrition for more advice IMHO since the focus of people there would be fitness, not cars.

while i never used NG or II myself, i did my own research and experimented and read a lot and educated myself on fitness and nutrition (note, i did not say "diet"). NG and II has principles i used to lose 60lbs. i've managed to keep the weight off for over 10 years. try www.rosstraining.com first; i agree with a lot of ross enamait's workout ethics so you'd be better off reading his material than me rehashing info.

i would also say try crossfit but a HUGE CAVEAT to that recommendation is that you NEED to scale (down) the workouts to YOUR fitness level and try not to fall into their near-cult-like mentality. also, learning proper form for the lifts are super crucial; getting injured would defeat the purpose of working out. the crossfit community has some real beasts, both men and women, so don't worry about what they can accomplish, focus on improving your fitness.

03bl AC k CL

I've noticed I subconsciously make smarter decisions now, read more labels, and think twice before eating junk. However, i always seem to fall back into some bad habits ( chicken parm pizza being my biggest downfall by far ) I wont really have to worry about that as any pizza ive ever had in NC sucks haha...

but anyway, you basically just made small adjustments like choosing the lesser of 2 evils (such as diet soda to reg soda, grilled instead of fried?) and didnt really have a dieting plan?? if thats the case i think ill do fine

i try to make small adjustments here and there like wheat bread to white (though being italian i loveee bread we usually have it incorporated one way or another into every meal so thats the hardest thing for me to live without)

seems like ill be ok, but how hard did you work yourself to see results? or did you just keep good habits for extended periods of time?


thanks for the links im going to check those out. the reason i havent yet is i just wanted the "regular" guy's (or girl's) opinion and experiences on weight loss since i am not a body builder and i want to know what has worked for them, hence why i am posting on a car forum i frequent. I am going to ultimately read up on those sites and learn some things though thanks again.

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Actually it was probably fairly big adjustments.

I drank about 4-5 sodas a day. I did a lot of late night snacking. And I ate something fried maybe once a day. If you check the calories, it was probably about 800-1000 less per day than I was having.

And late night snacking was usually something like candy, chips or left over junk food.

Don't under-estimate the difference between a double bacon cheese burger and a low fat grilled chicken salad sandwich on wheat.

03bl AC k CL

yeah i always find myself thinking twice before ordering food when i go out to eat... my biggest change was late night snacking as well... though i have kind of fallen back into the bad habit... its a turkey sandwich on wheat instead of white castle... but im still trying to kick the habit

my latest dilemma iis that im going to the cheesecake factory tonight for dinner with my family... ughhh what to get, what to get lol

RaviNJCLs

iTrader: (4)

Steak or fish with vegetables. If I remember from when last I was there they tend to cover their chicken with crap, and their pastas are all filled with cheese.

03bl AC k CL

yeah im thinking of going with some sort of salmon/salad combination...

i want to be able to hit the gym afterwards and not feel sick but i tend to be starving after work lol so im going to have try extra hard to show some self contrl lol

03bl AC k CL

so i have been working a lot so i have put myself into a pushups and situps routine.... 3 times a day... no set amounts usually in sets of 20-25... i basically do it until i get tired when i wake up, when i get home from work, and before bed. i've stuck to it for 3 days so far (not much, but its a start). the good thing is also that when i'm at work i tend to eat healthier, and not as heavy per meal so that is complimenting it well.

Obviously there are no real visual results, but i do feel a bit more solid underneath which is always good. i plan on adding a run in here and there every other day or so as well.

mclovintsx

iTrader: (2)

If you want some good workout programs I can definitely recommend the max-ot workout.

http://www.ast-ss.com/max-ot/max-ot_intro.asp

I can definitely vouch for it as it has improved my strength rather quickly. I would advise you to read it and follow there work out to the bone. This work out is pretty intense so I don't know if it'll workout for you but it'll help out greatly. I've heard of the other type of workout called the hypertrophy-specific training.

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html

I personally never used this work out before and prefer the first one than the latter but a lot of people can vouch for it so I'm guessing it works. This one is also great if your time constricted and don't want to go everyday to the gym.

Doom878

You'll get bored of that routine quick. Listen to havok and check out rosstraining. You can go to http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums and they even give you workouts to do for the day. Best part is that most of them are very intense 15-25 minute workouts so you're in and out. They are very efficient. To give you an idea, these are the workouts that were made famous by "300". Lean, fit, and muscular looking is the result you can achieve if you maintain diet and discipline.

gavriil

Your answer is very simple here. During your above "adjustments" what you have done is lower your body fat and also lost some muscle in the process. What you need now is addition of muscle mass. For that only the best combination of overload and intensity resistance training will provide the most effective results. Look for previous posts of mine referring to MAX OT (Maximum Overload Training).

gavriil

^ Btw, you will find that adding muscle mass is about 100 times more difficult, painful and time consuming than losing weight.

03bl AC k CL

well i appreciate all the input ive gotten i havent checked the thread in a while but i do appreciate all the comments ive gotten...

i just moved down to nc and just started looking around the area for gyms to join. so hopefully ill be able to sign up for one soon (need a job too though to pay for membership :-\ )

and im aware muscle mass gain is going to be more grueling than just losing weight... i remember when i first started working out at the beginning of my diet i was weight lifting like crazy and getting crazy strong, but still was too fat for my liking.

so i abandoned weights and went to 90% cardio and i paid for it in strength loss.

i look forward to updating this thread with positive results though... and im going to look through the forum link that was posted earlier and see what i can find.

Doom878

If you go to the workout I suggested, you'll get strong from body weight exercises and occasional weight lifting. Somedays you'll do pullups, pushups, kettlebell lifting, power cleans so it's not all body weight or all steel weights. You will get fitter. Go to the video section of www.crossfit.com. For example there's one guy who does 100 pullups in 3:20 and the guy is diesel and fit.