My Workout Journey

agree on the 1200 cal is way to low, nothing good can come of that. also don't start off doing 6-7 days of cardio for an hour-hour and a half each day. these things take time, you can't just jump into it like it's nothing.

 

also agree that 1200 is way too low. It's incredibly way too low. I'm 200 and that's what I shoot for on my off days. If you're working out you'll kill yourself with that kind of diet. Start slow and then try to work into two a days after about two weeks. A big workout in the morning before breakfast to really get your metabolism going and then a small to medium workout in the evening. If you overdo it, you're body will start to shut down.

 

2/27/2012 Food Log

2 Apples (200)
Granola Bar (120)
GNC Shake (200)
Lean Chips (50)
Spaghetti (600)
1 Soft Drink (150)
Bread (160)
50 Ounces Water

Total: 1480 calories

My elliptical came in and just met the guy at the house at lunch. I'm sure I'll be cussing up a storm tonight trying to assemble it - all 300 pounds of it. That was one heavy load to drag into the "exercise room." Weights should be here Friday or Saturday. If I can get the elliptical together I'll try to give it a couple of days worth of test runs to figure out what type of program I want to use on it and start more hardcore next week.

I will heed the advice from above - I'll try to ease into it just a little. I've always had the problem of either go all the way and go balls in or half ass it. I want to make sure I don't have ass this but at the same time I also want to take into account what others say and try to find a happy balance. Thanks for the advice - it is appreciated.

 

Man. If you are going to keep calories that low you ought to knock out the soft drink and replace it with something that'll sustain you a bit better.

 

agree with kptvol. drink a glass of whole milk instead.

 

personally i think it would be better to up your cals to at least 2000 for the time being

 

Really recommend upping the cals. Agree with drosk on the whole milk too. Need more fats in your diet.

 

yup your body will go into pure starvation mode. you'll actually lose weight faster if you get up to 2000 calories and then trend it down later if you want. also i think you'll notice you wont be able to maintain the intensity of your workouts after a week of that.

 

Probably shouldn't have had the soft drink but I was watching the 24 Hours of Daytona at my dad's and had my little girl with me and had to drive about 45 minutes home at 1:00 A.M. I thought the caffeine would keep me from passing out and he don't have diet drinks at his house. I'll take the advice and try to keep it closer to 2,000 calories for the time being.

 

Do you drink coffee?
Keep the daily soda, have a glass of whole milk in the morning, add two tbs natural peanut butter to your slice of bread or apples and half a cup of oats to your shake. You will be right around 2k. JMO An egg or two in the morning would not hurt either.

 

Only coffee I drink is those Frappachino type of deals. Never drank black coffee of any kind - just don't have a taste for it. I do like boiled eggs so I may try to do those from time to time. I can definitely add the oats to the shake fairly easily. I'll give the natural peanut butter a shot too. I may drink "one" soda a day but try to keep it the diet sodas - I don't like many diet drinks but can drink Dr. Pepper 10, Diet Mtn Dew, and Coke Zero or Pepsi Max. But I'll try to limit them to one a day. I've had the caffeine withdrawals today - haven't had any caffeine since Saturday besides that one Coke last night.

 

Good luck, you might want to avoid Coke Zero and Pepsi Max. I think they both use Splenda to sweeten them, not positive but something to check in to.

 

Some recent studies have shown that diet drinks can make you feel hungry.

 

I'm trying to do the eat small things every 2-3 hour deal to keep my metabolic rate up and keep me from feeling hungry. I'll eat the apples between 8-9, eat another snack around 11, lunch at 1:00, another snack 3:00-3:30, and then dinner around 6:00-7:00 and try not to eat any later than that. But thanks for that tip on diet drinks - I'm trying to drink enough water where it keeps some of the hunger pangs at bay. Besides the caffeine headache I'm feeling fine so far.

 

They can make you crave sweets.

 

2/28/2012

1 Apple (100)
1 Banana (100)
Ritz Multigrain Cracker (130)
Chicken/Egg Noodle Soup (180)
Wheat Thin Chipolte Sticks (100)
Pickles (30)
Dr. Pepper 10 (10)
Grilled Talipia/Rice/Beans/Bread (700)
60 Ounces Water

Total: 1350

Wasn't intentionally trying to keep it so low. Through the day I think I'm doing ok by eating every couple of hours. I eat that late meal and it's not packed with calories so they are staying down. I'm sure there will be some nights my evening meal will be much higher. I may adjust my lunch and try to get more calories on lunch but keep it under 600.

Got the elliptical put together last night with help from my brother-in-law. That thing was a beast but very well made and the instructions were actually simple to follow and Smooth had some practical things to make it easier to put it together which was a big help. I gave it a 20 minute test run first thing this morning after I got up and set it to Level 10 out of 16 levels of resistance. Maintained about 4.0 MPH and burned 265 calories in 20 minutes and had a heartrate of about 155 BPM.

I don't want to eat breakfast so early in the morning before I workout so I'm going to go straight into elliptical workouts in the morning on an empty stomach. I may be incorrect in thinking this but I "think" that since I will have went over 10 hours without food that working out cardio first thing will be burning straight fat and not burning off anything I would be eating. Then I will lift weights on weight days at night right after I get home from work and before supper but shortly after my late afternoon snack. What would be recommended to eat prior to weightlifting by you all? I really am trying to take everything into account and come up with the best plan to change my life and not just do this to lose weight quick and gain it right back again.

FYI - I'm going to weigh each morning around the same time for consistency. Saturday when I weighed on my good scales at home I got 383.8. This morning I was 377.6......progress.

 

DnD just from what I've saw from your food intake. You should increase your fruit and
vegetable intake for your carbs.

Also you're eating a lot of simple carbs, Lean Chips Ritz Multigrain Cracker, and Wheat Thin Chipolte Sticks for example. These are empty calories, trade them in for nutrient-dense foods.

You need to increase your protein and fat and fat intake. Dairy, eggs, lean meat, and peanut putter help you stay full and satisfied. They also increase your metabolism and are crucial to building muscle

But great work and keep it up.

 

personally, i would trade the peanut butter, etc for almonds

 

almond butter is pretty tasty btw.

 

A tablespoon of peanut butter isn't bad. I'd mix it up though just for flavor. You can get 100 calorie packs of almonds and I'm a big fan of those. Also occasionally get the 100 calorie packs of craisins. Just can't overdo those because of the sugars.

Also, doing a cardio workout before breakfast is a great way to burn fat calories. Definitely keep doing it that way.