Diet/workout advice (long)

[cieje]

I'm 24, 5' 8" and 231 lbs! In a month I'm going to take a PAT to get into a police training school for florida; I'm not too worried about it, but I am worried about my overall weight, endurance, strength etc for the future with the academy and passing the state exam in less than a year.

I've never been good with diets... or anything of that sort... so I'm wondering if I'm doing this right.

My goals: maintain overal health, ultimately lose 60 lbs, gain muscle mass at the same time.

I've been fairly physically inactive for the past 5 years I'd say, but prior to that I was heavily involved with soccer, track and field (sprinting, but not long distance), and basketball. So I still have some strength and endurance despite my current state.

This week I started my workout/diet routine for the forseeable future. Here's my basic day as of right now:

Morning:
1 banana
5min stretch
25-35min cardio - high intensity training 5-10min walk/jog->1min full speed sprint->3-5min walk/jog->1min full speed sprint->(repeat)->5min walk cooldown
small bowl of low cal cereal (honey bunches of oats) w/ 1/2 cup of fat free milk

While at work (8:30-5):
2-3 hours before lunch either 1 banana or 1 8oz fat free yogurt
lunch: 1/2-1 cup white or brown rice, 1/2 cup steamed veggies, 2-4oz grilled chicken/pork/fish
2-3 hours after lunch either 1 banana or 1 8oz fat free yogurt

Evening:
I usually grab a banana or a sports drink
5min stretch
35min-1hour cardio - high intensity training 5-10min walk/jog->1min full speed sprint->3-5min walk/jog->1min full speed sprint->(repeat)->5min walk cooldown
10-15min on elliptical cross-trainer using same high intensity technique
5min stretch
meal similiar to lunch, but probably more substantial (aka more calories)
sleep 7-8 hours...


besides this I try to work in pushups (3 sets of 10 8 6) and crunches (3 sets of 12 10 8) I figure I'll start really implementing a workout routine in 2-3 weeks; probably keeping the morning cardio in the morning and alternating days between weight training and cardio at night.

I figure 1 day a week I'll relax a little on my meal regiment for a few beers, or maybe some pizza or something, but besides that it hasn't been difficult at all so far.

Will this get me where I want to be eventually? I've added up my daily calories... and I'm actually way under my BRM... which should be ~3200 or so (because I'm so fat!!) I just want to be Healthy, in-shape, with endurance, speed, agility, and ~175 lbs or so.

[Mike1986]

Main Points-
-Not enough protein
-Too much carb
-You can't lose weight and gain muscle at the same time- it's one or the other.

Add in more protein and don't eat so many bananas- eggs, chicken, fish should be your main sources of protein.

Bring in more variety of carbs and don't eat more carb than protein during any meal. oatmeal, whole grain breads, lots of fruits and veggies (pineapple especially because it contains an enzyme which assimilates protein efficiently that no other fruit has), rice, pasta.

Good on the cardio but you really should try and lift weights too and not just do calisthenics- though it gives you a good workout. Weights and cardio are a deadly combo.

Sorry my man but one day a week of eating pizza and drinking beer is going to alter a lot of the progress that you would make during the week- especially given the info you provided about yourself. It sucks- but maybe once every 3 or 4 weeks is when you should really do that and if you want it bad enough then you will make the adjustment. It takes time, A LOT of patience and a positive attitude- you'll get there...you just have to adopt it as a lifestyle and know that you can't always see changes but they're taking place once you really take charge.

[cieje]

thanks for the response!

yea, I guess it was too hopeful for a free day; I can live without it. I'll do what you said. I'll change out some of my mid-day fruit/yogurts for pineapple and other fruits, and try doing some eggs in the morning.

Thanks for the info again. I was just mostly concerned with what I was reading my BRM is... basically it was saying I was eating almost 1,000 calories less than I should be! that seemed excessive.

[ILikeCheescake]

ok, here goes my suggestions.



Scrap the diet routine. If you are like me, and don't have much time to cook, try this out.


Go get
1. Healthy Choice frozen dinners, preferably the ones on sale (food is food to me, which really helps me with my 'diet')

2. A good fish oil supplement and a good joint support supplement.

3. Multiple flavors of slim fast (3 or 4 cans)

4. A big jug of protein powder ( I get mine from trader joes, it's $9 a bottle and tastes like crap, but I'll get into that)

5. Vegetables (preferably fresh ones so you can steam them)

6. Fruits, all kinds.

7. Pure grape juice (the dark kind)

Diet first.

This will take a week or two to get used to, but believe me, when you get used to it, you don't need to check the clock anymore. Start off the day with a shake. One scoop of slimfast and one scoop of proteing powder with a glass of skim milk(the slim fast gives you vitamins and cuts the taste of the protein powder).

Space your meals throughout the day, 4ish hours apart. Once you get used to it, your belly will tell you when its time to eat. I eat about 5 or 6 times a day. Spreading your meals out like this keeps your metabolism high throughout the day

If you find you are hungry after the shake (give it 5-10 min) supplement it with some fruit or veggies.


For meal type meals, go for veggies and meat (lean cuts) and verry little rice/potatoes/breads. If you still have a bit of hunger left, have some fruit.

These are the basic type meals you should eat througout the day. The healthy choice are good for a few reasons. They are good proportions ( I eat 2 sometimes and don't break 600 calories) they are pretty balanced, fast, and have low sodium.


The shakes you can spread throughout the day, as it's better to get your vitamins over a period of time and not all at once, same for protein (i hate multivitamins). Also, you do NOT need protein in the shake every time. I would go less on workout days.

Before you go to bed, take your supplements (oil and joints). I like to have a protein shake before I sleep because the body does most recouping then.

.
From the diet you posted, it seems to seriously lack vitamins and other goodies. This meal plan, while weight may come off a bit slower, will keep your energy up, help your body heal faster, and keep your workouts good.

Some do's and don'ts. Don't have a free day. It will happen all to frequently, that you will find yourself without good food (I premake shake mix in little baggies to carry with me). Don't drink beer, soda, or anything with calories other than say, grape juice (it's a good anti-oxidant).


I'll add more later if I can think of it, as well as some workout tips


Edit: Oh yeah, don't focus on your weight, go for fitness, feel, and bodyfat %, the scale is the biggest hinderence to anyone trying to get fit.

Edit 2: Oatmeal is pretty good too. Plain ole oatmeal with a bit of honey.

[Mike1986]

No problem-

Your BMR is just a guideline to finding out approximately how many calories you should be eating a day to either lose weight, maintain or gain weight. It measures how many calories your body burns just functioning everyday- breathing, sitting, blinking, everything.

Weight loss occurs when you dip the calories of your BMR by 500-700, maintenance is eating around what your BMR is and weight gain is eating 500-700 more calories than the BMR.

[ILikeCheescake]

As for exercise, I agree with above, seriously try to get some weights in there, even if it is just one core exercise per body part (back, chest, legs are the biggies, but do bis and tris too)


As to the pushups, pick an off day and an on day (well, all the body weight exercises). Do them all day long on the on day, and rest on the off day. Maybe put 2 off days in there, really depends on how well you recover.

[cieje]

Thanks for all the replies! It's a lot different getting feedback than reading things on websites; much more helpful to know what actually works.

ok, so I think I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do...

I was able to find a place to use for weight training, so that's a relief, so now I can work that in...

For diet, I plan 1 shake (as described above) after my morning workout every morning. Then between that time and lunch I'll have something else, probably some pineapple, a banana; something of that sort. Then lunch. Lunch will be 50 % veggies, 30% protein/meat, 20% starch - or a healthy choice. Between lunch and dinner I'll have another dose of some sort of fruit, or some steamed veggies; on days that I'm not working out I'll do a shake w/ protein. Then dinner, which will be almost exactly the same as the lunch described. Workout at night as follows:

Sunday - Chest/Triceps
Monday - 45min cardio
Tuesday - Legs/Shoulders
Wedesday - off
Thursday - Biceps/back
Friday - 45min cardio
Saturday - 45min cardio

So Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday I'll have that extra shake between lunch and dinner. The other days I'll have a regular mid-meal. I'm leaving 1 night off to give my legs a break after all the cardio and the leg workout.

Does this all look ok? I don't want to over do it, but so far I've been pretty fine. I had a couple shakes today just to get my system going after doing some intensity running for 40min, 15min on the elliptical, and a decent workout on my chest and triceps.