Hi, I'm new here and I'm really looking for some good advices! >.<
I'm a guy 26/5'9 weighing 256lbs and recently I've decided that I wanted to stop this unhealthy sedentary lifestyle, and eating all kinds of comfort food (i.e: desserts, fried food, supper almost every night).
current goal is simple, which is to able to lose weight to 198lbs for now, and at the same time gain muscle mass to be able to exercise without any issues.
I'm a noob in dieting and exercising, but I do know that in order to lose weight I have to consume lesser calories and start exercising. Thus I have started exercising and eating lesser than usual, and changing diet (replacing desserts with fruits, and eating more vegetables than meat).
For exercises, this is what I have been doing recently:
•3 days of walking (improved from able to walk 30minutes to 50minutes) •1 day of strength training (10 reps of lunges 3 sets, 10 secs of planking 3 sets and 10 reps of dips 3 sets)
The initial results is good, where I dropped 6lbs in 2 weeks, however, when I weighed myself this week, I gained back 2lbs despite eating lesser than usual and exercising more.
Furthermore, after exercising, usually legs and arms will be sore for 2 days, and usually I push through and continue to exercises despite the soreness. Recently this has caused me to be very lethargic during the day and unable to focus at work.
So here's question: - I'm kinda lost on how to progress with exercise regimen (should I start to brisk walk or jog a little? What other strength training exercises can I do which is not that difficult to improve on muscle strength?) Any advice would really be appreciated.
•As someone who have not exercised for a long time, I'm not sure when is the right time to push myself harder, and when it is time to stop and rest. Is there any guideline on that?
•Should I let muscles rest until it is not sore and then resume workout, or continue like what I've been doing now?
•Why would there be a weight gain despite me exercising more and reducing calories intake?
•Is there any good strength training exercises that can be done at home without going to the gym? I'm really uncomfortable in going to the gym in current body shape. However if there's really no choice I guess I'll have to hit a gym then...
I'm really sorry if this has been asked before but I'd really be grateful if someone could show me the way in getting fitter. Thank you for reading this till the end!
Need advice on how to progress
Moderators: cassiegose, Boss Man
Re: Need advice on how to progress
Hi Synlose, good to talk to you.
The soreness is DOMS, (Delayed onset muscle Soreness) and is nothing much to worry about, but muscle do need rest for 48 hours at least in case you cause over training and then results go backwards and you're forced to take 4-7 days off.
As for the diet you may have stalled by under-eating, as some people go from overeating to under-eating and don't realise it.
An extra 1lb of added muscle can burn an extra 45-50 calories a day, by making your metabolism more primed, but losing muscle can have the opposite effect, so you may have overdone it and need to scale back on the workouts.
The gym is still an effective strategy, so I'd stick with it.
oh and you don't need to be sorry about anything, because if you don't ask relevant things, you're reducing your chances of understanding what to do and how to progress.
In terms of the training and training, I've given this strategy to people before, so hopefully it should work for you.
Breakfast
Option 1.
Bowl of Whole-grain Cereal and 1 rasher of Bacon, fat trimmed off and scrambled Eggs, (2 Egg Whites + Yolk)
Option 2.
Protein shake, small portion of Nuts, (excluding higher carb ones like Cashews, Chestnuts and Grapenuts), + Apple. Give the Apple 10-15 minutes to digest to improve digestion.
Snack
Option 1.
Portion of Turkey + Orange
Option 2.
Small Portion of Peanuts, some Chicken + Raw Carrott.
Lunch
Option 1.
Large Beef Sandwich with trimmings, I.E. Tomato, Lettuce, Cucumber etc.
Option 2.
Bowl of Chicken Soup, + Pot of yoghurt.
Snack
Option 1.
Turkey + Cashews
Option 2.
Ham + 2 large Tomatos
Dinner
Option 1.
Pork with mashed Potato.
Option 2.
Chicken and Rice
Option 3.
100g Halibut + Broccoli
Snack
Option 1.
Beans on Toast
Option 2.
Ham Sandwich, no trimmings.
Easy on the bread with both options.
You could add a few things to certain meals, like Sea Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, Parsley, Mustard, Herbs, Garlic.
As for the training you could do a schedule something like this
Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps
Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps
Deadlifts, 2 sets, 10 reps
Bench press, 2 sets, 10 reps
Bent over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps
Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps
Planks 30 seconds.
You would do that 3x a week every other day.
As for what you lift, go for the second smallest dumbbells on bench press, lunges and squats, the smallest dumbbells on shrugs and the smallest barbell on bent over rows and deadlifts
This is how your schedule could look per week
Day 1. Weights
Day 2. Cardio
Day 3. Weights
Day 4. Day off
Day 5. Cardio
Day 6. Weights
Day 7. Day off.
This prevents you doing 5 days straight and 2 days of nothing, as I think that's allowing too much consecutive taxation and 2 days of your body doing nothing, slowly starting to adjust to it, before 5 days of grind again, which might take the edge off progress potential, so the 5 split days should be better for you.
The soreness is DOMS, (Delayed onset muscle Soreness) and is nothing much to worry about, but muscle do need rest for 48 hours at least in case you cause over training and then results go backwards and you're forced to take 4-7 days off.
As for the diet you may have stalled by under-eating, as some people go from overeating to under-eating and don't realise it.
An extra 1lb of added muscle can burn an extra 45-50 calories a day, by making your metabolism more primed, but losing muscle can have the opposite effect, so you may have overdone it and need to scale back on the workouts.
The gym is still an effective strategy, so I'd stick with it.
oh and you don't need to be sorry about anything, because if you don't ask relevant things, you're reducing your chances of understanding what to do and how to progress.
In terms of the training and training, I've given this strategy to people before, so hopefully it should work for you.
Breakfast
Option 1.
Bowl of Whole-grain Cereal and 1 rasher of Bacon, fat trimmed off and scrambled Eggs, (2 Egg Whites + Yolk)
Option 2.
Protein shake, small portion of Nuts, (excluding higher carb ones like Cashews, Chestnuts and Grapenuts), + Apple. Give the Apple 10-15 minutes to digest to improve digestion.
Snack
Option 1.
Portion of Turkey + Orange
Option 2.
Small Portion of Peanuts, some Chicken + Raw Carrott.
Lunch
Option 1.
Large Beef Sandwich with trimmings, I.E. Tomato, Lettuce, Cucumber etc.
Option 2.
Bowl of Chicken Soup, + Pot of yoghurt.
Snack
Option 1.
Turkey + Cashews
Option 2.
Ham + 2 large Tomatos
Dinner
Option 1.
Pork with mashed Potato.
Option 2.
Chicken and Rice
Option 3.
100g Halibut + Broccoli
Snack
Option 1.
Beans on Toast
Option 2.
Ham Sandwich, no trimmings.
Easy on the bread with both options.
You could add a few things to certain meals, like Sea Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, Parsley, Mustard, Herbs, Garlic.
As for the training you could do a schedule something like this
Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps
Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps
Deadlifts, 2 sets, 10 reps
Bench press, 2 sets, 10 reps
Bent over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps
Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps
Planks 30 seconds.
You would do that 3x a week every other day.
As for what you lift, go for the second smallest dumbbells on bench press, lunges and squats, the smallest dumbbells on shrugs and the smallest barbell on bent over rows and deadlifts
This is how your schedule could look per week
Day 1. Weights
Day 2. Cardio
Day 3. Weights
Day 4. Day off
Day 5. Cardio
Day 6. Weights
Day 7. Day off.
This prevents you doing 5 days straight and 2 days of nothing, as I think that's allowing too much consecutive taxation and 2 days of your body doing nothing, slowly starting to adjust to it, before 5 days of grind again, which might take the edge off progress potential, so the 5 split days should be better for you.
Re: Need advice on how to progress
Hi Boss Man,
Thanks for the fast reply and advice! I'm using myfitnesspal now to take note of calorie intake, currently I'm taking it around 1800 calories per day ( BMR is around 2300 calories), which comes question, would be is BMR just a rough gauge, as metabolic activity depends on the actual individual. But as an overweight person, wouldn't metabolic rate be slower and thus should I eat lesser?
Another question would be, I'll be following the reps you provided, but should I modify it if I can't complete the activities you recommended due to muscle ache?
Thanks for the fast reply and advice! I'm using myfitnesspal now to take note of calorie intake, currently I'm taking it around 1800 calories per day ( BMR is around 2300 calories), which comes question, would be is BMR just a rough gauge, as metabolic activity depends on the actual individual. But as an overweight person, wouldn't metabolic rate be slower and thus should I eat lesser?
Another question would be, I'll be following the reps you provided, but should I modify it if I can't complete the activities you recommended due to muscle ache?
Re: Need advice on how to progress
The routine should be fine but if not we can sort out one or two tweaks.
BMR is how many calories you need at a minimum to maintain a healthy metabolism, so you should be eating more than that on exercise days not less and that will be a probable reason why your weight loss stalled and you gained, as you calories are below BMR, then you're trying to burn more through exercise.
BMR is how many calories you need at a minimum to maintain a healthy metabolism, so you should be eating more than that on exercise days not less and that will be a probable reason why your weight loss stalled and you gained, as you calories are below BMR, then you're trying to burn more through exercise.
Re: Need advice on how to progress
So it is recommended for me to eat around BMR range and exercise at the same time, to ensure body does not enter starvation mode?
Re: Need advice on how to progress
As post stated on workout days you eat above BMR and even on non-workout days you eat a bit over that as well, as you'd still be in deficit versus what you used to eat, so someone like whose BMR was 1,800, might eat 2,000 sedentary average per day and another 300-400 on workout days.