Getting From Lard-Ass to Hard Ass!

Diet and Nutrition
1

G’day all,

I’m a newbie here (go easy!) who needs advice on getting in shape thanks to a sh*tty lifestyle and one too many Mars Bars! I’ve been reading a few threads on here and thought the Metabolism Repair Plan applied to me, so I’ve begun formulating a diet with these recommendations in mind.

However, because I’ve never dieted this way or weight-trained before I reckon I need all the help I can get. Any tips?

Here’s my details to enlighten you…

AGE - Just turned 35 years old.
WEIGHT - 191 lbs or 86.7kg as of today.
HEIGHT - 5ft 10 inches or 177cm tall.
WAIST - 37 inch waist.

I’ll be up-front with you, my build is pretty embarrassing! Never developed a chest, so I still look boyish and I’ve got more than a touch of the moobs happening! Stomach is flabby, and I’m pudgy all over.

My goals? I’d like to be happy with how I look when I take my shirt off in the summer! Seriously, my main goals are to lose the fat, build a bit of all-over muscle, a nice v-shaped upper body including some abs and regain a waist size of 32", even 30" if it’s humanly possible.

I don’t want to look like anything as big as Arnie but a defined, strong physique would be nice. If this description is no help at all, I can dig out a photo of someone’s physique that I’d like to emulate if needed?

I can also supply photos of myself if that helps you understand how I’m ‘built’ at present? If that’s a ‘yes’ to the last question, keep a sick-bag handy! I’ll expect to be torn to shreds saying I’ve not got an ounce of muscle under the fat but hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right?!

Besides the flab I can handle exercise okay. My lifting strength will be laughable compared to you guys but I’m not averse to sweating it out. I’m asthmatic but nothing too drastic and with exercise I hope I can improve this. If cardio is also required, tips also be helpful.

I have a bit of time on my hands at the moment as I’m home caring for my wife who’s on chemotherapy for the foreseeable future. Which means my exercise must be largely home-based.

By the way, Helena has terrible nausea at the minute & is taking anti-nausea medication but it doesn’t always work. Anyone have any nutritional suggestions that could improve this condition?

Back to my training. I have very basic equipment at home, which amounts to dumbbells, a bench that inclines, jump rope, exercise ball, a kayak and that’s about it. We have a pool but it’s unheated and winter right now, so f*ck that for a game of soldiers.

I don’t want to spend heaps on equipment, gym membership or lots of supplements as we need to conserve the cash, so I guess it’s real back-to-basics stuff, down to just me, my equipment, some hard work and whatever additional tips you might have for me.

To all readers, thanks in advance, stay fit and be healthy. Just don’t use me as an example. Not yet anyway.

Cheers!

2

Great to hear on the lifestyle decision. I am just going to run over the basics and I am sure others will give you more detailed advice. Make sure you start eating breakfast if you aren’t.

Metabolic Drive shakes with added ingredients such as fruit or berries and vegetables are great breakfast substitutes. Make most of your diet lean protein, good carbs like vegetables and whole wheat grains, and healthy fats from nuts and or olive oil. Flameout is a great sup for helping to get the healthy fats in which help with fat loss.

Eat these small healthy meals around every three hours through the day to keep metabolism elevated and feed your body the nutrieints it needs to build muscle.

In regard to lifting use what you got until you can get more. With Dumbbells you can still squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, lunge, all the basics. Also, you can pick up an Olympic bar and plates and Wal-Mart pretty inexpensivly. You can get a little over 200 pounds of weight for less then a $100.00.

Grab a Chad Waterbury or ChristianThibaudeau program and do your best to follow it. Hit the weights three to four times per week for about an hour and try to throw in some high intenstiy cardio as well thru the week.

Being you are 35 check out Alpha Male in the T-Nation store as well. Works wonders for boosting Testosterone levels.

Be strong for your wife wishing the best for both of you.

D

3

Thanks for your time and your post Dedicated.

Am I right in thinking too much cardio eats away at muscle? If I do 4 x 1hr weight sessions a week, how much and what kind of high- intensity cardio would you recommend without it being detrimental to muscle, as opposed to fat loss?

Guess I’ll start with my own measly dumbells but obviously when it becomes ‘easy’ I’ll invest in some extra metal as you said.

Testosterone - any bad side effects? I don’t want any bad shit in my body, I’ve already done enough of that. (Not drugs, just junkfood).

Will look up CW and CT programs. And thank you for the best wishes; I’ll pass them on to my good wife. She takes them from anyone and is always grateful.

Will check back later for any more advice and to give updates.

Nice avatar by the way! :slight_smile:

4

Nil, congrats and welcome! From a basic stand understanding of your condition, I would say that any exercise is going to help you. Don’t worry too much about what type of HIIT you need to do, just do something each day. Go for a long walk, chase the dog around the yard, kick a footy, wrestle a croc.

Just make sure that you are doing some form of exercise each and every day. As you start to see results, you can start to tweak things and make them more intense. The last thing you want to do is go too hard too fast. That leads to injuries.

Take your time, take pride in the decision you made and the progress you end up making and keep building on that. You will get to your goal if you put in the work and keep the drive.

Now, as Dedicated said, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables should be the main parts of your diet. Do a search on an article called, ‘Temporal Nutrition.’ That will help give you some ideas of how to set up your diet.

Good luck and keep us posted.

5

Hey, there, NF!!! Long time, no speak. (grin)

Let’s compare numbers. Go ahead and print up my post on the Metabolism Repair Plan article thread. You can use it as a User Manual of sorts as you’re putting your plan together.

A few questions to get you started …

  • When do you get up and when do you go to bed?
  • Let’s start by listing the times you will be eating.
  • How much protein will you be eating on a daily basis (I know the answer, but am asking you). (grin)
  • How much fat will you be eating on a daily basis?
  • Tell me what you per-meal protein requirements are.

What we do is start with the numbers (the amount of P and F you will be eating) and put the basic structure together.

By the way, Helena has terrible nausea at the minute & is taking anti-nausea medication but it doesn’t always work. Anyone have any nutritional suggestions that could improve this condition?

Thanks for posting that, NF. Your wife has a couple of resources. Fresh grated ginger root is helpful with nausea. What you do is grate a tablespoon and boil it in water for 10 minutes at a low boil. Add honey and milk or cream if she likes. I also like to add some fresh mint after I turn off the heat.

Ginger helps with first trimester nausea. it helps with car-sickness type nausea and the nausea from a stomach flu or virus and even chemotherapy.

There are some other resources available to your wife, too, that you might want to explore, and that is TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). It’s very effective at helping manage the side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, etc. Most oncologists prefer that their patients not use herbs or alternative healthcare resources while receiving chemotherapy, so you’ll have to communicate and negotiate. But they shouldn’t have too much of a problem with the ginger. It’s a food/spice. And acupuncture for nausea is often something they will allow.

When her appetite starts to improve, try and get some Metabolic Drive and mix it with fruit juice and maybe honey. There’s lots of tasty recipes I could recommend. Example, vanilla tastes great with OJ and honey, or vanilla or chocolate can be mixed with peanut butter. I think chocolate Metabolic Drive tastes great with frozen red cherries.

The reason I recommend the Metabolic Drive is that with her not eating, she’s losing muscle mass. Not good. The Metabolic Drive (should be available through an Australian or New Zealand distributor) has a fast-release protein and a slow release protein. One promotes protein synthesis, and the other is anti-catabolic. There’s a lot of science behind combinging the two.

Finally, the taste is better than most. That’s going to be important if she doesn’t have much appetite.

6

G’day Terry, many thanks for the reply and apologies for being a stranger. Had heaps of things to do on the house, some children issues and didn’t have more time than to hop on here for a few seconds to see what’s up. Now I have a spare second.

Good onyer for your advice, esp. for the wife, all those suggestions sound helpful. Have yet to find out where I can purchase Metabolic Drive but local healthfood place stocks some BB products. I’ll stop by there first of all.

Agreed with consulting Oncologist before trying certain things. Ours in great but does have an aversion to alternatives so will raise them with him and see what he says. We’ve tried Ginger before to no great effect but will do so again and see. Anything’s worth a try!

Now, onto the plan. I’ve printed out your post on the Metabolism Repair Plan thread and done some homework. Hope it’s okay, been following it a few days now, so I’ll detail it along with answers to your questions. :smiley:

  1. Wake-up time; take your pick! Really it’s anytime (not sleeping great) but now having brekkie @ 9am.

  2. Items eaten incl. lean beef, chicken breast, lots of non-naughty Low GI veggies (more detail below), kidney beans, cottage cheese, tuna, fruits, that’s about it. Drinks I now stick to water & Pepsi Max as it has no sugars but only have this if I crave a sweet-fix. Also have a cuppa tea in the AM. I’ll admit to a splash of Lite Milk in it but Splenda sweetners.

  3. Protein daily requirement; I weighed 191lbs, so 191gms of protein each day.

  4. Fat required daily worked out to 75gms. Leave 25gms to fats in the beef & chicken, 25gms olive oil & 25gms flaxseed oil.

  5. Per meal protein requirement - 38gms x 5 meals.

Now, we had put together a bit of a menu for me, which I hope is not too dodgy. See what you think.

9am - P&C
1.3 cup Cottage Cheese, 0.6 cup mixed berries & a medium size banana.

12pm - P&C
Chicken Soup
1 cup chicken breast, chicken stock, lots of veggies, incl. Cauli, Broccoli, Onion, Mushroom, Green Pepper (capsicum).
(I stupidly made some with carrot in but since made a new lot as I later learned it’s high GI, but wasn’t a great deal in it).

3pm - P&F
Tuna Salad
1 cup Tuna
0.5 tablespoon Olive Oil, 0.5 tablespoon Flaxseed Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Cucumber, Tomato, Spring Onion, Celery, Jalapenos.

6pm - P&C PWO meal.
Chilli!
170gms lean mince beef, 0.5 cup kidney beans, Tomato Paste, Crushed Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Green Pepper (capsicum), Onion, and obviously chilli powder, garlic & mixed herbs.

9pm - P&F
Tuna Salad
Identical recipe to meal eaten at 3. Yum.

Also have an orange or apple, usually when I get up and before brekkie as all my other fruit quota is already taken up.

Not sure if this is correct, but I’ve been eating this every day. Only change to this diet is when I have a workout day (dumbbells) when I add 90gms of basmati rice to my chilli post-workout to cover the carbs.

Meals seem an awful lot to me!’

One other thing, I go easy on the good fats in my P&F salads for a reason. I have a nasty habit of burning the chicken and beef when initially browning it, so the deficiency in the measures in my two daily salads is made up for by adding remaining olive oil quota to the meat to prevent burning.

I know I could turn the heat down (hahaha!) so there’s only one explanation. Either are pans are dodgy or the chef is shit!

So, what do you think about what I’ve put together so far?

7

This is just a suggestion, but have you looked into the Anabolic Diet? It can be used for cutting or bulking, depending on your daily caloric intake (maintenence is usually bodyweightx12).

I just started my AD today for my cut before my next bulk. It’s not as tasty as all the carbs in the world, but hell it works.

8

http://www.greatbabyproducts.com/Pregnancy_Morning_Sickness_Bands_p/trav-ts-186nq.htm

NF, the link above is for a wristband that helps with nausea. It’s using acupressure at the same point an acupuncture physician would insert one of the needles. It’s another thing you might try for your wife’s nausea. I used it when I went scuba diving and went out on a boat and would get motion sick. I really think that a combination of ginger tea and/or ginger capsules AND the wristband could help. It’s not expensive, so it’s at least worth trying.

I’ll send Mod Brian a PM and see if he can stop by on your thread. He works in Customer Service and knows about distributors and the like. Try doing a search on AU or Australia + "Metabolic Drive. You’ll have to put the Metabolic Drive in quotes, which is how you do a phrase search.

On to your plan. Since the times you wake up are variable, you would eat your first meal within 1/2 hour of waking up and every 3 hours after that. Set an alarm if you have to. We’ll call 'em Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3, etc.

As far as sleep goes, that’s something we need to get corrected. There’s an inverse relationship between sleep and obesity. The less sleep a person gets, the higher the rate of obesity. Have you tried melatonin?

Protein daily requirement; I weighed 191lbs, so 191gms of protein each day.

Perfect!!!

Fat required daily worked out to 75gms. Leave 25gms to fats in the beef & chicken, 25gms olive oil & 25gms flaxseed oil.

What I do is translate the numbers above into tablespoons of flaxseed oil and olive oil. 21g is 1.5 tablespoons of oil. So you would have 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil at one P+F meal and 1.5 tablespoons of flaxseed oil at the other. Don’t cook with the flaxseed oil. You can cook with NON-VIRGIN olive oil, which has a higher smoke point. Either Extra Virgin or Non-Virgin is fine for meeting your good fat requirements.

Alternatives/Replacements/Equivalents for olive oil are avocado and RAW (not roasted!) macadamia nuts. Alternatives/Replacements/Equivalents for flaxseed oil are fish oil high in EPA/DHA.

Per meal protein requirement - 38gms x 5 meals.

Perfect!

The only thing I need out of you, NF, is P and F numbers for each meal and your daily totals. You’d tell me something like Meal 1 (P=42g, F=0g, Fruit=82 calories).

Turn down the burner on your pan. Use a non-stick pan or a George Foreman type grill. Use minimal oil for cooking or bake it if you have to. Measure whatever you do use. Never use flaxseed oil for cooking. Make sure you refrigerate your flaxseed oil. Oil is a lot cheaper than capsules for meeting your good fat requirements.

Once we have your plan put together and tweaked and adjusted and you know all your amounts, I want you to do some bulk cooking one day a week. If you eat chicken for Meal 3 and know you need 6.3 ounces to meet your protein requirements, you would cook 6 days’ worth at a time (6 x 6.3 = 37.8 ounces) and divide it up into little containers or baggies. Doing so will save you a bunch of time.

Meals seem an awful lot to me!’

(grin) You’ll have to trust me on this one. Most people complain about all the food they have to eat … until they see that they’re losing weight and that it wasn’t just “luck.”

Forgive me if you told me this before, but are you doing resistance training and some cardio or walking in conjunction with dieting?

9

Thanks JoeyD for your suggestion. I shall look it up.

TT… sorry for the delay again. Up to my eyeballs in things to do at the minute. Barely have time to even stop and eat, but I do!

Firstly, I shall look up the wristband site and show the wife, as well as try the combination you suggest. Yes, everything’s worth trying. Cheers!

Will also wait and see if Brian’s PM comes through. :smiley:

Half hour after wake-up… great advice! Did what you said this morning. So much better. Saves me waiting to eat and better still it means my last meal is over sooner. By meal 5 I hate eating! It’s not the ingredients (yum), just the volume! Yes, it’s one helluva lot, but I shall persevere. Any results are worth the aggro.

Sleeplessness & Melatonin; no, not tried it but will look it up :smiley: However before I mentioned this idea to the wife, she’d managed to get out of the house and came back with a surprise prezzie from the healthfood shop… for my insomnia!

It came highly recommended and it’s called Valerian 2500 Plus. There’s 30 capsules a bottle so I’ll try those for a month first, or she’s just wasted $20! In the meantime I’ll have a read about Melatonin and if needed later I’ll give it a whirl. See what you mean about obesity and weight gain. Figures. So yes, agreed, I do need to correct it. Fast!

Oil - I think my calculations are up shit-creek on this one. So I need 1.5 tblsp olive oil with one (P&F) meal and another 1.5 tblsp flaxs oil with another (P&F) meal. Noted. However, see my menu later with P&F&Cals. I’ve been following those serves this week but was convinced the fat was wrong. But are my calcs on daily fat requirement (75gs) correct? I think we consulted FitDay to find that out, or maybe we followed you? It’s sometimes confusing,I forget!

I shouldn’t need to change oils unless you think it’s beneficial. Perfectly happy with these two. Flaxs oil now in fridge as you said, right after I knocked it over and spilled a good portion of the bottle. Duh!

Cooking; the burners are low already - must be the pans. And maybe I just need to watch it more closely! Non-stick or griddle ideas are good ones. Ta.

Before I go on to the P&F&cals, I’ll just answer your question re resistance & cardio.

Been doing some the last few weeks, but it’s become more formulated as of this week.

Basically I’m doing a full-body workout with dumbells every other day. When I started this it took me 1hr 40 mins (!) but it’s down to about 1hr 10 now that I’ve got techniques learned. I at least match the the reps from the previous workout, but maybe I should PM you my routine, it might be too embarrasing posting it here!

On the days I’m not doing a weights workout, I go for a ‘fast’ 6.5km walk which includes hills. I do this in the evening usually before my Meal 5 (P&F). Not an ideal time (usually 8 or 9pm) but I don’t have the opportunity to do this any other time of day right now. It used to take me 1hr but have reduced it to 51 minutes so far as I’ve now started to run the last kilometre. Still want to improve this though so I’ll start running sooner into my walks :smiley:

I do other stuff also but this week it’s only been weights one day, walks the next.

However, there are some other things I’ve been doing. Before this crazy busy week started I’d get out the med ball when I had some time, and was doing exhaustive sessions with the jump rope. Gets me worked up a treat but does make walking a bit TOO sore the next day! Only other stuff I’ve done to now is kayaking, minimum 1 hour per time. I’ve yet to start doing crunches, which I think I really need to get on to.

Okay, now for my meals calculations, based on my 38gs protein requirement per meal. I thought what I’d been doing this week was largely correct but I’ve since identified some errors. You might think they need fixing. So I’ll write what’s been happening up to now. Menu is the same every day except adding the rice to Meal 4 as a PWO meal on the days I lift weights.

Thanks for your help once again Terry!

Meal 1 P&C
L.F. Cottage Cheese, mixed berries, 2 bananas now.
(Makes it taste so much better!)
P=31g, F=4g, Fruit=373cals!
TOTAL CALORIES - 537

Meal 2 P&C
Chicken & Veggie Soup
(Not counted stock & veggies which are all ‘good’ ones I believe)
P=45g, F=6g, Fruit=0
TOTAL CALORIES - 251

Meal 3 P&F
Tuna Salad
(Not counted balsamic vinegar & all ‘good’ veggies)
P=39g, F=8g, Fruit=0
TOTAL CALORIES - 239

Meal 4 P&C
Chilli
(Not counted ‘good’ veggies or spices)
P=39g, F=30g, Fruit=0 (Without rice on non-weights days)
P=45g, F=36g, Fruit=0 (With rice on weights-days as PWO meal)
TOTAL CALORIES - 835 or 512 (with rice or without rice)

Meal 5 P&F
Tuna Salad
(Not counted balsamic vinegar & all ‘good’ veggies)
P=39g, F=8g, Fruit=0
TOTAL CALORIES - 239

TOTAL CALORIES on weight-lifting days - 2101
TOTAL CALORIES on non weight-lifting days - 1778

When we first formulated this menu I thought everything was bang-on. Not so sure now. Terry I can PM you my exact menu breakdowns if required, it’s saved in a Word Document.

Any tips from Terry or other posters will be read diligently.

Waits for the abuse!

Cheers

  • NF
10

By meal 5 I hate eating! It’s not the ingredients (yum), just the volume! Yes, it’s one helluva lot, but I shall persevere. Any results are worth the aggro.

Let’s just see what your results are. I know it’s a lot of food. but keeping you full is part of the larger plan. Hungry people break down and eat things they shouldn’t.

Valarian is a wonderful herb for insomnia. Try different doses. Start with the recommended dose. If you’re not asleep an hour after taking it, try taking the same amount again.

There’s also a “Sleepy Time Tea” by Celestial Seasonings, if it’s available to you there, in Australia. They should be.

For fat you need 0.4g of fat per pound of body weight. You need it for health and hormonal balance. Eating good fat doesn’t make you fat. Eating at a caloric excess is what makes people fat.

Glad to hear you’re doing some resistance training and cardio. Since you’re on a bodybuilding site, don’t hesitate to read and research and search for programs and try out a professionally designed program. Check out some of Chad Waterbury’s programs. If you’re a newbie to lifting, it’s better to follow something that was professionally designed so that you don’t create any muscular imbalances.

If you’re pressed for time, do a search on HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It’s a type of cardio that will really boost your metabolism and strip fat!!! It’s short (if not sweet). You’re done in 19 minutes!

Recommendations on the food plan are as follows:

Go ahead and list the amounts/serviing sizes of what you’re eating and the numbers of P, F and C after each food item. On the plus side, you did a very nice job of listing meal totals for P, F and C. (grin)

Meal 1, reduce fruit to 80-100 calories. That’s the serving size for your 3 servings of fruit. Increase cottage cheese by 25%.

Meal 2, the soup is okay, so long as it doesn’t have rice or noodles in it. Reduce the amount of chicken you’re consuming by 15%. Add in a serving of fruit.

Meal 3 needs olive oil or flaxseed oil at the recommended amount.

Nice job on PWO nutrition on Meal 4. I like how you showed me resistance training days and non-resistance training days! You should be shooting for 75g of carbs in the form of starchy carbs. It’s a 2:1 ratio with protein. Starchy Carbs:Protein. 76g:38g.

You’re going to make a good pilot. You’re good with your numbers. (grin)

Meal 5, don’t repeat a protein source in a day’s time. Look for a replacement.

Don’t worry if your plan isn’t perfect, NF!!! It’s one of the better first efforts I’ve ever seen.

Make the few, tiny changes I recommended and check in every Friday to let me know how things are progressing for you. If you report in weekly, I’ll help you adjust your plan along the way when needed.

Along with weight, make sure you take the following measurements:

  • Right Arm (or left side if you prefer)
  • Chest
  • Waist
  • Butt
  • Right Thigh
  • Right Calf
11

The fact that fruit is notated as “frozen” doesn’t mean that it has sugar in it. It would have to say “with sugar” in the description.

[quote]Also, with my weights routine I find can’t possibly be finished under 1hr 13 mins (just completed it). I’m using only small dumbells (5kg hahaha!) but find some reps are going to 20, hence the time taken.

I don’t want to strain muscles being only my 2nd week into this, but I’ve read bigger weights are considered better at reduced reps of between 8 & 12, 3 sets max on each exercise. What are your thoughts?

Some I’m doing 4 sets of 20 reps which is ridiculous, others I’m doing say 3 sets of 8 (reverse flies, bitch of an exercise)!

I’m off to visit the kids soon so I was wondering if while I’m in the city it’s worth getting bells with interchangeable weights? If this is a good idea for a puny beginner, what denominations would you recommend?

Like I say, I don’t want to get an injury but maybe with slightly bigger weights on some of the ‘easier’ exercises (those that are too long on reps and sets) could be made a little more intense, more beneficial and reduce my workout to an hour… but with better burn?! Your thoughts?[/quote]

No harm has been done thus far, but once again, you’d be better off following a professionally designed program here on T-Nation. There’s a thread in the Beginner’s forum on different programs. As a newbie, it doesn’t matter too much which one you pick. You should get a pretty nice response.

If you can’t join a gym, see if you can buy some used weights. No need to buy new stuff. You can often get good stuff for pennies on the dollar because people have stuff laying around, taking up room.

In the meantime, keep reading and researching and doing searches here on T-Nation if you run across a word you don’t know or an exercise you want to see pictures of … the more the better.

[quote]BTW, I’m used to all the food portions now, (even the cottage cheese which I look forward to now!) and in barely 2 weeks I’m beginning to see a slight change in appearance. Brilliant! I have a little less pudge round the middle and some off my face! And the wife reckons I’m even starting to show signs of some muscle. :slight_smile:

I know I have a looooong way to go yet, but just wanted to say “thank you” for your help to this point. Already I’m heartened by the results; and not just visually. I’m feeling stronger, fitter and healthier inside if that makes any sense.[/quote]

Great news!!! (grin) There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing visible progress. In addition to what you can see, make sure you weigh and measure every week. It’s the only way I can help you make adjustments to your plan when progress slows or stops.

Part of your plan is that you weigh and measure on Friday, and then you’re allowed a cheat/treat/free meal on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. No weighing, measuring or counting. Eat anything you like … whatever it is you’ve been missing and crave.

Have all the coffee you want. The only thing you have to measure/track is the cream in the coffee.

Good plan! (grin)

12

Brilliant. Thanks for the replies Terry. I’m just about to hit the sack and have printed off your info. I’ll look through it in the morning and make adjustments to the diet as recommended.

As for training programs, I’ll have a good look around on here. Thanks also for the PM.

I won’t be online for probably 3 or 4 days but when I return I’ll have answers to all your questions. :smiley:

In the meantime, I’m seriously looking forward to that coffee. (Easy on the cream)!

Cheers.

13

Okay, it’s Friday night and time to post. Would have done this sooner but it’s been a hectic week to say the least and as usual barely had time to scratch my ass!

In reply to TT…

I will post my new (and hopefully improved menu!) at the end of this post. Thanks for your input once again.

I’ve yet to read up on HIIT but I shall. Stripping fat and kicking that tired old metabolism sounds awesome. I’ll use it when I’m short on time - great idea.

Also yet to take body measurements as you requested. I need the wife’s (brutally honest) help to do this and she’s been really crook all week, barely out of bed. I’ll try to get them posted on here later this evening as she may wake up and help me out. I’ll get them all to you no worries though.

Onto the weights routine, once again I’ve not yet had chance to browse any beginners routines on T-Nation but will, and also Chad Waterbury’s recommendations.

However, whilst I was away I did drop by a specialist BB store who helped me out - without ripping me off I hasten to add.

I came away with heavier interchangeable dumbbells (not a barbell) at an incredibly good price in comparison to other places we’d visited. :smiley: The new weights have increase intensity and reduced reps in my routine. I was told by the staff that I’d be getting more cardio than resistance benefits with the way I was doing it previously!

No matter, there’s still been a visual improvement thus far but the new gear will hopefully fast-track visual improvements a little more.

Oh and the best part of my trip? :smiley:

Well, I’d not seen my daughter in a month and when she saw me she said she could see the difference already. Then she gave me the best compliment I’ve had in years when she said to me… “I can’t believe it, you look heaps younger”. What an angel; I was absolutely WRAPPED!

I also didn’t realize this particular diet allowed a cheat meal, so with a very guilty conscience I tucked into a grilled chicken sandwich which over the weekend which I admit obviously included bread. GASP! Thankfully I’ve not seen adverse effects from this moment of extravagance and the scales are continuing to go in a downward direction!

As of today I am 84.7kg (186lbs) which has improved on the 86.7kg (191lbs) I weighed when I first posted here on August 10th.

When I look at that now I think that’s a lousy 2kg or 4.4lbs in 2 weeks but the last 2 weeks (when weight training started) have shown a visible drop in bodyfat (face, stomach) but maybe the small weight loss may be due to an increase in muscle mass?

I’m new to this lark so I’m not sure if that’s bad or good but it’s slightly better than the 94.8kg (209lbs) I weighed just over a calendar month ago on July 20th.

That said, given my new weight (186lbs) I thought it would be prudent to recalculate my food intake based on my current weight so Terry you will see some changes. New requirement I thought would now be 186lbs / 5 meals = 37g protein per meal. I hope the menu is improving and is now more ‘on the money’ as regards figures.

However, Meal 5 is still an issue. I have yet to find a substitute for my Tuna Salad at Meal 5. (Basically a repeat of Meal 3 besides the change to flaxseed oil). Is there any recommendations? I saw shrimp mentioned, are egg or cheese meals a possibility? I’ve been looking around but found nothing good yet. Whilst I have no aversion to changing this meal and do plan to do so when I find something fairly easy, I’m curious to know why it’s best to find an alternative than repeat Tuna… are there better health benefits etc?

Also, given my new weight of 186 lbs, I am concerned my fat intake may be a little over what I need. (See below). At 0.4g fat per pound of bodyweight I calculate a daily requirement of 74.4g fat, which I exceed as you’ll see from the figures. Shall I reduce fat yet, or keep it as you’d advised before Terry? (ie continue with 1.5 tblsp fat per serve).

Well, that’s it for now unless I can get my measurements done tonight. If not I’ll post those ASAP.

And the all-important revised diet with all calcs is listed below.

Thanks again for everyone’s help so far. Keep it coming!

MEAL 1 - P&C - COTTAGE CHEESE & FRUIT
Low Fat Cottage Cheese: 1.33 cups - 218 cals, 3g Fat, 8g Carbs, 37g Protein.
Raw Apple: 1 medium size - 81 cals, 0g Fat, 21g Carbs, 0g Protein.
Lemon Juice: 2x20ml tablespoons/0.15cup - 9 cals, 0g Fat, 3g Carbs, 0g Protein.
MEAL 1 Intake: 308 cals, 3g Fat, 32g Carbs, 37g Protein.

(Terry, I didn’t increase the cottage cheese by 25% as you’d correctly suggested, purely because I noticed later I’d made a mistake and put in Protein calculated on only a 1 cup serve, which as I’d written should have been based upon a 1.33 cup serve).

Meal 2 - P&C - CHICKEN SOUP (no rice or pasta included) & FRUIT
Chicken Breast: 7oz/198gms - 208 cals, 5g Fat, 1g Carbs, 37g Protein.
This includes ‘frees’ of Cauliflower, Onion, Broccoli, Mushroom, Green Pepper, Chicken Stock.
Raw Apple: 1 medium size - 81 cals, 0g Fat, 21g Carbs, 0g Protein.
MEAL 2 Intake: 289 cals, 5g Fat, 22g Carbs, 37g Protein.

Meal 3 - P&F - TUNA SALAD
Tuna: 0.93 cup - 166 cals, 1g Fat, 0g Carbs, 37g Protein.
Olive Oil: 1.5 tablespoons - 179 cals, 20g Fat, 0g Carbs, 0g Protein.
This includes ‘frees’ of Tomato, Cucumber, Spring Onions, Jalapenos, Balsamic Vinegar.
MEAL 3 Intake: 345 cals, 21g Fat, 0g Carbs, 37g Protein.

Meal 4 - P&C - CHILLI
Lean Minced Beef: 5.5oz/155gms - 326 cals, 22g Fat, 0g Carbs, 30g Protein.
Red Kidney Beans: 0.5 cup - 156 cals, 6g Fat, 18g Carbs, 7g Protein.
Basmati Rice: 2.6oz/74gms - 263 cals, 5g Fat, 48g Carbs, 5g Protein.
(Rice eaten as PWO meal addition, only consumed on Lifting Days)!
This includes ‘frees’ of Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Onions, Green Pepper, Chilli, Herbs, Garlic.
MEAL 4 Intake (Non-Lifting/Lifting days): 482/745 cals, 28/33g Fat, 18/66g Carbs, 37/42g Protein.

Meal 5 - P&F - TUNA SALAD
Tuna: 0.93 cup - 166 cals, 1g Fat, 0g Carbs, 37g Protein.
Flaxseed Oil: 1.5 tablespoons - 180 cals, 20g Fat, 0g Carbs, 0g Protein.
This includes ‘frees’ of Tomato, Cucumber, Spring Onions, Jalapenos, Balsamic Vinegar.
MEAL 5 Intake: 346 cals, 21g Fat, 0g Carbs, 37g Protein.

DAILY INTAKE TOTALS -

Non-Lifting Days
1770 cals, 78g Fat, 72g Carbs, 185g Protein.

Lifting Days (includes PWO meal addition of rice)
2033 cals, 83g Fat, 120g Carbs, 190g Protein.

Cheers.
-NF

14

Dumbells are nice but you should really look into a barbell whenever possible. It’s also very possible to build your own squat rack/bench. What’s your routine like? I’d do something like this.

A-B 3 day split

A:
-Squats 3x8-12 reps
-Bench press 3x8-12 reps
-either chinups or rows 3x8-12 (or failure)
-powercleans 3x8-12 (can make powercleans+front squats one lift if you really wanted)

B:
-Deadlift 3x8-12
-Military press with an overhead shrug after each rep3x8-12 (go light on these first to if bad shoulders/back)
-straight leg dead lifts 3x8-12
-stumped on the last lift maybe some abs or curls or whatever you feel like working

Most of the lists are compund and 2 of them are potential complexes A lot of these movements will not only give you the best bang for your buck for Lean body mass but burn calories for HOURS after you’re done working out.

Best advice anyone can give you is to get a squat rack :slight_smile:
Goodluck

15

zep,

Thanks for the input. I’d like to use a barbell one day but for now I don’t have a spotter given our circumstances and the wife certainly isn’t up to it! Never liked the thought of dropping it through the floor (or me!) and just find the bells are more controlable for now being a noob.

However, when I find someone who’s into this kinda thing, I’ll ask 'em to do the honors for me and will certainly try what you suggest. I’m open to and very grateful for any help, and while advice may not be taken straight away due to constraints, I’ll always come back to it. Burning calories for hours after this workout sounds perfect. Maybe in the near future. :smiley:

Current routine is full-body WO with dumbbells. I know it’s not perfect, just doing this for now till I get time to follow a proper prgram which I’ve yet to dig out. Right now, this is what I do…

Flat Press
Flat Fly
Seated Shoulder Press
Reverse Flies
Front Raises
Dead Lifts
Single Arm Row
Upright Row
Shrugs
Hammer Curls
Concentration Curls
O/H Tricep Extension
French Press
Kickbacks
Half Squats
Lunges
Single Leg Calf Raise
Seated Calf Press
Incline Press
Incline Fly
Lying Bent Over Row
Decline Seated Bicep Curls
Preacher Curls

3 sets/10 reps with 10kg in each hand.

Reverse flies I still use 5kg in each hand - they’re murdering me even at that pathetic weight. Yeah I know I’m a wimp, but turds like myself have gotta start somewhere :smiley:

(Waiting for the abuse!!!)

TERRY…

My measurements are as follows (don’t laugh!)…

R Arm: 32cm / 12.5" (measured mid upper arm, unflexed)
Chest: 101cm / 39.75" (measured at nipple line)
Waist: 96.5cm / 38" (measured at navel)
Butt: 101.5cm / 40" (measured at widest point)
R Thigh: 54cm / 21.25" (measured at middle of upper leg)
R Calf: 42.5cm / 16.75" (measured at widest point)

Notice my waist measurement is 1" larger than my first post on this thread! However I was going by my trouser size when I posted back then (which always sit low) and it was not a properly taken measurement. I’ve gone down two belt-holes so far and my pants are definitely fitting larger than before so we know the flab is receeding slowly :smiley:

For the purpose of this exercise, obviously my PROPER measurements will now be done weekly and at consistent parts of the body as listed above. So from now I’ll be expecting a reduction in PROPER measurements :smiley:

Cheers
NF

16

Another question… is it worth me considering HOT-ROX for increased fat burn?

I’ve now found an outlet here in Oz, one 72 capsule bottle of HOT-ROX 72 costs $50AUS.

There’s no info. however on dosage per day so I can’t work out how long my $50 would last me. Kinda important.

Would this product be beneficial for me in stripping fat, aside of the aerobic exercise which I’m doing?

17

I’ve yet to read up on HIIT but I shall. Stripping fat and kicking that tired old metabolism sounds awesome. I’ll use it when I’m short on time - great idea.

19 minutes
6 minute warmup (slow and easy, just to raise body temp and get the heart pumping)
7 sprints, 30 seconds, all out
Follow each sprint with 90 seconds of slow and easy to recover and get your breathing under control

If you feel like doing any more cardio at the end of your 7 sprints, you didn’t go “all out” like you shoulda!!! (grin)

Also yet to take body measurements as you requested. I need the wife’s (brutally honest) help to do this and she’s been really crook all week, barely out of bed. I’ll try to get them posted on here later this evening as she may wake up and help me out. I’ll get them all to you no worries though.

Just get a cloth/seamstress’ tape measure and do it yourself, NF. Either that or do a search on MyoTape and order one. They’re a really cool tool, and not that expensive.

As far as your cheat/treat/free meal goes, you can have anything you want. Go to a buffet. Have spaghetti at an Italian restaurant. Have sushi and a glass of wine. You can have an appetizer, hot bread, entre and finish off the entire deal with dessert! A cheat/treat/free meal allows you to enjoy life. For whatever reason, special events with friends and family usually involve food … GOOD food … and LOTS of it!!! (grin) The only rule for a cheat/treat/free meal is that you’re not allowed to step on the scale the following day to see how much damage you did. Weight once a week, on Friday, no more.

However, Meal 5 is still an issue. I have yet to find a substitute for my Tuna Salad at Meal 5. (Basically a repeat of Meal 3 besides the change to flaxseed oil). Is there any recommendations? I saw shrimp mentioned, are egg or cheese meals a possibility? I’ve been looking around but found nothing good yet. Whilst I have no aversion to changing this meal and do plan to do so when I find something fairly easy, I’m curious to know why it’s best to find an alternative than repeat Tuna… are there better health benefits etc?

Either shrimp or eggs or cottage cheese are options. So are all other forms of seafood, bison, deer, kangaroo, squirrel … anything edible that provides you with protein. Cheese is nutrient dense. Do the math to see how many calories you spend for each gram of protein. I recommend that cheese be used as a garnish only and then only in limited amounts.

The reason why I recommend “variety, variety, variety”? I recommend it for health. You’re cutting calories and eating less food. Raising the quality and variety of what you eat is all the more important.

Fat intake at a scale weight of 185 should be 74g. Divide that number by 3. That’s 25g. Keep your olive oil and flaxseed oil requirements at 1.5 tablespoons. That’s 21g of fat each. Do your best not to go over 74g of fat per day. That means you’ll have to choose leaner meats, low-fat cheeses and cottage cheese. It means you’ll need to limit the cream in your coffee and have an egg white omelet with one whole egg instead of a whole-egg omelet.

I’ll be back in a bit and take a look at your diet and answer your question about the HOT-ROX.

18

Just dropping in to say you are doing great! Tampa-Terry will take care of you, she helped me transform my body. My personal experience with the HOT-ROX has been very good and I would highly recommend it. The science is behind it, and at $50 a pop it’s not too bad. One bottle lasts me around 3 weeks at full dose 4 caps a day.

Good luck with flying, just make sure that any supplements you use won’t affect it. I am a pilot here in the states and the FAA is very picky about what “drugs” we use. I am actually looking at living down under and flying there for a living. You guys got a beautiful country without all the BS going on here. HAHAHAHA!!!

19

Hi Terry,

Thanks again for your input :smiley:

HIIT sounds like a laugh. I have a strange habit of laughing when I’m in pain; dislocating my shoulder was hilarious. I’d planned to do some HIIT today after looking up a routine online but thanks to you I don’t need to do that now. Bad news is the weather’s been shithouse lately so I won’t be sprinting on the grass oval while it’s raining; don’t want to do myself an injury. Came bloody close yesterday, not from exercise but slipping on the wet verandah and landing on the edges of the concrete steps. Right side copped a hiding and my hip and a few ribs are pretty tender.

Look at me, I’m 35 and already I’m experiencing ‘falls’. Thought that was supposed to happen in my 70’s! :smiley:

I’ll save (and look forward to) the HIIT for a dry day, so it’s back to the usual 6.5km cardio today, all ‘safer’ pavement/road work in the wet. Managed to turn this into a run now, I’m done in 40 minutes. Gives me a good laugh when I get home. :smiley:

Now doing weights every other day, though occasionally I do 2 days in a row. On my weights-off days I always do some cardio, normally the 6.5km. I plan to add in that all-important HIIT and crunches. I’ll do the crunches today some time, on top of the run as up to now I haven’t done any ab work which I need, big-time! I feel lazy (and lardy!) that I’ve not started them yet.

Incidentally I tried doing weights AND the run yesterday. Probably not a great idea for a complete noob! I ran 2 hours after breakfast (PB) but the weights workout at 4pm probably suffered a bit and some reps were weaker. Maybe it’s best I do weights 1 day, cardio & crunches the next for the near future?

In answer to your other responses Terry…

Yep, we used a seamstress’ measure for my last measurements. Only reason I rely on the wife to measure is so it doesn’t allow me to ‘cheat’! I’m honest with food measures so I guess I’d be truthful with the tape measure too but you can’t be too careful. That said, I’ll ensure my measurements get posted every Friday night (Aussie time).

Wow, what about the cheat/treat/free meal?! I wasn’t aware you could be SO indulgent! THREE courses, yum! Now I’m really looking forward to the weekend :smiley: But even if I didn’t have reason to splurge on a cheat meal, it wouldn’t worry me. I’m really happy with what I eat on the diet now.

As for Meal 5, point noted. Totally agree on cheese as a garnish, and I’ve now changed and recalculated to Shrimp. Not as tasty however and certainly not quite so favourable properties as the tuna according to FitDay, (still only in springwater, drained) but I’ll stick with it.

Fat issues I think we’ve remedied since my last post. Since starting this new regimen I have steadfastly bought only the best chicken breasts and also the 5-star rated (best quality in Australia), ‘Heart Smart’, lowest fat minced beef.

Here’s the rub. Even the lowest fat beef rating on FitDay seems out of whack. We have an excellent (Aussie) calorie-counter book at home so we consulted what IT had to say on fat content of the leanest beef available downunder. The book rates it at just 11grams of fat at my serving size (that’s half what FitDay says), and brings my total fat intakes per day into the ‘happy zone’.

I know this sounds like I’m trying to cheat. I’m not! Believe me, if I reckon something’s indulgent or wrong in my diet I’m right onto it in a heartbeat. Too afraid of slowing down that all-important fat stripping :smiley:

As the diet stands now, there’s really nothing I can make less fatty. The good-oil serves should stay the same as you recommend, the Tuna & Shrimp are already rock-bottom on fat (for the protein serve I require), the 2 meats in my diet can’t get any leaner and my current Low Fat Cottage Cheese is the healthiest on the shelves.

I WAS in a quandry about the high fat consumption per day in my diet until we looked at this book, because all my serves were bang-on for protein and I couldn’t understand why the fats calculated by FitDay were too high. Seems we’ve discovered the problem.

Don’t get me wrong I couldn’t live without FitDay now, it’s a fantastic resource to use, but it does seem to throw up the odd anomoly. I notice occasionally even it’s calculator can add my daily totals wrong (fats, proteins etc.) to an inaccuracy of up 4, even though I’ve entered it all in to the site and saved it! So I’ve learned to double-check everything with another resource (or my own calculator) just to ensure things are perfect. We figure maybe there are subtle differences between US and AUS meats, (not saying that yours aren’t as good of course) so maybe that’s where things are getting out of sync?

No matter, since this discovery the fat totals now appear to be under control.

Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about current diet & HOT-ROX. And before I reply to R-BANGER’s post, can I just say Terry that up until his/her post I was under the impression you were of the male specie! I hope I didn’t pertain to you being a fella, if I did my apologies. :smiley: Of course it doesn’t worry me whether you’re male or female, I take advice from both and have no bigoted opinions. I know you’ve done wonders for me so far, so keep up the good work. It’s nice to see you have so many respectful followers. Good onyer Sheila :smiley: (Sorry, lame Aussie joke)!

R-Banger…

Thank you for the gee-up and the kind words of encouragement. It really does help a lot and keep me focused on getting fit, healthy and maybe even developing a few muscles. Haha! Thanks for your opinion on HOT-ROX, I’m now seriously considering it.

And about the supplements and the flying. I’m always careful with prescribed drugs and I’ve read a little bit about the trouble undeclared foods and drugs can get you into so it’s great advice. Thank you.

I’d happily talk to you about the flying in public but didn’t know if it would be frowned upon for going completely off-topic, so I’ve taken the liberty to send you a PM instead.

Couple more questions. Not worried, just curious…

  1. I’m exercising and eating healthy, not taking any supps yet and no booze either. But even in the cold weather, I now feel warm! Any reason? Is it a sign your metabolism is up and burning calories/fat?

  2. My sleep is all over the shop. Some days I get a reasonable 7 hours others I’m lucky to scrape 4. Since trying Valerian which worked really well on 1 tablet a night for a short while, I’m now onto 2 tablets a night and I’m still awake 1.5hrs after I take it! I exercise no later than 5pm now, be it weights or cardio. I used to exercise later but thought it was disturbing my sleep so I stopped. I feel a lot more ‘on an upper’ since starting this new regimen, but when I wake up, I often feel I’ve not had enough sleep and I’ve not allowed enough rest-time for my muscles to heal! This doesn’t happen always but say 1 day in 3.

So, is it common for fat lazy bastards like me who’ve recently started training to suffer from insomnia?!!! Is the body finding it hard to wind down because it’s buzzing from training after all the years of abuse and neglect?!

Or… is it just Melatonin-time Terry?

Anyways, less of the yabbering, I got me some more sweating-out to do. :smiley:

Till next time, train hard, eat healthy and most important of all R-Banger, fly safe!

NF

20

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Just finished my 6.5km in a new PB of 38 minutes. Hurt like hell.

Not bad but could do better. Hey I’m no Tyson Gay but it’s an improvement for a fat bastard!

Gotta go, chilli’s just cooked, WITHOUT the rice Terry. :smiley: