Hi, The Start of a New Me

Training Bodybuilding
1

Hi

My name is mark coughlan.

I am a 28 male from ireland, I have some knowledge of fitness and nutrition but have had poor application in recent years.

I love eating crap and drinking beer alot.

2007 is the start of the new me.

I will start a new program on jan 01 2007 at 270lbs and between 28 and 33%bodyfat.

I was thinking of doing the bfl plan but I know alot of people here hate bill phillips so maybe there are better programs.

My goal is to reach 14% bodyfat in 12 weeks

heres a diet im thinking of

9.00 eggwhites and oatmeal
12.00 workout
1.00 2 scoops of whey and 1 banana
3.00 potato,salmon or lean beef,veg
6.00 oatmeal and 2 scoops of whey
9.00 whole meal bread chicken sandwich and salad
12.00 lowfat cottage cheese and lowfat yogurt

the diet is about 2000 cals and is 40/40/20 p/f/c ratios

here another diet i was thinking of

9.00 oatmeal and eggwhites
12.00 workout
1.00 banana 2 scoops of whey
3.00 potato,lean beef or salmon

HERES WHERE ITS CHANGES

6.00 tuna portion,salad,1 table spoon of udos oil
9.00 chicken ,broccoli,1 tbl spoon of udos oil
12.00 lf cottage cheese,1 spoon of udos oil

BASICALLY NO CARBS IN LAST 3 MEALS BUT MORE GOOD FATS

let me know wht you think

2

[quote]markcoughlan wrote:
I love eating crap and drinking beer alot.
[/quote]

Make reversing this your first priority and you will do yourself a big favor.

As for your diet, I think 2000 calories a day might be a little too steep of a calorie reduction. I’m only 200 lbs and my stomach howls if I only get in that much food. Your food selection didn’t look too bad, except I would add some more of it. For your weight I would start my calorie count at AT LEAST 3000. 3500 would probably be a better number to start at. Make those calories clean food and I think you’ll notice a differnce.

So, 270 @ 28% means you gotta get down to about 235 to be @ 14%…or somewhere in there. I would say its definitely possible, being that would mean you would have to lose about 3 pounds/week. It’s good that you have a goal, however I would encourage you to not be so concerned about the time frame that you lose the weight, but rather make losing the weight in a healthy manner your goal by making good LIFESTYLE changes. As I said before, if you get the crap food and excessive drinking out, that in and of itself will make a world of difference.

3

thanks for your response.

which of the 2 diets I listed is better?

I plan on doing only 3x20 mins of intense interval cardio a week

4

In my completely un-expert opinion, I would maybe say your second diet is better. Putting your carb intake in the morning and before and after your workouts is a good idea, and I think keeping the evening meals protein and healthy fat dominant is also good.

I am not a diet guru, but there are contributors to this site that are. Read John Berardi’s articles on this site. Lots of good nutrition info coming from him.

This article should be your first stop:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459493
Also, read the “Are you a Beginner II” thread at the top of the Beginners forum.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640350
A lot of what you need to know to help you on your way to your goals is in there. The info on this site is worth far more than anything I can tell you.

You say you’re only gonna be doing cardio 3x’s a week? No weight training? Start lifting if that wasn’t in your plan. The benefits of weight training will speed up your fat loss goals. Plenty of programs on this site to choose from. A good book to read outside this site is “The New Rules of Lifting” by Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler. Good programs in there too.

The best advice I can give you is to make this a lifestyle change
rather than a crash diet which will wreak havoc on your metabolism and ultimately impede your goals. You’re joining millions of people who will be trying to make the same changes you are at the start of the new year.

If you make the decision that you will be in it for the long haul and are going to make a lifestyle of being healthy instead of seeking a quick fix like most people will, YOU WILL SUCCEED, while the others will fail.

Best of wishes to you.

5

Thanks shaka zulu for your response but im very disapointed at the lack of support of someone new on this site.I thought Id get more replys

6

When you get 48 like me, you’ll be glad you made the change. If I could I’d like to make a couple of recommendations.

First, Increase the cardio to 30 min per session. Be sure you’re in the target heart range as much as possible with a cool down at the end.

I echo the other post in that you need to add weight training. If you lose fat and don’t add muscle you’ll have excess flab.

Don’t be expecting immediate results. I didn’t really notice anything for a month.

Lastly, when you get to a plateau, increase the difficulty or time of the exercises you are doing. Play with the diet. Drink lots of water.

The hardest thing for me to learn is when trying to lose weight, don’t eat if you’re not hungry, unless it’s fruit, oatmeal, protein shake or the like. Good luck. You can do this.

I almost forgot. When adding muscle you may not lose lots of pounds. Weighing is a poor way to judge progress. Get a tape measure and take all your measurments regularly.

7

Just a few things to add to the great advice so far.

START TODAY why wait screw the new years crap 99% of resolutions go to the shitter iof your serious do it NOW

Make steps no need to go all the hell out most burn out fast doing so. Read up and put the stuff to use slowly make changes in your diet you will KEEP forever make them a lifestyle. Be consistant. Then make more changes. Get your training and diet all nailed in nice steps. many poeple jump from nothing to EVERYTHING its all good and well for a few weeks then they Stop it ALL just as fats as they started it ALL.

Read #1 ask any questions #2 there is a TON of info here and out there Read up put it to use and then there vare tons of ppl here looking to help once you have read and helped yourself. Ask away.

I suggest #1 looking up and reading the 7 habits article nail those and think about T-Dawg 2.0 once youve made those things your LIFE (a few months at least) youll make progress just from eating better etc.

Hope that helps,
Best of luck,
Phill

8

Listen to Phill

9

[quote]zarro wrote:
Listen to Phill[/quote]

I second that, Phill always gives great advice, and is always willing to help. Listen to him, he will greatly help you.

10

Are you doing cardio only? What about some weight training? If you don’t have access to a gym how about some bodyweight work? You should be able to search this site for some ideas.

Agree with an earlier poster, start now why wait. Best of luck.