EPTOn June 12 2011 15:17 Dromar wrote:
Hey guys, new to the H&F thread, looking for some advice.
I recently moved out of my parents' house and decided to start living more healthily. I'm currently 5'3'', 230lb, age 25, kind of muscular but chubby. I could stand to lose 50?+ pounds. That's my goal.
So now I've decided to eat healthy portions of healthy food. For the past couple weeks, I've been eating the following foods:
carrots
spinach + shredded cheddar cheese
apples
yogurt (light)
soups (tomato, chicken noodle, vegetable beef)
sandwiches (wheat bread, ham or turkey, cheese)
oatmeal (instant)
cereal + skim milk
I'm drinking exclusively water, except when I drink alcohol on weekends. I'm trying to work in some more interesting meals like spaghetti, chicken, potatoes, and other things that I enjoy eating and feel are nutritious.
I exercise daily, some light weightlifting with dumbbells, crunches, pushups, etc. I try to work a variety of muscle groups, and I borrowed this book from a friend. I used to go to the gym regularly, but I'm on a tight budget and I personally prefer to work out at home. I recently injured my knee, and I'm unable to run while it heals, so I'm having trouble coming up with cardio exercises.
A typical day (and again, I've only been doing this for about 2 weeks) looks like this:
-wake up
-eat oatmeal or a bowl of cereal
-some light/moderate weight/stretching exercise before lunch
-for lunch a sandwich, yogurt, and carrots
-if I'm feeling really energetic/have time, I'll exercise again before dinner
-for dinner a spinach salad and a can of soup, maybe an apple
-for snacks, I'll have carrots, apple or yogurt
As I've searched the internet to learn more about healthy habits, I've found myself with some questions. Any input would be much appreciated.
1. At first I was concerned about making sure my calorie intake wasn't too high, but recently I've been thinking I might be too low. I'm not starving myself. When I'm hungry, I eat. But my typical day (as above) has me consuming between 900 and 1200 calories. Is this too low? I'm guessing it is, so the next question is, how should I change this? Should I eat more or eat differently? Currently I'm thinking of adding some sort of trail mix type food as a regular snack, to get more calories and also get some nuts. Should I be drinking anything other than water?
2. Obviously I would like to keep developing muscle, but my primary goal is weight loss. I feel like cardio exercise would be very beneficial here, but as I mentioned, my knee injury prevents me from running. Are there any cardio exercises I can do that don't put stress on my knees? I could go for walks, but I was hoping there was a more efficient exercise I could do.
Thanks for your help.
Hey guys, new to the H&F thread, looking for some advice.
I recently moved out of my parents' house and decided to start living more healthily. I'm currently 5'3'', 230lb, age 25, kind of muscular but chubby. I could stand to lose 50?+ pounds. That's my goal.
So now I've decided to eat healthy portions of healthy food. For the past couple weeks, I've been eating the following foods:
carrots
spinach + shredded cheddar cheese
apples
yogurt (light)
soups (tomato, chicken noodle, vegetable beef)
sandwiches (wheat bread, ham or turkey, cheese)
oatmeal (instant)
cereal + skim milk
I'm drinking exclusively water, except when I drink alcohol on weekends. I'm trying to work in some more interesting meals like spaghetti, chicken, potatoes, and other things that I enjoy eating and feel are nutritious.
I exercise daily, some light weightlifting with dumbbells, crunches, pushups, etc. I try to work a variety of muscle groups, and I borrowed this book from a friend. I used to go to the gym regularly, but I'm on a tight budget and I personally prefer to work out at home. I recently injured my knee, and I'm unable to run while it heals, so I'm having trouble coming up with cardio exercises.
A typical day (and again, I've only been doing this for about 2 weeks) looks like this:
-wake up
-eat oatmeal or a bowl of cereal
-some light/moderate weight/stretching exercise before lunch
-for lunch a sandwich, yogurt, and carrots
-if I'm feeling really energetic/have time, I'll exercise again before dinner
-for dinner a spinach salad and a can of soup, maybe an apple
-for snacks, I'll have carrots, apple or yogurt
As I've searched the internet to learn more about healthy habits, I've found myself with some questions. Any input would be much appreciated.
1. At first I was concerned about making sure my calorie intake wasn't too high, but recently I've been thinking I might be too low. I'm not starving myself. When I'm hungry, I eat. But my typical day (as above) has me consuming between 900 and 1200 calories. Is this too low? I'm guessing it is, so the next question is, how should I change this? Should I eat more or eat differently? Currently I'm thinking of adding some sort of trail mix type food as a regular snack, to get more calories and also get some nuts. Should I be drinking anything other than water?
2. Obviously I would like to keep developing muscle, but my primary goal is weight loss. I feel like cardio exercise would be very beneficial here, but as I mentioned, my knee injury prevents me from running. Are there any cardio exercises I can do that don't put stress on my knees? I could go for walks, but I was hoping there was a more efficient exercise I could do.
Thanks for your help.
aslong as you cycle your calories on a weekly basis you can keep the overall deficit pretty low, im averaging like 1 kg a week now for 4 weeks doing this and i only go for some walks 4 times a week (i fucking hate cardio and everything around it).. if youre only gonna go on a 500 kcal deficit during the entire week then its gonna take ALOT of time or ALOT of cardio for you to lose weight at a faster pace, i guess its all dependant on your goals..
also eating nuts is a horrible snack, its super calorie dense.. remember, the more clean foods you eat the more you can eat, keep lean protein high!
.
