On the Right Track? Tips?

Darb420

Howdy yall,

Slowly working on my health/fitness/physique and was hoping you all could throw some tips/advice my way.

First off... a little about myself.

I am 25, 5' 11" and about 175lbs. About a month ago I realized I had a bit of a beer belly and wanted to change. A 2 years ago I was relatively happy with my weight, at about around 160lbs. Though I did little or no exercise, i was eating I would think relatively healthy. Was never much a soda fan and would drink beer on occasion, while living with my health nut brother was always steered toward healthier meals. But about a year ago my brother moved out and my other moved in. Went from a reasonable diet and no exercise to a diet filled with fast food and beer almost everyday. Well... took a bit but I definitely see now the consequences of my new diet....

So anyways... Last month I decided to bring out the good ole treadmill that has been sitting in the garage and at least start doing some cardio! Well, at first 10 minutes was a bit much... but slowly crawled my way up to 20 minutes. Went from drinking a couple of beers a day to no beers at all. (maybe a few if I go out on the weekend, but still trying to go cold turkey) I also changed up my diet, trying to eat more veggies, less fast food, fried food etc. Basically none of the stuff my brother would scowl at me for if i brought some home.

But.... about 2 weeks into my new routine, I got sick, went on vacation, and than went on vacation again... probably lost a week and a half of my cardio workout. Plus I ended up drinking quite a bit on my vacations.

Now here I am today. I'm at the point where I can run about 3 miles in around 25 minutes. I've also been trying to squeeze some free weights in every other day but still a work in progress. Diet also another work in progress, today I just logged my meals for the first time, and hopefully will keep doing that. (Honestly i am terrible at that kind of thing) Not to mention my mom is in town and she loves to spoil me with home cooking...

Any who....
Basically my main questions are...

Should I be trying to push myself to run faster or further? Right now I've been thinking of a goal like 4 miles in 30 minutes.

Free weights..... crucial? what exercises? Been doing basic stuff, not sure what they are called. I also have a pull up bar that I have neglected a little bit.

Diet.... well that's a whole other mess to deal with. Not even sure what to ask lol but been looking into the paleo diet.

My goal basically is to slim down my belly, thighs, and waist. Not really trying to bust out a 6 pack or get a crazy %10 bodyfat, but if I get there, I get there.

Thanks for any advice

Darb420

Also if anyone has any particular questions will be glad to answer.

Darb420

bump

kiwitechgirl

What you're eating is going to have much more impact than how far you're running. I exercise because I enjoy it, and because it gives me more calories to eat (and I like eating, so I run so I can eat more!). It looks like you're aiming to lose about 15lb - what did you tell MFP you wanted to lose per week? My thoughts would be that 1lb per week is probably a good goal. Log your food, weigh everything you eat (it's really easy to think that you're eating less than you are) and if you exercise, eat back those calories. Keep to your deficit and the weight should come off. I got myself a heart rate monitor (Polar FT4) and it's great - don't use it for strength training but for cardio it'll give you a pretty accurate estimate of calories burned - just remember to update your weight on it as you lose!

Oh and in terms of diet, eat whatever you like so long as it fits in your calories and macros (carbs, fat, protein). I haven't stopped eating chocolate and I'm losing weight. You don't have to cut anything out, just eat less of it.

tegalicious

What you're eating is going to have much more impact than how far you're running. I exercise because I enjoy it, and because it gives me more calories to eat (and I like eating, so I run so I can eat more!). It looks like you're aiming to lose about 15lb - what did you tell MFP you wanted to lose per week? My thoughts would be that 1lb per week is probably a good goal. Log your food, weigh everything you eat (it's really easy to think that you're eating less than you are) and if you exercise, eat back those calories. Keep to your deficit and the weight should come off. I got myself a heart rate monitor (Polar FT4) and it's great - don't use it for strength training but for cardio it'll give you a pretty accurate estimate of calories burned - just remember to update your weight on it as you lose!

Oh and in terms of diet, eat whatever you like so long as it fits in your calories and macros (carbs, fat, protein). I haven't stopped eating chocolate and I'm losing weight. You don't have to cut anything out, just eat less of it.

^^This!!

Koldnomore

To paraphrase what you said:
25, 5' 11" and 175lbs.
GW 160lbs.

Should I be trying to push myself to run faster or further? Right now I've been thinking of a goal like 4 miles in 30 minutes.
Free weights..... crucial? what exercises? Been doing basic stuff, not sure what they are called. I also have a pull up bar that I have neglected a little bit.
Diet.... well that's a whole other mess to deal with. Not even sure what to ask lol but been looking into the paleo diet.
My goal basically is to slim down my belly, thighs, and waist. Not really trying to bust out a 6 pack or get a crazy %10 bodyfat, but if I get there, I get there.

Thanks for any advice

With 15 lbs to lose you shouldn't be trying for anything more then .5/wk You don't have enough weight there to sustain more than that without starving yourself and since you're a young guy who sounds like he likes to enjoy a beer occasionally I don't think that will work for you anyway

Do you know how to cook or are you having to live on pre-packaged stuff and fast food? Either way the advice is going to be mostly the same. If you don't know how much you are eating right now I would suggest just getting used to logging your food. If you can't log accurately and consistently you won't be successful with MFP. At your age, height/weight I wouldn't suggest eating much less than 2000 calories / day. Makes no difference WHAT, but obviously better food will leave you feeling better and fuller longer than if you were to eat 2k of chips, chocolate and beer (you would STILL lose weight, just feel like crap)

Buy a food scale – you can get one for about 10$. Try to get one that is as accurate as possible so that you can easily portion foods. Using ‘cups’ is grossly inaccurate and will eventually lead to issues because no one measures a ‘cup’ the same way – some go right to the top, for some it’s level, and for others its just under the rim. It’s EASY to go over your calories by hundreds just because you do not weigh and when you are shooting for .5/week losses that is already a very small deficit so you don't have room to mess around. There’s a great you tube video on the differences between weighing and measuring food here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

As for exercise.. Pick something you like to do so that you will do it more than once. Preferably daily Weights are great - especially if you are at all interested in looking good naked - If you don't care so much and just want to lose weight you can do it with diet but don't expect that you will randomly stumble into a 6 pack or low body fat - it doesn't work that way. If you WANT low body fat or muscles you need to actively work towards them. For example, you obviously don't have to worry about 'fat' but you should have something in mind for a 'goal body' because that is going to determine what type of exercise will help best ..look here:


Once you figure out your goal you can start asking more specific questions. Good luck.