Question for the guys...

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projectxreborn
projectxreborn Posts: 204
in Food and Nutrition
My hubby signed up to get a diet plan at our gym...three weeks ago. They still have not
completed it and my hubby is getting a bit frustrated. He has been working out and eating
better but the scale does not go down very much. Each week he is losing about 1 pound.
He is about 5"11 and about 287 pounds. My question is for those who started near this weight
and have gotten to their goal (or near it) what meal plan did you use? What would a typical day
of eating look like? How many calories a day did you have? My husband does 30 -45 min of
cardio and then about 45 min - 1 hr of weightlifting. Sometimes the weight lifting last longer
but that is the general routine. Any comments suggestions would be a big help. Thanks.

Replies

  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
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    One pound a week is healthy, reasonable weight loss.
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    A pound a week isn't that bad. That's over 50 lbs in a year. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it did burn down in a week, so that doesn't really help.
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
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    A pound a week isn't that bad. That's over 50 lbs in a year. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it did burn down in a week, so that doesn't really help.

    lol... that made me actually giggle too, not just type that I lol'd.

    Just get him on MFP and that will tell him how many calories to eat. Eat nutritious foods and get close to the MFP number. Win!
  • Tat2dDom624
    Tat2dDom624 Posts: 1,226 Member
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    A pound a week isn't that bad. That's over 50 lbs in a year. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it did burn down in a week, so that doesn't really help.

    lol... that made me actually giggle too, not just type that I lol'd.

    Just get him on MFP and that will tell him how many calories to eat. Eat nutritious foods and get close to the MFP number. Win!

    This is the right place to be if you want to lose weight, get motivation, and feel healthy. Tell him to sign up here, he won't regret it!
  • medennison123
    medennison123 Posts: 191 Member
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    get a refund. thats a joke
  • freew67
    freew67 Posts: 348 Member
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    Just get him on MFP and that will tell him how many calories to eat. Eat nutritious foods and get close to the MFP number. Win!

    Thats exactly what I was going to suggest. Even if he doesnt use it, at least he can have an idea how many cals it suggest he eat a day.

    http://freew67.blogspot.com/
  • projectxreborn
    projectxreborn Posts: 204
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    A pound a week is good and I have told him that...he is just confused about how he should be eating...there
    are so many conflicting meal plans out there. Just thought I'd ask those who have figured it out.
  • Karstenf
    Karstenf Posts: 85 Member
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    sounds like he's on the right track, a pound a week is excellent...his main diet concern should be protein intake since he's doing so much strength training, your body needs protein to build muscle...another good reason to join MFP, it easily tracks all your macros
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    A pound a week is good and I have told him that...he is just confused about how he should be eating...there
    are so many conflicting meal plans out there. Just thought I'd ask those who have figured it out.
    Can't really help you there. One person's healthy is another's poison. Honestly, I think we're all screwed. Just eat a balanced diet and avoid partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and you probably won't die right away.
  • bmoregan
    bmoregan Posts: 109 Member
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    I started at over 250 in April. Down to 220 so averaging a bit less than 2lb a week - which I think is great. 1 lb a week would be ok too.

    At the Gym they put me on a "High-Intensity Interval Training" HIIT regimen. I think it makes a huge difference. I cycle a lot to burn calories on the days I'm not at the gym but the High-Intensity stuff seems to kick-start my metabolism. HIIT is not fun - I wouldn't do it of there wasn't someone at the top of the room shouting to keep going. (I think) Its what P90X and Insanity are based on. Anyway - that and keeping MFP "green" 6 days a week is working for me.
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,820 Member
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    I used MFP and circuit training for most of it. I run a lot now. Friend me and look at my diary, that should help.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
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    You're welcome to browse my dairy. I've been eating 40-30-30 protein/carbs/fat and started about where your husband is (5'10" 285).

    I've been eating about the same amount of calories the whole time.
  • calitravelingal
    calitravelingal Posts: 53
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    I had these issues when I started too. There are plenty of different ways to eat and no one way is right or wrong. You have to find the plan that works best for your (your husbands) situation. Here are a few guidelines I found that might be helpful (they were for me). This information comes from Mayo Clinic (a highly regarded US hospital) and the info in conjuntion with the US Dept of Agriculture Guidelines for Healthy Eating.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00200
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
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    For me, a big guy even when I'm lean, a high protein diet with meats low in saturated fats, that is 30% fat (mainly from coconut oil, peanuts, and olive oil), and with 30% carbs with a "in the mind" goal of 30g fiber from fruits and veggies (and or legumes) is what I like.

    The protein may sound like a lot, but I actually get more saturated fat from plant sources than animal sources every day. The 30g fiber goal makes me think to eat nutrient dense high fiber foods such as green vegetables and berries. These foods also have a LOT more soluble fiber than what you'll get from oats, with both being shown to help lower cholesterol.
  • tunezter
    tunezter Posts: 7
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    I'm 6'2" and started at 371 about 3 months ago...I'm currently at 328 so I've made a good start and have averaged around a 3 lb loss per week. I was told by a WW leader that for people over 200 lbs it is okay to lose 1% body weight per week as opposed to the 1-2 lbs per week that I've read almost everywhere. I know for me the biggest part of my weight loss was buying a food scale and understanding what a single serving looked like. Using MFP to log everything I eat is a huge help as well. I stopped WW because I wanted to focus on calories and the specific nutrients (carbs/protein/fat) instead of their point system. I probably don't exercise as much as your husband. I do about 2.5 miles of a brisk walk 5x/week and just started doing some upper body strength training 3x/week. I did cut out almost all of the processed foods and all the junk food. Now it's about 6 servings of veggies and 3 of fruits, lots of skinless boneless chicken breast and other lean meats, whole grains, healthy fats like avocado and almonds. My favorite snack is now low fat yogurt w/ 2Tbs of Grape-Nuts mixed in. Fruit pudding with a crunch, what's not to like?!! For me it feels like it has been 75% diet and 25% exercise. Hopefully he/you can get something useful from this...Good Luck! and I agree with the others who mentioned that 1 lb a week is good...I suspect if he were to start tracking all his foods and eating more nutrient rich foods that he could start seeing a little gain in his weekly loss (that makes sense right?).
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    My diary is open. I lost 140 lbs in 7 months, 160 in 10. Check between the end of May '11 and Nov '11. That was the bulk of my loss. I created my own plan through self education and got blood drawn every 4 weeks to make sure I was creating deficiencies due to low caloric in take. Good luck to you and him!
  • gbromage
    gbromage Posts: 9
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    1-2 pounds (I guess - I work in metric, sorry! :) ) per week is a fairly healthy rate. I'd say he's doing fine.

    The other comment I'd make is that if he's doing decent rate training, he's most likely building muscle - and muscle weighs more than fat (but your burn more calories maintaining it). If you have access to more advanced scales, monitor his muscle mass / body fat % as well as weight. You'll see them changing too.

    Also, make sure you do a set of measurements regularly. Thats the key area to see changes. Even more so than raw weight.
  • projectxreborn
    projectxreborn Posts: 204
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    Thanks for the advice and ideas it will be a big help. You guys have all done amazing, congratulations!

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