Regarding calories & snack sizes, exercise

[neils7147933]

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds with advice on this thread; if you've been on this site very long, you'll know that I'm not a boxer, have never been a boxer, and have no potential as a boxer. The whole "training" part of this forum doesn't apply to me.

However, after some chest pain and general sluggishness a few months back that culminated in an ER visit, I decided that my diet and lack of exercise was not coexisting well with my 60+ hour a week work schedule. Some tests showed no heart damage following my ER visit where I had pain in the heart region, tingling on my left side, and shortness of breath (I remember going down my heart attack checklist like "Check...check...check...****!", I had a stress test that showed no abnormalities and a doctor that said I showed much better endurance than most people he tested on the treadmill.

Blood work showed my cholesterol level was 249, which given my genes isn't shocking, but given my age (27), made the doctor think twice before prescribing cholesterol medicine. He told me he wanted me down to 160 lbs. (I'm 5'8" and was 221 lbs.) and wanted to see me in four months after seeing a nutritionist and working on my diet to see if I could bring down my cholesterol on my own a little bit and postpone medicine that could cause liver damage.

Within six weeks, I lost nearly 35 lbs (contrary to what a certain Mr. Tyson Jr. would have you believe, I'm not fat). I walked on an average of a mile or less a day, always 30-45 mins or so, and that was my main exercise (work is a sedentary job for me on most days). I did this by eating one "Big" meal a day, doing 2 SlimFast shakes or 1 shake and 1 power bar a day, and eating whenever I felt hungry - but eating stuff like lowfat cottage cheese, apples, pickles, fresh salsa, table water crackers, and carrots.

The only meat I ate was grilled chicken or occasionally deli turkey breast. I switched to whole grain, whole wheat bread, and ate one piece a day specifically with a knife-full of Reduced Fat Peanut Butter. I also took fish oil and cinnamon supplements and drank strictly diet pop and 2% rather whole milk that I was used to. I would drink Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Rite or I would drink Powerade.

Then I quit losing. I was told that I would "plateau" so this didn't freak me out necessarily. I figured I should up my exercise if my body was becoming "immune" to the walking, so I would walk 2.5 to 3 miles per day. I noticed the side of the Slim Fast can said to eat at least 1200 calories a day, so I aimed for 1200 or less, figuring less food would equal less weight adding on.

I didn't really get discouraged, but after I realized I wasn't losing anymore, I kind of lost my drive to walk every day and I "cheated" occasionally with food. It didn't affect my weight.

In fact, whether I ate just a couple apples and some Diet Rite for the day, or a couple meals, whether I walked 5 miles or stayed inside all day and was lazy, I was stuck in the same weight range of 178-185. I wasn't sure what else I could do, as I was already eating minimally and don't really have time (or, truthfully, the drive) to start a gym workout as was suggested to me.

I got all kinds of advice - when I'm hungry to drink water instead of eating, to eat six times a day but only small things, to cut out carbs, to cut out meat, to only eat meat - everyone had some advice but no one was really helping me out.

The last thing I tried was to pretty much cut out drinking soda at all and only drinking water. As I am not a fan of drinking plain water (I wish I could do it better), I started drinking a minimum of 6 17-ounce Propels a day, sometimes in place of eating when I was hungry.

Finally, after discussing with some other people, we determined that potentially I was not taking in enough calories to burn my fat, that my body was storing fat because of how little I was eating.

So now I'm planning to get back to eating when I'm hungry but in moderate portions - walking 2.5 miles every day, continuing to drink mainly water, eating two "meals" a day and phasing out the Slim Fast once I finish what I have in the fridge.

I'm planning on primarily walking for exercise. That's what's easiest and most comfortable for me right now.

So I have some questions:

1) When people say they eat 6 times a day, or 6 times between breakfast and lunch, or say they are just having "snacks", what does that entail? How much food constitutes a reasonable snack? Are we talking 6 carrot sticks or one small apple? Or a turkey sandwich or bowl of pasta?

2) Is it possible that I am already at the weight I should be at? The chart at the doctor's office lists my ideal weight at 146; the doctor said he wants me at 160, and I'm at 180. Is it possible that I can't lose the extra twenty without "working out"? If I take in enough calories of sensible food and walk those 2.5 miles per day, will I likely start losing again?

3) In the past 3 months I have eaten no butter, no red meat, no sausage, ham or hot dogs, and no cheese. I also haven't eaten pasta, eggs, or anything fried. What would you recommend for snacks/meals out of the following items I often eat:

Reduced fat peanut butter (1 knife full for cholesterol reason)
whole grain bread
pickles & peppers
fresh tomatoes & fresh fruit
low fat cottage cheese
fresh salsa
canned salsa
Spanish Rice & tomatoes
white rice
grilled chicken
green beans
Power bars
fat free pudding cups
canned Chunky soup - Chicken noodle, chicken vegetable, chicken rice
Diet Rite in cans (couple a day)
Propel (6 or more 16.9 fl. oz bottles)
Grapefruit juice (up to 64 fl. oz. a day)
Tostitos Lite corn chips (occasionally, with salsa) & Reduced Fat Pringles
Table Water crackers (taste like communion wafers)

I just bought a big tub of oatmeal, too, but haven't yet been eating it, though people have sworn to me it's a great bad-cholesterol reducer

Sorry for the long post; thanks in advance to anyone with comments or advice...

[Hunna]

good 2 see ur concerned for ya health and wanna improve. From personal experience, i lost nearly 40 pounds to make a weight division, so i sorta know about weight loss. My method was different, i didnt care about diet 2 much, i was a heavy drinker on weekends and every now and again ate fast food. My trainin made for my ordinary diet and training method could be considered old skool and bit weird.
- i ran 2 and from boxen training in hooded tracksuit with plastic bag under clothes and backpack ontop
- often went for runs in tracksuit in midday sun when i could, which was sorta dangerous cos i got very light-headed from intense water loss
- not all long runs, sometimes 2 - 3 miles, every now and again 40-60min runs( over 10 miles..)
- all the running, makes u drink ****loads of water, hence, helping u lose weight. if u substitute water and liquids for a big meal after training, u will drop weight like bombs. drink heaps of water and have small meal.
- i found big runs gave me a high, everyone gets that after a good session
- after a while becos i didnt eat 2 much, skipped breakfast, i got sick cos i had no nutrients and lost even more weight, which was dangerous for my health.
- since, losing all the weight ans starting boxing, i've fought overseas (amatuer), out of state and won state golden gloves.
- my training has chnaged focus, cos i focus on gettn stronger and faster as possible for my weight division like lifiting weights and doing sprints, instead of long-runs.
- hope my experience helps, my tip is RUN, or if u not 2 keen on running, jog and walk long distances. If run in daytime, u lose heaps more weight.

[neils7147933]

good 2 see ur concerned for ya health and wanna improve. From personal experience, i lost nearly 40 pounds to make a weight division, so i sorta know about weight loss. My method was different, i didnt care about diet 2 much, i was a heavy drinker on weekends and every now and again ate fast food. My trainin made for my ordinary diet and training method could be considered old skool and bit weird.
- i ran 2 and from boxen training in hooded tracksuit with plastic bag under clothes and backpack ontop
- often went for runs in tracksuit in midday sun when i could, which was sorta dangerous cos i got very light-headed from intense water loss
- not all long runs, sometimes 2 - 3 miles, every now and again 40-60min runs( over 10 miles..)
- all the running, makes u drink ****loads of water, hence, helping u lose weight. if u substitute water and liquids for a big meal after training, u will drop weight like bombs. drink heaps of water and have small meal.
- i found big runs gave me a high, everyone gets that after a good session
- after a while becos i didnt eat 2 much, skipped breakfast, i got sick cos i had no nutrients and lost even more weight, which was dangerous for my health.
- since, losing all the weight ans starting boxing, i've fought overseas (amatuer), out of state and won state golden gloves.
- my training has chnaged focus, cos i focus on gettn stronger and faster as possible for my weight division like lifiting weights and doing sprints, instead of long-runs.
- hope my experience helps, my tip is RUN, or if u not 2 keen on running, jog and walk long distances. If run in daytime, u lose heaps more weight.

thanks for the reply. I think if I'm going to run, I'll have to gradually add distance.

[Slipx]

ok this is coming from a guy who once was 210 lbs 6 months before a fight, i got fat in panama eating pizza and drinking beer (i must have drank over 1000 beers and eaten at least 50 pizzas) when i came home i got down to 160 within the course of five months

thats 10lb a month.. i am a natural endomorph

i didnt count calories or do any of that stuff, the truth is i ate a gigantic fattening breakfast, but i trained so hard that i worked all of it off..it just served as energy.. at night time if i get hungry id eat pickled eggs, since i had burned off most of the carbs with the training, no extra sugar was produced while i slept

i didnt have a job though, so i can understand your method

i think i may have overtrained a lot of times but in the end it helped me.. i think the whole overtraining theory is a bunch of bull**** personally, as long as you arent like doing pushups on a really sore chest or anything like that

i swam alot too..not talking about little 30 min to 1 hour swims either..i put on a ****in snorkel fins and goggles and go 1/4th mile out to high tide with a fanny pack with a water bottle in it and a banana if i start to starve or lose energy because im hungry and swim out there for hours..sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 3-4 hours.. i enjoy brutal training like that though, thats why i lose weight like i do.u gotta learn to enjoy the hardships of becoming great. swimming strengthens everything, from your neck to your feet muscles.and if u swim while your body is really sore it isnt harmful at all, you get warmed up and the lactic acid gets forced out of the muscles

edit - the more explosive the swim stroke is the harder the punch will be

[Hunna]

yeh, i was pretty much the same, erratic diet, overtraining and didnt give a **** about calories.

[elveiel]

Its really good to see your doing well Neils, losing weight isnt easy and to get to were you are now is an achievement in itself.

From personal experience losing weight is pretty damn easy until you reach a certain stage. Because of my natural metabolic rate i put on weight very easy if i'm injured and heathly eating alone doesnt really help me lose the last few lbs. I normally have to go though hell to get back to where i was, which annoys the **** out of me because my girl can eat what she wants and doesnt need to exercise to stay slim. Its unfortunate but from what you have said i think your in my category.

For you to lose weight now you will need to step it up, even if you were to wear ankle and wrist weights that would help, you also need to be walking for at least 30mins if thats your prefered method of training. Walking is very good because it keeps impact to a minimum and because its not exausting it means you can do it for the 30mins you need to get into the fat burning zone. A heart monitor would be good for you because that way you will know that your heart rate is high enough to burn fat(instrustion with Heart monitor watch should tell you your ideal fat burning heart rate). Dont let anyone tell you to run unless you know your able to run at decent pace for at least 10 - 15 mins. Exercise bike is another good option, IMO better than walking.

I'm not sure about Kcals in the US but 1200 seems very low(maybe not for a girl), in the UK a mans advised amount is 2500, someone trying to lose weight should eat around 2000-2300. If you eat too little your body basically slows its metabolic rate down to store fat because it thinks theres a problem. Thats maybe why you were tired because the Kcals you were intaking werent enough for the exercise you were doing.

General rules for someone losing weight would be to only intake carbs during the day, dont eat carbs after about 2pm. dont eat any type of meal after 8pm because thats when your at your least active.

Increasing muscle mass will help you lose weight, muscle eats fat at a rapid rate. If i were you i'd do some but its obviously your call. Are pair of dumb bells at your desk would be easy, i've done it before.

[Ricomania77]

very commendable what you're doing neils.

Like mentioned before, if you build muscle mass your metabolism will increase and you'll even burn fat while at rest.

Good Luck

[neils7147933]

Its really good to see your doing well Neils, losing weight isnt easy and to get to were you are now is an achievement in itself.

From personal experience losing weight is pretty damn easy until you reach a certain stage. Because of my natural metabolic rate i put on weight very easy if i'm injured and heathly eating alone doesnt really help me lose the last few lbs. I normally have to go though hell to get back to where i was, which annoys the **** out of me because my girl can eat what she wants and doesnt need to exercise to stay slim. Its unfortunate but from what you have said i think your in my category.

For you to lose weight now you will need to step it up, even if you were to wear ankle and wrist weights that would help, you also need to be walking for at least 30mins if thats your prefered method of training. Walking is very good because it keeps impact to a minimum and because its not exausting it means you can do it for the 30mins you need to get into the fat burning zone. A heart monitor would be good for you because that way you will know that your heart rate is high enough to burn fat(instrustion with Heart monitor watch should tell you your ideal fat burning heart rate). Dont let anyone tell you to run unless you know your able to run at decent pace for at least 10 - 15 mins. Exercise bike is another good option, IMO better than walking.

I'm not sure about Kcals in the US but 1200 seems very low(maybe not for a girl), in the UK a mans advised amount is 2500, someone trying to lose weight should eat around 2000-2300. If you eat too little your body basically slows its metabolic rate down to store fat because it thinks theres a problem. Thats maybe why you were tired because the Kcals you were intaking werent enough for the exercise you were doing.

General rules for someone losing weight would be to only intake carbs during the day, dont eat carbs after about 2pm. dont eat any type of meal after 8pm because thats when your at your least active.

Increasing muscle mass will help you lose weight, muscle eats fat at a rapid rate. If i were you i'd do some but its obviously your call. Are pair of dumb bells at your desk would be easy, i've done it before.

My daily walk now takes a little over an hour usually and involves somewhere near 3 miles. That's a good idea about the weights. I'm upping the calories I eat, not really counting them anymore - eating when I'm hungry but eating sensible stuff.

Someone else told me about the no carbs at night thing. The bad thing about not eating at night, etc. is that I work swing shifts so I may work 4 or 5 nights in a row, 12 hour shifts and then be on a day schedule for a few days, spending time with the family, then go back to staying up all night.

The weights while walking thing sounds like an option - I'm also going to wear a few layers - a T-shirt, long sleeve T-shirt, and sweatshirt with shorts when I walk. I'll carry some water since some days it gets over 90 degrees here...

Thanks for all the comments so far...

[elveiel]

My daily walk now takes a little over an hour usually and involves somewhere near 3 miles. That's a good idea about the weights. I'm upping the calories I eat, not really counting them anymore - eating when I'm hungry but eating sensible stuff.

Someone else told me about the no carbs at night thing. The bad thing about not eating at night, etc. is that I work swing shifts so I may work 4 or 5 nights in a row, 12 hour shifts and then be on a day schedule for a few days, spending time with the family, then go back to staying up all night.

The weights while walking thing sounds like an option - I'm also going to wear a few layers - a T-shirt, long sleeve T-shirt, and sweatshirt with shorts when I walk. I'll carry some water since some days it gets over 90 degrees here...

Thanks for all the comments so far...

Using the ankle weights is something a lot people are doing, it doesnt effect impact too much, its doesnt make the work out too hard and it definitely doesnt add time to your work out.

I know its quite different but when i did a lot of lifting some of the best advice i got was to focus on my legs a lot, as i understand it the growth hormone produced in the thyroid gland releases from the neck to the exercised muscle, in this case the legs so in working the legs your sending muscle growth hormones through your whole body to reach you legs = overall muscle mass increase = faster metabolic rate. So using weights as a resistance on your legs will to a lot of good.

[hectari]

If I were you you gotta do research! but the best and most simple advice I can give you is up your cardio, and eat breakfast with lots of fruits. If you miss breakfast it makes you eat more. Just keep yourself active if you don't wanna be buff and drink lots of fluids. Do shadow boxing, jump rope, bike, jog, basketball....I remember I was 125 pounds at 5 feet 8 because I always played basketball and I ate a grip I stayed active and my metabolism was super fast. I am a natural ectomorph I lessend my cardio and only ran 2 times a week and lifted weights 3 times a week and ate lots of food anything i could get my hands on and went up to 140 pounds, now im 165.

Weight loss go for being active it also helps your sleeping patterns try not to stay up late, since the more you sleep the more growth hormone is released and it helps you look healthier in the morning. Also take lots of anti oxidents it helps fight free radicals some say it is what causes our face to look sickly and our skin to be unhealthy so take anti oxidents such as vitamin c.

You will be able to be fit in no time if you stay active but I dont know how you can get 8 hours sleep a day if you have a hectic job/

Take some supplments

go to bodybuilding.com you can read more there