Hello Everyone
 

Hi guys and gals, Let's see..a little about me. I am a former Marine of 4 yrs. when I got out of the Service I weighed in at 180 with about 10% body fat. Got out and went to school for my bachelor's degree and got a nice sit down job at the same time, exploded....and not in a good way =(. Got up over 300 lbs, someone took a photograph of me and it nearly made a grown man cry. So, about 8 months ago I started at one of the bigger gym chains down here, I've lost approximately 67 lbs. But, I am not anywhere near my goals yet. I got tired of the big name and big price of the chain gym and about 4 weeks ago I joined this little whole in the wall gym, two weeks later the whole in the wall got condemned. So, now I am going to a community center gym (very cheap). I like it there I think better than the other places I was going just for the fact that there isn't much socializing it's all business.

My goals:
I don't really care what I weigh to tell the truth. As long as I feel comfortable at the beach without a shirt. I do want to see some hint of a six pack (so, I have to lose much more body fat!). I want at LEAST 20"Arms (Currently they are about 17") and a well proportioned chest(still working on a reasonable measurement goal). Also, I don't want to be one of those guys at the gym that have a huge upper body and toothpicks for legs so I work them just as much as I do any other part of my body.

I am very restrictive on my diet at the moment this is an idea of what I am doing:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal(I add two tablespoons of reduced fat peanut butter and about a tabelspoon of honey for taste).

Mid morning:
Granola Bar (usually homemade with some Oatmeal, egg, peanut butter, and Whey Protien, will post the recipe later)

Lunch:
Starkist Tuna Kit (consists of like 6 whole wheat crackers a little can of tuna and some reduced fat mayo)

Dinner:
Chicken or Beef, a green vegetable, and a starch

After workout (time can vary)
Whey Protien Shake (no specific brand, not really knowledgable on the differences in the brands)

Just before bed
Oatmeal prepared just like at breakfast.

I work out 4-5 times a week cardio at least 3 times a week. When I workout I am using about 75 - 80% of my 1RM for 3 sets of 8 per exercise, per group I usually hit anywhere from 3-5 exercises depending on the muscle group.

Anyhow, that's me and I am looking forward to sharing successes and knowledge with you guys, and learning all I can from you as well.

wow.. there is nothing I love more than someone that picks themselves up and doing something about their weight.. glad to see you've progressed as well as you did... read all the stickys and good luck with your goals

excellent progress keep it up

Pretty impressive buddy. Keep it up and you'll reach your goals.

Hi Daily10, I hope we can help you achieve your goals. I admire your efforts. However, being too restrictive on your diet will do three things:

1. Not enough intake of vitamins and minerals thus you will be in poor health.
2. Failure
3. Weight Rebound

I am very concerned with a person's health with such diets. If I am not on a cycle my diet is I eat what I want, but I eat sensible servings. If a package says a serving is 1oz I eat 1oz not 2, not 5, 1. I don't sit and eat 6 oz of a London Broil, but 3oz and so on.

Looking at your diet, although it is a temporary one, you are not eating any dairy, very little vegetables, no fruit and not much of anything else. The diet you are eating is just as bad as being on a BRAT diet for a few weeks. I'm not fond of fruit so I usually supplement with a glass of Tang, but there are some fruits I like.

Here is an idea of a better diet with a better variety of foods to pick from.

BREAKFAST
-----------
Raisin Bran
Fruit Coctail
Peaches
Pears
Toast & Jelly
Skim Milk
Tang
Granola Bar
Bagel w/ Nufashtal Cheese (it has 33% less fat than Cream Cheese)
Oatmeal

LUNCH
------------
Sandwich using whole grain bread (I like pumpernickle or rye), lettuce, and one of the following:

Tuna, Sliced Chicken or Turkey

DINNER
------------------
Garden Salad
Any cooked vegetable
Any starch
3oz baked meat (chicken, turkey or beef)
Desert-dried fruits

SNACK
--------------
Uncooked vegetables:
Cellery Sticks
Carrots
Broccoli
or Granola Bar
or dried fruit
or reduced fat cheese cubes

If you have a well balanced diet, eat sensible servings and a variety of foods you will lose weight, get the BF down. I hope I was some help.

!!!!!
 

This one scared the crap outta me....What is this???? That's some good info man, I definetly have a lot to learn about proper nutrition, I am going to have to be looking to change somethings in my diet. The biggest thing is I don't want to be fat anymore. But, I have heard that it's not healthy to lose more than 1-2 lbs a week and there for a while I was losing at a rate of almost 5 lbs a week eating/exercising like this. Prolly not to good for me hugh?

Weight Rebound I believe is say you lose all the weight you wanted to then you stray off your diet and gradually regain some weight. Another idea is your depriving your body of certain vitamins or something and your feeling poor so you lose it and pig out on everything bad. Thats my idea on it im not sure if thats his meaning of it though.

Ahh...okay I think I understand and I definetly do NOT want that lol. Hey one thing I forgot to add to my current plan is I only drink water, green tea, and sometimes some unsweet iced tea.

There are several things that occur. Both mentally and biologically.

Mentally you are denying yourself a variety of tasty foods you like and you will eventually give up and eat the way you did before putting on more weight than you had before your diet.

Biologically your body is starving for all the essential nutrients thus it will either shut down (coma or death, that is extreme like anorexia) or start storing everything you eat thus gaining weight. Many people who put themselves on a very restricted diet will find that initially they will lose a lot of weight in the first few weeks then all of the sudden start gaining.

I know you don't want to be fat. My parents are fat and I refuse to ever get to their state. It takes a lot of will power, but don't ever beat yourself up if you slip at a meal. We all indulge every once in a while and that is ok. A good diet comes from habit. I changed my eating habits in 1998 and yes it was rough at first, but over the years it has become easy.

What you are drinking is fine. I drink one cup of coffee in the morning, a tumbler of Tang, a couple cans of diet cola, and the rest water. A few times a year I'll have a couple glasses of wine, but isn't something I would want to drink daily.

welcome brother.

Quite the introduction. Welcome to the board