Concerned I look awful
 

Hi everyone,
Been a while since I posted on here but after taking a good look in the mirror I thought it was time I seeked some help and advice.
I started training some months ago along with a drastic change n diet to lose fat as I was very heavy.I was 260 - 280lbs with no muscle just fat and after dieting and excercising for approx 18 months I have dropped my body weight down to 190lbs and have lost 8" from my waist which I am happy with.
I am 6 foot 3" and I am 39 years old.
I train 5 days a week as follows :

Monday - 30 mins cardio + 30 mins Legs
Tuesday - 45 mins cardio + 1 hour compound lifting
Wednesday - 30 mins cardio + 30 Mins Triceps and lats
Thursday - 45 mins cardio + 1 Hour Biceps ,triceps + various upper body.
Friday - 30 mins cardio + 30 mins legs
Sat + Sun - 1 hour each day on ABS
(this is a rough guide and I sometimes change but you get the idea)

My diet is roughly as follows :

Breakfast - Home made shake
Mid morning - Banana and Nuts
Lunch - wholewheat pasta, Tuna in oil,Wholewheat bread
Pre workout - Home made shake
Post workout - Home made shake
Dinner - Wholewheat pasta, grilled fish, giant salad, Grilled mushrooms, fat free yoghurt.
Before bed - Home made shake.

My home made shakes are as follows :

Breakfast - Oats,Banana,olive oil,Egg,Powdered milk,yoghurt and water
Pre workout - Oats,banana,Yoghurt,Powdered milk and water
Post workout - Pineapple,Semolina,ginger,apple,water
Before bed - Semolina,Oats,Banana,Egg,Powdered milk,Vanilla,Water

This is just an example to give you some idea.

Now the problem is I am happy I have lost the weightbut from all the wrong places. You can see all my ribs in between my nipple area, Mr arms and legs are really skinny and has made me weak, I really cant lift much at all.
My butt has pretty much dissapeared, but my tummy and chest are really flabby so I just dont know what I am doing wrong.

If you need any more info please let me know, I am hoping someone can help me get things the right way round and start to see some progression for all my hard work as its really depressing to do all this hard work for nothing.

many thanks guys....Tim

To maintain muscle mass when cutting, you really need to have an elevated protein intake. For guys, the stomach/love handle areas are the last place that we typically lose fat.

The routine you're doing is pretty messed up also. It doesn't look like there is any rhyme or reason to the resistance training. Resistance training is good. Yours just isn't going to be very effective with that layout.

List your macronutrient breakdown by calories or grams (pro/carbs/fat).

vegetarian right? if so...i forget if you mentioned it....but reasoning for it?

Why don't you tell him your reasoning for NOT being a vegetarian?

i was just curious why.....not judging :) so jumpy today mr. eric.

but a good reason would be more complete proteins available...but he has fish in there...so why not other animals?

I say one little thing and I'm jumpy :biglaugh:

It's just that as a former vegetarian I know that to be a super irritating question.

Why did you start eating meat again , Eric ?

I LIKE it!

No, it was stomach problems that caused me to get away from it mostly. But it got way to hard to keep my weight up, etc. and my stomach was better. I got super into the whole thing though...I used to be an all or nothing kind of guy. So I didn't even eat fish, for instance. But I never went completely vegan.

So you still had eggs and such ?

I can see how it would be hard to keep your weight up . I've never done the no meat thing and don't think I could live without eating it. But I know some that do.

i have got to have dead animal on a daily basis.

Hi again,
I cut back on meat a while ago when I was overweight as it helped me lose fat when i switched to mostly fish plus I wanted to watch my saturated fat intake because I have slightly high blood pressure. Since then my 14 year old daughter decided to become vegetarian about a year ago and it just became easier for me not having to cook seperate meals all the time so I started eating a meat free diet too. We still do eat fish as I encouraged my daughter not to give that up too as I didnt think it would be good for her health.
I have never really liked red meat anyway and I find chicken breasts boring really and would much rather have a big slab of fish instead.
Hope that clears it up a little bit......Thanks

just eat alot more fish...your protein intake looks pretty low.

Hi again,
I will quite happily eat more fish if that helps, I am just about to tuck into the biggest tuna steak I have ever seen...
Just one thing please, The first reply i got on this thread said I probably wont get anywhere with my rountine which I posted on the first message. Is this because I am not doing enough training or doing the wrong things.
I want to get this sorted as I keep chopping and changing my diet and gym time but it doesnt seem to be working.

Thanks again...Tim

have you tried a 3 day full body workout?

Hi Pity,

When you say 3 day do you mean like mon,wed,fri...
If so what sort of duration is productive.

Thanks...

yep....m/w/f...or t/th/sat

or any variation of that...as long as you get one day off between workouts...and a "weekend" off.....then start it over...

do a search for rippetoes starting strength....and feel free to change some things....like only squatting 2 times a week instead of three. and only deadlifting once a week.

Hi again,

Thanks thats great, I found the starting strength info and if compound stuff is the way to go then thats good enough for me.
I am going to take a few days off then now and going to do some serious eating and start the rippetoes on Monday and see how i get on.
Just had 2 x wholemeal toast with peanut butter, 1 banana , 1x apple, oats, yoghurt and milk for breakfast so that should keep me going for a couple of hours.
Thanks for your help and I will let you know how i get on with it.

Tim

any questions on form and whatnot, let us know.

Good luck Timbo. Now go eat something :biglaugh:

Thanks guys,

At last I feel I have a solid starting point and am really excited at getting stuck in. I was always worried about getting fat again but now I know the difference between bulking and fat and the importance of this to enable me to grow.
I am going to start my new routine on monday and take a few days off to eat and practice my form at home before I get stuck in with the real weights next week.
I will keep you informed of my progress and any questions I have I feel happy to come back to you guys.
Thanks again ....Tim

no prob man....let us know how it goes.