humblhy, asking for help...

[neurosys]

this will probably be a long post since i want to make sure i have all the information you could ever want to know, so if your not up to it, skip it. to those who take the time, thanks!

i hang around here to help my friends get the juice and post their questions but after the last week figured i would ask for some help.

i was adopted and recently found my maternal parents. after a long hello i found out i'm at a very risk of heart problems. went to the doc last week and after my physical i told her the problems my family has. she told me i had to change now or i would probably die before my kids graduated high school.

sooo, here i am. currently, i'm 6'3", 320 lbs and am 34. used to be in the army and even back then i had problems keeping my weight under control. not sure if you can measure bf %'s in pizza, but if you could i would be three large pepperonis and two small cheese =+)

i've decided seeing my kids graduate high school is not enough and am going to shoot for holding my grandkids on my lap. i'm a fairly strong willed person and am sure i have the ability, dedication and i know i have the support of my family to loose the weight and learn to live a healthy lifestyle. hell, the fear of death should do that for most people.

since i've been around here for quite some time i've read a ton of stuff. i've decided to start slow and work my way up. i've been to the hst website and read around their and with the people enjoying it here i thought it would be an easy way to get started. along with a steady cardio routine and healthy, clean eating habits i see no reason why i cannot loose the lbs needed.

doc says i have hypothyroid. guess its not keeping up like it should. prescribed levoxcyl and so this is the only medication i'm on other than an aspirin a day.

soooo, what i've planned is starting the hst program middle part of the week. i've signed up with 24 hour fitness and since i work nights i will be going around midnight. i will go in the next day or two and figure out what my maxs are and plug them into the hst calculator to generate my workout. cardio will start out as walking the treadmill, slowly, just to get the heart rate going. i will speed up as i progress and use the incline for added stress.

now, for the questions:

1. should i do cardio 5 days a week? is it bad to do it on days i workout? i realize this is one of the most important parts, besides eating, i can do to help loose the weight and want to make sure i do it right.

2. on the hst site it shows chins. i could not do a chinup to save my fat life. not sure what the hell a dip is either =+) are their other exercises i should start with or is the sample they show good enough?

3. caloric intake is something i'm needing help with. i know how much people eat when their lifting, but i dont think 4k is going to help me much =+) how much should i shoot for?

4. along with counting calories, how concerned should i be with carbs and fat. how should i factor those in?

5. to be honest, i'm not sure what food i should be eating. some say fruits are not good due to the sugar but others say the kind of sugar in them is not bad as long as you take it easy.

i rarely drink, no recreational drugs and, to make it really hard, i run the most popular pizza place in my town =+) 40+ hours a week surrounded by the most celebrated food in the world hehe

their is more i have questions on but, to be honest, it was hard enough to write this one to begin with. kind of embarassing actually. once i start i will keep a diary here. post a pic of me when i start and go from their.

anyway, thanks again for taking the time to at least read this thing. preciate anything anyone has to offer. please, no damn fat jokes though, ok =+)

neuro

[Gavin Laird]

1. should i do cardio 5 days a week? is it bad to do it on days i workout? i realize this is one of the most important parts, besides eating, i can do to help loose the weight and want to make sure i do it right.

Depends on your current level of fitness and the nature of your heart defect. I would suggest without knowing either that you simply do some low to moderate intensity CV for 20 minutes after your weights sessions and for 30 minutes on your off days. As your fitness improves and your BF % comes down you can consider doing more intense, but shorter duration work (ie interval sprints etc) but for now keep it light, get the heart rate up a little and just be content to burn some kcals.

2. on the hst site it shows chins. i could not do a chinup to save my fat life. not sure what the hell a dip is either =+) are their other exercises i should start with or is the sample they show good enough?

Do pulldowns in place of chins and add a pressing movement (falt bench, DB bench, inc bench, decline bench..whatever) in place of dips.

3. caloric intake is something i'm needing help with. i know how much people eat when their lifting, but i dont think 4k is going to help me much =+) how much should i shoot for?

Start with around about 12-15 kcals per pound of LEAN body mass...

BW x 12 = 3840, BW x 15 = 4800.

Now lets assume you have a bf % of 35-40%, that leaves us with 60-65% of your body as LEAN body mass.

60% of 3840 = 2304 kcals so that's the absolute minimum.

65% of 4800 = 3120 kcals, thats about as high as you would want to go.

4. along with counting calories, how concerned should i be with carbs and fat. how should i factor those in?

Start with a basic isocaloric diet or 40/20/20 ratio of pro : carbs : fat and bull to being any more strict than that. Most REALLY big guys just need to stop eating total shit all the time and they are fine, don't need any real attention to detail till you are much leaner.

5. to be honest, i'm not sure what food i should be eating. some say fruits are not good due to the sugar but others say the kind of sugar in them is not bad as long as you take it easy.

2-3 servings a day of fruit won't kill you or inhibit your fat loss and will do the rest of your body a lot of good. Try to get 2-3 fruit and 4-8 servings of veggies etc each day, this will take up your carbs, then eat lean meats, fish, chicken etc, this will supply your proteins. Take some fish oils and use a little olive oil type dressing on your salads and that will take up your fats. Too easy.

Cheers,

G.

[neurosys]

Thanks for the info man. as far as the heart issues go, i've just been told it's a pattern of heart disease. no other info yet, though i will ask my family. talked to the doctor this morning about fitness restrictions and she laughed. she said just get out their and get busy.

sure seems like alot of calories though. i've stocked up on chicken breasts, broccoli, spinach and balsalmic vinegar and a small amount of fruit. besides water, is milk a bad idea? my daughter is diabetic so we do not keep many sweets around the house and we've been drinking soy milk since she likes it. i'm going to up my water intake to a gallon a day. i have an old milk jug i'm going to just carry with me to work and for the house to keep track and make sure i get enough.

your right about the eating part being easy...after you have explained it =+) as far as the fish oils go, just take it in pill form?

once again, thanks for the info. i really appreciate you taking the time to not only read the long post but answer it so thourghly.

neurosys

[Grizzly]

There's nothing wrong with milk. It's good for you. I would advise against soy milk as they're is certain evidence that it will work against your physique goals. Plus, what are you? Some kind of bunny-kissing hippie?

[Grizzly]

At one point I was a fatbody myself. Like Gavin mentions, simply exercising and refraining from eating bullshit will do wonders for your weightloss goals. Just for your reference I'll right down, more or less, what I ate on the typical day when I went from 305-250.

Big glass of milk and some cereal(cheerios, rice crispies, rice chex)

2 turkey sandwhiches, 2 banannas, goldfish crackers

A bit of a fruity, "healthy" bread prior to working out.

Chicken or pheasant stir-fry(2 breasts, 4 if pheasant, and 1 cup of rice plust the oil, garlic, pepper flakes and sauce)

Every few days I would even have a little ice cream if I felt like it. Note: I stress a "little" bit. Like one small scoop.

I combined this with intense weight training and turned from fat body into hard body.

Also interesting, I did not perform a single second of cardio the whole time. I did so little cardio that I didn't even THINK about doing cardio. LOL

[Gavin Laird]

I agree with the ever debonair Grizzly...no soy if you can help it and yeah sure, drink a glass of milk here and there, just not a gallon a day eh Try to stick mostly to water.

Cheers,

G.

[neurosys]

thanks grizz. dont have any pheasant but i do have a butt load of buffalo steaks and some meat called emu. never had the emu before but the buffalo is great stuff.

i'm not a big milk fan anyway, so it will be easy. i will pack a lunch for work and stay away from the pizza. we use a fabulous whole milk mozzarela and, that alone, will cause anyones heart to stop.

as far as the bunny-kissing hippie goes, i have bunny on the menu for dinner tomorow night =)

again, thanks grizz. preciate your input holmes.

[Grizzly]

Emu is good stuff. Game meat, as a rule, is great to eat. It tends to be higher in protein and lower in fat than pigs, cows and chickens. I don't think that pertains to ducks and geese, though.

I highly recommend elk. It's my favortite game meat. Also, if you ever need/want a little snack, IMO, jerky is perfect. I recall reading in some musclebook(probably flex) that the high sodium content will quell your cravings for "shit food". That and the fact that it tastes great makes it a winner in my book.

[neurosys]

yup, elk is great. used to go hunting when i was younger. gives me a reason to start again now. put my son in some warm clothes and take him with me =+) thanks man!

[bg65]

make sure that when you start, or any time, you don't get too caught up on what the scale says...muscle tissue is much more dense than fat, so you could (you will) lose fat and gain muscle and your weight loss might not seem as drastic as you like...i was a pretty fat kid and when I was 16 I lost about 70 lbs of blubber (now I weigh more than ever, but now it's not fat!) ...the cool thing is that when you are pretty fat and start training and eating right the results usually start pretty fast...get ready to buy some new clothes... good luck and keep us updated...oh yeah, you don't have to totally hate on pizza- it can actually be made to be healthy-everything in moderation