Please help me. I'm a fat 23 year old and I don't want to be this way anymore

[Violent V]

Yesterday was meant to be a sort of disciplined day off, but it turned into a bit of a binge. What I've learned for next week is to stack the house up with good stuff from top to bottom. So to get rid of the coco pops, white rice and bread completely, and bring in some brown rice, bread, sweet potatoes and bran flakes, even though i'll only be eating them once a week, so i have no choice but to remain consistent.

Today:

Diet & Exercise:

Omelet with green and red peppers and onions, and one slice of brown bread for BK.

Drank 2l water and a lot of green tea by the end of today as well.

Played sports for 4 hours on an empty stomach, no lunch. So afterwards, went to McDonalds and had a cheeky milkshake. That is my last visit to McDs as long as i am on this forum.

For dinner will have chicken and veg. Its 8.30pm now.

All you other journal people keep it up, i am reading all of yours too!

V

 

[Alle_Gory]

Forget about thermogenics. They're going to 'plug you in' when you take them. It's hard on the body.

If you want to lose weight faster, look into 'insulin sensitivity'. You want your body to be more sensitive to insulin, not resistant.

 

[Zaraza]

Violent V,

I rarely post here, but i logged in to say. You are an inspiration to everyone. I wish you the best, keep working hard and it will pay off.

 

[Violent V]

Yea man i think i will pass on the thermogenics. I am much more of a long term thinker and don't want to do my body any harm whatsoever.

Zaraza, thanks for your kind comments! If it inspires others then brilliant- i was also inspired by someone else's to start one up here. I can see the real test coming in the third week though when it could start dragging. Who knows....

Bought myself an expensive new football shirt today as a reward for this week. Its a size smaller than i usually get, just a little tight, but that inspires me to keep at this.

Week 2 starts tomorrow. Tomorrow morning more HIIT, weights, and I will be going boxing for the first time as well in the evening...

I must say, i am seeing results, if only slight. I feel lighter, more fexible and fresh, and believe i have reduced in body fat, even if its slightly.

I'll keep updating here everyday to keep focused, and until i get used to these changes.

Just a warning to myself. This coming Friday and Saturday night most likely drinking alcohol as we will be celebrating something, and next weekend will be flying to Amsterdam for a few days with friends. So need to take that in mind when planning for the coming weekends.

V

 

[Violent V]

Week 2 Resisting that Monday drag

Exercise:

My body resisted, but i managed to get up at 5.45am and got into the gym at 7.15am. Did HIIT for 25 mins:

5min 5.0kmh walk warm up
90 second sprints at 16kmh (although this reduced 60secs when i got to the last two sprints), then 2 mins walk. Did this 7 times.
5 min 5.0kmh walk warm down.
245 cals burned.
Did a mediocre weights workout.

This evening i went to a boxing club. I really enjoyed it, which is the most important thing, and am learning to box and punch properly. Definetely a fixture on Mondays from now on.

Diet:

Porridge for breakfast after my workout. Had an apple later, and then divide my turkey, veg and beans into two small meals over the course of midday.

4 fish oil concentration pills (rich in EPA and DHA) during the day, one green tea pill, 2 litres of water, and 2 litres worth of green tea to drink.

For dinner had fish with veg, and couple bits of pasta., so not so strict after all...

Tomorrow Karate followed by football.

V

 

[Violent V]

Exercise:

No gym this morning, as per schedule. Inthe evenings will do karate followed by football for 2 hrs+.

Diet:

Scrambled egg and mushrooms in the morning.

2 slices of grilled beef steak, veg and beans for lunch.

One apple. 2 litres of green tea and 2 litres of water.

I did cheat: one jelly baby! lol.

3 egg omelete, filled with onions, sweetcorn, mushrooms, tomato and diced chicken, with some boiled vegetables for dinnner. Today was a proper protein packed day...

The urge to for sweets and desserts is lingering in the back of my mind now. I say wait till saturday, fool.

V

 

[Commandante]

I went through a period last year where i was running and jogging on the treadmill for an hour every session. Then when that didn't work, for a couple of months it was 30 mins running followed by heavy weights session. More recently i have been sprinting breathless for 20 mins straight, followed by non-stop free weights workout for another 30 mins.

Hey, you are doing it a wrong way. Whatever you do, the first ca. 20 minutes(depending on a lot of things) doesn´t burn your fat but your carbohydrate reserves. High pulse cardio trains your inner organs like heart, lunge and blood-circuit but burns only a little fat. You have to do low pulse cardio in order to burn fat. Heavy weights lifting is like the first 20 mins, burns mainly carbohydrate but little fat. These are some basic rules everybody knows or everybody should.

What have you done until now:

1: 30 mins running and heavy weights = 20 mins warming up (no fat burned) + 10 mins fat burning + gaining muscles (no fat burned)

2: 20 mins sprinting and heavy weights = 20 mins warming up (no fat burned) + gaining muscles (no fat burned)

Altogether you haven´t done almost anything until now.

I tried a lot of cardio+diet strategies by myself but they didn´t work. Low pulse cardio is fvcking boring. You should do it 2 hours in a row, 2-3 times a week to achive anything. I can´t. I tried watching TV. It was still boring. I tried hear some cool music. Then I started to do it really hard, pulse went up, no fut burned.

What´s working for me is walking+diet. I put music on and walk to the work, to home, everywhere almost every day. Even after clubbing after 3-4 beers I walk home. It´s time consuming, but it works.

 

[Commandante]

Did HIIT for 25 mins

I don´t know WTF this HIIT is, but I did something similar couple of years ago (you have automatic programs like this). In my opinion is nothing else but BS.

5min 5.0kmh walk warm up
90 second sprints at 16kmh (although this reduced 60secs when i got to the last two sprints), then 2 mins walk. Did this 7 times.

Lets do the math: 5 + 1,5*5 + 1*2 + 2*7 = 28,5 mins of warming up. For fat burning it´s wrong, because between 2 sprints your pulse is still too high + see my last post.

5 min 5.0kmh walk warm down.

5 mins warming down.

Great. You haven´t burned any fat yet, only carbohydrate.

245 cals burned.

Yeah, 245 cals of carbohydrate. But almost any fat.

Did a mediocre weights workout.

Yeah, great for gaining muscles. But not for burning fat.

You really should ask somebody with some background knowledge on this.

Look, if you go the the gym (20 mins) + spend 30-60 mins with no fat burning + go home (20 mins), you only waste your time. Take this 70-100 mins and go walking. You will loose weight.

 

[Violent V]

I agree with the walking- a few years ago when i walked a lot, i had a lot less body fat than when i got a car a year later. I'm sure thats no coincidence. My own opinion is walking contributes to the idea of keeping the body as active as possible throughout the day. But i am no expert...

For my diet, I don't have carbs until after my workout in the morning, and cut it out after lunch completely- i don't believe there is any carbs reserves in my body to burn in the morning gym? I'm guessing the body goes straight for the fat then?

I am going to stick to this HIIT for now, and if it hasn't work in 8 weeks time, i will definetely have a look into your advice (as well everyone else who has kindly advised on this thread).

Much appreciated, and I hope you stick around on this thread!

V

 

[Violent V]

Yesterday:

Exercise:

Yesterday was HIIT day, except that i didn't go. My hamstrings were really cramping up, and i feared for them if i got onto that treadmill. So no gym.

Diet:

Had scrambled egg, mush and a has brown for bk. Fish, veg and beans for lunch, and chicken and peppers for dinner. No 2l of water, or green tea...

You can help!

Did i do the right thing skipping HIIT? Or should i have done another exercise/low impact cardio instead?

 

[Violent V]

Not such a strong two days.

To be fair today was a very exceptional day, definetely not ordinary routine weekday. Check out my journal on Main forum for details.

Exercise:

No cardio today, didn't really get the chance... But a fair bit of walking

up: Commandante)!

Diet:

Very poor diet for a very extraordinary day.

I decided to treat myself a bit for breakfast so i don't fall off the wagon. Scrambled eggs, one sausage, two oatmeal slices of bread with peanut butter.

For lunch went to a resteraunt with men whose wallets are WAY bigger than mine (most probably everyone on this forum too), and still managed to settle for Chicken and salad. But during my date later i couldn't be restricted anymore and shared a beef and salad baguette with this chick.

Chicken tonight, with some veg.

Tomorrow will be back to normal again i promise, and my next day off will be Friday night/Saturday next week, when i must part-ay!

V

 

[Throttle]

the only sensible thing that commandante said above is that walking is useful when you can't do any other form of exercise. i think walking briskly is great. knock yourself out with it.

but interval training has been shown repeatedly to burn more calories & result in greater fat loss in shorter workouts than steady state.

this notion that your pulse can go "too high" to burn fat is utter nonsense and needs to be dispensed with, because it's a common misconception. certainly you burn a lower proportion of body fat to glycogen as your pulse goes up, but overall you create a greater calorie deficit, and HIIT has positive effects on your calorie burning for hours afterward, while steady state cardio has little such effect. sure, if you just measure what goes on while doing HIIT versus steady state, steady state cardio like fast walking for twice as long wins hands down. but HIIT keeps on working for hours afterward.

furthermore, it's true that weight training in and of itself cannot burn off a significant amount of body fat. however, it not only prevents muscle loss (your body's default response to a calorie deficit) but increases lean body mass, which raises your basal metabolic rate.

finally, if your hamstrings are cramping then you are:

- not warming up / cooling down enough

- gently stretching afterward (NEVER beforehand)

- dehydrated

- overtraining

or likely some combination of the above. given your list of things you are doing in addition to HIIT & weights, i'd say the last two are likely culprits.

 

[Alle_Gory]

There's no such thing as a fat burning zone.

 

[Violent V]

Week 2 reset

I've always been doing steady state cardio, and i am talking upto a decade, and it obviously hasn't got me anywhere because i am here now.

I've been doing HIIT for over a week now and i can feel the results, hours even days after after every session.

First week i was on a roll. Last week i hit a bit of a wall because i was overtraining.

So this week i will only do evening cardio on non-HIIT days. Also on non-HIIT days the only carbs i will eat are the beans i have for lunch.

So Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday HIIT mornings, Oatmean porridge for breakfast, meat veg and beans for lunch, apple and walnuts in between, meat and veg for dinner.

Tuesdays and Thursdays cardio evenings (Boxing and football), same diet as above but no oatmeal in morning, scrambled egg instead.

I will post new pictures up end of week 3, and reward myself with new, better fitted, and better quality dress shirts for work/special occasions/socials.

V

 

[Violent V]

Week 2 day 1

Exercise:

HIIT this morning on empty stomach. Burned 240 cals. 7 sprints, roughly 60secs each. 5 min warm up and cool down walk. A few stretches afterwards, followed by a some not-so-challenging weights.

I will go boxing on Tuesday evenings now.

Diet:

Oatmeal porridge for Breakfast. One apple before lunch. Chicken breasts, veg and beans for lunch.

I had cravings around 7pm and decided to feed it with one slice of oat bread with peanut butter.

For dinner i had Chicken, veg, yogurt mixed with spinach, and gravy on top.

V

 

[Irs88]

oh man. if you were an ectomorph trying to gain weight I would be all over this. I can't help you because I am not a expert on fatloss. However, you seem to have a LOT of determination and I am sure you will make it. Some broad pointers...

Some things to consider...you can't lose a ton of fat just like that...it will take you 2-3 years or maybe even more. I myself was a small frame, skinny 110 lb guy. It took me 2-3 years to put on a good 50 pounds.

Also, go to the doctor and check your body if everything is normal(thyroid responsiveness, IGF1, etc.) This COULD be a medical problem if you have been doing everything right.

third, get a caliper and start determining your bodyfat% every 2 weeks or so. This way you can exactly find out if you are gaining fat, losing fat, gaining muscle, or losing muscle every time you check...then you can make adjustments acordingly.

Next, look into fat burners if your nutrition and diet are 100% good. The green tea extracts...I take 3 a day. I think ephedra HCL is one of the most effective fat burners...look into that!

And good choice on HIIT. I would also totally recommend that.

If you want to learn about weights and nutrition you can do the following on your spare time..

I suggest reading all the stickies here on nutrition/weights. Then go to bodybuilding.com/forums. Most of that site is trash..but the stickies are golden! Spend some time on them. Then go to ironaddicts.com and skim through there..they got some informative articles/stickies
Then go to t-nation.com...read the articles you like there...they are very informative and you will learn a lot.

Goodluck man!

 

[Violent V]

Hey thanks man!

A few people have suggested i go doctor and check myself out. I probably will have to if this hasn't brought results in 8 weeks time.

If it takes 2-3 years, then i will persevere. But most of the guides i have read uo here suggest 16 weeks at most and i will be where i want to be.

Measuring my body fat/muscle mass is definetely something i need to do, and will look into by end of week 3.

I am already eating greet tea extracts, but bottle says one a day only...is it okay to eat more? I also drink 2 litres of green tea.

I also looked into ephedra but found there were health problems associated to it... is it worth it?

Will look into the weight training articles both here and other websites you mentioned, as lifting weights is not something i have been good at recently.

V

 

[Violent V]

Exercise:

No HIIT today, but I will go boxing in the evening.

Diet:

Scrambled egg and mushrooms for Breakfast. One apple before lunch. Turkey fillets, veg and beans for lunch.

Again, had peanut butter on oatmeal bread before dinner.

You can advise:
Chewing Gum, gravy and Yogurt. Are either of these things i need to cut out of my diet? I am guessing yes.

 

[Alle_Gory]

Chewing gum you can switch to sugar free if you need it. Is it a habit?

Gravy, yes get rid of it for now. Yogurt is pretty good for your body. Better than cheese and milk. Its somewhat processed by the bacteria in it.

Milk and cheese are not recommended as well as grains. Causes bloating since they're hard to digest. I guess they're relatively new food to humans and our bodies aren't completely adapted to digesting them. Eat in small amounts and infrequently if you can.

 

[mrRuckus]

finally, if your hamstrings are cramping then you are:

Potassium and/or magnesium deficient. He probably is mag deficient since nearly everyone is.

I am looking into Thermogenics and ECA stacks, searching here and there, but if it in any way carries health problems I won’t consider it.

Coleus forskolii and TTA.

Neither is a thermogenic, but they do boost calorie and fat usage and seem to work synergistically a bit.


These are the notes I have on them:


FORSKOLIN
Forskolin works by activating the enzyme adenylate cyclase (1). Lipolytic hormones such as epinephrine (adrenalin) activate adenylate cyclase as well, but forskolin does not have the same CNS effects, so it essentially bypasses the step that is associated with the unwanted side effects (nervousness, restlessness) we find with other fat loss agents that function by increasing lipolytic hormone levels. When adenylate cyclase is activated it then converts to cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). This increase in cAMP levels has many effects on the body, but the one that is of most interest for fat loss is the activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, which in turn activates hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which ultimately breaks down fat and releases it as free fatty acids in the bloodstream (1). This process is commonly referred to as the "cAMP cascade" or "lipolytic cascade." On top of all this, there is an added bonus – forskolin also acts as a thyroid stimulant, most likely through a cAMP-mediated process (8).



TTA
TTA may also be very promising among anti-fat supplements, because it appears to burn fat independent of exercise; preliminary results suggest that the body simply appears to "remove" fat from itself instead of needing to have it burned off with physical activity. TTA is one of a number of bodybuilding health products meant to specifically reduce body fat and therefore increase muscle definition. Although it does not appear to encourage muscle growth on its own, it does encourage lipolysis, or fat burning. Best of all, it appears to do this without forcing your body to use fat stores for energy, which means that it is simply forced out of the body instead of having to be burned off. This, in turn, can make your workouts even more effective, because during a workout, you can burn off current caloric intake instead of burning excess fat stores. This can make workouts much more efficient because you will see results faster; because you're burning off what you eat instead of burning off fat stores, you should lose excess weight much more quickly and therefore see greater definition much more quickly as well. TTA also appears to make insulin work more effectively and increase insulin sensitivity, which means less insulin is excreted during each release. Insulin as a hormone appears to make the body both build and maintain fat stores; this may mean that TTA is further beneficial as a fat loss product for this reason.