Hey guys, Ive decided to join the military but i have to lose a good 30 pounds to do so... any advices? i know excersise is a given but i was wondering what type of foods can i eat that will fill me up but yet wont fill me up with calories? Thanks in advance!
At the end of the day it is a question of energy in and energy out. I suggest the following: 1) Exercize every day, even if only for 30 minutes 2) Eat small breakfasts and small lunches, and have healthy snacks (such as a banana or apple) inbetween to stave off hunnger. Eat a normal size dinner, but cut back on high fat/high calorie options. I like this strategy becuase it is easy to control what you have for breakfast and lunch and hence easier to cut back. 3) Don't drink any full sugar saods such as coke or pepsi 4) Only drink low fat (2% or less) milk and limit dairy products in general. Good luck.
I have tried this and went from 221 pounds to 216 in a week. I'm 5'11 inches and got the old Iron Mike type build, er...almost, but the point is I still want to be more sexy for my wife and girlfriend (J/K),...and get to 190 pounds as my goal... I think I have something going...step 1:Try Alli pills, the only FDA approved one out there. step 2: eat 6 times a day, but do this arrangement: breakfast - 500 calories snack - 100 calories lunch - 500 calories snack - 100 calories dinner - 500 calories snack - 100 calories total - 1800 calories, try to reduce the fat, focus on fruits and vegetables, NO SODA!!!! Only tea and water step 3: exercise everyday for at least 20 minutes - even if you have to walk around the house or light jog like a foo...better than nothing remember to stick to a routine and don't skip meals, lots of liquids (not SODA!) and you will be on your way.
Hey man, I'm trying to lose pounds as well, but not 30 pounds. Maybe like 10-15. But anyways, Good luck in the military though, that's all I really wanted to say in this thread. I admire anyone that is willing to do those type of things for this country.
losing too much weight in a short period time is not good for your health. i dont recommend losing more than 2 pounds per week unless you are ridiculously obese then it is an exception. Also when you lose weight fast, it is more likely you will gain the weight back. So it is important to take it slow and get used to your new eating habits.
Fruits and vegetables like apples/carrots can be really filling. And to add to what everyone said, cardio exercises are really good and try to avoid foods high in saturated/trans fat. Good luck mate and thanks for serving our country! :grin:
if you're a dude, working out 3-5 times a week and are taking in less than 2k calories, you're crazy. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and should be the largest. Egg whites are your friend. Don't take ALLI or any other bull****, get 30-45 minutes of exercise in 4-5 times a week, ensure you get some resistance in and eat clean and you'll be healthy. Eating 4-5 times a day is optimal, be careful to always get lean protein and good carbs in at each meal. good luck.
I don't think this is safe to do for any prolonged period of time. Consuming only 1800 calories a day is a huge deficit and would soon make him catabolic, assuming he's healty and already burning at least 2200 cal/day on basal metabolism rate alone. If he's wanting to cut to join the military, he would still want lots of energy to train, and 1800 calories a day will have his body going after his lean muscle. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I've never cut to that low of a daily intake before. Ignoring that aside, my recommendation would be HIIT, or high intensity interval training. Its extremely flexible, and its whatever you make it to be, so long as you're really going full throttle. If you're interested, check this thread: http://www.livestrong.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16283
Also, just as a frame of reference, I'm a 170 lb 6' guy that works out five times a week with resistance and cardio mixed in. If I get <2000 calories, my body absolutely shuts down and I have zero energy. You want to ensure you dont cut calories too low for your height, weight and activity level. Will you lose weight? Yep. But you'll lose tons of muscle. I'd have a serious convo with your primary and develop a gameplan to attack your weight loss goals. Supplements outside of a multi-vitamin and protein powder shouldn't really be considered. Especially junk like ALLI, hydroxycut, etc. Stay away from that junk.
Weight control is all about discipline. It doesn't matter what diet you try or what foods you eat, if you can't control the calorie intake, you will have trouble losing weight. If you "fill up", that is a sign that you have already eaten too much. Hunger pains are not a sign of malnutrition or starvation. Getting in the habit of eating only nutritious foods at every meal helps. As far as exercise, if you don't exercise already, i don't recommend you exercise at all for weight loss reasons. All it will do is build up a bigger appetite after you are finished, thus you will take in more calories than what you would have if you had never exercised.
I'm getting married in October and wanted to drop a good chunk of weight before then. Went back on Weight Watchers. I did it in 2004 and lost 60 lbs in about 5 months without even working out. It is a pretty strict diet, but it works. I started back on it January 11th and have already dropped 16 lbs. Of course, the first month guys always lose fast because of all the water weight. You will keep losing if you stay strict, but not at this pace. But I wanted to drop at least 40 pounds before October. Only 24 more to go. And I am going to go to the gym this time, too (My metabolism isn't as good now as when I was 26). Good luck to your weight loss!
If you want to quickly lose 30 points, try Atkins or Southbeach. Everybody I know that did it, quickly lost significant weight in the first 2-3 weeks. The problem with those programs is that they are hard to sustain. But since you are joining the military, that shouldn't be a problem for you. Basically, just avoid all things with flour or high in sugar. It's very satisfying because you can munch down on meat about all you want. btw, good luck in your endeavors in the military ...and thank you for your service.
DO NOT DO ATKINS. It does more harm than good and most people I know who did it ended up gaining the weight back within a couple months. The best way honestly is to just avoid red meat, cheese, and really salty snack type foods. If you can do this, along with a daily cardio-intensive exercise regiment you can shed weight quickly. Also, drink a gallon of water a day. Period. It will keep your system constantly going and you won't feel as hungry. Right now I'm doing an hour of cardio every morning, drinking ****tons of water, eating 4-5 meals a day. Starting every morning with a protein smoothie packed with spinach, fruit mix and flax seed. Around 11 AM I eat a PB&J, all organic Peanut Butter, Jelly and whole weed omega-3 enriched organic bread. Then I usually eat another meal around 3 PM and then Dinner around 7:30. Calorie intake is usually around 1800-2200. Avoiding all meat and dairy save for white meat chicken and turkey on occasion, and skim milk if I have cereal. Trying to switch over to Soy right now but Its a little hard getting used to it. I've lost about 7 pounds thus far in the past 2 weeks, feeling great.
My goal this year is to lose 100 lbs... and get a job. I've been unemployeed for too long. I've use a free app on my iphone called loseit to track my calories and exercise since January 4th. On January 4 I weighed 288.4 and heavier than I have ever been. Today I'm down to 273.0 and dropping about a 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound a day. I don't expect this rate of loss to keep up but I should be able to meet my goal this year because this time I'm committed. I stay below the 2000 calorie mark every day, drink a lot of water, I cut out all soft drinks and while getting started I'm on the wagon (which cut out over a 2 gallons of rum a month out of my diet). Mostly I'm trying to change the way I eat by paying attention to every piece of food I put in my mouth. Cooking at home helps a lot but I still eat what I want (steak, grilled shrimp, pork chops, tacos, etc) I just use portion control and try to cook/eat a little healthier. I had done adkins and lost weight in the past but I always gained it back so this time I'm trying to make a fundamental change that I can sustain. Good luck.
Seconded. "Don't exercise because it will make you eat more" is incredibly stupid logic. Do exercise...alternate days between cardio-intensive workouts and light/high repetition lifting (good source here) . If you run, run/sprint faster in intervals rather than running one speed the whole time. When you lift, do very light weight and tons of sets and reps for each set. You will eat more when you work out, but as long as you focus on eating the right foods and tracking how much you are eating it is fine. Fish/tuna, fruits, vegetables (GREEN vegetables only, save for stuff like squash of carrots- corn is not a vegetable), whole wheat bread, peanut butter, chicken breast, turkey, nuts, egg whites, light yogurt ... these are the kind of things you want to eat and snack on. Plain popcorn is also a good snack if you are hungry, but with no real nutritional benefits. Be sure to get most of your carbs before a workout so that your body will have the energy for it. Only water to drink...and maybe a small glass of fruit juice BEFORE you workout (the carbs will give you energy for it). You also want to eat something fairly high in protein right after you workout, particularly with lifting.
