Dropping weight and improving overall health

Need some motivation and input from people who have been there done that. I am not wanting to go full on gym/fitness pro I just want to improve my current conditions and meet some baseline requirements.

I am planning on re-enlisting in the SC Air National Guard and in order to do that, I need to lose 25lbs and pass some PT requirements. I also have twins on the way and I want to be at best so I can keep up with them!

I am currently:

Weight: 200lbs
Waist: 38"
1.5 Miels: 17:00
Pushups: 40
Situps: UNK

My goals are:

Weight: 175lbs
Waist: 35"
1.5 Miles: ~12:45 Minutes
Pushups: 40
Situps: 45

My intention is to cut out the following things that I think contribute to my current weight:

Beer
Bread
Juice
Sweets
Lack of exercise

In addition, I will be beginning my exercise with:

1 mile/day (increasing when ready)
kettle bells
max weekly pushup/situp since they're tested
MTB as often as possible (Gnar!)

If I don't see any changes I will continue to cut food types and increase exercise as needed.

 

Cutting/lowering your carb intake will help with the weight loss. I’ve had great success with Keto. There’s a thread on here with others doing Keto.

 

Toysrgood - Good on you for having realistic and objective goals, with a balance food / workout plan - that is the first step, which most people trying to improve fitness completely miss.
I personally get bored with workout routines, so if I mix in other outdoors / sporting activities it keeps me motivated. The more I workout, the better I can perform in my other activities...the better I do the other activities, the more motivated I get to get in better shape ... etc.
Good luck

 

Cutting out sugars and increasing water intake will help you drop 5-10 lbs right off the bat

Also maybe look in to https://renaissanceperiodization.com/

 

I absolutely agree. Routines get monotonous quick but with a desk job and the sun setting on my way home it is hard to get out during the week right now. I'll be doing laps around the field next to my house in the dark after work. Come beginning of next year I'll be able to hit the mtb trails, they're currently open only on Sundays because of hunting season.

 

Best way to lose weight is exercise in my experience, but cutting carbs, refined sugars and sodium out of your diet (not completely, but being mindful of them) is a good way to see results over a relatively short amount of time.

Beer, bread/pasta, soda, sweets, and heavily processed foods (high in sodium like canned soup, for instance)...limit those (or remove them entirely) from your diet for a few weeks and I bet you start to see some results that you want.

 

Yessir, I have had luck with simple diet changes before.

I currently don't eat any fast food, except occasional Chick-fil-a salads. No sodas, or packaged sweets or anything. If I do indulge its homemade items like grandmas cakes or cookies, but I indulge more often than I should! Juice is probably my biggest source of sugar so that should be easy to cut. I also keep a nalgene at my desk so I can monitor water intake.

 

There are no weight loss secrets. More activity, less food. I’ve lost weight by making some changes in breakfast. Increased oatmeal and yogurt less cheddar cheese omelettes. Good luck.

 

As far as nutrition I don't think you have to subscribe to any one diet, but here are the things that have worked best for me:
-Minimize processed foods, they are typically high in carbs and sugars (lots of empty calories).
-Try to get most of your carbs from fruits and vegetables, and lean more on the veggie side to avoid too much sugar.
-Eat the leaner meats, but as much as I hate to say it a vegetarian diet is healthier.
-Eat lots of greens, they make you feel fuller and are so healthy for you.
-Always eat breakfast (but a healthy breakfast), this will get your metabolism going for the day.
-Drink no fluids except water (coffee being my exception). Instead of orange juice, eat an orange, etc. Drink LOTS of water.
-You can't go wrong sticking to fresh whole foods as much as possible. Whole grains (oatmeal, barley, etc), veggies, fruits, meats.

For running, I highly recommend an interval workout to get your speed up. Obviously losing weight will naturally make you faster too. My favorite interval workout was three intervals a week, alternating with three longer, slower runs, and one really long slow run on Sundays (barely faster than walking if need be) to work out the kinks and soreness in my legs. You can do a Google search to find specific intervals for the time and distance goal you have based on where you're currently at. Basically each interval graduates you to longer faster chunks of running. The chunks are always faster than your current pace over the total run distance. That's how you get faster.

 

Be careful drinking to much water right away... it flushes all your electrolytes out of your body and then becomes more harmful then helpful. increase gradually.

 

sex sex and more sex at least 5 times a day

 

I just started doing this 2 weeks ago. I start the day with oatmeal about 1/2 cup some blue berries or craisins some cinnamon and sugar like 1/2 teaspoon. The rest of day is lean protein and vegetable or rice lost about 8 lbs in 3 weeks.

 

I have a desk job as well and recently dropped 20 pounds. I figure if I'm not burning calories at work I don't need to consume calories. I take a couple Garcinia capsules in the morning to suppress my appetite. During the day I'll eat some small snacks, jerky, nuts, but never a full meal. I stopped drinking beer and go for a White Claw if I want a drink. For dinner I eat lean meat, veggies, rice, beans, whole grain and NO SAUCES. On my salad it's just olive oil and vinegar.

if I'm hunting/hiking or something like that I'll eat breakfast and maybe some kind of protein bar mid day.

 

Calories in, calories out. Start counting. This sounds corny, but weight loss starts at the kitchen.

 

The only way to lose weight is to expel more calories than you take in. It is much, much easier to lower your intake than increase your output. I lost over 60 lbs and from a 38 waist to a 32 by limiting my daily intake (with an occasional, maybe 2-3 times a month, cheat day) to 1500-1800 calories. I used online calculators to estimate when I could not figure out calories from packaging and menus. It takes a 3500 calories reduction to drop a pound. Here is a basic calculator you can use to estimate how long it will take to lose weight based on what you adjust:
https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html

You can put your age, height, weight and activity level to get a good idea. For me, my maintenance calories (keep the same weight) are around 2500 calories. So at 1500 calories a day intake, with no other adjustments, I lose about 2 pounds a week. I found this to be very fairly accurate overall.

Exercise is great for getting in better physical shape, but it doesn't help a ton with losing weight. Cutting carbs, sugars, etc., will give a minor boost, but no additional long term weight loss benefits compared with counting calories. A calorie is a calorie, no matter what form it is in when you eat it. I found that eating a lot of lean protein (steak and chicken) were the easiest to keep me full along with a ton of veggies (broccoli is very low calorie and filling). I also cut out all calories from liquids (i.e., no beer or sugary drinks). I ate a grilled chicken sandwich pretty much every day with a side of broccoli. Taco salads (no cheese, chips, guac or sour cream, but meat, lettuce, seasoning, beans, tons of salsa) were a common go to as well. I also ate a lot of low calorie popcorn as snacks, and cut out high calorie foods like fries but still ate a lot of burgers. I went from 230 to 167 in about 7 months and then stalled out. I've gained about 20 back after not dieting for over a year, and am just getting back on my diet. I don't eat breakfast (never have). Eating a grilled chicken sandwich and broccoli put me at about 400 calories for lunch. That left a lot of room for dinners and a snack.

When I started counting calories, I was shocked at the number of calories in some meals (pretty much every menu item at Cheesecake Factory, other than their skinny menu, has over 2000 calories). So I don't eat healthy, but I do limit what I take in, and with more veggies I am healthier than I had been.

I lost my weight without any physical activity alteration. I was playing basketball once a week, occasional mountain biking and dog walking (same things I did before I dieted). The weight loss has made all those activities much easier though.

Good luck!

Edit: you probably don't want to go under 1,500 calories a day (ballpark). If you do, your body may slow down your metabolism making it harder to lose weight. Slow and steady to the finish line.

 

Additionally, their are apps that will help you out with calorie counting. Myfitnesspal or loseit are my recommendations.

 

For weight loss look up "Code Red" diet. My wife is on it and has lost 50+lbs since the end of July...no exercise regime...it may not be suited for what you are looking for though. As for the running part if you get shin splints/pain extend your stride, drink plenty of water and get some good shoes. Breathing at a steady pace (not erratic or excessively helps you keep from running out of breath) will help running for the 1.5 mile test. Maybe jogging 2-3miles every other day also helps.

 

I haven't had a chance to read all of these responses because I am still at work. I really appreciate the feedback already though since I thought this would be !!!

I think one of my issues that I struggle with is snacking. I have had 3 times in the past 6 years where my sugar drops very rapidly and I break out in sweats, can't think right, shaky, hypoglycemic like episodes. Normally, they are not that extreme, but I struggle a lot with cloudy thoughts, inability to focus and "hangry" fits several times a week. I carry snacks everywhere I go to avoid this, but sometimes I am unable to plan a healthy snack and I need to just grab whatever is nearby to avoid further decline and sometimes my planned snack just is not enough to remedy these symptoms.

I normally don't feel "hungry", my mood changes and mind gets cloudy way before my stomach feels empty.

This leads to over snacking/eating or picking the wrong snack because it just happens to be nearby and I need something quick.


I wonder if yall think that I could reduce all of this by improving my overall condition? I wonder if it is related...

 

Good for you @toysrgood ! You are on the right track with having defined goals and expecting to have to put in effort to make it happen. I have done some pretty big things with my weight and people always seem to ask my what the "secret" was and they get frustrated when I tell them hard work.


About 6 years ago I was towards the end of a 250lb weight loss (went from a 50" waist to 33"). I would be happy to provide any input or answer any questions you might have. Cutting processed foods and added sugars is the best place to start.

 

Have you seen a dr about that??