Lose Weight

Hey guys,
I was here a couple of weeeks ago and now i m here again haha. I have a question if someone can answer it for me. I am a male, 5'3, 142 lbs. I have started working out since 3 weeks to lose weight and get in some sort of a tone. I run for 40 minutes everyday and lose around 400 CAL in that. Then i weight lift for 3 days a week. I do Abs Crunches, Chest exercise, Biceps and triceps. My question is that with all this what kinda meal plan should i persue. I am a student and dorm so the food in our food places r not that good. It will be great if someone can suggest a meal plan i should follow to lose weight.

Thank you very much!!!

Take care guys.
 
You're barely, just barely overweight, and exercising the way you are, it shouldn't be tough to get back into shape. For people starting out with cleaning up their eating, I recommend the following starter's tips:

#1. Don't try to change your entire meal plan cold turkey. Focus on a few aspects of it at a time, and make them part of your LIFESTYLE.

#2. Your stomach is roughly larger than the size of your first. Don't fill it with too much more than this at any one time when you can.

#3. Stay away from sugars and fats.
 
Throw squats into your workout program to burn the maximum fat from a weight program. Also, soon you may find that you are running to much. You are going to start having issues with your feet, ankles, knees, and hips. 40 minutes per day of running is excellent if you are in your target heart rate (80% of MHR). But, you may want to trim this down to 4 days per week. Remember that rest is a key component of metabolism based fat burning.

-Rip
 
Thanks for both if you for the replies. So i should trim this down to 4 days got it. SHould it be 4 Consecutive days or should i spread it out evenly. People say one should weight train 3 consecutive days. what do u think??

Thanks
 
You only gain muscle at rest. The actual work out is, interestingly enough, to damage your muscles (or more accurately, induce muscle failure).

Put simply, you want to cause your body to rebuild muscle larger by "tricking" it into thinking it needs stronger muscle.

My recommendation is to decide on a work out plan that goes through the entire range of muscles on separate days, with rest in the middle and the end, or at least at the end. That way, you can do something like:

Monday : Chest
Tuesday : Shoulders
Wednesday : Rest
Thursday : Biceps/Triceps
Friday : Back
Saturday : Legs
Sunday : Rest

and you can maximize your time. Isolation is a good way to get better gains in muscle growth.

I recommend warming up with cardio, and then ending with the majority of your cardio every single workout day. This will prolong your HGH production for hours and help you burn even more.
 
got ya. you mean do most of the cardio after the workout. OK if i follow ur routine and do chests on monday should i do like 12 reps and 3 sets of the chest exercise on the machine and the same for others during the rest of the week.

Thanks a bunch again :)
 
Depends on your style. Some people believe in "workout until you can't anymore". Since the idea is to induce muscle failure, you really want to just push yourself to your limits. This doesn't necessarily work for most people.

If you want to get bigger muscles, it's best to do slower, higher intensity lifting.

If you want better muscle endurance, it's best to do faster, lower intensity lifting.

A standard set of 10-12 reps is probably best for beginners though. I recommend 5 sets for each muscle -- one light "warmup" set, three heavy sets, and then a light "cooldown" set.

I also recommend doing free weights whenever you can. ALWAYS have a spotter for this though for obvious reasons. The free weights will work your synergist/stabilization/"helper" muscles and will give you more "real world" strength.

For weight loss, though, cardio is #1. Muscle will help you burn more weight throughout the day, though.
 
Fil is absolutely dead on. First-things-first... Choose your outcome. This is the key that many people over look. Do you want to strip fat and pack on muscle? Do you want to trim down and tone up? Do you want to have kick azz endurance and not worry about your size? Do you just want to buff-up a bit and maintain a nice healthy body?

Figure out your precise outcome. This outcome will be the result of your goals that you will set. Once you know your ABSOLUTE outcome (the results of your hard labor), start choosing proper diet, workouts, rest/sleep, stretching, etc. that will accomodate this result in the best fashion.

Once you know all of the above, you are ready to start setting goals for yourself. Don't be afraid to adjust your goals as you go along. Many of your goals may turn out too be to big or too small. You will adjust these onb the fly.

Remember, when you are setting goals, set short, medium, and long-term goals. An example might be:

short (6 month) goal: lose 15 lbs of fat and improve cardio system.
medium (2 years): drop 5 more % body fat and add 15 lbs of pure muscle.
long (5-10 years): keep weight at 180 lbs, BF at 10% and be capable of running 15 miles on a whim.

In order for all of this stuff to work, you must have leverage. You need a reason to get your eventual outcome. In my case, my daughter and wife are HUGE assets. I want to set a most-excellent example for them. Also, I want to be healthy enough to see my daughter graduate college and get married. Then, I would like to be a grandfather! In addition to those leverage points, I feel good when my body looks good. Also, I feel better when I am healthier. All of these are leverage.

Once you have an outcome, goals and leverage it is cake! Stick to your plan, but make sure you adjust it as needed.

Sorry for going on-and-on... Hopefully I didn't scare you away from working out. This is a major key to success and happiness in life. Stay fit for life man!

-Rip
 
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