Need help with starting weight training

T

Tropez

0
I need your help guys (and gals).

I'm getting back in the swing of things and I need to know your advise on my training program. My goal is to lose weight.

I'm going to work on a 2232 cal died. I'm 33 years old, 6'3" and current 275 lbs.

My new job allows me to hit the gym at lunch, then either grab something fast to eat. I have 30 minutes at the gym that I can dedicate to working out each day. Drive time, changing clothes and showering eat up the remainder of my hour(ish) break.

I've been hitting the cardio for a week now. A mix of elliptical and treadmill, always at a pace that has me sweating withing 5 minutes and continuing to sweat for the total 30 minutes. I'm usually above my target HR zone when I have the machines check me.

I'm assuming I should not stick with cardio all 5 days of the week. That's where I need your help.

Should I alternate days where I do cardio and do weight training since I doubt I have time for both?
What moves should I do starting out?

Any advice is appreciated.

P.S. The gym I go to only has free weights, no machines.
 
1) You need to eat more calories. Your BMR (i.e., "base need") for your current size is around 2500 calories. You should never eat below your BMR. That is a starvation diet; eating that few calories almost guarantees that even if you take the weight off, you will put it right back on.

2) Alternating sounds like a good strategy if that is really all the time you have, but if I were you, I would try to find a way to do some cardio every day, even if it was just a 30-minute walk before or after work.

Hope this helps, make it happen!
 
30 minutes a day is really all you need as a beginner.

Are you really 275lbs or was that a typo? But if you really are 275lbs then yes, 2300kcal is way below what you should be eating. I'm 180lbs and I eat 2700kcal to maintain my weight. Up your food intake to around 3000kcal and you will probably be losing weight much healthier and faster.

As for your workout. Find a good program that has you doing weights 3x a week. Make sure you incorporate squats, bench and deadlift in it. Starting Strength is always a good option for very beginners and it doesn't take too much time to complete either. Do cardio whenever you don't hit the weights.

Good luck
 
Wow, and I thought 2200 calories was a lot.

My first few days eating that many calories and I was stuffed at meals, sometimes it was hard to get down the food.

I told my mother-in-law which works for a health clinic and from her reaction, it seems as if 2300 seemed high to her. Odd how points of view vary.

Yes, I am 275lbs right now.

I used this calculator to figure up my calorie intake:



What did I miss?

If I only had time to do one or the other, should I stick with cardio over weights for now as a beginner?
 
Tropez said:
I used this calculator to figure up my calorie intake:



What did I miss?
Click to expand...

I think you're using a very poor calculator

Your BMR is 2507.35 which is effectively how many calories you'd be using if you were in a coma. You need to multiply that by an activity factor. If you were going to be going to the gym for 5 lunch breaks per week and pushing yourself quite hard for 30 minutes I'd suggest using a factor of 1.55 which brings your actual maintenance level to 3886 which sounds normal for an active guy of your size.

Traditional advice is to cut 500 off that number to lose weight but I think it's easily possible for you to go down to 3,000 Kcals a day safely.

Another popular way of doing this would be to take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 10-12 which would bring the figure to somewhere between 2,750 - 3,300. The average of those again falling to around 3,000 which is where I'd suggest you start

Whoever made that website you were using needs shooting IMO, a guy of 275 eating 2,232 a day? That sounds too extreme to me

EDIT: I just put in my details and it suggested for extreme weight loss I cut to 1,750 Kcals! I'm 6'2" and 210lbs FFS! I'm dieting right now on about 3,000 a day and losing 2-3 lbs a week so 1,750 would probably have me in hospital.

Anyone know if it's possible to report a website to anyone for giving irresponsible advice?
 
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If you are able to workout for 30 minutes a day then you should not have to pick between cardio and weight training, hit the weight on Mon,Wed,Fri, and then on Tue,Thur do cardio, you may also do cardio on the weekends if you wish and have time. Weight training is just as important so that you don't lose muscle and maintain/heighten your metabolism. You could also do a push/pull or upper/lower 2x a week and cardio on your off days, that way you're only doing weights 2x a week but still hitting your entire body.

Tell me what your diet looks like if you want real help... I highly doubt that you're getting full off of 2200kcal/day. How often do you eat and what? Just tell me what you ate today or yesterday, no lies, also what you drank other than water.

I checked out that calorie counter, don't go for the extreme fat loss method because that way you'll be underfeeding your body and will lose muscle along with the fat. It doesn't seem too bad as when I put my stats in it turned out I needed 2700kcal to maintain lol, but still, if you're going to be doing 30min of exercise 5x a week, then you should definitely be eating around 3000kcal/day (at your weight) to be losing weight at a healthy rate until you've already shed quite some lbs. Anyways good luck
 
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wow...

I mean your diet doesn't look too horrible, it's just that you spend all your time at fast food joints. Can't you buy some eggs, oatmeal or bran cereal and have that for breakfast? Eat more organic foods too, the best thing about your diet is that you're making the healthiest choices you can from those fast food joints you go to.

read these...




Also I'd recommend you get some fish oil and multivitamins in your diet every morning. If you want you can also buy whey protein and have a scoop immediately after your weights workout. Also before you sleep you should have less carbs and more protein/healthy fats. Cottage cheese with natural peanut butter is a great option (personally I buy casein protein but that's more expensive and does exactly the same thing as cottage cheese).

Also what does your workout look like, do you need any help on creating a plan?
 
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I will get to reading those.

I will get on the fish oil and multivitamins. What mg of fish oil would you recommend?

Are you telling me you mix cottage cheese with the natural pb? Wow, what a combo.

I will work on my bfast at least. I have been thinking about that, it took me about 7-10 minutes extra time to stop by McD's in the AM. I could use that time to cook a fast egg or eat a bowl of bran cereal.

My workout right now is primarily elliptical or treadmill for 30 minutes straight. I make sure I'm in my target HR zone (usually quite a bit over). By the time I drive, change clothes, workout, quick shower, and drive back, it's about all I could fit in. Right now I'm doing this M-F.
 
I think you should weight train 2x a week. Something along the lines of what I outlined below.

Hitting each major bodypart 2x per week. Workout 1 on monday or tuesday, Workout 2 on thursday or friday. Your main focus for now should be getting your form right and slowly adding 5lbs/week or adding some reps to your big compound lifts.

Workout 1.

Squats
BB or DB Row 3x5-8
Bench 3x3-5
Incline Bench3x5-8
Bicep Curl 3x8-12

Workout 2.

Deadlifts 2x5
Lat pulldown 3-8-12
Dips 3 sets of as many as u can do
OH Press 3x5-8
Tricep Isolation 3x8-12

When you're not weightlifting do cardio (so this should be 3x/week if you workout M-F)
 
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