Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with workout and diet

FUNNY HEALTH TITLE

Team of Scientists — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:16:05 -0800

I'd like to lose the bit of fat that has been with me for as long as I can remember. What should I include in my diet/workout regimen? Some background: I am male, 6'0", 25 years old, and I weigh about 180 lbs. I am in decent shape right now, and I feel pretty good about myself, but I think I'm ready to experiment with a highly disciplined lifestyle to see what kind of results I can get.

I have a bit of belly fat that seems as if it won't ever go away. My goal is to drop my body fat percentage to a point at which this pudge finally disappears.

For the first 6 months of this year, I had been eating relatively healthy and lifting weights regularly with no cardio. In June, I dropped the weights and began swimming 5 days a week for 50-60 minutes each session.

I really enjoy the swimming, and I'd like to continue it, but I'm not sure if I should be supplementing my cardio workout with some more strength training. I was thinking of simply adding about 20 minutes of calisthenics to the beginning of each swim workout (think pushups, pullups, dips, etc.) to maintain some muscle mass. Does this sound like it would be more effective than simply swimming every weekday? What kind of workout regimen would/did you adhere to in order to lower your body fat?

Now to perhaps the most important part: my diet. I have recently been eating well (lean proteins, veggies, fruit for the most part), but I have no set routine. This results in me occasionally settling on some Panera or Qdoba for meals. I'd like to structure my diet so that I know what I am eating at what time each and every day. One caveat: I don't want to drive myself insane by eating the same bland crap every day. Is there any way to do this? I think I'd be satisfied with the same lunch/breakfast/snacks every day, and if I could just have a different dinner each day of the week, that would be just fine. Also, in the interest of saving some time, I'd like to stick with the three main meals of the day with snacks in between instead of, say, 7 small meals throughout the day.

How many calories should I be consuming, factoring in my workout regimen? What kind of foods should I include in my diet? High protein? High/low carbs? Any healthy and delicious entree suggestions?

I enjoy omelettes for breakfast as a cheap source of protein. I think I could go on a spinach and feta omelette or something similar every day for a while. I love asparagus, broccoli, sweet potatoes, apples, cheese, cottage cheese (these are many of the staples of my current diet). I'm sure I can work most of this into my diet, but how? Also, I currently drink a smoothie consisting of a banana, 5 strawberries, 3 spoonfuls vanilla yogurt, a scoop of whey, and some milk after every workout. Should I keep this?

Is there any other advice AskMeFi can offer that I might have overlooked? Apologies for the long post, but I know you MeFites are a generous source of health information.

I don't know anything about reasonable expectations.

zennoshinjou — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:40:09 -0800

Help me understand weight loss when starting a workout program (or why I'm not losing) So last summer I changed my diet and did some minimal workout and shed 35 pounds and then got stuck and for various reasons drifted away from actively trying to lose more. I gained back ~5 pounds. One month ago I started up at the gym and I go religiously 3-4 times a week. I have been doing mostly strength training with some cardio mixed in. My diet seems to be fine but its possible I'm not eating enough calories. In 4 weeks I have lost as much as 5 pounds but 2 pounds comes and goes. I know the reasonable expectation is 1-2 pounds a week (so 4-8 a month) but its slightly disheartening to be 4 weeks in and weighing 2.5 pounds less than I did before. I guess what confuses me most is that all of my clothes fit better and my body seems to look better (partner agrees) but the weight doesn't reflect that. I am just being too critical in to short a time or should I try to amp up my calories? My goal here is weight loss right now, not becoming super muscular.

I started at 270 and got to 235 last summer. When I started a month ago I was 241.5 and today I am 239 but have been as low as 236.5 in the past month. I'm 5'8". I can provide diet details if its relevant.

Thanks for your input.

How does a 19 year old couch potato lose 50 pounds?

BoldStepDesign — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:07:24 -0800

Ok I’m an overweight college student here. I’m a male coming in at 6’2” weighing 275 pounds. I want to lose 30 in 30. Ideally I want to shed 50 pounds and get down to 225 lbs, which is what I was back in highschool. According to my BMI I need to lose 70-100 pounds.
I’m allergic to all nuts, fish, turkey and oranges.

What I eat:
3 Scrambled eggs; cheese and or Katchup, or 3 Over easy eggs; 2 pieces of toast
Lunch, Sandwich (usually grilled cheese, or ham/turkey sandwich) or soup with pringles chips
Usually Pasta for dinner, maybe a cheese burger, soup or a steak, salad always with ranch, a veggie maybe jello
Two days a week I get anything from pasta, donuts, chocolate, basically leftovers at work
2-5 starbucks style coffee’s a week have cut down sizes to mediums, some times smalls
Fridays:
Friday night’s are Pizza and a bottled soda with friends, I’m not giving that up. Pizza is home made, usually IBC root beer or cream soda. One thing I refuse to give up.

Exercise:
I work out 3 days a week, usually 30 minutes on the treadmill, 2 miles, then some ab/chest workouts
Realizing how badly I do eat. I need to cut out what I eat, or atleast down 50%, increase my work outs.

That being said, to get where I want to be, what would you recommend for me?
I need diet ideas and work out ideas, plans etc...
Any helpful suggestions would be apprenticed!

Will I lose my metabolism if I stick with this workout plan?

JamesJD — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:51:34 -0800

Will I lose my metabolism if I stick with this workout plan? I'm 20 years old (male) and I have always been pretty thin (around 120 lbs). I think this is because I have a super-fast metabolism. I can eat very calorie-heavy foods without gaining very much weight.

I've started lifting weights for the first time this summer and my trainer recommended a pretty ambitious diet (far more than I have ever eaten before in a single day) which I have posted below.

My fear is that if I follow this diet it might permanently slow down my metabolism. Is this a warranted concern? Also, I'll probably only be working out for 60-90 minutes per day, so I'm worried about becoming fat (even if I become slightly more muscular).

Is there anyone else who has been in my position who can comment? Thanks.

The diet:
1 gallon of water throughout the day

breakfast: 6 scrambled eggs, 3 slices of bread, one bowl of cereal, 6 slices of bacon, one apple

whey protein shake (with two servings of protein)

lunch: 12" subway sub, rice, chipotle burrito, 2 chicken breasts

whey protein shake (with two servings of protein)

dinner: (same as lunch)

whey protein shake (with two servings of protein)

post-dinner: 3 packs of oodles of noodles, peanut butter and jelly sandwich

What's recommended to consume right after a work-out ?

hboogz — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:31:10 -0800

What should i consume immediately after a work-out ? If i'm not a fan of powdered protein ? I've heard that consuming a high-glycemic carbohydrate after a workout is idea -- could anyone give me feasible ideas of this ?

Energy foods for early AM gym?

xmutex — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:10:51 -0800

What kind of things might you recommend in terms of protein/energy foods to take early in the AM if you're trying to do the gym first thing in the morning? I find it hard, but when I go to the gym early in the morning (6am) it's the best feeling ever. So I'm trying to figure out something I can eat very quickly (while putting on gym clothes or something) that might help me along.

Help a fat guy come up with a lifestyle solution

grahamux — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 01:00:57 -0800

I'm overweight and I'm pretty damned tired of it (23 years old, about 260ish 6' tall). I've already started modifying my eating habits and now I'm looking for a workout solution. I'm a computer guy, so I spend a -lot- of time sitting during the day (usually night). I know a lot of you work out quite regularly and I would like to know if someone could come up with a basic workout regimen. I live in an apartment complex with a decent gym. I just don't know what days I should walk how far and what machines I should do how many reps of what. Also, I'd like some suggestions as to where I should go after I've been doing this for a while if possible. Apologies in advance if my search-fu is inferior.