TomLo
Registered
I'm looking for some guidance here; mostly as to whether I'm on the right track or not. Also open to any suggestions / advice that would be helpful.
A bit of background about me :
I'm 31 years old and currently weigh 315lbs at 6' tall.
I wasn't always fat. In fact, for the majority of my life I've been a highly competitive athlete and maintained a good physique. I played AAA baseball and was headed for a professional career when a brutal rotator cuff injury ended that dream. That was when I was 19.
In the years following, I managed to stay in good shape. But around age 25 after graduating and taking an extremely demanding job, I began to live a very unhealthy lifestyle that involved quite a bit of drinking, smoking and, worst of all, gluttonous eating. In the past six years, I've gone from a muscular 200lbs at my heaviest to my current weight.
I've managed to curb the drinking and have completely quit smoking in the last year and am now prepared to lose the weight, especially given my upcoming wedding in summer of 2013. My goal is to get down to a solid and defined 185-190lbs.
I obviously knew how difficult it is to lose such a massive amount of weight. As a result, I spent a few months researching how I'd do it. I also wanted to kick smoking first as it would simply be too stressful to aim for that as well as an approx. 130lb drop.
My diet has gone from daily takeout (absolute pure garbage with no nutritional value) to a diet rich in complex carbs, lean protein, etc, etc. in the past one week. I used to have close to five cans of Coke a day and have cut all soda out completely. I now drink only water, a morning shake consisting of spirulina, flax oil, bee pollen, almond milk, banana and blueberries, and black, sugarless espresso (and green tea before bed). I almost exclusively eat only chicken and fish and very rarely pork. I never eat red meat and never have. As it stands, my daily caloric intake hovers around 1400 minimum and 1600 maximum.
I'm lucky to be in a position where I now make my own hours and work from home (likely the only plus to come from getting so lost in my career the past six years). I live in a condo with a full-service gym that I use twice a day six days a week.
My fitness routine so far is as follows :
- Wake at 6:30am.
- At gym by 7am.
- 10min of light squash warmup by myself, followed by 20min of intense squash.
- 30min of speed walking on treadmill (usually burn around 350 cal; will eventually work up to a running HIIT).
- 1hr of lane swimming using webbed swim gloves. I keep my head and shoulders above water and alternate between an improvised front and back crawl using ONLY my arms. My legs do no work*. I do roughly 20-30 laps each time.
- 15min of sauna.
- After dinner, around 8pm, I return to the gym with my fiancé and complete 1hr of speed walking on treadmill, burning around 700-800 cal.
- Asleep by 10:30pm. Getting solid 8hr sleeps now compared to the 4hrs I would get before due to sheer workload.
I plan on doing this fitness routine for the next two months and am looking to lose approx. 35-40lbs in that time.
Beginning month three, I am looking to incorporate a weight routine. Also beginning in this month, I would like to taper off considerably from the first two months, and lose something more along the lines of 5-10lbs per month for the next year.
So, starting in month three, I'd like to work on the same schedule of being at the gym by 7am, but I'd like to replace the hour I spent playing squash and on the treadmill with an hour of weight training (still to be followed by an hour of swimming and the sauna). At night I would continue with my hour of cardio.
My problem areas are my huge gut, but even worse my love handles, back fat and man boobs. This is where I need your advice. I'm looking for a routine that'll target the hell out of these areas. Also, please consider how long it's been since I seriously lifted (close to seven years).
Questions :
- What are the best routines for targeting a gut, love handles, back and especially man boobs?
- Is it wise to swim following weight training?
- Right now, I'm drinking the above mentioned shake and crushing a power breakfast after my morning workout. Should I continue on this path or be filling doing the shake and/or breakfast BEFORE I hit the gym?
- What kind of shake should I have once I incorporate weight training?
My end goal is to be muscular, but lean. I know the first two months' weight loss seems intense, but I want to accelerate the loss and then do a combo of losing fat and building muscle over the next year.
I used to be able to throw a 90mph fastball and bench 250 (I know, not that impressive compared to most of you). Nowadays, I'm lucky if I can lift a chicken nugget up to my fat face without wanting to take a rest. I'm tired of looking the way I do, feeling the way I do and being so damn restricted in every aspect of life, especially since I once knew how it felt to be truly confident, athletic and ready for anything.
Any help is hugely appreciated. I'm dead serious about making a change. I hope you guys can respect that.
Thanks.
A bit of background about me :
I'm 31 years old and currently weigh 315lbs at 6' tall.
I wasn't always fat. In fact, for the majority of my life I've been a highly competitive athlete and maintained a good physique. I played AAA baseball and was headed for a professional career when a brutal rotator cuff injury ended that dream. That was when I was 19.
In the years following, I managed to stay in good shape. But around age 25 after graduating and taking an extremely demanding job, I began to live a very unhealthy lifestyle that involved quite a bit of drinking, smoking and, worst of all, gluttonous eating. In the past six years, I've gone from a muscular 200lbs at my heaviest to my current weight.
I've managed to curb the drinking and have completely quit smoking in the last year and am now prepared to lose the weight, especially given my upcoming wedding in summer of 2013. My goal is to get down to a solid and defined 185-190lbs.
I obviously knew how difficult it is to lose such a massive amount of weight. As a result, I spent a few months researching how I'd do it. I also wanted to kick smoking first as it would simply be too stressful to aim for that as well as an approx. 130lb drop.
My diet has gone from daily takeout (absolute pure garbage with no nutritional value) to a diet rich in complex carbs, lean protein, etc, etc. in the past one week. I used to have close to five cans of Coke a day and have cut all soda out completely. I now drink only water, a morning shake consisting of spirulina, flax oil, bee pollen, almond milk, banana and blueberries, and black, sugarless espresso (and green tea before bed). I almost exclusively eat only chicken and fish and very rarely pork. I never eat red meat and never have. As it stands, my daily caloric intake hovers around 1400 minimum and 1600 maximum.
I'm lucky to be in a position where I now make my own hours and work from home (likely the only plus to come from getting so lost in my career the past six years). I live in a condo with a full-service gym that I use twice a day six days a week.
My fitness routine so far is as follows :
- Wake at 6:30am.
- At gym by 7am.
- 10min of light squash warmup by myself, followed by 20min of intense squash.
- 30min of speed walking on treadmill (usually burn around 350 cal; will eventually work up to a running HIIT).
- 1hr of lane swimming using webbed swim gloves. I keep my head and shoulders above water and alternate between an improvised front and back crawl using ONLY my arms. My legs do no work*. I do roughly 20-30 laps each time.
- 15min of sauna.
- After dinner, around 8pm, I return to the gym with my fiancé and complete 1hr of speed walking on treadmill, burning around 700-800 cal.
- Asleep by 10:30pm. Getting solid 8hr sleeps now compared to the 4hrs I would get before due to sheer workload.
I plan on doing this fitness routine for the next two months and am looking to lose approx. 35-40lbs in that time.
Beginning month three, I am looking to incorporate a weight routine. Also beginning in this month, I would like to taper off considerably from the first two months, and lose something more along the lines of 5-10lbs per month for the next year.
So, starting in month three, I'd like to work on the same schedule of being at the gym by 7am, but I'd like to replace the hour I spent playing squash and on the treadmill with an hour of weight training (still to be followed by an hour of swimming and the sauna). At night I would continue with my hour of cardio.
My problem areas are my huge gut, but even worse my love handles, back fat and man boobs. This is where I need your advice. I'm looking for a routine that'll target the hell out of these areas. Also, please consider how long it's been since I seriously lifted (close to seven years).
Questions :
- What are the best routines for targeting a gut, love handles, back and especially man boobs?
- Is it wise to swim following weight training?
- Right now, I'm drinking the above mentioned shake and crushing a power breakfast after my morning workout. Should I continue on this path or be filling doing the shake and/or breakfast BEFORE I hit the gym?
- What kind of shake should I have once I incorporate weight training?
My end goal is to be muscular, but lean. I know the first two months' weight loss seems intense, but I want to accelerate the loss and then do a combo of losing fat and building muscle over the next year.
I used to be able to throw a 90mph fastball and bench 250 (I know, not that impressive compared to most of you). Nowadays, I'm lucky if I can lift a chicken nugget up to my fat face without wanting to take a rest. I'm tired of looking the way I do, feeling the way I do and being so damn restricted in every aspect of life, especially since I once knew how it felt to be truly confident, athletic and ready for anything.
Any help is hugely appreciated. I'm dead serious about making a change. I hope you guys can respect that.
Thanks.
