Hello 2p2.

I am have been lurking on these forums for some time. I have been inspired by Joseph's thread to try and do the same. Mostly because it is remarkable how similar he is to me. Let me explain the history behind the log:

I am a 22-year old Australian. About 2 months ago I weighed 111kg at 6'0 tall. At that point with none of my currently large clothes fitting anymore and feeling terrible all the time I decided something had to change. I have always lurked here for the poker content but I stumbled on this health forum. Now in my 22 years I have basically never exercised and I have eaten whatever the hell I want (a usual day would be a fast food super size meal, large bag of chips, ice cream, a liter or so of soda etc. the worst possible food). I knew NOTHING about diet or exercise. Since then I have been reading and implementing slowly.

Through this forum I discovered fitday.com and have been tracking what I eat for the last month or so. I am averaging about 1500 calories a day (which I realize is probably a bit low but that's why I am posting here to get more help). Don't worry the 1500 calories is made up of much better foods than Joesph but I could do better. I am not as good on the exercise front though, I do some cardio but my weight training lacks a bit.

Either way my current weight is now 104kg. My goal is to weigh <80kg by this Christmas.

I have tried many 'crash' (read:stupid) diets in the past, starving myself etc that all failed. I am trying to do it the right way this time. I need help and motivation though. I do finally feel that after 2 months I am committed enough to make a thread like this and stick to it.

I will be posting a daily log at the end of each day. I will only be weighing myself at the start of each month. So next weigh-in won't be till May 1st (at which point I want to be <100kg).

I will also be using this thread to ask my naive questions about health/fitness I hope you don't go too hard on me.

Anyway, I hope this works out for me. First log will be in about 15 hours at the end of day.

I won't keep track of the time I ate. I eat a lot of times throughout the day. My policy right now is to eat whenever I feel hungry. The only time I don't eat when I feel hungry is if I am over 2000 calories for the day already.

Day 1 - March 31st
200g of Roast Chicken (no skin) w/ small serve of carrots and green beans - 360 calories
2 Small Apples - 125 calories
1 Can of Pepsi Max - 1 calorie
1 Hard boiled Egg - 78 calories
1/2 Cup of Oats (with water not milk) - 156 calories
1/2 a Tomato - 19 calories

737 calories.... not enough huh? I wasn't hungry and didn't know what else to eat (outta tuna and almonds - gotta get go shopping tomorrow).

Today was meant to be a 'weights' day but I still have no clue what I am doing. I tried doing some squats, bench presses and curls. I do all my exercise at home. I have an exercise bike for cardio and a dumb bell set for weights. I tried following the beginner weights guide in the FAQ but it is incredibly long-winded and a lot of the video links showing good form are broken. Besides it is written for a bar bell, whereas I have two dumb bells. Does anyone know an easy weights program I can learn for dumb bells? Is it the same thing as bar bells? Also how do I know how much weight to lift? I have no clue about this.

Day 2 - April 1st

Lean Cuisine Beef Lasagne - 404 calories
Watermelon - 97 calories
Banana - 125 calories
Pear - 98 calories
1/2 Cup of Oats - 156 calories
Hard boiled Egg - 78 calories
80gm of Turkey - 164 calories
Tuna with lemon and pepper - 183 calories
2 Pepsi Maxi Cans - 2 calories
5 Cadbury mini Easter Eggs - 148 calories (not proud of this one but chocolate is the only junk I have left and in small quantities I think it might have good psychological implied health benefits.... will phase it out eventually)

1454 calories

Not a bad day. I think I might be eating too much fruit and not enough vegetables but I guess it is better that I snack on fruit than chips/candy etc.

Exercise: 30 minutes on Exercise bike.

Day 3 - April 2nd

3 Homemade Samosas (baked not deep fried) 504 calories
84 gram of Turkey - 175 calories
Tuna with mustard - 169 calories
Orange - 62 calories
Pear - 97 calories
2 Pepsi Max - 2 calories
4 Cadbury Mini Eggs - 118 calories

1127 calories

Tried to do some weight lifting. Didn't last long. Still have the same problems and questions I posted above.

Yea, this is what I was afraid of.

As for a dumbell based program, you can substitute most barbell stuff for dumbell stuff. Stick to the basics. Work your posterior chain, use your legs, and work large muscle groups. Just move weight. Use weights that are difficult (without reaching failure) to handle in the specified rep-range. Don't get caught up in the minutiea now, just lift.
Here's a good dumbell-based program.
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-d...ing-dumbbells/

As for diet, read the faq, read Berardi's 7 rules, and learn to cook.
Figure out your optimal caloric intake (hint: it's higher than you think). Eat a good breakfast, eat meats, eggs, vegetables and fruits. Cut down on the soda and don't backwards rationalize your chocolate binging as "postitive psychological benefits".

Good luck.

Thanks for the response anklebreaker, I was starting to think I was alone on this.

Is there anything I can read that explains why I should cut down on diet-soda? I will limit myself to 1 can per day maximum and see if I can remove it altogether soon.

Also how do I 'figure out' my optimal caloric intake? I tried to up the calories today, although it feels very counterintuitive when I am so fat. Also the think I don't like about cooked/fresh meals is that it is so difficult to estimate the calories. For example, today I made some meatballs and a frittata, had no idea how many calories I was eating so I just didn't eat a lot of it.

My goal for tomorrow is less fruit more vegetables.... vegetables just taste so horrible compared with fruit.

Day 4 - April 3rd
Apple - 81 calories
Oats with whole chopped Banana mixed in - 265 calories
3 Slices of Watermelon - 274 calories
Tomato - 26 calories
Sliced Turkey meat - 44 calories
Nectarine - 67 calories
Calamari - 510 calories
Pepsi Max - 1 calorie
6 small meatballs (no sauce) - 377 calories
Salad (lettuce, tomato, spring onion, cheese no dressing) - 106 calories
Frittata - 214 calories

1963 calories

30 minutes on exercise bike.

Day 5 - April 4th

Frittata - 256 calories
2 Pears - 196 calories
Almonds - 347 calories
Turkey - 44 calories
Peas - 157 calories
Spicy Potato Soup - 261 calories
Home made chicken pot pie - 813 calories
Broccoli - 39 calories
Carrot - 12 calories

2127 calories

Did a bunch of weights, squats, bench press and curls.

Going to drop the calories tomorrow I think.

Day 6 - April 5th

1/2 cup of Oats - 156 calories
2 Small Bananas - 149 caories
Small Home Made Weight Watchers Pizza - 579 calories
1 Orange - 62 calories
Almonds - 180 calories
1 Rum Ball - 44 calories (my bad, friend offered it and I had one to be polite)
Pepsi Max - 1 calorie
Carrot - 7 calories
Broccoli - 13 calories
Chicken fillet - 213 calories
2 Applies - 163 calories

1566 Calories

30 minutes spent on the exercise bike.

I think I am eating too many carbs. I just cant think of enough high protein foods I can eat. Perhaps I should buy some of that protein powder stuff? I really dont care about muscle or anything I just want to drop weight so not sure if it matters.

Day 7 - April 6th

Scrambled Eggs - 307 calories
Ham, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato Sandwich on Multi grain Roll - 304 calories
Apple - 81 calories
Pasta with vegetables and carbonara sauce - 710 calories
4 Mini Easter Eggs - 118 calories
2 Cans of Pepsi Max - 2 calories

1520 calories

No exercise, body has been pretty sore after 6 days straight of working out so thought I would give it a rest and some time to heal. Still having real trouble with chocolate/caffeine cravings. I need to just throw out these easter eggs rather than consuming them slowly. I have instilled me this utter refusal to waste food.

This is what I use for calorie requirements:

http://www.runningforfitness.org/faq/calories.php

Work out how much you need per day, work out how much you burn when you exercise over a week, divide this by 7 and add this daily figure to your first one.

This source recommends (don't think its on the site but I read a book by the person that wrote it-Anita Bean)

2g protein/kg body weight
60% of calories from carbohydrates
fat:total calories-calories from protein (grams of protein X4)-calories from carbs (grams of carbs X4). This is the calories needed from fat- divide by 9 for the number of grams of fat needed

Day 8 - April 7th

Pear - 97 calories
Tuna - 164 calories
Chicken/Lettuce/Mayo Sandwich - 334 calories (wouldn't have added the mayo myself, but forgot to pack my lunch so had to buy something on campus and that was as healthy as it got)
5 Mini Easter Eggs - 148 calories (finished those off, so no more excuses for chocolate now)
Roast chicken (without skin) - 353 calories
Green Beans - 17 calories
Carrot - 12 calories
1/2 a roast potato - 127 calories
Almonds - 111 calories
Apple - 81 calories
2 Pepsi Max - 2 calories

1446 calories

I did the estimate your required calories thing to maintain my current weight and I came up with something like 3200 calories. Sounds WAY too high. I can't believe I actually use to eat twice what I ate today. But I obviously did because I use to gain weight regularly. Also I have no clue how the hell I am meant to get 208g of protein in a day. I am struggling to get to 100. Aside from meat and diary, what else is high protein?

30 minutes exercise on the bike today too.

Protein shakes, fish, nuts. Shakes can really help and I don't see them in your diet as of now.

Day 9 - April 8th


Scrambled Eggs - 304 calories
Shaved Leg Ham - 47 calories
Large Apple - 125 calories
Stir Fry w/ beef and oriental vegetables - 578 calories
Almonds - 86 calories
Banana - 93 calories
Orange - 86 calories
Pepsi Max - 1 calorie

1320 calories

Did weights - 30 squats (5 x 6 ), 50 curls (10 x 5) and 40 bench presses (10 x 4). The squats kill my knees. I end up with way sorer legs than any cardio.

If the squats kill your knees you definitely need to work on form. They shouldn't be painful. There *SHOULD* be a link to a video in the sticky, if you haven't checked it out yet.

I did check out the sticky and there is a video but it is with a bar bell not two dumb bells that I use. Also just watching someone doesn't ensure perfect form, I guess I might need to work on it.

By the way, although I am not including the times I eat (because it is fairly inexact and hard to keep track of), I am NOT doing a Joesph and just eating at one time during the day. I don't know how he does that, I would get waaaaay too hungry, I eat when I start to feel hungry. Just for this log I will illustrate how it is going:

Day 10 - April 9th
Wake up around 9:30am

10:00am: 1/2 Cup of Oats with water, microwaved, whole sliced banana added into it (usually I would just list oats and banana separate) - 249 calories

12:30pm: Omelette containing 2 whole eggs (some water added), 50 gram of shaved ham and 1/2 a fresh tomato - 263 calories

3:00pm: Snack of a small pear and some thin slices of Turkey breast - 134 calories

5:00pm: Work out - 30 minutes of Cardio on exercise bike.

6:15pm: Home made low fat pizza (I don't use dough, instead I use half a piece of whole-meal lite Lebanese bread, covered lightly in tomato paste/pesto mix, some low-fat cheese, a ton of vegetables including capiscum, cucumber, tomato etc and some ham pieces). Really don't know how to estimate calories on this concoction. 579 calories
1 - Can of Pepsi Max with my dinner - 1 calorie.

9:30pm: 1 Large Pear. 123 calories. Would normally eat some almonds here too but ran out. Are there any other worthwhile nuts aside from raw almonds with no salt added?

Probably go to bed around 12-1. Depends how I am running at the poker. If tend to drink water after this to fill me up, if I really am hungry I eat a piece of fruit. But that doesn't tend to happen after 9-10pm.

1348 Calories

So I am eating 5-6 times a day, every day. I always eat if I feel hungry. I am trying to eat mostly good stuff although a few more vegetables wouldn't hurt. But not eating any of the crap I use to eat: cookies, chips, fast food, ice-cream and non-diet soda etc.

Is my body still going to go into starvation mode due to not enough calories? I hope not. I am worried about this. So paranoid at this stage about eating more and then not losing much weight at the end of the month.

How much water do you drink throughout the day?

Why don't you go to the grocery store and buy a couple of bags of different kinds of unsalted nuts...almonds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and walnuts. Put them in a large container and now you have some mixed nuts as a snack that should last a while. Just try not to eat that many everyday.

Here's the dan john squat form video. It doesn't have anything to do with barbells or weights for that matter.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...quatting&hl=en

I don't know I don't really keep track, I drink when I am thirsty. I have 3-4 Gatorade bottles that I rotate through the fridge/on my desk/with me. At least 2-3 bottles I guess.

Thanks for the squats video. I left squats out of my routine today, because I didn't want to hurt myself or at least leave myself sore to the point where I won't be able to do cardio tomorrow.

In place, I went for a light 20 minute walk/jog... my first exercise outside my home in a long time, half way through it I jog past two dudes in their late teens and as I am going away from them I hear one say to the other 'what a fat ass'... obviously I wasn't meant to hear it but I have good hearing. It really bothered me after all the work I have been putting in. Reaffirms why I won't join a gym until I drop more weight and why I hate to exercise in public. Everyone sitting their thinking the only reason this fat slob would be running is to get to McDonald's before it shuts.

Anyway I went shopping and have began to realize about 90% of the supermarket is completely useless junk. I had to go to the 'health food' section to find pumpkin seeds... I wanted ones with shells on them but they only had salted. So I bought the salted, I thought how bad could it be? I look at the label when I get home (mistake too late) and it is 3000mg of sodium per s30g serving. WTF!! Tasted one and it was like raw salt so I threw them out. PS why exactly should I avoid salt? And that is the health food! Lucky I also bought a pack of the plain inside the shell green pumpkin seeds too.

anyway tl:dr

Day 11 - April 10th
1/2 Cup Oats - 156 calories
Banana - 93 calories
Tomato Salsa Tuna - 164 calories
2 Pepsi Max - 2 calories
Few Salted Pumpkin Seeds - 13 calories (now in the bin)
Pepitas - 115 calories
Fish Fillet - 164 calories
Calamari - 243 calories
Home made chips (Fresh Potato chopped up and fried in vegetable oil) - 291 calories
Carrot - 11 calories
Green Beans - 15 calories
Apple - 81 calories
Pear - 98 calories

1445 calories

Exercise: 80 Curls (8x10) and 40 Bench Press (4x10), then went for a 20 minute jog/walk (i can't jog for 20 minutes straight yet lol).

Day 12 - April 11th
Tuna - 152 calories
Cup of Peas - 125 calories
2 Pears - 196 calories
2 Apples - 163 calories
Greek Salad - 106 calories
Pepsi Max - 1 calorie
Pumpkin, Leek, Spinach and Basil Quiche - 200 calories
Pepitas - 86 calories

1028 calories

30 minutes exercise on the bike.

Day 13 - April 12th
Turkey - 64 calories
2 Hard Boiled Eggs - 155 calories
Celery Stick - 10 calories
Tuna - 152 calories
Spaghetti with mince beef and tomato sauce - 736 calories
Diet Vanilla Coke - 1 calorie
Pepitas - 86 calories


1204 calories

Weights: 40 squats (5 x 8), 60 curls (10 x 6) and 50 benchpresses (10 x 5). I implemented the squat form suggested in the video above, felt a lot better.

wow you need to eat more, especially during your work out days. Where is your post workout nutrition, your body really needs it.

TBH, I don't even know what post workout nutrition means. Each some stuff after I am done working out? I ate my can of tuna about half an hour after I was done lifting.

In terms of health and fitness knowledge, well in poker parlance I can barely read the board. All I know is eat better stuff and less calories + exercise = hopefully not be obese anymore? I would take skinny fat over obese.

There are some good links in the new sticky that came out yesterday, I'd read up.

As far as calories go, our bodies all expend a specific number of calories based on our weight/activity levels/body-makeup daily. It has always been a thought that a lb. of fat is 3500calories, meaning, if you want to lose a pound, you need to expend 3500 more calories than you consume. This is not my contention mind you, but it is a widely accepted theory. Ergo, if you expend 500 calories more a day than you consume you lose a pound a week, which is a healthy amount. Your body, currently, might be expending 2000 calories a day just running itself, this doesn't even take into account working out or even just moving around. Having 1200 calories a day leaves way too big a deficit, and could place your body in "starvation mode". In this mode your body shuts down a bit, and starts storing fat instead of expending it. Fat is very important to your body's health due to it's function of protecting major/vital organs. So, you should consume more calories spread nicely throughout the day. 3 meals with 3 snacks should do with your biggest meal (calorie-wise) being breakfast. A spread like

500
200--snack
400
200--snack
300
200-snack

gets you 1800 calories and keeps your body working hard through out the day to burn off the constant stream of calories.

Now onto PWO nutrition

Post-workout nutrition and it's timing is key to recovery, muscle growth, and, weight loss. Your body has been broken down during your workout, and now it's ready to accept all sorts or nutrients into your system. While the tuna isn't a bad choice, it by itself, certainly is insufficient.

The first thing you'll need post-work out is carbohydrates (omg carbs) along with protein to help facilitate some key triggers in your body. The best post-workout nutrition would be in a liquid form, i.e. a protein shake because it's broken down faster by your body. However, most-to-all shakes do not have enough carbohydrates in them. You are looking for 2g of carbohydrates for every 1g of protein. There are many sites that will tell you the exact # of grams for your weight/goals but for me, a 155lb male (what is that, like 70kg I think) I take in 70g of carbs and 35g of protein post workout. You can also add supplements in powder form to the shake like BCAA's, L-glutamine, etc... You can research these supplements to find out more on them.

Finally, timing is extremely important, there is a smallish window of time (say 45 minutes) after your workout where it is paramount that you consume this nutrition, and the sooner, the better.

Hope this helps, check out the sticky for some good links.

Spenda I appreciate the effort. I am already eating 5-6 times a day in spaced out meals. The problem is that my average meal has a lot less calories than you suggested there. I don't see the point in eating more when I am not hungry. I have never done this 5-6 meals spaced over the day before I started this new eating habit and I must say it keeps the hunger away even if I am eating only small amounts.

I am going to shoot for 1700-1900 calories from now on though. Didn't quite get there today, but thats because I slept in til midday so there wasn't much of the day left to require energy for.

Day 14 - April 13th
Frittata - 259 calories
Ham, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato on Multigrain Roll - 304 calories
Home Made Pizza thingy (not actually pizza lol) - 579 calories
2 Pears - 196 calories
Pepitas - 86 calories
1/2 glass of Diet Vanilla Coke <1 calorie

1426 calories

No exercise (formally at least I did walk a fair bit). Sunday is my day of rest.

Day 15 - April 14th
Banana - 109 calories
Pear - 95 calories
Tuna - 152 calories
Moroccan style chicken breast - 298 calories
1/2 White roast potato - 127 calories
Roast chicken (skinless) white meat - 325 calories
Peas - 31 calories
Carrot - 11 calories
Pepsi Max - 1 calorie

1152 - calories

30 minutes exercise on the bike.

Yes, I know not enough calories. I had to skip lunch, I was out during that period and only had access to fast-food (KFC, McDonalds or Burger King). I considered the lesser of two evils was to skip lunch than put any of that rubbish in my body. Is that the right call or should I just take the calories anyway I can get em?

In future I need to get better at a) identifying healthy foods I can eat (this is half the problem I am not consuming many calories, cause I am banned from so many of my former food sources) and b) PLAN AHEAD, ensure I make a lunch instead of getting trapped in these situations.