Starting to get seriously sore now, pretty much all over. Arms/shoulders from the pushups and movements we did with weights (of course I did most of the push ups on my knees, and my weights were only 5 lbs apiece, but **** I'm hurting), thighs from constantly struggling (and failing fairly frequently) to stay in a squat position a lot of the time and trying to keep up with all the jumping.

It's a good sore, though, not a "oh God my back is going to give out" kind of sore. Still, tomorrow is going to suuuuuuuuuuck.

RJ,

Glad to hear that you are getting back on the horse, so to speak; fighting through the first two weeks of DOMS is always tough.

I'd encourage you to more exactly determine what your caloric requirements are (perhaps using a site like this), as guesstimation can cause problems. Weighing everything, pre-cooking most of my meals, and pre-planning my entire day's eating worked quite well for me, so I'd recommend as much of that as you can stomach. I always kept lots of sliced bell peppers, tomatoes, and other random veggies around to snack on if I got hungry, and kept very specific desserts around that I'd have on days I worked out (one Klondike bar, a single cup of ice cream, etc). It's a little bit of trial and error to find out what works for you, but it'll happen. I'd recommend targeting a minimal level of protein and then fitting the rest of your calories around that, as it's likely you're not eating enough of it.

As an aside, just to echo what others have said, it's pretty ****ty that your BF isn't being more supportive re: junk food in the home. I think your idea about segregating it to an area that you normally don't frequent is a good one, but regardless, not having that sort of thing available to eat is the easiest way not to eat it.

Good luck!

My major weakness is chocolate. My wife is a teacher and gets chocolate from her students at various times throughout the year. I tell her to hide it from me. She doesn't really like chocolate and used to just tell me to eat it all but I'm trying to not be fat so I force her to hide it. If I see it - I'll eat it all.

So +1 to if you can have him hide junk food. Though I doubt he will b/c he's going to say "I'm not going to go to the hiding spot multiple times a night - that's ridiculous."

Yeah, I mean it's a problem but at the same time I just have to have the willpower not to go there, even when I'm bored (which seems to be one of the largest trigger for me).

Monte, I'm certainly going to be more precise as soon as I replace my broken food scale. It's literally in the mail from Amazon. And while I am, as I said, very aware of the tendency to underestimate amount/calories, I'm hyper aware of this to the point that I think I'm not going to be under by much until the scale gets here. I'm being as accurate as I can without an actual scale, and I will use that once it arrives.

I already pack lunches for work, which is usually two meals (or one meal and a snack that turns into a meal), as my shift is noon to eight.

Tonight's meal will be Mongolian beef with rice and veggies.

Dinner:

Rice - 300 calories
6 oz of beef - 300 I think I'm a bit low here, as this meat was pretty lean and I trimmed all visible fat, but w/e. Also the beef wasn't a good cut (it was given to us) so it was tough/chewy, but that probably made me eat slower
Mongolian sauce - 100 calories
Veggies - green onions, carrots, and peas. Going to call it 200 but that's probably high as well.

So 900 for dinner and I'm pretty full. So far today I've had nothing but water to drink. Pedometer is just under 10K; unlike yesterday, where I went shopping and did behavioral work with my 6 yo autistic client, today I did very little other than work out and some stuff around the house.

I'm going to get out for a walk tomorrow before work (tomorrow is my Monday).

300 calories of rice seems like a big leak. But still, well done.

I don't eat rice that often, but when I do I prefer sticky rice. I was also pretty hungry by dinner and felt pretty satiated after I was finished eating while staying under my goal.

I'll have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and it's barely any rice and mostly meat/veggies.

I do need to start incorporating healthier carbs for when I do eat them, so any suggestions on that score would be appreciated. I grew up in a very meat and potatoes kind of house. I've started eating that garlic quinoa/brown rice mix (it's an organic microwave thing from some company called Seeds of Change, they sell them in 8 packs at Costco) and 90% of the time my potatoes include cauliflower mashed in them as well. But other than that and the standard switches (whole grain bread/pasta instead of white bread/pasta) I'm not really up on the best type of carbs for nutrition and satiety.

Also I meant I thought I was a bit high on my meat estimation before, as what I saw online estimates 43 calories per ounce of lean beef, but I rounded up to an even 50 per ounce to compensate for my lack of scale and the trace amounts of fat. When I doubt I round up.

Healthier carbs? Are you low on fiber or something? Doesn't make too much sense otherwise.

I mean in general it seems like avoiding white flour products and potatoes is told to people trying to get healthier, but I'm not sure what all my alternatives would be.

Or is that some sort of broscience fallacy I've just internalized?

I'm trying to up my veggies and cut out junk, what sort of grains/carbs should I be avoiding and which should I be adding?

Also I don't have any idea about my overall fiber intake.

broscience. potatoes are awesome (in moderation)

Yeah that is huge broscience right there. Your body doesn't know the difference between carbs. A carb is a carb. Focus on hitting a certain fiber intake each day oppose "eating clean". In the end, this will help you not to binge plus there is no reason why you should eat a ton of "dry" foods because it seems healthy to do so. Enjoy the foods you like in moderation. The problem is that your focus is on hitting a certain amount of calories each day which isn't ideal. Figure out the correct macro nutrients and more cardio wouldn't hurt either over time.

Fair enough.

And I'm adding cardio FFS. Did you miss the part about being significantly overweight and sedentary?

I'm not ignoring exercise but I can't just suddenly run 10 miles a day, I'll either get injured or be in so much pain it will sap my motivation. I did hour long workouts at the gym the last two days and will do at least one more this week.

I expect pain returning to exercise (I'm pretty damn sore today as a matter of fact) but I'm also not in my 20s and as able to ignore my screaming calves and knees and work out 6 days a week despite the pain.

I would think at least three days of vigorous exercise a week was a good start.

I thought the reason you don't want to eat white flour products is because it's not good for satiety which means you easily end up eating more. True? False? Broscience?

Yeah I'm at this stage in my training as well. I probably couldn't run more than 10 miles a week without getting injuried. At this stage I try lose weight while getting my body used to putting in the miles. Losing weight will probably make more intensive cardio training later easier as well because I don't have to carry around an extra 20lb.

uh, green leafy veggies are a 'good carb source.' they're 'good' because they are extremely low cal and can be very filling. google it, FFS.

green lettuce
spinach
broccoli
kale

some of these are decent fiber sources, but you can also try raw cacao powder (delicious w/coffee), natty pb, fresh lemon squeezed juice with the zest added in. quest bars are also an amazing fiber and protein source, but they're a bit pricey.

should also look into adding omega 3 fats. if its a hassle, buy a fish oil supp. there are also omega 3 eggs available

also, tuna is very low cal and can help make hitting your protein target easier, leaving you with more cals for the day to play with.

Well nix the broccoli but I like the other three.

I might need to consider a fish out supplement as I'm not a big fan of fish.

Breakfast - Instant oatmeal, two packets (320).

Lunch will be greek yogurt (120) with a nectarine (70) and a small amount of grape nuts (50) mixed in for texture. Also baby carrots (50) and string cheese (80).

Dinner will be leftover Mongolian beef (mostly beef/veggies, there was little rice left 550) and a large apple (100).

Total for the day at 1340. Bit on the low side. Might add a small salad at work (they are free) to increase vegetable intake.

No walk today, the bottom of my left heel is numb for some reason and between that and the threat of rain and my soreness I decided against it. Will walk tomorrow and do another class on Friday.

Ok I wasn't saying it as if you did not plan to do it but general advice. All I'm saying is to do your research on nutrition because there are a lot of misconceptions and increase cardio gradually. A lot of people have this frame of mind of time to cut/start my diet- starting tomorrow I'm going to cut carbs/intake low calories and do a ton of cardio. When I talk about a carb is a carb, it's to try to prevent you from doing anything too drastic. Then again, I guess it doesn't matter if you only count calories.

Didn't add a salad at lunch, ran out of time.

Did have a Jolly Rancher candy, there's a guy who comes in and always hands them out (one a person).

mostly true. which is why ev and others are suggesting high fiber carb sources. but if you can fit it into your cals and macros and you want potatoes/bread etc, go for it.

My scale arrived.

Lunch tomorrow will be a salad with spinach and spring mix (10 calories), 2oz of lunch meat turkey (50 calories), 1 tbsp of dressing (50), 1oz shredded cheese (110), croutons (120), baby carrots (25), cucumber (19), celery (4), and radish (4) for a total of 392. Will also have a nectarine (70), so lunch will be 468.

Dinner will be 6.9 ounces of chicken breast with breadcrumbs (400) with string cheese (80) and a large banana (120) for a total of 600.

So I'll shoot for around 500 at breakfast.

Pedometer said I walked roughly 4300 steps today, which seems about right for a day I work but do little else. I also stand for 7 hours. Just as a baseline for what my normal workday without exercise would be like.

Hour long walk this morning.

Breakfast was instant oatmeal (160) and a kale/oj/banana/strawberry/blueberry smoothie. Everything was measured, but I went waaaaaaay over on the kale and couldn't drink it all. Based on measurements and how much I choked down, maybe 300? Gotta be careful with that kale. That **** was funky.

mostly true but just want to point out that right kind of bread is actually amongst high fiber carb sources.

I'd never ever meet my fiber goal for the day if I didn't eat bread, cutting or bulking, doesn't matter - every day is a bread day for me.

Which bread has the highest fiber content?

Yes I could Google it.

100% whole-grain rye bread I usually buy is 13g of fiber per 100g of bread.

ie 5.4 grams per 100 cals.

for reference;
broccolli is 7.1g per 100 cals
and green peas 7.5g per 100 cals

Good to know, thanks.