Random Catchy Title About Health and Fitness

There I was. Staring at myself in the mirror, getting ready for work in the morning and hating what I saw. 215lbs standing at 5'6" (that’s on a good day). You know that expression “10 pounds of shit in a 5-pound bag?” Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt and looked.

For awhile I was coasting along. You know how it is, because we all do it. Got married, went on a honeymoon, then a few years later bought a house. In between all of that I told myself, after this major event I’ll get back into my health. As always, one event was replaced by another, until I just said “meh, I’ll get to it when I get to it.”

But that morning, standing there looking at myself and remembering all the health complications my parents went through early this year, something inside me clicked and said no more, it’s time for a change.

Why am I writing this?

A few reasons. I’ve been exercising and lifting for over 6 months and have lost over 40lbs. I’m starting to see myself plateau and know that I’m about to have my patience tested, so this post is a way to remind myself to keep going and remind myself of why I started. But another reason is for you. I’m not writing this as a one size fits all solution, but I want to share what’s been successful for me, in hopes that you can adapt it into your lifestyle to see results.

Okay, so where do I start?

Before we start, remember that this plan is about weight loss, more specifically, fat loss and muscle gain. Yes it is possible to do both at the same time even if you’re on a deficit diet, but it will take some time and adjustments to make sure that it all works for your body. I’m no expert, if you need it, make sure you visit a doctor/physician before you start any weight training regiment.

Weight Lifting

Weight lifting isn’t necessary. But I incorporate it into my daily routine because I enjoy it, love seeing the changes to my body over time, and seeing my strength gains as time goes on.

My advice to anyone starting out is to use your own bodyweight before incorporating weights into your workout. Pushups, crunches, lunges, body weight squats, all of these are exercises that you can do right at home to prepare yourself before going to the gym.

If you’re ready and able to get to the gym, then I suggest having a plan and set goals. Recognize your weaknesses and make sure to work hard to strengthen those areas. Do you want stronger calves? Make sure to incorporate calf raises into your workouts. Want stronger larger quads? Then NEVER skip leg day, and make sure you’re squatting.

It’s important to give your body rest when you work specific parts of the body. Without proper rest, you won’t see muscle growth. And with insufficient muscle growth all of that hard work leads to nothing, worst yet it could even lead to muscle LOSS. Yikes!

For a beginner I suggest following a basic 3 day routine with a day of rest in between. This typically will make it a Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine for most folks.

An example routine could look like:
Chest: Bench Press
Back: Rows
Legs: Squats
Shoulders: Shoulder Press
Triceps: Tricep Pushdown / Pushups
Biceps: Dumbbell curls
Calves: Standing Calf Raises
Abs: Crunches

Notice that we’re targeting every part of the body. This is possible because you’re making sure to take a rest day between each workout (and proper amount of sleep too!) Once you start to get in the groove of things you can look at different splits, and incorporating different exercises into your routine, and have days dedicated to different parts of the body.

Cardio

My cardio routine is fairly simple to follow. 20 minutes on the elliptical after every weight training session. The pattern I use is 20 seconds of sprinting followed up by 40 seconds of fast jogging… err sliding. The reason why I choose the elliptical over the treadmill is ease. I don’t have to worry about adjusting the speed after 20 seconds of sprinting, I can just focus on a nice constant jog and then a hard sprint.

A good way to build up to this high intensity interval training is to start out with something you can handle. Maybe it’s 10 minutes of jogging at first. That is totally okay. It takes time to condition your body, be patient. I started out with 10 second sprints, followed by full minute of jogging. Over time I made it 10 second sprints to 50 seconds of jogging. Find what suits you and progress from there.

Nutrition

Finally the most important factor when trying to lose weight. Everyone’s heard of calories in and calories out. Eat less calories, expend more calories and you lose weight. Sounds easy, but it can get complicated quickly.

For this article, we’ll keep it short and simple.

First, you’ll want to use any of these sites to find your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Cutting out all the jargon, this number is the amount of calories your body needs to just function while at rest. This number will be different for everyone, many different factors go into it. Your age, gender, height, current weight, all of these play a part in your BMR, so never compare yours to another persons.

Now this is where the fun starts. Take your BMR and multiple by one of these numbers depending on your level of activity throughout the day.

• Sedentary (little to no exercise): BMR x 1.2
• Lightly active (light exercise 1–3 days per week): BMR x 1.375
• Moderately active (moderate exercise 3–5 days per week): BMR x 1.55
• Very active (hard exercise/sports 6–7 days per week): BMR x 1.725
• Extra active (very hard exercise + physical job or training twice a day) BMR x 1.9

Phew, that’s a lot of numbers. But after multiplying your BMR with one of those numbers you’ll finally have your target caloric intake for a day. Now you’ll want to factor in what you need to cut from that caloric intake in order for you to start losing weight.

A deficit of 3,500 calories will result in a 1lbs loss (not always guaranteed since there are many different factors). So let’s take 3500/7 days a week and you get 500 calories that you’ll need to cut every day in order to lose 1 pound a week.

In total here’s your calculation you’ll need to follow:
BMR * Activity Level = Total daily caloric needs (TDCN)
TDCN – 500 = Daily Caloric Intake

What you decide to do with this number is totally up to you. You can just do a rough guesstimate of your daily intake and see if you’re close or below that number. You could sign up for sites that help you track your meals, create a google sheet that tracks your caloric intake. The decision is up to you, but what you now have is a valuable piece of information that can help you kickstart weight loss.

Honestly, you may not need to go through all of this to lose weight. What I’ve learned throughout this entire experience is to just be mindful of what I’m putting into my body and what I’m doing. Do I still splurge and enjoy drinks and food on the weekends? Of course I do. It’s all about moderation. Don’t view this as a diet. Because diets will inevitably fail, or you’ll get tired of feeling restricted. Think of this as a lifestyle change, and eating like you should be eating.

If you have any questions, want advice, or just want someone to cheer you on feel free to reach out to me.