3rd Month of Regiment - Trying to build muscle, lose fat.

[sonnychiba]

Hello, I'm new to posting on these boards, but I've been roaming. Some great info and tips I've been following, thanks for that.

So as of 3 months ago, I have been on a pretty strict diet/fitness regiment in order to lose weight and build muscle.

Here's some my info:

Im a 24 y/o male
6'1
at the start of this I was 240 lbs, I've dropped to 215 lbs.

My plan was pretty basic; No fast food, soda, chips, candies, ice cream, mayo, butter and other various fatty foods.
Run to the gym, a mile or so.. lift for 30mins or so, run or ride the eliptical trainer for 30 mins, at least 5 times a week.
My first month was hard, didnt follow it to well so progress was slower.. but now its become lifestyle, i enjoy it.

Basically I'm curious to and advice you can give to speed up the process, or make sure I'm doing this correctly.. at first I was eating no fat whatsoever, didnt know about healthy fats.... now im eating natural peanut butter with flax seed oils. so much more satisfying.

Trying to drink lots of water, eat whole grain breads, skim milk, tuna sandwiches.. soups, bananas, chicken breasts, veggies etc..

So any other advice you can give me?

Thank you!

[minime]

welcome to discussfitness!

re: speeding up the process : it seems to me that you are losing weight quite speedily already! 25lbs in 3 months is a fast loss. Now that you only weigh 215 i am sure the process will slow down for you, at 6'1 215 is a perfectly acceptable weight.

why not give us some more information on your current workouts and on your diet?

you could start a journal in the online journals section.

good luck!

[sonnychiba]

thanks..
I would like to be at approximately 185 lbs at the end of this, which may be me pretty cut so have to keep going and see how that will look.
I used to be in shape, unfourtunately I broke my leg and took a long time to recover, during that time I was unable to work out or play sports like hockey. I also developed bad habits, bad food, laziness and partying.

Before my weight gain I was usually 175 lbs pretty cut, a supposed a couple years back.. but I've grown more muscle mass I think from then, decided to make a change.. wish me luck!

i will enter in some info in the journals btw..

[etothepii]

Looks like you are doing great!!! You could start an account at FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal which would allow you to monitor calories more precisely. You would be able to adjust your diet as your weight loss slows down (which it will, you know.) I agree with minime that your pace is already fast enough.

There are tons of lifting and fitness programs out there, each promising various results. That fact that you are eating better, lifting and doing cardio means you will most likely be losing fat and sparing muscle! At this point, the specific program may not matter, but as you progress, especially in lifting, adopting a proven program may become necesary for getting you to that next level.

Like minime said, post what you're doing.

[sonnychiba]

Most of my lifting workout is pretty random, im not that experienced at all. i usually try for 3-4 sets of 12-14 reps of my max. can anyone please tell me how to break down the different workouts?

as in what workouts work out specifically?
one of my friends told me he works out main muscles like chest/back most days.. so i have been doing that, but i understand its better to separate body groups to days?

i normally do bench, flys most days, curls, various tricep exercises, shoulders.. sorry if my stuff is a mess, as i am a rookie at this...:confused:

[etothepii]

Start with compound exercises:

Dead Lift
Squat
Bench Press
Dips
Rows
Pull ups/chin ups
Military press


Get good at them. Do most or all of this list, two to three times per week. If you have energy after going through this list, or on an off day, do isolation moves like curls, triceps stuff, shoulder isos's etc. Lift in the 10 - 12 range for a couple weeks, then increase the weight and see how you do. Drop down to the 8 rep range for a couple weeks, adding as much weight as you can. If it's going well, add more weight and drop down to the 5-6 rep range for a couple weeks. This should give you a good chance to learn form in those lifts, to see your capabilities in different rep ranges, and to build some strength. After about 6 to 8 weeks, you will feel like a more experienced lifter. Then, you can develop an upper/lower body split, a typical body builder 4 day split, a program like HST, Max-OT, strength training (search names like Bill Starr, Madcow, Rippetoe, Korte) or any number of other successful programs.

[CF-OC_gal]

Hey Sonny,

Welcome to Discuss Fitness. It sounds like you got a good thing going. I have nothing else to add except - join us!