New Member Seeking Advice

[Neb1016]

Hi all,

I am looking for some nutritional direction, and am hoping that you guys can help. I am a 41 year old male, 5’9” and weigh 231 lbs. My body fat % is 29.1 and my BMI is 34.1. About 6-weeks ago, I embarked upon a fitness regimen. I have just started working with a personal trainer (ACE and NASM certified) and take spinning classes. My goal is to average a burn of 1000 calories per day. On days that I work with my PT (3 times per week, I supplement it with cardio such as the first 30 minutes of a spinning class, or 30 minutes on the elliptical). This generally allows me to hit my target. The problem: my weight loss is not what I would expect. I have only lost about 5 lbs (let’s say in a month) and my waist size has increased!!!! The good news is that my chest is broader and my arms are smaller. However, my PT said that she would have expected more. I am a huge diet cola fan, and (until a couple of days ago) consumed upwards of 130 ounces per day of Diet Coke and/or Diet Pepsi (yes, I know, it’s 10 times the national average of soda consumption). My PT believes that this has caused me to retain significant water and constrains my weight loss. She asked me to cut my soda intake by half and start drinking green and/or white tea 2 times per day for its antioxidant value, and increase my water intake. I have actually managed to cut my soda intake to about 24 ounces a day (32 ounce cup with ice) and am drinking the tea. I am targeting about 150 ounces of water per day.

My nutrition is not horrible, but with 3 sons under the age of 5, it is easy to cheat. I try and eat 5 or 6 smaller, healthful meals a day.

My exercise regimen is as follows:

Mon: 45 minutes spinning (about 1000 calories burned)
Tuesday: 30 minutes elliptical followed by 1 hour personal training (about 1000 calories burned)
Wednesday: 45 minutes of spinning (about 1000 calories burned)
Thursday – 30 minutes elliptical followed by 1 hour personal training (about 1000 calories burned)
Friday – 30 minutes of spinning followed by 1 hour personal training ( about 1200 calories burned)

Here are my questions:

• As my personal training consists of plyometrics, abs, ball-exercises, and some machine and free weights (I have a weak core, which my PT is trying to strengthen), I would like to migrate into a weight-based program. Would it make sense to throw in a traditional free-weight program. I have a lot of free weights at home, and could do it there?
• I don’t really know what I should be targeting for calories, fat, protein, carbs consumed.
• I am as close to a pure endomorph as you will find. As my goal is to build significant muscle and reduce body fat to under 10%, what is the best way to go about it? Do I have to lose fat weight and then build muscle, or can I strengthen my muscles while losing fat.
• I take a thermogenic (Lipo6) in the morning followed by a multivitamin and sometimes an MRP in the afternoon. This is really it for supplementation. Would a protein powder with skim milk be better than the MRP? Do I need more supps?

Any feedback or insight is greatly appreciated.

Neb

[MAURER]

hey welcome to the board! you're going to get a lot more feedback if you post in the "beginners questions" section of the forum. good luck!

[Neb1016]

Thanks, Maurer. I'll do it. I appreciate the feedback.

Neb