I have done a lot of diets in the past. When I stayed with it they all worked great. I have had a very busy schedule the last few years (work 7 days and have four kids in night time sports) and now I am 215 and 5'9'. Basically I am the fattest I have ever been. Just 4 years ago I was between 185-195 and have always been muscular. Basically eating right is very hard at this point because of how busy I am. My plan is to bike to work at least 5 days per week (about 1.5 hours per day). I will be eating somewhat clean, pita,beef stew,whole wheat pasta ect... I will also hit the gym 3 nights per week. Question is, will this be enough to drop the lbs? Keep in mind I will be going from sitting on my ass all day, 7 days per week to this new routine. Any advice would be great!
90 mins of cycling daily can be very good, especially if you some intervals and ride hard. You should ride over to the escarpment and do some hills.
Won't it be difficult to start eating right, biking 5 days a week to work, and going to the gym 3 times a week suddenly? (time constraints, taking the kids to sports, muscle ache, etc) Biking to work is a good idea but you don't want to bike too hard going to work; otherwise you'll end up too sweaty at work (biking fast leaving work is fine since you can shower at home). In the first week your legs/other muscles might be sore from biking/gym; you could either do less biking and/or gym that week. You could also add a trip to the sauna/hot tub to relax those muscles (take the family to the pool while your at it?). What exercises are you planning to do at the gym? Are you going to do more cardio or some weight lifting? You can also do some body weight exercises at home on the days you are too busy to go to the gym. You'll probably be hungrier with that increase in exercise so keep that in mind for meal preparation. To have the same weight as 4 years ago you have to lose a minimum of 20 pounds, this is definitely doable, Maybe make a goal for yourself? Like lose 3 pounds a week? Also keep if mind if you're weight lifting that muscle weighs more than fat so if your weight hasn't changed much but you look/feel healthier then you did a job well done. Good luck.
Your maintenance cals are in the ballpark of 3,200 at that weight and activity level. At your weight, assuming you cycle at a leisurely 5 mph, that's about -500 cal/day. At 10 mph, it's about -1000. Lifting at a moderate intensity 3x a week is about another -750 cals given that you're doing about a half hour of work. If you give more details such as your total ride distance and your lifting routine, I could give you more accurate values. So, assuming you were dead nuts eating at maintenance right now, you'd create a ~4250 to 7750 deficit from activity, putting you at 1.2 to 2.2 lbs lost per week. This would be a 19% to 34% deficit. That's in a vacuum where I assumed you're eating exactly at maintenance, which is the best I can do given what you provided. It also ignores lots of real life variables. It's a starting point for you though, good luck!
Yes it will be a bit harder, but as I said I plan to eat fairly healthy, really healthy compared to what I eat now. Meaning Pita's, wholewheat pasta, beef stew subs and so on. Basically I won't eat super clean either, I have done that before and I only stick with it for a few weeks. Hitting the gym won;t be too hard as my gym is 24 hours and I can go after the kids are in bed.
I appreciate the info. Right now I eat like a complete jackass lol, fast food late night snacks, beer and so on. As mentioned in the previous post, I plan on eating healthier than I am now. For example Pita,wholewheat pasta,beef stew, subs and maybe some light snacks like almonds,cashews,jerky... At the gym I will do deep squats,stiff leg deadlifts and leg curls (I think that should be plenty for legs considering the biking) day 2 will be incline bench, flat bench and 4 sets of push ups to failure, deadlifts, bent over rows and chin ups. Day 3 will be military press, shrugs, side raises and then barbell curls. I usually do 3-4 sets of 8-10. The distance biked is 22km per day 5 days per week, 2 big hills on the way there and back. Yesterday was the first day doing it and it took 42 minutes on the way to work and 60 minutes on the way back (on the way back the 2 hills are about 800 meters a piece which is why the time difference.) and it's not a slow pace, I pedal a decent pace almost the whole way. Any other advise from the above info would be great! Just did the rough calculations of what I plan to be eating, Calorie wise. Should be around 2500-2700 per day. Is this too little?
Your going to be eating less/better and exercising more.....that alone is a massive step in the right direction. Don't worry about getting to much into the science of it straight away. Give it a few months of doing what you are doing and when you start noticing results your motivation will be 10 times what it is now. Then get more into the science bit of it. You will be more likely to stick it out then I swear. Also don't weigh yourself every 5 minutes. If you only weigh yourself once a month you will notice more of a difference and it will be another motivation boost. Good luck.
biking for 1.5 hrs? ugh! 100 burpees for 10 mins. now you have an extra 1 hr & 20 mins to eat mcdonalds.
