Turboem1

Hey guys I am looking for some advice.

Me and my brother are trying to lose some weight. We want this to be permanent and a lifestyle change. We have started already but I would like to get some input from others about what we have done so far and what we should do and/or change.

Currently I am a 20 yr old student. 6ft tall 247lbs. I started to make a change in October 06'. I went from 280lbs October 1st to 247lbs on March 19th. 33lbs in a little more then 5 months. On 3/30/06 I was 289lbs.
My brother is a 24 yr old union construction worker. 5ft 11" 254lbs. Started on January 24th at 272lbs and now weighs 254lbs. 18lbs in about 2 months.

Neither of us smoke or drink any alcohol.

We both have road bikes and have a membership to the gym. We have been going to the gym 4 days a week and lifting weights. The four day split was...
1. Chest/Tris
2. Back/Bis
3. Legs
4. Shoulders/forearms/abs

Recently we switched to 4 days a week of 20-25 minutes on the elliptical. Not sure if that is better or worse.

It is currently cold and snowy in NY but when it warms up we will definately be adding riding our bikes.

Thats the exercise part. As far as diet. We go food shopping every sunday. Here is our general shopping list. This is to last 1 full week for the both of us. This is open to change.

Breakfast:
Cereal – Fiber One Honey Clusters or Kashi Go Lean Crunch

Lunch/Dinner:
Bread – Weight Watchers Multi Grain Bread
Cold Cuts – Turkey, Roast Beef, Ham (Total of about 2lbs)
Reduced Fat Peanut Butter
Sugar Free Jelly ( the PB&J is for my brother. It is easy to make, is cheap and lasts a long time. He works 12 hours a day in construction so I am not sure if PB&J sandwiches are that bad for him. I do not eat peanut butter because I usually am sitting at a desk at school. Is the PB&J that bad?)
Smart Life – Veggie Protein Chili
Boneless Chicken Breast
Boca burgers - Original
Beans – Bush’s Maple Cured Bacon
Refried Beans
Fat Free Sour Cream

Drinks:
Water
Seltzer
Iced Tea – Lipton Diet Lemon
Skim Chocolate Milk

Snacks:
Instant Pudding or Jello – Fat free Sugar free
Hummus
Salsa
Pretzels/Chips
Yogurt
Fig Newtons
Soy Crisps

On top of that list there is also all fruits. Banana, Apple, Plum, watermelon, melons, pear, peach, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, ect... Frozen vegetables. String beans, broccoli, peas, ect.. And other beans. Black, pinto, chick peas, navy, ect....

I would guess we probably need to eat more lettuce as it usually comes down to maybe 1 salad a week each for the both of us.

I would like for us to both loose more weight. I think we did pretty good through the winter and as it warms up hopefully things will move a little faster.

I tried to be as thorough as possible. If there are any questions or specifics feel free to ask.

Any input for our exercise or shopping list would be appreciated. Thanks

ratebeer

Congrats! I guess the one thing that's important is your exercise. Keep adding mileage as you become more active and can tolerate more activity. It's more important than nutrition after you've made the jump over to healthy food choices. Keep ramping up! Most people can be riding 6 days a week in just a few months.

Eating right is pretty simple and you're on the right track -- Learn to eat fresh fruit and vegetables, stay away from junk. Throw some fish into your diet at least a couple days a week. You're on the coast, take advantage of it.

Peanut butter is not so good if you're losing weight -- it's mostly fat.

Chips can also be very fatty. Pretzels and mustard is a low fat alternative. Also low fat whole grain crackers and tuna salad (use plain yogurt instead of mayo or put lowfat cottage cheese or cream cheese into a blender w/ water and use that as a mayo substitute) will give you the same dunk-for-salty-snack dealio while delivering protein, good oils, and some carbs.

JPradun

Congrats to you both, but here are some of my suggestions:

Weight lifting is great for toning and building strength, but it won't make you lose weight like aerobic exercise will. Spend at least 30min/day (or try 60min every other day). It's important to burn at LEAST 2000 calories a week, which is approx 3hrs of hard effort. This is not only for losing weight, but to keeping your heart healthy/strong. Variety is key! Go outside and run/speed walk or ride your bike for a long time and enjoy yourselves. Drink water, and cut the pop completely (it's almost as bad as alcohol).

Try adding in 2 eggs to your breakfast. It will keep you fuller, longer. You really need more protein in your diet, especially at breakfast time. Also, cut out that multi-grain bread and switch to whole wheat, only. Make sure the package says (100%) whole wheat, otherwise it's just modified white bread (subway's "wheat" is modified white). If you make pasta, try to use whole wheat, although some white won't hurt.

Also cut the peanut butter--it has trans fat, and a lot of fat. Even organic peanut butter (despite not having trans fat) is still fatty. As for the jelly, sugar free tastes like crap. Try organic -- that will also cut the high fructose corn syrup from it, too.

Also, lower the amount of beans. Substitute tuna or salmon (fresh caught, NOT fresh raised/farm raised/ocean grown/grown anything), you are not getting enough omega-3 fatty acids. Try replacing as much red meat as possible with chicken breats/pork. Your turkey/chicken/ham is good. Also, diet lipton tea is not real tea, it's just bonafide sugar. Try using real tea or cut it completely. Also, cut the chips completely. I would also try getting in some pasta (tortellini, whole wheat pasta is actually pretty good, or use another kind) in there for variety. NO alfredo sauce. Try some salads in there.

Eat healthy, and reward yourself for every 5lbs you lose by eating something good/nice. That doesn't mean McDonalds or a big cheeseburger/fries, but make some nice pasta with vodka sauce or go out to olive garden and order some nice chicken, pasta, etc. Eat half the plate and save the other half for a meal in the middle of next week.

Remember that it isn't possible to lose weight without feeling at least slightly hungry sometimes. If you are feeling really hungry at night or in the day, make a bowl of salad. A bowl of salad is only like 100-300 calories, where as a cup of nuts is closer to 800-1000 calories, and both will make you feel full enough.

Sorry for the length, but I wish you the best.

Roody

I think you're doing great. You should eat a lot more vegetables, especially salads (dark lettuce like romaine) and other raw and cooked vegetables. Try to eat fish instead of chicken twice a week.

I think you would be happy with continued weight loss (and maintaining it) if you spent a lot more time on endurance exercise. Try 60 to 90 minutes per day, at least 5 days a week. go for gentle sustainable exercise, moderate cycling, walking, hiking, jogging, the elliptic machine, swimming, rowing, etc. A variety is good because you're more likely to keep it up for the long haul, and less likely to develop overuse injuries.

Weights twice a week, for 30 minutes or less, is enough for most people. Remember that you're also gaining good functional strength through your endurance exercises.

My main advice is to remember that this is a lifelong effort. You absolutely cannot quit. The human body needs exercise and proper nutrition every single day.

kuan

Fantastic! I would maybe throw in more oats and veggies in your diet. For snacks, try some fruit as well.

DannoXYZ 

In addition to all the above advice, I'd recommend moving some of the dinner calories to breakfast and lunch. PB&J aren't bad, it's depends upon the amount. It's great for energy before/during a workout and for post-workout recovery. Cut back on the gym and do more miles on the bike. With no other changes to your diet, you should be seeing a weight-loss rate of 1-1.5 lb/week. This is the largest that can be sustainable and permanent without causing too much muscle-catalobism or chronic fatigue.

Keep up the good work!

Univega

I believe you are headed in the right direction. While the aerobic exercise will burn fat, lifting weights will change your entire metabolism for the better. You doing a combination which is great.

As for your diet, check this site for some help:

https://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/index.htm

The article 7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs is very good.

You do not mention it, but do you take any supplements. My personal opinion, I would add a multi-vitamin and fish oils.

Turboem1

Thanks everyone for the input. I definately will take all of what you said into consideration.

Ill start doing more cardio (30+ minutes a day).
I am not going to buy chips anymore (I didn't mean potato chips but still it's something I can do without)
Ill lower the peanut butter amount and move it earlier in the day.
Also I do not buy anything with HFCS.
Definately will add more salad/lettuce.

Currently no supplements are being taken. I do have some multivitamins with no iron that I could take if it would be beneficial.

ericgu

A few thoughts:

More whole grains would be better. Lots more vegetables.

On the exercise part, it would be better if you did longer periods of cardio less often. 20 minutes is really only enough to get you warmed up - 40 minutes would be better.

Univega

I have to agree about the vegetables. The vitamin is good insurance. Read up on Fish oils. They will help you lose weight. I does make sense that eating fat will help you lose fat, but it will help.

BTW: I found this tip from John Berardi this morning. I think it is right on:

FOOD TIPS
My most important tip - far and away - is the idea that carbohydrate intake should be activity-dependant.

So, simply put, the typical recreational exerciser saves his or her starches (pasta, bread, oatmeal, rice, etc) and sugary carbs (sweets, recovery drinks, sports drinks, etc) until they're exercising or immediately after. The rest of the day is for proteins, good fats, and lots of veggies (along with some fruits).

By following this rule, my typical clients see BIG, IMMEDIATE body comp changes! And, truly, this tip has been the biggest in terms of body composition impact for my recreational exercisers since they're typically only exercising 3-4 times per week.

We often have clients who swear that they're at 90% compliance (the gold standard for Precision Nutrition) and then, upon using the compliance grid, find out that they're really at 50% or 60%.

Hope this helps.

Roody

I think that's great advice. I'm working on being less rigid about my food intake.

For example, today my knee hurts, so I'm not going to be able to exercise at all. That means I'm going to cut my calories WAY down. I'll eat the usual salad and veggies, but cut back on the carbs and fats. On days when I ride a lot, I eat more carbs. On days when I lift weights, I eat a bit more protein.