I recently lost 20lbs in about one month recently. Since just before the holidays, I stopped my diet and exercising and have not gained a pound back yet. I'm guessing my metabolism is still jacked up so it's keeping me at the weight I obtained, but that won't last forever.
Today marks me restarting the diet/exercise that I was doing.
Before the diet there were the facts:
- I weighed more than ever before, 197lbs. Since I've been 18years old i've been between 160-170.
- I was drinking 1-2 redbulls a day (
z - 12oz)
- I was drinking 2 20oz Mt Dews a day, sometimes 3
- I was drinking about 4-8 full beers every night
- I did not eat breakfast, ever.
- I ate lunch out at various fast food places, 2-4 times a week
- I was eating dinner out about 3-4 times a week (usually fried bar food).
- I did not exercise at all. My daily routine involved sitting behind a computer at work all day, and sitting behind a computer or tv when I got home.. most of the time.
Things I changed:
- I kicked the sodas to the curb. I slipped up maybe a handful of times. Furthermore I kicked caffeine to the curb as a whole in order to keep myself from slipping up to go back to caffeine. Since the holidays I've gone back to them in full force. Today is day one again without them.
- The initial intention was to stay with zero-cal and zero-carb drinks. Crystal Light would've worked, but I stayed with only water the entire time. No tea, no juices, no milk, no sodas, nothing. Just water. Most of people's calorie intake is done via liquid consumption. We've been mentally trained to beware of high fat, high cal, high carb foods, but most people don't apply that same thinking to their liquid intake.
- I stopped drinking for the most part. I slipped up here about 4-5 times as well, but stuck with MGD64, Mich Ultra or other low cal low carb beers.
- My meals changed severely. And I didn't eat less, I ate more. This will take a bit more explanation.
Meals
- The majority of my diet became fruits and vegetables. I generally tried to stay with negative calorie vegetables and fruits. (Foods that require more calories to process than they contain).
- I also jacked up the protein in my diet. I took a whey protein shake once a day after working out. I took creatine supplements once before workout, once after. I tried my best to stay away from really fatty meats ( burgers, bbq, ribs, etc.. ) and stayed more with baked chicken, seafood, etc. I avoided gravies, spreads, butter, and whatever else people try to put on healthy food to make them "better".
- I began eating breakfast and this is where I would consume any foods heavy in carbs (Cereal, oatmeal, etc.) I made sure only to consume one serving.
- I cut out a number of things. No fast food, period. No fried food. No microwavable food. No pasta. I cut out bread entirely. and opted to make my own wraps with wraps or soft tortilla shells.
- I ate 5 small meals a day. I learned portions sizes. If i ate cereal, it was one literal cups of cereal and a 1/2 cup of skim milk for instance. I'd have a carb for breakfast, a fruit for a 10am snack, a small wrap (usually with turkey) for lunch at 12. A veggie again at about 2 or 3pm. Upon leaving work I'd immediately go to work out. 30 min after working out I would eat dinner. I tried to make sure dinner was early (before 7:30pm). Eating more often, but smaller portion-controlled meals raises your metabolism, on top of working out there is nothing more powerful you can do than this.
- Even if you do this and you're eating more often, I promise, you will experience more hunger pains than if you're used to 2 meals a day that are crappy for you. Using veggies or fruit as a snack as well.
- The initial plan was to go out to dinner once a week and have it be some place I've never eaten at before in order to keep things interesting. I ended up not sticking to that and just not going out, with 2-3 exceptions.
- I looked up recipe's and such and attempted to really take joy in what i ate at dinner while maintaining that the food be healthy. Nothing can be as boring as healthy food, so you gotta try your best to find recipe's and seasonings to keep it interesting.
- I took a multivitamin every day.
Exercise
- mainly i used my apartment complex's gym and some free weights at home
- I worked out every single day, I switched up what muscle groups I worked out and rotated that between 5 different workouts so I would never injure any particular muscle group. I created a spreadsheet detailing each day's exercise for the week.
- The only thing I did every day was cardio and crunches. I do cardio for 30 minutes every day, at least. Usually a bike or a elliptical. Sometimes a treadmill. A treadmill would be best, but starting off at 30 min a day and not being used to constant exercise, the few times I did it I pulled muscles and it forced me to use an exercise bike for a week. The bike will burn less calories per minute than all other options, jogging will burn the most, the elliptical is in between. Of course, if you hurt yourself, you won't be burning any so i stayed with the elliptical generally to reduce impact.
- I did about 60-80 crunches/situps a day
- after cardio and crunches, i lifted for an additional 20-30 minutes. Every exercise that I did, I did 3 sets. The first set is at 12 repetitions, the second set the weight is increased and done for 10 repetitions. The 3rd set the weight is increased again and done for 8 repetitions. If you're looking to burn weight rather than build muscle, I'd go for lower weights, and more repetitions. I was looking to lose weight and build muscle simultaneously.
- On the weekends, I did cardio twice a day on top of the lifting.
It worked well, but i was hell for a while. Caffeine headaches, adjusting to not having even half the sugar intake as normal. Every day in terms of times i was eating and when i had to work out and when dinner had to be eaten by, made my days incredibly structured to the point it was a bit irritating. I got somewhat burnt out by the time the holidays rolled around and I could see getting burnt out again. But this time around I'll have to keep myself busy as I'll be stopping smoking this time as well.
I'm not expert, but this worked for me. 20lbs in a month is fast as hell. Most sites I was reading suggested losing that amount in 2 months was do-able but difficult. Take it as you will.
My way of doing it also saved me a ton of money. Trips to the store for drinks were cut out, gas money from traveling at lunch time was reduced, i literally saved over 100 bucks a week in cutting out alcohol, and more than a 100 a week by not going out to restaurants for dinner.
My suggestions/warnings:
Beware of anything that claims to be healthy, non-fat, etc. Look at the nutrition label. Check the sugars, trans fats, calories, sodium, carbs, etc. Compare it to others. I didn't eat a single thing that touted itself as health food. The majority of my food purchases was done in the meat department and the produce section, and the spice asile. If it comes prepackaged by some Conglo Food Corporation, chances are there's a health catch somewhere.
Don't listen to miracle diets that tell you to cut all carbs. Or all fat. Or reduce your carlorie intake to some stupidly low level. They might work temporarily, but they're not making you healthy and the minute you stop these diets the weight comes back. Do not do some stupid corporate sponsored diet either. (Slim Fast, Weight Watchers, etc..) There's no reason to pay for what you can do on your own, probably better than what they're suggesting you do with their products.
When you work out....WORK OUT. I know there's days you go walking into the gym and you think.."meh, i'll shave 10 min off my cardio, i'll do less reps than i'm supposed to. I'm tired, i don't feel like it, i'll make up for it tomorrow". Bullshit. Push yourself through it. If you're muscles aren't slightly sore the next day, (note.. i said slightly) then you're doing it wrong. Don't go overboard with it though, learn to know your limits. Push yourself a little one day, if there's not the slightest bit of soreness, the next time you do that workout push it more than before. Just don't push to the point you hurt yourself.
Lastly, try to have a regular sleep schedule with 7-8 hours of sleep. Try to go to bed relatively the same time every night and wake up the same time every day.
Keep a chart to keep track of progress, it'll motivate you when you screw up and it'll reward you when you achieve what you want.
If you're looking for an easy healthy way to do it, I'm sorry to say, it doesn't exist. This probably isn't for anyone, but I know with myself I have to take a tough guy, do-it-the-hard-way, push yourself til you hurt, get used to getting tired of veggies, get used to your drinks being flavorless attitude. Just admit that being healthy sucks and regardless of how bad it is, you have a goal and certain things sucking won't get in your way. Take that attitude, and you can do it.
Do it half assed, and you'll get half assed results.
