Thread: Where to start ?

6ft 195lbs , a bit of tub and poor posture.......

My objective is 210 ,lower body fat, thicker, wider and stronger.

Im considering stronglifts 5x5 but am flexible....

Attached are some pics.

Cheers.

Here are some more pics.

good luck mate,look forward to following your progress

Welcome and Good luck McGinn

you need to drop the fat before thinking of getting to 210,

good luck mate,

A cutting program would be ideal, but... To get the ball rolling and to aid in your motivation I'd go with the strength and heavy routine first. You'll feel stronger and be more motivated to diet after you've spent a few months getting the mental and physical reward of a strength routine.

This isn't the normal advice, and what mino has said is solid advice, but this is what I sometimes offer as advice to guys who have a long term goal. As I said often blokes get in to it and are told to lose the fat first and they simply don't enjoy themself... So yeah go a 5x5 routine for a couple of months and build up some momentum, you'll see some changes around your shoulders and arms and strength will go up, then when you're on point make the changes you need to diet down - while motivation is high.

Good luck, dude.

Originally Posted by McGinn

My objective is .... lower body fat, thicker, wider and stronger.

Thats what everyones objective is!

Do you do any training now? Any sport?

If you are not currently lifting at all then you are going to get heaps of gain from any structured program....


Tim

Mate, kudos for posting the pics. You've put yourself right out there, and I applaud you for it.

You remind me of me when I started. My 2 bob's worth? Get straight into a good weights routine; cut the shit out of your diet; don't get too anal about it all, just eat well, and train well, and your body will change; you will drop fat, you'll get stronger, you'll feel better as you body chemistry improves. Down the track a little is the time to focus on more specific goals.

Have you had a body chemistry assessment done?

Best of luck to you.

T2

Originally Posted by take2

Mate, kudos for posting the pics. You've put yourself right out there, and I applaud you for it.

You remind me of me when I started. My 2 bob's worth? Get straight into a good weights routine; cut the shit out of your diet; don't get too anal about it all, just eat well, and train well, and your body will change; you will drop fat, you'll get stronger, you'll feel better as you body chemistry improves. Down the track a little is the time to focus on more specific goals.

Have you had a body chemistry assessment done?

Best of luck to you.

T2

Im will be starting a modified stronglifts program tomorrow.Workout A and B will have BB curls added into it.

My off days will include ab training and 30 mins excercise bike.

What is a body chemistry assessment ?Where can i have one done ?

My diet will be broadly as follows.

6am - multi vitamin ,1 peanut butter sandwich,bowl of oats, scoop of ON GS Whey protein and 1 litre of milk.

9 am - 200g salmon, 1 roast beef sandwich, 75g salad and an apple.

12 - 200g salmon, 1 roast beef sandwich, 75g salad and a bar of chocolate.

4pm - bowl of oats, 1 litre of milk and 2 slices of toast.

6pm - 2 sweet potatoes, 2 roast beef sandwiches and salad.

10pm 1 litre of milk and a peanut butter sandwich.

The 6pm will tend to be the only meal that varies.

I have creatine handy if need be, but i typically drink 3 litres of water per day as is.

I dont eat chicken or eggs and am sparing with red meat as it is full of sodium.

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by McGinn

What is a body chemistry assessment ?Where can i have one done ?

Any decent GP can order the blood tests you need to have your body chemistry assessed.

It's my view that unless you know exactly what's happening with your hormones, organ function, etc, then you may be working against yourself. When I started out I had a heap of things wrong and once they were corrected my weight loss, strength training, and overall wellbeing took off.

A complete assessment would be blood tests for:
Testosterone
SHBG (Sex hormone binding globulin)
Estrogen
Progesterone
Cortisol (preferably 24hr saliva test, but if not, AM blood test)
Prolactin
DHEA
Homocysteine (inflammation marker)
Zinc (can be done as a taste test. Ethical Nutrients Zinc Test 100ml*::*Ethical Nutrients Natural Medicines*::*Brands*::*Natural Health Organics)
Thyroid Function, including RT3 (Reverse T3)
Liver Function
Kidney Function
Full blood count
Lipid profile
Iron studies
Vitamin D
Glucose Tolerance Test
and
Depending on your ethnic background, genetic test for Hemocromatosis.

Yes, a lengthy list and most doctors will resist doing them all. A few aren't covered by medicare. IMO? Fight to get them done, or go to a GP who will.

My view is very simple on this. If my doctor had not done all these, I would be dead. Fullstop. You simply can't do your training and dieting justice if there are underlying issues that need attention. Now after you argue the toss with your GP and you get these done, even if there is nothing significant wrong (which I doubt btw; estrogen/test ratios, and glucose management are just two that spring to mind) then at worst you have baseline tests to allow for monitoring of your health in a preventative way.

Cheers

T2

and fwiw: your diet needs major work, but I'll leave that to others with more skill in that area.

for what it's worth, if you are looking to cut down there are a couple of major changes i'd make to your diet:

1. You really really don't need 3 litres of milk a day. If you're trying to drop body fat, mix your oats and your protein powder with water, or with 200-300 ml milk.

2. A chocolate bar probably shouldn't be part of your everyday diet - largely empty calories. Try to cut it down to a couple of squares of chocolate if you really need the sweet hit.

3. Have a look at your overall calorie and protein/ carb/ fat levels - yes, its boring, but you will be able to get a better sense of what is balanced. To my eye it's quite a carb heavy diet for someone not doing much cardio.

4. Unless you are vegetarian for ethical or religious reasons, try to add in a little red meat and/ or chicken at least, as it will make it easier to get your protein from real foods rather than relying on protein powders.

Your meals are well timed though, and it looks like you are keen to get a proper system in place, so you are on the right track. Good luck!

Originally Posted by jane_doe

4. Unless you are vegetarian for ethical or religious reasons, try to add in a little red meat and/ or chicken at least, as it will make it easier to get your protein from real foods rather than relying on protein powders.

Four roast beef sandwiches a day suggests there's no issue with red meat?

Your diet is the most critical part of your transformation. Yes, I agree with others here with getting your body check done and take a month or so to get into the iron and see some progress.

So, to help your body settle down into a healthy pattern do this simple step in your diet:

No processed food of any sort for one month.

The only exception would be protein powder (WPI or WPC) immediately after workout, but at this early stage even that would not be needed as long as you have a decent meal within an hour of your workout.

Keep up the water and replace the milk with more water.

The sodium in eggs and meat is of zero consequence at this stage. Maybe if your are at 6% bodyfat and prepping for a comp, that may be an issue.

Things you should eat are:
Fish oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil. No hydrogenated oil of any kind (canola, etc)
Eggs, fish, red meat, chicken. No sausage or other processed meat.
Sweet potato, basmati rice, pumpkin.
Any and all green leafy vegetables.
Fruit in moderation.
Keep it simple and unprocessed.

Some (but by no means all) processed foods to ditch for the month:
bread
softdrinks of any kind
cakes, buscuits, etc
Any and all fast foods.
Any of the "normal" brands of peanut butter. You can get natural peanut butter in the health food section of your supermarket made by Sanitarium. No, it will not taste as good because it has not been hydrogenated and had icing sugar added, not to mention about a tablespoon of salt. And you were worried about red meat!
In short avoid ANYTHING that has been changed from its natural state.

After one month of heavy lifting and eating clean you can set yourself a fat loss goal and write up a diet program. We can all help you out with that.

Forgot to say that like T2, myself and others, if you lift hard and sensibly, eat clean and cut the fat you are gonna look AWESOME in 12 months time. And that will just be the beginning....