Okay I am trying to get back into shape. I was in good shape in high school. I ran cross country and wrestled. The summer after I continued to work out and run so I was a pretty lean 155lbs. Fast forward to joining the Air Force. And in my 2.5 years I managed to get up to 195lbs. A little of that is muscle. But much of it is fat.
By working on my eating habits and adding very minimal gym time I managed to get down towards 180. I want to get down towards 170, build some more muscle, and train towards a half marathon like I was in school.
I know that if I work on my eating habits some more and cut down on my alcohol intake that should help. But does anyone have some simple suggestions for me? I understand this is very vague and basic. So vague and basic answers are fine with me.
How extreme are you willing to go on your diet? A lot of people will give you extreme diet changes and the truth is, if you spent that much time in a comfortable bad diet, it's going to be very hard to change.
I would say try subtle changes first: Get off of sugar drinks like juice, soda and gatorade. Cut out mayo and excessive amounts of cheese. Try to pick chicken when you eat out instead of beef. Beef is good in moderation but it has a lot more fat than chicken. Try to mix in a serving of vegetables in every meal. Don't eat after 7:30 and whenever you want a snack, go with a fruit instead of chips or something. Once you've adjusted to that, you can start making more serious diet changes.
Buy a water bottle and fill it at every fountain you see. Try to make it a goal to get through a filling per quarter of the day. do you work at 9? Try to finish a liter of water before lunch. By drinking a lot of water, you're getting the plumbing going a lot more in your body. You will flush out a lot of garbage faster.
When you put on muscle, you gain weight. The 180 number is nice, but don't expect 170 without making a rest stop at 185/190 when you start building. I'm 5'7". After my ex cheated on me and my mom attempted suicide, I dropped from 150 down to 125 from depression issues. When I finally snapped out of it, I tried to get back into shape. I tried an extreme organic diet/vegetables/grass fed. In a week I binged back on fast food and went back to Burger King for like 3-4 months straight. On my second try, instead of doing an extreme diet change, I tried my subtle diet changes, including protein style at In n' Out and bowls vs burritos at Chipotle, started drinking massive amounts of water and in 4 weeks I went from 130 to 150 and from not even being able to lift 25's on the bench to at least being able to do 155 for a full set. It's not "strong" by any means (especially with a guy doing 315-335+ literally 3 posts before me) but it's a good recovery to me.
Right now I'm trying to cross the ocean between 185 bench and 225 bench and in the process I've put on 5 pounds and a tummy. It just happens I suppose.
Also, Gold's has a special right now: $1 sign up, $25 a month and you can go to any Gold's. It's a pretty good deal.
