Rash797's training and diet log

[rash797]

Hi guys,
Been training on and off now for a bit, but have ballooned up recently:

Height: 6ft
Weights: 95kg or 209lb

Don't know my body fat, but am guessing its 35%+

My main aim is to reduce body fat and look leaner. My motivation - I'm going to become a father.

So, I need something to keep me going, so I've decided to do my own 12 week challenge. I'm going away in August (work not holiday) and probably won't be training for four weeks so I want to get in the best shape I can.

I've figured out a diet:

Kcal: 1925
Protein: 199.08
Carbs: 164.48
Fat 54.04

So my twelve weeks starts on Monday, wish me luck!

[rash797]

I have a question: How would you split your workout routines - would upper and lower be a better split than targeting specific muscles?

[James]

Hi mate, James (from Facebook) here.

Upper/Lower would be superb, there is always the trusty strong lifts program or a push/pull/legs routine also... How many days a week are you looking at training?

In regards to diet, an approach that I am using this year to GREAT success is eating at my maintenance calories on workout days, keeping protein HIGH, card HIGH and fat LOW, then on rest days I eat VERY low calories, most of which coming from protein sources alone, I then keep carbs and fats as LOW as possible (Having roughly only 5-15g a day of each daily); however this is very extreme. A easier approach would be to keep carbs very low (say 50g or below) and up fats a little from workout days... as long as you are getting a good whack of calories below your maint level (say, 500 as a good target) then fat loss will occur.

Cardio wise, I just use brisk walking at lunch times for a good 45-60 minutes, this can be done first thing in the morning if convenient before food as an optimal approach.

[rash797]

Many thanks, James.
I can train as many times as needed - I'm going to aim for 3 days of lifting and 2 of cardio. For the first four weeks I will train upper body twice a week and lower body once a week and see where I am after that.
Wow that diet sounds very extreme, personally, my body hates it when I eat too few carbs, and I find that I get hungry and irritated a lot quicker. So I have decided to eat around 140g of carbs on workout days (none after 5pm, I train just after breakfast), and will try to reduce this on rest days. Do you eat cheat meals at all? If so when and how many would you recommend? I've heard of people talking about cheat 'days' which sounds like its counter productive...
Thanks for your advice mate!

[James]

I eat what I want daily, it just so happens I choose to 'cheat' with steak, eggs, salmon... all the good stuff! As long as protein is high and sugars are low and you stay within your calorie and nutrients they anything is fair game! If you can try to keep carbs around workouts you will do well, too!

[rash797]

Sound advice. I will try to eat my majority of carbohydrates in the meals just before and immediately after a workout! Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it! I'll keep updating weekly on my progress. I would take pics but I am a bit self concious about my body hair lol!

[rash797]

What do people think of wholemeal bread? Its just a lot easier for me to have a tuna sandwich than anything else... no microwave or anything at work!

[James]

if it fits your goals then it is game, man! I'm not a big fan of grains and the like if I'm honest, but if you deal OK with them and it fits in, go for it! Ease is the key with sticking to a diet/training, otherwise progression will not be optimal or occur at all!

[rash797]

Thanks man! Okay I'm all set for tomorrow, really looking forward to getting in the gym, had a couple days off to recover, will pound the weights hard tomorrow!

[ollievascojr]

good luck mate similar sort of goals to me and a similar time frame too

oh and congrats on becoming a father really is an incredible thing!! and excellent motivation!!

Ollie