Help for the rookie?

[Gimpy]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum, and I am hoping to find a little direction as to which way to go. I will try to keep this brief. Basically, I had knee reconstruction surgery at the beginning of this year. So I have spent alot of time trying to recover. I have been given the go-ahead from my doctor to become active again (within reason). Unfortunately, with my injury, surgery, and recovery time being so lengthy, I have managed to gain a substantial amount on weight. To make matters worse, I have also been diagnosed with hypo-thyroidism, to which has brought my metabolism to a screeching halt. I want to begin working out to loose the fat/weight I have obtained and of course become more tone as well as gain strength. My daily diet sucks...trash is a good description for it. I'm also not a "vegetable lover" but am willing to try. I have read some of the information on this forum, but am a little confused as where to start. I am 5'7" and weigh 185lbs. But I am unsure as to the amount of calories to begin consuming on a daily basis in order to loose weight. I am a beginning runner, so hopefully I have a good start to my cardio. Can someone please shine a little light on my bleak situation? Any and all help or comments are appreciated. My goal is to loose fat/weight, and then get into bodybuilding. This seems to be the only forum that I have found where the people are not obsessed with weighing 90 lbs!! Thanks! /forum/images/icons/confused.gif

<blockquote><font class="small">posted by Gimpy:</font><hr /> ..My goal is to loose fat/weight, and then get into bodybuilding...<hr /></blockquote>

Let me first say that the two go hand in hand. In order to OPTIMALLY lose fat, you NEED to LIFT. And all bodybuilding is, is lifting weights in order to change or improve your physique! /forum/images/icons/smirk.gif

Okay, so how to get you started... let's first work on your diet. If you haven't already, read these articles in the nutrition section:
12 weeks to burning fat (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine/fatlossdiet.htm)
AND...
13 weeks to hardcore fat burning (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine/13weekstohardcorefatburningdiet.htm)

This will give you an understanding of where we're headed. Then start putting what you've learned from the above articles into practice, work on cleaning up your diet, as in, getting rid of all the foods which are not conducive to burning fat. I wouldn't even worry about your actual calories right now but if you would be more comfortable with a ballpark number, you can use the methods in the 13 week article to figure this out. And what you can do, is start a journal in the Online Journal section, typing up what you are eating at each meal. That way, we can see what you're eating, how much, what times, and go from there, advising you on what you may be doing wrong, guiding you in the right direction for optimal fat burning. Feel free to look around to get an idea of how others are doing their journals, there are quite a few good examples.

As for your training, not sure what you can and can't do with your injury, but I would suggest you come up with a training split in which you work each muscle group once per week, do a few exercises for each part, several sets of no more than 15-20 reps (you can cut the reps down later as you become accustomed to the proper exercise form). You can find a descriptive list of exercises for the different muscle groups in the "Exercise" section above (blue tabs at top). Main thing to remember is generally you work the large muscle groups first. As in, don't work triceps then try to do chest, or do biceps then try to work back. Reason is cause you use your arms so much when you do chest and back that they will end up fatiging way before your chest and back has gotten a sufficient workout. As for cardio, for starters, I would just do two 20-30 min sessions per week. As you get more in shape, you can try incorporating some high intensity interval training into your sessions. And once again, type up how you are training in your journal, type the exercises you're doing in what order, sets &amp; reps. You don't need to type the weight you're doing if you don't want to.

Hope this is sufficient to get you started. Good luck! /forum/images/icons/wink.gif

Oh, and to help you keep track of your calories and macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat), there is a calorie chart here on Abc (I think in the magazine section) and also you can try www.fitday.com. (http://www.fitday.com.) It's a great program, it's free, I use it to keep track of what I'm eating as well. You can look up almost any food and you can also customize your own foods. /forum/images/icons/smile.gif

[Gimpy]

Thanks for the info. Krypto. I have read the articles that you recommended. Actually, I think I need to read them again. This is alot to take in at once. The only thing that confuses me is the fact that I should eat more to loose. Just the idea of eating over over 2000 calories a day to loose is mindboggling. It just doesn't seem possible. Maybe I will post the diet that I come up with and can get some pointers on how to improve it. I know that many of you on this forum hear the same thing over and over again, and it must get old. But honestly, this seems to be the only place to get true, helpful information. Bear with the newbies, one day it will all make sense.
/forum/images/icons/grin.gif

<blockquote><font class="small">posted by Gimpy:</font><hr /> Thanks for the info. Krypto. I have read the articles that you recommended. Actually, I think I need to read them again. This is alot to take in at once.<hr /></blockquote>

Yes, it is. Trust me, I've been there!

[ QUOTE ]
The only thing that confuses me is the fact that I should eat more to loose. Just the idea of eating over over 2000 calories a day to loose is mindboggling.<hr /></blockquote>

It all depends on your metabolism and activity and most women eat TOO LITTLE thereby THWARTING their efforts to burn fat. And if you're eating too little, depending on how long you've been eating too little, most likely your metabolism has slowed down to try and conserve calories. You don't want that when you're trying to lose fat. So many women have to slowly increase their calories to rev their metabolism back up. You start eating every few hours, eat enough, instead of too little, and your body will be much more apt to burn fat as it won't feel it needs to conserve any longer. Does that make sense? It's all because the human body is set up with many survival mechanisms, so if it's not getting enough, it compensates by slowing down the metabolism and it'll actually burn muscle BEFORE it burns fat.

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe I will post the diet that I come up with and can get some pointers on how to improve it. I know that many of you on this forum hear the same thing over and over again, and it must get old. But honestly, this seems to be the only place to get true, helpful information. Bear with the newbies, one day it will all make sense.
/forum/images/icons/grin.gif<hr /></blockquote>

That's not a problem, I just get to feeling a bit overwhelmed sometimes because at times there are so many of you needing help at once that I either run out of time or just get tired of staring at the computer. And picking apart everyone's diet does get old after a while that I just need to take a break. So likewise if you'll bear with me as it may take me a while to get back to ya! /forum/images/icons/wink.gif