How to get in shape! !?!

[ncstr8male]

Hey everyone, some of you know me, some don't. I used to be an avid weight lifter for about 8 years. That all changed when I started having kids and changed jobs. Life got in the way. Fast forward 4 years, I had the dad bod down pat. Lol. Still rocking the speedo In the summer, but very self concious. So I decided to hit the weights. Granted I'm still not old (29), I sure felt old. I was "skinny fat" and out of shape. So I decided to take a different approach to my routine. Since I no longer have the metabolism of a 22 year old , I had to reconfigure my diet. MOST PEOPLE MISS THAT KEY FACTOR! 85% of exercise is diet! You can kill yourself in the gym, do thousands of crunches, and eat "better" but you won't see much chsnge.
To start with, I completely removed all juices, sodas, artificial sugars, and simple carbs. (Stay away from bleached flour products). Then I got rid of all saturated fats, fried foods, and fast foods.

My new diet for the last 6 weeks has consisted of grilled and baked lean meats. Such as chicken, venison, and fish. Vegetables included asparagus, chick peas, beans, carrots, spinich, sweet potatoes, etc.
NO white potatoes!
I also inclued lots of plant based fats, almonds, natural peanut butter, sunflower seeds. (No trail mix or granola).
Snacks were whet protein shakes and a cup of fruit.
4 meals a day! Yes you read that correct.
This was about 1400-1800 calories.
It worked too well! I dropped 18 lbs In this time frame. WITH little Cardio! All I did was weight train and HIIT exercises.
Since I'm satisfied with my cutting cucle, I'm now moving on to bulking.
To build muscle you must first consume a surplus of calories.
I am now consuming 6 meals a day with a goal of 3400 calories, 300 carbs, and 300 grams of protein. While still consuming the above diet outline. It is tough, but worth the reward. Do some research, follow the outline above and tweak to your metabolism and age. With effort and determination, you can achieve that speedo body before this summer!
6 weeks ago

Progress

20180203_221339-1195x2124-1.jpg (279.26 KiB) Viewed 5938 times

Current

Progress

20180203_221339-1195x2124-1.jpg (279.26 KiB) Viewed 5938 times

[paspeedo]

Great to hear from you again!

You never really was out of shape..lol

[52dno98]

Kids will do it to you, won’t they? I used to race bicycles and I rode 4-5 days a week the year before my son was born (he turns 3 soon). Now I’m lucky to ride two days a week and I’m averaging roughly a third of my old annual mileage.

And dude- wait until you’re in your 40s. Your metabolism REALLY starts to get sluggish...

[PNWGuy]

I hit 64 trips around the sun real soon now. A few years ago my ex-wife and I decided we needed to change our diets and drop a few pounds. We cut most starchy carbs -- bread, potatoes, rice, pasta. We never drank sweetened beverages much, nor purchased packaged and prepared foods. We garden and eat lots of fresh veggies. We have to buy our fruit, but we eat a lot of that, too. Small quantities of meat, at this point mostly chicken and fish with occasional pork. Beef has gotten too expensive, so we cut back on that as well.

I'm currently healing from hip surgery, so eating more calories than usual to fuel the healing process. I'm up a few pounds but that will go away again this summer. I weighed 120 lbs in 1972. Today my target weight is 138 lbs, which is what I weighed in 1990. I don't do the gym thing, but get plenty of exercise outdoors. That's mostly walking, hiking, and backpacking. I've done a lot of bicycling in other years, but that seems to have dropped off recently.

Eat healthy and keep moving.

[swimmerbud]

Nice work man, keep it up!

[ExBex]

Awesome results! You're definitely speedo-ready.

And good diet/nutrition tips. I've seen a lot of diets that work for people, from paleo to vegan and everything else. But it seems that the big common item is to eat real foods with ingredients you can pronounce. Eat like your great-grandparents!

[shadowmn]

Wow man, that's awesome! I am trying to get back into shape myself. I also lifted weights on a frequent basis up until 1.5 years ago when I had some stomach issues. Now I am trying to get back into the swing of things by doing cardio mostly and some light weight lifting. I'm not going to kill myself like I did before because I was probably doing more harm on my joints than building muscle. Diet has always been a tough one for me. While I know what things to eat, I just don't know how to prepare them so that they taste good. LOL. Can you share some of the meals that you prepare? My wife and I have a trip to Aruba planned for September so I have to start moving my butt now. Summer is also quickly approaching, but you'd never know it up here in New England.

Keep up the good work!

[blueflinch]

Congrats mate. You looked pretty good to start off with, and definitely more ripped in the last pic.

Was it hard staying on the eating plan? Lean meat and veg sounds great for dinner. But what do you have for breakfast?

[ncstr8male]

One of my favorite meals
Grilled mackerel with asparagus and yellow squash sautéed with onions.

Or venison with baked red potatoes drizzled with olive oil and chick peas

[ncstr8male]

Breakfast is 6 eggs, 2 pcs whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter. 16oz water then a Optomum neutrition gainer shake. 2 hrs later follow with a bananna, oatmeal bar, and 2 100 calorie almond packs. At lunch I eat leftovers from the night before (so cook extra). After lunch, 1 can of drained tuna, sunflower seeds, an apple.
Pre supper, 1 ON protien shake with oar meal and olive oil.
Post supper another fruit, peanut butter toast...etc
I'll add or remove based on my calorie I take for the dat.