-40 pounds in three months

[lo-lyf]

did upper body last night and doing plyometrics tonight, plyo is what hurt me so bad last week. I'm ready to get into shape.

[randomhero]

I'm very surprised how no one has said count calories yet.

First of all, congratulations on the weight loss. I applaud your dedication and I hope you stick with it.

Second, don't worry about p90x, running, etc. It has it place to help lose weight but it's at the bottom of the list. If you really need a plan mapped out for you then I guess it's not bad, but IMO they aren't the best ways to losing weight and keeping muscle.

This should be your order of importance for losing weight:

1.)Diet-You can workout all you want but if you eat more calories than you consume, you're going to get fatter. There's no way around it.

2.) Lift weights-Lift weights and lift heavy. It's the single best way to maintain lean body mass and ensure you don't lose muscle on your cut
3.) Keep your protein high-again will help keep your lean body mass(LBM)
4.) Drink water-Drink at least a gallon a day
5.)Cardio-This is only necessary if your diet isn't perfect. Cardio is a compensation for not sticking to your diet. You can eat 500 calories less a day or you can just not run for 30 minutes, you choose. Either is going to net the same results.

I love seeing people lose weight. Having done it myself, I appreciate it that much more, but go about it the smart way.

I can't tell you how many sickly, tire, frail looking people I see that have lost a bunch of weight. The reason for that is because they never work out and just run or elliptical or whatever.

For those interested...
I'm currently cutting myself. Here are my personal guidelines:
1.) Stick to around 2000 calories a day give or take 300.
2.) Lift weights heavy 5 times a week
3.) Consume 200 grams of protein per day
4.) Drink 1.5 gallons of water per day
5.) Light intensity cardio for 30-45 minutes. I like food so this allows me to eat an extra 350-500 calories a day.

Also, don't bother doing crunches and pushups every night unless you just like it. There is no such thing as spot work, meaning you can do 1000 crunches a night, but if you're still eating too many calories, you're just going to get fatter. Have you ever seen a fat guy with a 6 pack? Exactly. Abs should be worked out like any other muscle group, with weights and low reps(8-12)

[ducky]

I can't tell you how many sickly, tire, frail looking people I see that have lost a bunch of weight. The reason for that is because they never work out and just run or elliptical or whatever.

I work out

[randomhero]

I work out

haha, I wasn't talking about you either.

My dad is a fairly long distance runner. He may not run as much as you David, but he still does 3 10-12 mile runs a week. He also lifts weights regularly as well. However, before he lifted weights and just ran, I felt like I had to hold him down or he would blow away.

My point wasn't to bash running or cardio. There is a huge difference between being in shape and looking in shape.

My point was that, if your goal is to lose weight, running and cardio shouldn't be one of your top few priorities.

[ducky]

ah im just messing around only because I run for mizuno/a team so my workouts are a little more goal oriented LOL

[lo-lyf]

I'm already counting calories and such, I'm just using the p90x because I want that little extra to get me in shape and a friend is doing it too. Otherwise, I would stick to my 1600 calories and gallon of water a day, I stayed steady losing about 2-4 pounds a week with that alone.

[randomhero]

I'm already counting calories and such, I'm just using the p90x because I want that little extra to get me in shape and a friend is doing it too. Otherwise, I would stick to my 1600 calories and gallon of water a day, I stayed steady losing about 2-4 pounds a week with that alone.

Cool man whatever works for you. Having done a cycle of P90x I know all about it. Personally, I would go with another routine if I were you. It's a lot of bodyweight exercises and low weight/high reps. You should be lifting heavy weights with low reps in order to preserve muscle.

Like I said though, to each his own. It's better than doing nothing.

[lo-lyf]

Cool man whatever works for you. Having done a cycle of P90x I know all about it. Personally, I would go with another routine if I were you. It's a lot of bodyweight exercises and low weight/high reps. You should be lifting heavy weights with low reps in order to preserve muscle.

Like I said though, to each his own. It's better than doing nothing.

True dat! I would actually like to get rid of some muscle, it seems as though I haven't lost any since highschool when I did powerlifting.

[bangbangskeetskeet]

Cool man whatever works for you. Having done a cycle of P90x I know all about it. Personally, I would go with another routine if I were you. It's a lot of bodyweight exercises and low weight/high reps. You should be lifting heavy weights with low reps in order to preserve muscle.

Like I said though, to each his own. It's better than doing nothing.

As a fitness professional I have to disagree with you. For someone who wants to loose body fat doing body weight exercises is perfect. Low weight and high reps is going go help put muscle on as well. You have to drop body fat first then put on muscle mass. Lifting heavy will be good for increasing size. You're looking at 2 completely different diet styles...for a weight loss goal you need a deficit (burn more calories than you take in 500 more calories burnt every day will equal one pound a week) and for muscle gain you need a caloric surplus (about 1400 extra calories every day for a 2-3 pound mass gain in a month).

Now I'll give you the 5 most important keys to your success.
1) Diet - this makes up 75-80% of your sucess when changing body composition. You want a deficit (like I explained above). You also want the proper balance of carbs, protien and fats (40/30/30).
2) Cardio - the fastest most efficient way to burn calories. You want to do cardio for 20 min or more at a time.
3) Supplementation - most people say that if your diet is good you don't need suppliments...WRONG! it's been scientifically proven that you can't get all the nutrients from food alone. Now add in a caloric deficit and you're getting even less nutrients. That's where it comes to supporting your diet with suppliments.
4) Progressive resistance training - weight training. This preserves and increases your lean muscle tissue. Increasing muscle will increase your metabolisim. This is crucial for fat loss. You really need a good program. P90X is a great program to help you drop weight and cut body fat quickly.
5) Accountability/Motivation - if you're not motivated the weight won't come off. I think it's extremely important to have a support system also. There will be days you don't want to work out or do anything for that matter and having people help keep you on track will make that less frequant.

If you have any questions or anything like that feel free to pm me.

[lo-lyf]

Thanks for all of the info everyone, I picked up some more weight last week from getting back into my normal diet. I'm 254 now but I know I've lost fat because my clothes are fitting better.