Help Me Loose That Freshman 30#s

Hey all. I'm going back to university this fall (into my sophomore year), and I really am unhappy with my body. To be honest, I have been unhappy with my body since the start of highschool. I have always been a heavier set guy, but I have never really been this low on self-esteem due to my weight.

It was the summer going into my freshman year. I weighed 200-205 pounds and I decided I was going to change. I started eating <1200 calories a day, and going to the gym and working out on the treadmill for at least 1000 calories a day (uphill fast walking (15'/100') for ~1hr daily). From May to August I had lost about 40 pounds. For the first time in my life I was feeling good about myself and the way I looked. I took my shirt off at the beach and felt like girls were looking at me (although they probably weren't because I am not all that muscular).

Anyways. Then I started my first undergraduate year at school. Within 2-3 months I had gained back 20 of the 40 pounds I had lost from drinking and eating with the unlimited meal plan that I was forced to get. At first I didn't think it as a problem, but then I hit the scale at the gym (which I had only been going to once a week). So I purchased a 40 pound weight vest, and I started running up and down stairs everyday for 15 minutes. I didn't see any weight loss even though I tried to substitute some of my meals with salads and eat more veggies. So i was deterred and stopped working out.

From then on I gained all of the weight back, ending freshman year at 200 points (+30-35 lbs since September).

This summer i returned to working out on the treadmill, but due to a fulltime job I was unable to go everyday, and I found myself getting "take out" food a lot (pizza, dunkin donuts, hamburgers). However, I still managed to lower my weight by 7-10 pounds.

This puts me where I am at today.
5'8" (68"/172cm)
193 pounds (87.1kg)

My goal/ideal self is
5'9" (hoping to get that extra inch if I lose some weight? Maybe? Probably not but its a hope)
175 pounds (LOSS OF FAT + HUGE MUSCLE GAINS)


But I really need help. I am not sure what to eat, how I should be working out ect. I have been reading a lot of "macros" but I am not really sure how that works even after reading. I live a fairly sedimentary life style, I walk about 2 miles each day between the dining hall, classes, and my dorm. I go to a fairly small university so I don't have loads of options for food.

We have 1 dining hall that is catered by Sodexo. Sodexo offers several tiers for food service industries. We have a tier and a half above the prison tier... (i shit you not).

Here are the dining choices I have:

Breakfast Everyday Choices
-Cereal selection (rice crispies, krave, fruit loops, apple jacks ect)
-Fruit
-Toast/Bagels/English Muffins w/ Butter, Jelly, Peanut Butter
-Oatmeal
-Juices

Breakfast Select Days Choices
-Made to Order Omelets (Monday-Friday)

Lunch Everyday Choices
-Sandwiches (Turkey, Ham, Salami + veggies to choose from, white roll, wheat roll, white wrap, wheat wrap to choose from)
-Pizza
-Hamburgers + Fries
-Salad
-Pasta
-Fruit
-Pepsi Products
-Gatorade

Lunch Select Days Choices
-Chicken Nuggets (1 day/week)
-Tacos (1 day/week)
-Chicken Breast (1 day/week)
-Made to Order grill (beef or chicken, with choice of veggies and sauce (teriyaki, bbq, chili ect, served over rice or noodles) (5 days/week)
-Steak Tips (1/month)
-Italian Sausage + peppers (1/month)
-Salmon/Haddock
-Chicken Cutlet sandwich (1/week)

Dinner is the exact same menu as lunch
Now for the tricky part....


Foods that I do not like:
-CHEESE - I hate cheese. The only time I eat cheese is when it is on pizza
-Eggs - I have never really had the opportunity to try eggs as my sister is a vegan and both of my parents do not like them. I am not keen on trying the ones at my school as they put orange juice in the eggs to prevent them from turning green...
-Seafood - Once again, my parents both dislike seafood and my sister is a vegan so I have never experienced it. However, the smell of it is a complete turn off to me so I will attempt to avoid it.
-Ranch/Creamy Dressings - Can't stand the smell of ranch. The only dressings I eat are Italian (Rustic, Light, Heavy, Regular Italian)


So what I am really hoping to get advice on is...
1) What to eat to try to help reduce weight
2) What to avoid eating
3) What exercises will be most beneficial for me
4) What supplements should I be taking? (creatin? whey? ect)


Also. If anyone knows of any little magic pill that may even help me in the slightest bit, let me know. I generally don't buy all of that bullshit on the ads but if anyone here has legit used a product and it worked I may wish to try it to help expedite weight loss!

edit: Also, I forgot to mention, if you have any questions regarding what is available for me to eat ect. feel free to ask. I'm sure I must have left something out somewhere haha

 

bump.

not really comfortable posting pics tbh

 

just dont eat!

 

Pretty sure losing weight isn't going to help you grow much taller, if any taller at all. The difference between 5'8 and 5'9 is so little, so honestly don't let that hold you back.

I'm 6'4, 210 pounds. If I lost weight it's almost certain that if I grow another inch that it would have nothing to do with that weight loss. Your weight doesn't "hold you down" from growing if that is what you're thinking. Your body just goes through its course of growing and there's not much you can do to alter your height.

As for weight watching and foods to eat, just use common sense. 3 good tips for ya.

1. If it is inside a wrapper, DON'T EAT IT.

2. Don't eat carbs before bed. Carbs (such as pasta or bread) are supposed to provide you with energy. If you're pounding back pasta or a nice toasted bagel before you go to bed, you're getting what is supposed to supply you with energy, even though you're about to go use the least energy you ever use during a day while sleeping. If the carbs aren't used for energy, it is just stored as fat. So before you order that pizza at 1:00 AM because you have the munchies, just think about what it's going to do to you.

3. Feed your body, not your mouth. We all know that if something tastes good, it usually means it's PROBABLY not the greatest thing to be eating for your body. Although it's not always the case, that's usually what it comes to. I know you can't be eating things that taste like horse shit just because it's healthy, but get used to the fact that feeding your body is more important than just feeding your mouth with good taste. What goes in your mouth reflects what happens to your body, which is pretty obvious.

Anyways, I don't think your goals will be too hard to achieve. If you want to be an inch taller REALLY REALLY bad, just honestly put an extra insole in your shoe or something. And inch really doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to height. Extra inches in other areas, well, that's a whole other topic. Anyways, just stick to your goals and don't get to stressed out over anything.

Hope everything works out for ya!

 

I'll put together something for you.
College and mainlining diet is hard, I've gone through a few cutting seasons before school ended and I know the difficulties and I will help you out.

#1. Weight goal should not be relevant if you want to gain muscle.
From these pictures, pick out something that looks like your body and that will be your general BF%. We will be losing BF% and screw the weight as you are gaining weight at the same time because of muscle gains.


#2 This part is very important. Tracking your calories + macros.
Try very hard to track everything on myfitnesspal.com (They have a phone app) It may me a tedious and annoying task to do every meal but NUTRITION AND DIET is the single most important thing when it comes to losing weight, you do not have to run or pick up weights to lose it, its all done through your diet so be strict with counting your calories.

Have a read through: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981

I can give you a general idea of what your macros should be like but this thread will give you full information on what your macros should be.

My general idea of what yours should be is 30/50/20
Meaning your calories should consist of 30% Carbs/50% Protein and 20% Fat
Im sure your school has pamphlets with nutritional values on them for each meal

#3 Your Workout.
It seems like you have access to the gym and you want to start making some muscle. FOLLOW A ROUTINE MADE. Beginners make the mistake of making their own routine but it will lead to failure and muscular inbalance. Please do not do that.

AllPro's Workout is what I recommend to everyone starting out and it has brought in many results.

On top of this, you want to incorporate cardio into your routines.
I recommend jogging every morning or after a workout. Doing it on an empty stomach is important. I recommend adding 2-3 High Intensity Interval Training days as well.

HIIT Information

As you are a beginner, don't do HIIT on a treadmill, do it on the bike, its safer and you wont have tits jiggling everywhere. I see it all the time.

#4 Supplements
I took a picture of some basic supplements I use on a day to day basis

You got your Gold standard whey isolate - Two different flavors to not get bored of one

Creatine Mono + Creatine HCL - Both the same shit. I suggest Creatine Mono hydrate as it is cheaper than HCL. (HCL is supposed to be some new and advanced form of creatine but I dont buy that, I recieved the hcl from my girlfriend who got scammed at GNC and ive been slowly consuming it just to show her that she didnt waste her money.

c4 preworkout with creatine + without creatine, gives you an extra boost during workouts and helps burn extra calories during work out.

Things that arent shown here: Opti-men vitamins, extra-strength fish oil soft gels (GNC), BCAAs

I suggest sticking with basics - Whey Protein + Creatine, can add all the other fancy stuff if you have spare cash but not necessary at all.

#5 Your actual food intake
Seeing as you're on a meal plan you dont have much choices but the first thing you have to do is find your calorie maintenance, meaning how much calories can you consume without gaining/losing weight. You can get a general idea from going onto Myfitnesspal.com

After finding the general maintence point. go -100 to be safe and an additional -500. Meaning you will be eating 500 calories less than your calorie maintenance point. You will be at a deficit of 3500 calories a week which is 1 pound a week. You will lose a lot more during first couple of weeks due to water weight but 1 pound a week is a healthy amount, you can up it to -1000 calories a day in hopes for 2 pounds a week but don't start small or you're setting yourself up for failure.

From your lunch select menu, anything but the chicken nuggets + tacos seems like a nice choice with rice on the side.

Lunch everyday menu is completely unacceptable. A healthy sandwich is pretty much your only choice given, maybe some pasta if you want to sacrifice some carbs at dinner. Morning you can have anything you want from that menu given you jog.

Dinner is simple.
chicken breasts + brown rice + steamed veggie is the magic meal.
change it up with pasta here and there or stir fry veggie + seafood (I know you dont like the smell of seafood but the veggies and sauce should mask it)
You can have steak, just have a meat source in there.


Avoid chips, soda as they make your face look really bloated. Avoid icecream, fast food like mcdonalds. Subway is perfectly fine though, last year I had subway a lot as well as thai food for dinner.

 

Thanks so much for the detailed guide.

a) I probably look between 25-30% right now, probably 27. My GOAL would be 10-12%, but realistically 15% would be great.

1) Jogging after a workout on an empty stomach - I get that. But what if I drink some of that preworkout stuff? Should I still jog?

2) I currently have whey and creatine so thats all set

3) I don't have C4 preworkout or the vitamins. I'll probably just pick up the preworkout until I get a job at school, then I'll pick up the rest.

4) My dining hall only has white rice and white noodles. Is this still okay to eat with the chicken. ALSO, not everyday is chicken. MOST days there is chicken and beef but some days it is just beef. ALSO they don't have information on each meal, sadly.

 

Yes, you should jog after taking pre-workouts.
I am 11% BF and it took a long time but I am sure you can do it as long as you know what you want and you really want it.
c4 preworkouts do help workouts but are not necessary. its about $50 for 60 servings which is pricey so if you cant afford it, just substitute it for black coffee, it helps you get going. (Remember pre-workouts are not meant to be taken every day, only when you need it) I take them only on push days because my chest is weak compared to my other parts of the body. Vitamins are completely optional too but its good for your health but once again, not necessary

Brown rice is always superior to white rice, i dont know the science behind it but its just magic. White rice is better than no rice.
chicken breasts is good because of the clean protein it provides but as long as you can hit your macros (carbs/protein/fat) you're okay.
Hitting your protein is most important to building muscle while losing fat so keep that in mind

 

You should have a regular schedule,not sleep later. Heath is not just the number of the weight. Just keep fit.

 

Don't be scared to post pics of yourself buddy, you don't really know anyone from the site in real life anyway. I posted pics of myself on my thread lol, it's no big deal =p

And you're in college but don't know the difference between loose and lose? =/

 

You are really lucky to have all of those dining options. One of the hardest things about building fitness in college is the difficulty of grocery shopping for the variety of foods that you need for mass building. The absolute easiest thing you can do as a first step for weight loss is stop drinking soft drinks and carry around a big iced water bottle with you everywhere.