New to this, rate my diet / workout plan

Good morning all,

I've posted before and appreciated all the insight I received.   I'm 225 Lb, 27 male, 5'7. 

For about 4 weeks now I've been working out for 45-50 mins 5 days a week, mon-fri at my work's gym.  My routine is Mon-Wed-Fri  Machine / Upper body weights for 15 minutes then about 30 mins of cardio on the eliptical.  On Tue and Thur I do legs and abs for 15 minutes and then 30 mins of cardio on the eliptical.  I'm trying to focus more on cardio to burn fat, but want to at least get weight training in a little to re-build muscle I might be losing.  I burn on average 250-275 calories on the eliptical a day.

As far as diet goes, Mon-Fri I start with quaker instant oatmeal in the morning around 7, around 9 an apple or protein bar, at 11 a chicken pininni sandwhich and either a soup or salad, workout 1-2, protein shake (1 scoop - 28g protein) after that around 2:30, then dinner at 6 or so.  After that, I'm done for the night, to avoid acid reflux in the middle of the night.  The weekends are less structured and are my cheat days, I don't eat a lot of food on weekends but I do eat less healthy.  I have eliminated deserts / chocolates from my diet altogether to try and eat healthier.

Am I on the right track?  I haven't noticed any weight loss in the last 4 weeks and I feel a little discouraged.  Before I ate very little so I think I was in starvation mode, now I'm hungry every few hours or so and enjoy my cardio sessions a lot, I have had a lot more energy than I've had in a long time.  I traded in my anti-depressants I was on when I started working out 4 months ago, hoping alot of my depression would be solved by a healthy body / healthy mind mentatility, and so far it's working.  Emotionally I feel a lot happier, but I'm not seeing any of this weight coming off, the scale stays steady at 225.

I know the steady 1-2 lbs a week is the healthy way to do it, but it just seems so long to wait to go from 225 to say 150. 

What's your daily total calories?

try measuring yourself instead of just weighing in.  you may be losing inches and/or gaining muscle and it might not be reflected on the scales just yet.  i would also spend a little more time with the weights than 15 minutes... and work out your abs/core everyday that you exercise.  the more muscle you build, the more calories you burn.  i wouldn't be drinking the protein shakes unless you are doing some more weight lifting... there are a lot of calories in those and it doesn't sound like you are doing a work-out that really calls for one afterwards.

I would estimate roughly 1600-1800 calories a day, the calculator says I burn 2500 or so (doesn't include workouts).  I know anything past a 1000 calorie deficit is pretty unsafe, but I feel full now that I've started eating every few hours.  I am eating a lot of protein, (chicken, shakes, etc) so I feel full quite often. 

Original Post by fate-rock:

try measuring yourself instead of just weighing in.  you may be losing inches and/or gaining muscle and it might not be reflected on the scales just yet.  i would also spend a little more time with the weights than 15 minutes... and work out your abs/core everyday that you exercise.  the more muscle you build, the more calories you burn.  i wouldn't be drinking the protein shakes unless you are doing some more weight lifting... there are a lot of calories in those and it doesn't sound like you are doing a work-out that really calls for one afterwards.

 Thanks, I'll try that, though after 15 minutes my arms or legs are sore to where I can't do anymore and afraid of hurting myself.  My reps are only 70-80-90 lbs 10 times each right now on the machines so perhaps I'll gain more stamina as time goes on.

Are you logging your food?  You may be eating more than you think.  I ran your stats and it said you burn 2600 calories a day just by living a sedentary life.  I suggest you set your activity to the sedentary setting and log in all your food and exercise.  Then try to keep ua a deficit of 500-1000 calories each day.  I'd also suggest that you limit cheat days to one a week.  You might be overdoing it on the week-ends and undoing what you accomplish during the week.  Good Luck!

Thats very odd, mine is telling me 2600.  Male, 5'7, 225 lbs, sedentary.  I used to do calorie counting daily, but it became to be such a chore I put it off.  (I know, my fault) Since I eat roughly the same things mon-fri, I did a log entry of what I typically eat to see if I was eating enough or too much, and thats where my 1500-1700 figure came from in my earlier post.

You're right about the weekends though, I tend to eat out or have pizza delivered because I hate cooking.  I'll have to think about how to eat better that doesn't involve a lot of cooking.

I had a typo.  It was 2600.  I went back and fixed it.  I have a couple of suggestions for you.  Make yourself a big salad and store what you don't eat in a Zip Lock.  It will keep for several days and you can keep dipping into it.  You can get the Tyson frozen chicken and nuke it for a minute or two to go with it.  Boca burgers are also good.  They don't taste like hamburgers, I'm not gong to lie to you, but they're not bad especially with burger fixings.  They take about a minute and a half in the microwave.  Lean Cuisines are also good but you will probably want to have a salad or something to go with it.  They fill me up now but when I started this journey they didn't.  You can make a pretty decent pizza like food with a 100 calorie english muffin, some tomato sauce and a bit of low-fat mozzarella cheese.  It goes in the toaster over or regular oven at 350 for about 20 minutes.  For snacks I like the 100 calorie popcorn and I always keep grapes and baby carrots in the fridge.  I always use the 0 calorie spray instead of butter.  I think it tasts just as good.  That's all I got right now.  If I think of something else I'll let you know.

EDITED TO ADD:

I have been logging my food almost every day since I started this last June.  I don't log on Fridays because that's my cheat day (Saturday this week), and I don't log on vacation because I eat what I want then but still exercise.  It has kept me on track and I highly recommend daily logging while your trying to lose weight.  I have heard that some people can stop logging once they get used to the new lifestyle, but I don't think I would be able to keep it up.  I'm the kind of person who has to have everything planned and laid out on paper (or on the computer in this case).

Thanks for your help, I'll try out your suggestions and hope for the best.  :)

I agree that logging your food can be somewhat teadious, but I think it is the only way. If you find it hard to get on the computer after everytime you eat keep a food journal with you, and just write down everything you eat. You can always add them up later, but it will get you in the mind frame. When you are accountable for all of your food you make better choices. If you are going to do pizza on the weekends try to stick to the healthiest kind they have, thin crust light sauce vegetarian, or with chicken. Good luck! Keep up the work it will happen soon.

It's a long, slow journey.  You can't rush it.  Feel free to read my profile and see how hard it can be. 

You may (or may not) be on a plateau caused by undereating - It's worth examining that aspect.  You can find information in the Advice section.  If you go to Ask Mary, scroll down to the archive search and type in starvation mode, then read all the questions and answers.  You might find something that fits your situation.

I do hope you are consuming a lot of fiber rich vegetables and fruits along with healthy fats & lean protein sources! These foods are what accelerate weight loss for sure!!! For instance... a wonderful dinner to consider would be: 8 ounces of salmon, sauteed spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, peppers & a tiny bit of quinoa or lentils. 

Not knowing you, I still see room for plateau here.  You've create a routine for yourself that seems perfect, but you give yourself wiggle room.  Be on a weight-loss routine for a while and it's easy to stop tracking food.  That, plus days of "cheating" or "off days" can do you in. 

Also, it's easy to maneuver yourself into eating the exact same food everyday because it's safe and it's worked for you.  But there's a reason why there's so much food variety, and your body needs that variety.  Definately work in more fruits and veggies, and get in every different color.  Make yourself eat other different foods, too, even vary your light and heavy meals.  Oatmeal every day?  Look at the nutrition label and tell me that you're getting all of your nutrients.  How's about a fruit smoothie with frozen berries, nonfat plain yogurt, skim milk, a little flax seed, vanilla extract, and some apple or a little high-fiber cereal.  Or a veggie omlette with egg whites, frozen veggies (any), a little salsa, oregano, and thyme, and some milk on the side.

Plus, your body may be getting used to your regimen.  Try upping the cardio a bit, and increasing your distance.  Like if you do treadmill for 30 min at 3.5 mi/hr at 1%, increase the speed a bit, up the incline slightly, and go farther.  Increase your distance by 1/4 to 1/2 mile every week, something like that.  Better yet, do something completely different, like swimming.

Change things up physically and get back to the food basics.  Record your food, and measure it.  And have faith.  Weight loss will continue work for you like it does for all the rest of us.

It sounds like you've got a pretty consistent diet and exercise plan going. Congratulations.

I have to agree with thumper4 and some of the other comments regardng fruits and vegetables. I started about 6 weeks ago and realized that I had to introduce some new foods into my diet.  I'm not a fan of vegetables but I can tolerate soup so I make a pot of soup on Saturday or Sunday and add in whatever seems like a good idea at the time (carrots, celery, peas, corn, beans (black and/or kidney), zucchini and other squash, diced tomaotes, etc. It's about 50/50 fresh vegetables and some cans of no added salt vegetables. 

Depending on what type and how many beans I add I estimate the calories to be about 100 - 120 a cup. I use canned soups (again low sodium) as the base along with low sodium V-8 juice.  That usually adds in some more vege's and a few noodles. It's something I can eat and snack on the weekends, it's easy to throw together, and it keeps well for several days so I take 2 - 3 cups to work with me.  The beans add fiber so I can go easy on the oatmeal (although I to eat oatmeal or cream of wheat most mornings).  The soup the one thing that I pretty much give myself permission to eat anytime I'm hungry without alot of restrictions on amount.

As far as counting calories, I hope to not have to do it forever, but for now it helps keep me on track. I think that even if you don't log your calories everyday you might want to do it on a random basis (like every other weekend) just to see how you're doing.

Last place I worked had a gym so I envy you that. One thing that I noticed when I was working out what that it's easy to get into a "routine" where you don't seem to improve much for several weeks and then suddenly you jump to a higher level. It's just the body trying to be more efficient.

If you want to increase strength and change things up a little you might to try a 7-5-3-1 routine where you start with (as an example) 50lbs and do a set of 7, 70lbs and do a set of 5, 90lbs and do a set of 3, and 110lbs and do 1.  The 1 should be the highest weight you can do (without injuring yourself of course). When it gets easy, you move the weight up another 10lbs for all sets. 

Also, change up the exercises you're doing. If there's machines you haven't tried, add them into your routine every so often to vary your work out.  If you hit a plateau you want to change things up to shake up your routine.

Like you, I mostly do cardio. I'm walking (5 miles) every other day. I've just bought a bicycle and plan on using it on the other days. Because I'll burn the most calories by using the largest muscle groups (thighs and gluts), both of these exercises will primarily focus on those.  I don't go for speed on either the walking or the bicycle. I stay pretty consistent on how fast and just concentrate on the distance.

Good luck and keep up the good work.