Hello, I am 26 years old and have some basic questions about weight loss and about my workout routine. I have been in pretty decent shape my whole life, until about 2.5 years ago when my wife got pregnant. I have heard stories of men gaining weight during their wives pregnancy, and that definitely happened to me! I'm 6'0 tall and I went from 180-185 lbs to 215-220lbs, which most of the weight was gained during that first year of my wife being pregnant. I'm looking to make some changes though and would like to drop down to about 180-185 again.

I have been going to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's. I don't mind working out, but it is always hard to find time with a 2 year old running around. I work until 5, so I like to spend time with him when I get home. I usually end up working out from 6:45pm - 8pm.

Lets start with my first question, my diet. I'm trying to eat 5-6 times a day. I believe my target calories per day should be 1500 to lose weight. I am going to try to do a better job at keeping track of that. I am confused though of what to eat after I get home from work and after workout. When I get home at 5pm, I have been taking a protein shake with about 40 grams of protein. When I get home from workout, I am usually starving so I eat something then too. I try to eat a piece of chicken or some sort of protein and a vegetable. Is that ok? Should I reverse these two and take the shake after and eat the meal before workout? I like taking the protein shake at 5, because it doesn't fill me up right before my workout. If it doesn't make a difference, I will continue doing what I'm doing.

Next, in the past I have tried to cut my calories and workout. The main problem is that I ALWAYS end up getting sick after only about a week... Like a cold type sickness. It's horrible, and I don't think a coincidence, because it's happened so many times. I think I was really cutting my calories more than I should and that might have been the cause. Anyone have any idea? I'm hoping if I stick to the 1500 calories, I won't have this problem.

Next, I have a question about my workout. During my 3 day workouts, I do about 40 minutes of cardio total and then also lift. Most of the time, I only do about 3 sets of 3 different machines (arms one day, legs another, etc). When I do the cardio, I usually do 20 minutes of one thing, then do my lifting, then finish off with another 20 minutes of cardio. I get a good sweat going, but is this working as well as I want it too? Should I do all 40 minutes of cardio at once then lift? Will that make a difference?

Lastly, I have considered doing more cardio during the week. Like add another 40-60 minutes of it on Tuesday and Thursday. I would probably do that in the mornings before work. Would I be hurting myself if I added another 40-60 minutes of cardio in the morning on the same day as my normal M,W,F workout? So basically on Mon, Wed, and Fri I would be doing 40 minutes of cardio in the morning, 40 in the afternoon, and also lifting. I know I would be burning a ton of calories, but is that going to be bad for me?

I know I asked a lot of questions, but I really want to get some good information so that I can fit back into my normal clothes and feel good about myself again! Thanks to anyone who responds!

Just a couple of pointers. First, you need to find out what your Base Metabolic Rate and Maintenance levels are in terms of calorie intake. Check the stickied threads at the top of this section for some specific information. 1500 calories sounds way too low for your height and weight. Second, you should be doing your cardio after weight training and need to be doing much more in terms of your lifting routine. I would suggest checking out some of the stickied threads in the weight lifting forum as well for some basic information. Not sure if this is helpful at all or not.

Not for someone who weighs 215 lbs and is exercising and weight training as well IMO.

Your Resting Metabolic Rate ( i.e calories needed if you were simply confined to bed ) is probably somewhere around 2,000+ .....just on it's own.

For example, a common ' rule of thumb ' to ballpark an estimate of how many calories you should take in to lose fat, is around 16 calories per pound of bodyweight ...less 20%. You can fine tune your needs from there.

For example, you can also estimate ( i.e fine tune ) your needs further using an on-line calculator like this one...

Delaware Consumer Health Information Services


Does that shake have any carbs in it as well ?


Sounds OK...though I'd ensure I had more carbs than protein in a post workout meal....but that's just me.


So long as you have a small easily digestible snack / light meal about an hour ( or more ) before you workout, you should be fine. I'd also try and have a snack around 3:00 or so - which it appears you're doing anyway. And depending on the size and timing of your pre-workout snack, you also might be able to get away with a late ' light ' dinner at 8:15+ or so ( after your workout ).

At your weight, 1,500 is still too low IMO.

My experience has been that most gym rats who combine cardio and weights in the same session, usually do cardio after weight training.

What was your reasoning for splitting up your cardio 20 before and 20 after btw ?

And if you have only 3 days a week to weight train as you do now ( Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's ) , you'll often see gym rats do some form of full body workout 3X a week ( on these non-consecutive days ) where they can train their legs, back, chest, shoulders and arms ( either directly and or indirectly ) 3 times a week.

Your 40-60 minutes of cardio is primarily aerobic, so - on paper at least - you should be fine doing cardio in the morning. Meaning, you'd have enough ' gas in the tank ' for weights in the evening ( I did it for years ).

I'd just make sure you have a decent pre and post morning workout snack and another morning snack at work, a good lunch, snack at 3:00 etc. Mind you, it sort of depends on exactly what time in the morning you train / end training and when you start work....what are those times anyway ?

But, if you're going to do 45-60 minutes of morning cardio 5X a week, you may want to consider dropping the afternoon cardio you do with your weights for now. Especially, if you're just getting back to training...you may want to ease into things a bit....give your body a chance to adapt to the new demands you're putting on it.

If I was getting back into it, I'd do a FBW workout Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings ( no cardio along with weights at all ), try some morning cardio Tuesday and Thursdays and see how you body reacts to that first for a few weeks. Then, if you find you can handle more, then entertain a third morning cardio etc. etc.

If you've been out of training for awhile, I think it is ' too much too soon ' . I think you're going to feel fatigued, run the risk of injury etc. etc.

Damn how long was she pregnant?

Here is what I do Wolfpack: Read everything I am about to post here to really learn some tips that will help you.

#1 John Berardi - 7 Habits
#2 John Berardi - Berardi's Kitchen, Part I
#3 John Berardi - Lean Eatin' Part I
#4 John Berardi - Lean Eatin' Part II
#5 John Berardi - The Science of Nutrient Timing, Part I
#6 Lyle McDonald - Introduction to Dieting

Nothing about training yet.

I know it's not my post, but thanks for the links tonymcclellan

Glad you like them.