Need Help on Diet / Workout

[nokillnation]

Hello everyone at vegan fitness,

I wanted to first start by saying thank you for everyone who contributes to these forums. They have proven to be a very valuable resource for a new vegan like myself.

Recently the gym I belong to has begun a contest – something similar to “The Biggest Loser. “ Simply weigh in at the start and again in 12 weeks and whoever has lost the largest percentage of weight wins. I would love to not only become healthier by participating in the contest, but I would love to show everyone involved that veganism is the way to go.

My questions:

1. does it make sense to continue to lift weights, considering muscle weights more then fat. And since the contest is based on weight loss I would not want to add extra weight.

2. How much fat should I be taking in to loose weight?

3. What should a work out look like? Currently I am doing 45 min cardio 5-6 times a week.

4. Any other suggestions you might have that would help.


My stats.

32 years old male
342 pounds
43.50 % body fat.

[Enhydra Lutris]

Hi and welcome to VF!

Is your overall goal to loose weight, to become fitter or to build muscle? Depending on what you are aiming for you need to train differently. But even if you want to focus on weight loss, weight training is good. Muscles need energy and your metabolic rate will increase just to sustain the muscle tissue.

It takes a long time before you start actually putting on muscle tissue too, at first you are feeling/getting stronger by developing the signalling to/from the brain and generally getting better at using your muscles for heavier work.

So I'd say, hit the weights! (But be sure to get some help creating a good program and plan for you!)

Good luck!

[codemonkey]

Definitely continue lifting weights. The muscle you build over the 12 weeks won't make a huge difference in your overall weight but lifting burns calories and keeps your body from burning muscle for energy. I don't know about your fitness level but back when I was 75 pounds overweight, I found it a lot easier to keep up with weight training than cardio. I was only able to do about 30 minutes of cardio but I could lift for like an hour. Do as much cardio as you can but definitely lift weights too.

As far as diet goes, vegetables are your friends. Really focus on eating veggies and fruits because they're low in calories and high in nutrition and water. Cut back on fat as best as you can but don't eliminate it completely. Use as little oil as you can in cooking and maybe don't put margarine and stuff on your veggies (I like my vegetables steamed with a little salt.) Raw veggies are great to snack on plain or maybe dipped in a little hummus. Make sure your bread and pasta and stuff are all whole grains (actually read the ingredient list to be sure, usually when bread is labeled "wheat", it's just white bread with a little bit of whole wheat flour and molasses mixed in to make it more brown.) And watch your portion sizes (a portion should be about the size of your fist). It's really easy to overeat on pasta, bread and rice. Nuts are a great source of healthy fats but again, keep the portion sizes small. Any more than a handful of nuts a day is too much. For drinking, focus on calorie-free liquids. Water is best. Herbal tea is good too. Diet soda is less good but at least it doesn't have calories.

Anyway, good luck and keep us posted on your progress

[nokillnation]

Thanks for the great advice. I am going to post a training log, feel free to comment on it. I can use all the help I can get being a new vegan.

Thanks again….