I'm 31, 5'10" and 240lbs... I'm disgusting, have back paint, sleep apnea and am at risk of type II diabetes.

It's time for a change.

One thing I have learned here is that it's a wealth of knowledge and support and am looking for it.
Does anyone have experience with Atkins diet? I've done nutrisystem and it helped for a spell but on e the bought meals are gone I gain weight.
I have an Eliptical machine at home I have used once, and a gym at work and time on night shift to use it.


ETA: any suggestions for weight lifting plans for dummies?

Don't jump on some fad diet. Just focus on eating healthy (meats, vegetables, fruits, limited processed stuff, drink tons of water).

Check out Starting Strength or Wendler's 5/3/1 for strength training. Focus on learning good form first. It takes a lot of good repetitions to get things down, just like anything else.

Don't try to just change everything all at once. It will make it harder to stick with. Baby steps. Make both long term and short term goals.

Buy a preworkout like C4 it helps with motivation after work.

Sensible eating and exercise wins the day: eat a  high, lean protein, low fat diet. Do NOT eliminate food groups.

I need to, I liked Jack3d more than C4 but they both served well in Japan.

Very true, one reason I was looking at the Atkins was it seems a good jump start into serious diet change.

I did Atkins a long time ago, it's not sustainable for me.

I'm kind of doing a primal type diet now... very simple and natural.

If you can't kill it, pick it or catch it, you don't eat it*. And I avoid grains.

More or less, you eat naturally. Avoid convenience crap, and stuff that comes out of boxes loaded with preservatives and other garbage. Make great meals, but out of raw ingredients. In other words, the way our moms cooked back in the 70's and before that.

*I am avoiding starchy foods like white potatoes to help with weight loss now too.

The FDA made them change Jack3d and take DMAA out of it. So now it doesn't work as good.

Baby steps first.
Cut the crap out: sodas candy fast food chips junk food
Drink water.
Sleep.
Excercise. Anything will work at first, learn the basic barbell lifts, fix your bad habits posture sitting standing walking, try a book called supple leopard.
You'll hear so many diet ideas and they All conflict except in one area, eat food. If you can't pronounce it, it isn't food.
I'm on a fairly high fat/protein trend with carbs to gain weight. Beef pork bison eggs sweet potatoes raw milk etc.

Funny you mention sleep, I think my sleep was absolute shit and in effective for three years of Non-diagnosed sleep apnea, I've had my APAP machine for a month and feel like a new man as far as rest goes.

No reason to go low fat. You need fat and it's satiating.

 


 

I was about the same place as you when I started.  5'9" 225# and miserable.

My first change was diet.  All of the crap food got tossed and not re bought.  Three meals a day, nothing terribly special, just cut out the crap food around the house so I wasn't snacking on the stuff.  I got to a point I felt it was sustainable and made the next change.

Couch to 5k was my next step.  Nothing required other than good shoes and a little time.

After that I moved through various workouts until I found Stronglifts and ran that for several months.  Live intervened, but I am back on it now.  The key is finding something you enjoy and will keep doing.  It might be barbell stuff (Starting Strength, Stronglifts), crossfit, or something else.  It has to be something that becomes like brushing your teeth though.

Set goals, short, medium, and long term.  Achieve one and go from there.

I thought most knowledgeable, health-conscious people had realized long ago the "low-fat" prescription was bullshit.

Atkins is fine, if you do it correctly.  It is however, a complete change in your eating habits, and absolutely does NOT ALLOW cheating.  If you're the type who diets and is going to cheat and eat a bunch of cookies once a week, or drink a couple bottles of soda.. Atkins is not for you because you will essentially have to start over each time you do that.  Just because you're on Atkins, doesn't mean you eat 12 eggs and a 1lb of bacon for breakfast every morning (I actually heard this once).

The nice things about it:
1.  Your energy will likely shoot through the roof after induction
2.  No need to starve yourself (restrict calories).  If you're hungry, eat.  Just watch your carb intake.

The bad thing about it?  Induction sucks.  Induction is 2 weeks.  Most of the folks I talk to, the worst part of it is probably days 4-7.  Once you're through that, you'll probably find this way of eating easy.

Go to the Library or Amazon and get one of the books available... read it, and understand the diet.  Most of folks problems with Atkins is they do not understand it.

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Atkins-New-Diet-Revolution/dp/006001203X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398185841&sr=1-4&keywords=atkins
http://www.amazon.com/New-Atkins-You-Ultimate-Shedding/dp/1439190275/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398185841&sr=1-2&keywords=atkins

Some folks swear by the original (by Robert Atkins himself), others, swear by the New Atkins, New You book.  I've read both and the core concepts are the same, but I think New Atkins, New You is a better read for someone new to this way of eating.  I think it's focus on what to do after induction, is better than the original Atkins book.  Naturally, if you have a lot of weight to lose, you can stay in induction longer... but the key is to move move through the diet, so that you undergo a complete diet change, and it doesn't just become a "fad".

My opinion.   Worth what you paid for it but I have been there and done that both personally and for others.

Your first and biggest priority is to get some weight off.  This will help greatly with your sleep apnea and the pre-diabetic symptoms.   Weight loss is about diet.  You cannot out-exercise a bad diet.    You need to fix your diet.   You're not super obese yet, but you are overweight, you recognize that and that's half the battle.   If you try to do one thing, you have about a 80% chance of success.  (diet)  if you try to do two things, your chance of success at either falls to like 50% overall and if you try to do 3 things at once, the chance is pretty much zero.    Fix your diet first.  

I have never met anyone who hasn't lost weight one some form of cutting out carbs  I've met a lot of people who can't stick to it because of the constant bombarding of carbs in modern society but nobody who has failed to lose weight.   Any form of lowering your carb intake from Keto (which is relatively extreme) to "no sugar no grains'  (which isn't, although it sounds like it) to paleo, to Atkins, to whatever will make a dramatic difference in how full you are.  And if you are full, you aren't eating because you are satiated.   Of course it's hard (esp initially), if carbs weren't addictive, nobody would have trouble quitting.   But it's worth it.   You'll feel better, feel full and the weight will just fall off.  

If you really want to exercise, go for a walk occasionally.  Fix your diet.  

here's a current thread here on arfcom about Keto:  http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_113/1590394_Keto_Dieters___c_mere_.html   somewhere, there's a HUGE thread about paleo/primal diet and there are tons of resources on the web about all types of low carb style diets.   reddit.com has really active both paleo and keto groups with great FAQ's.

Low fat is not no fat...meaning, don't eat a pound a bacon in one sitting...eat 3 slices instead.

 

Ok, most people would say no bacon at all on low fat, but I see where you're coming from. I think most people have an unfounded fear of fat when our bodies REQUIRE it. IMO and IME lowish carb yields great results and is easier to maintain.

I ain't most people....

 

Some people do see carbs as the enemy, but the fact is most people get WAY too many carbs. The recommended amount is laughable. I've trained HARD on around 100g of carbs a day...even athletes (not counting endurance athletes) don't need as much as they've been lead to believe.

As far as sustainability, lowish carb isn't that hard to stay on. I mean really, is eating eggs, steak and veggies that terrible? Most people find it to be fairly easy.

I think you have a lot of solid advice in which to work with from posters above.  The only thing I really want to remind you is that when it comes to weight/fat loss, calories truly are king.  Burn more calories than you take in and you will lose weight.

Doesn't mean you have to kill yourself trying to count every calorie or even that you need to starve yourself.  All it means is to keep your focus on it so mistakes aren't made, because many people are blind to their portion sizes and calorie intake.

Thankyou everyone for the input.

As far as cutting carbs, what were some of the most common foods you were eating that were loaded with carbs... Particularly ones you didn't realize had so much?

Most people would be pretty well served by cutting bread, pasta, sweets, and sugared drinks.

don't eat sugar, don't eat grains, probably 80% of the carbs will fall out.   (grains include wheat, corn, etc)

This + look at things like sauces, salad dressing, condiments.  Lots of hidden calories/carbs/salt etc.  

Start reading the labels of the food you are buying.

I still view carbs as the enemy.



I can't justify the consumption of them...



But I'm weak and I like the occasional pizza.
OP:



Don't listen to anyone who says "Cheat Day".  



Until you're in the mid teens bodyfat... it should ALWAYS be cheat MEAL... never "DAY".



No cheats the first few weeks... Earn them.  

Agree, 100%

Thanks for the input and encouragement.

I need to start reading up and find a list of carbs for myself, both the obvious and not so much.

It's simple. Eat as much greens as you want, one piece of fruit or a handful of berries a day and call it good.

If you're working out a lot, you could have some sweet potatoes.

ETA- then once you get to your desired BF% you can up them a little.

I definitely need more greens in my life. I'll be up to my eyeballs in sweet peas and Green beans come early summer if my garden does well.

Corn and potatoes are something I can easily cut since I eat them all the damn time, that and rice

View this as a Marathon and not a 5k, for lack of a better analogy. I have been on the pathway to better health for 5 years now. Find physical activities you like- hiking, biking, running, swimming... something. Move a lot, plan activities and vacations where you are active. Find sources of motivation.

I kind of lost my weight in chunks. Lose 20 lbs, gain 5 back. Lose 15 lbs, gain 5 back. Etc. Not the best way to go but a slower weight loss has been proven to be more sustainable.

AFA healthy diets go, I do like the philosophy behind the South Beach Diet, although you don't really need to buy the book or any of their crappy "South Beach" food. It's mainly eating healthy vegetables and staying away from bad carbs.  White flour is the worst.

So far I've cut the carbs way back and same with calories and sweets. I'm feeling pretty good but need to kick it up in the exercise department.

I still have yet to step on a scale which I am going to do tomorrow. The hardest part is getting into a routine.

Was in your boat several years ago. 6' 245lbs. Started running and cut calories to 1500+/- every day. Ate whatever I wanted (mostly fresh food, but also a lot of frozen meals, ready to eat stuff). Got to 177 and and I hover in the mid 180's. I found running to be a pretty good source of stress release and also a reason to stay on the "diet".  Hated the idea of running 5 miles only to blow those efforts on a bag of cookies/chips/etc. I tried the adkins years ago, but it wasnt for me. LIke everyone else said, drink water instead of soda, etc. What helped me the most to stay on track was log every single item I ate every day, as well as my weight. I kept a little spiral book as well as an excel spread. This will help you see the correlation between diet and weight loss/gain.  Good luck!