I need some help setting some realistic goals for healthy weight loss and getting back into shape. I will give you some background on myself and my living situation and I am in hopes of getting some REALISTIC goals and regimes I can get into to help reach these goals.

About myself: I'm a 24 year old male, weighing roughly around 310-320 lbs (no scale at home), I currently am the general manager of my own pizza restaurant while I finish my MS in Statistics. I have always been overweight since high school where I played competitive football, wrestling, and threw in track. I work Approx 50 hours a week and also go to graduate school as I said and I live with my fiance and our dog. What I've been noticing about myself is a gradual weight gain in the last two years that I want to stop, recently I've tried to begin eating healthier by introducing more fruits and vegetables into my diet but at times it is hard to cook for my fiance and I the way I want to eat because she is picky at times. I've also begun biking recently to help lose some weight but so far not to much avail, so I'm here searching for help. After high school in college 3 years ago I had lost 80 lbs and I felt absolutely great and fit into new clothes and now it seems as if it was all for nothing because I'm gaining it back. What I need is some exercise regimes I can do daily to help lose weight (mostly in stomach and waist). I'm also looking for some meal ideas I can cook for myself or preferably for both my fiance and I. I am not rich so I do hope to find something affordable to do which I know is possible because part of the problem was in myself getting lazy and letting myself go a bit.

My long term goals (not sure if realistic):
250lbs (I'm 6'4" maybe 6'5" so I feel this is a nice healthy weight for myself)


I really want to do this and soon, I'm in the process of finding a new career and starting a family soon and I want to be in shape for my wedding and future self. I do have a bum left knee so I can't do distance running bc I am missing part of my kneecap and I tore all my knee ligaments back in HS.

instead of setting a weight objective, if you plan to exercise, its a good idea to set a bodyfat % goal, since gaining muscle and losing fat both work towards that goal and its more representative of your general health state

as for an exercise routine, you could do something more hypertrophy oriented since it burns more calories and is generally easier for starters because you have a smaller chance to injure yourself and complement that with some cardio or HIIT if you want to lose fat more effectively

depending on how much time you have, you could do a 2 day body split such as upper/lower body

For upper body, would recommend incorporating something like
Bench press (for pecs+triceps)
Overhead press (deltoids+triceps)
Lat pull down (lats+biceps)
Cable Rows (Lats+biceps, different angle)

Lower could try doing
Squats (if capable, great core work aswell as quads, hams, glutes, back extensors)
A deadlift variation (especially if you cant do squats)
Leg press if all else fails, its not very functional but will help develop muscle and burn calories for sure

Could do 3 sets of 10 for every exercise, if you have more time can add some exercises for those muscle groups or increase the number of sets

The key to body recomposition is a combination of exercise and diet, diet only will get you skinny fat at best and you'll lose weight much slower aswell as lose some muscle mass

To do that routine you'd best subscribe to a gym, generally any gym will do, and if your fiancee is interested in getting in better shape, bring her with you

The best thing to do for you to start keeping your diet in check

Working/owning a pizza place probably leads to you eating a lot of unhealthy foods

I would say packing your lunches and bringing healthy meals such as chicken/rice/veggies will help you a lot

If you drink sodas just cut that out as well

Just that will help you a lot

I'd say at that weight just walking maybe 45 mins a day to start is a great thing to do
running at a heavy weight puts a lot more stress on the body and is probably not the best at the moment

Thank you for such a quick response, yes we are both actually getting enrolled at a local gym in which a buddy of mine is a personal trainer there and planned to help us with the workouts. I do think the body fat % is a great idea and I'll have to look into getting us tested bc I feel as if my midsection is what has grown mostly in the past 2 years. Do you have any recommendations cardio wise because I feel thats something we need to do more often, time wise I will be fine I've come to realize I've just gotten a little lazy at times like when I work 12 hour shifts all day I dont feel like working out at all but I feel like having the right mindset and even doing a 30 minute workout will be extremely beneficial.

edit: Yes zepplin you are correct the pizza hasn't been a big help, I definitely need to stop eating at work period, nothing there is healthy besides maybe me making a salad from time to time with my OWN dressing. No soda here haven't drank the stuff in 7 years so I do only have a water/tea intake mostly. Would riding a bike be as beneficial or more beneficial than walking? Just curious because I have really enjoyed my time I've had on my bike lately as it doesn't bother my knee quite as much.

2nd edit: So as far as meals wise is it best to begin cutting out beef/pork consumption and raising my consumption of chicken? I love chicken and rice so I think just cleaning out my freezer would be helpful in that respect. As for breakfast I have gotten into a bad habit of skipping it at times so would grabbing yogurt/bananas be helpful or should try and eat more eggs?

This post was edited by Xx Shin3d0wn xX on Jun 20 2015 06:46pm

biking is good if it doesnt hurt your knee

else power walking or a machine such as an elliptical does the job

ideally it would be a sport, because its not as boring and force you to push yourself more (such as tennis, soccer or something) but those methods are great too

Get a bike. You need some cardio. burn more calories than you take in = weight loss.

no more pop either. drink water. get some gatorade too.

Stop eating
Intermittent fasting
Daily calorie max - 1,000 cal
Lift weights
Walk a ton

Doesn't matter what you eat, as long as you can sustain it for a long period of time while eating only 1000 cal a day. No sugars or sweets or anything. Just plain meals when eating

Getting fit is the best game in the entire world. Work hard and you'll love the outcome in the end

This post was edited by PinataParty on Jun 21 2015 09:14am

Tell me more pls

Gtfo

Alrighty well thanks guys for all the insight, we got a membership at planet fitness in our area and already met with the PT to get our workouts setup for us so we will be going minimum of 5 times a week now. Any more insight meals wise would be great but I think I got a good start.