Racer X Virtual Trainer

Let me try and give as much information as I can.
I just turned 37 years old. I have overweight for the past 10+ years. I am 5 10 about 208 lbs in the morning naked on the scale (I know its not pretty to think about). I have been working on reading and learning as much as I can about weight loss and how to do it. I am somewhat fit. I ride my motocross bike every weekend. I can cycle 50 miles at 16-18 MPH (regular terrain, some rolling hills, flats, etc). I do 10,000 meters on the Concept rower in about an hour.

I have a very weak upper body, I cant currenlty do a chin up unassisted. I have been using the machine at the gym that helps you and I am at about 100lbs of help to do 15 reps. My lower body is strong. I grew up racing BMX and speed skating. I have no health problems.

I do some form of exercise 4-6 days a week. I am working hard to make it 6 every week. I generally do 40 minutes on an eliptical, or on the rowing machine. Then I do some weights focusing on chest, shoulders and back. I do weights every other trip.

I hate vegetables. So far I can choke down spinach in a salad with balsamic vinegar dressing, green beans, and any lettuce.

I have created myself a modified diet and I am looking for some help on ideas.

I started about 2 weeks ago at 215 lbs and I droppped 6lbs right away, which I am guessing is mostly water weight because 2-3 days into it I was at 204 and then within a day or so I have leveled out in the 207-209 range.

I have been eating 5-6 times a day.

Breakfast is Oatmeal or a bowl of Cheerios with a bananana mixed in. Regular Vit D milk.

Snack i have a granola bar or a piece of fruit. Sometime a can of tuna. The tuna is packed in water and I eat it striaght from the can. (Im wierd, I like it best that way) or I will eat half of a chiken breast

Lunch Chicken Breast with green beans, or some white rice, or some spinach salad. depends on dinner the night before

Snack - Turkey deli meat on some sort of grain bread mustard and pepper only. Deli meat is Turkey breast sliced at the deli, not the packaged stuff

Dinner Some sort of Chicken or Turkey. Some common meals is ground turkey taco meat on flour tortillas. Chicken Breast with Salad or Green beans.

Snack - Cup of Hot Choclate or a fat free pudding snack.

Sorry for the long post. I would love some feedback of what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong.

Thanks

Wow! Congrats on all of the good choices you are making!! The only things in your diet that I would pick on would be the whole "Vit D" milk and the white rice. Whole milk has a high fat content so it's a relatively easy place to reduce fat intake. Try 2% and then gradually work your way lower. If you find that you don't like the really low fat versions know that even switching to 2% is a good thing!!

Try switching your white rice to brown rice. It may take some getting used to just like the milk, but it is definitely more healthy!!

If you find that sticking to your new eating plan gets old or boring, give yourself a break for a meal or two and then get back to the plan. You could also set up a sort of "reward system" for yourself so that when you reach a certain milestone you get a reward such as new tennis shoes.

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Kim Wathen M.S.
Exercise Physiologist/Dietitian/Personal Trainer
kim@fitnessandfuel.com

Good job and keep up the hard work man!

The only thing I can see is at times (breakfast and snack) you either have ONLY carbs (oatmeal with banana for instance) or ONLY protein (can of tuna only). Not only is this only one macronutrient but if you do only carbs in the way you stated for breakfast it is very high glycemic index after a period of fasting (overnight) and that leads to insulin spikes, etc. The protein only snack won't do that but then you may feel low on energy say a few hours later if you do a workout. My point in short is to mix your macronutrients (carbs and protein) if you can at every meal so that you are not missing out on a key component of your diet at any one time and also to keep the glycemic load of the meal in check to help avoid surges in blood sugar and spikes in insulin.

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Coach Seiji
www.coachseiji.com

I couldn't agree more with Kim and Coach Seiji's advice. When I met my wife 15 years ago she turned me on the skim milk. It didnt take that long to get used to especially if you are used to consuming your milk in cereal and stuff like that. For the diehard who loves to drink milk, the graduel method will work.

Here is an article from Coach Seiji with some weight loss tips. thanks for reading and hope this helps!

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Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com

Thanks everyone, I am sure I can do any milk. I only use it in cereal. Ill make sure I switch that up.

The other stuff is great info. Thats why i asked. I know that eating is complex and I have to try and mix it up. I do have HUGE mood swings and energy hi and lows and i know it has to do with eathing.

Can you give me some good example of mixing the nutrients for breakfast or a snack.

I have been mixing in some egg beaters with turkey bacon on a wheat english muffin. Is that ok?

You could add a protein shake or protein bar to balance the high carb (oatmeal and banana) breakfast.

Your mixture sounds good to me.....making me hungry!

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Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com

You bring up a good point about shakes and meal replacements.

How much of these can I safely rely on. Honestly, I would love to do some meal replacements, but there are so many out there I dont know which ones are good or bad.

Cytomax and Endurox are used by a lot of people in the industry. I think they are both solid companies with solid products. I also like to drink Slim Fast Shakes. I do not use them as meal replacements but rather snack replacements.

Coach Seiji and Kim have said it time and time again.....if your diet is solid then there probably isn't a need for supplementation. BUT, nutritional supplements are great way to "fill" what you might be missing. Eating a good diet is hard and expensive. And if you eat out at restaurants regularly, then forget about healthy eating! Restaurants are one of the last places where you can rely on a healthy meal.

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Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com

Im not really looking for supplements as oppsed to replacements, When i dont feel like eating, but I know I need the calories. When I need something quick heading out the door, or a long day at work and just wont to cook dinner.

Not every day by any means, but for the occasional meal. I will go with Slim Fast shakes, I like those

Actually you are getting protein from the milk you are using in the morning when you have your oatmeal. Each 1 cup serving has approximately 8 grams of protein.

I believe Slim Fast shakes are rather high in sugar so if you do use them I would do so sparingly. You could make food ahead to grab when you are in a hurry. Even a simple chicken salad sandwich on whole wheat bread would be better than meal replacements.

_________________
Kim Wathen M.S.
Exercise Physiologist/Dietitian/Personal Trainer
kim@fitnessandfuel.com