pastennett

Hey CT, My advice would be to start with what you eat. Here's why I say that: the main driver for weight loss is the food. Exercise helps to transfer more blood (and the nutrients from food absorbed into your bloodstream) into your muscles, helping you build muscle. Building muscle has a knock on effect with burning fat because.... I am really going off on a tangent here lol. Let's keep it simple. What are your current eating habits? I would normally recommend 3 phases of eating to go from overweight to absolutely chiseled. I don't believe in bulking phases and shredding phases either. All that I eat is pointing to 1 goal, to have the body of my dreams, all year round. Phase 1 would be to nourish your body. Being overweight could have been a cause of many different things, but the first thing I check is the activity of your metabolism. Over years of inefficient eating habits, and just age, our metabolism slows down. Phase 1 is about ramping it back up. So lets start there. What does an average day of eating look like?

One step at a time my friend, literally, you can start by walking 20 mins every morning when you wake up. But for me (I was not morbidly obese in any way, so take my advice with a grain of salt) working out wasn't my main focus at the start of my journey. As a matter of fact, I didn't start working out until after a month after I changed my meal plan. I would recommend you start there. You can literally lose majority of the weight without exercise by just eating right. Do you want us to focus on your meal plan for now? If so, what are your current eating habits,

Okay, you're trying to lose weight. Wow, I could give a bunch of tips, but I'd mostly be firing in the dark, which isn't cool... somebody could get hurt So why don't you tell me what your pre-paleo diet looked like? Also, what's your goal you are working towards (and I don't mean "lose weight" or "get toned", but specifically like, lose x lbs or get to x% body fat)? There could be a variety of reasons why you aren't losing the weight and those questions could help narrow them down. Some shots in the dark: 1) Usually I would advise a period of nourishing the body before any new diet is started. I have seen the best results in myself and my wife when we do that. That means, over a 1-2 week period eat what u normally eat and slowly add in better food choices. Adding in fruits rich in anti-oxidants and water and veggies as well really helps get those micro-nutrients and nourishment in. The goal: bring your body to a healthy maintenance state (ground zero), then begin cutting or adding calories. 2) Maybe you're not drinking enough water. I drink over 1 gallon of water a day. It was hard at first but I realized that being dehydrated doesn't help the weight loss process one bit. Working at the desk as a programmer and forgetting to drink a single drop 4 hours later is a common problem. Are you a little uncomfortable with how much water you drink? Yes? Drink some more. BTW Im not saying drink a gallon of water a day, I try to drink my bodyweight in ounces of water per day which happens to be around a gallon.

Personally, this has worked out for me to a point. When I had more to lose, I found that doing cardio on an empty stomach increased fat loss. But my goals have changed and I am moving away from my new lean look to add more muscle, while shredding the last few pounds of fat. So because of that I have cut cardio completely. The cardio that I did was also very specific. I found that if I did HIIT on an empty stomach, I would as Elastigirl said, feel sick OR be completely depleted first thing in the morning, leading to bad (terrible) food choices during the day. But doing low impact, steady state cardio (walking around my house for 20 minutes) instead, yielded dividend. You can try both out and let me know what works for you.

Hi CarlesTexas, Welcome to the World of Fitness! I hope you stick around and explore this vast universe. It has much to offer. I'd really love to jump in and help you with the 2 questions you asked, but I think you'd get greater benefit if we learned more about you first. 1) I get that you are a beginner, but what is your starting point? Are you overweight/underweight or just out of shape? 2) What goal are you working towards (what's your ideal outcome, to gain muscle, lose fat, get fit?