Future Sailor

[Ghost37]

Alright, so, introductions... My name is Avery, I'm 18 and graduating high school in about two hours, and on June 26th I'll be headed off to basic training in the United States Navy as a Nuclear Engineer. Seems like I've got a pretty decent timetable set up here, right?

I've always wanted to get more in shape and be like all the guys at my school that aren't afraid to take their shirts off and girls drool at them because they have abs while also being, for the most part, dumb as a rock. I know that's not always the case especially with people like you guys, but out here in the middle of nowhere mountains of North Carolina, there's still a pretty clear distinction between the stereotypical nerd and jock. But putting that aside, after enlisting on October 25th, it finally hit me that those goals needed to become a reality and fairly quickly. I kinda sorta tried at it, and I saw some "meh" improvement in my measurements and I was happy until January and I still wasn't much closer to my max weight for my height which, since I'm 68 inches (5'8") the Navy says that I need to weigh at most 181 lbs.

Right now, I'm 184 lbs. and 16% body fat and have no idea where to go. Both my recruiters are excited about the fact that I passed Calculus with a 90, and my Chief loves that my weight is going down by 2 or 3 pounds every month. But I want more than that. I don't know if I should even be saying that, but I want to always be better and hopefully achieve one of my biggest and hard-to-reach goals: being a SEAL. I know that's lofty and a lot of people say that just to blow smoke, but I seriously want it. I feel like it'll be easier to focus on healthy eating and exercise now that I don't have worry about school, but I've lived for 18 years not paying any attention to what I eat and making half-assed attempts at getting in shape. I happened to stumble across Nerd Fitness a couple of weeks ago in my efforts to an Assassin's Creed style workout and I fell in love with the site. I've started to get myself into a habit of working out daily and I'm trying to be more conscious about the things I eat. I'd like to try out the Paleo diet, but I can't figure out how to convince my parents to join me because I want them to start being healthy as well, but, I don't know, they just don't want to it seems like. I'm just trying to limit how much I eat and avoid processed things as much as possible.

Anyway, it feels like I shouldn't really be asking for help since I'm already in a pretty good place, but I'm asking anyway.

[Jaswandi]

Don't feel that you shouldn't be asking for help, of course - ask and you will find it!

You are pretty fit and healthy as it is, you just need to drop a few more lbs and I am guessing you want to get toned up more. I don't know how much you have explored this website, but there are some pretty cool articles on how to focus on strength, instead of weight loss.

When you are living with your parents, it is hard to impose your dietary needs on them, especially if they don't see it your way. In that case, I think your approach is pretty spot on - cut out the junk food and clean up your diet as much as possible. Eat more 'real' food whenever possible, cut out the bread/pasta/rice to a bare minimum (if you are going to get weird looks from your family for not eating it at all, limit yourself to half a serving, don't go back for seconds). Increase your meat intake. Include a lot of 'color' on your plate.

[Ghost37]

Right, and I've looking around the website since I found it, and all of Steve's articles just connect with me more and it's easier to get inspired to do something by someone with a personality and similar interests. However, I'm kinda confused about where to go with what I carry out; I'm at a weird junction of trying to lose weight but gain muscle at the same time. Working out and watching what I'm eating has come out with me slimming down and getting more toned without my weight going anywhere. I like how my appearance is changing, but the Navy doesn't much care for how I feel as much as the numbers haha.

As for eating, I was surprised that after trying one day of intermittent fasting, I just lost the desire to eat anywhere near as often as before. That is, where I used to be dying to get to the next meal, snacking all the while in between, now I can sometimes go hours without even feeling the need to eat. I'm trying to get more to how the Paleo diet is, where you eat when you're hungry as long as you eat real food, and I think I'm okay at determining what exactly "real" is, but I could definitely do better, especially with the things that seem like they're healthy, albeit ambiguously (such as the Fruit & Walnut Snack at McDonald's). I also have a ways to go with denying the whole "Oh this one milkshake/ice cream/pizza/burger/[insert unhealthy food here] won't hurt. After all, it's just one and I'll just make up for it later on" mindset.

The next time we go grocery shopping, I'm going to try to get ingredients for a couple of the recipes on here, and try to guide my parents around the outskirts of the store, and start off with healthy stuff in the buggy before anything else gets in there.

[mandy75]

I have nothing to add as far as you goals but as a wife to a sailor just wanted to wish you the best of luck and welcome to the Navy family

[davidc]

If you go to the seal website they have a lot on there about exercise and have a pdf of routines. But I'm not sure they'd let you go to the seals from the nuclear power program, doesn't seem likely. There are some forums also on that seal website you should go there for the straight scoop. And don't believe everything a recruiter tells you, they might either lie or just don't know, I found that out. http://www.sealswcc.com/seal-default.aspx

[engineman312]

a friend of mine is nuclear navy, and just got sub qualified. if becoming a seal is your goal, i think you better find out now, because i'm pretty sure you can't go from the nuke program. nowadays, guys go to buds as their 'A' school.

you've already dropped a lot of weight, and honestly, you're probably going to even out a little bit as your body adjusts and you start building some muscle. you've got 3 pounds more to lose, and if you want to stay on point, go to myfitnesspal.com to track your food intake, but please don't set it to more then 1.5lbs loss per week.

if you already have a date to report in, thats great. they won't make you wait if you are a pound over weight. and you won't be rolled over to the next class if you can make weight and pass the PRT in the first week. good luck, and following seas.

[Ghost37]

To Mandy, thank you! I'm proud to be a part of the Navy family! Thank you to your husband for his service, and thank you to you for being by his side.

About going from Nuke to SEAL, I have two plans because I know they probably won't let me switch once Basic is over. Plan A is to request to be in a SpecWar division in Basic, and if I can hack it hopefully get an offer to try BUD/S. Plan B is to try to re-enlist into Special Warfare once my contract is up. I've asked my recruiter about both, and he admitted that he doesn't know how either would work out.

On MyFitnessPal, I've tried it and have the app on my phone, but it's hard for me to stick to typing in everything I eat. I suppose that's one of the reasons that I really like Paleo, that I don't have to count anything really. I could if I forced myself to, but I'd really rather not. Lazy, I know :/

I think I had it set to lose 2lbs a week, so with my info (age, height I think, and labeling myself as sedentary as most of my day was spent at a school desk) I was allowed 1320 calories a day. I hadn't thought about lowering it since I want to get as low as possible, but I might try that so that I can actually eat something during the day. It honestly surprised me how many calories were in things that I used to eat all the time. I'll change the weight loss and be more active and see how it goes with that.

[Jaswandi]

I think I had it set to lose 2lbs a week, so with my info (age, height I think, and labeling myself as sedentary as most of my day was spent at a school desk) I was allowed 1320 calories a day.

ALERT! That is dangerously low for your size and age. Do you know what your BMR is? Try to eat close to your BMR, it is not hard and fast number, but too below that number and your body will start to starve.

and

I suppose that's one of the reasons that I really like Paleo, that I don't have to count anything really. I could if I forced myself to, but I'd really rather not.

I know, I don't blame you. That is one of the reasons I turned to Paleo too.

[Ghost37]

My BMR is 1950.6; On MyFitnessPal, by changing to 1.5lbs a week and changing to lightly active, I'm allowed 1710 a day, so that's much closer to my BMR. Can you explain what the Daily Calorie Consumption is? Mine is somewhere around 2682.075 depending on how active I am.

[engineman312]

My BMR is 1950.6; On MyFitnessPal, by changing to 1.5lbs a week and changing to lightly active, I'm allowed 1710 a day, so that's much closer to my BMR. Can you explain what the Daily Calorie Consumption is? Mine is somewhere around 2682.075 depending on how active I am.

remember, all these numbers are guesstimations.

#1- never eat below your BMR.

#2- re-eat your exercise calories. this can be done with a protein shake. i like mine made with orange juice, frozen strawberries, and a little bit of greek yogurt.

why do you eat your exercise calories? so that you are not put in an even more steep calorie deficit. it isn't healthy over a prolonged period of time. it can lead to a plateau, however that is after a long period of time. you will not plateau after only a week or even a month.

remember, your body works more on a week-to-week basis, rather then day-to-day. so if you have a super big burn on monday, and just can't eat those 2000+ calories, that is fine. you'll be hungry tomorrow, though!!! so don't be afraid to eat a little bit more that day.

btw, i recently deleted my account on myfitnesspal.com for a number of reasons, so i understand the site. it usually gives you low numbers on your macro-nutrients like protein and fat. don't worry about going over them.

[fire.eagle]

I can't help too much since I'm fairly new around these parts and what I know has already been said, but I just wanted to add:

Ghost, best of luck, and thank you so much for your decision to serve. Without people like you, I would not be able to sit here in safety and freedom.