Scooby's Home Bodybuilding Workouts Losing Weight

Losing weight is a very easy concept, if you burn more calories than you take in you will lose weight.  We will take a two pronged approach to losing weight, eating less and burning off more.  If you are not getting 30-60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day, you need to start not only to lose weight, but for your overall health as well.  If you are already getting your 30-60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise then you need to consider using more intensity or duration.  Just plain walking is an excellent and pleasant way to get your exercise, maybe even ditch the car for a few of your daily errands and walk, see my section on cardio.

Food deprivation does not work well because of the rebound effect.  We want to take off the bodyfat permanently, not just for a few months.  The key in losing weight is not to deprive yourself but to slowly train your body to like different foods.  To lose weight, the foods you need to learn to like are high-fiber low fat foods because they fill you up with fewer calories.  Steamed vegetables, brown rice, oatmeal, and legumes are all your friends!

People always ask me how many calories they should eat while on their diet.  Focusing on a specific number of calories is a very bad idea in my opinion because it leads to deprivation which leads to binging and rebound.  So am I saying you can eat whatever you want?   You wish!!!  On my diet you will never be hungry though.  Actually I hate the word "diet" because it has become synonymous with deprivation and this plan does not involve being hungry.  You will be eating 6 meals a day, the first and last meal are special and are covered later but here is what you do at the middle 4 meals:

• Water - drink lots of water all day long but especially first thing in the morning and a few glasses before each meal.
• Vegetables - in each of your 6 meals, before you eat anything else eat a big bowl of steamed or micro-waved vegetables.  Most of us dont have time to use fresh vegetables so experiment with frozen vegetables and find some that you really enjoy.  You are going to be eating lots of them so learn to like them.  No sauces allowed!  The goal is to fill you up with the fiber in the vegetables to help curb your appetite for the things that follow.
• Rest - take a 10 minute digestion break
• Now eat your carbohydrates and protein.  Complex carbohydrates with lots of fiber are the best, examples are brown rice, beans, corn, 100% whole wheat bread.  Again we want the zero-calorie fiber to help fill us up.  Your protein can come from meat, fish, dairy or vegetable sources.  Any meats must be very lean, like skinless chicken breast or broiled fish.  No fried meats allowed!  If you eat beef make sure it is very lean cuts, not hamburger.  Even 97% "fat free" hamburger has an incredible amount of fat in it as a percentage of calories.  Eat enough so that you are satisfied but not full.
• Fruit - have some fruit for dessert.

You will note that in the above plan there is nothing with fat, fat is calorie dense and doesn't fill  you up so you end up eating more of it.  You do need some fat in your diet but there are sufficient amounts in the foods you will be eating.  If you are worried about it then eat more salmon for your protein and get the omega 3 fatty acids to boot.

Now about the first and last meals.  When you are bodybuilding the first and last meals are very important, especially the timing.  Your first meal is within 15 minutes of waking up, no lollygagging!  Make a big bowl of real oatmeal, not the instant sugary kind, and mix in protein powder.  Its important that your first meal have protein because your muscles have been without all night long.  You dont need a lot of calories in the evening because you wont be burning them off but you do need the protein.  What I do is mix protein powder in water and drink that right before bed as my last meal. 

Lifting weights is an important weight loss program for men or women.  Not only does weightlifting consume calories but by adding muscle mass you increase your base metabolism so you burn more calories while you sleep, doesnt get better than that!  Many guys get brainwashed into this "bulking and cutting" malarky, dont believe it.  You can add muscle mass while staying ripped, not only that, you can lose weight gradually and add muscle mass too!  The key word is "gradually".  If you are on a deprivation diet and losing 5lbs a week then you are probably losing muscle also but if you are eating sensibly as I suggest here then you should have no negative effect on your ability to add muscle.  If you are new to bodybuilding, start with my beginning workout.

Now lets talk about exceptions, nobody is perfect.  Who can eat strict meals like I have outlined about all the time?  You are in a meeting, in class, or on the road and cant eat a meal so what do you do?  The wrong answer is a vending machine!!  You need to have an emergency food supply in your car, your backpack and your desk at work.  Protein bars are not great but they are 10X than anything you will find in a vending machine so keep these stashed.  Do not overuse protein bars!  If you find you are eating them as a candy bar replacement then they are banned from your diet, the are for emergencies only.  You can also make a protein shake in the morning and keep it in the fridge at work to take into meetings.  Even though pretzels are salty and have no fiber they are a great emergency food source to keep in your trunk because they are fat-free and keep virtually forever.  Again the pretzels are for emergency meals, not for snacking on.  My favorite healthy emergency food source is oatmeal and whey.  What I do is put 1 cup dry oatmeal flakes and 30g protein powder in small tupperware containers.  When I need an emergency meal I pour in some water, stir it up, and eat.  Its not nearly as disgusting as it sounds, try it!  I keep several of these tupperware containers in my truck at all times.

	Learn to like vegetables!  For convenience find a veggy mix in the freezer section of the store that you like.  Try some non-fat sauces to add flavor if you cant stomach them plain, try salsa.  When you are hungry between meals you can pop a big bowl in the microwave and have a filling snack in minutes.
	Learn to like oatmeal!  It is very convenient, high fiber, and filling.  You can make a bowl at work and add a scoop of protein powder to make a 3 minute emergency meal.
	Try  quinoa, a grain with protein quality as good as nonfat milk.
	Homemade protein shakes.  High in protein, low in fat and really quick to make.  You can make them at home and put them in a thermos for later in the day.
	Drink lots of water and dont wait till you are thirsty.  Keep a big mug of water everywhere you sit so you can drink constantly.  I like the double big-gulp cup from seven-eleven because it's large enough and has a lid to keep bugs out.  A little drinking glass is not sufficient.  Water got a bad reputation recently because some fool drank 5 gallons and died - moderation is the key here, if your body says "stop", then by all means stop drinking water.  Water helps fill you up so you are not as hungry and helps you function at 100% athletically.  I drink between 1/2 and 1 gallon of water in the first two hours of the day because I get dehydrated during the night - remember I'm 240lbs so this amount may be too much for you.  I dont like bodybuilding or doing cardio till I have drank enough that my pee is completely clear.
	If you have time, once a week cook up a batch of chicken breasts, a pot of pinto beans, and a batch of brown rice then put them in meal-sized tupperware, add some salsa for flavor.  Keep half in the fridge and put half in the freezer for the second half of the week.
	Costco is your friend if you are on a budget and cant afford organic foods.  Stock up on uncooked fresh chicken breasts ($2/lb), oatmeal, frozen veggys, and pinto beans ($9 for 25lbs).  Bodybuilding does not have to be expensive.  If you are really on a budget then skip the protein powder and get use nonfat milk powder, its a fraction of the cost but has a lot more calories.
	Salt.  Most people consume far more salt than the American Heart Association recommends, a maximum of 2300mg per day.  Fast food, canned food, and prepared meals contain an amazing amount of salt.  If you are young, healthy and not concerned about salt intake, here is a reason to care - it makes you retain water, and lots of it.  Going to the beach in 3 days and want to look your best?  Cut your salt intake and watch yourself get ripped!  It takes about 72hrs to shed the retained water.