To maximize weight loss you should limit either fat or carb intake. High carb low fat or high carb low fat. Can try carb cycling too but make sure there's a minimum of 5 hours between cycles.

There's a lot more to this than calories in calories out. If you're really wanting to jumpstart weightloss try a mono diet for 3-7 days. Like eating only potatoes (with vinegar and like salt/pepper if you want for taste), or going wth just steak and eggs. Bananas might work too. I suggest potatoes though, and always cool them after cooking (can reheat again f you want) to turn it into resistant starch.

And for eating in general, make sure you're not eating anything too processed. Ideally most of the food you buy will not even come wth nutrition labels because it's like meat/eggs from a local farm and fresh vegetables/fruit.

Oh and if you want you could try intermittent fasting. It works well for some people but I never liked it. Being hungry sucks.

>>16475678
Well I'll tell you right now any diet that isn't 'eat basic good foods' is out of the question. One of the things that's acted as a barrier for me in fitness is my stubbornness, back when I started it was to dealing with hunger and I wanted to eat the same amount. Now it's more about laziness with actual exercising, which will make any amount of food I eat, even a lower amount of calories/better nutrients/less fat stick to me more. I do run, but I haven't been consistent with it to the extent I want to yet. I'm going to have to start trying this again, I'll probably hit the track for a walk tonight.

But my biggest confusion comes from weights. I typically use the machines 1) because they're the easiest but also 2) I have no idea about breathing, posture, and what the appropriate weight would be. I just today got the hang of, breathe out on exertion, in on recovery 'ie pulling the machine back down/up. I am a very, very, very basic beginner. I need tips on what to do and not do before I throw my back out trying to do crunches on the folding crunch thing, you feel?

Thanks for replying though

>>16475691
Read the book Starting Strength.

And check out Nerd Fitness site. You can record yourself performing the exercises and post it there asking for form critique.

>>16475694
That's all fine and good, but the only problem I have with that is I workout at the gym primarily so I don't really know how i'd record most of those without it looking absolutely stupid

>>16475714
Stop making bullshit excuses. You've had worse experiences than looking stupid. You could ask someone at the gym to hold your phone real quick and explain what it's for and most people would be like 'kay. They might even offer some critique of their own.

You could also pay for some sessions with a personal trainer. There are lots of options here. Stop being a bitch.

>>16475729
well i'm cheap so i'd rather do the first. If the type of people who go to gyms weren't traditionally your stereotypical instagram-ass 2k15 beards n tattoos motherfuckers, I wouldn't mind. I would do this, but I'd be super selective about who I ask. I did actually do this one of the first times at this gym, I asked one of the dudes who worked there, he was judging the fuck outta me, rushing me, it was a bad experience. Kind of put me off that path.

>>16475729
also obligatory fuck you cunt for calling me a bitch - provide advice, don't expect to start dropping names and not piss me off.

>>16475739
Gyms are scary places if you feel unsure and insecure. This is one of those situations that sucks, but you do it anyway. And then you come out of it a more well-rounded and generally better person.

>>16475741
So you're not a bitch? Then prove it.

>>16475750
if you're going with an idea that being a dick will somehow inspire me, it won't. that's just being an asshole. you could've said everything you said without those few things and I would've been like, oh wow, thats good shit, and respected you more for it.

but, i am torrenting that book so thanks anyway i guess.


but still fuck you

>>16475655
>>/fit/

Read sticky. Praise scooby. No homo- sincerely a concerned fitizen

>>16475767
I hope the book helps. It gets pretty technical but after reading through it you should feel ready to get into the free weight stuff. Lots of info and some pics of proper form and shit.

another thing that bothers me about fitness that I find hard to cope with is how it's a process, not a point. Obviously you don't just hit a weight and quit, but you have to maintain a very SPECIFIC kind of intake for what you want, it's all very meticulously organized and such.for me, I don't value fitness as more than a hobby a choice. It's not something I want to dedicate that much stress to when it should be relieving it. I just want a good general routine to fall into that i'll keep doing.


>>16475776
fit is more about memes and funny ass stories than actual advice to me. i did read the sticky, but there are multiple aspects of it I need to be conversationally explained to me

>>16475780
thanks. I'm all about the technical. I like the machines because they're good support but I wouldn't touch lifting with as dangerous as it can be if done wrong without the right KNAWLEJ as tai lopez would say. That being said, I don't want the entire workout dominated by lifting, what proportion can I make it between cardio, machines, and weights where it's effective but sectionalized? I'm not trying to bulk up huge, just want to reach a nice point and stay there because...it seems nice i guess.

>>16475790
Lifting is best exercise, but HIIT is also great. Look into that.

Find whatever makes you happy. I like yoga myself, but of course still lift and HIIT to maintain my girlish figure.

I can't tell you what to do. Figure out your own routine, everyone is different. Starting Strength can help some here. Seriously check out nerd fitness. Much better than /fit/.

OK, I don't really claim to be a fitness expert, so I should probably just step back and let the tripfag (asshole though she may be) handle this, but -- something about your OP isn't making sense to me.

You burned about 750 calories working out today. For neatness's sake let's very liberally estimate that your lunch was also about 750 calories. You ate a light breakfast, about 300 calories.

So ... it's after lunchtime and you've eaten 300 out of approximately 2000 calories (give or take a couple hundred) today. Even if you eat a large dinner you're still well on target for losing weight, provided you don't go overboard with the snacking. If weight loss is your goal, what exactly is the problem here?

>>16475790
Oh but I will say that the machines are a waste of your time. You can get a good workout with them but the same time spent with real weights will net you more/better results.

>>16475811
His problem there is likely just that no two calories are created equally, and whatever he's feeding himself is causing him some problems. It's often difficult breaking through those plateaus you hit in weight loss. Mono diet may be the shock his system needs to get started again.

Or his diet may just need a complete overhaul. Only way to figure this shit out is to experiment. For a male trying to lift and lose weight I'd try high fat low carb first, like paleo. But watch mood. Guy already seems moody so he may need to eat more carbs. Will slow weight loss some but mental health is important too.

>>16475834
Yeah, and I don't disagree with any of this (I'm not a paleo nut, but personally I've had nothing but good results from it, so that's my vote.) More what I'm getting at is, I'm not sure I really even see a plateau here. Dropping over 25 pounds in a couple of months seems like entirely reasonable progress, doubly so if he's actually feeling physically better in general. I'm particularly confused why he feels frustrated with his diet when what he ate today was ... pretty fucking decent.

So we have here a guy who's basically doing the right things and getting good results from them. Either I'm being dense and missing something in his post, or he's getting frustrated at nothing and needs to be told, dude, relax, this doesn't happen in a day.

Or maybe I'm wrong and he'll tell me, "no, all that weight loss ended a month ago, I haven't seen any progress since then" in which case I second the advice to play around with his diet.

>>16475811
It's the fact that one, and I don't know if this is true because like I said, I read fit's sticky and multiple links it has on it, but they've only driven me further from understanding; I don't know if eating roughly 700 cals negates the 750 I worked off, not that working out is all about burning those empty sitting carbs and cals off, I also toned up a bit, incorporated my abs more than I usually would (my belly is the biggest if not only problem area) and it's good for your body in general to exercise. But I don't know anything about the BASICS - I don't know when to breathe in or out on what step of lifting to not inhibit my progress, I don't know what groups of muscles I should be working and when, I don't know what HIIT is, I assume high intensity something training? I'm a nerd first before anything else, and I need all the b/g info on a subject before taking it to practice. I'm 20 rn, but I've been in and out of gym phases since I was 17 with friends who were much bigger and nerdier. The problem is, I never had the info clearly explained to me, everything I read or hear seems contradictory. For example I don't know what I'm doing wrong on the ab crunch machine because sometimes my back hurts when I'll sit and start to use it, I don't know if my back pain today is the wrong or right amount, if it's even from the abs machine or because the used the 'chest fly' machine backwards in its second way...I'm a person who works best when I have a good basis. But I don't, I mean I'm not like some of the dudes you see in there, clanking the machines around, out of breath, clearly doing something much more wrong than me, but I don't feel like I'm benefiting as much as I should.

Also it's a bit of a complain post because fitness seems like it presents itself as 'lifestyle or nothing' and I'm pissed and stubborn about that. It seems CRAZY to me to want to purposefully take on all the hyper-examination of your daily life and choices fitness asks you to.

>>16475958
I see what you mean. Guess I extrapolated the plateau. Yeah I dunno. Reading it again he's asking about safe amounts to eat mostly?

When I lost my weight I didn't count calories and always ate until I felt full. I think what you eat is a lot more important than how much you eat. Unless you have an actual eating disorder and eat way past the point where you're full.

>>16475834
what does mental health have to do with diet? Im not taking steroids or anything. Explain more, and i'm not moody, fuck you. I know that might seem to only further your argument I'm just deflecting the negative and defending myself here, I'm an entirely reasonable person.

It's not what I'm feeding myself, much of the food in this house is bought by my dad, I have little say in what to buy, going to the store with him ends up in very embarassing public fights because of either money concerns or whatever. He's a chubby italian guy who works a very bluecollar job, so my home atmosphere plays into a lot of my diet concerns. any /fit/ browser would see the stuff he hauls home from every shop or the portions he makes when he cooks and probably be appalled. Even when I cook, it's like there's only so many limited ingredients here.

Drastic diets like that are a no-no. Not just because every guide I've read warns against them, but because as lifestyle choices, they're even more restricting than getting in good shape already is. I'm a bit of a hedonist, so all of this already takes self control, but limiting myself to only a certain pool of food sounds like madness to me. Otherwise my diet and the food we have here are basic things, your coldcuts, frozen breasts, veggies.

>>16475816
In what way are they a waste if they'll still work? Is it like the difference between a car and a plane in that one will get you there faster? Because first of all dead weights sound like a lot more work to me, and I'll admit even for my progress I'm an inherently lazier guy, it's just how I work. If I start freebase weights I want to minimalize them also because I'm weaker. I do 55 on the chest press you know, what am I gonna do, slap two weights on the bar? I probably wouldn't even be able to lift it. I know you're not supposed to lift an amount you CAN lift but it'd certainly be TOO high for me, so I should at least work up to them

>>16475971
Yeah man Starting Strength is perfect for you. You're the type it was written for :)

Assume you're watching tons of YouTube videos on proper form? That helps too. I know your pain, trust me. I came into this with like no physical intelligence and did everything wrong. What you do is learn the basics on an intellectual level, and then try it for yourself. Mirrors help, as do other people and the recording yourself thing. Minor adjustments over time and you'll be golden in a few years.

Then it's just a matter of habit and repetition.

>>16475977
Well no, because I want to eat until I feel full, but my body is conditioned to a stoner, 185 lbs appetite you know? It hasn't scaled down much. That's gotta be bad advice, I mean, how can you just eat that way and still lose weight unless youre like physically active in every aspect of your life? I'm a sedentary guy, an artist. I do exercise specifically when I want to do exercise. The only physical activity I do for its own merit is biking, (and running which I need to be more consistent with) and it's getting to be winter here so soon it'll be snowy for biking.

>>16475986
If you're unwilling/unable to eat well, then you're not going to get the results you really want. Weight loss is more about food than diet.

Free weights are more work. Work burns calories and builds muscle.

The mental health stuff was about specific diets. When I ate VLC (very low carb) I was tired all the time and more prone to depression than I usually am, which is a lot to begin with. Was losing weight like crazy but it wasn't worth it so I upped my carb intake and my mood balanced out at the cost of slowing the weight loss.

Sounds like you're eating like shit regardless so none of this will apply to you until you can afford to buy food for yourself.

>>16476000
Yeah with your terrible foods you can't just eat as much as you'd like. I lost my weight stuffing my face with Kerrygold butter, locally sourced eggs and tons of vegetables. Often eating like a dozen eggs each day.

>>16476028
Meant to say more about food than exercise*

Exercise is secondary when weightloss is the issue

>>16476028
Wait before you or the other guy said the food I ate seemed alright, like my sandwich. Cause that's how I eat now. It's mostly big fatty dinners or obscene portions that my dad tries to push that frustrate me

where are you getting terrible foods from? I just eat like, eggs,cereal, omelettes, toasts, that kind of stuff for breakfast most days, and sandwiches or some kind of soup for lunch...I mean it's not that basic but idk what you think im eating. When I was smoking I could kill an entire digiornio's pizza though. I miss that kind of guilt freeness to life

>>16476053
You said your fat Italian dad was forcing you to eat shit food. And it looks like that is the case.

Processed meats, bread, cereal? In what world is this healthy food. You can eat high carb if you want but that should look like tons of fruit and potatoes, not that terrible garbage.

>>16476053
Read some paleo propaganda imo. I don't believe everything those people say but they're a great place to start.

Book suggestions:
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Death by Food Pyramid
The Primal Blueprint

Pick one and read it.

>>16476068
What's wrong with bread? we don't eat that much of it but what're you never supposed to eat it? even the fit sticky doesn't say don't eat bread. and i'm talking wheat and oat cereals, bran, gluten-free chex, not sugary shit.

i'm not sure what you mean by "that should look like tons of fruit and potatoes, not that terrible garbage"

And tonight, he just told me, he's making stir fried chicken with onion, eggplant and tomato over a bed of cabbage. this sounds healthy to me but this isn't exactly the norm. He tries to cater to my pestering that his choices are typically far from healthy but it's a struggle.

>>16476126
What oils does he use in his cooking? Food that should be healthy is often made unhealthy by stuff like blah oils. It sucks. If you want to eat well you'll want to start paying attention to everything you eat. It's easy once you decide that you should just make everything yourself.

If you want to know why bread is unhealthy you could read Wheat Belly. It's written by a pompous asshole and I disagree with a lot of what he says but he hits the main points pretty well.

And for easy reading let's check some blogs...

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/#axzz3rsnOpaOr

This is the author of The Primal Blueprint.