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Yeh age is truly on our side man. This is what worried me as im closing in on 30 and well lets face it that aint no spring chicken and 40 will come in no time. So im 27 now, 28 in August and i want to be at the size/healthy i want to be at by the time im 30!

It must be super tough for the older guys and girls to get in shape. I am sooooo lucky that i work from home, pick my own hours and dont have a kid to look after or a girlfriend nagging me to do stuff. Im literally flying solo so i have all the time in the world to do this. Having to juggle 9-5 jobs, families and be at an age where recovery will be so much tougher must take some serious will power to get to the gym everyday!

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I've just turned 32 but I got seriously into getting into shape at around 25 I guess. I do envy your solo lifestyle somewhat though, I don't live with my girlfriend but pretty much every weekend is taken up seeing here which I guess does eat into my grinding time (she would kill me if she read this I'm sure) but at the minute I can get by on only working Thursday and Friday so I still have 3 full days to grind and can play Thursday and Fri evenings. At my age its probably the more sensible thing to have a balance. I could go all gun ho and see if I am still good enough to make a living at poker in this day and age, but I could crash and burn...I could do well enough to keep floating by until I'm 38 and then we could all get black friday'ed and I would be well and truly fucked. So I guess I'm just trying to leave myself some variety and other options as you just don't know how online poker will pan out. If I was in my early twenties again I would deffo be single though haha.

And to put my 2 cents in about My Protein, I used them every months for about 5 years for my supplements and they're fine, whey protein is whey protein there's nothing special about it, they are no frills but you get nothing less then what you would get from somewhere like Maximuscle at twice the price. Infact a massive and expensive brand called Gaspari got found out that the levels of protein in their supplements was nearly half of what they claimed! I personally use the proteinworks at the moment, mainly because they're pretty innovative and I really love the flavours.

Yo bit of a BIG update here! I have set a food plan for next week and ordered all the foods to go with it. This is 100% set in stone but i would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on it. Some things will not be perfect and i plan to tweak everything moving forward. This is the first time i have truly set out a weeks of meals and ordered accordingly.

One thing i did notice was the lack of veg i was getting so i have purchased this:



Here is a little write up on it:

Product Overview

What are Total Nutri-Greens?

Total Nutri-Greens is a powdered food blend containing 22 different whole foods and fruit and vegetable extracts. Total Nutri-Greens is full of naturally occurring nutrients provided by a vast array of fruit powders and algae including; Spirulina, Wheat grass, Acerola Berry, Broccoli, Spinach leaf, Pomegranate, Apple fibre, Tomato, Elderberry, Blueberry and Chlorella.

Benefits of Total Nutri-Greens

Total Nutri-Greens is a convenient and effective supplement to help increase your daily fruit and vegetable intake. It can be mixed to various foods or added to your existing supplements to help you increase daily fruit and vegetable extract intake.

Who is Total Nutri-Greens Suitable for?

Total Nutri-Greens is ideal for anyone looking to increase their daily intake of fruit and vegetables in a convenient, easy-to-consume powder. It is recommended to consume 2 servings of Total Nutri-Greens daily, alongside a healthy, balanced diet.

Ingredients:

Soy Lecithin Powder, Spirulina Powder (Spirulina platensis), Apple Fibre Powder (Sulphites), Barley Grass Powder, Wheat Grass Powder, Oat Flour Powder, Alfalfa Grass Powder, Chlorella Broken Cell Wall, Soy Flour Powder, Acerola Berry, Beetroot Powder, Pomegranate Powder (Punica granatum), Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticobus), Carrot Powder, Tomato Powder, Astragalus Root Powder (Radix Astragalus), Brocolli Powder, Spinach Powder, Gingko Biloba Extract (50:1), Green Tea Leaf 45% ECGC - 95% Polyphenols (Camellia sinensis), Grape Seed Extract 95% Polyphenols (Vitis vinifera), Elderberry Powder (Sambucus nigra), Bilberry Fruit Powder, Flavouring, Acid (Citric Acid), Colour (Carotenes), Sweetener (Sucralose)

So i think this should be 100% a good thing for me...thoughts?

So what does my week look like? Hopefully this will show up neat enough!

Key:

Breakfast =

Lunch =

Dinner =

Snacks =

Vegetable Supplement =

Pre Workout Supplement =

Light Exercise =

Drinks =

Calories = BLACK


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday:





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


So that is the week! I wonder how that treats me

@Obliterate: Yeh man i do honestly consider myself the luckiest man in the world to be in this position. Now that is somewhat fucked up as im 139KG, heart problems, asthma and dont have a partner BUT i would rather but in my spot being this person than a lot of others. As i can put my all into it and not have to worry about anyone else. Now don't get me wrong i have some serious financial responsibilities, work hard, respect my work, do a good job and also have a lot of commitments with my family but when all that is over its me and my time. Now you say you are jealous of me as such but i am also jealous of you.....i want a girlfriend, i want to get married and i want kids. I have always wanted a huge family (5 kids) and as i am turning 28 i understand i don't have much time to sit around waiting for this and no matter what anyone says looking better gets you more girls.....Well the type of girls you want to have a family and settle down with.

Yeh whey protein i agree with but most people get the diet whey which is where the BS is. It truly is a pretty shit protein and anyone using it would be better off using a different brand which wouldn't cost more than a few quid more.

As you can see i have purchased a supplement from my protein and have used that company in the past.....Some things are good but that one i truly believe isn't. The company is awesome and do a great job.......lets face it someone using their not so good stuff is better off using it than not using it and being lazy.

@jon

Yeah man I think it's probably just what you're used to, I always find it crazy when people visit England and think it's this magical place, but as I've lived here all my life I probably don't appreciate it in the same way anymore. I guess if it helps you push through when you find the strict eating tough it's that the things you feel you're missing from your life you will 100% get when you hit your targets (well, maybe not FIVE kids, but who knows!). I was beyond useless with women but as soon as I started losing weight I was going on so many dates man, and it wasn't all just because I was starting to look better, my confidence and the way I put myself about just improved so drastically...being able to maintain eye contact with someone rather than keeping your eyes fixed to the floor with huge self-esteem issues makes a world of difference.

Ag I didn't see the comments where about the diet whey! Yeah tbh that's the same as any brands diet stuff, pumping it full of green tea and CLA which is unproven to aid weight loss at the best of times. Kudos on the total greens though I use that twice a day and feel so much better for it.(for the love of god I hope you get flavored and not plain) I eat alot of fruit but I'm not a huge green veg person so this tops me up nicely. I get discounts on the site all the time so lmk when you're next ordering and I'll sort you out with a student discount!

Nice job on the menu! Just missing some healthy fats I use peanut butter but if you're watching the kcals strict then maybe a decent omega supp (again pref from somewhere like myprotein over somewhere like Tesco, such a difference in quality and purity)

Haha i will 100% get the family......will it be that big? Who knows but i will try my best but if its a wife thats awesome, if its 1 kid thats amazing and if its more then well im a happy person.

Yeh maybe i wasnt clear when i said about my protein. 100% meant the diet whey which people literally swear by but have no proven facts its worked or how it works. Yeh i got the tropical flavor...i had a lesser know make version a year ago and it contained spices which made it impossible to keep down. Hopefully this will be better!

Yeh fats wise i may have missed out there but it is only for 5 days and we can change it up for the follow 5 days. In my original post i said i was happy to experiment and i truly am....i am taking this 100% seriously and i dont care if changing things up, trying things and experiments adds a year onto my total 'weight loss' (prefer to call body change).

Man i am pumped for this year. How good is life!!! Its weird that i say this considering how incredibly tough the last 12 months have been and how the next 12 months may turn out but i have so many positive things going on and the love of training helps not cancel out the bad things but to make them feel less drastic.

YOLO

This plan looks solid. I like that you include walks (such an amazing and really underrated way of losing fat) and you're not neglecting carbs (low carb is tough to sustain for most people and looks like you're in it for a long haul). Couple things I would take into consideration:
1. I'd bump calorie intake on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. Not sure what's your height but with 140kg and somewhat active lifestyle you migh even need around 2800-3200 calories to maintain and you certainly can still lose a bunch of weight by eating 2k calories per day. 1.8-1.9k is still fine but don't go below that because you can mess up your metabolism (your body will adjust hormone production to this new low calorie levels) a bit which can result in some unwanted plateaus.
2. Crunches... well... belive it or not you already have abs. As a human being you use your core muscles the most even if you do a lot of sitting (something always has to stabilize you). Therefore you're abdominal muscles are always in use and you already have them reasonably developed. Also if you want to strengthen your core (very good idea especially when you're lifitng) crunches aren't the best tool for the job (+ they can put a strain on your lower back and/or neck). I would swap 50 crounches for 2-3 sets of 20-30 second plank. With proper form they put no strain on your lower back and neck. If you want to developer your core even more buy kettlebell and learn how to swing it. It's cheap, it's easy, it's fast and amazing for your core.
3. Going back to bumping calorie intake. I'd sugesst using some healthy fats (peanut butter, coconut oil for example) and fresh greens in your diet. That MyProtein supplement looks good, doesn't have anything harmfull in it (besides sucralose but almost everyone is using it as a sweetener which is why I only buy unsweetened protein isolates) but I am almost positive it has a lot less fiber then you'd get by just eating greens and fiber is where it's at:) It makes you feel full and helps with digestive processes.

And once again. I'm not gonna tell you to stop being passionate about this stuff but don't go crazy over minor details. The most important thing is to have calorie deficit, exercise and drink lots of water which is exactly what you're doing so keep at it! Good luck, have fun etc:)

Nice post man and 100% agree calories needs to be higher. Tbh i will add in shakes if i need one which will bump it from 150-300 calories more per day. My nutritionist said 2k calories is solid for now although i could get away with slightly more. Problem is YES i am training but the other 95% of the day im sat still so its not as an obvious 3k calorie per day fist pump as you may think.

As for the crunches its not necessarily me lying on the floor and tbh most of it is for stretching or for my back and i vary it up but i am on a exercise ball just chilling in my flat from time to time!

I think for sure you need to eat some fruit and veg. Bananas, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers and the like.

just 3 meals a day, what time is your last meal bud?

Would seems like you're not eating enough if you're training more than 5x a week. What is your daily carb/fat/protein breakdown? But if you feel good and have energy then it's fine.

Yeh like i posted above i got the greens supplement to cover not eating those things.....remember its just for 5 days. This is all gonna get tweaked moving forward so number 1 on the list for the following week is to replace the supplement with some cold hardddddd fruits and veggies.

Tbh 3 times a day is a lotttt for me and i can always jam a protein shake down my neck if i am feeling tired or sluggish. I will add this in per day if i decide to do so....put it this way i aint gona starve myself and feel shit. But this is the back bone of the food im eating and can always add in if necessary.

I guess everyone is different, one thing I learned from trying different diets. I run best when I eat 4-5 meals a day, need something in my system every few hours to keep my energy levels topped. My mate does the warrior diet where he eats in a 1 hour window and for the rest of the day has nothing but water. He says it works really well for him.

I think it's more to do with getting our bodies used to a new type of diet. Anyway keen to see where you get on, I would just add in fruit and veg on your next tweak. While I do think sups are good I think that we should get most of our vit and mins from food. #broscience

Yeh i hear you brah! I will say this tho: How much better off/worse off am i having these supplements? For example i have just thrown out:

1 full cucumber
3 apples
2 pears
1 bag of kale
1/2 bag of spinach
1/4 bag of salad.

This is literally happening each week. I like the foods but i just cant keep on eating them for some reason. I have tried juicing/blending them but again the wastage is just HUGE. I have even thrown out like 1/2 box of mince and a burger. I hate all this wastage and its one thing im really trying to cut out. So is having a supplement which may equal more intake of these nutrients, have zero wastage and be easy for me to consume anything but an amazing thing? Interesting one!

Can I ask what exactly do you do during your sessions with personal trainer?

Ok so currently i am with the trainer who runs a fighting gym, this may differ as i sometimes go with a strength/condition guy elsewhere but for now a typical session looks like this:

Circuits to start

3 minute circuits changing exercises every 30 seconds. Follow by a 1 minute rest. I do this 3 times in total and the exercises might include:

- Walking up and down on a tire
- Air punching with light weights
- Dead man walks with 15KG kettle bells
- Kneeing a bag
- Kicking pads
- Battle ropes
- Crunches
- Twistys


I then have about 10 minutes stretching and getting my wraps on.

Now we do 2 minute rounds of boxing/thai boxing. Go through combos which includes punching, kicking, kneeing and elbows. All whilst using footwork and moving around the gym. Inbetween each 2 minute round i have a 1 minute rest. I guess per session we get around 10-12 rounds of this in.

I then have a stretch and its over.

Feezer for the meats sunnyboy. I got a few ideas for the cucumber but you will need to get some off Tinder for that first.

I only buy bananas, tomatoes and cucumbers here so I must admit I should be eating more fruit and veg.

Okay so how about this, you buy a couple of bags of frozen veggies, boil a small cup of them with every meal. They would hardly be any calories and you don't waste your food as they will be in the freezer.

Good idea on the frozen veg - Seen ones you can steam quickly or even ping in the microwave.

Looking forward to starting this tomorrow! Ready for a huge week

Here we go! The week of planned food and training is commencing. I took om board what some of you have said and alongside breakfast i am also going to have a protein shake. Basically to give me extra energy for my demanding morning sessions (Mon, Wed and Fri). Then on the days where i just train on the night breakfast will not include protein.

So today the plan was



+ 300 calories of protein shake!






Gym soon.

lets do this

Ha cool part of this around 1:30 about writing down everything you eat, drink and when you train! Pretty relevant

The extra protein isn't just good for the training days, it aids in weight loss and also keeps you fuller for longer so less chance to snack! Was also going to chime in on your veg dilemma, I used to waste SO much but as you've noted, frozen veg is the way to go! Also sweet potatoes last for ages and you can make great sweet potatoe fries that are both good for you and taste awesome. Also If you're into your sauces (that contain ridiculous amounts of sugar and kcals) then check out Walden farms 0kcal sauces, they dont taste AS good obviously, but with zero kcals and sugar you expect that. The Maple syrup really does taste awesome and makes boring porridge much more palatable.

Also on the nutri greens topic regarding not getting all the fibre, I add 3 small scoops of Psyllium Husks to mine, cheap as chips and you get one of the best fibre sources available added to your greens. Keep up the good work bro!

Haha I don't need motivation for MMA, I just need to stop injuring myself while doing it

I thought fat fills you up longer than protein? As it takes the body longer to breakdown fats? I love sweet potato I eat them at least 5-6 times a week in the UK. They are almost a super food imo and they taste sooo good.