Ok so for the last 3 weeks i have been on a severe diet, tons of water, good protein/fiber, and a m-w-f work out routine at the gym with every other day pure cardio. i need to lose 15lbs, but i would however like to lose as much as possible to ensure the best physical fitness as possible for ship out. It just seems like no matter what i do my weight stays the same, and i feel like im being cheesy going in via BMI. Any help/advice appreciated

 

turn your m-w-f into push ups, planks, sit ups, you know body weight endurance. thats what you will be doing in basic. you can lift alot but if you dont have the endurance, then its all useless.

 

How do you eat? How often and what amounts. Are you skipping meals?

 

I eat pretty healthy compared to what i used to, i have special K cereal with a banana for breakfast, go work out, whey protein shake when i get home, around lunch i have either a sandwhich on wheat or a healthy choice bowl, and for dinner really depends on the day. but really low carbs/calories. if im hungry between meals i have "free" foods like a banana or some kind of fruit.

 

as far as your diet, dont pound too much protein if your lifting since it will cause you to put on a little more muscle weight, which might be the reason your body weight is stabilizing, becasue you are in fact losing fat but replacing it with lean strong muscle which in fact ways more then fat in hte long run. But like previously stated, do endurance exercises because you will pay for it in basic, i used to lift like crazy then got to basic and struggled to crank out 50 good pushups because i always did small amounts. Good idea on eating a solid breakfast tho, it will boost your metabolism like crazy and keep up the rotation of muscle failure then cardio. Look up "how to score on the extended scale for the APFT" on google, guy has a lot written on good exercises to help lose weight and stay within your military pt standards

 

Only way to lose weight quickly is to cut the carbs down to 30 a day. Not the way to go, but if you have to lose weight... I wouldn't worry about losing weight though unless you are not at your cutoff. Just worry about being in shape...

Also if you can swim, it will help everything out tremendously. Best shape of my life when i was swimming 30-60 minutes, 5 days a week.

 

IMO if your going into basic soon, just concentrate on the main areas for passing the test. Endurance is the key and muscle memory will help you alot. Do the type of exercises that you will be doing the most in basic, that will pay off the most in the long run. Don't worry too much about weight, you will loose alot in basic and then also gain some of it back. Like MickT/AWS6 said, you will be loosing the bf and replacing it with lean muscle. Whole point of basic is to break you down and then build you back up, and learning the basics of the military life and training.

 

Focus on endurance and the items you need for the PT test. Speaking from experience (Air Force), basic training is much easier if you've conditioned yourself to doing more than they require for the test. If your required run is 1.5-2 miles, get used to doing 2+ miles. 1.5 miles seems like a breeze when you're used to running 3.

A lot of guys in my basic flight showed up and couldn't even pass the test right off the bat. Pretty pathetic, in my opinion, considering they knew months in advance what would be required of them. Have you ever seen the movie 'Full Metal Jacket?' The people that are VERY out of shape stand out when they're surrounded by 40+ people that are in good shape. You don't want to be that guy.

While weight is an issue (I was 197 when I shipped...227 was my maximum), I would focus more on what your weight is composed of (ex. muscle is heavier than fat). I'd rather ship at 200 lbs of muscle than 190 lbs of fat.

Good luck.

 

Yea i mean, i feel i am out of shape. im 228, my cut off is 215. so im having to go in via BMI, my arms are like a rock, my legs are tree trunks, pure muscle but my stomache isnt exactly lean LOL. i think i have prolly 15 lbs just in my stomache. I do 50 pushups in the morning, 50 at night, same with sit ups. i run 2 miles a day at the gym, not a crazy pace but enough to keep my heart rate at max for my age/weight. im not like some of the guys ive seen in the recruiters office who are slovenly fat, im just beefy. everything except my stomache is pure muscle.

 

You sound lie your doing everything right, I would say push yourself in the running. Dont just run at a steady pace for 2 miles... Sprint a lap, jog a lap walk a lap. Stuff like that. Pushing yourself in the run will lose that beer gut. And will def help you in basic. Look up running workouts online, fartlicks is one I remember from track.

 

They won't tape test you? Sounds like you could pass that with ease depending on your neck.

Make sure youre doing pushups and sit ups correctly. You might try doing 50 pushups/sit ups before and after every meal. Try 30 seconds of sprinting then 60 seconds walking also then increase the times when you find its not that hard. I'd also start rucking on 1 of your cardio days(in place of running).

 

yes, thats how i am going in atm is via the tape test. im trying to get into better shape so i do not have to though figure it cant hurt in the long run

 

you can do more PU than that. do 20 every hour.

 

You should work towards doings 2+ sets of 50 pushups and situps (alternate between them)...not just 50 of each in the morning and night.

 

This is my personal tip, put five lemons in a hot watter, boil between ten minutes and before drink the watter, is very usefull tip

 

look into CrossFit workouts, or Functional Fitness. That will shred some weight fast. Also your going to have to burn 3500 cal to remove 1 pound of weight. Cut out bread and the protein shakes, drink atleast a gallon of water per day absolutely no alcohol or drinks with sugar or salt. banana's and apples are good snacks, apples are better right after a workout FYI. eat 5 times a day, space them out and make it a routine, dont eat past 730pm.

 

???? whats that do?????

 

Citrus water is thought to induce weight loss. Eat regularly and exercise. Several small meals are better than three big ones.

 

yea, i been trying to change my eating habbits. its a bit hard though hehe, Italian family cooks big for dinner im the biggest and have the smallest plate these days lol

 

2X works like a champ!!!! Go to Crossfit dot com and read ...I am 40 and in the best shape of my life and I have been doing crossfit for 18 months...the weight will fall off....I lost 27# is 60 days (192 down to 165) and have kept it off for the last year and a half. I bench 290, overhead press 170, deadlift 395, can do 20 pullups with ease and I ran a 12:46 minute 2 mile this morning! The 3 event Army APFT is now a joke!

Simple diet rules:
eat little starch (rice, potatoes)
no white flour or sugar
eat only fruit that you can eat the pealing
drink water/tea/coffee (no soda or powerade crap)
eat meat and vegatables
don't waste your money on supplements