Hello, new here.. questions..

[EchoSide]

Hello everyone. My names Dave, and i'm 16. I have a question, but first a little backround.

I've been pretty fat all my life. Parents. as a child, kind of spoiled me with all the fast food I wanted, so I got pretty fat. Around 8 months ago, I said enough is enough. I wanted to lose that weight. With the help of my friends and family, I lost alot of weight, going for 235 to about 160. Well, I wasn't satisfied, so I started "bodybuilding" about four months ago. It's going fine, but, I do have a problem.

One: I dread doing the workouts.. I really don't like doing them.. they take a long time, (around an hour- hour and a half) Which I know isnt so long, but I do them as soon as I get home from school and my friends usally come to, so while I'll have my friends playing video games or whatever they want in my room, im working out.. and its boring.

Two: I hate having to eat like I do. I love fruit and vegetables and stuff, but, when bodybuilding, you need to be eating al this crazy protein stuff (protein shakes, which are gross, tuna, which I hate, etc.) I eat TONS becuase when bodybuilding, thats what you must do to get gains.

The thing is though: I really dont want to be huge. Thats not what I want. I would like some mass on me, but I don't want to be these monsterous guys that you see sometimes.


I would kind of like a physique similar to you martial artists. Me and my friends also have plans on joining Jeet Kune Do, so that would be good.



My question is, what kind of wroking out do you guys do? I took a look at combat conditioning, and that looks good, may give it a try. But I want to know what you guys do t stay lean, but hold onto strength and your muscle mass.

Also, I was wondering, do you guys consider yourself to look pretty muscular to? Like I said, I was extremely fat before, and now, looking good is quite important to me. So whatever you guys do to stay lean, but have some good solid muscle mass, please, I would love to hear it. I dont know if I can stand a year of these hour and a half workouts and eating meat and eggs until i'm sick...

[Broadsword2004]

Eat fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, etc.....and you have to force yourself to like working out. There is no short route to a great body. If comes with lots of hard work and sweat. Same as anything in life.

[HtTKar]

I'm not a dietician or anything like that, but I can offer advice.

If you're already large, you dont need to eat all these high protein diet foods. Keep in mind that since you have realized that you want to be healthier, you will have to stick to it. I mean is McD's really worth it? You still want about 1gram of protein per lb of bodyweight. I mean the bodyweight you would be healthy at for your height.

Also why not get your friends to excercise with you? Play prison pushups or something like that, something that involves them

In order to lose weight you need to do cardio excercises. I know everybody hates them, because they only think of running and jumprope. Everyone hates those I think. But everyone likes punching things. Get a double-end bag, or if you can afford it, and heavy bag. Hitting these for a while, especially when you get good, can burn up to 1000 calories an hour.

As you build muscle mass in your arms, it will start eating more and more of your fat. Also Exercising like this makes your muscles create HGH, which is certainly of benefit. To lose weight all you have to do is figure out how many calories you need to survive (BMI), and reduce that by 500 calories a day. You will lose between 5-7lbs a week this way. It doesnt matter if you eat protein shakes or potato chips you will still lose weight. Of course it is better for your mental health to eat healthy. And you dont need to have abs. I pretend I have abs, but I can only see them when I'm working out, hitting the bag, or doing something intense. If I'm just sitting around eating or playing on the computer my abs are not popping out or anything like that.

I hope this helps you, but I want to say one other thing. You blame this on your parents for spoiling you, but it's more than that. Its your lifestyle. You said your friends just sit around while you exercise which means that either they dont think you're committed, or they have the same lifestyle you used to. Luckily you're 16, your bodys still growing and that will help you out a lot in your training. A teenagers body is very adaptable, its the mind that's stubborn

[Ryo]

First off, congrats on making the decision to improve your physical fitness.

Anyway, I'm not one to comment on dietary needs and such (as I have no expertise in that area), but about making exercising fun...

Try listening to a radio/CD Player/walkman/iPod.

If you have a Game Boy and do a lot of mechanical bike exercises, try playing it while you're biking. Nothing passes the time like some pixelated artificial entertainment!

And on the note of video games, if you have a Playstation or XBOX, you could play Dance Dance Revolution. Granted, DDR does not substitute for an actual workout, but it's a fun game you can play with friends to keep active and entertained.

Good luck.