Since my retirement... I joined a gym, and hired a personal trainer. I've been using him for just over a month now and plan on continuing till April, when I'm having a military reunion I'm hosting. Hope to be big, and still don't want lean.
On day 1 he gave me a diet, posted below... I told him didn't like most of that food, and I love to eat, and still want to enjoy life... so we compermised, but this guy is smart, I want to stay big, but turn my fat to muscle... so if you work out with weights, (that's what he says is important for older people like me, 50, if you youmg then more cardio is important, but for a old guy, our muscles have matured and now fading, his words. at my age he says work out with weights and eat healthy, (90% of weight lost is eating, now working out.)
work out 3 or 4 times a day, a do 3 times a week... my schedule...
Monday... Chest (major muscle), Bicep (minor muscle), and abs.
Wednesday... Shoulders (major), Legs (not really minor muscle group, bust worked as one), abs
Friday... Back (major), Triceps (minor), abs.
4 exercises for the major, 2 for the minor 1 for the abs.
3 sets of 12, start light, work on form and concentrate on the muscle your working. last set you should be struggling to reach 12, I usually make ti to 8 to 10 before he says enough.
abs, 3 sets of 20. different ab exercises every time, not just sit ups.
When I first was weighed in and measures on day 1, I was 240 pounds, 33% body fat.
after 3 weeks we measured again... at first I was disappointed by gaining 1 pound... but then we discovered that I lost 5 pounds of fat and gained 9 pounds of muscle... so don't worry about the scale, muscle is heavier then fat. I lost 2 inches on waist, but added 3 on my back/chest/shoulder measurement.
My diet:
Morning bran flakes, (still need my regularity, lol), banana on the walk to the gym.
after work out, a protein shake.
lunch chicken salad or turkey sandwich, no white bread.
3 PM snake nuts ans fruits.
Dinner, protein, (chicken/steak) and vegtibles.
evening snake... fruit/vegitbles/nuts or natural peanut butter.
I eat small evey 3 hours, no breads, whites or sweets...
SUNDAY is a cheat day, and thou I do cheat, not nearly as much as I could... I find myself still wanting to honor the diet to a point. might have a brownie, X-mas cookie or 2 or ice cream with the wife at night. It's a cheat day.
so there you go, what I learned in the last month...life is good, feeling great... I like being a big boy, but now it's more muscle then fat.
