Desire to lose weight and get in shape, advice needed.?

22 year old male, 5'11" .Weights > Jan 06 = 380#s, Jun 06 = 343#s, April 07 = 298#s. Eat less more often, but thats about it. Want to slim down and gain some muscle / strength. Been told a recumbent bike, weights, and pilates might do the trick, but unsure. I seem to lose inches more from shoulders, arms, legs, and my butt. But my chest and gut are still highly jiggly. Although I still need much work all over. I would like to be in the 170# - 200# range. What options does one with goals similar to mine have? Whats the ideal weight for someone my height ? What would be the lowest possible healthy weight attainable since I have some muscle from being close to 400#s? What kind of results can I expect and in what amount of time? What foods are suggested to maximize the effects of my efforts? Any additional advice would be greatly appreciated.

Public Comments

1. Since you seem like you're on the right track, check out Body for Life by Bill Phillips. It's a cheap book, with a relatively simple system. He also owns EAS, which is a supplement company, but he doesn't really try to sell any of that stuff through the book. It is an extremely basic program and he breaks everything down for you and it just makes sense. Good luck.
2. find calorie/fitness calculator on the net, enter all your stats and it will tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain, take off 300-400cal off that number and thats how much you need to lose. eat 5-6 small meals a day (eat every 2-3 hours) 5-8 servings of fruit and veggies a day 8 glasses of water have complex carbs for breakfast - they give you energy have lean meat (protein) for dinner - repairs muscle cardio exercise 4-6 times a week for 30-50min, light weight training dont consume foods that are made of white flour (white bread, cakes, past etc.), sugar loaded foods (cookies, icecream, candy etc) and nothing fried, oily. ofcourse you can spoil yourself once in a while with a little treat:)
3. To have a successful weight loss you need to start with a log with your goals, measurements, and weight. I recommend replacing two meals with a quality protein shake and using protein snacks between meals. Drink lots of water, add fiber to your diet, and eliminate junk food and soda's. Read food labels and don't eat a snack or meal with more than 5 grams of fat or 10 grams of sugar. Also use a quality multivitamin. Feel free to contact me!
4. Kay so your 298 atm at 5'11. Youv'e been consuming a caloric deficit to lose previously. You want to gain muscle and lose fat which isnt really easy to do, you should tackle one at a time, they require different approaches, one being surpluss of calories the other a deficit. That's if you want to maximise your results in either choice, you can still build muscle on a deficit which is what im gonna suggest. Construct a diet using a calorie counting website to consume a deficit based off healthy foods, lean protein, complex carbs, good fats. Each meal should contain protein, carbs and fats. Start a weight lifting program, get one from bodybuilding.com ask in the forum, they will create a full body workout for a begginer, twice a week routine. You lose fat from your gut and butt last as you store it there first as a male. at 5'11 you wanna get to about 145-165. Go by mirror rather then weight as muscle weighs more then fat. BMI is useless. Lifting a good weight routine, performing cardiovascular activities and eating healthy (deficit) you can lose 1-2lbs of fat a week, and gain muscle aswell.
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