Diet/Weight question any help appreciated

Joey1349

Hi,
I am an 18 yo college student, ex gym muscle building addict.
I was hitting the gym 3 nights a week for over a year up until june last year.
I had to stop due to injury, but was very built up when I did stop.
Over the last year since I have not been gymming I have put on more weight than I have ever in my life, and it's so frustrating, I never used to put on weight easy, and I had an awful diet throughout school years, basically eating fast food for lunch everyday!

I am 6 foot and 2" tall, and since my gym lifestyle has stopped I have gained 2 stone in fat, most affecting my upper body. It seems to just collect for no reason!
I cant shift it at all, and all I can do gym wise now is start swimming and perhaps light weights.

My diet is average I think, food wise. I generally only manage two proper meals a day however, and they are large portions as I have always had a huge diet. Due to my missed breakfast I always get hungry at night, and end up making some instant noodles and having some chocolate, but generally dont eat any junk throughout the day.
I will say my saturdays generally I end up eating either a take away from a chipper or home cooked chips and steak/chicken/curry/cod for one of my meals for that day, then perhaps for dinner that night home made lasagna with coleslaw. Not my healthiest day, but this is due to work.

An average day of food for me would be:
1pm Home made soup (Chicken and veg) + 2 small rolls w/ham and colslaw + water
6pm Sweet and sour chicken with basmati rice + water
11pm Noodles or 4 waffles + bit of junk food

Or
1pm Tuna and sweetcorn sandwich plus tea + crisps
6pm Spaghetti bol + water
11pm same as above.

Thanks for reading so far, so here is my question.
How average is my diet in anyones opinion? i know it's not all fruit and veg, but is it actually THAT bad?
Could my rapid departure from the gym have turned all the muscle I had into fat which is now hard to shift, and is it possible my metabolism is slowing down already and if so what can I do to keep it faster?

Am joining gym next week to do 3 nights a week swimming so hopefully this will help...
Any tips truly appreciated.

thanks!

Mellor

Your diet is crap to be honest,
you siad you don't eat much crap, but mentioned eating junk food on an average night,

bread rolls, rice, crisps, waffles, sandwiches, pasta are all pretty bad. Most good diets would rarely include these, let alone every meal

almost no protein in there, eating healthy doesn't need to be food you don't like, just the right stuff, chicken n veg instead of rice, make your own flavours or sauce, as that jar of sweet n sour is likely crap

xgtdec

Joey1349 wrote: »

11pm Noodles or 4 waffles + bit of junk food

The thoughts of this has me gaining weight:)

No eating after 9pm.....4 waffles and a bit of junk food aint going anywhere while ya sleep.

Wheres the breakfast gone, missing breakfast in the fight against flab just is not an option, but since ya like big meals you will be happy to know that your breakfast(you know the new habit your gonna take up:)) can be your biggest meal and make them smaller as your day goes on, add 3 snacks in and spread it all over 3-4 hours......you should feel better and have a well fired metabolism in no time!!

thirdmantackle

smaller meals. cut down on pasta/spuds/rice/bread etc
healthier snacks between meals - fruit, raw vegs - carrot, rice cakes, ryvita, nuts
exercise

Joey1349

Thanks for replies guys.

I cant say I thought it was that bad, bar the late night eating, I know that is bad, but I always feel hungry!

Breakfast never happens, I never feel hungry in the morning...But I will start getting back into the routine of it now!

College doesn't exactly provide a great routine or opportunity to eat very well, although I know people with a much worse diet than me but they dont gain a thing!

Swimming 3 nights a week for 90 mins each night will help alot I presume, not leisurely relaxing swimming, but strict lenghts of the pool. Or should I combine this with other exercises?
I cant go back at the weights, really messes up my arms last time.

thanks for the help!:D

xgtdec

Joey1349 wrote: »

College doesn't exactly provide a great routine or opportunity to eat very well, although I know people with a much worse diet than me but they dont gain a thing!

LOL...im an expert in this field;)

we'll address the 2nd one first.....on this big planet we live on EVERYONE...eats what they like and puts on no weight..everyone but me that is:p, and of course while this is in no way near the truth it can sometimes seem to be that way, but part of the trick to losing fat and getting in shape is that i had to let go of the obsession with "everyone Else" and start an obsession of sorts with myself, i always justified myself against other people..when i was fat it was ok cause i aint as fat as that guy or when i started losing weight it was good cause i lost more than him or i got pissed off cause someone else was losing quicker etc, then i joined a gym and that really pissed me off...a never ending production line of musclemen\athletes\posers\mouthpieces\instructors\machines\classes.....as a noob it can make your head spin with questions, how did he get so big, how is he so shredded and so on, but the most imported thing to do in concentrate on yourself and your goals..screw everyone else, they aint gonna lose it for you and there will always ALWAYS be someone in better and worse shape than you. Try get yourself into a postion where YOU are happy with your look and feel and consider that job done!!!

I used to find that a during the week routine was good and id let fly at weekends because weekends had no routine, i really had to bite the bullet at weekends and so i put stickers on the fridge and presses....they had sorta cheesy motivation **** on them.......but they kept me on the straight and narrow as regards junk at the weekend....true your in collage and thats tougher again but the fact remains...if you want it bad enough...you will make a routine and stick to it, its never gonna be easy, friends going to the Friday pub after collage\work...your going to the gym for cardio with a banana....this is what it takes..its worth it in the end...at least i hope it is:D