Open to suggestions

[Rathagos]

Oh... and I'm making friends at the gym (well.. smiling and getting "hellos" which is more than I got when I started in April)!! lol Then I was just a 45yo, fat, guy walking through. Now I'm a recognizable fat, 45yo walking through!

[Ladybug24]

I didn't even finish reading the replies, but will give you my input. You are not eating enough. 1600 - 2200 is not enough for 285 lbs guy.. And since you retired from Navy I am assuming you used to be pretty built and have muscles. I am 140 lbs female and my calorie intake is 1700-2000. You need to feed those muscles if you want to shed the fat. With that calorie intake I doubt any of your 5 lbs gain is muscle mass.. Eat more!

[ladybug07]

Here's my normal daily diet:
6:30-7:30 - Protein Bar (32g protein, 280 calories), 12 oz. Orange juice.
9:15-9:45 - Two small pieces of cheese (individually wrapped) and an apple.
11:00-11:30 - Small to normal portion of lunch but include 6 oz protein and some foliage (fruits/veggies).
5:00 - Normal portion of dinner (I've been downsizing my plates from regular larger dinner plates to paper plate-size)

On occasion, I will have ice cream after dinner (once every two weeks or so).

I drink between 50-80 oz of water/gatorade a day (normally gatorade after a workout.

I know I am late on this. I've been really busy here lately.
1st...you need to eat more. Dont let your calorie intake go below 1200. Make sure you get a complex carb and protien at each meal and stick to serving sizes.
For example:
Breakfast: of Egg whites and oatmeal
mid morning: Say its after the gym, protien shake and a peice of fruit
lunch: grilled chicken and brown rice
mid afternoon: tuna sandwich on wheat bread
dinner: (a personal favorite) Chili Chicken Kabobs and a vegi
evening snack: cottage cheese or nuts
My meals (even though I am a female) are very close to above. Doing this and working out I lost a total of 45 lbs. I have gained 5lbs of it back here lately because of ALOT of stuff going on personally and really got off track in the past 4-almost 5 months. Tracking your food also helps. Everything you put into your mouth, write it down. If you have to measure or weigh your food out, do it. You will be amazed how much 6 oz of chicken is .
2nd-Kick gatoraide and all those other flavored drinks to the curb. They are loaded with high fructose corn syrup.
One last suggestion. Cut salts, sugars, high fructose corn syrup, enriched flours and hydrogenated oils out.
Your diet is 80% of your weightloss. Good luck!

[Rathagos]

Ladybug (and any other I forgot). Thank you for the inputs. You can see how hard it is when some tell you to eat less and others tell you to eat more. I've also heard of the 10% rule. That is... if I want get to a specific weight - only eat the amount of calories that's 10% of that weight. (e.g. if I want to get down to 190lbs, I would take in 1900 calories per day).

As I've said.. I'm feeling more energy and definitely stronger (I am doing weight training with the aerobics - but they are low-medium weights and high reps). I heard you need to have muscle to help burn fat faster, but you can't work on muscle INCREASE and weight LOSS at the same time. So, I'm just firming up the muscles I ("supposedly") have. lol

Thanks again all for the inputs... I'll stay the course and see where I end up down the road.