Can you gym guys help me??

[Skilid]

Hi everyone.

I'm thinking of maybe turning this into a progress thread, I'm not sure yet. That aside I need help!

About 2 months ago I thought enough was enough. I'm overweight and completely out of shape. I considerably changed my diet and started going to the gym ~4 times a week rather than once or twice. Since I've started doing this I've gone from 201lbs to 189lbs. Recently however, I've started to plateau. I'm 22, 6ft tall and fairly broad build. I have an office job.

I'm mainly concentrating on getting rid of my man boobs and belly as they are just disgusting, however I am doing the odd weights to stop from going skinny (which I don't want).

The problem I have is ALL of my fat is on my boobs and belly. I have none on my arms, face and very little on my legs.

My usual gym session consists of a 5 minute cycle to warm my legs up, then a few leg presses (on machines) to loosen myself up. I have a hip problem so have to make sure I'm loose. I then do a 10-15 minute run (all I can manage, especially with hip). Then a 10-15 minute cycle and 10 minutes on the rower. Once I have done this I will then go and use the weight machines or go home. They have no free weights at this gym. I also do sit ups.

Even though I have lost that weight it doesn't seem like I have slimmed AT ALL. My diet is good. Weetabix in the morning, wrap with egg/salad/chicken at lunch, then meat veg and potatoes for dinner. Rarely snack and if I do it's fruit.

Please help me guys, I want this belly gone so I can start building more muscles!

What do I need to do???

 

[Chris1712]

Join a gym with free weights, get a good form induction on 'the big 3' and start Stronglifts. Sort your diet to somewhere around 10-12x your bodyweight in calories, 20% as fat, 40% carb 40% protein and get lifting! This is a hugely basic overview but it will work.

For more check these out......

Here's my MUST READS for anyone looking to lose weight/change their body composition. I've gone from 133kg -> 80kg in approx 18 months and these articles stuck in my mind.

How to lose fat for Noobs - Wavelength BB guide <- Read this first tbh.
The Hierarchy of Fat Loss by Alwyn Cosgrove
Harsh's Worksheet (4chan /fit/) <- Some bro'ness about this one but overall very good.

These along with Steedie's nutrition sticky and GordyR's bodybuilding sticky and you will be armed with more than enough knowledge to drop the weight and do it right .

 

[Nexus]

The fat on your mid-section is the area that you first put it on and it only then begins to put fat in other places as you accumulate more of it. The extremities don't tend to get fat until you are way into being morbidly obese as the body doesn't want to put fat in parts of the body that are very mobile, such as the legs, arms and fingers.

As a result, loosing the body fat from your belly will likely be the fat that goes last of all. I'm sure you have read enough to know that you can't choose where you reduce body fat from, it all comes off slowly.

Your diet sounds like its good so perhaps you need to increase your cardio. Are you training with a heart rate monitor at all? That can help you work out what zone you are in to see that you are burning fat efficiently.

From what you have described, I don't think you are doing enough cardio, as it looks like you are doing about 20-30 minutes.

You want to aim for about 45mins to an hour and perhaps stick to one machine. If you have hip problems, I'd probably skip the treadmill all together. Stick to a Bike or an Elliptical as they give a very good work out if it doesn't aggregate your hip.

 

[touch]

Have you thought about swimming?
It's pretty good for burning calories and might be better for you than treadmill, etc with your hip problem.

 

[Skilid]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. I don't currently use a heart rate monitor, however I use the ones that are built in to the machines at the gym. When I am running I am at 170-180. When I am cycling I'm between 145-155. I sweat tons when I'm cycling but not as much when running.

I'm aware you can't choose to loose fat where you want. I also used to do HIT training. I think I might start doing that again as people say it is good for burning fat.

I've heard various things from people about man boobs that once you have them, they never go away and all this sort of stuff. Or that you need hormone pills to get rid of them. I'm aware there is no fast cure, but do either of these speak any truth?

Yeah I guess I'm just not doing it for long enough. It's difficult finding the time... I obviously need to step it up.

EDIT:

Have you thought about swimming?
It's pretty good for burning calories and might be better for you than treadmill, etc with your hip problem.

I would love to go swimming but I'm just too body concious. Plus all our pools are heaving, and always got old people going slowly, or people just messing around.

 

[touch]

I would love to go swimming but I'm just too body concious. Plus all our pools are heaving, and always got old people going slowly, or people just messing around.

Fair enough.
I went swimming for the first time since i was young a couple of years ago. I was around 190lbs (i'm 6ft) so not particularly confident, but i had come down from over 200 so i wasnt feeling too bad about myself. I soon realised that i wasnt the biggest guy there and, in fact, was pretty average. There was still a bit of holding in my stomach whilst out of the water but nobody really pays much attention to anybody else, they are all concentrating on their own thing.
It's definately worth doing if you can get over the confidence issues, maybe there is a local gym with a quieter pool?

 

[Skilid]

Fair enough.
I went swimming for the first time since i was young a couple of years ago. I was around 190lbs (i'm 6ft) so not particularly confident, but i had come down from over 200 so i wasnt feeling too bad about myself. I soon realised that i wasnt the biggest guy there and, in fact, was pretty average. There was still a bit of holding in my stomach whilst out of the water but nobody really pays much attention to anybody else, they are all concentrating on their own thing.
It's definately worth doing if you can get over the confidence issues, maybe there is a local gym with a quieter pool?

No the only places round here with pools are HUGE busy complexes. I like the gym that I go too because it is 2 minutes down the road, cheap (£15 a month), has a nice sauna and has a couple of friendly people there. it isn't busy at all. It just lacks in equipment. Such as free weights.

 

[Nexus]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. I don't currently use a heart rate monitor, however I use the ones that are built in to the machines at the gym. When I am running I am at 170-180. When I am cycling I'm between 145-155. I sweat tons when I'm cycling but not as much when running.

I'm aware you can't choose to loose fat where you want. I also used to do HIT training. I think I might start doing that again as people say it is good for burning fat.

I've heard various things from people about man boobs that once you have them, they never go away and all this sort of stuff. Or that you need hormone pills to get rid of them. I'm aware there is no fast cure, but do either of these speak any truth?

Yeah I guess I'm just not doing it for long enough. It's difficult finding the time... I obviously need to step it up.

Sounds like with running you are training at a high intensity which is not really the ideal way to be shifting body fat. The Cycling however puts you more in the Zone to be burning fat, I'd try and train for longer at that intensity.

If your 'Man Boobs' are just body fat, then they will go when you reduce the fat. If they are really like women's boobs then it's Gynecomastia which has nothing to do with being fat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia

 

[Skilid]

Sounds like with running you are training at a high intensity which is not really the ideal way to be shifting body fat. The Cycling however puts you more in the Zone to be burning fat, I'd try and train for longer at that intensity.

If your 'Man Boobs' are just body fat, then they will go when you reduce the fat. If they are really like women's boobs then it's Gynecomastia which has nothing to do with being fat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynecomastia

I keep feeling that the running will help me get fit though. I would really like to be able to run for longer periods of time. I know it is quite high. I will try to use the bike for longer and maybe start using the elliptical.

I'm pretty sure the man boob thing is not that. I'll see how I get on.

 

[Nexus]

I keep feeling that the running will help me get fit though. I would really like to be able to run for longer periods of time. I know it is quite high. I will try to use the bike for longer and maybe start using the elliptical.

I'm pretty sure the man boob thing is not that. I'll see how I get on.

It will get you fitter, but you can just as easily do it via any other Cardio method with less stress. Main reason I made the comment was that you said about your hip problem and running is one cardio method which does result in more impact.

The issue with having too high a heart rate is that you end up in the Anaerobic zone, then you aren't using much fat as fuel and it's not really helping develop your Cardiovascular system. It's ultimately improving your heart that will get you fitter and improve your endurance.

If you want to keep running, try going at a slower pace, overtime your heart will become more efficient and it will take less effort to run quicker. You could also do HIT if you choose, as that is more of a mix of being in a good heart rate zone but only pushing to the max every now and then.

 

[Skilid]

Thanks guys, this is great advice so far.

One quick question that always confuses me though. People say as a snack that nuts are quite good to eat. But whenever I read the packet it always says that they are high in calories... Isn't that bad?

 

[touch]

One quick question that always confuses me though. People say as a snack that nuts are quite good to eat. But whenever I read the packet it always says that they are high in calories... Isn't that bad?

It's only bad if it puts you into a positive intake of calories. They have a good mix of fats and protein and are easy to take with you and eat wherever you are.

 

[Skilid]

It's only bad if it puts you into a positive intake of calories. They have a good mix of fats and protein and are easy to take with you and eat wherever you are.

Surely it's impossible to know how many calories you are taking in and loosing though?

Also, is it worth finding out my body fat percentage? How do I find out?

 

[Morba]

I would love to go swimming but I'm just too body concious. Plus all our pools are heaving, and always got old people going slowly, or people just messing around.

Trust me, I'm not small and pretty damn fat and have serious body image issues (flying to turkey to a place with lots of pools and waterpark tomorrow is going to kill me inside). I started swimming and quickly realised there are bigger people who care less and smaller people too wrapped up in themselves to even notice me.
So much are they not interested in my love handles, moobs and fat ass that I can wear aqua shorts (I'll never go full speedo style lol) and people don't bat an eye lid.

One of the hardest things is walking from racking your towel to getting in the pool. Most of the time that's a few metres at most. Yet that short walk will begin to be one of the most rewarding exercises you will do

So get some shorts on and get in the pool

 

[Defcon5]

What happened to GordyRs sticky?

 

[touch]

Surely it's impossible to know how many calories you are taking in and loosing though?

You can work it out fairly accurately if you want to. You could weigh everything you eat and work it out almost exactly.
You dont need to do that though, you can estimate roughly as well by reading the labels of things or using a calorie tracker phone app like myfitnesspal

What happened to GordyRs sticky?

It's been de-stickied, but the thread still exists.

 

[Skilid]

One of the hardest things is walking from racking your towel to getting in the pool. Most of the time that's a few metres at most. Yet that short walk will begin to be one of the most rewarding exercises you will do

So get some shorts on and get in the pool

Haha, I'm just being a wimp really. I'm just worried about old people getting in the way and stopping me from swimming. I don't want to go there to splash about, I want to swim.

You can work it out fairly accurately if you want to. You could weigh everything you eat and work it out almost exactly.
You dont need to do that though, you can estimate roughly as well by reading the labels of things or using a calorie tracker phone app like myfitnesspal

Cool, thanks.

UPDATE:

Well, I've already started to change what I'm doing. Tonight I used the functions on the machines to keep my heart at the right pace. I did 30 minutes on the cross trainer with my heart @ 150bpm and then 20 minutes on the bike @145bpm. I'll keep this up for a few weeks and see how I get on. I could have done more but I have been to the gym a lot this week and my legs were aching.

Cheers guys, I'll keep this thread updated.

 

[mrthingyx]

You have a hip problem and you're running? Seriously?

If the hip is causing you pain enough to alter your workout, then you should see a doctor. They will be useless, and refer you to a physio, but at least you may get some interesting painkillers. And the physio might be good enough to help with your hip problem...

If you're struggling to lose weight and your diet is good (your words), then you simply aren't working hard enough in the gym. Not knowing what your hip problem is, we're pretty limited in the help we can give you. Other than swimming... But don't just swim like an old dear: you have to work hard. Coming out the pool with everything aching is a good thing. Give it a couple of weeks and you will actually get a buzz from it.

Regarding body fat percentage, I'd say it's pretty arbitrary when losing weight. It's a bit like a pregnancy test: you soon find out anyway, as you either stay the same shape, or you don't. If you're cutting body fat, you'll notice...

Going back to your diet (as I've just seen your comment about nuts being zomg in calories)... Google glycaemic index: foods with readily available glucose (I.e. sweets, certain fruits, potatoes and pasta) will cause your body to spike its insulin levels and pack the glucose away to eventually become fat. Things like nuts derive most of their calorific value from unsaturated fat, which does not elicit an insulin response like glucose. As such, your body will be less inclined to 'fatten up'. This is why paleo diets exist: very low in carbs (not quite Atkins, however).

So whilst you must set up a calorie deficit over the course of your day, you also should be thinking about the types of calories, too.

 

[Skilid]

snip

Wow, thanks for all the detailed info. That's really helpful.

The thing with my hip is a tricky one. I've had issues ever since I was little. I had excess fluid in the joint when I was tiny and needed to go on traction. Then in senior school I fractured the hip. I personally think it's muscular, and so does the doctor. I am in the process of getting it looked at though, I just need to go and get it x-rayed. It isn't painful enough to need pain killers however as it only gives me issues when I run.

 

[mrthingyx]

At the risk of turning this into a medical thread, it could well be that your hip muscles (there are a shed load of them), ligaments and tendons never got the right treatment post-healing of the fracture and so are ridiculously tight.

If it's a structural thing, however, then getting it checked via X-ray (and take a photo of the image on your phone), and then by a good physio will be invaluable.