Deskercise

H_J, i just checked all my posts that were 'relevent' to this thread, I haven't bashed you at all mate (not saying you said i did), i did pick up on your lack of willpower though and i underlined that in my last statement, as i know you didn't come right out and say it, but the implication seemed there and most others must have read the same too.
I know you (and i hope 'we') wnat to have a sense of humour about this, but maybe you played it down a little too much in the beginning by ribbing yourself.
When we started seeing you were a little more serious and open to ideas thats when decent advice started coming in.
RimBlocks advice is almost exactly what i would have advised too and now WantoN is on board (a regular poster in the sports forum).
So unfortunately your perceived lack of enthusiasm at the start was received the wrong way i'm afraid. If you feel i added to that, then i apologise.
I'm willing contribute my 2 penneth in helping, but too many cooks etc etc...especially when right now you need a "back to basics" approach to dropping some excess weight whilst starting a training regime. Anyone thorwoing too much science at you right now will just confuse and probably demoralise you.
I'm sure now that the air is cleared for all and you stated your committment to diet/exercise, you'll start to see some results.
Good luck buddy! :)

edit: as regards checking your heart rate, take your pulse rate over a count of 1 secs, then just times that by 6. Again, no hard science, approximations will be fine at the start.
As regards past/rice at night.....just reduce your portion size if you can, maybe drink more water, which can help stay off hunger.
 
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Helium_Junkie said:
I think the real sandwich problem is that since I became lactose intolerant I replaced butter for mayo. I can't imagine mayo is good for me! But no butter and no mayo = dry sandwich and I'm not good with dry foods.
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Pitta bread and low calorie mayonaise might make for an acceptable substitute although wait for confirmation of that.

Oatcakes do make for a good snack as mentioned in place of crisps, quite dry if you have them with nothing on them though of course. Nairns Fruit & Spice Oatcakes are delicious, unfortunately nowhere local to me seems to sell them so I've got to buy loads whenever I see them.

Fruit and/or low fat yoghurt can also make for a good snack but still be aware of what else may be in the ingredients - just because it is low in one thing doesn't necessarily mean it is healthy all round.
 
Cool, now this is more like the SA forum I know.

Helium_Junkie said:
Should I check if I'm at the right rate by manually counting? Or how else can I keep tabs on it while exercising.
Or is the actual rate itself not worth monitoring :)
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And this is where a gym comes in handy to start with. A lot of the cardio machines have heart rate monitors so by going to a gym you can get a basic idea of what it feels like to be at those heart rates. Any gyms close offering a free trial just so you can get the idea ?. A rough guide would be where you are too breathless to sing (not mime :p) but not so breathless you are gasping. You will be gasping with most things to start with but it will improve quite quickly. Climbing one flight of stairs had me breathless to start with.

Helium_Junkie said:
I think the real sandwich problem is that since I became lactose intolerant I replaced butter for mayo. I can't imagine mayo is good for me! But no butter and no mayo = dry sandwich and I'm not good with dry foods.
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Low fat mayo would be better or even salad cream. I use salad cream with tuna and sweetcorn for tuna mayo sandwiches with wholemeal bread. Less calories in salad cream compared to low fat mayo (well miracle whip is all I cann get here). Not the best but I don't believe it should be torture and am willing to accept it taking a bit longer to get to my ideal weight. Egg mayo (salad cream) is also good. Bit of salad, some seeds and / or nuts.

Helium_Junkie said:
But regarding rice and pasta, these pretty much make up my staple evening diet. What can these be replaced with?
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Wholewheat or brown alternatives. Salads, eggs, porridge, loads of veg (my failing at the moment). I am sure others can come up with more and possibly better ideas. You also might want to think about vitamin tablets as it is hard to get all the vitamins your body needs on a calorie deficit. Vitamin tablets are just a fairly cheap insurance policy and can be stopped after the weightloss is done and you start eating at a maintenance level again.

Helium_Junkie said:
So a virgin olive oil + vinegar dressing is ok? Even regularly?
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I'd watch the vinegar due to the acidity. try rotating dressings and just stay away from creamy thick dressings. I love caesor dressing but thhat had to go. I now make do with lemon and soy or olive oil and honey dressings.

The main key is moderation. smaller meals. split throughout the day to stop you getting hungry and to maintain your bodies energy levels without the spikes soft drinks and chocolate provide. Again, porridge is a great filler and after going from sugar to sweeten to raisins I now have it without anything with no issue. Limit the sugar in tea and coffee. I went from 2 to 1 sugar. You don't have to and shouldn't go mad but remember the first month is where you will see the biggest impact so plan to maximize this period before starting and then stabilize after that.

Lastly, as much as you may hate it, take that photo as there is nothing like seeing the worst to motivate.

Cheers
RB
 
So I havent taken the photo yet, but I'll try and get around to it. It's just... odd :p

Still on water alone, finding that one easy enough, but have to buy bottled water for work as the tap water there is just blergh.

Have done two days of salad and veg for lunch at work, with some rice cakes thrown in. Today I feel like something different so have a wholemeal sandwich (ham and pickle... dunno how healthy that is but surely can't be that bad?).

I normally have some kelloggs fruit cake bar things for brekkie, 130 calories, cereal is a tough one because too much dairy makes me quite ill (I generally use my daily quota on other things), and due to my love of sleep I don't really have time in the mrning, but can eat these on the road. Do these sound problematic or is this ok?

I looked for some oatcakes, couldn't find nairns but there were some jordans ones, 140 cals, they as good?

In the meantime I've gone for some wholegrain yoghurt. This could be interesting :D

Edit: by gawd that's some tasty yoghurt.
 
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Helium_Junkie said:
but can eat these on the road. Do these sound problematic or is this ok?
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Those things usually have a lot of sugar in, you'd be better off making your own Flapjack bars at home, which is incredibly easy! You could then wrap them individually in clingfilm and eat them as usual.
I'm sure there are recipes online but basically all you need is porridge oats and a bit of honey, and then you can add all sorts of interesting healthy stuff, chopped nuts, seeds, dried chopped fruit etc (even whey powder to get a bit of protein in the morning on the go), add a bit of Cinnamon and away you go :)
 
If you're after midmeal snacks, try nuts, mixed fruit that type of thing. Also, if you don't mind hot stuff, you can get some amazing Wasabi Mix from Tesco/Sainsburys, made by...Whitworths. This stuff is awesome to snack on.
 
I'm famously crap with hot foods :P but thanks for the suggestions.
I was looking at nuts in the shop and I'm not sure. I like salted/roasted nuts fine, but not so sure about plain ones.
Seeds is a good plan though. And quite intrigued by making my own flapjacks :)

So diet is under way, and advice is really helping.

Regarding exercise. I have some weights (dumbells?), but that's about it. Outdoor exercise in my area is ill advised so I'm looking for indoor pursuits.

I am 26, 5'10", and I don't actually know my weight at the moment, but when I was last weighed (a long time ago) I was 17.5 stone. My parents have some scales so will pop round and use em some time soon.
Is it worth doing anything with the dumbells?

I don't know about buying a bench, without other equipment is that a bit redundant?

I've located a gym pretty close to home. If I can work up some nerve I will check it out, see if it is even close to affordable.
 
I read through most of the thread, and wow has your attitude changed, you seem far more positive now than your first post and that's great! I was in a very similar position once, but not as tall, around the same weight though, starting was the hardest, but I took my inspiration from other people, seeing those before/after pictures were amazing, and then gradually seeing my own 'original picture' and then a picture a month after, just seeing the smallest changes in the body was just as amazing.

Have you thought about swimming? Really good exercise, and the 7am/lane swimming crowd are generally (from my experience) a supportive lot and are there for the same reason you are and usually are too busy to care about what you look like. I think it cost me about £2, I haven't been for a few months, I really should though, I kind of miss it!
 
Your issue is a motivational one, one that only you can change.
This whole idea of not wanting to goto the gym because you will look out of place is something that people really need to get over.
Do you realise what sort of people are in the gym? Have you even been and had a look?

In a normal gym you will find:

Young fit people
Young unfit people
middle aged unfit people
middle aged fit people
old aged unfit people
old age people who are fitter than anyone else in the gym.

Goals, smart goals are what you want.
'I want to look like them in the gym before i goto the gym' is not a smart goal.

People goto the gym for a few reasons:
1 - to make themselves fitter and heathier
2 - for social reasons
3 - to make themselves more attractive
4 - to be bigger and stronger (for themselves rather than the opposite sex)

One thing brings all of these people together - motivation.
All of those people in the young / middle aged / old categories will be of varying body types, varying fitness levels.

99% of them will not give 2 ****s about what you look like.
The majority of them will have joined because they were unhappy with their body or fitness (like you).
Most of them won't even notice you are there (unless you hog some equipment).

So, to get back to the main point of this post: SMART GOALS.
Yes, set yourself a long term goal to be a well toned beach hunk, but make many many smaller goals along the way, ones that you can achieve.
Reaching goals (no matter how small) is a huge psychological boost, HUGE.

One more thing - training (be it cardio or weights) release chemicals in the brain that make you feel good. Try it and see how you feel :]
 
matey, cutting out crisps, choccy and the coke, as well as only drinking tap water (cant taste that bad! its only water, down it!), will help to pay towards the gym membership.

To be honest joining the gym was the trigger for me, knowing I have to go to a seperate place before I went home definitely made me go. Gym is the way forward, you can find a way to pay :)
 
Great advice from Morba.

Everyone feels very selfconcious when they first start. Do it for you and don't take any notice of others around, unless they are trying to give helpful advice although too much of that can also be a pain.

Head down, concentrate on what you are there to do and after a couple of weeks you will see your confidence grow.

After a month or two you will have seen great progress. Keep the beginning photo with you (you have taken one haven't you ;)) and should you get any hassle you can pull it out and say, 'this was me xxx months ago and now I am like this so seems I am doing pretty well".

I still get the same thing with PT's offering advice, trying to change my program and each PT having their own wonder program to get my goals. They put me on the scales and measure this and that then look sad and explain that I am 26% body fat and 16Kg over weight for my sex and height and how much at risk I am etc. I can now just sit there and smile. When they finish I just say "Great, so I have dropped 5Kg in the 4 months I have been training and 5% body fat. Seems like what I am doing is working". The more persistant will try to tell me that I could get bigger results but as 1Kg is the recommended loss in a week and offsetting against muscle gains any more would be a little dodgy. Most PT's give up at that point :D.

If you feel better doing so, ask the staff what the quiet times are and try to aim for those times as much as life will allow.

The gym also keeps most of the other distractions away helping you to concentrate on doing your workout, unless of course you have a direct view of the womans yoga class :eek: :p.

RB
 
Womens yoga class? Suddenly this gym thing looks more interesting... :p

I am still trying to work up the courage >< Might see if I can rope the gf in for moral support while I'm there... strength in numbers!

A strange thing happened yesterday, I've only drunk water for about a week now, yesterday I had a glass and thought "that squash is going to waste, one glass can't kill me..." so poured in some orange squash.

Didn't like it :confused:

Poured it away and went back to water :p Seems to be growing on me!

Thanks RimBlock, Morba and everyone for your advice, I'll try and get that picture sorted... ;)
 
Dude, if you think that is expensive, i beg you not to wander further afield....you'd have a seizure.
I pay £47.99/month at Virgin Active.
Council run gyms are your best bet at around £30. Don't expect to pay less than that matey, sadly.


David Lloyds? at peak without any 'offer' they want £175 just to join, then approx. £65/month. Unbelievable rip-off.
 
£30 p/m isn't unduly excessive on first glance, ok it depends on what you get in the gym but assuming some cardio machines, some free weights and some weights machines then it is well within the normal range.

What do you think is a reasonable fee? And it might be worth bearing in mind that if this does seem like a large fee to you then it should provide an incentive to go so that you are not wasting it.
 
Breaking it down, 30 quid per month is only around 1 quid per day.

Is it possible to save a quid a day ?.

On the other end, I was with The Broadgate Club (based in Liverpool Street station - London) back in the days of me contracting and that was around 140 quid a month. Apart from a medium length swimming pool it really was no better than fitness first TBH, just quite convenient for me. The cost also kept the 'masses' out ;).

Cheers
RB
 
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