OcUK Personal Trainer?

DcD

DcD

DcD

Associate
Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
1,378
Location
Surrey, UK
So I see there's a big weight loss thread - I've trawled through it and it's inspired me to continue with my plan of getting fitter.

I currently weigh 20st exactly (280lbs or 127kg), and would like to set myself a goal to get to 16st. Anything more than that is a bonus and I'd re-evaluate it when reaching that point. I'm 5'11, making my BMI a staggering 39. I'm nearly 21, and I'd rather not die by the time I'm 30 if I can help it. I'm off to the doctor's on Monday to discuss it with my GP or the practice nurse too, and get my weight properly evaluated, including my cholestoral. My plan is to shock myself into getting something done.

Over the past two weeks I've started a much better eating plan (nothing official or utterly planned - but I've made a concious effort to not have this or that and I feel so much better for it).

So, my proposition is this. If there are any fitness nuts out there who fancy developing a sort of plan for me, or would perhaps get some kind of enjoyment out of being a "e-personaltrainer" (in terms of helping motivate me, and helping me total up exercise routines, calories etc) I'd be more than up for it. I know it's a strange ask, but I have no idea what i'm on about when it comes to diets and stuff so having someone guide me through a weight loss plan would be really beneficial.

Previously, I went running every other day for a month, and ended up putting on a stone. I didn't eat particularly unhealthily so I was just baffled at it and lost a lot of motivation.

I currently play up to 5 a side basketball (lesser the people there the harder we workout) with friends every Tuesday evening. This lasts about an hour and a half and I'm totally bollocksed by the end of it to say the least. I'd say it's a pretty decent workout. Just to add, I work as a digital designer so 90% of my time is sat at the computer.

So, any takers?
 
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Azza said:
What does your usual day consist of? Eating wise, sleep, exercise apart from basketball on a Tuesday.
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Eating would be two meals, lunch and dinner. I rarely have breakfast. I'm a freelancer, so my sleep patterns are pretty crap. I'll usually sleep from about 2am til 11am.

Exercise other than basketball is pretty much inexistent. Like I said I tried jogging, to little avail (plus I run like a spanner so it's not terribly efficient haha).

I plan on going for two walks a week up in the fields near me. These will probably be about 2 miles each. Nothing massive but I want to get some fresh air rather than sitting at my desk all day.
 
Write down everything you eat, EVERYTHING, for the next week or so. Put it on a spreadsheet and upload it here.

Also stop skipping breakfast, your body is starving in the morning it needs protien. Some cereal (granola or the like), wheat toast with a poached egg would even be fine. But NEVER skip breakfast.

Also, depending on what time you get up for work training when in fasted mode (before breakfast) is a good way to burn fat.

You never tried jogging to little avail. You gave up. Get back out and do it again. You will get better at it.

Set yourself some goals and stick to them. Maybe even book a run, even if its for next year.
 
DcD said:
Eating would be two meals, lunch and dinner. I rarely have breakfast. I'm a freelancer, so my sleep patterns are pretty crap. I'll usually sleep from about 2am til 11am.

Exercise other than basketball is pretty much inexistent. Like I said I tried jogging, to little avail (plus I run like a spanner so it's not terribly efficient haha).

I plan on going for two walks a week up in the fields near me. These will probably be about 2 miles each. Nothing massive but I want to get some fresh air rather than sitting at my desk all day.
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Begbie said:
Write down everything you eat, EVERYTHING, for the next week or so. Put it on a spreadsheet and upload it here.

Also stop skipping breakfast, your body is starving in the morning it needs protien. Some cereal (granola or the like), wheat toast with a poached egg would even be fine. But NEVER skip breakfast.

Also, depending on what time you get up for work training when in fasted mode (before breakfast) is a good way to burn fat.

You never tried jogging to little avail. You gave up. Get back out and do it again. You will get better at it.

Set yourself some goals and stick to them. Maybe even book a run, even if its for next year.
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lol bolded the 'everything' just to emphasis it a bit more. You can't say that you only eat two meals a day DcD... what about all the little snacks and things that you eat while you're sat at your desk doing work...

Pretty much as Begbie says, with regards to jogging start of just walking then you can move onto jogging. You don't have to go powering down the street just lightly jog, given your weight you'll be putting a lot of stress onto your body and if you go out too hard it'll hurt and that's what will put you off doing it. And it doesn't matter if you look like a wally.
 
Okay fellas, starting tomorrow I'll get up at 8am, have breakfast, and will write it all down.

In terms of walking/jogging, how far is acceptable? My previous route was about 1.5km in total, with quite a far uphill bit that used to nearly make me keel over.

I'm going to take a quick drive up to the moors near me, it'll be much more exciting and nicer to jog/walk around there than up and down a housing estate like I did before.
 
Take it easy, I assume your not very fit at the moment. Go for a walk, do a mile or two. Don't want to kill yourself and drop your motivation or risk getting an injury.

Walk for a couple of weeks, at a brisk pace. Then move into a walk/jog routine, upping the amount you jog by 5-10% every week.

You will be running the whole route before you know it. :)
 
Begbie said:
Take it easy, I assume your not very fit at the moment. Go for a walk, do a mile or two. Don't want to kill yourself and drop your motivation or risk getting an injury.

Walk for a couple of weeks, at a brisk pace. Then move into a walk/jog routine, upping the amount you jog by 5-10% every week.

You will be running the whole route before you know it. :)
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Roger! 2 mile walk it is.
 
DcD said:
Roger! 2 mile walk it is.
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If anything, someone at your size the key to all this is nutrition! You nail that, the weight will fly off to start with!
So, get that sorted out first and then begin increasing your workouts. As above has been mentioned, understand your body first in terms of what it can and can't do, then in a few weeks you can begin to push yourself.
Are you joining a gym or have any tools at home you can use?
We want to get you into some resistant training as well as a cardio program, build some muscle up.
Answer these, and let;s go from there.

This really is easy, just depends how bad you want it.
 
Clipsey said:
If anything, someone at your size the key to all this is nutrition! You nail that, the weight will fly off to start with!
So, get that sorted out first and then begin increasing your workouts. As above has been mentioned, understand your body first in terms of what it can and can't do, then in a few weeks you can begin to push yourself.
Are you joining a gym or have any tools at home you can use?
We want to get you into some resistant training as well as a cardio program, build some muscle up.
Answer these, and let;s go from there.

This really is easy, just depends how bad you want it.
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I used to play a lot of rugby and have a bench, free weights and resistance bands at home. I'm not planning on joining the gym as the one nearby is some crazy-expensive one that I just can't afford.
 
Begbie and Azza are right, you need to log absolutely everything you eat. I have been logging everything I eat (every single day, for the past two and a half years) on fitday.com (it's free). Logging absolutely everything you eat will help prevent you from overindulging, because it helps you to realise just how many unnecessary calories you've been taking in.

As Clipsey said, if you get your nutrition right the weight will fall off. You'll almost certainly want to exercise as well, however, as it'll increase your metabolism and help you work off your excess body fat more readily. I imagine your knees and ankles are not especially strong, so I'd suggest that you stick to your plan of walking for the time being.

I started off by walking a mile a day for a week, then gradually working my way up over the weeks and months until I was able to walk 13 miles without any problems. When I got my weight down sufficiently, I got an exercise bike and started using it a couple of times a week. I then started cycling to work every day, then added weekend rides, and finally added evening rides as well.

Personally, I went at the task of weight loss in a very extreme way because I was desperate to slim down. I did this by cutting my calorie intake down to around 1000 a day. I was not working at the time, which made it a lot easier, however I'd very strongly recommend against eating that little as it does cause problems. Really, anything less than 1500 calories a day is pushing your luck. It took me about 18 months to go from 23 stone to 12 stone, though I lost over half of that in the first five months. In that time I went from my shins and knees feeling ruined by a 2km walk, to being able to ride 115km in 5.5 hours. I am still making progress on that front, because I never, ever want to be that obese man again.

The most difficult part of the journey is getting it started and resolving yourself to stick to it. Good luck!
 
Saundie said:
Begbie and Azza are right, you need to log absolutely everything you eat. I have been logging everything I eat (every single day, for the past two and a half years) on fitday.com (it's free). Logging absolutely everything you eat will help prevent you from overindulging, because it helps you to realise just how many unnecessary calories you've been taking in.

As Clipsey said, if you get your nutrition right the weight will fall off. You'll almost certainly want to exercise as well, however, as it'll increase your metabolism and help you work off your excess body fat more readily. I imagine your knees and ankles are not especially strong, so I'd suggest that you stick to your plan of walking for the time being.

I started off by walking a mile a day for a week, then gradually working my way up over the weeks and months until I was able to walk 13 miles without any problems. When I got my weight down sufficiently, I got an exercise bike and started using it a couple of times a week. I then started cycling to work every day, then added weekend rides, and finally added evening rides as well.

Personally, I went at the task of weight loss in a very extreme way because I was desperate to slim down. I did this by cutting my calorie intake down to around 1000 a day. I was not working at the time, which made it a lot easier, however I'd very strongly recommend against eating that little as it does cause problems. Really, anything less than 1500 calories a day is pushing your luck. It took me about 18 months to go from 23 stone to 12 stone, though I lost over half of that in the first five months. In that time I went from my shins and knees feeling ruined by a 2km walk, to being able to ride 115km in 5.5 hours. I am still making progress on that front, because I never, ever want to be that obese man again.

The most difficult part of the journey is getting it started and resolving yourself to stick to it. Good luck!
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Thanks for the advice.

I'm going to record what I eat over the next week (Mon - Sun), then upload. My initial thought is i'm probably eating too many carbs and then not actually burning it off. I've actually just started ordering a vegetable box from Abel & Cole, which I'm now going to base my weekly meals around that (depending on what you guys advise I do from the next week's evaluation).

My goals are as follows:
- Starting April 2nd (Monday) - makes for a nice prep week where I can evaluate.
- 2lbs per week, weighing on Monday morning at 9am.
- By September 2012 I'd like to have lost four stone (is this realistic?).

Thanks everyone who's replied so far, really appreciated and gives me even more motivation!
 
DcD said:
I'm going to record what I eat over the next week (Mon - Sun), then upload. My initial thought is i'm probably eating too many carbs and then not actually burning it off. I've actually just started ordering a vegetable box from Abel & Cole, which I'm now going to base my weekly meals around that (depending on what you guys advise I do from the next week's evaluation).
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Calories are what it ultimately comes down to, too many, you put on weight, too few and you lose. Eat a balanced diet yes, but the golden rule will always be calories in vs calories out.

DcD said:
- By September 2012 I'd like to have lost four stone (is this realistic?).
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Absolutely, get the diet right and 4 stone by september is very achievable. If you're on point from the very start 6-8lb loss in the first couple weeks alone is more than possible (most of this will be water weight.

Exercise is beneficial for a number of reasons, and to answer your question about how much is enough, you do only as much as you can manage at the start, that is enough. Over time it will build, but if on day one you can only manage 5-10 minutes walk before it's too much, leave it there and see what day two brings.

Given the answers to this thread so far, hopefully you now realise the key to this is the diet. And when you reach 13 stone, whether you want to stay there, lose more or put on weight in the form of muscle, that will still be the case.
 
wedgie said:
Exercise is beneficial for a number of reasons, and to answer your question about how much is enough, you do only as much as you can manage at the start, that is enough. Over time it will build, but if on day one you can only manage 5-10 minutes walk before it's too much, leave it there and see what day two brings.
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Went for a walk today and walked briskly for 30 minutes, totalling 1.5miles. This is the walk I aim to do 2-3 times a week. (Mon, Friday, Sunday). Perhaps in a couple of months when I've lost a bit of weight, I'll start trying to jog it.
 
DcD said:
Went for a walk today and walked briskly for 30 minutes, totalling 1.5miles. This is the walk I aim to do 2-3 times a week. (Mon, Friday, Sunday). Perhaps in a couple of months when I've lost a bit of weight, I'll start trying to jog it.
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That's fine, right now the exercise you do matters very little in terms of your week to week loss targets. Look at it as groundwork being laid for future fitness training you do.

Strictly regarding losing weight each week, in effect all that exercise does is increase your daily calorie budget. Given your height/weight/age, you probably have a calorie allowance of around 3000. Say you want to come in each day at 500 calories below budget, if you were to burn 400 calories through exercise, you can then eat 2900 calories and still be on target (where it would be 2500 without the exercise). If you managed to get your daily calories down in the region of 2000, the weight would drop off quicker than you can believe for some time, that's before you add in any exercise.

Hopefully that's not come across like I'm suggesting exercise isn't worth the bother, that's not the intent at all. I just think it will help you no end if you have the right mindset from the start and understand that most of the work is not done in the gym, it's done getting the diet right. Succeed here and it's not a possibility that you will reach your goals, it's a certainty.
 
wedgie said:
That's fine, right now the exercise you do matters very little in terms of your week to week loss targets. Look at it as groundwork being laid for future fitness training you do.

Strictly regarding losing weight each week, in effect all that exercise does is increase your daily calorie budget. Given your height/weight/age, you probably have a calorie allowance of around 3000. Say you want to come in each day at 500 calories below budget, if you were to burn 400 calories through exercise, you can then eat 2900 calories and still be on target (where it would be 2500 without the exercise). If you managed to get your daily calories down in the region of 2000, the weight would drop off quicker than you can believe for some time, that's before you add in any exercise.

Hopefully that's not come across like I'm suggesting exercise isn't worth the bother, that's not the intent at all. I just think it will help you no end if you have the right mindset from the start and understand that most of the work is not done in the gym, it's done getting the diet right. Succeed here and it's not a possibility that you will reach your goals, it's a certainty.
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I completely understand. I think this is perhaps why I've never lost weight before - I've always seen it as the other way around (more or less).

A calorie counter online says:
you need 3159 Calories/day to maintain your weight
you need 2659 Calories/day to lose 1 lb per week
you need 2159 Calories/day to lose 2 lb per week
you need 3659 Calories/day to gain 1 lb per week
you need 4159 Calories/day to gain 2 lb per week

Source: http://www.calculator.net/calorie-c...ghtmeter=180&ckg=60&cactivity=1.375&x=98&y=23
 
Take those numbers with a pinch of salt.

To accurately gauge maintenance calories you need to know your lean body mass, which you don't have a figure for.

Start with working out how much you're eating from your food diary (don't forget drinks!), then work from there.
 
icecold said:
Take those numbers with a pinch of salt.

To accurately gauge maintenance calories you need to know your lean body mass, which you don't have a figure for.

Start with working out how much you're eating from your food diary (don't forget drinks!), then work from there.
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Sure! A pinch of salt was taken anyway, only a small one though as my blood pressure is something i'm already worried about. :P I'll ask for the exact figures and things tomorrow at the doctors.
 
Hi again guys,

Just put todays food down on a spreadsheet and was playing with one of the weight loss websites (fitday.com). It came across as very American and couldn't properly pinpoint half the food I ate today (very generic stuff that wasn't actually what I ate).

What would you guys recommend for calorie calculation etc?

Also, on a side note, scheduled to see the practise nurse near me next Monday (D-Day!).
 
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