Diet advice for my girlfriend please?

Soldato
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Hello all. So, without going into too much detail, my girlfriend is very self-concious about the way she looks. She's mostly concerned about her belly. Lately she's gotten quite bad, to the point where she's not eating and not keeping food down, so I am getting quite worried.

I'm looking for some diet and exercise tips for her, she's tried a few different diets but personally I don't think she tried them for long enough, although to be honest I know very little about this topic.

She does sit-ups most days and goes out jogging a few times a week. I think she needs a proper diet with regular meals though really, she's quite a fussy eat but does like salad and friuts and chicken, rice, that sort of thing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, apologies if the information is a bit vague, I will give more info if needed, but I honestly don't know anything about this and I'm feeling rather helpless currently.

Thank you.
 
I dont know that much about diet, so i'll leave that for someone else to answer.

Tell her to go easy on the sit-ups tho. You cant target fat loss, doing lots of sit-ups and working tummy muscles wont mean fat loss around her belly. Sit-ups can actually make it appear worse, because it will build up the tummy muscles behind and make any belly fat more pronounced.

General cardio exercises like running/cycling/swimming/skipping/etc are what she needs to be doing.
 
without her hight and weight this will be off , 2000 kcal day food in as 40/40/20 p/c/f more good fats olive oil etc , low GI carbs eat 4 times a day even meals and do 200 to 400 kcal worth of exercise and don't drink alcohol in 3 months she will see it melt away
 
Ok thanks for the info, she's approx 5ft 2, she's never told me how much she weighs, but a good guess I'd say around 120lbs. She's certainly not overweight, but she's getting quite bad about the way she looks. She doesn't touch alcohol or smoke or anything either. She doesn't particularly eat much junk either.
 
Ok thanks for the info, she's approx 5ft 2, she's never told me how much she weighs, but a good guess I'd say around 120lbs. She's certainly not overweight, but she's getting quite bad about the way she looks. She doesn't touch alcohol or smoke or anything either. She doesn't particularly eat much junk either.

If she's concerned about the belly, then the last thing she should be doing is sit-ups! :eek:

The best advice, instead of a stupid crash diet, is to go for something she can stick with for the rest of her life: i.e. a lifestyle choice. This will mean looking at:

- Low GI foods;
- Eating little but often (smaller meals with more healthy snacks);
- More fibre in the diet;
- As well as more fruit and veg;
- Cutting out the crud (soft drinks, crisps, chocolates, McDonald's, etc.);

that's just the diet. When it comes to the 'lifestyle', more activity should be worked into the daily routine:

- Go for a run/cycle/walk twice/three times a week. If you go with her and are supportive this will lead on to point 2...
- Assuming you're married (yes, I'm aware she's your G/F, but I don't advocate this outside of marriage... ;)), more horizontal jogging as this burns a bucketload of calories and is one of the better exercises for your heart (unless you do it up againsta wall, or on a pool table...);
- Assuming you're both working, go for a mobile lunch break: don't just sit at the desk... go for a stroll.

Depending on how seriously the above is taken, and depending on where your missus tends to carry her bodyfat (if she's reading this, everybody has it - I carry mine on my gut and moobs), the excess will just melt away as it's used to fuel her activity.

If she's hardcore (in a manner of speaking), then it will all go very quickly. But then she runs the risk of actually enjoying it all, getting addicted to endorphins (oh, yeah) and leaving you in the house to slob. :D
 
Lately she's gotten quite bad, to the point where she's not eating and not keeping food down, so I am getting quite worried.

That comment alone tells me she doesn't need diet and exercise advice from an internet forum she needs help from a professional, try and get her to talk to someone.
 
If she's concerned about the belly, then the last thing she should be doing is sit-ups! :eek:

The best advice, instead of a stupid crash diet, is to go for something she can stick with for the rest of her life: i.e. a lifestyle choice. This will mean looking at:

- Low GI foods;
- Eating little but often (smaller meals with more healthy snacks);
- More fibre in the diet;
- As well as more fruit and veg;
- Cutting out the crud (soft drinks, crisps, chocolates, McDonald's, etc.);

that's just the diet. When it comes to the 'lifestyle', more activity should be worked into the daily routine:

- Go for a run/cycle/walk twice/three times a week. If you go with her and are supportive this will lead on to point 2...
- Assuming you're married (yes, I'm aware she's your G/F, but I don't advocate this outside of marriage... ;)), more horizontal jogging as this burns a bucketload of calories and is one of the better exercises for your heart (unless you do it up againsta wall, or on a pool table...);
- Assuming you're both working, go for a mobile lunch break: don't just sit at the desk... go for a stroll.

Depending on how seriously the above is taken, and depending on where your missus tends to carry her bodyfat (if she's reading this, everybody has it - I carry mine on my gut and moobs), the excess will just melt away as it's used to fuel her activity.

If she's hardcore (in a manner of speaking), then it will all go very quickly. But then she runs the risk of actually enjoying it all, getting addicted to endorphins (oh, yeah) and leaving you in the house to slob. :D

some good advice apart from the whole eat more often but smaller meals.

that makes zero difference and in fact people usually end up over eating.

some people only eat 2 meals a day, its a load of rubbish that you need to eat regularly.

also fruit is high in sugar, so best to stick to 1 piece a day and get the rest from veg.
 
First of all here some little tips.

1:Cutt out fast food(Macs,KFC,ect ect)
2:Junk food, is fine as long as it is in moderation.
3:Exercise,exercise,exercise, this is the most important thing.

Ok so firstly diets are pointless.

You dont diet, you control what food you have and the type of foods you eat.

By this i mean eating healthy in general, is that a diet?
If so im on a diet for life i guess:eek:

First step is eating healthy, plenty of advice everywhere but main point is this, COOK your own food, and make it yourself(not rushing out to buy "ready meals " is the quickest way to make you fat/overwieght)

Second step, exercise.

Jogging is good introduction but isnt going to actually burn the fat that is the problem or worry for her.

I suggest she does HIT, or high intensity training, by this you work at a high effort level for a short period of time ie 20 mins, rather than working at a moderate /low intensity for a long period ie 40-60 mins.

HIT burns fat FAST, a 20 min high intensity run is much better than a 60 min jog.

Running burns fat sure but isnt going to make her "lean" or turn fat into muscle as such, for this i suggest following.

Swimming, its a great all round body toner, every swimmer i know and while i was swimming county found out how quickly it tones you up.

Swimming HIT again works the same as the running, its better and requires less time while the results are better than 60 lengths of a pool.:)

i could go on for a while, sorry about that, but my point is this.

Dont think diets are the solution, they arent and this is why many people spend their life worried about eating this and that, then wondering why they not seeing any results.

Answer is they not exercising enough or properly.

hopefully this helps, i can give more advice if you need some, also can post some good websites for specific exercises that will help.
 
^you mean HIIT, not HIT. High Intensity Interval Training :)

OP, can you get her to keep a food diary? She needs to include everything in it, including all fluid intake. We can't really help much without at least that information because we don't know what habits we're contending with. For example, is she assuming cereal is a healthy breakfast, is she avoiding fats, etc.

As mentioned, she doesn't need to bother with situps for the reasons stated (there are others, but it's currently irrelevant). Unfortunately, running or jogging isn't really that great a way to lose fat. For some people with certain lifestyles/diets it can be, but if it isn't working already then, well, it isn't working :) The intensity is just too low and the temptation is to just plod along. Another problem might be that she sees exercise as an excuse to eat. Bottom line, while exercise can help weight loss it isn't essential, the most important thing to get right is her diet.
 
personally I find it easy sticking by allowing myself 2 days where I can eat what ever I want but during the week I strictly have NO pasta/rice/ bread/ sweats or treats and no crappy takeaways or beer... sat / sunday I can eat anything

lost (forget how much weight now) was a 52 waist now a 42 i think it was 30 or 40kg on a low card diet about 18months ago

works for me...

also naked pics please so we can better assess your GF's needs...
 
A lot of people find cheat days work, although you're generally only allowed one per week :p

Google "slow carbing" for an example of this approach (from a book called "4 hour Body" by Tim Ferris. It's a little controversial in places but the diet stuff is pretty solid).

There are lots of different ways to do it, the trick is find the one that suits the individuals needs.
 
Also I would add that she shouldn't stick to just one sort of excercise.

I find I lose weight better if I vary my workout: e.g run + weights + excercise classes... that way you do not plateau.

At the moment my diet isn't that great which is my reason for plateauing plus I am only running 10miles a week and doing one pole class, which is nothing really.

BB x
 
If she's concerned about the belly, then the last thing she should be doing is sit-ups! :eek:

The best advice, instead of a stupid crash diet, is to go for something she can stick with for the rest of her life: i.e. a lifestyle choice. This will mean looking at:

- Low GI foods;
- Eating little but often (smaller meals with more healthy snacks);
- More fibre in the diet;
- As well as more fruit and veg;
- Cutting out the crud (soft drinks, crisps, chocolates, McDonald's, etc.);

that's just the diet. When it comes to the 'lifestyle', more activity should be worked into the daily routine:

- Go for a run/cycle/walk twice/three times a week. If you go with her and are supportive this will lead on to point 2...
- Assuming you're married (yes, I'm aware she's your G/F, but I don't advocate this outside of marriage... ;)), more horizontal jogging as this burns a bucketload of calories and is one of the better exercises for your heart (unless you do it up againsta wall, or on a pool table...);
- Assuming you're both working, go for a mobile lunch break: don't just sit at the desk... go for a stroll.

Depending on how seriously the above is taken, and depending on where your missus tends to carry her bodyfat (if she's reading this, everybody has it - I carry mine on my gut and moobs), the excess will just melt away as it's used to fuel her activity.

If she's hardcore (in a manner of speaking), then it will all go very quickly. But then she runs the risk of actually enjoying it all, getting addicted to endorphins (oh, yeah) and leaving you in the house to slob. :D

The eating smaller meals isn't really applicable, however a very good post.

I'd say that lifestyle is diet and training. It's the whole package.

HIIT, a decent diet, and some weights and/or a variation of exercise will accelerate fat losses.

Plain and simple, carbs - get rid. Protein rich and fat rich diet is much more conducive to fat loss - some carbs are important I don't believe in cutting them out completely - just make sure you get the right ones! :)

Work out how much she's eating, and ensure she gets "active". Doing lots of sit ups is not going to help with fat loss, if anything it'll develop an instability in her body if she doesn't do any antagonist exercises to support a balanced core, and it won't flatten her stomach really - however with lower bf and a little muscle it'll give a good shape/tone to it.

Don't do "diets for a certain amount of time"... they are a way of life, diet is not just food, it's just a way of living. :) Either change it completely but gradually, otherwise you'll just fall back on yourself.

We are all predisposed to carry body fat on our bodies - some people carry it in different parts. Some of it is down to hormones, so if she's on the pill it could also affect her water retention. Insulin, cortisol and oestrogen are the biggest causes of water/fat retention - it's just the way our bodies are. Our bodies don't really like being uber lean, it's not a natural thing - so you have to condition your body to trick it into staying in that state. It takes years to get there, but short term (i.e. within a year) you can completely overhaul your body composition - however, aerobic exercise alone won't be enough IMO - weights add a whole dynamic to fat loss, body composition and behaviour.
 
some good advice apart from the whole eat more often but smaller meals.

that makes zero difference and in fact people usually end up over eating.

some people only eat 2 meals a day, its a load of rubbish that you need to eat regularly.

also fruit is high in sugar, so best to stick to 1 piece a day and get the rest from veg.

TBH I feel your looking at this slightly wrong, psychologically its easy to tell some one to eat 4 balanced meals a day (As she not into full time nutrition / weights / not knowledgeable in the field )

why ?

More likely to stick to it without snacking on rubbish food
Less likely to crash diet slowing her metabolism
Easy to fit the correct macros in over 4 meals
and the most important factor its the "little white lie" and keep her motivated
Motivation is the key , if you cant picture how your going to it the rest come with it.

Start off slow, sort out a basic diet by cutting junk (make it a treat once every few weeks) forget supplements and start with long walks (30-45mins) or a bike ride together - DO IT TOGETHER (you more likely to have successe by helping and supporting each other) if you can raising heart rate in bedroom will also help :)!
You can join a gym if you want but making if too complex with hard to follow HIIT and all the new exercise and odd diets your more likely to give up, just brake her in gently there some grate advice on this forums so listen

But start slow so every thing feel like a small success and in 6 months your be shock how easy it is.
 
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Thanks for all of your advice guys, I'll have a good read through it all and speak to her soon. If that doesn't do any good then I'll be sorting out some more professional help. Once again, thank you all :)
 
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