Losing weight.

DEL 707

DEL 707

DEL 707

Soldato
Joined
20 Mar 2004
Posts
4,575
Could do with some advice on my exercise regime.
I'm 5'10" and weight 14st 5lbs, I've been working on losing weight for about the last 8 months, I used to be over 16st. Unfortunately I was ill for a good 6 weeks and I was unable to exercise, but I'm starting to get back into the routune of things.

At the moment, I'm running twice a week, doing 2 miles each time, was 3 but I'm working back up to it. I'm can't continuously run, I do 5 min running with 1 minute walking, rinse and repeat.

I also go to the gym twice a week, I can't tell you the names of the exercises I do, so I just give the name of the machines, their technogym. :p
  • Rowing Machine - 5min grade 6
  • Cross trainer - 5min grade 1, they I do 30 seconds grade 4, then 30 seconds grade 1, I repeat this for 10 minutes, then finish with 5 min grade 2.
  • Chest Press 20kg 10x3
  • Shoulder press 10kg 10x3
  • Leg Press 40kg 10x3
  • Lat Machine 30kg 10x3
  • Leg Extension 25kg 10x3
  • Leg Curl 25kg 10x3
  • Arm Extension 20kg 10x3
  • Arm Curl 15kg 10x3
  • Abductor 30kg 10x3
  • Adductor 30kg 10x3
  • Pectoral Machine 20kg 10x3
  • Glutes 25kg 10x3
  • Lower Back 20kg 10x3
I then head to a mat and do a plank for 1 minute, followed by doing 20 russian twist with a weight, twice.
To finish off I do 5 minutes on an exercise bike at grade 3.

I could use some help with direction, how can I improve to aid weight loss? Especially with helping toning my chunky theighs.
 
Stronglifts. :)

And if you are absolutely DESPERATE to do cardio, find a cycling machine and use a tabata timer on your phone. ;

And if you are going to be serious about this, never, ever use the word "tone" again in this context. :D
 
Turning to free weights can seem like a big step towards those muscly freaks and it's much safer to hide in the machines. But free weights are far superior given their natural range of motion across a much wider set of muscles.

Cardio wise, what stops you running more than 2 miles? How long have you been stuck there?
 
As you've made a log, you'll soon be placed on the mrthingx's introductory program of free weights which consists of DBSS, DBSS and more DBSS :D

If you want to lose weight, track everything you eat. Find your TDEE which is the weight at which you won't be gaining or losing weight then eat 500 cals below that.

Get in the free weight area, there's loads of beginner programs available e.g. stronglifts.

For running, I found the couch to 5k program really good for increasing my stamina. Give it a try :)
 
Psymonkee said:
Not that I can be all high and mighty about it but you said nothing about your food intake?

Are you tracking it at all? :)
Click to expand...

Err I rather not. :eek:
In the morning, I have 3 Weatabix with artifical sweetener, in milk, on weekends, that's normally replaced by a egg and bacon sandwich.
Lunch is normally a soup, ranging from Heinz to Tesco Finest depening on my mood.
Dinner is pure guilt, lasagna with chips, that sort of thing.

GSVBagpuss said:
Turning to free weights can seem like a big step towards those muscly freaks and it's much safer to hide in the machines. But free weights are far superior given their natural range of motion across a much wider set of muscles.

Cardio wise, what stops you running more than 2 miles? How long have you been stuck there?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't know what the hell to do with free weights to be honest.
Only doing 2 miles at the moment because of the break from illness, I find running pretty hard, but going to have a go at getting back up to 3 miles on Wednesday morning.

Have a question, when it comes to the weight machines, with my goal of losing weight rather then bulking it, is it better to add more weight or do more reps? Also should I do the reps fast or slow? I tend to do it slow and follow the gauge on the machine, but I've seen some people go like bats out of hell.
Also what would be the best way of targetting my theighs, even though I've dropped 4 inches of my waist, I still struggle in new trousers because of my thunder theighs.
 
You can't target specific fat areas. Plus big leg = more awesome.

Take mrthingys advice, get off the machines get on to proper weights. No one knew how to do them when they started. It's all about education.
 
Begbie said:
You can't target specific fat areas. Plus big leg = more awesome.

Take mrthingys advice, get off the machines get on to proper weights. No one knew how to do them when they started. It's all about education.
Click to expand...

This.

Machines are "ok" in the sense that your diet is ok: it keeps you alive but won't be particularly helpful to your end goals if you continue.

Track your diet using MyFitnessPal and manage according to GSVBagpuss' suggestion. The saying "you can't out-train a bad diet" exists for this reason.

If you absolutely CANNOT use free weights for some reason, then as Begbie says, learn to love your legs. Why? Because they are the biggest muscles in your body and will burn the most calories for you. So every day should be leg press and rack pull day. :)

And besides, unless you have trained before, you don't have big thighs. Believe me.

The irony of your situation is that by squatting and deadlifting, you will actually become healthier and your joints free up and get stronger relative to each other... You will also lose weight LICH faster because you are doing more work: machines actively work in the opposite direction and build up the potential for injury

But there we go: you have the information and if you won't use free weights then I'll not mention them again. Good luck with it! :)
 
Begbie said:
You can't target specific fat areas. Plus big leg = more awesome.

Take mrthingys advice, get off the machines get on to proper weights. No one knew how to do them when they started. It's all about education.
Click to expand...

They are so much fun as well. I always find it unreal how quick an hour passes by and I want to do even more.
 
DEL 707 said:
Err I rather not. :eek:
In the morning, I have 3 Weatabix with artifical sweetener, in milk, on weekends, that's normally replaced by a egg and bacon sandwich.
Lunch is normally a soup, ranging from Heinz to Tesco Finest depening on my mood.
Dinner is pure guilt, lasagna with chips, that sort of thing.



Wouldn't know what the hell to do with free weights to be honest.
Only doing 2 miles at the moment because of the break from illness, I find running pretty hard, but going to have a go at getting back up to 3 miles on Wednesday morning.

Have a question, when it comes to the weight machines, with my goal of losing weight rather then bulking it, is it better to add more weight or do more reps? Also should I do the reps fast or slow? I tend to do it slow and follow the gauge on the machine, but I've seen some people go like bats out of hell.
Also what would be the best way of targetting my theighs, even though I've dropped 4 inches of my waist, I still struggle in new trousers because of my thunder theighs.
Click to expand...

the starting point of all weight loss is the food.

Yes by all means you can indeed loose it by hitting the gym a lot... but if you start at the basics you will ree the weight fall off.

its why programs like Slimming world work wonders if used correctly.

i lost 2 stone in 10 weeks... and all i did was alter what i ate... no gym nonsense :P
 
Do you drink alcohol? If so then cut down to stop and watch pounds fall off.

Then teach yourself how to lift and train with free weights as prescribed above. There are plenty of guides on here and YouTube etc. Compound lifts a la Stronglifts is a good place to start.

If you've been inactive for a while, ramp things up gently to begin with or over enthusiasm will either injure you or burn you out before you've made progress.

Good luck and remember consistency over the long term is the key- not just one great workout months ago followed by a lay off!
 
I was cynical about the whole Stronglifts thing but I've actually found the whole programme really productive. Whereas I used to **** about doing various exercises (some on machines, some on free weights), Stronglifts only involves big compound exercises and activates all your major muscle groups.

Diet was an issue for me too - I downloaded the Nutracheck App and when I started logging what I eat it horrified me, I was consuming thousands more calories than I realised. I'm now pretty disciplined at logging my foods.

You can't cancel out your bad diet with exercise and hours of cardio, it just does not work. But equally if you want to progress (ie lift more and more weight) via Stronglifts you can't do that without calories, so it can feel a bit Catch 22 at times.
You can build muscle and lose weight at the same time though - I'm currently on a calorie plan of approximately 1800 a day which is low for a bloke, but a lot of that is fruit, veg and high protein foods like eggs and fish. I'm finding it harder to progress than before I watched my calories, but I'm still progressing and lifting heavier every session - so you CAN get stronger/put on muscle and lose weight at the same time because I've lost a good few kg over the last month and got stronger in the process.

EDIT
I have to say, and I'm loathe to admit it, squats have been the "transforming" exercise for me. It does so much more than make your legs bigger, it gets the whole body working.
 
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