Need to shed 4 stone, help and advice needed

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Soldato
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Hi all,

I am a billy bloater. Since 2012 I have put on a stone a year and am currently 16st5lbs and I am only 5'6" tall so clinically obese.

I have limited time as I have to commute 1hr a day to and from work and I get up at around 6am to tend to my 6 month baby and leave the door by 7am to get to work at 8am, finish work at 4:30pm so usually home by 5:30pm. I do the morning (6am) and evening (7pm) feeds and my partner stays at home during the day and she usually needs a break from baby as soon as I walk in the door.

So my windows of opportunity are limited to getting up even earlier (not so bad now the light will be early in the morning) and working out after baby has gone to bed.

I have a garage with a simple bench set up, a longish curl bar, 2 sets of dumbells, skipping rope and various but not too heavy weights for the dumbells/bars

I am very unfit at the moment as I used to cycle to work (3 miles e/w) before I moved home but now I live 20 miles away I haven't done anything apart from the odd Saturday morning ride (about 6 miles)

I need a workout plan that will be quick (about 20-30 mins max) and get results. I know diet is the other main factor which at moment is also very poor so need to work on that too.

So has anyone got some workout ideas or plans they can share so I can give them a try?

Most help appreciated
 
Look at your diet first for pure weight loss that's the most important part, a decent diet will also help with your get up and go to squeeze workouts into limited time.
 
Diet is everything.
Get yourself a copy of 'That sugar film'. It is about an Aussie bloke and sugar. It is an interesting documentary and is extremely enlightening.

You will lose quite a lot of weight by tweaking your diet.
The ultimate worst are sugary drinks.
 
It's as simple as calories in verse calories out. Anything else is marketing.

So reduce your calories in (eat less) and/or increase your calories out (work out).

In terms of your basic work out set up. If your wanting to lose calories focus on compound movements. Squats & dead lifts etc. Also anything that includes leg muscles will be good as legs take more calories to power than other limbs.

Replace drinks with water (or cordial). There are so many calories in typical drinks it's actually quite insane.

Cycling is great for shedding calories. You don't get clock watching syndrome like you do on a treadmill so you can easily do a good half hour session with thinking about.

You could actually do your whole commute on the cycle. I am doing about 4 miles in the morning (+16 miles on the train) and the 18 miles on the cycle back.
 
As the others have said, get the diet sorted first. I'd suggest ignoring the weights for now too. Cycling, fast walking/jogging/sprints, burpees, swimming etc are much better for shedding pounds. 20-30 mins of lifting with your goal is verging on pointless imho. 20-30 mins of burpees (and other body weight stuff) every day, on the other hand, would have a marked impact much faster. It will be horrible at first, but you'll quickly see gains as your body gets used to it and the weight starts to shift.

But keep the weights tho - get shredded later:)
 
I don't tend to drink sugary drinks that often, always water with meals. My main downfall is breakfast and lunches. The hot breakfasts at work are so cheap I always tend to go for that then a cereal or porridge. I just can't deal with porridge. Lunches are usually a baguette or wrap but always have crisps and chocs for snacks too. Dinners are usually good with salmon n vegetables or chicken n vegetables. Weekends can sometimes be bad too with a pizza and beer.

Definitely need to work on breakfast and lunch though. Any food ideas would be good too, that don't cost the earth or need loads of ingredients.
 
cut out sugar. :)
drink a lot of water!

I joined slimming world, it really opens your eyes to cooking properly and watching what you eat. It works, cus its a lifestyle change not a fad diet.
 
In 2013 I lost 25kg (121-96kg) in a few months. It was a lot of exercise, serious portion control and I wasn't really eating out. That was not fun and the weight crept back on and then recently I went up to 110kg after a 6 month layoff.


My advice to you is simple:

Ignore the haters, fitness/lifestyle junkies and be realistic. You're only human.

Could you switch your favourite beverages or cut out boozing? Maybe there's a healthier version of the meals you're eating (maybe Special K isn't so special?)?

Be realistic and do what you can without making yourself unhappy OP.

Best of luck :)
 
I normally advocate exercise over diet because dieting is boring and exercise is fun. I lost 25kg in 18 months from exercise but actually eating more calories than I did before (I lost about 20kg in 10 months).

However, that only holds for people who's diet was near normal to begin with and have the time to train.
If you have limited time and a bad diet then cutting calories will help tremendously.

For exercise then just try and get on your bike when you can, or take your baby on some short walks around the neighborhood etc. Try to walk to places as much as possible, e.g. walk to the toilet at far end of office instead of the closest, better still take a flight or 2 of stairs to get to further WC. Park the far end of car park

Also, if you take public transport to work then see if you get out a few stops earlier and walk the rest etc. I've also hear people with long commutes take a bike on their car and then park X miles away from the office and cycle the rest.
 
Good clean diet where possible
20 min HIIT workout - 4 times a week

Check out "thebodycoach" on youtube - some easy home workouts you can do with no need for any equipment.

Eat well.

Also keep a diary of your food/drink for 2 weeks or so and post back here.
 
booyaka said:
Good clean diet where possible
20 min HIIT workout - 4 times a week

Check out "thebodycoach" on youtube - some easy home workouts you can do with no need for any equipment.

Eat well.

Also keep a diary of your food/drink for 2 weeks or so and post back here.
Click to expand...

I'm on MyFitnessPal which will help me diairise my intakes.

Thanks for all the advice currently given. Need to change my mindset as well as diet. I will do this.
 
The bodycoach's recipes are usually a lot higher calorie than you might expect. It doesn't matter how healthy they are, if they're high calorie then they're not particularly helpful for dieting unless you're working your other meals around them in the caloric sense or you're able to diet on fairly high calories if you're big and active.

1) Calorie deficit - this is hard to do without tracking your intake to some degree as otherwise you're shooting in the dark - MFP will help greatly although user-inputted entries can vary in accuracy.
2) Eat things you enjoy or tolerate to maintain dietary adherence, while looking to include foods that are high volume/low calorie where possible to help feel full. Little substitutions can go a long way, e.g. choosing lower calorie/smaller pizzas at the weekend (they do exist!), either replacing the snacks with lower cal alternatives or getting a higher % of your cals from protein to increase satiety and remove the urge to snack (although eating out of boredom can be a mindset thing rather than hunger).
3) Be mindful of avoiding being sedentary. Exercise is good but only makes up a small % of your total daily energy expenditure (unless you're a full time athlete), things like how much you sit v.s. stand during the day, lift v.s. stairs etc make a massive difference. Higher energy expenditure = don't have to drop calories as low to lose weight which is obviously a bonus.
4) Aim to lose between 0.5-1% of your total bodyweight a week on average (I weigh daily first thing after using the loo and get a weekly average) - this is a 'safe' rate of loss. You might lose a bit faster initially but this will just be water.
5) Patience. Most people yo-yo with their weight because they crash/fad diet which is never sustainable over the long-term. The key to sustainable loss is making it a lifestyle thing and remembering that to be a fit 12 stone guy at 5ft 6 you have to eat and move/exercise like a 12 stone guy at 5ft 6.
 
I bought that Lean in 15 book and another recipe book which has ingredients as long as your arm to cook with.

I took someone's advice from earlier about parking furthest away from door in office car park. I will go for a good walk at lunchtime too. Anything to burn extra calories from my office job.
 
As others have said, Diet is key, download myfitnesspal to your phone (assuming you have a smart phone) and log the foods you eat, aim for about 2000 calories a day.

As for exercise, look up a good hiit program, its short sharp bursts of pretty tough exercise with small breaks to catch your breath, a good program will be over in 15 - 20 minutes and believe me, you'll be drenched in sweat!
 
Already got the MFP app but for some reason not working to login today. I've added stuff in via web today so far.

I did use a dvd i downloaded called 30 day shred which is pretty relentless but have no room in lounge to do most of their moves.
 
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