New Start - Exercise/Diet

buckeejit

buckeejit

buckeejit

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Joined
14 Aug 2004
Posts
2,992
Hi all

I've went through a few things this year and I've decided I need a new start. First thing on the agenda is my diet...

Age - 22
Height - 6ft
Weight - 224lbs
Exercise - Barely any

I probably eat about 2800 calories a day and my downfall is fizzy drinks and chocolate/sweets. The only drink I drink in work is water but when I get home, I drink coke because it's there :( and I have a major sweet tooth.

I don't look big but I carry a lot of weight in my chest so that's what makes me look big if that makes sense?

Just wondering if someone can give me some tips/advise for where to start? I have no access to a gym but plan on going running/jogging. I started jogging about 4 months ago and lasted a week because it wrecked me. Suppose if I was to keep running, my overall fitness would improve.
 
Have you got fitted running shoes? That would be your first port of call.
As for times etc I'm sure there's a few more educated than me in the area but I'd say go for 30-40 min runs (If you cant run just walk/jog/run etc).
As for drinking too many fizzy drinks, try to cut down and switch them to diet varients when you do.
 
if you drink the coke because its there, maybe you should ask whoever does the shopping not to buy it. then its not there.

i have the same problem with my mother and her foundness for buying choclates and biscuits and other things, even if i do tell her not to.
 
GAC said:
if you drink the coke because its there, maybe you should ask whoever does the shopping not to buy it. then its not there.

i have the same problem with my mother and her foundness for buying choclates and biscuits and other things, even if i do tell her not to.
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I dont really think thats fair to live in someone elses house and tell them what to buy, my parents buy lots of good food but theres also biscuits and cake and stuff that my brothers like and I'm not going to stop them eating it. Just use a bit of willpower.
 
my father is diabetic type 2 so shouldnt be eating half the stuff that turns up here, and my mother needs to tidy up her diet as well, so to be honest its probably better all around.

i do agree with willpower though, but after slogging your guts out at work all day its not that easy :D
 
The Craig said:
Have you got fitted running shoes? That would be your first port of call.
As for times etc I'm sure there's a few more educated than me in the area but I'd say go for 30-40 min runs (If you cant run just walk/jog/run etc).
As for drinking too many fizzy drinks, try to cut down and switch them to diet varients when you do.
Click to expand...

yeah, got a pair of fitted running shoes a few months back.
 
The most important thing you can do with your diet is make sure that you are burning more calories than you take in. The second thing that would benefit you is to break your food for the day into six equal meals and space these 2 to 3 hours apart. This helps to make sure that your body is fed and also means that you won't be hungry all the time.

It's a shame that you can't get to the gym because putting on some mass would really aid fat loss as you would use more energy in a sedentry state thus upping your metabolism. If this is a route that you would be interested in, you could always get hold of a chinup bar and then do some body weight exercises and weighted chins/ pushups etc. (whack some bricks in a backpack).

I'm sorry to say I can't really help you on the running front. I don't do much of it myself.
 
buckeejit said:
Hi all

I've went through a few things this year and I've decided I need a new start. First thing on the agenda is my diet...

Age - 22
Height - 6ft
Weight - 224lbs
Exercise - Barely any
Click to expand...

Not that far off me, well except for the 80% higher weight :p

Definitely get rid of the fizzy drinks, stick to water (goes through the digestive system faster).

Are you not able to do any heavy lifting in your free time, something along the lines of Jonny L's suggestion?
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of trying to start keeping fit :D.

Have a look at the stickies, Platypus has a great guide up for running and GordyR has likewise for weight training and diet. Try to read at least the first couple of pages of Gordys sticky as there is lots of good food advice. Have a browse through my 'getting fit' thread as lots of people have given some good advice there.

Ok, as far as the gym goes, are you very adverse to exercising with weights as well as running ?. Do you have room at home if you had the equipment ?. Is equipment cost an issue at the moment ?. You can do a lot of exercises at home if you put your mind to it. Pushups, situps / crunches, dips, tricep dips, squats and with a cheap pullup bar the pullups, chinups and even reverse rows are all available. Have a look at exrx.nets exercise directory for ideas of the different exercises and the form you should use.

If that sort of training really is not what you are willing to do then you can stick to running although you will be cutting out a large set of training that will speed up your fat loss and at least help you build up some strength without needing to build size.

As suggested, try doing a 30 minute route alternating between running and jogging. Stick to it for a week and then try and increase the run sections and reduce the jog sections a bit. Sticking to it you should see big changes in the first month as long as you can put your pride to one side and start slow however embarrassing it feels. After the first month the gains will slow but you will have a stronger base and so can work off that.

For the coke etc, take a photo at your worst, shirt off and put it somewhere (inside the wardrobe door for example). As well as being a starting photo for a log of progress, look at it whenever you feel the need for a coke or anything else not so healthy, Taking the pause and doing that is sometimes enough to stop people doing it. As you see more improvements it will be easier to resist when you see where you could fall back too. My starting photos are all in my head and are also in my thread here. Being able to remember my start point and now being able to think that the cheesecake I could get is another 20 minutes on the cross trainer is enough to stop me. The pictures do not have to be on display. Maybe in your wallet may be another place.

Keep a calorie log for the first month at the minimum. Record what you are eating and look up the values at one or more of the diet databases on the internet. This will help you get a feel for what you are eating and how it affects your diet. It should also help you to get used to looking at the labels on food in the supermarket.

Any questions or specifics onthe above and just ask. Friendly crowd in sports arena and lots of us at the beginning of the fitness journey ;).

RB
 
RimBlock said:
Welcome to the wonderful world of trying to start keeping fit :D.

Have a look at the stickies, Platypus has a great guide up for running and GordyR has likewise for weight training and diet. Try to read at least the first couple of pages of Gordys sticky as there is lots of good food advice. Have a browse through my 'getting fit' thread as lots of people have given some good advice there.

Ok, as far as the gym goes, are you very adverse to exercising with weights as well as running ?. Do you have room at home if you had the equipment ?. Is equipment cost an issue at the moment ?. You can do a lot of exercises at home if you put your mind to it. Pushups, situps / crunches, dips, tricep dips, squats and with a cheap pullup bar the pullups, chinups and even reverse rows are all available. Have a look at exrx.nets exercise directory for ideas of the different exercises and the form you should use.

If that sort of training really is not what you are willing to do then you can stick to running although you will be cutting out a large set of training that will speed up your fat loss and at least help you build up some strength without needing to build size.

As suggested, try doing a 30 minute route alternating between running and jogging. Stick to it for a week and then try and increase the run sections and reduce the jog sections a bit. Sticking to it you should see big changes in the first month as long as you can put your pride to one side and start slow however embarrassing it feels. After the first month the gains will slow but you will have a stronger base and so can work off that.

For the coke etc, take a photo at your worst, shirt off and put it somewhere (inside the wardrobe door for example). As well as being a starting photo for a log of progress, look at it whenever you feel the need for a coke or anything else not so healthy, Taking the pause and doing that is sometimes enough to stop people doing it. As you see more improvements it will be easier to resist when you see where you could fall back too. My starting photos are all in my head and are also in my thread here. Being able to remember my start point and now being able to think that the cheesecake I could get is another 20 minutes on the cross trainer is enough to stop me. The pictures do not have to be on display. Maybe in your wallet may be another place.

Keep a calorie log for the first month at the minimum. Record what you are eating and look up the values at one or more of the diet databases on the internet. This will help you get a feel for what you are eating and how it affects your diet. It should also help you to get used to looking at the labels on food in the supermarket.

Any questions or specifics onthe above and just ask. Friendly crowd in sports arena and lots of us at the beginning of the fitness journey ;).

RB
Click to expand...

Good advice mate. thanks :)
 
Good luck on the diet and exercise.

The most important thing is that you must want it.
I used to work in a crisp factory and I love crisps. It was my downfall.
I have never been thin but in two years there and 12 hour shifts I got really unfit and more overweight.
They made me redundant last October and after shock at losing my job and 6 months unemployment/vegitation I decided I wanted to lose some weight and more importantly get fitter.

I never went to the gym or counted calories, just made sure I done more and eat better.
I tried jogging but I was too far out of condition for that so I started power walking. I also set my self a daily target of pressups and sit ups.
I kept an excel spreadsheet of what I had done and my goal was to do more than the week before.

After 4 weeks I was jogging and power walking for an hour a day and I must admit to feeling a lot better. I kept to eating healthy and exercising more.

To date I have lost 20lb and now I am back to work I get my exercise there.:D
I keep an eye on my weight and will get motivated in the new year to lose more.

Good luck and keep up the motivation
 
buckeejit said:
Hi all
I probably eat about 2800 calories a day and my downfall is fizzy drinks and chocolate/sweets. The only drink I drink in work is water but when I get home, I drink coke because it's there :( and I have a major sweet tooth.
Click to expand...

For drink your sweet tooth may be able to be filled by juice, such as Robinsons low sugar, though obviously water is advised you can drink those types of juice too if you find it difficult, just avoid fizzy drinks like the plague.

I've been on my diet for a good few months now, I have juice to drink a few times a day or sometimes not at all, depending if I have the sweet tooth that day or not. But don't think that you just have to drink water, you can give it flavour, just no carbonated drinks ;) Also fruits could be of benefit, if you like apples or something, 1 of them as a snack may be able to help you if you crave something sweet.


When I started running, I used a gravity strider, and I still do to break up my runs, I was quite big and unfit, so I couldn't really run far, and when I did it completely killed my knee's and ankles and prevented myself from running for a day or so, using a strider took the pressure off my joints until my body weight dropped a bit, or you could also invest in a stepper machine for your cardio. Gravity strider I have is from Argos, about £90, well worth it, it's been the start point to my getting fit, and it's still used if I need a day to let my joints rest, another is a stepper machine which you could probably pick up for around £40-50.

The trick with these machines, is to do a test run, run for a set period of time, say 20 minutes. You'll have for example 1500 steps in that test run for 20 minutes, next day or 2 days later, 20 minutes again, now your goal is to get more, like 1550 - 1600 steps in 20 minutes. Before you know it you'll have pushed yourself to 2000+ steps in the same 20 minutes.
Then you start going for set steps/distance, so you do say 3000 steps, see how long it takes, now your goal is to do your 3000 steps faster than your previous time, then faster and faster and faster, and then you get to where I am now.

I started tracking at 4.5km in 30 minutes on my strider, now I'm at 5km in 24minutes 20seconds, giving yourself a goal really helps you push yourself each day.


Good luck with the diet!
 
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