Time to get fit........

IceAx

IceAx

IceAx

Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2003
Posts
5,852
Location
Warrington
and lose some weight :D

So i decided last week that i was going to give it a REAL go this time.

Background - office job and new born baby = very little time to exercise and bad food habbits :(.

I want loose a couple of stone and some waist inches too.

So thursday i decided to start and heres my progress so far:

Thursday - 2.5 mile run (lots of walking)
Saturday - 2.5 mile ride (same route as above) then ran it too 2.5 miles
Sunday - 2.2 mile run and 5 mins on cross trainer then 10 mins weights
Monday - 2 mile run (24 mins) less walking, less breathlesness
Tuesday - 2 mile run (20 mins) ran for 19 mins walked for 1 was very happy.

Am keeping my calories low too:

Bannana for breakfast
Soup for lunch
Prawn salad / chicken stir-fry / beef stir fry.

Can any of you fitness guru's advise of any other tips or just to keep on with the same?

I'm surprised how my energy / fitness levels have come on in a week.

Cheers

Andy
 
Welcome to a new lifestyle if you keep it up.

Have a look at my progress thread and Gordys excellent body building thread if you haven't already as it may help you avoid some pitfalls and get a clearer understanding.

I would suggest keeping a calorie / diet log for a month or so to help you get a feel for different foods and how good or evil they are ;). Once you have the basic idea of what you can eat then you can drop this. I have found it very helpful. There are lots of places on the internet to give rough guides of calorie / carbs / fat / protein values for most foods.

Don't eat too little. Try to keep around 1500KCal -> 2000KCal per day for weight loss.

Do look at weight training to help keep your muscles or grow them if you want. You can increase strength without serious growth if you want.

Have rest days. The body needs rest to repair. Good sleep cannot be over emphasised.

Take photos as these are the best method of seeing change. I am doing once every 6 weeks at the moment. Take a starting pic to compare to. Post it up here and keep a log. As embarrassing as it may be, mine is worse ;).

The first month or so of the new lifestyle is likely to see the biggest change. Don't be upset if things slow down after that. The body adapts and you need to keep it on its toes, changing up the routines and keeping it guessing.

Most of all, work hard, keep it up and enjoy the new confidence and admiring looks you get. Remember it doen't happen over night and it takes time. Freefaller has been working for 3 years to get where he is. I imagine Morba, Dun, Toxic and Chong Warrior have also been working for many years to get where they are.

RB
 
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RimBlock said:
Welcome to a new lifestyle if you keep it up.

Have a look at my progress thread
Click to expand...

Cheers i've had a quick read
RimBlock said:
I would suggest keeping a calorie / diet log for a month or so to help you get a feel for different foods and how good or evil they are ;). Once you have the basic idea of what you can eat then you can drop this. I have found it very helpful. There are lots of places on the internet to give rough guides of calorie / carbs / fat / protein values for most foods.
Click to expand...

Am doing the log too.

Thanks for the post

Andy
 
Thursday - 2.5 mile run (lots of walking)
Saturday - 2.5 mile ride (same route as above) then ran it too 2.5 miles
Sunday - 2.2 mile run and 5 mins on cross trainer then 10 mins weights
Monday - 2 mile run (24 mins) less walking, less breathlesness
Tuesday - 2 mile run (20 mins) ran for 19 mins walked for 1 was very happy.
Wednesday - 2 mile run (22 mins) then 8 mins (2km) on xtrainer

Rest day tomorrow i think.

Andy
 
Bannana for breakfast
Soup for lunch
Prawn salad / chicken stir-fry / beef stir fry.
Click to expand...

Way too low for the amount of exercise you're doing as rimblock has said. Eat clean low GI carbs and plenty of protein and good fats.
 
Thanks guys. I am doing this purely for weight loss at the minute not bulking. Is this still too little food. If so can someone plan me just one day so i get an idea. Thanks Andy
 
IceAx said:
Thanks guys. I am doing this purely for weight loss at the minute not bulking. Is this still too little food. If so can someone plan me just one day so i get an idea. Thanks Andy
Click to expand...

Ok so you have a diet diary.

How many calories have you calculated you are eating from that diary for the suggested meal plan** ?.

Banana - large
105Kcal - 27g carb, 0g fat, 1g protein.
Soup (unknown type, example Heinz Cream of Chicken 415g tin)
207Kcal - 16g carb, 12g fat, 4.5g protein
Beef Stirfry (eg Lean cuisine)
200Kcal - 31g carb, 3g fat, 12g protein

Approx. Grand total
512Kcal - 74g carb, 15g fat, 17.5g protein

So your body requires 1500KCal (low metab due to long periods with no exercise) to just survive, not to do anything but just beat your heart, move your lungs, make your brain spark. You are then adding, for example, another 500KCal requirement but putting on extra exercise.

You are giving it 512Kcal per day. What happens when your body does not even get enough food to survive...... it panics.

It needs to beat your heart, it needs to move your lungs so it then finds energy sources within the body. Fat goes as does muscle. It then will start to cannibalise the internal organs. You will also be lacking in the required vitamins and minerals the body needs to continue functioning.

For most people trying to loose fat the main concern is to try and reduce fat whilst keeping muscle. The best way to do this is by keeping near your RMR (within 500KCal per day). Make sure the diet is high in protein to help protect and rebuild the muscles you are now putting the strain on. By keeping the calories low you will not be building too much new muscle but you will be making the muscle you have more efficient to enable it to cope with the extra stress.

Have a look here and try to concentrate in the green area for type of food to eat. They will release energy slowly and so feed the body at a more steady rate over the day. Keeping to the 1500KCal -> 2000KCal range will stop the body panicking. Bare in mind that you need to also look at the fat / carb / protein mix of these foods though. Just because they release energy slowly, does not mean they are super healthy. Eat regularly over 6 meals to keep the body fuelled and out of panic mode. This also will help raise your metabolism which will result in your body burning more calories just to maintain itself so faster weight loss.

A lot of people start the day with oats / porridge, maybe with your banana to sweeten it.
A snack around 10am (crackers with peanut butter / fruit / boiled eggs)
Lunch arount 12:00pm (salad with some meat or egg or tofu or protein rich beans or all of them)
An afternoon snack around 3-4pm - nuts and berries / fruit / veg / oatcakes.
Dinner around 7pm - Wholemeal bread tuna sandwiches with some salad
Per sleep snack around 10-11pm. Something high in protein to give your body the fuel it needs to repair muscle damage and protect against the muscles being broken down for food.

These are just examples and many more are available in the gymrats thread so you should be ok for variety if you search about a bit.

Some people, myself included, also use the protein shakes due to convenience to help boost their protein intake. If you choose to do that then look for a low calorie formula for weight loss as most are for weight gain so have a high calorie content. The one I use has 110KCals to 2g carbs and 23g protein.

It takes time to loose fat. Take your time and keep your photo diary so you can look back at the starting pic if you are feeling you are going nowhere. Take a picture every month or so but don't obsessively measure every week or you will most likely get dissappointed. I find this is one of the hardest things to do.

Cheers
RB

** all values estimates based on the readily available online calorie databases.
 
IceAx said:
Thursday - 2.5 mile run (lots of walking)
Saturday - 2.5 mile ride (same route as above) then ran it too 2.5 miles
Sunday - 2.2 mile run and 5 mins on cross trainer then 10 mins weights
Monday - 2 mile run (24 mins) less walking, less breathlesness
Tuesday - 2 mile run (20 mins) ran for 19 mins walked for 1 was very happy.
Wednesday - 2 mile run (22 mins) then 8 mins (2km) on xtrainer

Rest day tomorrow i think.

Andy
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Thats some good progress mate, I remember when I couldnt run 1km without stopping! Will very quickly ramp up. If you're time limited, once you get to running that 2-2.5m quickly (say under 16mins) then have a crack at some HIIT. That will strengthen your legs considerably, will hurt the next day, and slash fat to oblivion! :D (you can do HIIT at any level of fitness I think, as long as you can last around 15-20 mins and you're using a hefty amount of effort at each interval, but doing it straight away for me was demotivating as it killed me!)

How about signing up to a 5km race?

I did that, now I CANT skip a run, I do 2 short fast'ish runs in the week and a long one on sunday, because I'm trying to get as fast as I can for my 5km race in September which I hope to do in under 25mins. Its great to have a commitment and goal for those down days :)
 
Kappa - thanks for the reply / support. Ill google what HITT is now. My legs are the only place
where i have really good muscles from years of skating / cycling :)

Thanks again

Andy
 
Dogoid said:
you don't lose weight by eating less, you lose weight by eating the right food plus exercise,. your body still needs fuel.
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Of course you can lose weight by eating less!

It probably isn't the best idea to drop your calories too low, simply because you won't be taking in the correct amount of vitamins and nutrients, and you may end up feeling a bit faint, but cutting how much you eat is a perfectly acceptable way to lose weight. Of course exercise on top can only help!
 
Time yourself in the running, so that you can work out approximately your speed. Then what I would do personally is run a shorter distance, and run much quicker.

If your cardiovascular fitness is fairly good at the moment, you could do High intensity interval training.
 
anant_shah94 said:
Time yourself in the running, so that you can work out approximately your speed. Then what I would do personally is run a shorter distance, and run much quicker.

If your cardiovascular fitness is fairly good at the moment, you could do High intensity interval training.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i have been timing the runs on a tread mill - 6.2 ish is what i have been running at.

Im just looking now at HITT to see what it is :)

Cheers

Andy
 
jamief said:
Of course you can lose weight by eating less!

It probably isn't the best idea to drop your calories too low, simply because you won't be taking in the correct amount of vitamins and nutrients, and you may end up feeling a bit faint, but cutting how much you eat is a perfectly acceptable way to lose weight. Of course exercise on top can only help!
Click to expand...

what i should have said is , the proper way to lose weight isnt about reducing your intake of calories to a level that's way below your B.M.R.

continuing to do this makes your body go in 'starvation mode' and any further food will be converted to fat for your fat reserves.

im talking about a sub 1000 cal a day diet.


metabolism is like a coal fire, shovelling too much coal on the fire will put it out, and too less will also reduce the fires longevity and minimizing its heat potential.. but just the right amount will keep it burning for a optimum length of time.
 
anant_shah94 said:
But if you cut, around 500 calories a day, this isn't an absolutely excessive amount, and if you do exercise burning say around 500 calories 3x a week, that's 1.5 pounds of weight loss every week.
Click to expand...


no its not, your assuming when we burn cals we only burn fat, when we exercise we burn carb's/protein then fat.

not all calories burned is from fat.
 
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