Trying to lose weight

deise_boi

Hey all. I've been trying to lose some weight for a while now but there's a few obstacles stopping me. I'm 6ft 1" and Im slightly over 12 stone

- I can't afford to join any of the local gyms right now.

- I love to walk and I walk almost everywhere (at quite a pace aswell), I tried to take up running a while ago (About a 10 minute jog just to ease in) however, I can't motivate myself to keep doing it often enough. (One reason being that I my family have no belief that I can do it, and this annoys me as I'm not very self confident)

- My diet is the reason I'm not really losing much weight. I have a poor diet and I know it. I made out a chart to see my daily intake and it goes something like this (I'm on my school holidays now so it changes slightly)

Breakfast: Bowl of cereal (corn flakes or coco pops), Orange juice, slice of melon.
Lunch: Normally a roll/sandwich with ham and cheese.
Dinner: This differs daily (once a week is a take-away also) but it normally involves chicken about 3 times a week. I eat no vegetables (i know, i know) only potatos.
Snacks/Drinks: I love fruit, so I normally have a banana somewhere between lunch and dinner. I don't drink any soft drinks, I only drink milk when I'm at home. I could drink about 2 litres of milk a day. (cut it back from 3 and trying to like drinking water).

I know its not the best diet plan but I some things I need to cut out. I just really need some advice on how to start losing weight. I dont play sports outside of school - only during the school year. I know very little on what I should be cutting out (eg. Go for a low carb diet.. etc) that is like chinese writing to me. I've read some links on this site and I would really appreciate if someone here could point me in the right direction.
(apologise for the long-ish post)

yomchi

Hey all. I've been trying to lose some weight for a while now but there's a few obstacles stopping me. I'm 6ft 1" and Im slightly over 12 stone

Thats over weight??

unkel

You're on the lower end of the healthy range of the BMI index. Lose a bit more weight and you'll be dangerously skinny. Why do you think you need to lose weight?

rsta

You say you are 6ft1 and weigh 12stone, then your BMI is 22.2, this is normal. Healthy BMI ranges from 18 - 25.

I don't think you need to lose weight, maybe you should just concentrate on toning up if you are worried about your body. But your weight is fine for your height...

lee_baby_simms

2 litres of milk a day is a little excessive if you ask me.

Try diet coke instead.

Dragan

lee_baby_simms wrote:

2 litres of milk a day is a little excessive if you ask me.

Try diet coke instead.

Or maybe water?

g'em

It doesn't' sound like you need to lose weight, but with a diet like that I'm guessing your lean muscle mass sucks big stylee and your body fat could probably come downa % or 4.

Just because your BMI is fine doesn't mean you're healthy, and your diet could really do with a few changes. I guarantee that once you start fuelling your body right you'll see massive differences in your ability to run, your overall well-being and you'll see a difference in your body shape too.

deise_boi wrote:

Breakfast: Bowl of cereal (corn flakes or coco pops), Orange juice, slice of melon.

you're pretty much eating a bowl of sugar for brekkie. Try muesli (organic, no added sugar not country store). If the orange juice is freshly squeezed, fine. If not, there's no point in it. Why not have a whole orange and get the vit C and fibre in?

deise_boi wrote:

Lunch: Normally a roll/sandwich with ham and cheese.

Brown bread (whlegrain or with nuts and seeds if you can manage it), lean deli ham and salad. Most sliced hams are full of water, overprocessed, jammed with stabilisers and preservatives. Same goes for cheeses. Have one or the other, saturated fat overload otherwise. Go nuts with salad fillings (iceberg lettuce really deson't taste of anything) but lay off the dressings.

desie_boi wrote:

Dinner: This differs daily (once a week is a take-away also) but it normally involves chicken about 3 times a week. I eat no vegetables (i know, i know) only potatos.

If you have to have take-away opt for the slightly healthier alternatives. Anything deep-fried/ battered is obvisouly not a great choice!! For your won dinners why not try and add vegetables to sauces to make them easier to eat? You'll probably find that once you start eating them regulalry you'll quite enjoy them and there's nothing worng with adding a little bit of olive oil or walnut oil to make tehm taste good.

deise_boi wrote:

Snacks/Drinks: I love fruit, so I normally have a banana somewhere between lunch and dinner. I don't drink any soft drinks, I only drink milk when I'm at home. I could drink about 2 litres of milk a day. (cut it back from 3 and trying to like drinking water).

Again, go nuts with the fruit- apples, oranges, pears, kiwis, anything. They're a great source of energy, full of antioxidants and vitamins. And yep, water would be a better option!!!

Honestly, within days you'll see a difference. IT takes a bit of getting used to and your body may feel like it's 'detoxing' but its worth it. And there's loooads of info about eating right in teh stickies too so have a look.

justsomebloke

ye i agree with g'em also get into the habit of having at least 1-2 pieces of fruit between breakfast and lunch and again between lunch and dinner to help keep the metabloism going.

Also i would suggest that as well as running start trying to do some body weight exercise like pressups, sit ups, squats to start with and then you can add more and more. These will help to put a bit of muscle on you and are free to do so you don't have to spend money on them. However you are the one who has to motivate yourself and this is probably the most important thing that you are going to have to overcome cause if you don't do it for you and you let what people think get to you then the both the diet and the exercise will both fall apart repeatidly with no benefit to you in the long term

deise_boi

Cheers guys, some great tips there (especially from g'em). I may have made the post a little misleading, what I'm primarily trying to do is to turn all the excess fat into muscle. I figured that I would need to start with a good diet and also I was wondering what alternatives would be good besides a gym.

Also i would suggest that as well as running start trying to do some body weight exercise like pressups, sit ups, squats to start with and then you can add more and more. These will help to put a bit of muscle on you and are free to do so you don't have to spend money on them.

I'm going to start doing that right away. Is there any specific time I should be doing them (eg. before lunch, after dinner etc)?

madmurdock

First of all you can't turn fat into muscle,

Secondly it's not possible to tone muscle, you either build it or you don't

You're diet is definitely your downfall,

To start with 2 litres of full fat milk is way too much, it's full of fat and calories and is doing you no good, it should certainly not be substituted with diet coke, stick to water, aim to drink 2-4 litres of water a day,

Sugar cereals should be banned as well, go for some porridge or shredded wheat etc, cut out the white breads and pastas, cheese,

Try to eat alot of fish, chicken, turkey, brown rice, brown pasta, any veg,

Spread your eating over 6 small meals a day,

Lust4Life

More vegetables. It is really the key to weight loss!
And do it slowly so you get used to eating healthy and continue to do so for life!

L4L

DOLEMAN

deise_boi wrote:

- I can't afford to join any of the local gyms right now.

I disagree with most of the posters here. They make it sound like your diet is terrible. It isn't.

Your problem is you are full of excuses. You need to get off your ass and get down to a gym. Replace the two litres of milk with water, use the milk money to pay for your gym. Problem solved.

Stop making excuses and start working out.

IrishAirCorps

Im in training 6 days a week and i am losing weight but i eat as normal as anybody else, im also taking supplements such as CLA.

I use CLA to:

Break down saturated fat
Help lower bad cholesterol
Support sustained weight loss
Reduce accumulated fat storage
Natural source of essential Omega 6 fatty acid
Powerful anti-catabolic formula – lose fat, not muscle
Anti-oxidant (Contains Vitamin E) & immune system support

Typically Used By:

Anyone wanting to lose body fat
Anyone wanting a leaner, healthier body
Anyone following a low calorie diet aimed at weight loss
Anyone wanting to improve muscle definition by losing body fat
Anyone following a calorie controlled diet, wanting to maintain lean muscle
Power and endurance athletes wishing to improve sport performance by losing fat
Bodybuilders, weight-lifters and other strength athletes wanting to get lean whilst maintaining muscle

Ingredients per 1000mg softgel:

Conjugated Linoleic Acid - 810mg
D-alpha tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E acetate) 250ppm - 190mg
Full ingredient list: Concentrated conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), gelatin, glycerol, purified water, anti-oxidant: natural tocopherols (E306)

Transform

IrishAirCorps wrote:

Im in training 6 days a week and i am losing weight but i eat as normal as anybody else, im also taking supplements such as CLA.

I use CLA to:

Break down saturated fat
Help lower bad cholesterol
Support sustained weight loss
Reduce accumulated fat storage
Natural source of essential Omega 6 fatty acid
Powerful anti-catabolic formula – lose fat, not muscle
Anti-oxidant (Contains Vitamin E) & immune system support

Typically Used By:

Anyone wanting to lose body fat
Anyone wanting a leaner, healthier body
Anyone following a low calorie diet aimed at weight loss
Anyone wanting to improve muscle definition by losing body fat
Anyone following a calorie controlled diet, wanting to maintain lean muscle
Power and endurance athletes wishing to improve sport performance by losing fat
Bodybuilders, weight-lifters and other strength athletes wanting to get lean whilst maintaining muscle

Ingredients per 1000mg softgel:

Conjugated Linoleic Acid - 810mg
D-alpha tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E acetate) 250ppm - 190mg
Full ingredient list: Concentrated conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), gelatin, glycerol, purified water, anti-oxidant: natural tocopherols (E306)

Yes and free to all when you use real butter so save yourself the money

Doleman careful or you will start sounding like me soon!!!

Also realise that it takes years to get into great shape and all those that post regularly here are testament to that i.e. week in week out doing the right things (well some more than others)

Oflynna

I tried to take up running a while ago (About a 10 minute jog just to ease in) however, I can't motivate myself to keep doing it often enough. (One reason being that I my family have no belief that I can do it, and this annoys me as I'm not very self confident)

well, i guess you'll have to motivate yourself a little more because working out is really the only alternative to starving yourself to death.

and any weight you lose by changing your diet temporarily will be on your hips (or elsewhere) in no time.

i know that it is hard to get into running if you've never done it but it can be done and eventually you'll like it and it might only take a couple of weeks.

first thing: get yourself a pair of running shoes - no old tennis sneakers, real running shoes.

go regularly even if you don't feel like it, either mornings or evenings.

don't stop after ten minutes, walk for a while if you have to but keep on going. even after six years of running i still find the first ten or fifteen minutes the hardest. start very slow. you'll feel like a fool being overtaken by mums with prams but don't worry.

you will feel so much better afterwards, and it works, it really does.