Diet + exercise routine problems ?

monosharp

16.5 stone, male, 25, 5'11.

Breakfast - Usually none. Sometimes mandarine orange. Cup of tea, usually no sugar, sometimes 1 teaspoon.

Lunch - Usually sandwich. Brown bread, butter, coleslaw, chicken tikka, sweetcorn. Bottle of water. Sometimes no sandwich and sometimes tea instead of water.

Dinner - 1 breast chicken (or 1/4 pound diced beef), 1 large onion, 5-6 mushrooms, Curry sauce (or sweet & sour), 1/4 tin sweetcorn, 1/4 tin peas. No chips or rice or bread.

Apart from maybe 2 more cups tea/coffee (with or without sugar) thats all i have all day, i don't eat snacks/sweets etc mainly because i don't like them, believe it or not :P

Well can i ask whats wrong with the above in the scenario of weight loss ? I know not eating breakfast isn't exactly healthy and i intend to start eating musali/cereal of some description.

Also i do one of the following every night (might miss one night a week but thats it). 4KM run (takes me 25 mins) OR 25 mins on those eliptical thingy machines + A handful of pushups and situps. Should i be doing more ? Or different stuff ?

I don't know if it matters but my aim is entirely fitness and as a consequence weight loss, running fitness would probably be the most important aim for me by a long long long shot.

I also intend to get some pro advice soon as i really need to get into gear but i do want to have some level of work done before approaching these guys.

p.s > I posted a similiar thread about a week ago with less info but it seems to have disappeared, why ?

Thanks.

Keyzer

Get the latest copy of Mens Health, there are examples of what you should be eating in it. Its the one with the cover guy as the competition winner, Mike Hawkford or something is his name.

Basically, you should be eating 6 meals a day.
Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack...

Breakfast = 3 Weetabix plus fruit
Snack = Smoothie/Protein Shake/Protein Bar/Handful of nuts
Lunch = Chicken/Turkey/Tuna sambo on wholegrain brownbread
Snack = Smoothie/Protein Shake/Protein Bar/Handful of nuts
Dinner = Chicken with fajita seasoning, brown rice...
Snack = Smoothie/Protein Shake/Protein Bar/Handful of nuts

All of these should be spaced no more than 3 hours apart...

You need to find a balance of protein/carb/fat (good fat) in the 40:40:20 ratio.

You also need to plan your meals in accordance to your workout....

If you just want to lose weight then its simple... You keep yourself stoked on small meals, keep you calories below you daily allowance and do aerobic excercise 3-5 times a week.

Remember, muscle burns calories just to exist so a bit of weight training to increase your muscle mass will also help you burn calories....

Drink lots of water, cook with olive oil, cut out mayo plus crisps and other ****e....
Treat yourself once a week to a pizza or something you really love...
Stay disciplined, you wont see the effects straight away...

Check out www.johnstonefitness.com - I dont recommend taking as drastic an approach as this guy but you can see what he did in three months....

justsomebloke

Ok first off you are eating to little. your body is probably goig into starvation mode and trying to keep as much fat as possible, that and as you don't eat that often your metabolism as result is probably quite low.

As keyser said if you can aim for 5-6 meals a day. Best bet is to read the stickies and workout roughly what you daily calorific needs are and then see how this fits in with your diet. If you open a fitday.com account and put in your daily diet you will see roughly the break down of your diet and what portion of it is made up by protein, fats and carbs.

In relation to the diet posted by keyser which came out of Men's health it is decent diet however as such as you are only starting out I wouldn't be to pushed about having protein shakes and also the amount of food is probably for someone who probably needs more calories then yourself. So to alter it for youself

breakfast: museli and scrambled eggs
mid morning: snack nuts and seeds
meal1: chicken salad
meal2: wholegrain sandwich with chicken breast
snack: fruit
dinner: stir fry

The eating smaller meals more often helps to keep your metabloism higher and gives your body more of a chance to break down the food you are eating.

In relation to the running there is plently of beginner running guides out there and hopefully some of the people who are training for their first dublin marathons will post up the guides they used and tell you if it worked or not. you don't actually have to be training for a marathon to use one but it will help give your running programme a good structure and help you make the gains you want

just remember making small continual changes will help you keep on track. And also as keyser saif treat yourself to cheat meals around 1-2 times a week as it can help keep perspective on things and at least you have something to look forward to when you are eating clean the rest of the time

quozl

If you're interested in improving your running fitness you could try a training plan. If you're the kind of person who enjoys the added structure it can work wonders. Have a look at
http://www.halhigdon.com/spring/Springintro.htm
and specifically the
http://www.halhigdon.com/spring/Springnovice.htm

You say you run 4km, but you don't say how often a week you run that distance. So you may or may not be ready for that novice plan. If the first week is anything more than a decent challenge then you're better off starting with something slightly easier first and building up to it.

If you're currently running less than three times a week then run three times a week for a month or so. Then add a 4th day. When you add the 4th day, drop your distance on all 4 days down slightly for that week so you're not just adding 33% onto your weekly mileage. Then raise them back up to the next week or two. Don't do more than 2 days in a row.

Once you're running 4 days a week then turn one of them, perhaps a weekend one, into a longer run. Build it up to 6km over time or a bit higher if you're comfortable. Don't worry about pace.

At some stage you should feel able for that novice plan linked above and may want to switch to that.

All the time frames I've posted are guesses really. Only you know how quickly you'll adapt to increased training loads. So adjust the time frames up or down as you feel. Remember it's probably better to undertrain a bit than to overtrain.

Are you interested in improving your running for fun or is it a work requirement? If you've a specific goal you need to train towards let us know and we may be able to help with advise.

thirtyfoot

monosharp wrote:

I don't know if it matters but my aim is entirely fitness and as a consequence weight loss, running fitness would probably be the most important aim for me by a long long long shot.

I also intend to get some pro advice soon as i really need to get into gear but i do want to have some level of work done before approaching these guys.

You could try this, http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/?p=679#more-679. Its a new initiative by Athletics Ireland/Sports Council to get people off their asses and involved in sport. Haven't seen one in action yet but the idea is good and its aimed at people like yourself. Its organised by athletic clubs so you will meet club people at these events, you could even join one.

Also getting programmes off websites and essentially self-coaching can be difficult. Support by a coach or even peers in a training group will bring you on much faster than self-coaching (and its more fun) and much much cheaper than a personal trainer (who unless you are lucky to come across a good one are generally a waste of money)

If its running fitness you are after, I'd say join a running club.