Overweight,looking to lose about 4 stone

raven136

im very overweight and looking to lose about 4 stone over the period of a year or so.Whats the best excercise to start with combined with a proper diet.any advice greatly appreciated

justsomebloke

go through all the stickies as there is a lot of info there however just in case you mis this link I will post it anyway

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055054745

mack1

To quote the article posted by g'em on the Scientific American thread "eat less, move more...and avoid too much junk food"

Eat less - diet is key when losing weight, as mentioned above read the stickies.
Move more - Tranforms program as posted by jsb
Avoid junk - self-explanatory really!

Good luck with it!
M

Colm_OReilly

In addition to the above (mack's advice being the most concise you could get):

Diet - Look into www.thepaleodiet.com or http://www.drsears.com/welcome.page - these are exceptional diets, very natural, and hormonally balanced.

As regards diet, don't jump into a completely new diet if it means you're starving all the time and unhappy - you'll quit and then feel more bummed. Look to make a manageable change daily/weekly. This will pay off long term. Could you eat less chocolate? Drink one less Coke? Forgo another cup of coffee with sugar? Eat one piece of fruit?

Bit by bit you can get your diet on track.

One thing you can start to do is drink more water - this will help.

Exercise:

Make sure your exercise program includes deadlifts, squats, presses and other multi joint activities. Stay away from sh!t like bicep curls and calf raises. They're pretty much a waste of time. Anybody who tells you squats or deadlifts are dangerous has proven with that statement they're unqualified to talk on the subject.

Like diet, gradually improve your exercise regime in terms of intensity & frequency. No point rushing into your first workout only to be too tired to walk for 5 days and then lose interest.

www.crossfit.com and www.crossfit.ie provide free daily workouts on a 3 days exercise, 1 day rest cycle. Also there's a ton of free information/videos/support on the main site.

www.simpefit.org also provides workouts - scaled to whatever intensity you feel comfortable with.

Have a browse through those sites and if you've any questions or want advice feel free to pop down to me or give me a shout (contact details on my sites)

Best of luck with this, and congratulations for taking action,
Colm

ali.c

This is just a personal opinion, but IMHO i think that you are better of starting to make small regular changes, so for example you could start walking for 30mins a day for a few weeks and then as you get used to excercising starting increasing the intensity etc.
I would also advocate doing something that you enjoy doing, try out a few different actitivies and find out what excercise you like/enjoy have a laugh at and then stick with it.

Transform

Without a change in your diet you will not make much progress so sort that out first and cut all the junk out of your diet that caused you to put on so much weight

"Get busy living or get busy dying"

strawberrybox

hiya the best way to loose weight is to not think about loosing weight but instead to be active competitive sports are great to join and it'll motivate you to become skinnier if you take a step back from the tv and the fridge and start going places then you'll stop thinking of food hope this helps

EileenG

Cut out the junk (avoid anything with sugar or flour as one of the first five ingredients) and concentrate on eating fresh whole food, small amounts at regular intervals. Try to eat three meals and three snacks, and no nibbling in between.

Get active. Start walking, dig out your bike, start running up stairs instead of taking the lift. Then get to a gym and lift weights. You can do this at home, but it's a lot easier to do it in company and where they have the equipment all set up and ready. Get a trainer to show you the proper form on lifts like squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, pull-up (assisted to start with), stiff leg deadlift. etc. Those lifts are all life skills, you need to know how to do them right.

Watch less tv (there's a direct link between tv watching and obesity) and go to bed earlier.

Boru.

Everything listed above is great advice - but completely aimless unless you have clear stated goals to which you hold yourself accountable. If you are not measuring and tracking your progress against clear defined and stated goals then how do you know if you are doing enough, or even too much?

The key to getting anywhere be it a destination or a goal weight is to have a clear route to that goal. It's not enough to say I'd like to lose 4 stone in a year, break it down and be exact. Vague statements create too much leway, too much space in which you can slip and fudge and fail to hold yourself to a standard.

A quick example....Your goal is to lose 4 stone of FAT in one year.
That's 4 stone of FAT in 12 months or 52 weeks. (Notice I'm highlighting FAT, the reason is becasue this is a clear defined term - anyone can lose weight, just jump in sauna - the difference is it weight that counts? Is it muscle, water or fat. I assume your goal is Fat so this is what you state)

Now we have a starting point. Measure your current body. Find out how much muscle and how much fat you have. This is your origin point.

Lets' assume you'll have a few holiday's, birthdays, christmass, whatever and we'll knock off 4 weeks to account for this.

You WANT (want is a more powerful term than "need") to lose 4 stone in 48 weeks.

4 Stone is 56lbs. The general guide line is not to lose more than 2lbs of weight (hopefully mostly FAT) a week (this is becasue anymore, although possible is quite likely to be from muscle and water rather than fat).

Excellent, so your goal is to lose a minimum of 1.2 lbs a week.
Take you weight first thing on Monday morning before you've eaten breakfast but after you've been to the bathroom. Repeat this every Monday.

Next week your goal is to that number down by a minimum of 1.2lbs or a maximum of 2lbs.

If you haven't lost 1.2lbs, clean up your diet more or exercise more. If you've lost more than 2lbs then adjust by either decreasing your exercise slightly or by increasing your calories slightly.

Repeat this progress and hold yourself accountable to those numbers week in week out.

If you aren't tracking your progress then you're wasting your time.

If your curious about tracking your progress or motivation technqiues / goal setting I often recommend you read this article on my website - Weight Loss Motivation, and pick up a copy of Tom Venuto's book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle which develops this in more detail and required reading for all my clients.

Hope that helps.

Dudess

I really don't like this piece of advice: "eat less". I think it could be misleading to some, who might interpret it as "let yourself go hungry for periods" - that is exactly what you should NOT do. The lack of energy caused by starving slows down the metabolism, plus it gives the body the message that you're in famine mode and as result, fat is stored rather than burned.
The advice should be "eat less calories"
Also, I personally wouldn't subscribe to the "make small, gradual changes" approach. If you tell yourself you're going to be easy on yourself from day one, then you'll keep making allowances based on the rationale that this is ok - "ah it's early days, I can't deny myself a pizza just yet". You'll never give up the pizza if you don't just make the decision to keep away from it - within reason (a pizza slice every couple of weeks is fair enough).
You need to be tougher on yourself - discipline and will-power are, unfortunately, requirements when you decide to go down this road. It's not easy but the sense of satisfaction you get from each pound dropping off is incomparable.
But of course it's a bad idea to get yourself into an absolutely miserable state - that's the point when you should allow yourself a little treat (e.g. a low-calorie chocolate bar) but if you make small changes very gradually you won't see great results for a long time.
Best of luck with it.
And I've just discovered this brand new forum for those of us who want to eat healthily but aren't willing to survive on a macrobiotic diet either : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=982

ali.c

Dudess wrote:

Also, I personally wouldn't subscribe to the "make small, gradual changes" approach. If you tell yourself you're going to be easy on yourself from day one, then you'll keep making allowances based on the rationale that this is ok - "ah it's early days, I can't deny myself a pizza just yet". You'll never give up the pizza if you don't just make the decision to keep away from it - within reason (a pizza slice every couple of weeks is fair enough).
You need to be tougher on yourself - discipline and will-power are, unfortunately, requirements when you decide to go down this road. It's not easy but the sense of satisfaction you get from each pound dropping off is incomparable.

I see what you are saying and i do agree with it for the most part, i guess what i really meant was sort the big stuff out first, i.e. if you cut out all the bad stuff at once its actually quite difficult to get decent replacement food sources in. Just for example i cut out all wheat and dairy for 1.5 weeks, holy **** i just couldnt think of what to eat. I also learnt that if you cut out those two food groups there really is not that much crap you can eat. Still the change was too much all at once and i would of been better introducing the change more slowly or at least waiting till i got a decent recipe book.

Dudess wrote:

And I've just discovered this brand new forum for those of us who want to eat healthily but aren't willing to survive on a macrobiotic diet either : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=982

I lol'd at the charter as i dont think there are any macrobiotic fans around here tbh . Plus i think its a miss conception that everyone on here eats clean 100% of the time. Nonetheless it is a good forum, i think it s important that people get support from other people with similar goals and it looks like it can provide that so yay!!!

rubadub

Boru. wrote:

That's 4 stone of FAT in 12 months or 52 weeks. (Notice I'm highlighting FAT, the reason is becasue this is a clear defined term - anyone can lose weight, just jump in sauna - the difference is it weight that counts? Is it muscle, water or fat. I assume your goal is Fat so this is what you state)....

If you haven't lost 1.2lbs, clean up your diet more or exercise more.

Also bear in mind that if you are exercising you could be increasing muscle mass and losing fat at the same time. I would highly recommend heavy weight training for losing fat- this will cause weight to be added as muscle. I lost a lot of fat while being a fairly constant 12stone for around a year. My clothes were constantly getting looser. So it is important to take photos, measurements- hips, waist, chest, thighs etc. And track your bodyfat levels to see the true fat loss.

Dudess

Ali: Yeah, cutting out entire food groups and staple food-stuffs seems a bit extreme unless you've an allergy to them.

Another reason why I'd take issue with the instruction "eat less" is that it could be interpreted as "you can still eat junk-food, just eat less of it".

OP, don't eat less in quantity (although there's no need for portions that will have you bursting) but do change the quality. Increase your fruit and veg intake, wholegrain foods, lean protein, nuts - you will start to feel fantastic.
Also, read food labels. Not all low-fat products are bad, but some are a scam. They may be low in fat but choc-a-bloc with sugar and calories. And they may be processed ****e full of chemicals and preservatives.
Be creative with food too - make yourself a smoothie with a mix of fruits and natural yogurt. Totally delicious. Glenisk yogurt is great - it's low-fat but organic so it doesn't taste as processed and artificial as the more obvious brands. Above all, it tastes great.

rubadub

Dudess wrote:

Another reason why I'd take issue with the instruction "eat less" is that it could be interpreted as "you can still eat junk-food, just eat less of it".

I see where you are coming from. I don't mind the "eat less, exercise more" too much, it is blunt and to the point. I have seen celebrities praised for using the line, the media interviewer probably praying they will have some maple syrup & apples diet or some other crap that will look good in a headline.

I see eating less as less caloires overall. You can eat junk food and lose weight, but if you are aiming for say 1800kcal per day you will hopefully automatically make wiser/healthier choices with your meals/calories. Will I have a single chocolate buiscuit, or a spicy chicken fillet instead- same caloires.

I have people asking me what the "secret" was to me losing weight all the time, looking for some quick fix.

ali.c

Dudess wrote:

Ali: Yeah, cutting out entire food groups and staple food-stuffs seems a bit extreme unless you've an allergy to them.

Yeah it was an experiment, judging by the results i have a slight intolerance to them (seriously excema started to clear after 48hrs as did a number of other small complaints). I'll be implementing something similar again soon though this time ill be better prepared.

The OP has not come back to us, but i agree that whilst the nutshell of losing weight can be condensed into "eat less, move more" in practice that can be mis-interrupted. IMHO educating yourself and taking action including making informed choices is the way to shift the flab and keep it off.

ali.c

rubadub wrote:

I see eating less as less caloires overall. You can eat junk food and lose weight, but if you are aiming for say 1800kcal per day you will hopefully automatically make wiser/healthier choices with your meals/calories. Will I have a single chocolate buiscuit, or a spicy chicken fillet instead- same caloires.

I suppose it really depends but in my experience controlling calorie intake is not the b-all and end all of weight loss. This article by John Beradi goes into the why all calories are not created equal and the importance of mealing timing etc. http://www.f-heit.com/index.jsp?jumpTo=533439

JenK

The best way to lose weight that i have found are,

-cut out white bread(forme it would be impossible to cut out carbs altogether), eat brown wholegrain breads, pastas and rice.
-lean foods like white fish and chicken are great
-plenty of vegtables and fruit in meals
-EXCERCISE, you wont lose weight if you dont, this doesnt mean that you have to join a gym. start walking in the evenings, sweat it out of you. play a sport. whatever you can. luckily i have treadmill at home and run for half an hour a couple of times a week. excercise is definately the key.
-alcohol is a big one aswell, drink light beer or even better spirits if your going to drink and no stopping in the chipper after a night out!
-dont eat after 9pm
-theres nothing wrong with a chinese every so often, just not every night

i know its hard to loss the weight but if you do it slowly and sensibly it will stay off. i dont believe in fad diets.
best of luck!

Dudess

It's not actually difficult to lose weight - what's difficult is the changing of habits, and sticking to it.

Transform

If someone is overweight i think they need to focus less on meal timing and more on just cutting out the junk from their diet.

Most people make it too complicated rather than accepting whats NOT working and sticking to what does work.

Jen K summed it up best and sounds like she follows the stop reading and start getting yourself in order philosophy i so love.

Dudess

Yep, excellent post Jen.

Gives all the right tips without being complicated about it.

JenK

Dudess wrote:

Yep, excellent post Jen.

Gives all the right tips without being complicated about it.

why thank you! lifes for enjoying and not for following some diet that a yank made up thousands of miles away.
good luck raven, you'll feel fantastic when you've lost the weight

Beckerss

You have to eat right and Exercise.... both are key factors when it comes to losing weight... Try a cardio workout like running or bike riding.. Those are great for losing some weight... check out http://www.findyourdetour.com/ for some other suggestions..