Some advice please!

HBK

Sorry if its been covered before but...here goes.....

im looking for advice on a deit to keep fit & healthy.....my typical day lately consisits of this:

breakfast - cereal(fitnesse or the like) plus an expresso or mocha

mid morning - activia yogurt

lunch: usually a sandwich on wholegrain bread with tomato/ham maybe light mayo

mid evening - fruit(usually an apple)

dinner - either grilled chicken breast or salmon + veg(sometimes a potatoe or two)

late nite - tea & scone


now thats my diet generally, and thats drastically changed at that.......keep in mind i sit a computer all day so no exercise there.......

Now, can anyone suggest if thats good or not, or what changed i need to make to loose this pot belly..........

i do go for 10/20min run most nites(followed by a small workout) which leads me to another question - shud i eat when i get in from work, wait an hour then run, or go run...then leave dinner till late(8 or9) or does it matter?

Any suggestions wud be appreciated.....

Colm_OReilly

Weight loss/gain comes down to a simple formula of energy in/energy out. Speaking strictly from that point of view it doesn't so much matter when you eat.

That been said if you're eating a lot and then going to bed you're not really expending that much energy are you. I've also noticed that I'll eat more (sometimes more than enough) post workout, so if I had to advise, it would be eat.

Since you're investing in your fitness so much, you could make your routine much more effective/efficient by making changes to that.

I'm a big advocate of the Paleo Diet - to me it's the gold standard in diets. You can get the book off Amazon handily enough.

Let us know if you'd like help with your exercise regime,
Colm

mack1

you dont give any other info - current weight & height or what your "small workout" consists of etc, but some comments:

Diet: There's another thread on here debating breakfast cereals, I am not a fan, have a look at your box of fitness and check the sugar content, also they are genetally high GI foods that will have you getting hungry sooner - porridge would be better.

Actimel - again, sugar content I suppose, have some natural youghurt maybe, or some cottage cheese

Dinner sounds good, get plenty of veg in, go easy on the spuds if you eat late (unless its post-workout)

Late - I'd defo get rid of the scone here, (then again, you dont actually say you are looking to lose weight or anything, so I could be off here) carbs before bed are usually not a good idea, plus scone is more than likely made with refined white flour - again not great

Overall I'd look to be eating a bit more protein - ham at lunch is not giving you much for example, leaving only dinner. Also, make sure you are getting your healthy fats in too - very important!.

As for eating before/after workout - you should be eating something before and after - does really matter which is dinner etc - but both meals should include protein & carbs. Do whatever suits your schedule, I have dinner straight after work, 1hr later hit the gym, then eat again when I get home.

hope this helped
M

rubadub

Do you know how many calories you eat in a day. People keep listing menus, but portion control is probably the biggest problem,- the meals you listed could tot up to 1000kcal, or 4000kcal

mack1

Sorry - re-read your OP, didnt notice the wanted to lose the pot-belly bit last night!
My original advice still stands tho - and like rubadub said, watch portion size, work out roughly your kcal intake, it could be higher than you think.

Also, how much do you drink? always a killer for the pot-belly!

HBK

thanks for the replies guys..some more info

ya i would drink usually once(sometimes twice) a week, but usually 1 night of heavy drinking at the weekend....

ive never actually calculated my calorie intake, i generally wouldnt eat big portions as im conscious about that...

im about 5.10/11 and around 15stone

BossArky

HBK wrote:

i do go for 10/20min run most nites(followed by a small workout)

Running is overrated. I seem to drop more weight when working out with weights in the gym as opposed to during the triathlon season when doing loads of cardio.

I guess this is due to up-ing the muscle in the gym which increases the metabolism, which in turn eats the fat whilst resting, which reduces my weight. I'm also stronger now but lighter.

Too much cardio can cause you to loose the muscle you have. This has the negative effect that the food you eat is not required to run muscle anymore and stores as fat.

mack1

HBK wrote:

ya i would drink usually once(sometimes twice) a week, but usually 1 night of heavy drinking at the weekend....

I'm thinking this here be the problem mate....
Especially since you specifically mention that it's the pot belly being the issue - and you're diet ain't too bad - the drink's a deamon!

rubadub

BossArky wrote:

I guess this is due to up-ing the muscle in the gym which increases the metabolism, which in turn eats the fat whilst resting, which reduces my weight. I'm also stronger now but lighter..

Yep, I cannot recommend weights enough, shifted a lot of my fat when I plateaued on cardio.

At 15 stone running could be a bit harmful, low impact stuff like swimming, cycling, weights might be better. I am now under 12stone, 5'11'' and still do not run, the majority of injuries my mates have are from running, a lot of posters here seem to be the same, many have "bad knees". I have no real need to be able to run (e.g. do not play soccer) so I just dont bother.

Also at 15stone you might well be able to put on muscle while on a calorie deficit.

As for the drinking, I used to plan ahead to be drinking on an empty stomach, this way you are eating less that day, and need less booze to get to the same level of tipsiness- therefore you are reducing calories on 2 counts. Also as you loose weight it snowballs since you need less to get the same blood alcohol level that you want.

I still drink like a fish and keep the fat off, the next morning I will head out on the bike, wakes you up, clears the hangover, and works off some of those un-needed calories you took in the night before.

Switch to low calorie mixers and white spirits (rum, vodka). Beer has more calories per unit alcohol than these do. Also quality white spirits are "cleaner", with less hangover inducing toxins. The sweeteners in low cal mixers also increase your absorption rate so you take in less caloires overall to get to the same level of drunkeness. i.e. to fail a breath test you might need 3 vodkas & cokes, or 2 vodkas & diet cokes

mack1

rubadub wrote:

Switch to low calorie mixers and white spirits

jaysus rubadub, that's hardcore! OP - A handy tip in addition to this is that you can use your urine to clean paintbrushes!

HBK

cheers for the responses guys..muchly appreciated!