Losing weight...

amacachi

I'm hitting the gym from this week and the hope is for fast but sustainable weight loss (so different to what most people want :P )

I'm 6 foot 1 and 21 stone. Although most people say I look between 15 and 17 stone, so I'm aiming to get to lose about 5-6 stone.

I'm OK strength-wise, can bench 50kg on a good day, leg curl 120kg, leg press 120kg and can max-out the sit-up machine dealy.

My main trouble is that my stamina level is unbelievably low. I can walk forever at a certain pace but a slight incline or slight up in pace and I can barely last a minute. As well as this, running gives me awful pains in my shins, but i can cycle at low resistance for about 20 minutes before getting a bit bored.

So the question I'm really trying to ask is what would be the best thing to focus on to lose weight since the treadmill is pretty much out of the question for now?

tribulus

Your diet is the best thing to focus on.

Lifting weights would be good too, do more compound exercises though.
Nothing wrong with using the bike instead of the treadmill as such, it does the same thing in this case which is use up calories.

Though I have to ask how can you legcurl 120kg but only manage the same on a leg press?

amacachi

Sorry, leg extension, not leg curl. And I don't know, I think I could do more than 120 on the extensions if the machine had more, but 120 is all I can do on the press.

My diet isn't all that bad at the moment, and apart from anything else I'd like to get fit rather than just slim. I also want to try to muscle up once my fitness level improves.

Cadrach

Definitely sort the diet... even if its "OK" at the moment, if you spent 3 months with a strict healthy diet you would see huge improvements when combined with the gym. Best thing for cardio is maybe the rowing machine. My advice is: if you need to lose 5-6 stone, then you should make all the right changes, not just a couple of tweaks. That means - gym 4 days a week, in addition to 40min walks every morning or evening, and a strict diet - low sugar, low salts, no sweets/chocolate/crisps/soft drinks/white bread/white rice/chips/fatty food. For the first while, there's no need to cut out carbs too much, so you can have a bit of pasta in the evenings, but watch the portion sizes. Work out how much calories you should be taking in the day and make sure you're not eating too little. Have your breakfast early in the day (e.g. muesli or porridge) and don't eat late at night. Eat lots of green veg, plenty of green salad at lunch - don't skimp on the portion size of healthy foods. Drink lots of water. Assuming you're getting enough healthy food, the regular eating and exercise will make you lose a lot of weight and will speed up your metabolism. Going to the gym often, working hard with the weights, will make you gain some muscle too even while you are losing fat - even though it is not your primary focus. You can easily lose the first 3 stone by taking these steps, and in a few months time you can adapt and make a few changes to lose the remaining couple of stone - all while maintaining a healthy and balanced diet.

tribulus

In all honesty I have a very hard time believing your diet is okay when you're 21 stone, it's not just inactivity that gets someone to that weight.

Post up your diet and we'll see where it can be improved and read the nutrition sticky at the top of the page.

nesf

Post up your average diet and people will be able to help you spot the worst offenders in there. If you're 5 or 6 stone overweight your diet is probably your biggest problem tbh.

amacachi

Typical day would be a salad roll at around 12 o'clock with a 500ml bottle of powerade, 4 or 5 white bread sandwiches at 7 o'clock, usually ham or ham and coleslaw, with a pint of milk and a 30g bag of popcorn at some point before i go to bed.

At the weekend its admittedly worse, today;

1.00 hamburger and sausage and batter with diet fizzy drink

5.00 4 ham sandwiches

6.00 bag of popcorn and pint of milk

and probably another couple of sandwiches later.

nesf

All that white bread is definitely not a good idea if you're trying to lose weight. Ditto with the coleslaw and the popcorn. The sticky on diet has a lot of good pointers on this.

Would you be up for cooking breakfast for yourself in the mornings? Skipping it is a bad idea. Just eating the ham on it's own would be a better idea than having it in a sandwich.

tribulus

You eat a huge amount of carbs and lots of prcossed meat, this is bad.

By all means get exercising but sort out your diet if you want sustainable results, it's very poor.

Read the nutrition sticky.

nesf

tribulus wrote: »

You eat a huge amount of carbs and lots of prcossed meat, this is bad.

Some of the shop stuff is alright, ditto if he's getting from the butcher. Loads and loads of salt though if all you're eating is ham.

tribulus

I disagree, rolls and bread are never good really, I'd still pick other things over brown bread, even if it's mccambridges or whatever.

While it's true that butcher meat will be better, it's still ham and sausages! Lean meat should be the order of the day, lower the amount of saturated fat intake and increase intake of oils etc.

nesf

tribulus wrote: »

I disagree, rolls and bread are never good really, I'd still pick other things over brown bread, even if it's mccambridges or whatever.

I was just referring to the meat. Sorry, I should have been clearer.

tribulus wrote: »

While it's true that butcher meat will be better, it's still ham and sausages! Lean meat should be the order of the day, lower the amount of saturated fat intake and increase intake of oils etc.

True. Living off ham is not a great idea. But it's ok now and then. It's better than the two slices of white pan that it's in between.

Hanley

tribulus wrote: »

You eat a huge amount of carbs and lots of prcossed meat, this is bad.

By all means get exercising but sort out your diet if you want sustainable results, it's very poor.

Read the nutrition sticky.

Do as I say, not as I do!!

C'mon Trib, we both know the old Dave Tate school of nutrition is where it's at. It has all 5 food groups, McDonalds, Burger King, Eddie Rockets, Dominos and Chinese!

Colm_OReilly

As people have pointed out, your diet isn't good. For a start, where's the fruit or vegetables?

Considering your size, I'd stay away from running for the time being, as you're carrying a lot of excess weight, and this is going to put a lot of pressure on your knees with a high impact activity.

I'd start lifting weights, compound movements like the squat and deadlift are essential and should form the backbone of your program. Also, standing presses and the bench press will help develop your upper body. If there's an assisted pull up/dip machine in the gym use that as well.

For the 'cardio' work walking outside will help you better than a treadmill. Try to walk at a brisk pace. Also, if there's a rowing machine in your gym, use it. It's a great machine.

But sort out that diet. Look up The Paleo Diet, buy the book and begin to make changes.

Colm