Need simple advice please

monosharp

Ok, I know I posted here not that long ago but I've started a new regime and honestly I've ignored the last advice given because everyone told me I was wrong and then an argument insued about stuff I really hadn't a clue of.

I'll try and be as detailed as I can.

Situation ->
I'm in Asia at the minute working 1.30pm - 09:45pm.

I used to be quite fit say 2 years ago but have done very little in 2 years and I currently weigh 106kg, I was quite shocked when I hit the scales to be honest. I'm also a fairly heavy smoker but I've cut that down considerably and I don't drink during the week.

Diet -> 10-11-ish. A toasted sandwich consisting of a thin slice of ham, various sauces I don't know what they are, fried egg, cabbage, gurkins, cheese. OR 2 boiled eggs with green/brown rice tea.

1pm - 8pm-ish (any where between 1 and 8) I get a thick vegetable type stew which basically contains cabbage, chili, tofu and a very very very small amount of beef or tuna. OR rice mixed with fermented cabbage and a fried egg.

Snacks: Fruit, usually mandarin oranges.

Exercise: 9am gym, usually only do running (40 minutes on threadmill, mixing between walking and jogging at 5.5km/ph and 7.7km/ph respectively. I don't usually do weights or cycling or anything else. Do I need to considering this is only for weight loss I'm doing this ?

9:45 to 10:45(11ish) I go for an hour of the local martial art which consists of a crapload of stretching (40 minutes nearly and its not just stretching like it was when I played sport, they have us doing push-ups, sit ups, that weird jumpy thing etc) and just general martial arty stuff.

Please please take this into consideration before answering. I am only looking for weight loss.

The last time I asked here people told me everything I was doing was a waste of time and/or wrong. I honestly can't believe that me doing nothing compared to me doing the above is actually not in some way right ??

Things I'm thinking of doing as well ->

- Buying a skipping rope to work out at home at night or in the morning after gym.

- Getting on a walker/cycler in the gym.

Constraints -> Even though I only do 40 mins on the threadmill in the gym, I still have very little time to do other stuff. I am also trying to learn the local lingo and between working, studying, gym (the 40 mins I do) and the martial art I have very very little free time to play with.

I really really hope this didn't sound rude but honestly i can't be messing round with carbs, good fats, bad fats etc etc. I'd have needed to be a bloody dietician to work out the advice I got the last time and I don't have the time etc to cook so I'm stuck with whatevers at the restaurant unless your taking boiling an egg.

justsomebloke

I don't mean to be a prick, but what is going to happen this time if you still don't like the info that you are given? Are you actually going to listen to the advise on offer cause if you aren't there is no point in anybody bothering their arse to answer your questions.

monosharp

jsb wrote: »

I don't mean to be a prick, but what is going to happen this time if you still don't like the info that you are given? Are you actually going to listen to the advise on offer cause if you aren't there is no point in anybody bothering their arse to answer your questions.

What happened the last time i asked was squabbling among members here about the stickies.

All I'm looking for is opinions on what I'm doing considering its for weight loss and maybe some simple advice on what to change.

Its not that I didn't like the info, Its that I was told about 30 different things each conflicting with eachother.

Honestly, I came here the last time and was fairly proud of myself for doing anything and then the first reply i Got was I was wasting my time and doing it all wrong and next came some super advanced advice about nutrition which the next poster said was bollocks followed by ... etc etc.

I just want to start off simple, I don't have the time to cook bad or good stuff for myself, nevermind look into the foods nutritional value and performing 100 calculations and dividing the answer by my BMI before cooking it. (exaggeration but you get the point).

g'em

This is an internet forum board. You get a range of people with varying personalities, opinions, experience and willingess to help. There's a lot of good things said, a lot of mediocre things said, and more than a lot of pure BS. It's up to you to filter through that. Right now I'd imagine you're not exactly endearing yourself to the people you're asking the help from. You might really, really hope you don't sound rude, but you do. So I'm struggling to wonder, when you've already admitted the advice you got before, would anyone be bothered to assist you again?

Have you read the information in the stickies at the top of the page? And if so, what advise do you need that can't be obtained from those stickies?

You aren't eating very frequently (info in stickies)

You aren't eating enough protein (info in stickies)

While cardio is great to keep you heart healthy and help you lose weight, weights are optimal for doing so (info in stickies)


If you'd like help, there's plenty of people here to give it to you. But being defensive, rude and offensive towards the board probably isn't the best way to go about it.


Anyways, right now you seem to be only eating two meals a day with some fruit thrown in inbetween. Although instinctually you'd think that eating as little as possible will help you lose weight, the opposite is true. Your metabolism (the way your body burns food as fuel) stays healthiest when you give it regular, moderate feedings (a bit like a fire stays strongest when it's give constant fuel supplies). Ok, so your job might be difficult to allow you to do that, but hard-boiled eggs, chicken breasts, sliced meats, handfuls of nuts (all protein sources) provide excellent snacks to chew on every couple of hours. You're also getting plenty of veg in which is great.

Instead of spending 40 mintues of the treadmill, do 15 minutes and 25 minutes of lifting - squats, rows or deadlifts, benching - any and all of these work multiple muscle groups so you get big benefits for a small time commitment.

Eat more often than you do now, the food sources you have are great, and combine weights with your cardio in the gym. Make sense?

Colm_OReilly

Eat more protein (meat, fish). Eat less rice and more vegatables.

At your weight and fitness level I wouldn't recommend running, particularly on a treadmill. If there's a rower in your gym, use this. Better exercise, no impact.

Do weights. Heavy weights.

Simple enough?

celestial

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

Eat more protein (meat, fish). Eat less rice and more vegatables.

At your weight and fitness level I wouldn't recommend running, particularly on a treadmill. If there's a rower in your gym, use this. Better exercise, no impact.

Do weights. Heavy weights.

Simple enough?

Got it in a nutshell there.

I don't think the OP was being rude - if people are giving conflicting info - even if it is slightly conflicting - then it's easy to get discouraged and confused. But OP, the info IS in the stickies - just take ~60 minutes to read through thoroughly and educate yourself.

Bottom line for fat loss is here-

Reduce grains (bread, pasta, rice) as much as possible and restrict them to after you wake up. Have porridge oats for breakfast instead of bread.

Replace those grains with more lean meat, fish, eggs. Get lots of veg with these.

Eat fruit only 2 hours either side of an intense workout (at least until you start to see results).

Lift HEAVY THINGS! They get your heart rate way up and will help you set fire to flab. Don't bother with 40 minutes cardio - do 20 mins sprints + 20 mins lifting (or even push-ups, squats) instead.

But following the food advice is your priority. If your eating habits aren't right then your exercise won't correct that.

monosharp

g'em wrote: »

....when you've already admitted the advice you got before, would anyone be bothered to assist you again?

Well I honestly apologise, I know it must sound rude and I didn't ignore all the advice from the last time. I tried to filter out something that someone else was telling me to do which everyone else was telling me not to do and I got it. i.e > When on the threadmill alternate between walking and jogging every few minutes.

You aren't eating very frequently (info in stickies)

Its extremely difficult to do so. I don't like sweets/chocolate (ok so noone was going to tell me to eat them anyways) and I really have very little time when I work. From 1.30 to 9:45 i barely have enough time for a cigarette, honestly I have 5 mins every approx 40 mins and thats it, at least it is Mon, Tues and Wed.

You aren't eating enough protein (info in stickies)

eggs, chicken etc ? Ok will try and work on that.

While cardio is great to keep you heart healthy and help you lose weight, weights are optimal for doing so (info in stickies)

Will look into that too but will prob be back with more questions on weights, Thanks.

Anyways, right now you seem to be only eating two meals a day with some fruit thrown in inbetween. Although instinctually you'd think that eating as little as possible will help you lose weight, the opposite is true. Your metabolism (the way your body burns food as fuel) stays healthiest when you give it regular, moderate feedings (a bit like a fire stays strongest when it's give constant fuel supplies). Ok, so your job might be difficult to allow you to do that, but hard-boiled eggs, chicken breasts, sliced meats, handfuls of nuts (all protein sources) provide excellent snacks to chew on every couple of hours. You're also getting plenty of veg in which is great.

Will definately get some boiled eggs in with me but don't know about the rest, maybe some sliced meat like ham.

Just a daft question but if all i was to bring was boiled eggs how many should i bring for the day ?

Instead of spending 40 mintues of the treadmill, do 15 minutes and 25 minutes of lifting - squats, rows or deadlifts, benching - any and all of these work multiple muscle groups so you get big benefits for a small time commitment.

Ok.

Eat more often than you do now, the food sources you have are great, and combine weights with your cardio in the gym. Make sense?

Yes thanks a million.

monosharp

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

Eat more protein (meat, fish). Eat less rice and more vegatables.

I eat practically no rice/potatoes. The stewy thing which is usually my main meal of the day is all vegetables, chili with a very very small amount of meat (i'm talking 3-4 pieces of beef the size of the top of your thumb).

Rice comes with it (seperate) but I at most eat 2 soup spoon fulls of rice and usually less.

At your weight and fitness level I wouldn't recommend running, particularly on a treadmill. If there's a rower in your gym, use this. Better exercise, no impact.

Why not running if you don't mind me asking ? Theres no rower unfortunately, theres weights, lifting machines, cycling things, etc but no rowing machine.

Do weights. Heavy weights.

For weight loss ??

Simple enough?

Yes.

monosharp

celestial wrote: »

Reduce grains (bread, pasta, rice) as much as possible and restrict them to after you wake up. Have porridge oats for breakfast instead of bread.

Honestly, my diet over here (asia) is practically 90% vegetables (at least during the week). The only grains i have eaten for weeks is bread on a sandwich.

Is a boiled egg a bad idea for breakfast instead of oats/cereal ?

Eat fruit only 2 hours either side of an intense workout (at least until you start to see results).

Why ? I thought fruit was .. well for lake of a better term "good".
Fruit for snack when I haven't worked out = bad ?

Lift HEAVY THINGS! They get your heart rate way up and will help you set fire to flab. Don't bother with 40 minutes cardio - do 20 mins sprints + 20 mins lifting (or even push-ups, squats) instead.

Oh, see this is good because I always thought and was told the opposite, that doing easier stuff for longer is better for weight loss then harder stuff for shorter. Thanks.

But following the food advice is your priority. If your eating habits aren't right then your exercise won't correct that.

I'll definately change my diet as much as its possible for me to do so. I'm actually not fussy about what I eat, its the actual time/effort involved thats the problem. Life is very hectic over here which is why 95% of my meals are in restaurants.

mack1

monosharp wrote: »

For weight loss ??

YES!

Lifting heavy weights will increase your metabolism like nothing else! You will then burn more calories and hence lose more with.

You seem to be clinging to the old myth that cardio makes you slim and weight makes you big - weights are better than cardio for weightloss!

Now get lifting!

monosharp

mack1 wrote: »

YES!

Lifting heavy weights will increase your metabolism like nothing else! You will then burn more calories and hence lose more with.

You seem to be clinging to the old myth that cardio makes you slim and weight makes you big - weights are better than cardio for weightloss!

Now get lifting!

Ok thanks man

monosharp

Can I just ask a few more questions.

- I'm drinking a crap load of green tea (with brown rice flavour). Should i be limiting this or ... is it ok or ... ?

Also, about my exercise. I was thinking of buying a skipping rope, is this worth the money/time/effort for weight loss or am I better off just concentrating on the gym-y stuff ?

smellslikeshoes

monosharp wrote: »

Why not running if you don't mind me asking ? Theres no rower unfortunately, theres weights, lifting machines, cycling things, etc but no rowing machine.

The impact of running can lead to joint problems especially if you're carrying a little extra weight.

celestial

OP, the reason I say to restrict fruit is because it contains a fair bit of sugar - even if this is not the bad processed kind. If you want to lose fat, you need to restrict your sugar intake. I would suggest limiting it to pre and post training for the first few weeks until you start to see results - then you could re-introduce it as a snack.

Keeping it to pre and post training will mean that it gets used for energy for your workout, or for post workout recovery.

Make sense?

By the way your diet looks good and is what I would expect living where you do - lots of veg and meat is the way forward!

monosharp

Hey Celestial, G'em etc. Thanks for the help.

Heres a bit of a update on what I've changed, what do you think of this ?

9am ->
Get up, 20 mins on threadmill alternating between 2 mins walking @ 6.2km/ph, 2 mins jogging @ 8.2km/ph.
20 reps of free weight with each arm
40 reps of the leg push machine thing
20 reps of the chest/arm pushup machine thing
20 reps of some other arm pushup machine thing

10:30am -> home, shower, language study blah blah.

12am ->
1 hard boiled egg
2 cups green tea
(4 cigarettes)

2pm ->
Chamchi kimchi jjigae (Tuna kimchi stew)
Heres a recipe http://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2007/09/kimchi-jjigae.html

Basically its a bowl of chilli spicy fermented vegetables with Tuna and a side bowl of rice. (I used to eat some of the rice but have stopped since your advice)

I checked the recipe for kimchi jigae which is the same as what I had except with pork or beef instead of Tuna and it contains about 500 calories. Would tuna contain about the same or .. ? Generally you get a good bit more tuna then you would get pork and especially beef. A LOT more Tuna.

I'm gonna just take a random guess at maybe 650-700 calories ?

5:30pm ->
Hard boiled egg I brought to work with me
Cup of green tea

7-8pm -> mandarin yesterday, don't know today.

9:45 ->
Taekwondo for an hour, stretching, stretching, stretching + punching kicking martial art stuff.

11pm-ish ->
last night I had what we'd call a toasted egg sandwich. (2 slices white bread mixed with somekind of sauce and "fried", a fried egg in the middle of it. I think I better give these up, whats your advice ? It is basically just 2 slices of white bread with an egg (sweetcorn fried inside the egg, like 5-6 cobs)

What should I have here ?

Should i give up the Toast ? http://www.isaac-toast.co.kr/
Its fecking gorgeous

Btw maybe a stupid question but ....

I've not being eating much more then what I've posted here, according to my BMR or whatever its called I need about 3000 calories a day to keep my current weight, theres not a chance i've being eating 3000 a day yet i have not being losing weight. Unless each of those toast sandwiches is 1000 calories, then maybe i have being eating 3,000 a day.

Anyways, thanks for listening. I'm going to grab my tea, boiled egg and fag now.

celestial

monosharp wrote: »

Hey Celestial, G'em etc. Thanks for the help.

Heres a bit of a update on what I've changed, what do you think of this ?

9am ->
Get up, 20 mins on threadmill alternating between 2 mins walking @ 6.2km/ph, 2 mins jogging @ 8.2km/ph.
20 reps of free weight with each arm
40 reps of the leg push machine thing
20 reps of the chest/arm pushup machine thing
20 reps of some other arm pushup machine thing

10:30am -> home, shower, language study blah blah.

12am ->
1 hard boiled egg
2 cups green tea
(4 cigarettes)

2pm ->
Chamchi kimchi jjigae (Tuna kimchi stew)
Heres a recipe http://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2007/09/kimchi-jjigae.html

Basically its a bowl of chilli spicy fermented vegetables with Tuna and a side bowl of rice. (I used to eat some of the rice but have stopped since your advice)

I checked the recipe for kimchi jigae which is the same as what I had except with pork or beef instead of Tuna and it contains about 500 calories. Would tuna contain about the same or .. ? Generally you get a good bit more tuna then you would get pork and especially beef. A LOT more Tuna.

I'm gonna just take a random guess at maybe 650-700 calories ?

5:30pm ->
Hard boiled egg I brought to work with me
Cup of green tea

7-8pm -> mandarin yesterday, don't know today.

9:45 ->
Taekwondo for an hour, stretching, stretching, stretching + punching kicking martial art stuff.

11pm-ish ->
last night I had what we'd call a toasted egg sandwich. (2 slices white bread mixed with somekind of sauce and "fried", a fried egg in the middle of it. I think I better give these up, whats your advice ? It is basically just 2 slices of white bread with an egg (sweetcorn fried inside the egg, like 5-6 cobs)

What should I have here ?

Should i give up the Toast ? http://www.isaac-toast.co.kr/
Its fecking gorgeous

Btw maybe a stupid question but ....

I've not being eating much more then what I've posted here, according to my BMR or whatever its called I need about 3000 calories a day to keep my current weight, theres not a chance i've being eating 3000 a day yet i have not being losing weight. Unless each of those toast sandwiches is 1000 calories, then maybe i have being eating 3,000 a day.

Anyways, thanks for listening. I'm going to grab my tea, boiled egg and fag now.

Hi monosharp,

It's good to see you're asking questions but take a look at your plan again - all you are eating before your meal at 2 pm is a boiled egg! And you are doing all that exercise on an empty stomach! You're defo not eating nearly enough or at the right times.

So, lets get back to basics.

Some principals for fat loss:

Eat 6-7 times a day (i.e. don't leave hours upon hours between eating times)

Here is what I would recommend:

Breakfast (i.e. after you get up:D)

Porridge oats
Piece of fruit

Mid-morning/post-workout:

Some protein + a little carb (Egg/tuna/chicken/fish with piece of fruit)

Dinner: Have that tuna dish without the rice, as you said.

Mid-afternoon: Some nuts, some veg

Later afternoon: More nuts, boiled egg, piece of meat or veg if you fancy it

Pre-tae kwando: Banana

Post-workout: No fried egg or fried anything!! I would restrict fried food to once a week MAX if you must have it. In any case when eating clean you will likely want fried food less and less. Have something like a small amount of fish with chicken or veg - keep it small as you're off to bed soon, but if you are hungry eat a little more.

Bottom line is don't go hungry! If you find yourself hungry between meals then have some veg or nuts. Drink lots of water.

Workout:

Do weights before cardio (you will need more energy, generally speaking, for the weights, so do them first). I don't know what '20 reps of free weight with each arm' is, but I sure don't like the sound of it.

Warm up - 5 mins cardio machine
Push-ups
Pull-ups
Bench press with dumbbells
Squats - weighted - use dumbbells in each hand
Military press or dumbbell rows
Lunges
20 minutes intervals on treadmill or bike

The above exercises will work your whole body and will stimulate far more muscle than the exercises you've given in your post. Put simply, more stimulation = greater response by body = greater fat burning.

Ask your gym instructor how to do the above exercises. As for set duration and reps, he/she can help you out there too. But base them around those exercises.

monosharp

celestial wrote: »

Hi monosharp,

It's good to see you're asking questions but take a look at your plan again - all you are eating before your meal at 2 pm is a boiled egg! And you are doing all that exercise on an empty stomach! You're defo not eating nearly enough or at the right times.

Is it not better to do this workout on an empty stomach so that I'm burning fat in the morning ? Several people have told me that but then again they are hardly experts so I think I'll go with your advice.

The people who told me this more or less said if you can go without breakfast before exercise do it but eat soon after. is it bs ?

Workout:

Do weights before cardio (you will need more energy, generally speaking, for the weights, so do them first). I don't know what '20 reps of free weight with each arm' is, but I sure don't like the sound of it.

Warm up - 5 mins cardio machine
Push-ups
Pull-ups
Bench press with dumbbells
Squats - weighted - use dumbbells in each hand
Military press or dumbbell rows
Lunges
20 minutes intervals on treadmill or bike

I'll have to ask someone what all those things mean

Unfortunately I can't ask my gym guy because they don't speak any/much english.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll try change my diet and exercise some more.

g'em

monosharp wrote: »

The people who told me this more or less said if you can go without breakfast before exercise do it but eat soon after. is it bs ?

It's not bs, but there's a lot of "it depends" involved.

In your case you're exercising at 9am and then not eating until 12am which can't really be considered 'soon' after exercising. Soon is more like within 30 minutes.

I'd be inclined to say eat something small before your workout - in fact have your egg (two or three eggs would be fine) and tea pre-training. The egg will give you some protein and the green tea will help boost your metabolism first thing in the morning.