I Want to look good naked

DU.LLAHAN

FEEL FREE TO GIVE ME YOUR HONEST TAUGHTS I am 15 stone 7 pound and i look like this not so good lookin naked at this point in time i started out 2007 16 stone 1 lost two stone then i got injured and got fed up with working out due to my injury. then i started to pile on the pounds as above. so this year i am goin to learn from my mistakes i made in 07. i have been off the beer for 11 weeks now (yes that includes christmas and i dont miss it) so if i can last that long off the beer i am goin to be fully committed to workin out and dieting.

My Training schedule will look like this
Monday
light cardio 20 mins on treadmill, bike. cross traininer
weights workin all major muscles ( shoulders, back, chest,legs abs)
Tuesday
light cardio 20 mins on treadmill, bike. cross traininer including 30 min swim
Wednesday
AS MONDAY
Thursday
AS TUESDAY
Friday
AS MONDAY

g'em

I'm going to move this to the general Fitness forum as I think you need some advice before embarking on your new regime. When you feel you want to start loggin your workouts, just start a new thread in the fitness logs sub-forum. Best of luck.

I would highly advise you post up the plans for your dialy diet as that will be the most important factor in hleping you to lose weight.

pm.

DU.LLAHAN wrote: »

FEEL FREE TO GIVE ME YOUR HONEST TAUGHTS I am 15 stone 7 pound and i look like this not so good lookin naked at this point in time i started out 2007 16 stone 1 lost two stone then i got injured and got fed up with working out due to my injury. then i started to pile on the pounds as above. so this year i am goin to learn from my mistakes i made in 07. i have been off the beer for 11 weeks now (yes that includes christmas and i dont miss it) so if i can last that long off the beer i am goin to be fully committed to workin out and dieting.

My Training schedule will look like this
Monday
light cardio 20 mins on treadmill, bike. cross traininer
weights workin all major muscles ( shoulders, back, chest,legs abs)
Tuesday
light cardio 20 mins on treadmill, bike. cross traininer including 30 min swim
Wednesday
AS MONDAY
Thursday
AS TUESDAY
Friday
AS MONDAY

imo you wont last a month, thats way to much to start out with. your not giving your body a chance to recover from the exercise its not used to, you will be cruel sore from monday alone. if i was you i would have a rethink maby
start with 2 or 3 days a week.

OPENROAD

I am pretty much in the same position as yourself, started off 16 st 8lb mid October,have met my first objective to be down to 15st by Jan 1.


As already said not much recovery time. I found that intensive Treadmill workout was wrecking my ankles. So now I just do treadmill 3 times a week, Monday Wednesday and Friday and vary workout i.e.intensive for 2 mins, gentle jog 2 mins.

Not sure if you are in the gym or not or have access to a rower, but the rower provides a great workout. I use it Mon, Wed Thurs and Friday.

Well done on the beer, I'm off it also until I get down to my ideal weight.

Dudess

Excellent work, OPENROAD! Especially considering a little thing called Christmas was included in that timeframe!
Just did a bit of calculating - that's 2lbs a week! Holy crap, that's amazing! I've often heard it said that 2lbs a week is achievable but it's still a lot of weight (think of 2lbs of butter) and as I said, that included Christmas! Well done, sir! You must have really pushed yourself.

Colm_OReilly

Could you post exactly what your weights routine is? Ideally it should be centered around deadlifts, squats, presses with bodyweight work in the form of push ups, pull ups, etc thrown in.

Light cardio is not going to help you much I'm afraid. It's a bit of a waste of time.

Aim for more intensive stuff. Since you're beginning you'll want to gradually increase the intensity.

If you're legs aren't strong I'd advise against running, particularly on a treadmill. If you've access to a rowing machine in the gym you're using, use that as it's no impact. Plus your body will respond better to it.

If you've any more specific questions please ask.

OPENROAD

Dudess wrote: »

Excellent work, OPENROAD! Especially considering a little thing called Christmas was included in that timeframe!
Just did a bit of calculating - that's 2lbs a week! Holy crap, that's amazing! I've often heard it said that 2lbs a week is achievable but it's still a lot of weight (think of 2lbs of butter) and as I said, that included Christmas! Well done, sir! You must have really pushed yourself.

Tks, diet has played a huge part in my progress, though I'm slightly worried that some of this weight loss might also be muscle loss as working out from home, cardio only. That said I feel so much better in just a couple of months. Looking at myself, my stomach has definitely got smaller,the man boobs are going, and I am wearing old jeans again that did not fit me in the summer,actually I might need a belt for them . I'm very determined to keep going but I also realise that I have to be patient, this is the big thing I think, patience, before I would set unrealist targets and when I did not achieve them I would just give up.

Even on Christmas day I worked out and stuck to my diet,did not deviate from it. Compared this to last year when God knows how many calories I put away during the day considering I snacked on 1 1/2 large tubs pringles, two mars bars and 3 small bottle of coca cola,full Christmas lunch, full breakfast incl packet rashers,4 sausages,2 fried eggs,pudding 4 slices toast

Still a long way to go, but as everyone has said, first step really is really to get the diet right and then exercise, and try and make both just part of your daily day,allow yourself at least a day off.

Hanley

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

Could you post exactly what your weights routine is? Ideally it should be centered around deadlifts, squats, presses with bodyweight work in the form of push ups, pull ups, etc thrown in.

Light cardio is not going to help you much I'm afraid. It's a bit of a waste of time.

Aim for more intensive stuff. Since you're beginning you'll want to gradually increase the intensity.

If you're legs aren't strong I'd advise against running, particularly on a treadmill. If you've access to a rowing machine in the gym you're using, use that as it's no impact. Plus your body will respond better to it.

If you've any more specific questions please ask.

Any reason why the body responds better to the rower than say something like a cross trainer?

I'm guessing it's because the rower is almost a light resistance workout too.

I'm kinda curious because I'm planning on a bit of a diet after the National PL champs later in the month and plan on doing *shock, horror* cardio

TerrorFirmer

Why is light cardio a waste of time, surely at least from an asthetic perspective low intensity would burn away the fat fairly quickly?

Colm_OReilly

A rowing motion is based off a vigorous hip extension. Seeing the response the body gets from the hip extension involved in DLs and squats, one can expect a greater response from a similar action.

I dislike the motion on a Crosstrainer as it's very controlled, there's only a certain path your body can move through on the machine. When rowing, the focus is on you to control your movement, rather than the machine.

That being said, the crosstrainer is still a better machine than a treadmill in my opinion, and come people really like them.

As to light cardio, a large proportion of something very small is smaller than a small proportion of something very big. With light cardio, you're burning very little energy, although most of it is coming from fat. With intense activity, the energy source at the time is primarily glucose and its pals.

Intense cardio raises your BMR (the rate at which you burn energy throughout the day) for longer than steady state cardio, and doesn't have the same catabolic effect long distance running does.

From an aesthetic point of view, look at the difference in figures between 400m sprinters and 10,000m runners.

celestial

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

A rowing motion is based off a vigorous hip extension. Seeing the response the body gets from the hip extension involved in DLs and squats, one can expect a greater response from a similar action.

I dislike the motion on a Crosstrainer as it's very controlled, there's only a certain path your body can move through on the machine. When rowing, the focus is on you to control your movement, rather than the machine.

That being said, the crosstrainer is still a better machine than a treadmill in my opinion, and come people really like them.

As to light cardio, a large proportion of something very small is smaller than a small proportion of something very big. With light cardio, you're burning very little energy, although most of it is coming from fat. With intense activity, the energy source at the time is primarily glucose and its pals.

Intense cardio raises your BMR (the rate at which you burn energy throughout the day) for longer than steady state cardio, and doesn't have the same catabolic effect long distance running does.

From an aesthetic point of view, look at the difference in figures between 400m sprinters and 10,000m runners.

Indeed. I would even say that in most light-cardio workouts that are relatively short (20-30 mins) the body is mainly burning glycogen and the energy from the food that you have just eaten. HIIT and weights are the way to go.

Dudess

OPENROAD wrote: »

Still a long way to go, but as everyone has said, first step really is really to get the diet right and then exercise, and try and make both just part of your daily day,allow yourself at least a day off.

And that's precisely the right way to do it. If you treat your new way of life as a temporary measure just to lose weight, you'll end up thinking "ah it's only temporary anyway, I'll give up tonight and start again tomorrow". The crucial thing is to break that cycle by getting it into your head that it ISN'T a temporary fix.

How much weight do you want to lose?

OPENROAD

Dudess wrote: »

How much weight do you want to lose?

I would like to get down to around 12 st 8lb, but I know I will need to introduce weights to tone up, so around 13 st would be fine with this element built in. But while the scales can be a motivation in ways, I think to get down to a 34 in waist, 36in at the moment, I would be very happy,and just be well toned, I'd be happy.

g'em

Dudess & OPENROAD, get a room or start a new thread

And in the meantime, OP are you still out there?

Roper

Hanley wrote: »

Any reason why the body responds better to the rower than say something like a cross trainer?

I'm guessing it's because the rower is almost a light resistance workout too.

I'm kinda curious because I'm planning on a bit of a diet after the National PL champs later in the month and plan on doing *shock, horror* cardio

What Colm said but also I remember reading something about muscle recruitment. Basically, rowing leads to less mass loss, running leads to more with comparable cardio results.

If I was in anyway inclined I'd look that up for you. But I'm not.

Hanley

Roper wrote: »

What Colm said but also I remember reading something about muscle recruitment. Basically, rowing leads to less mass loss, running leads to more with comparable cardio results.

If I was in anyway inclined I'd look that up for you. But I'm not.

Anyyyway I just dislike running. I dislike most impact cardio work so I had planned to go with the crosstrainer and maybe some rowing anyway.

Racing Flat

Good luck, Dullanhan. Doesn't really matter what you do, whether it be weights, cardio or other exercise - the key for weight loss would be to train aerobically ie get your heart rate up to 70-80% maximum and maintain this for at least 30mins at leats 3 times a week. There are ways to work out your max heart rate, but for most people, especially someone relatively new to an exercise regime, simple jogging or an exercise bike/cross trainer at an intensity that leaves you slightly out of breath will do fine. I am all for doing intense cardio to improve VO2 max an lactate threshold etc., but that's more importabt whne you are actually fir and want to improve performance further. So for now, as long as you're getting out of breath for at least half an hour at least three times a week that's fine. May take you a while to build up to this so don't worry if you have to stop and walk initially. Soon you'll get to 30mins continuous 3 times a week and after that you'll be able to go for longer and more times a week. And the weight will fall off after a few weeks. I went from 14stone to 11stone after about 6months of jogging, gradually building up as above, simple as that, no better/quicker way to do it, just be consistent whichever exercise type you chose.
Again, good luck, stick at it and be sure to post up the after shots.

Colm_OReilly

Doesn't really matter what you do, whether it be weights, cardio or other exercise - the key for weight loss would be to train aerobically ie get your heart rate up to 70-80% maximum and maintain this for at least 30mins at leats 3 times a week.

We've really got to dispell this myth.

For a start, MHR is an estimate, and not a terribly accurate one when it comes to intensity. Hydration levels, stress/excitement levels, temperature can all effect the heart rate, to name some variables.

Secondly, at low intensity a higher percentage of your energy will come from fat. But, at higher intensity you'll consume more energy and more fat.

Take two people working out for 30 minutes steady state work. One at 50% VO2 max (approx. estimation of 65% MHR), one at 70% VO2 max (80% MHR). the fat kcal burned per litre of O2 for A will be 2.43, for B it's 1.96.

Total fat kcals burned will be 73 and 82 resepctively. Higher percentage, lower total.

The myth of the fat-burning zone is linked to the misconceptions that dietary fat makes you fat and that only by burning fat during exercise can you reduce the amount of fat stored in your body.

Tony Leyland, CFJ, Feb 07

Higher Intensity workouts raise your metabolic rate for longer after the workout, whereas you don't get a significant raise in lower intensity.

Higher Intensity exercise builds muscle, which is metabolically more active than adipose tissue (fat storage). It's a slight difference mind, but those with more muscle are generally more active during the day (outside of exercise)

Colm
-Awaits backlash

celestial

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

We've really got to dispell this myth.

For a start, MHR is an estimate, and not a terribly accurate one when it comes to intensity. Hydration levels, stress/excitement levels, temperature can all effect the heart rate, to name some variables.

Secondly, at low intensity a higher percentage of your energy will come from fat. But, at higher intensity you'll consume more energy and more fat.

Take two people working out for 30 minutes steady state work. One at 50% VO2 max (approx. estimation of 65% MHR), one at 70% VO2 max (80% MHR). the fat kcal burned per litre of O2 for A will be 2.43, for B it's 1.96.

Total fat kcals burned will be 73 and 82 resepctively. Higher percentage, lower total.


Tony Leyland, CFJ, Feb 07

Higher Intensity workouts raise your metabolic rate for longer after the workout, whereas you don't get a significant raise in lower intensity.

Higher Intensity exercise builds muscle, which is metabolically more active than adipose tissue (fat storage). It's a slight difference mind, but those with more muscle are generally more active during the day (outside of exercise)

Colm
-Awaits backlash

The above is correct, you will burn more fat overall with high-intensity exercise. It's common sense - high-intensity equals fat burning during exercise + after exercise, while lower intensity won't burn as much after exercise and can burn more muscle than shorter, high-intensity exercise. Loss of muscle = lower muscle mass = lower metabolic rate = fewer calories burned daily.

However, while the theory is sound, it's not as black and white as all that in reality. It sounds like the OP may be getting back to exercise after a period of doing nothing (which may be a long period, he can let us know). This means that he is likely to find low-moderate intensity exercise a lot easier at the beginning, and will see some results from this, especially since he is just starting to exercise again. He could well take our high-intensity advice, burn himself out, get discouraged and not bother with it at all. However, if he starts low-moderate intensity, he can build up gradually and once he sees his fitness improve, move into more productive (from both a fat loss and fitness viewpoint) higher-intensity work.

We debate theories on here all the time but one size doesn't fit all all the time.

In my experience weights beats cardio any day of the week for fat loss. The reasons are clear - it build lean muscle mass which requires lots of calories to maintain and it burns lots of calories just doing it. You also build muscle while burning fat at the same time. I went from a 36 to 34 inch waist with a 80-20 split between weights-cardio. However my weight has remained at approx 13 stone, meaning I have burned fat and built muscle. My prescription for the OP would be moderate cardio combined with heavy weight training.

Racing Flat

Colm,
I'm all for intense workouts, granted I don't know much about weights, but as a runner, I do 6 sessions a week 3 of which would consist of intense running such as hard speed sessions. But like the poster above says, for a beginner, I think the most important thing is to keep things simple initially, keep it doable, and it needs to be interesting to the person. Too often you see people quit exercise regimes/fitness programmes because they do too much too soon, or they do something they don't like (eg go running when they prefer doing weights or vice versa). So for a beginner I would say pick a sport/fitness activity you enjoy, do it so that it takes a bit out of you but doesn't destroy you for days and gradually build up, then as fitness improves and you get more into it you can 'get more scientific'.
I cringe when I hear people saying they are jogging 'more slowly' to burn fat/lose more weight as compared to running more quickly for the reasons you have outlined - and I am not advocating this. At the same time you don't wnat it to be too technical too soon, get a base level of fitness up and then start to tweak things. Maybe I should go back to the running forums where I belong;).

g'em

Racing Flat wrote: »

Maybe I should go back to the running forums where I belong;).

pfft, you'll do no such thing. This forum is about all aspects of fitness and I, for one, thoroughly enjoy these discussions. Keep going, learning is teh funz!!

Racing Flat

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

For a start, MHR is an estimate, and not a terribly accurate one when it comes to intensity. Hydration levels, stress/excitement levels, temperature can all effect the heart rate, to name some variables.

Completely agree with this - a huge problem. Firstly a lot of cardio equipment has heart rate zones marked out on the machine - generic zones not based on the individual. A step up form this, (but not much) is using formulae such as 220 - age to calculate max heart rate - again generic, may work out for you but you may naturally have a high or low max heart rate and so be way off. So the only way to do heart rate training is to work out your individual heart rate max, ideally by going for a fitness test - can get this done at the Human Performance laboratory in Trinity for 60Euro - ie going on bike, rower or treadmill and get blood and respiratory gases analysed whilst exercising to max exertion. If you don't fancy this, there are other ways, e.g. do an all out run for 5 minutes and if you really do go all out, you should hit your max heart rate. Only if you know your own heart rate max as accurately as testing will allow should you use heart rate as a training guideline, as there's an awful lot of individual variation.

Roper

Racing Flat wrote: »

But like the poster above says, for a beginner, I think the most important thing is to keep things simple initially, keep it doable, and it needs to be interesting to the person. Too often you see people quit exercise regimes/fitness programmes because they do too much too soon, or they do something they don't like (eg go running when they prefer doing weights or vice versa). So for a beginner I would say pick a sport/fitness activity you enjoy, do it so that it takes a bit out of you but doesn't destroy you for days and gradually build up, then as fitness improves and you get more into it you can 'get more scientific'.

Quoted for truth.

DU.LLAHAN

pm. wrote: »

imo you wont last a month, thats way to much to start out with. your not giving your body a chance to recover from the exercise its not used to, you will be cruel sore from monday alone. if i was you i would have a rethink maby
start with 2 or 3 days a week.

Thanks for ur taughts the only prob i have with my current workout is that its taking up to much time so i will have to cut it down to weights one day cardio the next. I wasnt to sore the next day the job i do i would be used to lifting heavy equipment around most of the day. just because i dont workout doesnt mean i dont excercise my job can be pretty demanding.

DU.LLAHAN

i started of well got lost a stone and a half then it went pear-shaped in april i got the flu which ended up with me havin to stay in hospital for a week so i didnt get any workouts for that month. so i went back to it in may was doin well when i was playin soccer and i got shin splints i havent done any excersise since due to me being pissed off with gettin injured and losing motivation to get back at it. so i am currently back at my start weight of 15 7 and finding the "get up and go" to start all over again