change for the healthier

dblennon

I'm in my 5th week of my new healthy living way of life,

I just want to make sure i'm doing the right things
1. started going to the gym 4 times a week on altering days i'll do a 10-15 mins warm up, 100+ crunch's + core work, 30-40 mins weights heavy 15 reps of each *2 sets. and for a warm down I'll swim lightly for 500m

The other days I'll swim vigorously for 1000m i'm up to 1200 hundred now.

2. I'm in my 3rd week of keeping a decent food diary (fitday.com) everything goes in and I have found myself always going for the healthier option when I'm hungry so that I don't exceed 2000 cals a day. I do exceed 2000 cals when I have a few drinks but I work in a job that requires me to have a constitution for it. as I will be entertaining clients at least once a week.

I'm very happy happy with my self at the moment( i can see a huge difference in the mirror) and my confidence is at it's highest in years, but my problem is i'm pushing 17 1/2 stone (6ft 2) and I want to loose 2 st. I feel that i may get discouraged if I don't get the results on scales that i want

Should I reduce my calorie intake further or grin and bear it.

jonichat

Hi db..

Not really qualified to give you advise but I still think you deserve a pat on the back for your hard work to date. Well done!

I have just started weight training myself... although it's a different set up I guess as I am a 5.4" female!

Keep us posted on your progress.

ali.c

dblennon wrote: »

30-40 mins weights heavy 15 reps of each *2 sets.

What excercise are you doing specifically. Also you may get better results by dropping the reps say to 8-12 and doing 3 sets rather than 2

I'm in my 3rd week of keeping a decent food diary (fitday.com) everything goes in and I have found myself always going for the healthier option when I'm hungry so that I don't exceed 2000 cals a day. I do exceed 2000 cals when I have a few drinks but I work in a job that requires me to have a constitution for it. as I will be entertaining clients at least once a week

I'm very happy happy with my self at the moment( i can see a huge difference in the mirror) and my confidence is at it's highest in years, but my problem is i'm pushing 17 1/2 stone (6ft 2) and I want to loose 2 st. I feel that i may get discouraged if I don't get the results on scales that i want

Should I reduce my calorie intake further or grin and bear it.

Well done, personally though i think the 2000kcal if accurate is actually quite on the low side for your weight. How anal are you being about monitoring your food intake watch out for hidden kcals like sugar/milk in coffee or lucozade in the gym or other calorie containing beverages. Also if you are not weighting your food this can introduce some inaccuracies too. I presume if you are entertaining clients that you are also eating out a bit too. You dont have to weight everything but it is helpful to get an idea of weight per portion size so you can judge it and again speaking of hidden kcals the sauces etc in restaurants can be quite high calorie wise.

Well done on taking some positive steps towards getting healthier and it is fantastic that you are already feeling the benifits of it!!

dblennon

thanks Ali C.

Yea I'm being pretty anal about what I eat trying to eat fresh only no sugars etc I'll charge myself 700 kcal for a main course and another 200 if I have a starter no fries or potatoes as it's impossible to measure.
also switched to whole wheat pasta hope to be able to cut it out eventually but I would have had pasta 3/4 times a week for years. I'll only have it once a week now.

I have a system that I took off a health and fitness mag named "fat to fit" It's pretty good and I wouldn't be able to do much more if i can't do a 15 rep i'll do the set of 3.

ali.c

:eek:

dblennon wrote: »

thanks Ali C.

Yea I'm being pretty anal about what I eat trying to eat fresh only no sugars etc I'll charge myself 700 kcal for a main course and another 200 if I have a starter no fries or potatoes as it's impossible to measure.

Yeah it definately is hard to measure alright, but as you get more familiar with stuff you will find you'll be better at estimating what you eat. Rubadub did a quick count on a takeaway in this post http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055209321 that may be of interest too you.
It could well be that 700kcal is a low estimation, just for example I checked a pizza box for kcal content and although it had a really thin base and it was 414kcal for 1/2 a pizza which in fairness there are far more filling ways to get 414kcal into you.

also switched to whole wheat pasta hope to be able to cut it out eventually but I would have had pasta 3/4 times a week for years. I'll only have it once a week now.

Some people advocate doing a complete overhaul immediately but for me slow steady changes work really well. Just on portion size what my bf would consider to be a portion of pasta is actually about 1000kcal :eek:if not more so something to watch out for if you are eating it out!

I have a system that I took off a health and fitness mag named "fat to fit" It's pretty good and I wouldn't be able to do much more if i can't do a 15 rep i'll do the set of 3.

If you were only shooting for 8-12reps though you could lift more weight and in a session you would actually get the same number of reps in too so you'd be doing more work!

rubadub

ali.c wrote: »

it was 414kcal for 1/2 a pizza which in fairness there are far more filling ways to get 414kcal into you.

Yes, pizzas have savage calories in them. I always look at them and think "not too bad", until I realise it is 1/2 a pizza they usually quote for, I used to eat a full one, thick base, and a rake of chips.

I don't know anybody who orders to the portions shown on takeaways, i.e. it might say 9" pizza serves 2-3 etc.

I could still eat the pizza if I wanted, what happens is I would think of what I could have instead for the same calories and just don't go for it. 1 pizza verses a rake of chicken stir fry with loads of cashews, no contest for me.

Pasta & noodles have loads of calories too- very easy to overdo them thinking it is a normal amount.

dblennon

thanks Ali C.

Yea I'm being pretty anal about what I eat trying to eat fresh only no sugars etc I'll charge myself 700 kcal for a main course and another 200 if I have a starter no fries or potatoes as it's impossible to measure.
also switched to whole wheat pasta hope to be able to cut it out eventually but I would have had pasta 3/4 times a week for years. I'll only have it once a week now.

I have a system that I took off a health and fitness mag named "fat to fit" It's pretty good and I wouldn't be able to do much more if i can't do a 15 rep i'll do the set of 3.

dblennon

yea when i found out about 6 months ago how many calories were in a pizza it was easy to say no. I mean me and my 3 bro's could easily go through 3 16inch dominos if we were hungry I'm just glad were all so involved with sport i'd hate to think what we'd look like.

pretty gutted about the the boiled rice though was in a chinese last week charged my self about 1800 calories and I ate about 1/2 what i would normally but it was probably more as we shared all the meals & starters it would have been impossible to measure acurately I did get a good slagging for ordering the boiled rice aswell. HA

dblennon

I'm trying not to look at the scales but it's hard since I want to loose weight.

I presumed that the bread butter and cheese alone would count for at least a 1/2 a stone + My quantities are way down, I'm currently averaging 2,200 calories a day, but i'm not more than 1900 on days i'm not drinking.

below is my calorie intake, acording to my weight and height I will naturally burn over 3000 calories a day I can't understand why I haven't lost any weight.

Calorie intake over the past 4 weeks
Average Calories
Total: 2203
Fat: 59 533 24%
Sat: 19 171 8%
Poly: 12 105 5%
Mono: 23 210 10%
Carbs: 232 847 39%
Fiber: 21 0 0%
Protein: 96 383 18%
Alcohol: 59 414 19%

Hanley

Your protein intake is way too low. You'd probably see good results if you dropped some of the carbs, which are really quite alot for someone looking to lose weight and eating 2,200kcals imo, and replace them with protein.

Something like 200g of carbs, 130g of protein and 60g of fat. Then if that doesn't work 190g carbs, 140g protein, 60g fat.

It might take a while to find out the best ratios for you but you'll get thee eventually. I've always had great success with 40% of my total kcals coming from protein, 30% from carbs and the final 30% from fat.