Newbie - Advice Please

sparky360

Hi there,

Well it's finally happened. I really really am committed to getting fit. I am after putting on a lot of weight after quitting smoking and drinking heavily and want to lose weight and tone up.

It wasnt easy kicking the drink (I am an alcoholic) and I want exercise and healthy living to be my new "vice" if you can call it that

I'm not expecting miracles but I want to know if any of you had advice regarding a healthy diet. My diet was really bad for the last few years (takeaways etc) and I want a new, fresh, healthy one.

Also, due to lack of fundage, a gym is not an option at the moment. What other exercises can I do. I have a bit of a beer gut and want to get rid of it.

Sorry for all these questions, but I am completely ignorant when it comes to this

celestial

sparky360 wrote: »

Hi there,

Well it's finally happened. I really really am committed to getting fit. I am after putting on a lot of weight after quitting smoking and drinking heavily and want to lose weight and tone up.

It wasnt easy kicking the drink (I am an alcoholic) and I want exercise and healthy living to be my new "vice" if you can call it that

I'm not expecting miracles but I want to know if any of you had advice regarding a healthy diet. My diet was really bad for the last few years (takeaways etc) and I want a new, fresh, healthy one.

Also, due to lack of fundage, a gym is not an option at the moment. What other exercises can I do. I have a bit of a beer gut and want to get rid of it.

Sorry for all these questions, but I am completely ignorant when it comes to this

Hey sparky,

Welcome and fair play for deciding to commit to a new lifestyle!! Diet is no.1, closely followed by exercise. We can help out on both counts. I would recommend you read the below and get back to us with any questions. There will be plenty of exercise advice offered too - what kinda exercise would you like to do? If you haven't been doing anything then even going out walking briskly will have an effect almost straight away.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054886861

lolo2

Hey sparky,

absolute dues to you for making this decision. Alcohol and nicotine destroy a few different types of vitamins and minerals in your body so thats certainly one of many reasons to stay off them.

You definitely dont need a gym to get fit, start doing some running (do get proper runners though) for your cardiorespiratory system, and for resistance you can use your bodyweight and a few tricks to increase the resistance beyond that. Google "calisthenics", you can go a long way to toning up doing bridges etc. Old fashioned press ups and pull ups are great too. Its a start anyway.

Its expensive to eat healthy but have a read of the nutrition and diet stickys and you will get the idea. Heres a page with some "healthy eating on a budget tips" http://www.paulamee.com/paulamee/Main/Eating_Well_100euro_for4.htm.

Really hope you stay dry and smoke free - sure you can get addicted to exersize instead!

Colm_OReilly

I don't find it expensive to eat healthy, it costs me about €40-€60 a week for my food. Having just typed that, I've no frame of reference but it certainly doesn't seem much to me.

Simplefit.org is a good site to start you off exercising. They have scalable workouts and the only equipment you need is a chinning bar - >€20 at Argos.

If you can, invest in a weights set. You can pick up a decent one for about €200 or less from Irish Lifting that will serve you for quite some time. If you get a weights set starting strength is great program as well. There's a lot of info on it on the web at large as well as on this board.

I'm always cautious when it comes to running as a means to get fit if you're overweight. There's a technique to running safely (not that I claim to know it) and if you're overweight and unfit you're giving your knees quite the pounding.

Like celestial said, anything will help as a beginner.

Hanley

Off topic... Is that amount of €€ with or without meat Colm?? It seems very low!!

Colm_OReilly

With meat. I doubt I'm getting less than enough protein as I seem to be eating more now than ever.

At a rough guess, I'm eating probably a pound of meat a day, with nuts and an egg or two. Good bit of veg - parsnips, peppers, mushrooms, onions, celery, cucumber, brocolli, tomato. Some fruit (bananas, grapes, apples, clementines). Olive oil and then chocolate for the soul.

Hanley

Sound, cheers. That doesn't seem like that much at all to be spending. I was thinking it was gonna take upwards of €100 per week when I get out into the big bad world.