Please help me shed some weight.

BoozyBabe · 09-07-2008 8:50am #1

Ok, this is going to be long as I'm trying to give you as accurate a picture as possible.

I'm 28, 5' 0", size 10/12 & currently weigh in & around 9.5 st.

A few months ago I bought a dress, when I weighed around 8.5 st & now it won't fit.
I need to fit into this dress in 2 months time.

On Monday 30th June, I joined the gym. It was evening when I weighed myself & I was 9st 8lbs, & a massive 32% of my body composition was fat!!! (I blame a lot of years of yo yo dieting losing lean mass as opposed to fat)

I'm going to the gym 4 times a week, Mon, Tue, Wed, & Fri, & I stay 1.5hrs a night. I can't stay longer than this, as I need an evening meal & don't want to eat after 8pm. (Ideally I'd like not to eat after 6pm, but this isn't possible)
At the gym, I do 15mins on treadmill, currently jogging about 6mins of this, 10mins on rowing machine, 10mins on exercise bike, 10mins on high resistance crosstrainer with arms, 3 x 2mins on a ladder climbing device, & 15mins on crosstrainer without arms, finishing with another 5 mins on treadmill where I try to jog / sprint most of it, & then situps & stretches.
I use the machines at a decent resistance & push myself pretty hard.

I am substituting 1-2 of my meals per day with Maximuscle Promax Diet & then eating sensible meals for the remainder. (It was recommended to me, I'm not finding it great tbh, but it cost a lot so I'm going to finish the tub)

My weight since has yo yo'd to 9st 7lbs, 9st 3lbs, to 9st 6lbs, remaining mostly at the latter.

I know I'm not doing this very long, but with only 2 months till I need to fit into the dress & with about a stone to 1.5st to lose, not much is happening.

I understand that muscle weighs more than fat, & that perhaps the scales aren't moving because I'm converting fat to muscle, but I'm feeling nothing in my clothes. My trousers are still as tight as ever, the back bulges under my bra are still as pronounced as ever, I don't feel like anything is getting tighter.

I'm delighted to be getting fitter, & regardless of fitting into the dress I'm still commited to sticking this out for a new me, but I DO need to see these results in 2 months or I'll be gutted with all my hard work not paying off.

What can I do to help?
Can you recommend anything else at the gym? Remem, it takes me 1.5 hrs to get through what I listed above, & I can't afford to stay at the gym longer than 1.5hrs.

Please help.
BB

c - 13 · 09-07-2008 9:13am

I'm guessing that the 32% BF was measured by the scales ? If so thats not correct because those things are probably the most inaccurate way of measuring it. So don't let that get you depressed.

Take a look at the Beach Body ... Rules and see the measurements that G'em suggests taking and track yourself by those measurements instead. You'll have better idea of where you are loosing fat from etc.

Other than that, good luck.

celestial · 09-07-2008 9:13am

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Ok, this is going to be long as I'm trying to give you as accurate a picture as possible.

I'm 28, 5' 0", size 10/12 & currently weigh in & around 9.5 st.

A few months ago I bought a dress, when I weighed around 8.5 st & now it won't fit.
I need to fit into this dress in 2 months time.

On Monday 30th June, I joined the gym. It was evening when I weighed myself & I was 9st 8lbs, & a massive 32% of my body composition was fat!!! (I blame a lot of years of yo yo dieting losing lean mass as opposed to fat)

I'm going to the gym 4 times a week, Mon, Tue, Wed, & Fri, & I stay 1.5hrs a night. I can't stay longer than this, as I need an evening meal & don't want to eat after 8pm. (Ideally I'd like not to eat after 6pm, but this isn't possible)
At the gym, I do 15mins on treadmill, currently jogging about 6mins of this, 10mins on rowing machine, 10mins on exercise bike, 10mins on high resistance crosstrainer with arms, 3 x 2mins on a ladder climbing device, & 15mins on crosstrainer without arms, finishing with another 5 mins on treadmill where I try to jog / sprint most of it, & then situps & stretches.
I use the machines at a decent resistance & push myself pretty hard.

I am substituting 1-2 of my meals per day with Maximuscle Promax Diet & then eating sensible meals for the remainder. (It was recommended to me, I'm not finding it great tbh, but it cost a lot so I'm going to finish the tub)

My weight since has yo yo'd to 9st 7lbs, 9st 3lbs, to 9st 6lbs, remaining mostly at the latter.

I know I'm not doing this very long, but with only 2 months till I need to fit into the dress & with about a stone to 1.5st to lose, not much is happening.

I understand that muscle weighs more than fat, & that perhaps the scales aren't moving because I'm converting fat to muscle, but I'm feeling nothing in my clothes. My trousers are still as tight as ever, the back bulges under my bra are still as pronounced as ever, I don't feel like anything is getting tighter.

I'm delighted to be getting fitter, & regardless of fitting into the dress I'm still commited to sticking this out for a new me, but I DO need to see these results in 2 months or I'll be gutted with all my hard work not paying off.

What can I do to help?
Can you recommend anything else at the gym? Remem, it takes me 1.5 hrs to get through what I listed above, & I can't afford to stay at the gym longer than 1.5hrs.

Please help.
BB

What is your typical day's diet til we have a look?

aye · 09-07-2008 9:18am

BoozyBabe wrote: »

I'm going to the gym 4 times a week, Mon, Tue, Wed, & Fri, & I stay 1.5hrs a night. I can't stay longer than this, as I need an evening meal & don't want to eat after 8pm. (Ideally I'd like not to eat after 6pm, but this isn't possible)
At the gym, I do 15mins on treadmill, currently jogging about 6mins of this, 10mins on rowing machine, 10mins on exercise bike, 10mins on high resistance crosstrainer with arms, 3 x 2mins on a ladder climbing device, & 15mins on crosstrainer without arms, finishing with another 5 mins on treadmill where I try to jog / sprint most of it, & then situps & stretches.
I use the machines at a decent resistance & push myself pretty hard.

do you do an weight lifting?
you need to build muscle tissue. this will increase you daily calorie needs, and assist in losing body fat.

thats is a lot of cardio.

i think you would be better off cutting the cardio down.

starting with a 5 min warm up on the rower.
then hitting the weights.
go for compound movements, if you are complete beginner be sure to have an instructor show you the exercises.

bench press
seated row
db shoulder press
lat pulldown
squat/deadlift
tricep dips
bicep curls

aim for 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps per set.
you should do a warm up of the movement before hand with a lighter weight, for about 12 reps, just to warm up.

when i say 6 - 8 reps, it should be a weight where you struggle with the last two reps. i.e. you should find it difficult.

after the weights you could do some cardio training, interval training will be quicker time wise.
so jogging for 2 mins warm up, then sprint for 30 - 40 secs, jog for a min, and repeat 5 times.

post stretch afterwards.
eat protein and carbs after your workout.

as regard substituting 1-2 of your meals per day with Maximuscle Promax Diet, how many meals are you getting a day?
you want to be eating maybe 5 or 6 times a day, smaller meals. this will keep your metabolism up and stop the body from storing fat.
i would add the promax as part of your extra meals, i.e. the meals in between your usual breakfast, lunch and dinner.
look at the stickies for diet advise, wealth of information there.

hope this helps.

deisebabe · 09-07-2008 9:31am

talk to the gym instructor. they can give you a set exercise plan for your goal....telling you which machines/weights to use in the gym and in which order. When i went the instructor told me to start with 15 mins on the crosstrainer as this got you ready to burn calories quicker. Then 15 mins on bike and lastly 15 mins on treadmill. After that it was weights and then stretching. It worked for me. good luck!

BoozyBabe · 09-07-2008 9:33am

Thanks guys for your fast responses.

At the mo, I guess typical day (only since last mon)
Brekkie:- Promax
Mid morn:- fruit
Lunch:- Homemade wholemeal bread or Promax (if not for dinner)
Afternoon:- fruit
Exercise
Dinner:- Promax (if not for lunch) Brown rice or pasta, veg, small bit of sauce, chicken or meat.

Lots & lots & lots of water. Some days I've had lunch & dinner instead of Promax.
Before last Mon I'd have had porridge for brekkie.

The bf was measured by me lying down & getting electrodes stuck to my feet & my hands.
The one strange thing though was tahe I was told I was seriously dehydrated even though I'd drink about 3ltrs of water a day, & always have!!!

I will take a good look at the beach body thread. Seems like a lot of good info there.

I did wonder about weights alright. I did think I should be doing them, but these were never suggested so I thought maybe I was supposed to shed some fat 1st. I will try & get my routine changed to add weights.

Anything to shed the flab.
Thanks again.

g'em · 09-07-2008 10:05am

Here's a question: when you reach your target weight what will you start eating instead of ProMax?

Don't get me wrong, supplements are a great tool for weight loss, but they can become way too much of a crutch. If you don't know how to feed yourself properly once you're off the diet then essentially you're just yo-yo dieting again.

Eat protein at every meal. Stop eating so much fruit and subsitute in vegetable (sticks or cooked) or nuts for snacks. Read the stickies and see can you devise your own healthy eating plan and post it up.

BoozyBabe · 09-07-2008 10:16am

Thanks Gem.

As said, the Promax was recommended, & tbh I don't think it's great at all & pretty vile to drink!!
I'm finishing the tub & then no more.

TBH, I don't know WHAT to eat! With the yo yo dieting that's gone before, I think my metabolism is shot!!

Unless each meal consisted of a stick of celery, if I ate 6 meals a day I'd put on about 3 stone in a month!!!!
No kidding, even looking at food puts weight on me.

I know I'm going to have to adjust my tastebuds, but I'm really NOT a fan of veg & I find them so boring that it really is a chore to eat them.

I'm hoping the exercise will rev my metabolism up a bit to allow me to eat a bit more without gaining a tonne of weight.
I can make brekkie. As I said, porridge would be my fav & I have this at 7.30am.
I'm away from home then until 8pm.
I have no cooking facilities at work, so what I eat must be cold, & pre-made & I really can't stomach salads everyday. I know I'd be running to the shop after a few days if I went the salad route. I'm hopeless with food ideas. Any healthy lunch suggestions?
Then, like I said, it's 8pm when I get home, after the gym. Something is normally made & ready for me so I eat this, or take a shake, cos I really don't want to be eating much after 8.

Side note:- are raw carrots good? As I love these. (High sugar content?)

cowzerp · 09-07-2008 10:31am

raw carrots are fine, eat chicken or fish instead of promax, add more protein such as these throughout the day aswell...them flavoured tuna things are ready to go and dont need cooking or anything!

Dudess · 09-07-2008 10:34am

g'em wrote: »

Stop eating so much fruit

As a matter of curiosity g'em, why do you say this? Is it because fruit is high in sugar? (albeit a far better kind of sugar than the sugar found in Coca Cola).

g'em · 09-07-2008 10:38am

BoozyBabe, I'm going to be blunt: suck it up.

Don't like vegetables? It's an excuse.

Can't eat well in work? It's an excuse.

Metabolism is shot and eating frequently makes you put on weight? Well that's pretty much an excuse too. No-one gets fat from looking at food, you get fat from eating it. I know you were making a funny with that comment but you also need to take responsibility for your behaviours and accept that you are in control of how you look.

In all likelihood you're right, the yo-yo dieting has done you no favours at all, but let's be real here, you're young and you can undo the damage with a bit of effort.

Let's also be realistic about your size - at 5' and 9.5 stone you're not exactly whale-like, but with a history of yo-yo dieting your lean mass levels probably aren't in tip-top shape, so honing your diet and getting clever with your workouts will make a BIG difference.

And probably the biggest challenge will simply be: consistency.

There's a reason why yo-yo dieters yo-yo diet; it's because they can't stick to one thing for very long. Heck, I'm guilty of it too, but you find that over time the more healthy practices you make a habit, the easier it is to stay on the wagon.

There's plenty of ways to eat vegetables healthily but tastily. In order to accommodate eating well at work you may have to pre-prepare some things the night beforehand but meh, that's the effort that's required.

Ratatouille, roasted aubergines with tomatoes and buffalo mozarella, stir-fry's, Nicoise salad, chicken & orange & walnut & blue cheese salad, steamed spring vegetables with a drizzle of almond oil...

Snacking is easy too - a handful of plain nuts, a piece of fruit, a hard-boiled egg, a diced chicken breast in salsa sauce.

And yes, raw carrots are fine

g'em · 09-07-2008 10:42am

Dudess wrote: »

As a matter of curiosity g'em, why do you say this? Is it because fruit is high in sugar? (albeit a far better kind of sugar than the sugar found in Coca Cola).

Yup. I'm cautious about saying sometimes - there'll always be some smart feicer who thinks "aggh, fruit iz evil, must stick to pizza!!!1!!!". The truth is though that an over-reliance on fruit means that you're neglecting other aspects of your diet. Vegetables for example provide nutrients and minerals not found in fruit. Plus it can exacerbate an already difficult sweet-tooth and make it harder for people to cut down on sugary foods. So it's not (at all) that fruit is bad for you per se, simply that it's better to keep its consumption moderated and make sure you don't substitute out other foods.

BoozyBabe · 09-07-2008 10:53am

Thanks G'em.

TBH, I don't think I was trying to make any excuses!
I'm here saying I want to lose weight & I want to make my exercise more effective, not I'm looking for ways to excuse lack of effort.

I am making an effort!

I don't like vegetables. In another of your posts you mentioned the importance of enjoying what you eat, as you'd be more likely to stick to it.
I don't like veg, so there's no point in me trying to gorge no them. It won't work. Been there & I ended up not eating instead. I'm not trying to make excuses.
I like peppers, raw carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, can stomach broccoli, but I'd be bored to tears if I'd to stomach that every day, but I try to add as much veg as possible to the pasta / rice dishes I eat.

Again, I wasn't for one second suggesting I can't eat well at work. I'm sure I can. All I said was I don't enjoy salads, so again going back to the 1st point, if I don't enjoy them I end up not eating. & apart from that I just said I've no way to cook or nuke food at work, so my lunch will be cold.
chicken / tuna, lettuce, egg, mayo on wholemeal bread?

& I most definitely am taking responsibility for my looks. I wouldn't be here seeking advise otherwise, & I wouldn't be sweating buckets at the gym if I didn't.
I feel you've taken me up wrong just cos I've stated I don't like veg & can't cook at work!

Anyway,
Now I'm going to go through your sticky threads & see if I can come up with a decent eating plan that will work for me & get talking to my instructor about doing up a weights program for me.

Thanks again

g'em · 09-07-2008 11:01am

Apologies if I came across too strong.

Have you ever tried cooking adventurously with vegetables, that is not just boiling/ steaming them? You can 'hide' vegetables in sauces with minimal ease. And you'll need to drop/ reduce the pasta and rice.

It's just difficult to make positive changes when you put up so many barriers for yourself before you've even begun.

cowzerp · 09-07-2008 11:07am

BoozyBabe wrote: »

I like peppers, raw carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, can stomach broccoli, but I'd be bored to tears if I'd to stomach that every day, but I try to add as much veg as possible to the pasta / rice dishes I eat.

Great so you have a good start on veg you can eat.

now if your trying to lose weight maybe you should not be eating pasta and rice dishes...there the things i cut when i want to shed fat, along with sugary foods and alcohol.

g'em · 09-07-2008 11:10am

Good point on the veg cowzerp, I missed that.

BB - put sliced carrots + peppers + onions + garlic into a roasting dish with a good drizzle of olive oil, put into oven for 20-25 minutes at 180 - 200 degrees Celsius and you've got a fab roast veg dish.

Edit: Boil broccoli & Cauliflower, mash them together with a small knob of butter and some garlic and it makes a fantastic pseudo-mash!

Vegeta · 09-07-2008 11:44am

If you really want to this to definitely work you'll have to get scientific on its ass.

Measure yourself, measure your food and track progress.

Weigh yourself, use the stickies to see how many calories you need to eat to be losing weight (don't under eat). Pick healthy foods you'll stick with and measure them so you know you are not going over your daily allowance.

Personally I think if you are not weighing the food you are only codding yourself, you could be under or over eating and have no way of knowing. Of course you can just wing it and see if you lose weight but it can be frustraing if you put all the effort into eating well and not see any loss. Weigh your food.

Some of it is annoying but it works.

my diet was (which is not perfect by an means, all food was weighed to suit my needs, you'd have to do the same for everything)
Breakfast: porridge and protein shake
10am: half a wholemeal wrap with chicken or tuna with lettuce, onion, peppers, tiny tomatoes, bit of chilli pepper
lunch: two veg (not spuds) and meat/fish from canteen at work
3.30pm: other half of wrap
dinner: frozen mixed veg, little bit of sauce and chicken or eggs.
pre bed: protein shake

Also get a decent weights program, not one with pink weights doing 15+ reps.

BoozyBabe · 09-07-2008 12:35pm

Hi Vegeta,

you say weigh weigh weigh!!

But how do I know how much each food item SHOULD weigh to be right for me?

G'em,
Done a quick bit of research / thinking.
What's something like this like:-

I calculated (using your formula) that to lose weight I need to comsume 85% of of my total daily calories, which works out at around 1835 cals (which seems like an awful lot to me! Can't imagine losing weight eating that amount!!)

Anyway, a bit of a start to my daily menu to see if I'm on the right track.

Breakfast.
A bowl of porridge. (I usually have 1/2 cup of uncooked oats. Is this too much?) I'm afraid I'm a savour person, so I only eat my porridge made with water & salt & when cooked I eat it with skimmed milk. PLEASE don't tell me to eat it with honey or chopped banana

as I've been eating it the savoury way since birth!!! Is there enough protein in porridge alone, or should I add a spoon of flaxseed?

Mid morn.
Raw carrot. Handful sunflower seeds

Lunch.
Prob sandwiches will suit me best at work. I make my own wholemeal bread. Would two slices of this be ok with maybe a slice of cheese / tuna / egg / chicken, with lettuce & onions. (sorry to be fussy again but don't like raw tomato.:o)
Maybe at home, I could have homemade soup. I usually bung in any veg I can find & make from stock of chicken carcass. But I generally blend all the veg. Is this ok?
Also like wholmeal wraps or pitta with the above fillings. Again is this ok?

Afternoon.
I love natural yoghurt with a chopped apple or halved grapes. I really like the blue natural probiotic yoghurt that Lidl do, but if you know the pots, are they too big to eat at one sitting? I've a feeling they may be 225g in size, but I'm not sure.

Dinner.
What about salmon cakes made with sweet potato? would the breadcrumbs & oil make these too bad (they're baked in oven)
What about a sweet potato & turnip mash?
I have at home, but rarely cooked, millet, cous cous, quinoa, aduki beans, chicpeas. Are these ingredients ok to use as alternatives to rice, pasta, spuds? I love kidney beans.
If I cooked the veg I mentioned earlier, with some of the grains above, with chicken, lean meats, fish, but still ate them with a spoonful or two of curry or tomato type sauces, would this still be ok? (Again making the majority of the meal veg & meat based)

& continue with the lots & lots of water.

Am I on the right track there?
Is there enough protein in all those meals. (Hell, IS there protein in ALL those meals?

)

Thanks again.
Your threads have been very informative.
Going with typical portions, sandwich sizes etc above, how many calories would you roughly imagine would be in that menu?
1835kcal or a lot less?

I have to admit, I'm still very worried about that figure!!

g'em · 09-07-2008 1:29pm

BoozyBabe wrote: »

G'em,
Done a quick bit of research / thinking.
What's something like this like:-

I calculated (using your formula) that to lose weight I need to comsume 85% of of my total daily calories, which works out at around 1835 cals (which seems like an awful lot to me! Can't imagine losing weight eating that amount!!)

That calculator thingy tends to cater more for people who are very active and have high lean mass, and can be overly generous with calories. I would actually say that 1850 cals/ day is a better estimate of your maintenance calorie needs - that is if you were to eat that much you would neither lose nor gain anything.

In your case a figure of around 1600 - 1700 cals per day is more appropriate.

But that's the last I'm going to mention of calories; while calorie counting can be a great tool, it's very tempting to get caught up in numbers and paying less attention to the foods you should be eating.

Breakfast.
A bowl of porridge. (I usually have 1/2 cup of uncooked oats. Is this too much?) I'm afraid I'm a savour person, so I only eat my porridge made with water & salt & when cooked I eat it with skimmed milk. PLEASE don't tell me to eat it with honey or chopped banana as I've been eating it the savoury way since birth!!! Is there enough protein in porridge alone, or should I add a spoon of flaxseed?

Brilliant breakfast, and there's no problem at all having it savoury. Oats don't have very much protein at all, but in this case that's not really a massive issue as they are a fantastic source of slow release carbs which will keep you nice and full for a while. Adding flax or mixed seeds to it would be ideal also.

As a savoury alternative why not try eggs some mornings - you can whip up scrambled eggs or an omelette in no time and if you're feeling adventurous you can add feta cheese and spinach or tomatoes and onions or mushrooms.

Mid morn.
Raw carrot. Handful sunflower seeds

Good stuff. If you get to the point that you feel that eating the carrots becomes a chore you'll have to reassess it - if you're anything like me (and 80% of women out there!!) you'll say fcuk the carrots, I want chocolate instead of trying to discover a healthier alternative. Have fruit or a yoghurt or some dried berries or fruit - anything other than gorging on junk!

Lunch.
Prob sandwiches will suit me best at work. I make my own wholemeal bread. Would two slices of this be ok with maybe a slice of cheese / tuna / egg / chicken, with lettuce & onions. (sorry to be fussy again but don't like raw tomato.:o)
Maybe at home, I could have homemade soup. I usually bung in any veg I can find & make from stock of chicken carcass. But I generally blend all the veg. Is this ok?
Also like wholmeal wraps or pitta with the above fillings. Again is this ok?

That all sounds fine. If you make your soup with potatoes go easy on them and heavy with the veg. Also try and avoid lots of mayonnaise or sauces. If you can, try and have a salad based lunch once or twice a week as it's the breads (even homemade ones!) that can be the undoing of even the best eating plans.

Afternoon.
I love natural yoghurt with a chopped apple or halved grapes. I really like the blue natural probiotic yoghurt that Lidl do, but if you know the pots, are they too big to eat at one sitting? I've a feeling they may be 225g in size, but I'm not sure.

If it's plain natural yoghurt you can eat it to your heart's content. Flavoured yoghurts are a different story because they have so much added sugar but fruit you add yourself will give you all the taste and none of the worry.

Dinner.
What about salmon cakes made with sweet potato? would the breadcrumbs & oil make these too bad (they're baked in oven)

Keep the salmon content high and they're should be ok.

What about a sweet potato & turnip mash?

Fabulous, but not too big a portion size (a large tablespoon' worth is plenty).

I have at home, but rarely cooked, millet, cous cous, quinoa, aduki beans, chicpeas. Are these ingredients ok to use as alternatives to rice, pasta, spuds? I love kidney beans.

Absolutely, they're ideal. Again keep the portion size down, half a cup of (uncooked) of any of them is plenty.

If I cooked the veg I mentioned earlier, with some of the grains above, with chicken, lean meats, fish, but still ate them with a spoonful or two of curry or tomato type sauces, would this still be ok? (Again making the majority of the meal veg & meat based)

Check the sauce labels, some of them have a LOT of hidden fats and sugars in them. Tomato based sauces tend to be good, and a homemade sauce of tomato puree with onions and mushrooms is quick, easy and super healthy.

Am I on the right track there?
Is there enough protein in all those meals. (Hell, IS there protein in ALL those meals? )

You're doing great. Like I said in another post, you have to get clever about these things and start to approach foods in a logical way.

Protein = meat, eggs, fish, dairy
Carbs = oats, rice, pasta, bread, sugars, legumes, fruit
Fats = nuts & seeds and their oils, avocados

The reason I advocate protein at every meal is very simply because it's satiating and hard for your body to turn into fat.

Carbs on the other hand tend to be much easier to turn into fat (and there's a whole host of other hormonal and physiological effects they have which isn't the May West for your fat deposits) but of those carbs oats are probably the best and you can eat them without worry.

Vegetables are technically carbs, but their calorie content is so low that you barely need to register them in your food plans (however, this excludes potatoes, peas and corn - potatoes are high in starch, peas are technically legumes and corn is lower in fibre and higher in carbs than other veg).

Fat doesn't necessarily make you fat, and when the right fats are eaten it actually helps your body burn fat. Many of your hormones are made using dietary fat so you need to keep them eating them.

This whole eating healthily malarky doesn't happen overnight, and it takes some trial and error, patience and a lot of reading. Don't be afraid to get it wrong sometimes, but take note of how good you feel when you get it right. Good food makes your body feel brilliant.

s for portion sizes, use your hand. Make the meat serving about the size of you palm or a little bigger and your vegetable/ salad portions the size of two hands. As for the breads/ pastas etc., well in all truth the less the better.

Vegeta · 09-07-2008 1:30pm

BoozyBabe wrote: »

Hi Vegeta,

you say weigh weigh weigh!!

But how do I know how much each food item SHOULD weigh to be right for me?

Calorie counting works but you have to eat the right foods too. I'm an engineer and work with stats all day so I love having something rigid like calorie counting but you need to be eating right too.

you say you need 1800 calories a day. broken up into 6 meals thats 300 calories a meal. So make each meal a 300 calorie meal. The majority (if not all, as I think its a legal requirement in the EU) of foods have the nutritional breakdown on them. If they don't then use www.fitday.com. Using a calculator and mini digital scales (really cheap in tesco, mine was like 13 euro) its quite easy to work out.

You should be getting about 200 grams of protein a day (1.5gram per lb of body weight, especially when you start weights) which is about 800 calories. So you should be getting about 33 grams of protein per meal which in itself is about 130 calories leaving only 170 (per meal) to get from carbs and fat. That's less than 2 slices of bread.

Still think 1800 is a lot? Weigh yourself just after you get up in the mornings and have a pee. This way its a regular thing and you can track your progress in a repeatable known way.

Try 1800 for a week or two, if you don't lose weight, drop off 100-200 cals and see how the next two weeks go.

After looking up flaxseed and I think a tablespoon (3 grams) only has 1 gram of protein in it

EDIT: On re reading my post its way too complicated, it works for me cos I am a control freak. Take it on board but do what works for you

BoozyBabe · 09-07-2008 1:37pm

Thanks again guys!

Going to get my ass in gear.
Get the food thing sorted
Ad some weights to my workout
& laugh my way to a leaner, meaner me!!!!!!!:D

& in two months I'd bloody well better fit into that dress or I'll be jumping on the bacon slicer!!!!!

Cheers,
BB

15-07-2008 1:43pm

HI check out - 6 day body makeover by Michael Thurmond- ISBN 0-446-69557-2, It works . I tried it and couldn't believe how well it works. He has a series of questions that you answer and it will tell you your body type (this was so accurate) ,it gives you the foods that you need to eat to stimulate your metabolism, Which is the key to weight loss. Eat less but more often, Its all explained in the book but you really do need to stick to it.

Please help me shed some weight.

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