Getting fatter

LegacyUser

hey,
im a student and have always been skinny-ish. but recently in the last year or so ive gained a good bit of weight. for example i can see man boobs forming and a double chin. its horrible and today 3 people asked "are you getting fat?" . i know what they said was mean but i do know its true.
I've tried losing weight in the gym etc but in i find it hard to make time during exams and essays due. i will go back to the gym in time though
I also find it hard to eat right because I'm a fussy eater. I've looked in the nutrition forum here and I couldnt even look at those things. I dont like fruit or veg but i do drink fruit juices and eat some soups but i hate smothies and all that. And as a result i find it hard to buy lunches around town which are healthy and I like. Its a downward spiral for it seems unless i do something.
sorry for the rant. I'm just a bit down after those comments. thanks

markesmith

Eating healthy is just a habit like any other, but a pleasurable one at that. When I was in college I put on a lot of weight, from eating McDonald's and junk food.

As you hit your 20s, your metabolism slows down, and you can't eat 12 packs of Taytos in one sitting without noticing it somewhere on your body later.

And it's really just a numbers game - if you're consuming 2200 calories a day, but you're only burning 1800, then you put on weight. Simple as.

If you could find some veg that you like - I like sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, etc - that would be a good start. Experiment with it.

Also, switch from white bread, pasta and rice to the brown/wholemeal equivalents, that would be a good move. And try not to eat too many starchy carbs (pasta, chips, bread, rice etc) too late in the evening.

In terms of exercise, I've been told that weights is the best way to get rid of excess weight. Muscle requires more calories, and gives definition to your body.

So even if you were just doing 20 press-ups a day, and maybe get yourself a chin-up bar or a couple of small weights, it'd make a difference. 20 press-ups a day only takes about a minute, we've all got time for it.

You'll definitely get better advice over on the fitness forum, though, and they're not to patronising to newbies over there

LegacyUser

thanks mark

some good advice there. I'll have a look in the fitness forum.and start doing something with weights. and I know I should start eating better.
maybe these comments may have been a strange blessing in disguise. now all i need is some motivation.

I really appreciate the reply thanks agains

AnonoBoy

Unregistered wrote: »

I dont like fruit or veg but i do drink fruit juices and eat some soups but i hate smothies and all that.

You don't like any fruit or veg? Well sorry to be blunt but you've got to force yourself into liking them. If you're subsisting on a diet of junk and convenience food then you are going to get fat. It takes a bit of effort to break your eating habits but it's not rocket science.

Walk places instead of getting the bus.
Don't buy **** food for your house and you won't be tempted by it.
Eat less packaged food and cook more dinners yourself. Stir frys are easy and healthy.
Be determined. Look on it as a challenge, a way to prove yourself and you will be able to succeed.

Beta Ray Bill

Hey Mate

I was like you when I was a student. A good metabalism means you can what you like when your young but as you get older that metabalism slows down.

You must eat the right food. If your eating chipper, chinese, pizza all the time your going to put on the weight.

A few tips:
Eat small portions
You're going to have to eat Fruit and Veg, (even an apple?)
Avoid eating in the evenings
Cut out the snacks + fizzy drinks
and get some carido exercise (walking etc?)

I know all this sounds like a pain but unfortunaly this is what you have to do. You must eat the correct food and take care of your body, it has to last you the rest of your life.

I've can relate to you bro.

I used to eat loads of crap up until recently I'm now in the process of loosing weight.
You just have to cut out the junk food and get some exercise.

I have made it a point of incorporating fitness and health into my life rather than incorporating my life into fitness and health. IE you should be able to stay haelthy and still do your normal everydays things

Placebo

Its very easy to keep slim [not fit]

Cut out snacks, fizzy drinks, i dont think ive eaten choclate in years. Ofcourse you can indulge yourself in one now and then.

White bread? definite no no, theres alot of NICER bread out there high fiber/multigrain/low gi , no need to settle for horrible brennans plain brown bread.

You should add salad, at least to your meal ! it will fill you up quicker.

Theres no need to go on a special diet, just cut of fast foods/ rolls / snacks.

Have a look at low gi carbs aswell.

LegacyUser

yeah i know my dislike of fruit and veg is silly but are fruit juice's like apple or orange not just the same?
sorry if that sounds moronic.

i like your idea grahambo of incorporating it into my lifestyle instead of changing my whole life around. its good to hear somebody is/was in the same boat.


if you dont mind me asking why is eating in the evenings so bad? sorry again for sounding silly.

thanks

Kaldorn

Check this and explain it
diet

cereal and fruit for brekkie

brown bread sambo and soup and fruit and lo fat crisps for lunch

home cooked meal for dinner

eat a grill maybe twice a week and a takeaway once

drink alot of juice eat yogurts most days too

drink alot i have to say maybe 20 pints a week
play football every tuesday.still cant lose weight..dont know what i am doing wrong.....i though as soon as i changed my diet it would fall off but it aint happeneing folks

AnonoBoy

Unregistered wrote: »

yeah i know my dislike of fruit and veg is silly but are fruit juice's like apple or orange not just the same?

Not really. Often times fruit juices will have sugar added. And even the ones that aren't aren't as good for you as whole fruit and veg I don't think. Check out the fitness forum for more accurate diet tips.

Wibbs

Fruit juices unless personally squeezed by you have added sugar. Nearly as much as soft drinks. Causes a spike in blood sugar. Not good. Plus your losing most of the roughage.

Eating in the evening? I dunno, the latin med diet is considered a good one and they tend to eat later than us. Then again if they have a lifetime behind them of a good diet then it's less of an issue anyway. I gather it's to do with the fact that you go to sleep on an empty stomach so the calories get laid down as fat more easily??

I wasn't that keen on salads until I put olive oil(extra virgin the best quality) on them. Then they're lovely. Most irish "salads" are just a few bits of lettuce and loads of mayo and the like. Not much good at all. Throw in sweetcorn, peas that kinda thing. Bit of tuna mixed in Much nicer.

Go for good whole foods. Non processed. Avoid bread IMHO. Just taking all breads out of your diet will knock a load of calories on the head(and salt and trans fats). So called "healthy" bread can be just as high in salt and trans fats as plain white bread. Unless you're running or cycling big distances I would avoid pasta etc too for much the same reason.

Knock processed meats on the head. Sausages, burgers, ham etc are just not good for you. Lean red meat in moderation. Chicken and turkey breasts are easy to prepare and nice and tasty. Eat more fish.

Fats aren't the issue. Bad fats are. Avoid vegetable oils except olive oil(again extra virgin, the others have sunflower/peanut oil in them). Breakfast cereals are a minefield. Most have too much added sugar/salt. Porridge is the best or quinona porridge if you can get it, even better.

Homemade soups are a good bet. Shop bought are again laced with sugar and salt. Avoid shop bought sauces for the same reason.

Don't have takeaways. They're just crap. A treat once in a while fine but more than twice a month I reckon will knock you back. Prepackaged foods like pizzas etc also bad. Too much bad fat, salt, limited nutrient value and too much starch.

Eating well for you and your body turns out to be cheaper too.

Walk more. Take the stairs. Maybe join a gym and do some weights three times a week. Muscle just sitting there, burns way more calories than fat. Bodybuilding types have to eat like horses(and good diets too) for that very reason. It'll also make your body pump out more testosterone and human growth hormone, which will make you feel better and burn the fat off you. Go for compound exercises(squats, deadlifts, pull ups). Ones that work a load of muscle groups. Get help in the gym so you're doing them right or you could bugger your back etc.

Check out the fitness forum hereabouts too for really knowledgable people who will defo get you on the right track and likely take what I just wrote apart.

Seraphina

Unregistered wrote: »

yeah i know my dislike of fruit and veg is silly but are fruit juice's like apple or orange not just the same?

its exactly like drinking coke with added vitamins. fruit juices are full of sugar and lacking all the good roughage of the whole fruit. you'd be better off cutting them out completely and drinking water and taking vitamins instead for all the good they'll do you.

if you like fruit juice, why dont you like fruit?

Wibbs

Kaldorn wrote: »

Check this and explain it
diet

cereal and fruit for brekkie

what cereal. Most of the boxed ones have added sugar.

brown bread sambo and soup and fruit and lo fat crisps for lunch

Crisps are potatoes, low fat or not. Pure starch(sugar as such). Brown bread the same, plus salt and trans fats, though has roughage. What's the filling in the sambo? ham, cheese(fat) and a dressing like mayo(lots of fat and sugar and salt). Home made soup good, packet soups have a lot of salt and extra calories, plus MSG.

home cooked meal for dinner

Home cooked what though? Old style meat and two veg, or pasta, burgers etc. It's all in the ingredients.

eat a grill maybe twice a week and a takeaway once

Grill is fatty and the takeaway depending on portion throws in alot of empty colories too.

drink alot of juice eat yogurts most days too

More sugar.

drink alot i have to say maybe 20 pints a week

More sugar again, plus alcohol screws with insulin levels, hence the need for a chinner dinner afterwards. Beer has substances(from the hops AFAIR) that mimic the female hormone which will lay down fat too. Maybe it's called a beer gut not a wine gut for good reason. Your liver's taking a hit too.

play football every tuesday.

Which is good but not enough for your calorie intake if you're not dropping the weight.

still cant lose weight..dont know what i am doing wrong.....i though as soon as i changed my diet it would fall off but it aint happeneing folks

Just on personal observation of mates of mine; it seems that it's easy to put the wieght on by eating too much, but keeping the weight seems to need less food. To really drop it they had to up their exercise and clean up their diet a lot. The human body(some more than others) is built to hang on to fat in case of bad times, so you really have to force it to lose it.

It boils down to this, energy in, in the form of food must be balanced with energy out in the form of exercise, or you will get fatter. The eat less move more principle and you get thinner. Eat more move less and you will get fatter. Very basic but pretty much the case. I'm skinny(not healthy) though do little exercise, because I eat very little.

tomcollins97

Same thing happened me. Got so paranoid had full blood work done, all normal. Even cholesterol well below average. Simply came down to caloires in > calories out.

Portion control is the main this - you really need to keep portion size down. I know weight-watchers & other say eat as much veg/alad/fruit as you like but I don't buy it.

A handy tip is to picutre how much you would get in a restaurant & try to mimic. Restaurnat portions are usually much smaller than home. And remember - no seconds!

Kaldorn

Wibbs wrote: »

what cereal. Most of the boxed ones have added sugar. ---Bran Flakes or rice crispies
Crisps are potatoes, low fat or not. Pure starch(sugar as such). Brown bread the same, plus salt and trans fats, though has roughage. What's the filling in the sambo?

---

i am fussy dont do mayo or anything just plain chicken or turky

---

ham, cheese(fat) and a dressing like mayo(lots of fat and sugar and salt). Home made soup good, packet soups have a lot of salt and extra calories, plus MSG.

Home cooked what though? ---stir frys-spag bol-fish-the odd steak,dont do coooked veg really i eat it raw occasionally

---

Old style meat and two veg, or pasta, burgers etc. It's all in the ingredients.

Grill is fatty and the takeaway depending on portion throws in alot of empty colories too. yeah i like superquinn sausages of a saturday morning, i's say i eat less than half the portion the chinese provides and the bin gets the rest

---

More sugar.

More sugar again, plus alcohol screws with insulin levels, hence the need for a chinner dinner afterwards

---

never eat after booze ever

---

. Beer has substances(from the hops AFAIR) that mimic the female hormone which will lay down fat too. Maybe it's called a beer gut not a wine gut for good reason. Your liver's taking a hit too.

---

i was thinking of drinking spirits or wine of lo cal beer but was afriad id get too locked too early

---

Which is good but not enough for your calorie intake if you're not dropping the weight. Just on personal observation of mates of mine; it seems that it's easy to put the wieght on by eating too much, but keeping the weight seems to need less food. To really drop it they had to up their exercise and clean up their diet a lot. The human body(some more than others) is built to hang on to fat in case of bad times, so you really have to force it to lose it.

It boils down to this, energy in, in the form of food must be balanced with energy out in the form of exercise, or you will get fatter. The eat less move more principle and you get thinner. Eat more move less and you will get fatter. Very basic but pretty much the case. I'm skinny(not healthy) though do little exercise, because I eat very little.

---

i have taken up joggin of a thursday now too do about 3 miles,its the weekend one thats hard to motivate myself to do----thanks
for the tips tho any more???

---

Wibbs

Kaldorn wrote: »

Bran Flakes or rice crispies

Try porridge much better bet. Those have added sugar, esp the rice krispies.

i am fussy dont do mayo or anything just plain chicken or turky

Which is good.

stir frys-spag bol-fish-the odd steak,dont do coooked veg really i eat it raw occasionally

Stir frys good if cooked with fresh ingredients if it's boil in the bag out of a packet, throw in cheap non fresh ingredients, extra salt, fats and MSG. Spag bol, has a lot of starch in the spag bit. If you're adding in sauces, most again have extras thrown in. Avoid ready made stuff like the plague. More veg would be good as you don't seem to eat much at all.

yeah i like superquinn sausages of a saturday morning, i's say i eat less than half the portion the chinese provides and the bin gets the rest

---

Once a week is not biggy I reckon. Like them myself the odd time

never eat after booze ever

Good one That's a big rock that many of my mates have perished on.

i was thinking of drinking spirits or wine of lo cal beer but was afriad id get too locked too early

---

Well the obvious (if boring) one is to ease up on the gargle full stop. Lo cal beer still has the alcohol and the hops and a rake of other additives too. Wine in moderation would be better(red has less sugar than white IIRC). Spirits will hit your liver harder and the mixers will have sugar, lots of sugar. You could go sugar free "diet" mixers, but I remember reading they trick the body into releasing insulin anyway and that artificial sweetener crap's probably not good for you anyway

---

i have taken up joggin of a thursday now too do about 3 miles,its the weekend one thats hard to motivate myself to do----thanks
for the tips tho any more???

---

Cool on the jogging. Add weights maybe?

Best go to the fitness forum though, way more expert people there.

MagicMarker

You don't like fruit but drink fruit juices?

I don't like peas, and I can safely say I wouldn't drink a pea flavored beverage. So, you really do like fruit don't you?

As for veggies, well, they take a bit of getting used to. A few years ago I would have said I don't like them. But now I do, broccoli, peppers, carrots, lettuce, green beens, corn (HAS to be on the cobb) etc

Maybe experiment more with cooking? You might surprise yourself with how much you actually like. For instance, mashed potatoes can be really really awful, but when made right they can be absolutely delicious.

ebmma

Kaldorn wrote: »

Check this and explain it
diet

cereal and fruit for brekkie

brown bread sambo and soup and fruit and lo fat crisps for lunch

home cooked meal for dinner

eat a grill maybe twice a week and a takeaway once

drink alot of juice eat yogurts most days too

drink alot i have to say maybe 20 pints a week
play football every tuesday.still cant lose weight..dont know what i am doing wrong.....i though as soon as i changed my diet it would fall off but it aint happeneing folks

That's the big one. Most of us have lots of things in our diet that can be improved upon (I do, and so do you), but the single biggest thing that's causing you trouble is the beer. 20 pints contains 2 days worth of energy, and you're getting this every week on top of your food! Football once a week isn't enough to counter this - you'd need 1-2 hours of fairly heavy exercise each day just to get rid of the energy from the beer.

I found myself getting pretty fat not so long ago. I eat a moderately healthy diet and don't get that much exercise, but when I cut back on the drink the fat dropped off very quickly.

Lo-cal beer is better than nothing, but ideally you need to cut back on the amount you're drinking. Doing both would be even better.

Switching to spirits is also good, but only if you're using diet mixers and can discipline yourself enough to not pour them back (I had a little trouble with this for a while when I switched to spirits).

LegacyUser

MagicMarker wrote: »

You don't like fruit but drink fruit juices?

I don't like peas, and I can safely say I wouldn't drink a pea flavored beverage. So, you really do like fruit don't you?

QUOTE]

I know its weird, I get stick about it most days. I think i just dont like the texture or something.


what about baked beans? good or not good?

Placebo

Kaldorn,

What you eat is standard, so you will maintain your weight. Exercise once a week is definitely not enough.

When i went through my machinist phase :eek: i ran 3-4 miles every night, not possible now with work and everything but alot of people get into the gym after work routine.

Also i thought you meant 20pints of WATER !!!

what about baked beans? good or not good?

The syrup in them has too much sugar, although there are LOW SUGAR ones now, so perhaps you could settle for those. Good source of Low Gi aswell

LegacyUser

Remember, the only way of losing weight is by reducing your caloric intake... exercise helps, but it is reducing your daily calories that ultimately makes you lose those pounds.

Try a healthy diet as suggested above, cut down on the drink. Check out the health forums for more suggestions.

Kaldorn

2 weeks off the beer now i took a leaf outta your book.not eating any fries or takeaways..trying to eat lean meat.drinking alot more water.playing football tuesday, 3 miles jog thurday afternoon, 3 mile jog saturday..still dont think its enough but the weird thing is..my work trousers are looser on my just after 9 days and a gilr in the job asked me had i lost weight,if i had of known giving up booze would have this quick an effect i would have done it ages ago.. I AM DYING FOR A PINT!!! AAARRGGG i had 2 becks non alco in the pub on friday for an hour and drove home..twas weird being with my drunk mates..i am ussually the worst!

ebmma

Kaldorn wrote: »

2 weeks off the beer now i took a leaf outta your book.not eating any fries or takeaways..trying to eat lean meat.drinking alot more water.playing football tuesday, 3 miles jog thurday afternoon, 3 mile jog saturday..still dont think its enough but the weird thing is..my work trousers are looser on my just after 9 days and a gilr in the job asked me had i lost weight,if i had of known giving up booze would have this quick an effect i would have done it ages ago.. I AM DYING FOR A PINT!!! AAARRGGG i had 2 becks non alco in the pub on friday for an hour and drove home..twas weird being with my drunk mates..i am ussually the worst!

Congrats!!!!!
Glad it's working for you

Eric Cartman

i know this may not be helpful but i found when in college i lost weight, i ate curry chips and chicken rolls every day, i think it was eating at the same times at every day that helped, that and the hour of walking around campus id get

LegacyUser

Kaldorn wrote: »

Check this and explain it
diet

cereal and fruit for brekkie

brown bread sambo and soup and fruit and lo fat crisps for lunch

home cooked meal for dinner

eat a grill maybe twice a week and a takeaway once

drink alot of juice eat yogurts most days too

drink alot i have to say maybe 20 pints a week
play football every tuesday.still cant lose weight..dont know what i am doing wrong.....i though as soon as i changed my diet it would fall off but it aint happeneing folks

There's your problem. Alcohol has a massive calorific content.

nevershutsup

Unregistered wrote: »

hey,
im a student and have always been skinny-ish. but recently in the last year or so ive gained a good bit of weight. for example i can see man boobs forming and a double chin. its horrible and today 3 people asked "are you getting fat?" . i know what they said was mean but i do know its true.
I've tried losing weight in the gym etc but in i find it hard to make time during exams and essays due. i will go back to the gym in time though
I also find it hard to eat right because I'm a fussy eater. I've looked in the nutrition forum here and I couldnt even look at those things. I dont like fruit or veg but i do drink fruit juices and eat some soups but i hate smothies and all that. And as a result i find it hard to buy lunches around town which are healthy and I like. Its a downward spiral for it seems unless i do something.
sorry for the rant. I'm just a bit down after those comments. thanks

hey op...

you sound exactly like myself full time final year student at exams and assignments time , previously skinny, major fussy eater, gym membership and no time for it.

i know how it feels i have had customers come up to me on three separate occasions in three separate locations over last few months asking me was I pregnant? ... its not nice at all and i sympathise with you.

i would love to offer you some advice but im stuck in the same boat as you it never seems like you have time for excercise when you are stressed out with college stuff, im definitly going to try the fitness forum and such , its nice to see im not alone in this.

gubbie

Kaldorn wrote: »

---

i have taken up joggin of a thursday now too do about 3 miles,its the weekend one thats hard to motivate myself to do----thanks
for the tips tho any more???

---

I've started jogging with a friend. It helps so so much. Gets me about twice as far as I usually run.

Unregistered wrote: »

I know its weird, I get stick about it most days. I think i just dont like the texture or something.

My brother got a blender and just made the smoothies. It probably would be cheaper too. Smoothies are rip offs!

syklops

OP, I am/was in the same place as you. As a teenager I had a massive appetite. My record was 12 cod and chips(and I ate all the chips) and was hungry again in an hour or two. At 17 I joined the FCA, which is now the Reserve Defence Forces). My first combats was a waist 28(28! WTF!). The last pair i got were 38.

I started putting the weight on around the age of 19. I put it down to more access to beer, less access to people I could play soccer with. When it first started to arrive, I was doing 100 sit-ups and 100 press-ups a day. I tried going to the gym 3 times a week aswell, the weight kept increasing, I gave up alcohol for a month, the weight kept increasing, I stopped junk food, weight kept increasing, I walked everywhere, guess what!?! the weight kept increasing.

In November, I stepped on the weighing scales and discovered that if I put on another 3rd of a stone, I would have to buy an industrial scales, as mine, and most others only go up to 20 stone. I'll let you do the math on that one.

I then created my own diet. its based in part on Paul McKenna's diet, which has spawned a series of books and DVD's, but basically it goes like this:

Eat when your hungry. No matter what the time eat.
Eat what you fancy. If you fancy a burger, have one, eating should not involve guilt.
When your eating, concentrate on what your eating, chew your food properly(circa 20 chews, it sounds like a lot but is not)
And most importantly, when your stomach tells you you are full, stop eating, even if your plate is half full. I am a big fan of breakfast rolls, nowadays when I eat one, I eat about half of it and throw away the rest, because it is enough for me.

What happened to me, was, as a result of having such a ravenous appetite while younger, I would sit down to a plate of something in my twenties, and hoover it all up, just out of habit. Looking back on the last few year, cases of indigestion have sky-rocketed too.

Using this method, I have lost a stone since mid-november. Bearing in mind we just had christmas, thats pretty good.

People on here are giving you a hard time that you dont like fruit or Veg. For the most part I dont either. There are a few I like, but most I dont like.

Nutritionists will tell you its all about calories, and then give out to you for not eating enough veg, where as logically, if it is all about calories, it should not matter what you eat so long as you burn what you eat. In my opinion, its a mixture of both. You would have to eat alot of peas to get the same amount of protein as you would from a steak. That said, you would need to eat an incredible amount of oysters(I LOVE oysters) to get the same amount of Vitamin C as eating a few oranges.

I tried drinking ice tea as an alternative to coke, because its not fizzy and therefore, not as sugery. Turns out there is more sugar in ice tea than a bottle of coke the same size. I still drink it occasionally, because it tastes nice, and I still drink coke, just not every day. Just now and again.

I dont have breakfast rolls everyday either. Scrambled egg is a winner in my book.

Cook every night. I would love someone to do a study or comparison on the average amount of calories burnt when cooking a meal, versus calling takeaway. One night I wore a pedometer while cooking a large meal for myself and a few friends. According to it, I walked just over a mile, in the process of cooking the meal. Thats alot.

OP, feel free to PM me, I am happy to talk to you face to face, or over the phone regarding this. We could meet for a guilt free pint and discuss your/my next steps.

As for negative comments, don't worry about them, I have gotten various comments, often the old "When is it due?", refferring to my gut. Among close friends I laugh it off, as they are just joking. On a few occasions a person I did not know very well made a comment along similar lines. One I shrugged off, and left out of embarrasment, one I said I was not pregnant just fat. I told him to be careful and to fu*k off before he caught some(fat), and then wobbled off out of embarrasment, and the last but best, asked me when it was due, and i told him it was a cancerous tumor on my bowel, and that radium treatment had not fixed it, and I was starting the Chemo the week after. He looked mortified, but I never saw him again so I don't care.

Seriously, OP, don't worry about it, don't starve yourself, and don't give in to the feeling that you are less than other people.

Oh yeah i forgot to say. You said there are a few fruit and veg you do like. Which ones if you don't mind me asking. I bought a blender from Argos, cost me 20 quid, and the fruit I like I put into the blender, I blend them and drink it. Its a very fast way of getting vitamins, and nutrients, without the pain of chewing boring veggies you don't like. Not to mention, its a great way of creating gorgeous tasting alcoholic-based drinks.

For example, get a punnet of strawberries, some scotch, red vermouth, white vermouth and ice. Put them in the blender, and serve. You have a Manhattan with the goodness of strawberries included. Its delicious, and your getting added vitamins. If you don't like strawberries, try it with something you do like.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Honestly I'd back up Wibbs suggestion of taking up weight lifting, and sorting your diet. It doesn't have to be 100% clean - it needs to be do-able too.

And lifting weights will do so much for your body, your confidence and your sense of achievement... you physically see the results from the work you put in. And when you break a new record for a lift, you feel great.

Best of luck, and i'd advise a few trips to the fitness forum on here. Its awesome.

gabigeist

Hey OP. Different people will offer different advice as everyone's body works differently.
Just some points that I have found useful and may suit you:
1) As you are time constrained, avoid the gym and run instead. Firstly, you don't waste any time travelling to the gym. Just step out your door and run. Secondly, the gym is largely weight lifting machines which will not help you lose weight. Thirdly, running outdoors burns a hell of a lot more calories than the same distance on running machines.
2) Try lots of foods to figure out what you like that is also healthy for you. Personally I can't stomach fruit or carbs so I stick to meat and veg. Everyone will be different here.
3) Building excercise into your life is the ideal solution. I.e. get a bike, sign up to weekly five-a-side etc.
4) Get motivated by signing up to a fun run and train towards it.
5) Giving up the booze can be nigh on impossible but at leasdt reduce its impact by not getting kebab on way home/fry in the morning.

Best of luck

Wibbs

gabigeist wrote: »

Secondly, the gym is largely weight lifting machines which will not help you lose weight.

While I agree with your other points I have to disagree with this one. While free weights would be better, weight machines if used, muscle mass will go up. Muscle burns calories just sitting there. A lot of calories. It's one of the most calorie needy tissue. Yes running will burn calories and no mistake. It'll help the cardiovascular system too.

Pushing heavy weights and building muscle also burns calories. The big diff is that while you're sitting around, not exercising your base metabolic rate will be higher if you have extra muscle. Bodybuilders and weightlifters have to eat much more than a person of the same weight, where that weight is fat. A lot more. If you do weight training with heavy weights or even machines you will tone up, strengthen bones, work the cardio system too, increase HGH and and other natural anabolics and you will lose fat.

The beauty is that you will continue to burn off fat even when you're not exercising, to a much greater degree than just with running(though running is good obviously). I would also say that running if you're heavy could put more strain on the joints, especially running on concrete. Swimming or cycling may be a better place to start.