Im need to loose weight and tone up

rooney1984

Folks,

Im 25 and i have been a member of a gym for the past 6 months.
I joined specifically to loose weight, get fit, and tone up my abs and chest.
I have been going to the gym 2-3 times a week since June 08 and im still yet to see any significant progress on my chest and abs.
I had an assessment there recently and my trainer did see progress in my fitness level but there was next too no improvement on my weight or my chest and abs.
Can anyone help me.

Rgds

celestial

rooney1984 wrote: »

Folks,

Im 25 and i have been a member of a gym for the past 6 months.
I joined specifically to loose weight, get fit, and tone up my abs and chest.
I have been going to the gym 2-3 times a week since June 08 and im still yet to see any significant progress on my chest and abs.
I had an assessment there recently and my trainer did see progress in my fitness level but there was next too no improvement on my weight or my chest and abs.
Can anyone help me.

Rgds

What is your diet like - what do you eat during a typical day?

rooney1984

Celestial,

How ya doin? Thanks for getting back to me..
On a typical day,
i would eat corn flakes in the mornin before leaving for work.
Id have 2 slices of toast and cup of tea at 11.
Have a panini or a sandwich or a wrap with crisps and a can of coke at 1 o clock.
At 3 o clock, i would have a bar of some sort,
and when i come home after been at the gym, i have my dinner.

To be honest, i dont think that isnt too bad but i just cant seen to shake the belly off me.
hope you can help me.
Im getting really demotivated as the weeks go on, because i seem to break my heart in the gym and im seeing no significant improvements on my appearance.

Cheers

celestial

rooney1984 wrote: »

Celestial,

How ya doin? Thanks for getting back to me..
On a typical day,
i would eat corn flakes in the mornin before leaving for work.
Id have 2 slices of toast and cup of tea at 11.
Have a panini or a sandwich or a wrap with crisps and a can of coke at 1 o clock.
At 3 o clock, i would have a bar of some sort,
and when i come home after been at the gym, i have my dinner.

To be honest, i dont think that isnt too bad but i just cant seen to shake the belly off me.
hope you can help me.
Im getting really demotivated as the weeks go on, because i seem to break my heart in the gym and im seeing no significant improvements on my appearance.

Cheers

How's it goin. 95%+ of the time when someone comes on here saying they can't lose weight despite going to the gym a lot (happens every week) they write back with their diet after we ask them, and it becomes clear why they are not dropping fat!

Your diet is an absolute disaster and the worst possible for fat loss. It is full of sugar and bad fat. I am guessing the toast you are eating is white bread and your dinner is generally spuds or chips with meat, etc?

Be honest - do you think that you will lose fat eating Coke and crisps and chocolate bars!?

You need to drop the Coke and crisps and other junk food, replace with water and snack on fruit and unsalted nuts instead. Cornflakes is sugar, essentially. It won't fill you up and is a nightmare for fat loss. Replace with one or more porridge, eggs or Weetabix with low fat milk. This should keep you going till lunch. At lunch have lean cuts of meat with vegetables and a little wholegrain carb - example is wholegrain pasta. Try vegetable soup. Try fish. Where is the fruit?!

Racing Flat

celestial wrote: »

Your diet is an absolute disaster and the worst possible for fat loss.

I think this is a bit strong. While it's not fantastic, it could be a lot worse. Volume doesn't seem too bad and it could be worse, ie fry-ups and takeaways. I would say this is the average diet for most people in this country.

rooney1984

celestial wrote: »

How's it goin. 95%+ of the time when someone comes on here saying they can't lose weight despite going to the gym a lot (happens every week) they write back with their diet after we ask them, and it becomes clear why they are not dropping fat!

Your diet is an absolute disaster and the worst possible for fat loss. It is full of sugar and bad fat. I am guessing the toast you are eating is white bread and your dinner is generally spuds or chips with meat, etc?

Be honest - do you think that you will lose fat eating Coke and crisps and chocolate bars!?

You need to drop the Coke and crisps and other junk food, replace with water and snack on fruit and unsalted nuts instead. Cornflakes is sugar, essentially. It won't fill you up and is a nightmare for fat loss. Replace with one or more porridge, eggs or Weetabix with low fat milk. This should keep you going till lunch. At lunch have lean cuts of meat with vegetables and a little wholegrain carb - example is wholegrain pasta. Try vegetable soup. Try fish. Where is the fruit?!

Ok, thats fair enough. i will cut out the coke, crisps and chocolate.
say if i were to try weetabix with low fat milk in the morning before leaving for work and have a yogart at 11, would that be ok?

for dinner i always do have either spuds or chips, your right. i will cut out the chips, but i thought spuds are good for you, are they not?
if your saying i should cut out spuds with my dinner, what do u suggest i should have instead of spuds?

corkcomp

TBH I have to agree that the diet is shocking .. I dont believe in extreme or low carb diets but in fairness (and no offence to the OP) its hardly any wonder that the desired results are not happening while having cornflakes + coke + crisps + paninis (and I could Hazard a guess Dinner is not steamed brocolli and lean meat!!)

dblennon

yea if you cut out the can of coke thats +1000 cals a week
+ 1000 cals for the crisps + 1000-1500 cals for the bar it adds up.

If you want to go to the gym a good bit 3+ times a week I think spuds and pasta are fine if your hungry after the gym, try not to have too much in the evening if you haven't been.

I lost 2 stone in about 5 months from that alone I had almost the exact diet as yourself.

celestial

Racing Flat wrote: »

I think this is a bit strong. While it's not fantastic, it could be a lot worse. Volume doesn't seem too bad and it could be worse, ie fry-ups and takeaways. I would say this is the average diet for most people in this country.

Exactly, and how many people have beer guts these days?

Most likely he has fry-ups and takeaways too - and he has just confirmed he does have chips. You can tell from a certain amount where else he is likely going wrong, e.g. take away saturday nights, etc.

Nothing worse than someone giving it an honest effort in the gym and thinking they are doing ok in the kitchen when they are just sabotaging themselves - it's all too easy to do.

Racing Flat

celestial wrote: »

Exactly, and how many people have beer guts these days?

Most likely he has fry-ups and takeaways too - and he has just confirmed he does have chips. You can tell from a certain amount where else he is likely going wrong, e.g. take away saturday nights, etc.

Nothing worse than someone giving it an honest effort in the gym and thinking they are doing ok in the kitchen when they are just sabotaging themselves - it's all too easy to do.

I know, you're right. I suppose from working with students a lot I'm more in the habit of saying 'You're diet could be improved by...' rather than 'you're diet is an absolute disaaster...' but the Op didn't take offence so no harm done!


Edit - my diet used to be a way worse than that!

celestial

rooney1984 wrote: »

Ok, thats fair enough. i will cut out the coke, crisps and chocolate.
say if i were to try weetabix with low fat milk in the morning before leaving for work and have a yogart at 11, would that be ok?

for dinner i always do have either spuds or chips, your right. i will cut out the chips, but i thought spuds are good for you, are they not?
if your saying i should cut out spuds with my dinner, what do u suggest i should have instead of spuds?

Yoghurt is not a bad idea as long as it's not Muller crunch corner or similar, they are just as bad as chocolate bars. Try plain natural yoghurt, might taste weird at first but that's just cos you're so used to the taste of sugar - and believe it or not natural yoghurt is actually very sweet! You could also try and apple, banana, any fruit really. You probably don't need a mid-morning snack at all if you have the Weetabix - the reason you were having one at all is because you were eating Cornflakes for breakfast! Do you work in an office job?

So try 2 - 3 Weetabix and see how you get on.

Spuds are actually ok, no need to cut them out. You just don't want to be having shedloads of them. If you give up the chips then have a couple of spuds, plenty of veg and meat and that will be fine once you have everything else in order.

So:

Breakfast: As stated

Mid-morn snack: only if you are hungry! and as stated above

Lunch: wholegrain bread with meat/veg or just meat + veg

Mid-afternoon: fruit, nuts or yoghurt

Evening: meat, veg, potatoes or wholegrain carbs like pasta/rice if you didn't have them at lunch

Plenty of water too.

This will kickstart your fat loss.

madmik

celestial wrote: »

Yoghurt is not a bad idea as long as it's not Muller crunch corner or similar, they are just as bad as chocolate bars. Try plain natural yoghurt, might taste weird at first but that's just cos you're so used to the taste of sugar - and believe it or not natural yoghurt is actually very sweet! You could also try and apple, banana, any fruit really. You probably don't need a mid-morning snack at all if you have the Weetabix - the reason you were having one at all is because you were eating Cornflakes for breakfast! Do you work in an office job?

So try 2 - 3 Weetabix and see how you get on.

Spuds are actually ok, no need to cut them out. You just don't want to be having shedloads of them. If you give up the chips then have a couple of spuds, plenty of veg and meat and that will be fine once you have everything else in order.

So:

Breakfast: As stated

Mid-morn snack: only if you are hungry! and as stated above

Lunch: wholegrain bread with meat/veg or just meat + veg

Mid-afternoon: fruit, nuts or yoghurt

Evening: meat, veg, potatoes or wholegrain carbs like pasta/rice if you didn't have them at lunch

Plenty of water too.

This will kickstart your fat loss.

dont tell me sweet yoghurts are as bad as chocolate bars,are they?

I normally eat a youghurt or 2 per day and i think that natural youghurt is disgusting and slimey and tasteless

rooney1984

celestial wrote: »

Exactly, and how many people have beer guts these days?

Most likely he has fry-ups and takeaways too - and he has just confirmed he does have chips. You can tell from a certain amount where else he is likely going wrong, e.g. take away saturday nights, etc.

Nothing worse than someone giving it an honest effort in the gym and thinking they are doing ok in the kitchen when they are just sabotaging themselves - it's all too easy to do.

dblennon wrote: »

yea if you cut out the can of coke thats +1000 cals a week
+ 1000 cals for the crisps + 1000-1500 cals for the bar it adds up.

If you want to go to the gym a good bit 3+ times a week I think spuds and pasta are fine if your hungry after the gym, try not to have too much in the evening if you haven't been.

I lost 2 stone in about 5 months from that alone I had almost the exact diet as yourself.

corkcomp wrote: »

TBH I have to agree that the diet is shocking .. I dont believe in extreme or low carb diets but in fairness (and no offence to the OP) its hardly any wonder that the desired results are not happening while having cornflakes + coke + crisps + paninis (and I could Hazard a guess Dinner is not steamed brocolli and lean meat!!)

Racing Flat wrote: »

I know, you're right. I suppose from working with students a lot I'm more in the habit of saying 'You're diet could be improved by...' rather than 'you're diet is an absolute disaaster...' but the Op didn't take offence so no harm done!


Edit - my diet used to be a way worse than that!

celestial wrote: »

Yoghurt is not a bad idea as long as it's not Muller crunch corner or similar, they are just as bad as chocolate bars. Try plain natural yoghurt, might taste weird at first but that's just cos you're so used to the taste of sugar - and believe it or not natural yoghurt is actually very sweet! You could also try and apple, banana, any fruit really. You probably don't need a mid-morning snack at all if you have the Weetabix - the reason you were having one at all is because you were eating Cornflakes for breakfast! Do you work in an office job?

So try 2 - 3 Weetabix and see how you get on.

Spuds are actually ok, no need to cut them out. You just don't want to be having shedloads of them. If you give up the chips then have a couple of spuds, plenty of veg and meat and that will be fine once you have everything else in order.

So:

Breakfast: As stated

Mid-morn snack: only if you are hungry! and as stated above

Lunch: wholegrain bread with meat/veg or just meat + veg

Mid-afternoon: fruit, nuts or yoghurt

Evening: meat, veg, potatoes or wholegrain carbs like pasta/rice if you didn't have them at lunch

Plenty of water too.

This will kickstart your fat loss.

LADS,

Thanks to all of you for the fantastic advice and i will def take it all on board.

I have just been coding myself really by breaking my heart in the gym 3 days a week and then coming home and eating all around me.

ill stick to the diet that CELESTIAL has given me in the previous message and ill see how i get on...

Im gonna cut the crisps and coke and bars out completely, there a KILLER

Cheers lads

I really appreciate it.

corkcomp

rooney1984 wrote: »

LADS,

Thanks to all of you for the fantastic advice and i will def take it all on board.

I have just been coding myself really by breaking my heart in the gym 3 days a week and then coming home and eating all around me.

ill stick to the diet that CELESTIAL has given me in the previous message and ill see how i get on...

Im gonna cut the crisps and coke and bars out completely, there a KILLER

Cheers lads

I really appreciate it.

best of luck, you will definately see results if you sort out the diet .. the only thing though, 3 times per week is ok to go to the gym but if you are actively trying to loose weight I would recommend * 5 times minimum and make sure you get in plenty cardio too ..

celestial

rooney1984 wrote: »

LADS,

Thanks to all of you for the fantastic advice and i will def take it all on board.

I have just been coding myself really by breaking my heart in the gym 3 days a week and then coming home and eating all around me.

ill stick to the diet that CELESTIAL has given me in the previous message and ill see how i get on...

Im gonna cut the crisps and coke and bars out completely, there a KILLER

Cheers lads

I really appreciate it.

No bother and good man. Report back in 2-3 weeks and I'm sure you'll be telling us about the changes you can see.

celestial

madmik wrote: »

dont tell me sweet yoghurts are as bad as chocolate bars,are they?

I normally eat a youghurt or 2 per day and i think that natural youghurt is disgusting and slimey and tasteless

Always check the ingredients - ignore the low-fat bull**** they put on the front of the pot - sugar will usually be the first or second ingredient. Check one now and you'll see. That tells you all you need to know!

Natural yoghurt - I was the very same as you until I lost my taste/semi-addiction to sugar - trust me when I say natural yoghurt is anything but tasteless! Everyone says what you say and it just goes to show how accustomed to sugar people are!

CSC

How many calories in a can of coke?

fatmammycat

155 calories.

pandaboy

CSC wrote: »

How many calories in a can of coke?

it's not the calories you should be scared of in a can of coke, it's the sugar. 35grammes of sugar. That's a frightening amount plus you have some other other sweeteners and flavourings.

I've been addicted to the lack stuff for twoo long now (no innuendo intended there ).

Just starting a diet now myself, starting off with some basic cardiovascular (smoking doesn't help but that's gone as well now).

Thanks for the diet info celestial, I'm not one for eating chocolates and crisps but I do pile on the carbs with potatoes (usually mashed with milk and butter = not good) plus the occasional pizza which again is not good.

Some great information here. Keep it up

Davei141

Pizza would be probably the best type of take away if you are going to have one no matter what.

pandaboy

Davei141 wrote: »

Pizza would be probably the best type of take away if you are going to have one no matter what.

deffo, but it's just so bad for you. my local, Apache Pizza don't do thin crust. It just sticks to your stomach and takes ages to digest. Had a dominos the other night and was wrecked for two days from it. Haha, deffo have to eat a banana instead.

Bog Butter

There's an idea; surely it's possible to make a reasonably healthy home-made pizza. I'm trying to loose the fat too but I do allow myself one or two treats on the weekend, which have been up until now being either apple tart and custard or lasagne apart from one weekend when I had a heap of drink, a burger, an indian take away, a packet of crisps and one chocolate bar (I won't be doing that for a while). So anyways maybe someone has recipe for a healthy home made-made pizza.

Confused12

malman wrote: »

There's an idea; surely it's possible to make a reasonably healthy home-made pizza. I'm trying to loose the fat too but I do allow myself one or two treats on the weekend, which have been up until now being either apple tart and custard or lasagne apart from one weekend when I had a heap of drink, a burger, an indian take away, a packet of crisps and one chocolate bar (I won't be doing that for a while). So anyways maybe someone has recipe for a healthy home made-made pizza.

Malman, you can make your own pizza by using a brown pitta bread base, passata (a healthy tomato sauce), lots of veggies and a small sprinkling of low-fat mozzerella (Low Low do pre-grated packs).

Very quick, very easy and (depending of course what you put on!) no guilt afterwards!

slingerz

I've a date with a dietican to set out what sort of menu i should be following. There is an awful lot of rubbish written on places like here and elsewhere on the internet

celestial

slingerz wrote: »

I've a date with a dietican to set out what sort of menu i should be following. There is an awful lot of rubbish written on places like here and elsewhere on the internet

That's interesting. Care to point out any of the rubbish dietary advice you've seen on this forum?

I hope that 90 quid or so you'll be handing over to that dietician buys you some new and wondrous advice on food.

Bog Butter

slingerz wrote: »

I've a date with a dietican to set out what sort of menu i should be following. There is an awful lot of rubbish written on places like here and elsewhere on the internet

Thanks Confused. I would also take issue with the above comment. Have you read all the stickies slingerz? I've found this fitness forum great; i've learned loads.

corkcomp

celestial wrote: »

That's interesting. Care to point out any of the rubbish dietary advice you've seen on this forum?

I hope that 90 quid or so you'll be handing over to that dietician buys you some new and wondrous advice on food.

to be fair, I have seen some advice posted which I think is not great but everyone will have a different def of rubbish advice! I wont mention specific posts because it will only de-rail the thread and end in chaos! advice like telling people not to eat root vegetables because of the carb content and that weetabox is BAD and that special K is a great breakfast are a few examples I wouldnt concur with !!

celestial

corkcomp wrote: »

to be fair, I have seen some advice posted which I think is not great but everyone will have a different def of rubbish advice! I wont mention specific posts because it will only de-rail the thread and end in chaos! advice like telling people not to eat root vegetables because of the carb content and that weetabox is BAD and that special K is a great breakfast are a few examples I wouldnt concur with !!

Fair point. Your definition will vary to an extent depending on where you're coming from and what your goals are. Years back I used to think white pasta was one of the best things you could eat - now I consider it junk food!

Bog Butter

You have to take into account the context in which the advice is given. If you take a piece of advice out of context then it may seem extreme.

E.g Somebody gave the advice on this forum to be carefull about how much fruit juice you drink. That seemed a bit extreme to me until I looked at the calorie content (which is relivant to me in trying to burn fat) of a glass of orange juice. If you don't need or want to loose a lot of fat and lead an active lifestyle then drinking loads of juice probably won't matter.

Similiarly eating a moderate amount of white carbs, while lacking in nutritional value, probably won't do you much harm. If you are, on the other hand, like me and need to burn fat and you want to maximise your efforts then you would by all accounts be advised to cut white carbs out of your diet and limit the fruit juice, going for whole fruits instead.

So I think it all depends on what your goal is, what will work best for you and how commited you are or how strict you want to be.

pandaboy

celestial wrote: »

Fair point. Your definition will vary to an extent depending on where you're coming from and what your goals are. Years back I used to think white pasta was one of the best things you could eat - now I consider it junk food!

+1
Yup, i've just come to terms with white pasta being bad for you. I used to have so much of it with my RAGU now im just sticking to sauces and mince. Homemade sauces and that.

Thanks for the advice on pizza as well. Will deffo have to try that out.

Blunder

Interesting thread! Something I've been struggling with for a while now! SOme good tips on Diet etc. A quick question for some people who may know better than me. What do ye think of Donegal Catch as part of a weight loss diet?

Also does anyone have any good links for weight loss diets? I'm a pretty fussy eater and would like to maybe put together eating plans etc based on food that I like and the like!

Thanks in advance!

Bog Butter

Blunder you will find that 'weight loss' diets are not advocated on this forum instead it is recommended that you eat the right foods and do the right exercises. Read the stickies for a start but you could also start a new thread posting your typical daily diet and it will be analysised by the many knowledgable people on this forum. I would say if your serious about losing weight don't eat Donegal Catch but rather eat fresh non-processed fish.

Blunder

Thanks Malman, I guess weight loss was used flippantly there. I meant more of a diet to supplement a weight loss regieme! I'll check out the Stickys and see what I can get out of that!

Thanks again!

Bog Butter

I understand where you are coming from. What I realised from this forum is that it is far better to understand a few basic principals rather than analysing each individual food.

- eat fresh foods and avoid processed foods; if it has more than a couple of ingredients it tends to be processed; if it comes from a box it tends to be processed
- chose meat that is lean such as chicken and fish
- eat enough protein (esp. important if doing a lot of exercise)
- eat the recommended intake of fibre (as well as being of nutritional importance fibre helps with bowel movements!!)
- avoid white carbs i.e white bread, white rice and white pasta
- instead eat whole wheat pasta and brown rice
- but limit the carbs; (research this more)

Most of the time, nowadays, I only eat carbs (porridge) in the morning. I gave up bread altogether because I was snacking on it too much. It encourages me to eat more vedge instead. I think broccoli is great because it is very filling; I fry it on the pan sometimes on it own or with a load of other vedge and I sometimes season it with a bit of ginger and other spices.