Is this good enough?

ycul

Hi, I've decided to get fit and lose weight. I've had 2 children in the last two years so very unfit. I've at least 2 stone to lose.
This is what i'm currently doing.

1 maybe 2 cardio box fitness dvd 30 mins each time, every day.

waking 4 miles 3-4 times a week.

Breakfast 1 egg white scrambled on 1 slice brown bread.
Lunch half tin low fat soup with 1 slice brown bread.
Dinner chicken breast grilled veg and couple of potatoes.
Drinks 1 cup of coffee, plenty of water.
Does this sound like a good starting point. I'm Considering joining a gym, but would rather make a start at home first.

pappukanghi

You want to be 'fit' or want to lose weight? With that diet and exercise you can have only the latter.

You need resistance training to lose weight and keep muscles. With that diet and lack of resitance traning (weights) you will be losing muscle tissue also.

And before you say that you do not want to have muscles, let me tell you that with average weights your will have average muscles only. And further women do not gain muscles as much as men because of the genetics.

Resistance training will also make your bone tissue to gain density which is even better (your bones will be stronger).

And that diet you posted needs serious over-haul. I would not even touch that diet if I wanted to be 'fit'. These kind of diets lead to nothing but yo-yo effect on your weight and above all your fitness.

eclectichoney

Hey OP

It's definitely a good start! You'll find that even small changes at first can help the first few lbs or so drop off, and then as you progress towards your goal ou can start tweaking things closer to optimum. The main thing is to stick eith it

Regular walking can be great for weight loss once you make sure to keep the pace brisk, you want to be keeping your heart rate up.

Ig you find home exercise DVDs good, I have heard some good things about Billy Blanks' (think that's his name!) Tai Bo DVDs which might be of some use to you?

Given that you are looking for stuff you can do at home you could incorporate some basic body weight exercises (or using some 2l water bottles for added weight) like squats, jumping jacks, press-ups and lunges etc. - if you do ten repetitions or so of each in a circuit without resting and repeat a good few times over you'll really build up a sweat in thirty minutes or so! You want to be challenging yourself and making sure you work up a sweat.

Your diet could probably do with a bit of tweaking for optimum results - maybe have a look at the nutrition and diet forum??

floggg

OP - that diet is not healthy IMO. You're eatin far too LITTLE! obivously when dieting you need to cut back on you're calorie intake, but you have to be sure not to cut back too much.

You're only eating one substantial meal a day. ONE egg white and a slice of bread for breakfast! thats nothing. you would be starvin by lunch time! and i imagine the low fat soup wouldn't exactly fill you too much either.

eating too little won't work for a number of reasons:

1. You're body will go into starvation mode and will try to hang onto any body fat you have rather than eat into its reserves. you're metabolism will slow, meaning you will burn less energy and the body will try and store any extra energy as fat.

2. you're body will also start to burn muscle as fuel to keep going. as muscle takes up more energy to maintain than fat, you're metabolism will slow even further. if you do manage to shift the weight, you will look "too skinny" afterwards.

3. and if you do manage to shift the fat this way, you will be more likely to pile it back on once you go back to a regular diet, as you're body will take a while to get out of the starvation mode.

4. you will feel like crap and lethargic. i imagine with young kids, you need as much energy as you can!

5. you will be hungry more often, and therefore will be more likley to cave into temptation and snack on the wrong foods, undoing any progress.

6. you will find it hard to stick to a diet like that for too long, and are more likely to go back to old habits.

You would be better off looking for ways to raise you're metabolism, so you're burning off eneregy quicker, and ensuring you're eating good healthy foods. that way you will lose body fat at a steady rate, without losing too much muscle, and will be more likley to stick with the diet and keep the fat off when you finish.

Try adding in two more small meals in there, and having a more substantial breakfast. Porridge is great for brekkie - low fat, no additives, and will fill you up til lunch. or else maybe three scrambled eggs and a slice of toast.

try and get as much protein, fresh fruit and veg, and healthy fats (nuts, fish oils, olive oil etc) into you're diet. keep the carbs low if possible, especially in the evening time. and stay away from processed white carbs like white pasta, white bread, white rice etc.

Once you have the diet sorted, you should see progress.

As others have said, you should look into doing some weights. trust me - you are NOT going to get "too big" or "muscley" - i'm a guy who's trying to get "big and msculey" and i'm finding it hard, a girl on a calorie deficit is not going to get too big!

if weights aren't you're thing though, they're plenty of different cardio options. not sure of the merits of cardio boxing vids, but if you want to move onto something else afterwards, i would recommend taking up jogging outside, a sport such as tennis, squash etc or else starting a class in a gym etc. they is plenty of options - kick boxing, spinning, aerobics etc - check them out and see what suits.

think it would be better value then just joining a gym to use a threadmill or rowing machine a couple of weeks - its easy to lose motivation when you're just pounding away on a machine, whereas without the above options there is a social aspect, its easier to see progress and set goals so you're more likley to stick it.

My 2c anyway.

ycul

Thanks for the advice, I'll take it on board. Have some weights at home so iI'll start using them and look at that dvd you suggested. I'll check the other nutrition board, as i know my diets not great I suppose it's just easier as i always have these things in. Thanks again.

ycul

Flogg what your saying makes a lot of sense. I'll definatley review the diet. As you say i probably wouldn't last long eating this way. I enjoy doing the dvd although i am in a sweat at the end of it hope it's doing some good!! Thanks for the great advice.

Khannie

ycul wrote: »

I enjoy doing the dvd although i am in a sweat at the end of it hope it's doing some good!! Thanks for the great advice.

If you enjoy it and you're in a sweat at the end, I think that's enough. Don't sweat it (see what I did there?) about the weights. It's beneficial, but not a requirement. If you find yourself getting fitter from the DVD's (i.e. if you're not working up the sweat you once did), maybe add some hand weights into the mix.

I'd agree with that not being enough food. I'd double what you're having in the morning / lunchtime at least.

Great start, keep it up!