Click here if you know anything about fitness

thrive4life

cause I sure dont,

Hi all, ill try and make this quick, but at the same time give as much info as possible.

male
30 yrs
5ft 10
14st 7 or 203pounds
waist 42 inches measured over belly button. I wear 34 in waist for jeans.
medium build.
I dont smoke
I wouldnt have any loose flabby fat, seem to be all tucked up and tight.
I'd describe my stomach to be the swollen pop belly type. .
I drink about 2 shots of Whiskey every 2 or 3 weeks (barely drink at all)
I am taking a blood pressure tablet for the last yr or so.
I had a right inguinal hernia done Sept 2008
As my wife says, my weight seems to be all on my waist. . but im sure theres room for improvement everywhere.

I want to loose weight, get in shape. I dont want all muscle or anything, but just the enough to say im fit/strong and most importantly healthy.

I have been reading on this thread for a few months now, and it seems to be a very active and really helpfull thread. I have been putting off joining and posting my questions/facts. its tough taking the steps to loose weight, but im hoping that this might be a start.

As you can see from the above, I need to make a few changes to my lifestlye/health/fitness. I have never ever diet before, I never tried to loose weight before, I dont go to a gym, i might walk for 30 mins now and then around the park, but thats it. I work in an office, (desk minder). I drive 30 mins to and from work. I admitt i probably eat way way too much bread, I am a fussy eater, have about 27 sweet tooths:rolleyes:. Biscuits are No 2 in my life after my wife.

I would be described as willing to try anything and would succeed most times, head-strong, willing and able, neat/tidy guy.


I have read many posts which left me with more questions than i had before i even started:D

I have tonnes to ask, but the first one which i have started arguing to the Mrs about is weight/fat/muscle and weight training/treadmill

how do you loose weight? is it threadmill and exercise bike OR weights


secondly, BMI, if i was to go by BMI id have to loose about 30 pounds, but yet thats like 2 stone, and the Mrs thinks ill be shrivelled away . . .

is BMI religion or is it a fact like mount everest

Id like to thank you for reading this, i hope to be able to ask questions and learn now what i kept putting off. please dont hesitate to give me advice, if i need to be on a threadmill for 5 days a week for 30 mins tell me, or if i need to lift the kitchen table,

much appreciated,

Gary

Hanley

Great thread title.

d'Oracle

There are arguements for and against BMI.
But I daresay that 2 stone off a guy your size would not make you look wasted away.

squod

You're about my height and you weigh less than I do. Still your waist is 42''.
That's gotta be a concern. Plan some time every working day, 30 mins and start walking.
If you can find the time and money get an exercise bike.

Yapamillias

Your the wrong side of the BMI...being over 40 inches in your waist circumference your more susceptible to acquiring lifestyle related heart disease. Although the BMI is a crude measure of obesity as it does not take into account muscle mass it does work fairly well for the sedentary individual. You can be genetically predispositioned to store fat in certain areas, like in your waist. If its excess fat your carrying then it serves no immediate purpose, as d'oracle said you wouldnt 'waste away'. Sounds like your ready to make that change (good start by posting on here as well ).

ilovelamp2000

squod wrote: »

You're about my height and you weigh less than I do. Still your waist is 42''.
That's gotta be a concern. Plan some time every working day, 30 mins and start walking.
If you can find the time and money get an exercise bike.

I was going to say the same, I'm 5'10 and (after a holiday) close to 17 stone but my waist is still 36 inches, albeit a tight 36 inches in my clothes at this stage.

Diet is probably the main thing the OP needs to focus on. And there are much better qualified people than me on here to advise him in that regard, so I'll leave it to those people.

RacoonQueen

Good thread title, and well done for signing up and posting. We don't all bite, only Hanley when he's hungry. :pac:

--amadeus--

In terms of actual advice an awful lot of it will still have to come from you. you need to decide your goals. You need to decide what sacrifices you are willing to make. you need to decide what excercise works best.

BMI is pretty rough and ready and for a lot of people it's inaccurate, mainly because muscle weighs more than fat. So an individual who does a lot of weight training is often classified as obese on a BMI scale despite having minimal body fat. However these people are what are classified as "statistical outliers". In the general population most (90%+, at a guess) people with an obese BMI rating are genuinely obese. It's only when you get large numbers of these outliers in one place (gyms, here) that BMI is questioned. As said above for a sedentary individual it's a good measure and if you are 5'10 and 14 1/2 stone then yep losing 2 stone sounds about right.

How you go about doing that is 100% personal choice. The most efficient way is a combination of diet and excercise. Read the nutrition stickies and post your daily diet up here. Weight Watchers works for a lot of people. At the end of the day though more calories out in excercise than in in food = weight loss.

In terms of exercise it doesn't really matter what you do since anything will be an improvement on nothing! Work out what you enjoy - running, biking, weights, climbing, swimming. Maybe an exercise class. Maybe martial arts. Whatever it is it needs to be somthing you find fun and relaxing. You will get told "lift weights, it increases your base metabolic rate making weight loss easier". that's true but if you find lifting weights boring or gyms intimidating then it's also pointless advice as long term you won't stick at it.

And that really is the key. You don't need (nor will you get) a "quick fix". You didn't wake up one day 28lbs overweight - lifestyle choices put you there. Now you need to make long term lifestyle choices to get rid of the weight.

And don't worry about comments about "wasting away" - people are used to seeing you at a certain size and weight and any weight loss will in context make you look skinnier. Get comfortable in your own skin and go from there.

metamorphosis

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Good thread title, and well done for signing up and posting. We don't all bite, only Hanley when he's hungry. :pac:

Isn't Hanley ALWAYS hungry?

Ditto Racoon on a well done for posting. I am 5'11 and i used to weigh 16stone. Now i weigh i the tens.

At the end of the day losing weight is down to what you put in your mouth against what you burn off. Im sure you have heard of a calorie. Basically this is a unit of energy acquired from food. All food had calories and when you eat food you are eating calories. Now your body uses these calories to maintain its organs running and everything else you do. In essence calories are fuel for your body akin to petrol for a car. If you eat too many calories - you gain weight.

Then - after you take this into account, you may want to figure out what way you would like to exercise. You mention walking every now and again? Maybe do it more frequently. The bike is also an option, treadmill - whatever takes your fancy. Do something you like and it will make it all easier. This may mean you have to try out a few options.

As stated - BMI is somewhat flawed. While it has its place, it does not take into account mucsle mass ... which is denser than fat mass. using a measuring tape to measure your progress is great.

It will take a bit of dacrafice but is worth it. At your height and weight you do not have loads to lose but the fact that your waist id 42inches would be a first point of concern.

Sangre

I'd forget about your weight or BMI for now. I would focus on your waist size. A man of your height should be closer to the 32/34" range. Use this to pick achievable goals, broken into smaller ones e.g., 6" in 6 months = 1" a month. (I have no idea if that is realistic so don't assume it is).

magotch07

first thing first well done for joining and second thing BMI aint religion far from it IMO but ur waist does sound excessive im 17 stone and 5.10 height and between 36/38 waist im by no means small but would consider myself fairly healthy. to get where you want you prob just need to do a lil more excecise i.e. 5 a side football or start walking everyday
a good way to do this would be to park the car 20min walk from work and work the rest of the day
on the diet size i cant really comment mine is terrible at the moment but if you can cut down on bread and biscuits it would be a good start

thrive4life

thanks for all the replies people, and the info.

I already feel stupid:mad:, when i said i my waist was 42.5inches, i was meaning my widest point, u guys probably have another name on this. basically i took the tape, measured my widest point (over my belly button) and its this point that is 42.5, my jeans size is a 34 waist,

Im confused now reading some of the posts above as i dont know what we should be going by, I am happy if ye thought that i should be wearing a jean size 34 which i am, but while i think 34 waist is grand what really chesses me off is my measurement 4 inches higher.

i would see my stomach as not flowing out over my belt but just busting out, ready to explode, like as if i was pregnant lol:eek:. but my jeans feel fine, to be honest my furthest point away from my body is my belly button.

i find 2 things,
im carring 2 stone in my 42.5 inch waist, measured of course over belly button,

I find that walking wont reduce this, running might do something, bike i love, but feel like its A1 for legs and cardio, but not helping this waist.

apart from of course my diet which im looking at and looking to make changes, is there some sore of exersise that could help me?

again guys, thanks for the warm welcome. . .

oh, ps, the wife has a threadmill and an exercise bike, I have been on both about 7 times over the last 2 weeks, 5km on the bike, about 10 mins, and then i do 2 km on the threadmill. . . takes me about 30 mins. im going to start charting my evenings, , ,and up the frequency.

gary

corkcomp

thrive4life wrote: »

thanks for all the replies people, and the info.

I already feel stupid:mad:, when i said i my waist was 42.5inches, i was meaning my widest point, u guys probably have another name on this. basically i took the tape, measured my widest point (over my belly button) and its this point that is 42.5, my jeans size is a 34 waist,

Im confused now reading some of the posts above as i dont know what we should be going by, I am happy if ye thought that i should be wearing a jean size 34 which i am, but while i think 34 waist is grand what really chesses me off is my measurement 4 inches higher.

i would see my stomach as not flowing out over my belt but just busting out, ready to explode, like as if i was pregnant lol:eek:. but my jeans feel fine, to be honest my furthest point away from my body is my belly button.

i find 2 things,
im carring 2 stone in my 42.5 inch waist, measured of course over belly button,

I find that walking wont reduce this, running might do something, bike i love, but feel like its A1 for legs and cardio, but not helping this waist.

apart from of course my diet which im looking at and looking to make changes, is there some sore of exersise that could help me?

again guys, thanks for the warm welcome. . .

oh, ps, the wife has a threadmill and an exercise bike, I have been on both about 7 times over the last 2 weeks, 5km on the bike, about 10 mins, and then i do 2 km on the threadmill. . . takes me about 30 mins. im going to start charting my evenings, , ,and up the frequency.

gary

ANY exercise will help but if you only have limited time then go at it hard! do you have access to a gym? sorry if you answered that in your post already!
the excess weight around belly is defo down to bad diet or simply too many calories, exercise will help but ultimately you need to address the diet ! best of luck

--amadeus--

If you enjoy the bike then bike, it's excellent for people carrying excess weight because it's non-impact. And it is good for your legs and cardio but I don't know where you got the idea it won't get rid of the belly. As said before more calories burned through excercise than eaten in food = weight loss.

But you'll need to put time into it. 30 mins once a week without changing your diet won't do much. To put it into context running 3 miles will burn roughly 300 calories and take the average newbie ~30mins. There are 280 cals in a single mars bar and a pound of body fat contains 3500 calories...

So if you want to lose weight you need to be exercising regularly and eating properly.

metamorphosis

OP - could you list a typical days food (warts and all)?
If you are not comfortable with that you could head over to a site like fitday.com or caloriecount.com and track what you eat to see just how much you are eating. Weight is down to exercise and food. People generally underestimate just how important food intake can be in weight loss.

4Xcut

thrive4life wrote: »

I find that walking wont reduce this, running might do something, bike i love, but feel like its A1 for legs and cardio, but not helping this waist.


gary

How would you feel about 3 or 4 bike sessions a week. Actually, thinking about it, how about driving to work on Mondays and Fridays and leaving a suit or two and shirts in there. then you can cycle to work the other 3 days. Alternatively you can just cycle on say, monday, wednesday and thursday evenings. I'm slow to give specific numbers but i'd reckon if you can cover 8-10 miles on both of those cycles at a decent pace you should notice a nice difference.

As regards to diet, people who know far more than me will post up responses to this. But one thing to mention is to try and get more fiber. A good cleanse of the aul bowls will give you a nice initial jump on your waist size which is always encouraging. The part you're measuring around your waist is a pretty good indication of what sort of shape you're in. It's not unreasonable for the first 4 or so inches to come off at around an inch a month, and believe me, this makes such a difference both to appearance and your overall confidence in yourself and in how you're working out.

As regards, whether or not you should do weights. Well this is a personal choice. They definitely have benefits but at the beginning the main thing is that you enjoy as much as possible how you are excercising. After a while, the sense of achievement can make previously less enjoyable things more enjoyable, if you get me.

Most important thing to remember is that you. can. do. it.

Best of luck man and apologies if their's any repetition in my post.

thrive4life

--amadeus-- wrote: »

If you enjoy the bike then bike, it's excellent for people carrying excess weight because it's non-impact. And it is good for your legs and cardio but I don't know where you got the idea it won't get rid of the belly. As said before more calories burned through excercise than eaten in food = weight loss.

But you'll need to put time into it. 30 mins once a week without changing your diet won't do much. To put it into context running 3 miles will burn roughly 300 calories and take the average newbie ~30mins. There are 280 cals in a single mars bar and a pound of body fat contains 3500 calories...

So if you want to lose weight you need to be exercising regularly and eating properly.

ok, with this info and calculating what i eat on an everyday basis, i can work this out. . .




for info, at the moment, for last week and this week so far, (ex sat and sun) i have done 10mins/5km on bike and 25mins/2km on the threadmill walking and running. 4 days last week of this, and i hope to do the 5 days this week, and thats my plan.
it may be small but i know ull all say you have to start some where, and i appreciate your thoughts.
my plan is to stick to the above, and in 4-5 weeks or so, up the distance on the threadmill and purhaps increase the drag on the bike/increase distance.

a big if here, but if things go as planned id like to look in to some weights in Feb/March.

between now and Jan im going to focus on diet, I know its christmas, but i say to myself whats available this time of year that wasnt available last june. . . its about self control. .

ill look up those websites ULStudent as you mentioned (thanks) and ill calulate up the calories.. . . I never knew how many calories were in a pound of fat. . .:rolleyes:. . . PS its way more than what i thought. . .u can see now why its not easy loose. . .

DIET. .hmmmmmmmmmmmm. . .

PS AMADEUS i love the bike.. . .i think the reason why, is because its so quiet, rather than hammering on the threadmill. . .

its a good bike, horizon, about €350, magnetict, , digital, , ,plug in job, , ,shocked when we bought it.. . .

right, thanks people,, ,

Gary