Weight loss advice

mohenley

Hi

I am trying to shift about 10 pounds that I have gained over last 8 months.

I am 5ft 6 and 67kg.

I am quite fit and healthy but was wondeirng what the best possible gym workout would be to tone up and lose weight? I have a gym programme but it did nothing for me so I have now changed to do my own programme. Grateful for any advice.

Gym Attendence - 3-4 times a week (after work)

Cardio

20 minutes on the threadmill - starting at 10kph and increasing up to 13kph

20 minutes on stepper at level 8 - heartrate at 140+

(I had changed from 20 minutes on the crosstrainer to the stepper in last 2 weeks as felt the stepper was a tougher workout - I am wrecked after this cardio alone)

Weights:

Lat pulldown - 3 sets x 15 (20kg)
Biceps curls - 3 sets - 15 (4kg)
Chest Press - 3 sets x 15 (4 kg)
Triceps dips - 3 sets x 15 (4kg)
back row - 3 sets x 15 (25kg)
A couple of other upper body exercises at 5kg (cannot remember name)

60 stomach crunches

I also walk my dog about 2 miles or so (40 minute) every evening.

Diet:

Breakfast (6:45am) - weetabix and blueberries
Snack (10:00am) - apple or kiwi fruit
Lunch (12:30) - Salad of elttuce, tomatoe, 2 slices of hame, carrots, green beans and beetroot (made at home, no dressings)
Snack (3pm) - another peice of fruit
Dinner (7-8pm) - varies, either chicken stirfry or fish with potatoes and veg.

I drink about 4 cups of green tea a day and one coffee.

At weekend I may have a glass (2 max) of redwine with dinner on sat and sun.

Am I on the right track with this plan?

Thanks

TommyKnocker

Hi There

Can I ask your sex (guessing female) and age please.

Also I think you might be better to ditch the treddie for the crosstrainer or rower and introduce some interval training into your workouts.

Say start off with 30 seconds going as had as you can and then taking 60 seconds to recover, and doing this 8-10 times. This should be done after your weights.

Also IMHO your weight workout is not doing you too many favours either. Google Startign strength. This is a full body workout suitable for beginners whether they be male of female. See if there are any instructors in your gym who can show you the correct form on these lifts. Or maybe even (funds permitting) book a session or two with a PT to go over the lifts techniques with you.

Finally, while your diet does not include any junk, it is lacking in healthy fats and protein IMHO. Ham would not be the best source of protein IMHO, plus it is fairly high in salt and nitrite content.

Just my 2 cents worth.


Best Regards,

M

mohenley

thanks, yes i am female and am 36 years old.

I spent last 4 weeks on the crosstrainer and i changed it to the stepper. I thought that the treadmill was the best so have kept that. Is the crosstrainer better (I don't feel as wrecked after crosstrainer as i do on the treadmill)?

TommyKnocker

Hi There

Then using the Harris Benedict formula at this site I guesstimate your daily calorie requirements to be around 2,050.

Do you have any idea of the number of caloies you are currently eating each day? Basicall what you need to do is to crate a calorie deficit of around 500 calories daily through a combination of eating slightly less and increasing the intensity of your workouts.

Have a look at some of the videos that transform has his female clients do. This type of workout will yeild the best results in the least amount of time.

Also I am guessing that up until now that you have been doing stedy state cardio on both the threadmill and crosstrainer. In this scenario the treddie would feel harder. however the crosstrainer or rower lend themselves to interval training better than the treddie, as it is easier and quicker to transition from a fast hard pace of the work section to the slower pace of the rest section and back again to hard.


Best Regards,

M

mohenley

thanks for the advice b-builder. will give the crosstrainer and the starting strength a try and see how i get on - may kick start the weight loss

FYI, i don't think i could be eating 2050 a day in calories. For breakfast i would say calories is 300 max (weetabix with semi skimmed milk), snack are about 80 each, lunch is 300 (salad only consists of lettuce, tomato, carrot, green beans and ham or fish, no dressings) and maybe dinner would be 700 (if having salmon which i do once a week). That is a total of about 1500. I have also cut out bread in last two weeks.

mohenley

can anyone advise whether the stepper is good to use as part of a workout? I am doing it for 20 minutes at level 8 and burn 260 kcals. I also do 20 minutes on the crosstrainer at level 8 and burn 210kcals. I am just wondering if the stepper should be used as a workout or should I use the treadmill instead.

TommyKnocker

Hi

Me again

IMHO the stepper provides a good cardio workout and will work your legs and glutes. But again I will say don't stick to the same exercises all the time. Mix and match between the crosstrainer, treddie, rower & stepper.

And for best bang for your buck IMHO Interval and resistance training wil get you the results you want quickets.


M

mohenley

thanks what is IMHO?

i was on treadmill/crosstraiiner and now doing crosstrainer/stepper. I don't really like the rower. reason i asked about the stepper is that some sya it is not that good but by the time i am done the 20 minutes i am just as exhausted as i would be on the treadmill!

I have also looked at the starting strength and doing the basic exercises from it and have also started to use the medicine ball. no weight loss yet but hopefully will kick in soon.

TommyKnocker

Hi There

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

Sounds like you are on track with your training and you diet seems to be fairly good too. Can I ask what you eat for your snacks? Also without getting too anal, it might be a good idea to jot down what you eat over a 2 or 3 day period and work out the calorie content when you have a few minutes, just to make sure that you are eating the number of calories you think you are.

Around 1,500-1,600 calories a day woudl be about right for you at present by my guesstimation as my guesstimate for your maintenance calories is about 2,050. But if you eare eating much less than this over a prolonged period, then this can cause you metabolism to slow down and fat loss may be much slower. Another thing you might want to check is if your gym do body fat readings. This figure would be better to track than simply the figure on the scales.

And remember that the last few pounds are always the hardest to lose, so don't get disheartened. just keep plugging away


M

mohenley

ok thanks!!

my snacks are just either apple/orange/pear/kiwi at 10:30am 2pm and 5pm before i head to the gym.

i did keep a diary of what i eat for couple of days and unless i am underestimating the calories i don't think i am overeating.

For example yesterday:

Breakfast
2 weetabix and 4 strawberries with semi skimmed milk (250 cal)

snack: apple (50 cal)

Lunch:
Salad consisting of 4 lettuce leaf, grated carrot, 2 slices chicken breast (no skin), 1 tomato, 3 green beans and some Reggee Reggee sauce on side. (250 cal)

Snack: satsuma (40 cal)

Dinner:
2 slices roast beef, broccolli carrots, 2 potatoes and a little gravy (500 cal)

Drinks during day: 4 cups of green tea and 1 coffee with semi skimmed milk. (50 cal).

Total Cal: 1140 cal

Exercise:
20 minute fast walk at lunchtime
40 minute walk after dinner (take the dog for a walk)

For the day I am in the gym (4 times a week) my schedule:
Diet same but have another peice of fruit like a pear before go to gym in evening.

Cardio:

20 mins crosstrainer level 8
20 mins stepper level 8

Squats with barbell 3 x 10
pressup with barbell 3 x 10
deadlift with barbell 1 x 10
triceps dips 2 x 12

(change this to slightly different set of exercises each time)
Medicine ball obligues 3 x 10
Plank 2 x 40 secs

TommyKnocker

Hi Again

Firstly let me state that I am no expert, just somebody interested in nutrition, health and fitness,

Secondly I under estimated your daily calorie requirements in my earlier post by around 200 calories I made a mistake multiplying 67 * 2.2 (I came up with 137lb instead of 147 lbs :o )

The only point I would make regarding your calorie calculations is that I would reckon that an average apple (Golden D. Granny S. etc) is closer to 100-120cals.

Now you reckon that you are eating circa 1140 calories daily. How long have you been eating this number of calories? IMHO you are not eating enough, and if you have been eating like this for a while, this may have caused your metabolism to slow down.

Again using this site (and using your proper weight this time), I estimate that your basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the number of calories your body would use if you just lay in bed all day is 1,435.

Then using the multiplier for moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55, This would give you a daily calorie allowance of 2,224.

In all the articles I have read on fat/weight loss, it had always been recomended that you never eat below your BMR figure and especially over a long period of time. Form what I have read, this can cause your metabolism to slow, which means that you body holds on to body fat and could possibly add more. I have read that this can cause the body to break down muscle to provide energy, which is not a good thing as muscle is an active tissue which burns mor energy at rest then fat.

Two ebooks that I found good reads regarding diet and nutrition were

• The Diet Plan by Neil McTaggart (writes for Meand Health)
• Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle by Tom Venturo (Naturla Body Builder)

I found these explained things in an easy to understand way.

As I said I am not expert and have no qualifications in any area of the fitness industry. So it might be worth your while booking a session with a reputable personal trainer or a sports nutritionist who could advise you properly. There is a very good PT who posts on here and is a really good contributer to this forum, his forum name is "Transform" you could maybe drop him a PM and ask him to check this thread and see what he recommends.


Best Regards,

M

Transform

the cardio you are doing is just a means to an end i.e. you are just buring calories so it does not really matter what way you do that, stepper, treadmill etc

The massive issue i see here is that your weights program is not right i.e. you are not progessively increasing the weights and working in weights complexes or throwing in any metcons.

Next time you are in the gym do this workout -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyIJ5M-aaE0

Remember this is just an example of a session but you really need to work on getting better at the basics as for me all my female clients would use a minimum of 30-40kg in warming up their deadlift, can do press ups no problem, inverted rows are standard, box hops, burpees etc get with the exercises that work well and ramp up the gym sessions.

There are lots and lots of exmaple on how you do this but on a really basic level you need to really ramp up your metabolism through proper weights rather than lots of cardio as excessive cardio is the slowest way to looking and feeling your best

Check out the girl in the background doing the same workout as myself - showing plenty of good form and strength on the basics -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIgofCzn8Q0

mohenley

thank you both for your advice, greatly appreciated.

i was doing the cardio as i thought this was the best way to fat burning.

As for the weight in the barbell i would be lifting a good weight (I cannot remember but i am barely able to complete the reps with it). THis is new programme i only started. Before this my programme was consisted of machine weights (varying from 15kg up to 40kg) - any weights that I was lifting was not easy by any mean.

B-builder - wow i never thought an apple had that may calories - makes me wonder - i have cut bread out of my diet and actualy i slice of toast with little ja would be better. FYI, I do not eat cheese, butter, yogurts etc. Only semi-skimmed milk, not a big dairy fan!

Will try and do these exercises when in gym tonight.

Transform

mohenley wrote: »

thank you both for your advice, greatly appreciated.

i was doing the cardio as i thought this was the best way to fat burning.

As for the weight in the barbell i would be lifting a good weight (I cannot remember but i am barely able to complete the reps with it). THis is new programme i only started. Before this my programme was consisted of machine weights (varying from 15kg up to 40kg) - any weights that I was lifting was not easy by any mean.

B-builder - wow i never thought an apple had that may calories - makes me wonder - i have cut bread out of my diet and actualy i slice of toast with little ja would be better. FYI, I do not eat cheese, butter, yogurts etc. Only semi-skimmed milk, not a big dairy fan!

Will try and do these exercises when in gym tonight.

unfortunately doing lots of cardio is no where near the best and quickest way to drop fat

This short article on the top 7 fat loss mistakes will help -

http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/7-fat-loss-mistakes-youre-making/

AH92

Last year I dieted down and lost 38 kgs!!!
Here's what I basically did:
I avoided carbs whenever possible and had a refeed of carbs every 3-4 weeks for one day!!
I did HIIT training on the treadmill (roughly around 8-9 short sprints)
This may seem obvious but I avoided all junk foods!!
I drank plenty of water of everyday (around 4 litres a day)
I Ate LOTS OF TUNA!!
As said above aim for 500 cal deficit a day for optimal fat loss!!!
And btw avoiding carbs is not madatory but it makes fat loss easier due to lack of insulin in the body but on the downside you will be more lethargic throughout the day!!!
Hope this helped and good luck )

mohenley

thanks all for your advice, will change my workout as weighed myself last night and not lose any weight in 3 weeks!!

Transform, my gym does not have kettle balls - can i just use weights? Last night I used 2 8kg weights to do the run(from end of room to other) as in video and on 8kg weight to pull weight over my head.

I cut the cardio down to 30 minutes (on crosstrainer) and spent 20 minutes or so doing weights. Would this sound right? During the week I go to gym 3 times and i can only really spend an hour there max as it is after seven before i get there. At weekend i go once and can spend up to 1hr 30 mins there.

Transform

mohenley wrote: »

thanks all for your advice, will change my workout as weighed myself last night and not lose any weight in 3 weeks!!

Transform, my gym does not have kettle balls - can i just use weights? Last night I used 2 8kg weights to do the run(from end of room to other) as in video and on 8kg weight to pull weight over my head.

I cut the cardio down to 30 minutes (on crosstrainer) and spent 20 minutes or so doing weights. Would this sound right? During the week I go to gym 3 times and i can only really spend an hour there max as it is after seven before i get there. At weekend i go once and can spend up to 1hr 30 mins there.

Yes a dumbbell is grand just does not swing as naturally and the weight being used in the video was 12 and 16kg so aim to bring it up.

I would spend no more than 20mins doing cardio and the rest of the time in the gym doing metabolic circuits, foam rolling, stretching etc

all the best

mohenley

thanks everyone for your advice,

Transform, is there a video or book on MetCon to learn the basics properly? I wil ask in gym but on last programme they put me on 90% cardio and only couple weights so I don't know how good they are.

Transform

mohenley wrote: »

thanks everyone for your advice,

Transform, is there a video or book on MetCon to learn the basics properly? I wil ask in gym but on last programme they put me on 90% cardio and only couple weights so I don't know how good they are.

not really just go to a good trainer and they should b able to help you or just steal ideas from the metcon thread and my blog http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/

mohenley

thanks Transform,

In the first video you posted it showed a lady running with 2 kettleballs the length of the room. Due to space restriction I can only do this (with 15kg weight) at weekend. Is it ok to just run on the spot with them during the week?

FYI, my new programme I am doing 4 times a week is as follows:

WEights done first

Squats with barbell - 4 sets x 20 (barbell is 25kg i think)
Bulgarian splits - 4 x 20 (10 on each leg)
Inverted Rows - 4 x 10
Pressups - 4 x 15
Kettle swings (12.5 kg weight) - 4 x 10
Runs with weights - 15kg in each hand 4 sets of 5 lengths of room
Box Jumps (on exercise bos) - 4 sets of 10

I do this like a circuit as quickly as i can. It takes about 20 - 25 minutes

Medicine ball - 3 x 15 obligue exercises
Plank - 3 x 40 secs


Cardio - 20 mins on treadmill starting at 10kpm up to 14.5 kpm (1 minute at 10, 1 minute at 12.5, 1 minute at 10kpm and 1 at 13 kpm etc).

I am now on my second week. No weight loss but it is a tough workout and can feel myself getting fitter!! and i still take the dog for a 35 minute walk every day and 20 minute walk every lunchtime.

Will Heffernan

mohenley wrote: »

In the first video you posted it showed a lady running with 2 kettleballs the length of the room. Due to space restriction I can only do this (with 15kg weight) at weekend. Is it ok to just run on the spot with them during the week?

Please...I'm begging you...don't do that.

Will Heffernan

mohenley wrote: »

thanks Transform,

In the first video you posted it showed a lady running with 2 kettleballs the length of the room. Due to space restriction I can only do this (with 15kg weight) at weekend. Is it ok to just run on the spot with them during the week.

Please...I'm begging you...don't ever do that.