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I really would like to get in good shape, but need help.

  • 17-10-2010 9:47pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,533 ✭✭✭


    Hi everyone,
    I'm 16, 6 foot tall, weigh between 70-75kg depending on the day and what time of day it is. I cycle to school and back (and again for lunch) which is about a mile and its up and down a hill. The only sports I do are surfing, cycling and skateboarding, and now that the weather is getting worse, it's probably only going to be cycling (To school, Ballyhoura, Derroura, Killaloe and Cratloe). I'd really like someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong and where I could improve.

    Daily routine:
    7:45 : Shower.
    8:00 : Usually end up skipping breakfast. (<- Problem, I know)
    8:30 : Off to school on the bike.
    12:30: Back home for lunch, usually dried pasta, pizza or left-overs from the night before. (Another problem?)
    1:15: Back to school.
    4:00: Go to shop across the road before study because everyone else goes. Usually sweets or crisps or something.
    8:00: Back home for dinner, usually something like cottage pie or lasagne.
    11:00: Bed. (Usually a few snacks in between getting dinner and bed)

    After writing all that... It's pretty bad isn't it? :(

    What would you recommend that I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
    Should I get up at say 7:00 and go for a run around the by-pass (about 2-3km), the dog rarely gets walked aswell :rolleyes:

    I always feel guilty eating sweets, cos I was in good shape when I was in Switzerland over the summer (German language course), at the end of the two weeks I had a slight 6 pack, like you could just about make it out :cool: But now its like a fecking water baloon :( When I was there, I had to climb 110 stairs to get to my room and I climbed them about 15-16 times a day. I ate a lot of pasta, but rarely ate breakfast. Now, its about 15 stairs to my bedroom and I go up and down it about 2 times a day :D

    What I'm looking for is for someone to be super-helpful and give me a guide or list of things I should be doing/eating, I'm really sick of feeling lazy. I don't understand "faddy" (is that fatty?) "carbs/carbohydrates" and all the different "xxxxycose"'s (are they just different sugars?).

    I'll cut out the sweets starting from now anyway.

    Well, thanks a million if someone can help me :)


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,832 ✭✭✭✭Blatter


    Read the stickies here and in the diet & nutrition forum, they contain all the info you need on what foods you should and shouldn't be eating. Also, look into weight training 3 times a week on a programme like starting strenght, if you really want to get into good shape, but beaware it will not work if your diet is not 80%+ clean.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Cherry Blossom


    I find it easier to do something that has a purpose, if you want a really good workout and to keep in shape try boxing or kick-boxing, with kick-boxing you have belts to aim for so there is always a goal and you don't have to fight anyone, if you want you can just do the training and go through the belts ;) With something intense like this you can basically eat what you want as you will be burning it all off.

    Another tip: A great breakfast is just a banana, it wont give you a horrible full stomach first thing in the morning, gives you a slow release of energy and is low cal a lot better than toast or cereal, great for keeping you going till lunch time and you can eat it on the move.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,704 ✭✭✭squod




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,533 ✭✭✭Daniel S


    Read the stickies here and in the diet & nutrition forum, they contain all the info you need on what foods you should and shouldn't be eating. Also, look into weight training 3 times a week on a programme like starting strenght, if you really want to get into good shape, but beaware it will not work if your diet is not 80%+ clean.

    The stickies are all technical eg carbs and glucose, glycose etc, I really need someone to put it very simply for me, eg "For breakfast, eat this, that and the other. For lunch..." and then "Get up early and go for a run" or "Use your crosstrainer/treadmill" (Which is very noisy btw). "cut out white bread, sweets and...", that sort of thing.;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Cherry Blossom


    Breakfast: Eat a banana
    Lunch: A sandwich, a piece of fruit, yoghurt
    Do your exercise before your main evening meal and wait at least an hour after exercise before you eat a big meal

    Evening Meal/Dinner - A proper balanced meal eg meat and 2 veg, pasta and sauce, curry and rice.

    for most people the real killer is fizzy drinks, diet is worse than normal, if you have to have a fizzy drink make it 7up.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,533 ✭✭✭Daniel S


    Breakfast: Eat a banana
    Lunch: A sandwich, a piece of fruit, yoghurt
    Do your exercise before your main evening meal and wait at least an hour after exercise before you eat a big meal

    Evening Meal/Dinner - A proper balanced meal eg meat and 2 veg, pasta and sauce, curry and rice.

    for most people the real killer is fizzy drinks, diet is worse than normal, if you have to have a fizzy drink make it 7up.

    How does this sound?

    Routine:
    07:00 Run around bypass
    07:45 Shower + Teeth
    08:00 Banana, Orange juice (not from concentrate).
    08:30 School
    12:30 Yogurt, brown bread sandwich, fruit. Make brown bread sandwich for before study.
    16:00 Sandwich
    20:00 Cycle home + excercises
    20:30 Dinner
    22:30 Bed

    I heard that excercise is useless unless you eat within half an hour , is that true?

    Should the exercises be chin ups, pull up, sit ups and push up?

    Also, is dried pasta okay? I've heard an awful lot of bad stuff about it.
    If I can eat it every now and then, what sauce should I use, or will the usual grated cheese and ham be ok? (mozzarella and cheddar)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Cherry Blossom


    You need to wait at least an hour after you finish your exercises before eating a big meal or you'll get stomach cramps, the exercises you mentioned are strength and core building exercises, put some stretches in there as well for flexibility if it's your general fitness you want to improve or scrap the exercises and go swimming twice a week. Do you really need another sandwich at 4? I'd go for another banana and a small snack, bar of chocolate, bag of crisps something like that, much easier to stick to if you have some snacks. Dried pasta is fine, go a bit easy on the cheese though eg. lasagne or spag bol is better than macaroni cheese ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,985 ✭✭✭skelliser


    Read the stickies here and in the diet & nutrition forum, they contain all the info you need on what foods you should and shouldn't be eating. Also, look into weight training 3 times a week on a programme like starting strenght, if you really want to get into good shape, but beaware it will not work if your diet is not 80%+ clean.

    while i agree with reading them i find there is a serious information overload!
    for the newbie like myself its overwhelming.

    Like the op a guide to eating the right food ie a plan, eat this for lunch etc would be alot easier to digest, pardon the pun!

    It would go like this:
    list all the meals for one day
    Then explain what you get from each meal.

    That imo would help me and the op alot more.

    At the end of the day we are all different and some of us need to be told what to eat!
    by that of course im not saying im a complete idiot, eating whatever etc.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Cherry Blossom




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,367 ✭✭✭cmyk


    mtb_kng wrote: »
    Hi everyone,
    I'm 16, 6 foot tall, weigh between 70-75kg

    At 6ft and 82kg I consider myself skinny. What are your goals? Add weight, be better at the sports you do etc?
    mtb_kng wrote: »
    After writing all that... It's pretty bad isn't it? :(

    Sometimes just writing things out can help show you what's wrong.
    mtb_kng wrote: »
    The stickies are all technical eg carbs and glucose, glycose etc, I really need someone to put it very simply for me, eg "For breakfast, eat this, that and the other. For lunch..." and then "Get up early and go for a run" or "Use your crosstrainer/treadmill" (Which is very noisy btw). "cut out white bread, sweets and...", that sort of thing.;)

    The very first post in the stickies is by transform and pretty much has all the info you need to get started without being technical.
    Breakfast: Eat a banana
    Lunch: A sandwich, a piece of fruit, yoghurt
    Do your exercise before your main evening meal and wait at least an hour after exercise before you eat a big meal

    Evening Meal/Dinner - A proper balanced meal eg meat and 2 veg, pasta and sauce, curry and rice.
    for most people the real killer is fizzy drinks, diet is worse than normal, if you have to have a fizzy drink make it 7up.

    Not sure where to start with that, it's not much of an improvement on his original diet.
    mtb_kng wrote: »
    How does this sound?
    Should the exercises be chin ups, pull up, sit ups and push up?

    Add in some leg work and you're getting there.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,144 ✭✭✭Parsley


    You need to wait at least an hour after you finish your exercises before eating a big meal or you'll get stomach cramps,

    absolute, complete and utter bullsh*t.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,995 ✭✭✭Cherry Blossom


    cmyk wrote: »
    At 6ft and 82kg I consider myself skinny. What are your goals? Add weight, be better at the sports you do etc?

    I had assumed at this height and weight the OP was female, perhaps wrongly so?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,829 ✭✭✭TommyKnocker


    Mod hat off, Normal poster hat on.

    Ok, well I am going to have to disagree with almost all of these posts, and IMHO this is probably some of the worst advice I have seen on this forum in a long while
    I find it easier to do something that has a purpose, if you want a really good workout and to keep in shape try boxing or kick-boxing, with kick-boxing you have belts to aim for so there is always a goal and you don't have to fight anyone, if you want you can just do the training and go through the belts ;) With something intense like this you can basically eat what you want as you will be burning it all off.

    While I will agree that if you are dong intense workouts 5 or 6 days a week, you can get away with a less then perfect diet, I would disagree with the statement "you can basically eat what you want as you will be burning it all" as you will still need to ensure that you are at least eating at maintenance level to avoid putting on body fat.
    Another tip: A great breakfast is just a banana, it wont give you a horrible full stomach first thing in the morning, gives you a slow release of energy and is low cal a lot better than toast or cereal, great for keeping you going till lunch time and you can eat it on the move.

    IMHO after a 6 or 8 hour fast while sleeping, a single banana or even an entire bunch is a less than optimal breakfast. IMO you require more than the 120 cals provided by a banana to get you thorugh to lunch.
    Breakfast: Eat a banana
    Lunch: A sandwich, a piece of fruit, yoghurt
    Do your exercise before your main evening meal and wait at least an hour after exercise before you eat a big meal

    Evening Meal/Dinner - A proper balanced meal eg meat and 2 veg, pasta and sauce, curry and rice.

    for most people the real killer is fizzy drinks, diet is worse than normal, if you have to have a fizzy drink make it 7up.

    As has been stated above, this is no better than the diet the OP is on at present
    You need to wait at least an hour after you finish your exercises before eating a big meal or you'll get stomach cramps

    Not true IMHO
    the exercises you mentioned are strength and core building exercises, put some stretches in there as well for flexibility if it's your general fitness you want to improve or scrap the exercises and go swimming twice a week.

    The program outlined by the OP needs a lot more then stretches to make it a balanced program IMHO. And again IMO swimming twice a week, unless the OP is a fairly proficient swimmer will not do too much for them.
    Do you really need another sandwich at 4? I'd go for another banana and a small snack, bar of chocolate, bag of crisps something like that, much easier to stick to if you have some snacks. Dried pasta is fine, go a bit easy on the cheese though eg. lasagne or spag bol is better than macaroni cheese ;)

    Are you seriously suggesting that a packet of crisps and/or a bar of chocolate is a better choice then a sandwich? :eek::eek: as IMO this is just plain crazy.

    That is basically the old school food pyramid on a plate, high carb, moderate protein, low fat, which is no longer considered the best method to control weight. IMHO it's really only endurance athletes require a high carb diet.

    My 2 cents


    M


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 337 ✭✭Doctor_Socks


    B-Builder and gave some solid advice there so take heed of it, some of the other advice was complete and utter crap! Waiting for an hour to eat after the gym, never heard of such nonsense, would be ready to eat the walls around me by that stage!

    Have a look at programs such as starting strength or stronglifts, or if you don't want to join a gym there is a great home workout thread here if you search for it. No point losing a load of bodyfat and looking like the male version of Kate Moss cause theres no muscle under it!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,533 ✭✭✭Daniel S


    I had assumed at this height and weight the OP was female, perhaps wrongly so?
    haha yea, I'm a guy :D I'm fairly weedy though, no muscle just a bit of fat :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,660 ✭✭✭G86


    B-Builder and gave some solid advice there so take heed of it, some of the other advice was complete and utter crap! Waiting for an hour to eat after the gym, never heard of such nonsense, would be ready to eat the walls around me by that stage!

    Have a look at programs such as starting strength or stronglifts, or if you don't want to join a gym there is a great home workout thread here if you search for it. No point losing a load of bodyfat and looking like the male version of Kate Moss cause theres no muscle under it!

    +1. Read cmyk and B-Builders posts, and then read them again. And if you're lucky someone else who also knows what they're talking about might come along. If not, stick with those posts and ignore everything else that's been posted.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,533 ✭✭✭Daniel S


    mtb_kng wrote: »
    How does this sound?

    Routine:
    07:00 Run around bypass
    07:45 Shower + Teeth
    08:00 Banana, Orange juice (not from concentrate).
    08:30 School
    12:30 Yogurt, brown bread sandwich, fruit. Make brown bread sandwich for before study.
    16:00 Sandwich
    20:00 Cycle home + excercises
    20:30 Dinner
    22:30 Bed

    I heard that excercise is useless unless you eat within half an hour , is that true?

    Should the exercises be chin ups, pull up, sit ups and push up?

    Also, is dried pasta okay? I've heard an awful lot of bad stuff about it.
    If I can eat it every now and then, what sauce should I use, or will the usual grated cheese and ham be ok? (mozzarella and cheddar)

    So how is that? Should I follow that? Should I eat a bigger breakfast, eg. "Just Right", "Crunchy Nut" or will I go ahead and eat porrige (which I can only eat with a fair amount of sugar)

    Also someone said something about swimming, I'm pretty good at it (I surf like :P)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 983 ✭✭✭Frogdog


    mtb_kng wrote: »
    So how is that? Should I follow that? Should I eat a bigger breakfast, eg. "Just Right", "Crunchy Nut" or will I go ahead and eat porrige (which I can only eat with a fair amount of sugar)

    Also someone said something about swimming, I'm pretty good at it (I surf like :P)

    OP, disregards adrenalinjunkie's advice as I believe it to be bad advice (eating snacks such as chocolate/crisps, waiting an hour after the gym to eat, eating what you want as long as you're doing some training etc). Stick with cymk's and B-Builder's.

    Also, read the sticky here on the Fitness Forum entitled "Fitness, the basics (incl. Diet & Nutrition)":

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055963342

    And the sticky on the Nutrition & Diet forum entitled "Nutrition 101":

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055157091

    Read them, learn them, soak it all in. It's invaluable information that will provide you with a good grounding on the basics.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,829 ✭✭✭TommyKnocker


    Well as has been asked before and I don't think it has been answered, what are your goals? What is the expected outcome from your diet and training?

    At 6 ft and 75kg you have to be fairly skinny as I am 5' 6" and 78kg and I am skinny :o

    So although none of the sports you are interested in requrie a well built physique, where are your looking to get to?

    To be honest the diet you posted in not that great. You really should take the time to read through the stickies and get a basic understanding of nutrition. This will serve you well for the rest of your life.

    To maintain your current weight I guesstimate that you require around 2,750 calories daily. It would be my recommendation (and I am no expert) that you try and get these as follows

    40% or 1106 cals from Protein sources (meats, fish, eggs, nuts, cottage cheese, milk etc)
    35% or 967 cals from healthy fat (nuts, nut butters, fish oil supplements, oily fish, advacado etc)
    25% or 691 cals from carbs (mostly from veg and some fruit, less from breads, pasts, rice, potatoes etc)

    You're 16 now so you can't be expecting somebody to hold your hand and tell you what and when to eat and when and how to exercise. You really need to take control of your own life. Also you know best what your likes and dislikes are as far as foods go.

    So to the diet you posted.

    Breakfast try some porridge or oats with cold milk. Add a small amount of mixed nuts and seeds and some berries for sweetness instead of sugar.

    Bring some mixed nuts ans dired fruit to school for a snack and maybe some oat cakes with some peanut butter spread on or an apple & some cottage cheese.

    For lunch try a salad with mixed leaves, vegetables and a lean protein source. Or a wholemeal pitta wth salad and meat/fish filling

    16:00 have some cottage cheese mixed with some berries or a pint of milk and maybe a banana

    Dinner have a lean protein source with a large portion of veg. Skip or keep to a minimum the spuds, pasta, rice etc (especially if you are looking to keep the tummy defined).

    Maybe have a glass of milk and some peanut butter before bed.

    I would also suggest that you mix the exercises up. By all means do some running, but also add in some body weight exercises. Have a look at The Home Workout Thread for some ideas.

    At you height I personally think you could look to add some more meat to your bones, so you could add another 500 calories a day to the figure above, giving you a total of 3,250 calories a day. Do the math and workout the breakdown of Protein, fats & carbs.

    Then work out what you should eat to achieve this target.


    Best of luck,

    M


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 304 ✭✭gavtron


    Great advice from B-Builder there, +1 to everything he said.
    If you let us know what your goals are e.g. building muscle, putting on weight, losing weight etc. then people could guide you a bit better.
    You could try getting a couple of eggs into you in the morning, I usually crack a couple into a bowl whisk them with a fork and stick em in the microwave for a minute or so and you have some tasty scrambled eggs that will keep you full until lunch time...or 10am in my case!
    Cut down on the carbs and get more protein and fats into you as well, breakfast cereals are not a good way to start the day really. Full of sugar.

    As other people have said read and re-read the stickies, here and on the Nutrition and Diet forum. There is a ton of information in them. If there is something you don't understand then google it, if you still don't understand it then post a question here and someone is bound to be helpful enough to answer it!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,533 ✭✭✭Daniel S


    How does this sound?

    Routine:
    07:00 Run around bypass (Work my way up until I'm doing it twice => 5k)
    07:45 Shower + Teeth
    08:00 Yogurt, Nuts (Not salted peanuts :D), Porridge
    08:30 School
    12:30 Yogurt, brown bread sandwich, fruit, meat of some sort. Something like that.
    16:00 Sandwich + Hot chocolate from Londis €0.60 :p
    20:00 Cycle home + exercises (Will the old rugby training exercises do? Eg. Squats, push ups, sit up and pull up/chin ups. Not doing rugby anymore, manager was a coont and never let the players who actually turned up for training play.)
    20:30 Dinner
    22:30 Bed

    Basically, cut down on all the fat and carbs I'm eating, and get more protein and veg into me?

    Is it true that you can have one day off a week, eg. eat a pizza and fizzy drink?

    Hoping to join the UL mountain bike club when I get there (Hopefully I'll get Mechanical Engineering if I can get the fecking C3 in honurs maths) and the trampoline club. Those would be my goals I guess :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,228 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    if you have to have a fizzy drink make it 7up.
    7up is no better than coke
    You need to wait at least an hour after you finish your exercises before eating a big meal or you'll get stomach cramps,
    Pretty much anyone who has ever been to the gym knows this isn't true
    mtb_kng wrote: »
    So how is that? Should I follow that? Should I eat a bigger breakfast, eg. "Just Right", "Crunchy Nut" or will I go ahead and eat porrige (which I can only eat with a fair amount of sugar)
    Just right isn't the worse, but there is stil a bit of added sugar there.
    go with porridge/oats. Some people make there own museili to avoid added sugar.
    Also someone said something about swimming, I'm pretty good at it (I surf like :P)
    How good? What sort of time for 100m free.
    For most people, even those who can swim well, its not a great fitness option as they just can't push themselves hard enough. Swimming is pretty much only really good at making you a better swimmer.
    mtb_kng wrote: »
    How does this sound?

    Routine:
    07:00 Run around bypass (Work my way up until I'm doing it twice => 5k)
    07:45 Shower + Teeth
    08:00 Yogurt, Nuts (Not salted peanuts :D), Porridge
    08:30 School
    12:30 Yogurt, brown bread sandwich, fruit, meat of some sort. Something like that.
    16:00 Sandwich + Hot chocolate from Londis €0.60 :p
    20:00 Cycle home + exercises
    20:30 Dinner
    22:30 Bed

    Basically, cut down on all the fat and carbs I'm eating, and get more protein and veg into me?
    Its better, but only just. Still a lot of carbs (Yogurt, Porridge, brown bread sandwich, fruit, Sandwich + Hot chocolate, veg with dinner ) and not really a whole lot of protein. (Meat, not a lot in yogurt, nuts)
    Is it true that you can have one day off a week, eg. eat a pizza and fizzy drink?
    a lot of people have a cheat there where they have pizza, burgers etc. But don't be fooled, this isn't a magic day where it has no effect, its still intake so go easy. Last week i got a pizza on sunday as a cheat, I still got diet coke though. Something as small a going for diet or water over a soft drink can have a huge difference. Even with a pizza.


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