Best exercise for weight loss

Attempting To Overhaul Body

Hi guys,

I have just this week started a new regime, I have 3st to lose, all of which I've gained over the last 4 years or so.

Any advice on the best fitness plan to help me do this would be much appreciated. I'm very unfit, hit the gym yesterday, only stuck to treadmill, very very sore today :-(

Frogdog

Well the most important part to get right first is your diet. You can do all the exercise in the world and if you have a bad diet it won't make any difference to your weight.

Post up your average day's food intake (include everything!) and give us your stats (sex, age, height, weight etc).

Get your diet right first, then we can recommend exercise.

Attempting To Overhaul Body

Well the diet was awful until last week, I have a very sweeth tooth, chocoholic, everything basically. I comfort eat a lot too, not that I've any reason to or anything!

sex: F
age: 25
height: 5 4
weight: 163lbs (this was 2 weeks ago, I hate getting up on the scales, so I'm going to avoid it for a few weeks in the hope that if I then see a few lbs gone it will be a great source of encouragement!)

I've been eating basically the same thing every day for the last week ie:

Breakfast: 2 weetabix, low fat milk
Snack: Small apple
Lunch: Brown bread sandwich with either ham/turkey/chicken slices, lettuce, tomato, onion
Snack: Small apple
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast and loads of veg (broc, carrots, cauliflower)
Snack: Small apple and/or diet yogurt

Drinking obscene amounts of tea with skimmed milk throughout the day too, along with about 3 litres of water.

I basically need exercise tips that will ensure I lose weight while eating the above? I know nothing about exercise, I'm really unfit, I am prepared to prioritise the exercising over socialising in the evenings because this is about the first time I've ever really felt like I wanted to be fitter (before I used to exercise purely for weight loss / maintenance purposes). I just need to maybe built it up rather than diving in head first?

I'd love to lose 2lbs per week between now and Christmas, is this realistically achievable? I'll stay away from the pub til then if needs be!!

Any advice at all would be majorly appreciated

SanoVitae

If you gave me just one exericse to recommend, it would be the barbell squat.

However, if you have 3st+ to lose, then any form of exercise (even walking) will help you lose weight. As long as you're consistent, i.e. exercising daily and eating well, then you should be able to lose 2lbs a week for quite a while.

Once you hit a plateau, then weight-training and nutrition will play a more important role in your weight loss.

Paul

tHE vAGGABOND

As someone who has lost 4+ stone over the last 5 months I think its important to do a range of different weight based and cardio based exercises to keep things interesting for yourself. While one or another exercise may be "the best" I would get board out of my mind doing one thing over and over again for weeks on end [maybe your different?].

I started with a program set out by stupid uninterested gym instructor, and as the weeks progressed I found I liked some things more than others, and indeed I thought some things were more important than others. So I adapted it myself as to what I wanted to do and what my goals were [as they changed, from weight loss and nothing but that, to starting running].

Attempting To Overhaul Body

SanoVitae wrote: »

If you gave me just one exericse to recommend, it would be the barbell squat.

However, if you have 3st+ to lose, then any form of exercise (even walking) will help you lose weight. As long as you're consistent, i.e. exercising daily and eating well, then you should be able to lose 2lbs a week for quite a while.

Once you hit a plateau, then weight-training and nutrition will play a more important role in your weight loss.

Paul

Thanks for the advice every1, I just googled the barbell squat - I'm scared. I'll give it a go, someone in the gym should be able to show me how to do it properly. I have a feeling I'll be starting off with a near empty bar though!!

Also "3st+"... I was hoping 3st was the height of what I have to lose - do you think I should be losing more for my age/weight/height?

Attempting To Overhaul Body

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

As someone who has lost 4+ stone over the last 5 months I think its important to do a range of different weight based and cardio based exercises to keep things interesting for yourself. While one or another exercise may be "the best" I would get board out of my mind doing one thing over and over again for weeks on end [maybe your different?].

I started with a program set out by stupid uninterested gym instructor, and as the weeks progressed I found I liked some things more than others, and indeed I thought some things were more important than others. So I adapted it myself as to what I wanted to do and what my goals were [as they changed, from weight loss and nothing but that, to starting running].

Congrats on the weight loss, thats a massive achievement, I feel like I have a mountain to climb to lose 3st so I can see how much effort you must have put in.

I'm with you on the boring part, I probably wouldn't stick with it if I was just doing the same thing over and over. I don't mind doing things I hate once there are bits I "like" too, I should be able to stick with it once I mix it up a bit. One routine every day would kill me.

I'd love to start running but I'm asthmatic so think I can rule that one out, I've attempted before but usually can't breathe after not very long!

HammerHeadGym

check out the burpee. Truly the king of exercises.

SanoVitae

Hindu squats are also great.

Lantus

When it comes to exercises you can basically divide them into two groups. Cardio and resistance. Cardio is the the stuff like running, cycling, walking etc. Something that you can do and maintain at a consistent medium to high intensity for 20-45 minutes of average. Your heart is your most important muscle and your cardio system is your body's engine. Train it 3 times a week if you can anyway you like. For maxweight loss you may want to extend this to 4 5 or even 6 or 7 days subject to your time and the results your getting. If you can lose weight with 5 minutes exercise then great. If not increase till you get results.

Resistance builds your muscle which fires up your metabolism, strengthens your bones and joints and helps gaurd against back problems. Squats are one of a whole range of such exercises. Contrary to urban myth you will not become a muscle bound freak.

A simple routine would be as follows: -

ABS & Core
2 sets of Standard crunch 12-15 reps
2 sets of pulse up's 12 reps
side bridge (30-60seconds each side.)
2 sets of swiss ball superman 12-15 reps

Whole Body
3 sets of press ups (as many as you can) use your knees if you need to.
3 sets of 10-12 dumbell (DB) squats.
3 sets of Bendover rows with DB. 10 reps
3 sets of 10-12 DB Military press.
3 sets of upright row with DB 10 reps
3 sets of tricep pushdowns 10-12 reps
3 sets of leg extension (use a wall variety 40-60 seconds or machine 10-12 reps)
3 sets of bicep curls 10-12 reps
3 sets of lying leg curl 10-12 reps.

Run through the circuit once and then rest 2-3 minutes and run through again. Although it seems like a lot you should be able to complete this in 30 minutes. I did this for 6-8 months before moving onto other routines (splits) and it was a fnatastic start and re-sculpted my body.) Loads of guidance on you tube and the web and gym. Dumbells are a great way to go as they work each side of your body seperatley and you use your core to stabilise.

corkcomp

your diet looks pretty ok but make sure to get enough protein and good fats.

lift heavy weights a couple of times per week and focus on compounds and do plenty cardio based stuff too, mix it up between steady state and intervals.. im not going to say 10 min on bike and 5 on treadmill etc because a lot of those programs are over planned - anything that gets your heart rate high enough and makes you work hard will do the trick.. best of luck!

themandan6611

Diet looks reasonably good - as previous poster says get some protein & good fats (avacado etc). Make sure you change what your eating or you'll get bored and be more easily tempted by sweet things - also make sure you have a weekly reward for all your hard work - say a bar of chocolate - Impressive theres no alcohal

A combination of weight training and cardio will give you results coupled with a good diet. For the cardio see what your gym offers, some offer spinning, body-pump, turbo-boxing etc which is great to mix things up (1 month doing 1 then switch).

May not be something that is of interest to you but have a think of taking up a martial art like tae-kwon-do - great for a work-out, working up a sweat, strengthing the core & losing weight. Added benefit of being fun and not boring as some people find running etc although downside is the cost on top of gym membership

good luck