Losing weight/fat with excercise

Sala

I just joined a gym and have been reading up on getting fit. I didn't realise excercise doesn't help much with weight loss. I don't need to lose "weight" as such, I am a healthy weight, but I have wobbly bits. Am I right in saying that I need to change my diet to loss this body fat or excercise won't help me look better.
What about the term "skinny fat" - looking thin but soft/wobbly. I also read that people like this need to excercise to tone up. How is possible - I presume even if you are "skinny fat" you need to lose the overlying body fat through diet also??

Butterbox

Despite what you may be lead to believe, it is very simple. Ignore anyone who talks about slow metabolism, or thyroid problems or any other excuse. It all comes down to what you take in (diet) against what you use (living). You cannot create fat out of thin air. So excerise is very important. 3,500 calories equals 1lb of fat. A high intensity workout for an hour could burn up to 1000 calories during the workout but continue burning while you rest for the next 24hrs. Doing this 3 days a week would result in a loss of about 1lb. There are worse fats on your body that what you can see. Fat around your organs is not good. If you cut 500 calories from your daily diet, that's another 1lb a week. So in one month you could have lost 8lbs plus be fitter and healthier. Don't forget to do weights. You will need to keep lean muscle and also good for bone density. Don't get caught up in the weight loss, concentrate on a routine you can keep up long-term and the results will follow.

mailliw

It sounds as if, although you have a healthy weight, your body fat percentage would be quite high.

The majority of gyms will offer consultation services, so I'd advise something like that to get your BF% checked out.

The best way for you to tone up would be through doing mostly weights, some cardio to keep your fitness levels up, and eating a high protein diet, either low in fat or low in carbs.

Whatever you do, don't starve yourself. That could lead to muscle loss which will lower your metabolism, that's the last thing you want!

Sala

Thanks, I got this assessment done already. Am female, 5'8'', 10stone, body fat 21% (or 21.3 or something). All this is "normal", but i still have love handles and wobbly bits

Copper23

After a lot of pain in the past working my butt off in the gym, I joined the better body thread in this forum recently.

There's tons of good diet information on there.

To get rid of the "wobbly bits" I can attest to the fact that it simply comes down to calories in vs. calories out.

If you burn more than you eat over a day, week, month, you'll see the difference.

You can create the deficit by tracking the food you eat (be honest, it's easy to underestimate a portion size!) and ensuring you don't go over your daily goal. (Find out how many calories you need in a day without exercise and subtract from that to get your goal).

The gym DOES help, but gym alone doesn't. You are much better of fixing your diet AND doing your workout, technically that allows you eat more, if you burned 500 cals in the gym then you can technically eat 500 cals more in the day if you maintain the deficit you agreed to. The benefit of the gym is that your getting fitter plus strenghtening and toning your muscles meaning you'll look a ton better than just loosing weight alone as you'll have some definition in your muscle.

So in summary. fat loss mean eating less calories than you burn. Gym can help with this by burning more calories in the day than sitting down, and when you do lose weight from fat, you will gain a much better looking body if if it is fit and strong from the gym.

Lex Luthor

Copper23 wrote: »

To get rid of the "wobbly bits" I can attest to the fact that it simply comes down to calories in vs. calories out.

You can create the deficit by tracking the food you eat (be honest, it's easy to underestimate a portion size!) and ensuring you don't go over your daily goal. (Find out how many calories you need in a day without exercise and subtract from that to get your goal).

I can certainly agree totally with this. I was 86.5kg 3 weeks ago and need to lose 7kg and i really couldnt see how i was going to do it as i wouldnt have any more time in the week to work out and considered i had a healthy enough diet.
i registered on myfitnesspal.com and could not believe when i started watching calories how easy it was to go over. Eg. 2 glasses of fiz is about 500kcal. Slice of bread nearly 90. Even a bowl of cornflakes with full fat milk was about 500 and still i had to have some toast to fill me so i was almost 800 by breakfast with a set target of 1900/day.

Certainly if you keep an eye you will lose weight. I was skeptical but the proof is there as I've lost 3kg in 3weeks. Never ate fresh fish before but now i have it 3 times a week and love it

Frogdog

Some great advice given so far in my opinion, well done everyone.

OP, as above, your diet and total calorie intake is the most important thing when looking to lose bodyfat. Also, as above again, lift heavy weights as part of your exercise routine. After time, this will give your body a better shape and some definition. Get a knowledgable member of gym staff to show you how to do the compound exercises, or search for the home workout thread somewhere here on the Fitness forum. Have a read of the "Basics" sticky also, it contains a heap of valuable information in it.