Fighting Fit

Backstreet Moyes

Cant find a job after finishing college so good time to concentrate on getting fit! I was 14st 2 last summer and am down to 12st 7 now. I put in alot of work walking and lost 23 pounds, but christmas ruined my routine and iv lacked motivation since. Im Male 23, height 5'5, weight 12st 7 and b.m.i. 29.4
Im fairly stocky so dont look very overweight but my ideal weight is max 10st 11 and b.m.i 24. As i said unemployed so not a member of a gym. So what i try do is workout 5 days a week. On weekends i find it too hard to avoid going out with friends for drinks watchin football due to boredom and i love watching sports on weekends. Have you much hope losing weight drinking roughly 12 pints of heineken on saturdays and sometimes around 6-8 on a Sunday.

I try do 20 minutes of exercises from seen on Operation Transformation such as squats etc. I use 5 pounds weights in each hand.
60 situps.
20 minutes cycle.
60 minute walk.

My main question is this any good for losing weight. A friend told me i should get some weights but im unsure if this will help or put muscle onto fat. Do people think using weights will help me lose weight and if so can they recommend, what weight.

huskerdu

Nuts102 wrote: »

Cant find a job after finishing college so good time to concentrate on getting fit! I was 14st 2 last summer and am down to 12st 7 now. I put in alot of work walking and lost 23 pounds, but christmas ruined my routine and iv lacked motivation since. Im Male 23, height 5'5, weight 12st 7 and b.m.i. 29.4
Im fairly stocky so dont look very overweight but my ideal weight is max 10st 11 and b.m.i 24. As i said unemployed so not a member of a gym. So what i try do is workout 5 days a week. On weekends i find it too hard to avoid going out with friends for drinks watchin football due to boredom and i love watching sports on weekends. Have you much hope losing weight drinking roughly 12 pints of heineken on saturdays and sometimes around 6-8 on a Sunday.

I try do 20 minutes of exercises from seen on Operation Transformation such as squats etc. I use 5 pounds weights in each hand.
60 situps.
20 minutes cycle.
60 minute walk.

My main question is this any good for losing weight. A friend told me i should get some weights but im unsure if this will help or put muscle onto fat. Do people think using weights will help me lose weight and if so can they recommend, what weight.

If you want to lose weight, you need to reduce the amount of food that you eat.

Exercise is great for your health and fitness and can help you loss weight, but it will not make you loss weight on its own.

You need to learn to calorie count. Here are some numbers.

You can calculate how many calories you need every day here

http://caloriecount.about.com

You probably need about 2000 calories a day before exercise.

An hour briskly walking burns 300 calories
20 minutes cycling burns 200/250 calories
20 minutes weights, squats about 150/200 ( only an average, depends how hard you work)

But, a mars bars has 300 calories and a muffin 450.
A pint of beer has approx 200 calories.

So, the exercise will help, but reducing bad eating and drinking habits will help even more.

Do the maths...

You have already lost weight, so you are moving in the right direction. Read up on the details and educate yourself to help yourself continue to loss weight.

cmyk

Nuts102 wrote: »

Have you much hope losing weight drinking roughly 12 pints of heineken on saturdays and sometimes around 6-8 on a Sunday.

Is this a genuine question, what does the rest of your diet look like?

Nuts102 wrote: »

I try do 20 minutes of exercises from seen on Operation Transformation such as squats etc. I use 5 pounds weights in each hand.
60 situps.
20 minutes cycle.
60 minute walk.

I don't understand how this works, you try to do 20mins exercise, but your breakdown is 1hr 20+?

Nuts102 wrote: »

My main question is this any good for losing weight. A friend told me i should get some weights but im unsure if this will help or put muscle onto fat. Do people think using weights will help me lose weight and if so can they recommend, what weight.

If you've no training experience there's plenty you can do with bodyweight/walking/cycling etc, there's no reason you can't hit your goals using just those in conjunction with a decent nutrition plan.

Doug Cartel

Nuts102 wrote: »

On weekends i find it too hard to avoid going out with friends for drinks watchin football due to boredom and i love watching sports on weekends. Have you much hope losing weight drinking roughly 12 pints of heineken on saturdays and sometimes around 6-8 on a Sunday.

OK, I realise this is going to sound a bit preachy, so sorry in advance.

If you were to take up some kind of sports instead of just watching and sinking the pints you'd be much better off.

How much do you spend on booze & going out with your buddies? I bet if you cut back on that, you'd have enough money to pay for any equipment/dues you need to get involved.

A while ago I was made redundant and wasn't working for a few months. I spent the whole time just going to the gym and training judo. I notched my fitness right up and I made more progress in judo in the space of two months than I had in the previous two years.

Nwm2

Nuts102 wrote: »

Cant find a job after finishing college so good time to concentrate on getting fit! I was 14st 2 last summer and am down to 12st 7 now. I put in alot of work walking and lost 23 pounds, but christmas ruined my routine and iv lacked motivation since. Im Male 23, height 5'5, weight 12st 7 and b.m.i. 29.4

........

Have you much hope losing weight drinking roughly 12 pints of heineken on saturdays and sometimes around 6-8 on a Sunday.

I would make 2 points:

1. You have been very successful at losing weight already. You know what works - what you did before XMAS.

2. To reiterate what Huskerdu said, a pint is about 230 calories. 18 pints a week is therefore 4140 calories. This is the calorie equivalent of about 1.2 pounds of fat and the exercise equivalent of 7 hours hard cardio. The direct answer to your question is yes you can lose weight drinking that much, but your first 7 hours of cardio workouts go towards not GAINING weight due to your drinking.

JayRoc

Doug Cartel wrote: »

OK, I realise this is going to sound a bit preachy, so sorry in advance.

If you were to take up some kind of sports instead of just watching and sinking the pints you'd be much better off.

How much do you spend on booze & going out with your buddies? I bet if you cut back on that, you'd have enough money to pay for any equipment/dues you need to get involved.

A while ago I was made redundant and wasn't working for a few months. I spent the whole time just going to the gym and training judo. I notched my fitness right up and I made more progress in judo in the space of two months than I had in the previous two years.

You beat me to it. Great post.

Backstreet Moyes

I lost 1 pound last week with two days of drinking. Last weekend i only went out Saturday having 8 or 9 pints. With Sunday going for a walk and cycle instead of going out. So hopefully i can drop 2 pounds this week. My diet is usually.

Breakfast:
3 weetabix super low fat milk.
Toasted ham and cheese sandwhich. Low low butter 1 slice of ham, lo lo cheese.
with pint of water or diluted orange.

Lunch:
1 can of tuna in brine and apple.
Toasted ham and cheese sandwhich.
Medium chicken fillet roll.
with cup of tea no sugar low fat milk.

Dinner:
2 baked potatoes veg or oven chips and beans with either chicken breast, whole chicken fillet, steak or smoked cod no batter.
Chicken curry and boiled rice.
with pint of diluted orange or glass of pepsi max.

Snacks:
Apple, orange and rarely bag of crisps or bar of chocolate or handul of nuts.

Treat if a good week snackbox or small pizza.

Does anybody think i should buy weights to step up my weight loss. I want to lose weight before putting on muscle, so wouldnt have a clue what type of weights to get. If anybody could recommend any.

jaggiebunnet

Nuts102 wrote: »

Cant find a job after finishing college ..... Have you much hope losing weight drinking roughly 12 pints of heineken on saturdays and sometimes around 6-8 on a Sunday.

Jeez the unemployed really have it tough these days eh

jaggiebunnet

Nuts102 wrote: »

I lost 1 pound last week with two days of drinking. Last weekend i only went out Saturday having 8 or 9 pints. With Sunday going for a walk and cycle instead of going out. So hopefully i can drop 2 pounds this week. My diet is usually.

Breakfast:
3 weetabix super low fat milk.
Toasted ham and cheese sandwhich. Low low butter 1 slice of ham, lo lo cheese.
with pint of water or diluted orange.

Lunch:
1 can of tuna in brine and apple.
Toasted ham and cheese sandwhich.
Medium chicken fillet roll.
with cup of tea no sugar low fat milk.

Dinner:
2 baked potatoes veg or oven chips and beans with either chicken breast, whole chicken fillet, steak or smoked cod no batter.
Chicken curry and boiled rice.
with pint of diluted orange or glass of pepsi max.

Snacks:
Apple, orange and rarely bag of crisps or bar of chocolate or handul of nuts.

Treat if a good week snackbox or small pizza.

Does anybody think i should buy weights to step up my weight loss. I want to lose weight before putting on muscle, so wouldnt have a clue what type of weights to get. If anybody could recommend any.

An awful lot of food there, most of it not very good either. I would cut the ham n cheese toasties, diluted orange, pepsi and chips for a start.

Have you tried any of the calorie counters in the stickies to work out what your daily intake should be and what it actually is? I think the recommendation is to be in deficit of around 500 calories per day to lose weight.

Backstreet Moyes

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

Jeez the unemployed really have it tough these days eh

Well not that dear when its mostly cheap cans in a friends house and then going out and not drinking in town. I done 4 years of college scraping with nothing rarely going out to get my degree so living at home and having some money to have a laugh on the weekends is something i enjoy. I have tried very hard to get a job its not easy for young people to have a good social life these days. Its not easy for young people these days to walk into work and have money to have a good time. So if your not going to have some input into the post other than a smart comment, keep it to yourself in future. These forums are for advice and discussion not smart comments.

Actually forget about it just in a bad mood, know your only having a laugh. More rejected job offers today so in bad humour, ah forget it this is not Personal Issues.

Backstreet Moyes

Nwm2 wrote: »

I would make 2 points:

1. You have been very successful at losing weight already. You know what works - what you did before XMAS.

2. To reiterate what Huskerdu said, a pint is about 230 calories. 18 pints a week is therefore 4140 calories. This is the calorie equivalent of about 1.2 pounds of fat and the exercise equivalent of 7 hours hard cardio. The direct answer to your question is yes you can lose weight drinking that much, but your first 7 hours of cardio workouts go towards not GAINING weight due to your drinking.

Lost 3 pounds this week. Thanks for your advice il cut the drink down and hopefully keep up thw weight loss.

df1985

My 2 cents: (Im by no means an expert, only know what works for me)

I was in the same boat as yourself, mad to lose weight etc but still wanted to go out at weekends, get hammered with the lads etc-best of both worlds I suppose.

I was "good" 5 days a week,ate ok and worked hard in the gym. Then it all went out the window at weekends, big drinking sessions, dominos for hangovers, the works.

While I was doing this, I found i was either staying the same weight or losing only very small amounts-bit of a yo-yo and disheartening....still wanted the sessions though.

Anyway to get to the point: Itll be 4 weeks saturday that I havent drank, I completely cleaned up my diet, hit it hard in the gym and didnt have any hangovers making me eat my beloved dominos! Ive lost 3/4 of a stone in that time and fitting into jeans i hadnt worn in ages.

So yes, you can slowly lose weight but if youre willing to give it up for a short amount of time (i didnt exactly miss out on much and still went out) the results will come much faster, and in time I didnt care I was missing out on big nights out-think the first weekend was actually the worst.

Backstreet Moyes

df1985 wrote: »

My 2 cents: (Im by no means an expert, only know what works for me)

I was in the same boat as yourself, mad to lose weight etc but still wanted to go out at weekends, get hammered with the lads etc-best of both worlds I suppose.

I was "good" 5 days a week,ate ok and worked hard in the gym. Then it all went out the window at weekends, big drinking sessions, dominos for hangovers, the works.

While I was doing this, I found i was either staying the same weight or losing only very small amounts-bit of a yo-yo and disheartening....still wanted the sessions though.

Anyway to get to the point: Itll be 4 weeks saturday that I havent drank, I completely cleaned up my diet, hit it hard in the gym and didnt have any hangovers making me eat my beloved dominos! Ive lost 3/4 of a stone in that time and fitting into jeans i hadnt worn in ages.

So yes, you can slowly lose weight but if youre willing to give it up for a short amount of time (i didnt exactly miss out on much and still went out) the results will come much faster, and in time I didnt care I was missing out on big nights out-think the first weekend was actually the worst.

I see what your saying but do you mean give up drink for 4-6 weeks and and then go back on it. I would try hard to give it up for a couple of weeks, but would the weight not come back on as soon as i start going out again. Is it not better to cut back my drinking to one day a week and being consistent.

Hanley

Nuts102 wrote: »

I see what your saying but do you mean give up drink for 4-6 weeks and and then go back on it. I would try hard to give it up for a couple of weeks, but would the weight not come back on as soon as i start going out again. Is it not better to cut back my drinking to one day a week and being consistent.

REALLY generally speaking, provided you don’t go absolutely bat sh!t crazy, it’s a lot easier to maintain a weight once you get there than it is to get there in the first place.

That is to say, 4 or 5 weeks of hard training and consistent dieting with no drinking will get you in much better shape, and from there, provided you continue to train hard during the week, you shouldn’t notice the weight going back on if you start drinking again. And even if it does, it’ll come on slowly enough that a week or two off booze will be all that’s need to reign it back in again.

**Obviously blah blah blah drink is bad etc etc…. You should avoid and all that crap… And don’t forget your veg.

df1985

Nuts102 wrote: »

I see what your saying but do you mean give up drink for 4-6 weeks and and then go back on it. I would try hard to give it up for a couple of weeks, but would the weight not come back on as soon as i start going out again. Is it not better to cut back my drinking to one day a week and being consistent.

In that 4-6 weeks you should lose some weight, and then once you do start drinking again you should be able to stay around that weight once you're still exercising and eating well etc. When you say "go back on it" just dont start hammering into the booze 3 nights a week or whatever, but no harm in having your saturday night out though.

Drink and eating ****e the day after was the big factor in me either losing weight or staying the same, once I stopped the weight fell off steadily.

(Again, this is only what works for me-everyones different)