Loosing weight

alex73

Well I went to the doctor before christmas and he said I should loose some weight. My BMI was 29 and he said it should be 25. I have lost about a stone and a half but BMI is still 26. Any lads out their who were over weight find a way to loose it? For me the only way was to stop all drinking (and I really liked beer) and not snacks, takeaways. I go to the gym once a day for an hour. The only good side is the girls at work actually noticed the reduction in belly size.

Any guys got some tips for loosing weight?

Inquitus

alex73 wrote: »

Well I went to the doctor before christmas and he said I should loose some weight. My BMI was 29 and he said it should be 25. I have lost about a stone and a half but BMI is still 26. Any lads out their who were over weight find a way to loose it? For me the only way was to stop all drinking (and I really liked beer) and not snacks, takeaways. I go to the gym once a day for an hour. The only good side is the girls at work actually noticed the reduction in belly size.

Any guys got some tips for loosing weight?

You have it pretty well covered off:

1) Eat healthy
2) Exercise
3) Drink less

Dravokivich

free weights, such as dumb bells and bar bells would he the main things i'd suggest looking into.

asking a general question like that on the fitness forums... you'll be told to burn more calories then you eat.

free weights help get the metabolism going.

Logical Fallacy

alex73 wrote: »

Well I went to the doctor before christmas and he said I should loose some weight. My BMI was 29 and he said it should be 25. I have lost about a stone and a half but BMI is still 26. Any lads out their who were over weight find a way to loose it? For me the only way was to stop all drinking (and I really liked beer) and not snacks, takeaways. I go to the gym once a day for an hour. The only good side is the girls at work actually noticed the reduction in belly size.

Any guys got some tips for loosing weight?

Give us a bit more information...what do you do in the gym and what do you eat daily. Is your mission just to loose weight or would you like to throw on a bit of muscle while you are putting the work in? (Hint, more muscle needs more calories = more food...that's the only reason i ever trained if i think about it )

alex73

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

Give us a bit more information...what do you do in the gym and what do you eat daily. Is your mission just to loose weight or would you like to throw on a bit of muscle while you are putting the work in? (Hint, more muscle needs more calories = more food...that's the only reason i ever trained if i think about it )

For the Moment I just want to reach the 25 BMI. At the GYM for the moment I do a 5KM run on threadmill + 30 mins of weights and abdominals.

for food I eat a normal breakfast and normal lunch (as i did before) but nothing in the evening, instead I go to the Gym. If I am really hungry I was told to eat nuts or kale/Spinch.

Anyway I lost a good bit of weight, but I seem to have stopped.

magneticimpulse

^^ Well done on the weight lost.

If you have suddenly stopped losing weight. It could be that the fat is now being converted into muscle. Muscle weighs more then fat. So I notice myself that when I go to the gym, there are be a few weeks where nothing seems to change and then all of a sudden i see a change in my weight.

Personally for me, thats when the fat is toning up into muscle. Which in your case is what you want, because it means less water content in your body (BMI measures the ions in the water in your body). The less fat, the less water content and therefore the more muscle. So this could be the case if you are still following the diet.

It takes time and you have to keep up the diet and exercise...you cant just do this and then go back to your liftstyle you had before.

I personally find reduction in carbs is good. I have lost 1 stone recently by giving up bread/pasta etc. And eating lots of vegetable soup with protein. I also find porriage with fruit in the morning is a great way to fill you up for the hours.

Logical Fallacy

alex73 wrote: »

For the Moment I just want to reach the 25 BMI. At the GYM for the moment I do a 5KM run on threadmill + 30 mins of weights and abdominals.

for food I eat a normal breakfast and normal lunch (as i did before) but nothing in the evening, instead I go to the Gym. If I am really hungry I was told to eat nuts or kale/Spinch.

Anyway I lost a good bit of weight, but I seem to have stopped.

There are couple of things i would change up.

Not eating anything in the afternoon is criminal. Before you train you need a bit of energy and after you train your metabolism is through the roof...so it's the best time to eat. You need nutrients coming in after the work has been done so the body can heal up. This is not putting down your efforts, you have lost great weight in great time...but this is the body reacting to the changes you have made...it's used to the food and it's used to the work load so it's probably time to up the work rate a bit and tighten up the eating habits. You basically asked your body to do more work, and it did, but now it's waiting for you to ask more of it before it continues the change.

I'd say eat a good healthy breakfast (oatmeal and fruit with natural yoghurt is lovely), a solid lunch, a quick healthy snack before the gym and then a nice dinner of meat and veg after. You definitely shouldn't break that calorie limit with that kind of diet and your meals will be more appropriately timed for your goals.

Try swapping out the run on the threadmill for doing sprints and the like, shock the body a bit...and make sure you are taking a targeted approach to your weights training, aiming for more reps or more weight.

Once again, not being dismissive...but if you can go to the gym everyday then you can also afford to work a little harder and go every second day, taking rest days in between to allow the body to rest and repair...just make sure you eat a little less carbs on these days as your body won't need them.

That should kick start your fat lose again and get back on the road to your goals.

Logical Fallacy

magneticimpulse wrote: »

Personally for me, thats when the fat is toning up into muscle.

I realise i am being pedantic but fat doesn't tone up into muscle, two different tissues developed and lost via two very different pathways within the body.

magneticimpulse

^^ Well the fat is being burned and the body is losing the fat and muscle is there underneath becoming more toned with exercise. Its the way i like to think of it...the fat is disappearing and your body is becoming more toned. I know its 2 different types of tissue....im a scientist

If you saw my fat arse before and after a few weeks in the gym...thats how i would explain it...the "fat" on my ass has become a nice toned muscle as it is what i can see happening. Thats how I would "say" it....but of course "I" know that the fat itself in scientific terms has disappeared.

TheUsual

Swap the beer for jameson and coke.
Drinking beer gives you boobs and increased estrogen (not good in a dude).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen

Logical Fallacy

magneticimpulse wrote: »

^^ Well the fat is being burned and the body is losing the fat and muscle is there underneath becoming more toned with exercise. Its the way i like to think of it...the fat is disappearing and your body is becoming more toned. I know its 2 different types of tissue....im a scientist

Good for you, the world needs more scientists, doesn't make the impression your sentence made any more correct though.

jamezy

alex73 wrote: »

Well I went to the doctor before christmas and he said I should loose some weight. My BMI was 29 and he said it should be 25. I have lost about a stone and a half but BMI is still 26. Any lads out their who were over weight find a way to loose it? For me the only way was to stop all drinking (and I really liked beer) and not snacks, takeaways. I go to the gym once a day for an hour. The only good side is the girls at work actually noticed the reduction in belly size.

Any guys got some tips for loosing weight?

I have lost 20 pounds since around mid to February. I do go to the gym a lot mixing up cardio and strength training. I never ate really bad foods i just ate the wrong way so i made a lot of smaller changes.

I found cutting way back on carbs (don't eliminate though!), no eating after like 6/630 and eating raw carrots as a snack all helped. Eat a breakfast but be careful what you are having. I usually have a banana with fat free yoghurt and a pinch of granola. Its surprisingly nice! Side salad is always good and less chips! Oh and last one: Coke. I switched to coke zero which is like >1 calorie a can and satisfies the sweet tooth (diet coke is a love or hate drink and i HATE it).

I too love a drink but i think i love the accomplishment more so i have cut way back. If i have a beer now i try and have a coors light. If i am in the mood for something stronger i have a captain morgan and coke zero. Not a perfect solution but hey you deserve a treat.

Dravokivich

It could be that you've hit a "Plateau."

You can only get so much doing the same exercise / programme contuinuely.

You've mentioned you're doing weights, many weights excercises have different movements to work the same muscle groups. Rough example being the many ways you can work bicep... normal curl / hammer curls and so on...

Look up alternate excercises, that may help you out.

I've a couple of links on my PC at home that shows a few, I'll throw'em up here later.

Bassfish

Fat can no more be 'Converted to Muscle' than hair could be converted to teeth!!!
You burn fat through exercise and a calorie deficit and you gain muscle through exercise. Simple as.

folan

alex73 wrote: »

Well I went to the doctor before christmas and he said I should loose some weight. My BMI was 29 and he said it should be 25. I have lost about a stone and a half but BMI is still 26. Any lads out their who were over weight find a way to loose it? For me the only way was to stop all drinking (and I really liked beer) and not snacks, takeaways. I go to the gym once a day for an hour. The only good side is the girls at work actually noticed the reduction in belly size.

Any guys got some tips for loosing weight?

well done lad.

ive been doing the same and have still a bit of that extra fat on that i just cant shift. keep at it though, we will get there!

alex73

TheUsual wrote: »

Swap the beer for jameson and coke.
Drinking beer gives you boobs and increased estrogen (not good in a dude).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen

I hate spirits. I can tolerate a brandy the oddtime after a meal.. But as far as drinking goes beer was the only thing l like. I found after a month of not drinking any beer that my weight went down a lot.

What I found was its not so much the beer that would make me gain weight, but the takeaways after the pub and the next day I would be starving (something to do with alcohol influencing sugar levels). Anyway beer does not go well with loosing weight. Plus the only time I could drink a beer is after gym and I was told thats is not a good time to drink.. So I stopped beer almost totally, Only had 4pints in last 60 days.

Raze_them_all

Get your body fat % measured ignore bmi as it does not differenciate between muscle and fat. Paul O conell is obese according to bmi ffs

Logical Fallacy

Raze_them_all wrote: »

Get your body fat % measured ignore bmi as it does not differenciate between muscle and fat. Paul O conell is obese according to bmi ffs

It's his big head that costs him. If he had a normal human sized head sure he'd be grand.:D

Bottle_of_Smoke

Here lad if you lift weights or play rugby/GAA/any weight bearing exercise BMI effectively goes out the window.

Its a general measurement which can be useful for people who don't do the above.

I know a lad who's 37 on the BMI but he's a rugby player with naturally wide shoulders and he's ripped as hell

How your clothes feel is a better estimation than the scales.

Do not let this stress/dishearten you. Just stick at the gym

Logical Fallacy

It's also worth noting that as you lose fat and gain muscle the scales, the BMI and all that stuff might stay static while the mirror never lies. If you look better, you look better, it's a great way to keep tabs on whats happening.

petebricquette

As many posters have said already, BMI is a pretty terrible measurement. Once you put on muscle then you'll be significantly over your ideal weight on a BMI scale so either take it with a pinch of salt or ignore it. I'd say chat to an instructor about a really comprehensive weights programme (if you have decent instructors in your gym; I certainly don't.)

If you split yourself up into days for various sections it makes it easier and kinda fun. Par example, let's say you're doing a three-day workout week (gym/weights work). Day 1: Arms and shoulders. Rest day 2. Day 3: Chest and back. Rest day 4. Day 5: Legwork.

While you're doing this, have a good cardio programme worked out to compliment it. On 'rest' days, do some form of a cardio workout. Go for distance rather than time because it's a better measure of improvement imo.

This is an extremely rough idea of what I do myself and what I've found to work so it could be different for you. Definitely get yourself a good weights routine though because it makes a huge difference.

alex73

Thanks for all advise, For sure I was overweight, I saw it, My doctor saw it. I use the BMI indicator as a target. Its not a bad system. Anway go some interesting tips from all the replies.

pragmatic1

Do calisthenics and running every day. Cut down on carbohydrates.

cards

I always remember this guys story when I read about people trying to loose weight...


http://www.lovingraw.com/before-after/

L31mr0d

alex73 wrote: »

For the Moment I just want to reach the 25 BMI.

What happens when you reach 25 BMI?

It's important to never envision a goal post or finish line. Instead envision mile markers. Literally as I'm passing a personal goal I envision the next goal coming into focus on the horizon.

If you're losing weight for the sake of losing weight you may find it easier to feel that elation that one gets when crossing a finishing line and lose steam to maintain momentum.

Most athletes and entrepreneurs will tell you that visualization is key. When you lift that beer to your lips picture yourself standing in front of your mirror in the morning pinching your bloated belly and chest fat. When you're in a bad mental place and don't feel like hitting the gym, imagine what you'll feel like weeks from now seeing the results of your efforts. You can do this with anything. When I don't feel like getting up early for a run, I simply envision the taste of my morning coffee first, once I'm up and caffeinated going for a run is, mentally, a lot easier.

Most important though is giving yourself a sustainable reason to get fit. Losing weight will only get you so far, once you've lost it then what? How long do you think you will continue working out if you begin to only seeing marginal changes in body fat and muscle mass/tone?

Start thinking of an activity you've always wanted to try but couldn't due to your fitness level, when you start plateauing in your weight loss, set that activity as the next mile marker on the horizon.

RedRebel

Swimming - Cannot praise it enough for burning calories off like wildfire. Keep going to the gym, vary your exercise and weights routine but try to get in one or two swimming sessions a week and watch the weight drop off.

I started off doing 10-20 length sets (3-4 sets) and was struggling but once you find your stride and build some stamina you can build up to longer stretches. I was doing 80 lengths per session non-stop at my peak.

Oh, and keep eating right. Less fats, more proteins, less 'bad' carbs. You've done well so far, don't fall out of the saddle.

eyescreamcone

Was doing 3 x 7 mile (11.2 K) runs per week trying to lose a few pounds in the run up to my wedding.
The weight loss was very slow.
I slowed the jog to 4 x 10.55 km (thats a marathon a week) and the pounds are peeling off for the last month
5 pounds to go and then I'll start putting in some weight sessions to tone and maintain the new weight.

Thats plan A anyway!