Cut down on food and going to the gym but no weight loss!

sandt

Hi,

For about the past 3/4 weeks I have stopped eating rubbish during the day, I used to eat anything from a sandwich to a full dinner but now all I eat during the day is fruit. Fruit for breakfast, fruit for for lunch, bananas, apples, plumbs, oranges, kiwis, berrys etc. I either eat them or make a smoothie with them with either some milk or flavoured water.

For dinner I will have anything from pizza to a casserole and in the evening I may snack on popcorn. I usually have a take away one night at the weekend.

I play football twice a week, 1 night 90mins astro, 1 night 40mins training 30mins astro and usually play a match at the weekend.

As well as this I have started to go to the gym a couple of days a week, usually do 10 mins bike, 15 crosstrainer, 10mins treadmill (have a bad knee so try to stay off the 'high imact' stuff) 10mins rowing and a few of the weight machines.

I'm 30, male, 5' 11' and 90kgs with a bit of a gut that I'm trying to get rid of but
I can't seem to shift any weight at all.

As I said I have been doing this now for for about a month with no results at all, can anyone give me a tips as to where I might be going wrong or a good fat burning gym workout?

Many thanks

luckylucky

Not an expert at all but from what I've read up on over the past week... i'll give you my take on it.

Firstly looking at what you're doing foodwise and exercise wise I'm surprised you haven't lost some weight - are you telling us EVERYTHING - if you're not the one thing that pops into my head is BEER - that'll stop your weight loss dead in its tracks.

Other than that - I've seen mixed feedback on fruits - they are obviously a lot healthier than having raw sugar and are packed full of vitamins - but they've still got plenty of sugars in them so in the kind of quantities you're taking of them perhaps they're not as helpful for you to lose weight as you had hoped, also that diet seems to be very lacking in protein - I might be wrong but that doesn't seem like a good idea.

Also Pizza in the evening is stodgy highly calorific food - breads really should be cut out or at least cut down for weight loss.

anyway that's my take albeit a non-expert one on it. hopefully you'll get somebody who knows more than I do to give you advice here.

Hanley

From a weight loss perspective, your diet is terrible tbh.

Not enough protein or good fats, nothing but sugary carb sources.

If you can't at least take a decent stab at how many kcals you eat daily you'll probably go nowhere.

J-Fit

sandt wrote: »

Hi,

For about the past 3/4 weeks I have stopped eating rubbish during the day, I used to eat anything from a sandwich to a full dinner but now all I eat during the day is fruit. Fruit for breakfast, fruit for for lunch, bananas, apples, plumbs, oranges, kiwis, berrys etc. I either eat them or make a smoothie with them with either some milk or flavoured water.

For dinner I will have anything from pizza to a casserole and in the evening I may snack on popcorn. I usually have a take away one night at the weekend.

I play football twice a week, 1 night 90mins astro, 1 night 40mins training 30mins astro and usually play a match at the weekend.

As well as this I have started to go to the gym a couple of days a week, usually do 10 mins bike, 15 crosstrainer, 10mins treadmill (have a bad knee so try to stay off the 'high imact' stuff) 10mins rowing and a few of the weight machines.

I'm 30, male, 5' 11' and 90kgs with a bit of a gut that I'm trying to get rid of but
I can't seem to shift any weight at all.

As I said I have been doing this now for for about a month with no results at all, can anyone give me a tips as to where I might be going wrong or a good fat burning gym workout?

Many thanks

You're probably eating the same amount of food as before, or more, and making the mistake that changing to perceived healthy foods is all that is required. An orange doesn't know it is healthy, you put that label on it! You're as likely to lose weight by eating three Mars bars a day as you are eating several pieces of fruit. You need to eat less than you're burning off and you'll start shifting weight.

Colibri

sandt wrote: »

Hi,

For about the past 3/4 weeks I have stopped eating rubbish during the day, I used to eat anything from a sandwich to a full dinner but now all I eat during the day is fruit. Fruit for breakfast, fruit for for lunch, bananas, apples, plumbs, oranges, kiwis, berrys etc. I either eat them or make a smoothie with them with either some milk or flavoured water.

That's a lot of sugar, not good. Cut back to one or two pieces of fruit a day for better results.

sandt wrote:

For dinner I will have anything from pizza to a casserole and in the evening I may snack on popcorn. I usually have a take away one night at the weekend.

Pizza is a terrible choice here pal, very high in carbohydrates, calories and depending on toppings, more sugar. Stay away from the processed stuff, keep the casserole and try to ease up on potatoes. Keep the take away to maybe once a fortnight. Don't underestimate cheat meals as they're handy but you don't need them at the start.

You could avoid grains, processed foods and sugar but that would make you eat at a caloric deficit, making you lose weight regardless.

You can just count calories, check out www.swole.me to find out how much you should be eating.


Fat burning is 90% nutrition, 10% exercise (I'd go as far as to say 99% nutrition).

Eat:
Plenty of vegetables.
Complex carbs before and after workouts - don't go mental.
If you're a meat eater, don't be afraid of fatty cuts.
Good fats such as coconut oil, avocado, butter, etc.
Plenty of protein (see below) like fish, eggs, cheeses, poultry, meat.
Eggs are a great source of protein and fat.




Remember, do not be afraid of saturated fat plenty of people are deficient! Eat plenty of protein (1g of protein per pound of lean body mass) and do resistance exercises. Protein also keeps you satiated more than any foods, helps you lose weight and maintain muscle when dieting and well, most forms of protein are just yummy!


Weightlifting or bodyweight exercises are both effective strength training.

sandt

thanks for the replies guys, and apologies for my late reply - have been out of the country for a while.

As an estimate i'd guess id be eating around 2000/2200 calories a day (very rough guess)

Regarding the beer - i probably have a drink every 2nd or 3rd weekend on a saturday night which if i go out would consist of approx 10 pints or if i stay in approx 12 330ml bottles. Not doing me any good im sure!!

As for the pizza thing - i just meant that one night it could be pizza the next pasta, the next fish etc. - whatever the wife has cooked / whatever is in the fridge!

And for the fruit - sorry i didnt mean i eat all theat fruit each day - e.g. an average day would be a banana for breakfast, apple+kiwi for lunch and a peach/plum mid afternoon.

I know im going to have to try to eat more healthy during the day and night and incorporate a more wide variety of foods into my diet. i dont mind vegtables - i know i should eat a lot more of then but when i do i tend to smoother them in gravy/sauce!!!

Could anyone help me with a good workout routine? as i find myself wondering aimlessly around the gym sometimes, thinking 'oh i'll try this for 10mins' without really knowing if its doing me any good or just wasting my time!!


once again thanks for the replies.

Stripey Cat

Sorry, did you say ten pints?

cojomo2

Stripey Cat wrote: »

Sorry, did you say ten pints?

Let me check that for you:

sandt wrote: »

10 pints .

Yes, looks like he did. Say what you like about it, but thats normal enough IMO, many of us would drink that on a night out, as seeing as he only does it every 3 weekends or so I don't think that would be holding him back..

Not great for the liver all the same, but I drink 10-20 pints every weekend (again, not great for the liver) but it doesn't hinder my progress too much if I am dedicated to my workouts/nutrition every day.

LuckyLloyd

sandt wrote: »

Could anyone help me with a good workout routine? as i find myself wondering aimlessly around the gym sometimes, thinking 'oh i'll try this for 10mins' without really knowing if its doing me any good or just wasting my time!!

You've already mentioned that you play football a few times a week. That means cardio is sorted and, as such, I would argue a more effective use of the gym for you would be to focus on good basic weight training.

This is a good template imo:

Hanley wrote:

Push something, pull something, do something for your legs… and do it 2-4 days per week.

If you just based your workout around those three simple things, you’d probably be more healthy, have increased injury resistance, be more in balance and achieve your goals faster.

It’s simple, it’s VERY quick, and it’s “functional” in the strictest sense of the word.

If you’ve a bit more time… double it. The general structure has been heavily influenced by Mike Boyle and Informed Performance, but it’s a good system and one that stands, so I’m gonna share it.

The Template
Warm up: do 1 corrective hip, and 1 corrective scapulothoracic exercise
A1) Push something (bench, push up, dip)
A2) Pull something (pull up, chin up, lat pulldown)
Legs (squat, split squat, lunge)
C) Core (plank variation)
D1) Push something (press, push press, dumbbell press)
D2) Pull something (inverted row, dumbbell row, cable/band row)
E) Legs (deadlift, stiff leg dead, trap bar dead)
F) Core (rotational, crunching, whatever)
Cool down: do 1 corrective hip, and 1 corrective scapulothoracic exercise, different to the warm up

Short on time? Just drop out D1, D2, E and F. First option should take 45ish minutes, second will take around 90. Do it 2-4x per week. Simples!!

It’s a general program that’ll get you stronger and more “toned”. If you’re looking to do something specific like increase your squat, bench press and deadlift I’d recommend a different avenue (one which you can expect a blog post about very soon!!). But for 90+% of the population, the above is absolutely perfect

It might be a bit intimidating looking at the name of the exercises, but type them into youtube and you'll have a bunch of demonstrations to look at.

Any program can work if you do it consistently and are constantly trying to progress. A big mistake people can make is turning up to the gym for 90 minutes and running through things they know how to do using the same resistance / time scales as they always use. Psychologically you think 'well I was in the gym for 90 minutes and I feel sore / tired after it', but practically you may have achieved a lot less than a focussed 45 minute session could have provided.

There are some very experienced people here who can always answer a weightlifting / diet type question. Best of luck.

Hanley

I'll make it really simple...

DAY 1
A1) Bench press
A2) Inverted Row
Squat
C) Plank

DAY 2
A1) Standing dumbbell press overhead
A2) Chin up/pull up/pulldown machine
Deadlift
C) T-push ups

Nice and simple. All exercises anyone can do (assuming they're injury free). And hits all the major muscle groups and movement patterns. Upper horizontal push & pull, knee dominant legs, upper vertical push & pull, hip dominant legs.

Alternate training days... .Monday = Day 1, Wednesday = Day 2, Friday = Day 1, Monday = Day 2 etc etc

Simples.

2nd Row Donkey

This is great advice as it apply to same struggle I have.

I've always know that weight lose is 90% diet and 10% exercise yet for the last 10 years (that's right years) I've been doing 10-15 hours exercise a week and never really altered my diet.

Needless the say, I still look and feel the same way as I did 10 years ago.