Newbie Advise - Loose 4 Inches

SimonTemplar

About 4 years ago I had a size 30 waist but for various reasons I've gained weight and I'm now a size 34. More or less most of my weight gain has concentrated on my stomach. I really want to loose that extra weight and return to my original size, but I'm utterly clueless when it comes to fitness, unfortunately.

I signed up to a gym and had an initial assessment with the instructor and he recommended a combination of cardio and weights. I'm seeing him again next week.

My physical activity over the past few years has been little or none (the occasional hill walking in Wicklow or Howth during the summer), so I'm guessing it's going to be initially tough (painful) to get my muscles back working again.

I'm not looking for a quick fix here, but I do want to see a steady decline in my size/weight. It's come to a stage where I'm getting very self-conscious about my stomach so I'm ready and willing to put the effort in and I know it isn't going to be easy.

So my questions from a complete newbie are:

- I want *realistic* and achievable targets particularly for someone like me who has had 0 exercise. I read somewhere that loosing 4 inches is doable in 6 weeks. That seems very quick to me, but then again I know nothing. Is this correct and if not, what is a more achievable overall timeframe?

- How much should I aim to loose each week?

- Are there any good sites / books with nutritional guidelines I can follow for my meals. I don't want to cancel out my gym work by eating the wrong foods.

- To achieve my goals, should I eat three square meals a day, or a number of smaller meals.

- I'm assuming it isn't good to go to the gym every day due to risk of burning out. I was thinking every second day. Would you recommend I do something during the days in between such as jogging or lifting dumbbells at home

- Finally, any suggested gym workout routines would be appreciated.

So, sorry for all the questions but I'm entering completely unchartered territory for me here.

Thanks.

Hardonraging

Stop focusing on what you want to loose and focus on eating correctly and staying active.

In real world, you are hoping to loose 1lb a week, which is about 1 stone ever 3 months.. however!!

Given you are doing a resistance program, your weight will level out eventually, and you wont see any movement, or at least little movement in terms of actual weight .

Easiest method of seeing results is in your clothes, or with a tape measure.

The stickies on here and some of the food planner website are handy to tell you what to eat.

Eat as many meals a day as you want or dont want, just as long as you work out how many calories you need, and you are in a deficit.

You can go to the gym everyday, you might over train, but it's quite difficult to do so.. what's more likely is you're body will adapt a little quicker.

There are hundred's of routines out there, if yo have a trainer in the gym, have them set you up one, or discuss what you want to achieve, with them ..

Basic pre-mace, HIIT + 4 set's high rep's (14-16) weights to start with ...

johndoe656

Count calories.
I hate seeing people who complain about not losing weight are asked how many calories they eat and reply with "i dont know".
On a basic level of its calories in vs calories out.
http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
Use that calculator.Select little to no excercise.Eat 500 calories below that per day.
Dont eat extra because you worked out,that is a slippery slope.Think of calories burned from excercise as "extra"
For cardio HIIT is your best bet.,look it up.In terms of time spent:calories burnt it is the most effecient.dont kid yourself that you are doing HIIT,if you can do an interval for more than the very very highest max of 30 seconds(usually 20 seconds)you are not doing hiit,you are jogging.
But if you are not fit enough to do HIIT,dont worry about it.Simply try work up to it