Tips for losing weight and getting fit

tippgirl123

I am about 14 stone, 5'9 21 yr old female. At the moment im doing my college exams, so when im finished in 3 weeks time. i am joining my local gym, i am going to aim to do 4/5 days a week in the gym and also swimming some days. The problem is i dont know where to start, how much time to spend on each machine or which machines to use to help me lose weight and get fit. i would love ideally to be below 12 stone. Any help at all would be great ! i currently do a 30min walk 3 times a week and am trying to eat healthy.

Supersiderman

Hi,
Try eating every 3 hours but small portions, walk BEFORE your breakfast. Do squats - 3 reps of 20 with no weights. Then the same with a light weight dumbbell. Walking will tone you up. Cut white ie bread etc and change to brown. Cut out sugar. Low fat milk. Green tea and black coffee are natural fat burners. Drink plenty of water. Do treat yourself once a week as this will make it much more easier.

tippgirl123

do u have any sort of training plan i could follow in the gym? thanks for your advice

Supersiderman

To be honest, go out walking around the town. You don't need a gym to lose weight and it will save you alot of money. Go for an hour walk, time yourself and then the next day try and beat that time. Wear clothes that will make you sweat but don't take your jacket off even if you boiling this will help. You can go to the gym for a bike class etc but for walking I wouldn't. Just remember you can't turn fat into muscle it's impossible. Watch what you eat.

Supersiderman

Keep a wee diary as well.

Insect Overlord

Supersiderman wrote: »

Wear clothes that will make you sweat but don't take your jacket off even if you boiling this will help.

That's not a very clever idea. Over-heating and dehydration are not helpful at all.

Supersiderman

Insect Overlord wrote: »

That's not a very clever idea. Over-heating and dehydration are not helpful at all.

Of course drink plenty of water while doing it.

endacl

Supersiderman wrote: »

Keep a wee diary as well.

???

:P

Supersiderman

endacl wrote: »

???

:P

Of what she ate during that day, how many pounds she lost or gained, her excercise programme.

Happy ????

endacl

Supersiderman wrote: »

Of what she ate during that day, how many pounds she lost or gained, her excercise programme.

Happy ????

Not to keep track of her wee then...?

Supersiderman

Sorry little

JimmyCrackCorn

Start slow. Work on one thing at a time and build it up. Don't try to change your entire life in a week or it will most likely fail.

Step 1.
Learn how to count calories and adjust your diet. (Read the sticky threads)

Step 2.
Exercise. Find something you like doing, even if it means trying 100 different activities.
If you want gym: Start slowly and find a program that matches your goals(Read the sticky threads)


Tips:
When you have a setback. Suck it up, learn from it and keep going.
Weight is not important, reduced body fat is the goal.



After a while you will start to look at food and how much Gym/exercise/running time is in xyz. Healthy calorie controlled balanced diet is key.

Norwesterner

It all starts at the supermarket.
I've weaned myself off butter by not buying it for example.
I fill a sandwich with tomatoes, onions etc...whatever you fancy.
I've also weaned myself of Mayonaisse, coleslaw, dressing etc.
These are laden with fat.
I also drink tea and coffee with no sugar.
Make fresh juice in the blender...again no sugar. (Cartoned juice is laden with sugar).
I use minimum salt in cooking and none on the table.
Eat a lot of soups, stews and boiled food rather than fried food.
And I never buy food in a packet, tin or jar.

In my larder you'll find loads of veg, fruit, pulses etc.
You won't find butter, mayonaisse, coleslaw, Uncle Bens sauces, chocolate biccies cartons of juice etc.

I eat extremely well and never get hunger pangs.
Never go to the gym but do a lot of walking daily.
I'm in my 40's and have the same waistline as in my 20s.

As I say, it all starts in the supermarket.

endacl

Norwesterner wrote: »

As I say, it all starts in the supermarket.

It all starts with the walk to the supermarket.

arse..biscuits

Supersiderman wrote: »

Wear clothes that will make you sweat but don't take your jacket off even if you boiling this will help.

Why would that help?

cmyk

tippgirl123 wrote: »

I am about 14 stone, 5'9 21 yr old female. At the moment im doing my college exams, so when im finished in 3 weeks time. i am joining my local gym, i am going to aim to do 4/5 days a week in the gym and also swimming some days. The problem is i dont know where to start, how much time to spend on each machine or which machines to use to help me lose weight and get fit. i would love ideally to be below 12 stone. Any help at all would be great ! i currently do a 30min walk 3 times a week and am trying to eat healthy.

Hi tippgirl, you've a good few replies there, with some mixed information, some good, some myths and some pretty bad. I'll attempt to clarify some basics for you...but ultimately people always complicate this, the basics will get you where you want to be, that's with regard nutrition and exercise so take the same approach to both.

Nutrition - Eat less processed foods/drinks, try to base your meals around a good protein source and a variety of vegetables. Prepare/cook food in batches and bring it with you. Fit your meal timing with your schedule and choose whichever helps you fulfill the above criteria easiest and more importantly...consistently.

Exercise - Resistance training should form the basics here, but start with bodyweight and master those first. Bodyweight squats, glute bridges, lunge variations, pushups and rowing variations, static core work (bridges/planks) etc. All of those can be scaled to your ability and youtube is full of videos and ideas on how to put them together. Get your technique down well on those movements, get yourself a decent base of strength and you'll be ahead of the majority of people in commercial gyms.

80s Child

Norwesterner wrote: »

It all starts at the supermarket.
I've weaned myself off butter by not buying it for example.
I fill a sandwich with tomatoes, onions etc...whatever you fancy.
I've also weaned myself of Mayonaisse, coleslaw, dressing etc.
These are laden with fat.
I also drink tea and coffee with no sugar.
Make fresh juice in the blender...again no sugar. (Cartoned juice is laden with sugar).
I use minimum salt in cooking and none on the table.
Eat a lot of soups, stews and boiled food rather than fried food.
And I never buy food in a packet, tin or jar.

In my larder you'll find loads of veg, fruit, pulses etc.
You won't find butter, mayonaisse, coleslaw, Uncle Bens sauces, chocolate biccies cartons of juice etc.

I eat extremely well and never get hunger pangs.
Never go to the gym but do a lot of walking daily.
I'm in my 40's and have the same waistline as in my 20s.

As I say, it all starts in the supermarket.

I'm a 29yr male who is very active with football, gym etc and what this poster has written should be your bible!! Most of the 'research' I've looked at claims that it is up to 80% diet, 20% exercise. If you put the proper fuel into your body you will notice a remarkable difference.

In saying that, a previous poster stated that you should have a treat day, this is extremely important. I read an interview in Men's Health or some magazine about Daniel Craig's workout routine and he stated something like, 'For five days a week I work out and eat the proper things, for the other two I drink as much Guinness as my body can hold'. Now, if you take this in context, it means that he lets himself slip for a day probably, but it is important to have a day off where you can just relax and more importantly, your mind can relax as you're not thinking about it all the time!

Also, (Jesus i'm ranting a bit now) set achieveable goals, and if you dont happen to get them, as opposed to feeling down, this should spur you on even more!!

Lastly, take a picture of yourself, keep it somewhere safe and then take another one in a years' time and look back and feel proud of your achievement!!

Best of luck!

Supersiderman

arse..biscuits wrote: »

Why would that help?

It will help her sweat more and drink water when doing this to keep the body hydrated.

Thud

tippgirl123 wrote: »

. At the moment im doing my college exams, so when im finished in 3 weeks time. i am joining my local gym,.

Don't wait 3 weeks start now! you can do some bodyweight exercises (squats, pushups etc) before you go to bed, they will knock you out and you'll probably sleep better. if you put it off for 3 weeks whats to stop you giving yourself a week off after you exams and one thing leads to another...

Norwesterner wrote: »

Make fresh juice in the blender...again no sugar. (Cartoned juice is laden with sugar).

Fruit juice is full of sugars (fructose) even if you make it yourself, replace with water if you want to cut ~100 cals out of your diet

whippet

After years of getting away with not worrying about my weight as I was very very active with football etc ... over the last few years i've had to stop playing and with two kids; more work stress etc ... the weight piled on. I never really thought much of it but a couple of months ago just decided enough was enough and decided to do something about it.

In the last 8 weeks I have dropped about 26lbs (from 220lbs - 35 year old male) ... and I can say there wasn't any magic bullet or smoke and mirrors .. how did I do it:

- Diet .... everytime I went to put something in my mouth I asked myself 'why?'
- Diet .... every evening I planned my food intake for the following day .. BFast / Mid morning snack / lunch / mid afternoon snack / Dinner
- Diet .... never went any longer than 3 hours without having something to each
- Diet .... eat slower and reduce portion size
- Diet .... Eliminate anything processed / fatty / that says 'low-fat' on the label / white bread / normal pasta / white rice
- Diet .... develop a love for vegies and fruit ... a carrot is actually a really nice snack
- Diet .... I wasn't really a drinker, but in two months consumed a total of 2 glasses of wine and two pints of guiness
- Exercise .... walked with the dog for at least an hour a day
- Exercise .... joined a Bootcamp in the local town for one night a week to get a bit more exercise

From above I would say that weight loss is about 80% Diet / 20% exercise

While I won't say my plan is perfect, it worked for me; it helped that my wife got on board with me (she didn't need to loose weight .. but ensured that there wasn't rubbish in the house for me to pick at)

I have become almost paranoid about being caught out without something proper to eat. I spend a lot of time on the road with work and rather than grabbing a sandwich in a centra for lunch a packed lunch in the car is always ready to go.

A food diary can be a valuable tool in making you think about why you are eating what you are eating.

Also, the dog is now as fit as a fiddle aswell !!!

i'm hoping to take it to the next level and have signed up for a kettlebells course and hope to be running 10km races by the winter

thegreatiam

Supersiderman wrote: »

It will help her sweat more and drink water when doing this to keep the body hydrated.

and immediately replace any weight she loses from sweat with water. making the whole exercise redundant.
Sweating more doesn't equal weight loss, it will just make you uncomfortable.

OP there is a lot, a lot a lot, of bad information in this thread. No doubt given with good intentions but its mostly old wives tales.

You need to do the research yourself.

Start in the stickies here and here

That will help you work out how much calories you need to eat to lose weight. Not the be all and end all of your research but a very good place to begin.

Then it is a simple matter of making a daily diet that:
A. you like
B. you can keep up indefinitely
C. contains enough of the nutrients you need in a day
D. adds up to less than your daily calorie allowance.

To do this all you need to do is eat whole food, nothing processed in tins, jars or packets or boxes. count the calorie totals and stay under that weekly target
(for eg, I need 1800 cals a day to lose weight. *7 = 12600, I just need to eat less than 12600 calories a week and I will lose weight.)

No need to exercise if you do not wish too, although It will always be advised that you should.
Exercise just makes you fitter, It can help you increase your calories burned and speed up your weight loss, but it is not necessary to exercise to lose weight.
absolutely no need for gimmicks like wearing a jumper in the summer, following celebrity diets, or buying special food and equipment.

Eat lots of meat/fish and veg.

runawaybishop

tippgirl123 wrote: »

I am about 14 stone, 5'9 21 yr old female. At the moment im doing my college exams, so when im finished in 3 weeks time. i am joining my local gym, i am going to aim to do 4/5 days a week in the gym and also swimming some days. The problem is i dont know where to start, how much time to spend on each machine or which machines to use to help me lose weight and get fit. i would love ideally to be below 12 stone. Any help at all would be great ! i currently do a 30min walk 3 times a week and am trying to eat healthy.

Your diet is the first thing to sort out before you start worrying about the gym and what exercises to do.

Use an online tracker such as myfitnesspal to track what you are eating. Cut out the bad stuff and try to hit your requirements. Thats a huge part of the battle.

Going to the gym 5 times a week and swimming while eating badly will not help you as much as you think - sort your diet first.

Exercise should be considered a supplement to your weight loss with your diet being the main factor. Its no harm to start exercising, but you might get discouraged pretty fast if your diet is bad and you see little progress as a result.

Calorie calc

Supersiderman wrote: »

It will help her sweat more and drink water when doing this to keep the body hydrated.

This is not a good thing, don't do it.

Mellor

Supersiderman wrote: »

It will help her sweat more and drink water when doing this to keep the body hydrated.

Sweating more wont do anything.

thegreatiam

will make you sweaty

btkm8unsl0w5r4

First set your goals. Most people set weight goals but that is only half the story. What type of physic do you want? While loosing weight is mostly diet, loosing fat, while increasing your body's proportion of energy burning muscle is a more complex equation. For long term results you need to do things that you are prepared to do every day for the rest of your life, so faddy things and stupid tips and tricks are no good.