Extra help to shift weight

Guru Maith Agut

Hi all. New to this part of the forum, mainly because I wasn't a health enthusiast. But between the swings and roundabouts I decided to get my arse in gear and loose some weight and try get the body toned at the same time.

Joined a gym back on January 4th and had two sessions the following week (Monday and Wednesday), mainly some light weight machines (10/15 kgs with 3 sets of 12 reps). Also did some fast walking, as my knees were weak enough at that stage.

I was 14st 4lbs back then and 5' 8" in height, 46 yrs old. Virtually no physical activity that you could call exercise and very bad eating habits. Could consume a packet of biscuits of an evening without even thinking about it.

Now, I am currently 13st 8lbs and can see a big difference in my weight. I carry all of my weight around my stomach, back and chest. Shifting this is what I really want to achieve and that's where I am stuck at the minute.

Can anyone help with some ideas as to how to tone these areas further. I feel I have sort of hit a plateau now and that the weight loss may have stopped. I am aware that I have been building some muscle also over this period but not sure if its now counteracting the fat loss vs the muscle gain..??

Cheers

Penny Tration

Post up an average daily diet.

Exercise is great, but 70% of weight loss is down to diet.

Guru Maith Agut

Breakfast usually is 1 weetabix with whole milk, or a couple of poached/boiled eggs on one slice of white bread.

Lunch lately has been 250ml of pro-biotic yoghurt on gym days as I eat at 2 ish and hit the gym at 3:30. On rest days it could be tinned sardines/mackerel fillets on one slice toasted white bread. I found I was cramping with anything heavier inside me and I read somewhere that yoghurt is digested in the small intestine rather than the stomach, so its a lighter option.

Dinner is evening time around 7:30 when I get home and it could be chicken ceasar salad, some form of meat with veg (carrots, broccoli, green beans) and possibly a potato or two if I can't do without.

Don't really snack between meals, used to on a large scale but have given that habit up. I may waiver slightly the odd evening and have a couple of jaffa cakes or a cube or two of chocolate, but in reality I wouldn't have thought I was going to put on weight with the odd snack like that.

I do drink a fair bit of water, perhaps 2½ litres a day. Sometimes with a tablespoonful of double strength dilutable in the pint glass. Just to take the tasteless of the water away.

Celly Smunt

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Breakfast usually is 1 weetabix with whole milk, or a couple of poached/boiled eggs on one slice of white bread.

Lunch lately has been 250ml of pro-biotic yoghurt on gym days as I eat at 2 ish and hit the gym at 3:30. On rest days it could be tinned sardines/mackerel fillets on one slice toasted white bread. I found I was cramping with anything heavier inside me and I read somewhere that yoghurt is digested in the small intestine rather than the stomach, so its a lighter option.

Dinner is evening time around 7:30 when I get home and it could be chicken ceasar salad, some form of meat with veg (carrots, broccoli, green beans) and possibly a potato or two if I can't do without.

Don't really snack between meals, used to on a large scale but have given that habit up. I may waiver slightly the odd evening and have a couple of jaffa cakes or a cube or two of chocolate, but in reality I wouldn't have thought I was going to put on weight with the odd snack like that.

I do drink a fair bit of water, perhaps 2½ litres a day. Sometimes with a tablespoonful of double strength dilutable in the pint glass. Just to take the tasteless of the water away.

Right here's an easy peasy step to moving to the next stage.Replace all your white breads with wholegrain breads and your youghurt to fruit.

Guru Maith Agut

Celly Smunt wrote:

Right here's an easy peasy step to moving to the next stage.Replace all your white breads with wholegrain breads and your youghurt to fruit.

Do you really reckon that small amount of bread and pro-biotic yoghurt is making such a huge difference, even with all the cardio and resistance I am doing 3 times a week?
Hard to believe.. I'll feckin starve lol

Stheno

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Do you really reckon that small amount of bread and pro-biotic yoghurt is making such a huge difference, even with all the cardio and resistance I am doing 3 times a week?
Hard to believe.. I'll feckin starve lol

You won't.

I had a partner once who struggled with his weight, and ate about the same amount of bread as you, maybe more.

He went to weightwatchers and his leader told him that it's not a beer belly for me (assuming you are male), it's a bread belly.

The problem is the amount of sugar you are getting in your diet, it's way too much.

I find one slice of proper wholegrain bread fills me about as much as four or five slices of white bread.

Also swap the potato for more green veg, and sweet potato

Have you checked how many calories you are taking in a day?

Celly Smunt

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Do you really reckon that small amount of bread and pro-biotic yoghurt is making such a huge difference, even with all the cardio and resistance I am doing 3 times a week?
Hard to believe.. I'll feckin starve lol

Like above, its not the calories its the hidden nasty things in there. Sugar is a killer.

Guru Maith Agut

Very interesting Stheno. Yes I am male, 46 yrs old.

Before I started the diet/exercise I was eating at least 2 slices a day. Sometimes double that and more. But the sweet snacking was my major problem. I have pretty good willpower though and this wouldn't be the first time I have totally given up my chocolate intake and generally the first 6 pounds comes off within a couple of weeks.

I will try the bread swap and give it a week. I could probably cut it out altogether though if someone had another option that I could use when eating eggs/tinned fish etc?

Guru Maith Agut

Just so I'm totally clear here guys. Are we talking actual "sugar", as opposed to carb sugars?

Stheno

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Very interesting Stheno. Yes I am male, 46 yrs old.

Before I started the diet/exercise I was eating at least 2 slices a day. Sometimes double that and more. But the sweet snacking was my major problem. I have pretty good willpower though and this wouldn't be the first time I have totally given up my chocolate intake and generally the first 6 pounds comes off within a couple of weeks.

I will try the bread swap and give it a week. I could probably cut it out altogether though if someone had another option that I could use when eating eggs/tinned fish etc?

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Just so I'm totally clear here guys. Are we talking actual "sugar", as opposed to carb sugars?

No. Sugar is sugar, I'd disagree with Celly Smunt in that I'd replace the bread with wholegrain bread, and I mean dense bread, but replace the youghurt with vegetables even in the form of soup, fruit for the most part is sugar

I'm not a fan of denying yourself everything you like, at the same time I recently went four weeks without eating chocolate as I was in the US and their chocolate is disgusting.

If you have a sweet tooth, try some good dark chocolate, you can get it in Aldi/Lidl quite cheaply, and like the bread, 80% cocoa chocolate is very dense so the rush from it is like a normal bar of chocolate.

My downfall is bread, and at lunchtime in particular, so I started out having salads or soups and having cheese and protein instead.

So I went from a sandwich of some sort to a salad that had chicken, cheese or eggs, and lots of greens, peppers, onions and tomato and found it helpful.

Do it one meal at a time, so you adjust, don't change everything at once.

And start logging on something like myfitnesspal you'll get a breakdown of your calories, fat, sugar and protein intake, it really helps

Edit: Alternates to bread for eggs/fish: bacon with eggs is always good, for fish have you thought of an omellette?
Also smoked salmon with scrambled eggs is a lovely breakfast

IIRC it's safe to eat two eggs a day so you should be fine

Guru Maith Agut

Cheers for that. I'll go have a look at that website now.




Was always a big egg eater and would generally have 2 at a sitting so I knew I'd be okay with that figure. I would mix it and not have them every day anyway. Cheers

Guru Maith Agut

Might be a stupid question, but I love my alcohol at the weekend. What's the best (least sugar heavy) alcohol to drink? I'm not a wine drinker, usually spirits like vodka. But my mixers are generally coke (I know, full of sugar :rolleyes:) and red bull (yeah yeah, even more sugar content ).

So what mixer could I use that will not be undoing all the good work I'm doing by cutting out the bread and yoghurt sugars?

I suppose I could start drinking Guinness . . . .

Stheno

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Might be a stupid question, but I love my alcohol at the weekend. What's the best (least sugar heavy) alcohol to drink? I'm not a wine drinker, usually spirits like vodka. But my mixers are generally coke (I know, full of sugar :rolleyes:) and red bull (yeah yeah, even more sugar content ).

So what mixer could I use that will not be undoing all the good work I'm doing by cutting out the bread and yoghurt sugars?

I suppose I could start drinking Guinness . . . .

I don't have a weight problem (sorry to dissapoint, I was looking to eat cleaner) so I drink wine, but all the advice on here I've seen for weight loss the likes of vodka with slim mixers

Is the desire to drink so much that you couldn't cut it out? Even swap every second drink?

Like I said I don't have a weight problem, so I don't consider this, but a night out with five cokes in five vodkas is a massive amount of empty calories

Guru Maith Agut

Stheno wrote:

Is the desire to drink so much that you couldn't cut it out? Even swap every second drink?

Well right or wrong I do look forward to the odd night every couple of weekends a month where I can cut loose and have a few drinks, so no I think I would rather eat dry crackers than give up the demon drink.

I could just drink doubles :pac:

Double measures + extra ice = less sugar mixers

I'll get my coat . . .

Stheno

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Well right or wrong I do look forward to the odd night every couple of weekends a month where I can cut loose and have a few drinks, so no I think I would rather eat dry crackers than give up the demon drink.

I could just drink doubles :pac:

Double measures + extra ice = less sugar mixers

I'll get my coat . . .

Lol, what about switching to something that takes you longer to drink?
Or slimline mixers I think they are called?

Anyway start with one meal, would be breakfast for me, see how you get on, and move on,

Btw I'm no clean eater, I travel a lot with work, and my diet would horrify you, but I found it easiest to clean up breakfast first.

Good luck

Guru Maith Agut

Cheers for your help. I'll get working on it and will cut out as much sugar as I can from now on.

runawaybishop

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Might be a stupid question, but I love my alcohol at the weekend. What's the best (least sugar heavy) alcohol to drink? I'm not a wine drinker, usually spirits like vodka. But my mixers are generally coke (I know, full of sugar :rolleyes:) and red bull (yeah yeah, even more sugar content ).

So what mixer could I use that will not be undoing all the good work I'm doing by cutting out the bread and yoghurt sugars?

I suppose I could start drinking Guinness . . . .

Vodka and coke zero is grand. Booze is complicated though. On one hand studies have shown that drinking a fair whack won't put any weight on you, on the other hand you are more likely to go to the chinese and eat 20 euro worth of food after boozing.

Guru Maith Agut

runawaybishop wrote: »

. . . on the other hand you are more likely to go to the chinese and eat 20 euro worth of food after boozing.

Thankfully I rarely if ever had that craving. I tend to stick to meal times and even if hitting the sauce would have my dinner before hand so I never felt that hungry for takeout after a session.

Cheers for the Vodka & Coke tip though

Guru Maith Agut

Well weekend came and went, as did the alcohol. :pac:

Current weight has gone down a bit more since my first post. Standing at 13st 5.8lbs now (from 13st 8lbs). Have managed to cut out more sugar from diet and am steering clear of the bread, apart from the few croutons in my chicken Caesar salad.
Have also noticed a slight improvement in my cardio now too. At beginning I could walk at a reasonable 7kmh pace for 20/25 mins. I now slip in 3 jogs at 9.5/10kmh for 3 mins, 2 mins and 2 mins, during my 30 minute treadmill routine.

I do suffer with weak knees though (creak badly all the time and very weak) but doing squats with 12kg dumbell at 3 sets of 12 and leg press at 25kg (again, 3 sets of 12) I can feel the leg muscle support my knees a bit more during the jogging sections on the treadmill.

Can anyone tell me why I would suffer from shin cramps during my walking on the treadmill though? Should I do some stretching of these muscles before hand and if so which stretch would work best? Or am I just taking too long a stride?

Also, what is the best heart rate range for me to keep at during cardio to gain best fat burning results?

Zillah

Are these homemade salads or ones from the shop? Is there dressing on it?

Guru Maith Agut

Restaurant half portions. And yes they have some dressing on them but actually very little imo, compared to what I would put on them if I made them myself at home.