Burning off the beginning of a spare tire...

DeVore · 17-08-2009 06:28PM #1

Despite cleaning up my diet (massively cutting down on the Gummy Bears, and increasing the freshly cooked by moi, dinners)... recently I took up acting. Bad idea for drinking. Actors drink like fishes.

So, step 1. Cut out the bottle of wine every other day.
Step 2. Cut out the beers and the shorts with mixers.
Step 3. Switch to Coke Zero from Coke (is this actually making any difference... I presume it is but.... *shrug*)

Step 4. Controversial this one.... hit a gym.

Now, I'm 5'10" and about 12.5 stone at the moment. That seems reasonable but I have a very light frame and I'm noticing a second chin developing along with a bit more of me around the waist then I would like.

So, my question is: What could I expect to lose in two weeks of exercising (I have a reason for the 2 week timeframe but I dont want to go into that). What about 6 weeks?
I want to get some realistic expectations...

Is 3 nights a week in the gym enough? If I pushed it to 5 nights would that make a big difference?

Sorry, I'm a complete newbie to this. I've had the wonder situation of having a metabolism from hell where I can eat anything, lie on a couch all my life and look reasonably good.... now suddenly, there's more of me then I would like to see...

DeV.

BossArky · 17-08-2009 06:53PM

What is your typical daily diet?

e.g.

8am porridge
10am toast & tea
etc....

What is your current weekly exercise regime? Be specific. You mentioned previously that you do a lot of cycling?

e.g.

Monday - 10km cycle
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - gym: weights
etc?

If you are doing weights in the gym, what kind? Free weights or machines?

2 weeks is too short a time to see radical differences. 6 weeks is pretty short too. Aim for nothing more than 1lb weight loss per week. Anything else and you are probably loosing muscle too.

Loosing too much muscle will give you the undefined "skinny fat" look.

3 nights a week in the gym is fine IF you sort out your diet and are following a structured weights and cardio routine.

You could have an additional 2 days of "active recovery" --> walking or cycling at a gentle pace for ~1hr in the mornings or evenings. This will get blood to sore parts after the gym (train your legs hard --> big muscles)

Lifting "heavy" weights will boost your metabolism. "Heavy" means something you can lift for 5 sets of 5, not 3 sets of 25.

Anyway, post your daily diet and current exercise plan to get started

DeVore · 17-08-2009 09:19PM

Um... when I said my diet was "better"... I didnt say it was "good".

My diet is dictated far too much by my working week. I live an insane lifestyle that would kill a lot of other people. i'm also god awful lazy. Sounds like a contradiction but basically I have too many things on the go and when I get some down time I tend to eat bags of gummy bears and drink coke by the 2 Litre.

I've been doing this for the best part of a decade if not more so the recent weight gain must be metabolic in origin because I've actually improved my diet recently.

So, Breakfast. Coffee or Red bull (I have now cut out the red bull, but coffee is my life blood). Two sugars with milk.

Lunch: Anything from a full on dinner to, well, another coffee. usually its a chicken sambo from the deli.

Dinner:
Self Cooked: Either chicken or salmon with pasta or rice, usually with a curry sauce or one from a jar.

Ordered in: Pizza (rarely), good chinese or indian (I mean, no MSG, good quality food, cooked to order).

I dont regularly go to the gym but I have a very active life meaning I am always on the go. Recently that has meant a lot of drinking which I'm consciously going to cut down on as I suspect thats where the weight is coming from, its the only thing which has changed negatively.

I recently bought a bike and cycle to and from work most days (about 2km each way). I am tending to cycle a lot more now (given that I have a bike!)

Hmmm... I guess what I am asking is fairly impossible to answer... I'll make some alterations to my diet and get stuck into the gym and see where that takes me...

DeV.

BossArky · 17-08-2009 10:59PM

Eat these:

porridge
nuts: almonds, pine nuts, etc
fresh veg: brocoli, cauliflower, red & green peppers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, etc
eggs (boiled 3 and bring to work, or scramble three in the morning or evening)
tuna & sweetcorn
chicken
avocado (good fats)
fruit: banana, apple, oranges, grapes, etc
water

Don't eat these:

pasta
rice
spuds
alcohol
fizzy drinks
bread
sweets
chocs
sauces
salt

You don't have to have carbs (spuds, rice or pasta) with every dinner or lunch. Cut it down to every second day, and see if you can cut them out altogether after a trial period.

Have more fresh veg instead. Make it yourself and bring to work in a container. Stirfry enough for a few days.

If you are hungry eat more fresh veg, nuts and tuna.

Khannie · 17-08-2009 11:01PM

It's late and I'm banjaxed (just home from training) so I'll have to be brief. Some stuff for starters:

Do NOT deny yourself coffee if you love it. No way. God damn I love coffee so much. Maybe switch the sugars for candarel tablets? I did. Worked out grand tbh. Try the different sweeteners. My own preference was for canderel.
You should eat breakfast though. Make the 10 minutes in the morning for it and try to have some protein in there somewhere (microwave scrambler + wholegrain toast is a good one). Sets you up for the day.
Veg: Get some.

Snacks between meals are good (if you're keeping your overall calorie count down).
The stickies are legendary. I've lost a load of weight and kept it off using them.
Preparation helps a lot with eating healthily (e.g. bringing food into work).

I'll come back tomorrow. Need kip now.

itsallaboutheL · 17-08-2009 11:02PM

DeVore wrote: »

some down time I tend to eat bags of Brazil Nuts and drink water by the 2 Litre.

DeV.

FYP

There is nothing wrong with starting small, if you don't want/ feel the need to make radical changes straight away.

And just cause i get to say this to an Admin.... reading the stickies is a good place to start, some quality info, which we can then en(DeVore) to clarify if needs be......hahaha im brilliant

Mellor · 18-08-2009 02:49AM

Hi Dev,
I'm around the same size as you, currently 12st 7lbs
7 weeks ago I was 13st 2 lbs. I plan on losing the same again over the next 4 weeks (just a target I set, happens to be my birthday)

Anyway, My diet was ok but not great (side effect of not working and playing poker at horrible hours), the recent changes were pretty simple and have turned my diet into a pretty good one.

Ok, so here's what I suggest (nothing on this list is hard to switch to)

Increase number of meals a day, but decrease the size of meals.
Most people go for 3 small meals with 3 snacks*.
Eat whole, fresh food where possible. Only have good food in the house (this was key for me). Start to phase out bad items from shopping so that when you go to get food, you only have good choices.
Decrease the carbs you are eating dramatically, if you must eat carbs, only eat good carbs*. Increase protein a lot also, try to have it with every meal.
Start to build up a collection of good meals you can make yourself. Jars of sauces aren't great (generally full of sugars or fats), opt for strong dry flavours such as spices. Use fruit and veg for homemade if you want a wet sauce (Last night I made a curry by boiled down tomatoes with spices)
Actively read labels on food, be aware of how many calories are in each meal you eat, and be aware of how many you want to have for the day. for Example, last month I was buying some soup. I was buying two tubs, both the same brand and range. Was about to go for two different flavours, when I checked the labels. One had 600 kJ, the other 1050 kJ. I went for two of the lower one obviously. The saving of 450kJ is over 100 calories (all labels here are in joules so I've started to deal in them)

This is roughly my diet for the week

Breakfast - Eggs or Porridge with small bit of fruit mixed in, etc
Lunch - Wholemeal wrap with lettuce, tomato, onions, balsamic vinegar instead of mayo and tuna or two eggs (when I have eggs for brekkie, I have tuna for lunch)
Dinner - Chicken or Fish, steamed or baked, with herbs/spices/lemon/soy and veggies (brocolli, cauliflowerm onions, no spuds)
Snacks - A pickle, nuts, fruit (strawberries are far better than I expected, apples far worse)

*Snacks should be substantial enough to tie you over between the now smaller main meals. Processed food are not good snacks. Even "healthy" muesli bars and similar

*Carbs are obviously important, but try to pick the right ones and keep them minimal. Wholegrain bread over white (i've almost cut out bread altogether). Brown rice and pasta over white. Not everyday either. I've started steaming thinly sliced peppers and beansprouts to use in stir frys in place of rice.

DeVore · 19-08-2009 02:57AM

Ok, so I am going to make some simple changes (G'em will tell you that I've already come a long way improving my atrocious diet from the last time I had a go at this

)

This week I'm going to
1. Eat breakfast to kick start my metabolism.

2. Cut drink down to 1 beer on a night out and no more then 1 bottle of red wine a week.

3. Cut out Redbull completely and switch fizzy drinks with low cal ones (Coke Zero currently being flavour of choice).

I also need to join a gym which I'll try to do on the weekend.

I have 6 weeks to knock an "ok" physique back into a nicer shape. I'm not fat per se but I can definitely feel the flab around the centre lately.

oh, I'll buy a scales too so I have an accurate idea of what is going on

Will let you know how it goes...

DeV.

corkcomp · 19-08-2009 07:43AM

B-Builder wrote: »

Hi There

Cheers for the explanation and clearing up my confusion. I would agree that strawberries are slightly less calorie dense then apples. This post is not me being argumentative, just debating a point and hoping to increase my knowledge on the subject of nutrition.

Really there is not that much in the difference when judging equal quantities of these two fruits IMHO.

i.e.

Accordig to Fitday.com a large apple (approx 225g/250g) is rated as having 110 calories.

As Fitday don't have a figure for just plain, raw strawberries (without sugar) I used nutritionaldata.com. This site gives strawberries a calorie rating of 32 calories per 100g. So if I ate 225g of strawberries I would get approx 72 calories and for 250g of strawberries I would get approx 80 calories.

IMHO 30/40 calories is not that big a difference between fruits.

Also I would disagree with your statement

IMHO counting calories is only the very first rung on the ladder of working out a good diet. And when you start considering the Carb, Protein and Fat content of the food you are eating you are working with the "Nutrients" (Macro-Nutrients) in the food.

Simply counting calories, I need around 2,760 calories daily for maintanence. 3 Big Mac meals would give me around this amount of calories, but would not meet my Macro-Nutrient or Micro-Nutrient requirements to maintain the lean mass to body fat ratio that I currently have and stay healthy. Neither would it help when my goal changes to building lean mass as cleanly as possible or lowering my bodyfat % while holding on to as much lean mass as possible.

IMHO making sure you are getting the correct levels of Macro & Micro nutrients within your specific calorific requirements is very important and should not "take a back seat" to simply counting the number of calories you require for your specific goal.

Just my 2c worth.

Best Regards,

M

op, you seem to have a decent understanding of nutrition and your right about not making up your calorie allowance from crap like big macs ... Dont worry about the cals in apples, you could have three apples for the same cals as a yorkie bar and you would get all the fiber + minerals and none of the crap...

Burning off the beginning of a spare tire...

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