What exercise to do

I did Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred dvd at one stage (though I only did it every 2nd day) and found it very effective.
I'm sure you know yourself to dump the soft drinks & replace them with water - bet all that fizz has an effect on your pot belly.

you have 10-15mins to do some home based exercise every day or at least every other day. This will not only help with your goal but also make you study better.

Some variation of a mix of body weight exercises and some weights will get you a super workout in 10-15mins - e.g. (let me know mods that the video is ok)



If you did not have a kettlebell you could simply do press ups instead of the rows. There are hundreds of variations e.g. squats, core work, bench dips, step ups, box jumps, skipping, burpees, lots of exercises just using a band etc

There are plenty of options but IMO you are making a statement instead of asking a question and looking for an answer

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Thank you for your replies everyone. I did describe my diet to the Dietitian and she said it was a balanced diet, so when she said that I thought my diet was fine. I will most definitely be changing my diet and I will start some exercises and hopefully I will see some results.

It's not just the time, I get the bus to Dublin each day and I find that if I eat before the bus journey, I end up feeling nauseas all days (I don't know why)

What would this be like for a diet? It's just a rough idea though.



The reason my dinner is late in the evening is simply because of the time I get home at, if I could get home earlier, I would have my dinner earlier. Also, not sure how relevant/irrelevant it is, but I am hoping to move to closer to college within the next few weeks (I haven't done so yet as I haven't found anywhere).

Thanks again for the replies and fwiw, I prefer bluntness to sugar-coating.:)

Breakfast: Get up 15 mins earlier and eat porridge. Mix some flaxseed in with it. Have some fruit instead of toast. Take some fish oils also. Consider getting some protein in there too e.g whey etc.

Morning: Fruit = good, sandwich = not a good choice. Buy some plastic containers and prepare some food the night before. Hot chocolate = not a good choice. Buy some chocolate with 70% cocoa or more and eat that. Eat some healthy nuts as well.

Lunch: Soup = okay, bread = not a good choice unless wholemeal. Chips and spicy wedges = not a good choice. Cut out the processed food, prepare your own food the night before and bring it with you or make healthier choices when it comes to carbs.

Snack: Fruit = good but not enough on its own, again figure out how to get some protein in.

Dinner: potatoes = good, the rest lasagna, chips, roll, pasta = rubbish. Try fish?

Listen you seem to have really good intentions and that's a great starting point. But you are going to fall short if you continue with your plan above. To be blunt:

* check out Transform's nutrition videos.
* figure out your daily maintenance calories (check out the various formulae on google etc)....
* go 15-20% below this on a daily basis to create a calorie deficit for fat loss.
* eat this amount of calories over 5-6 meals
* refine your food choices: less and better quality carbs, more protein, more protein again, good fats e.g fish oils, flaxseed etc. Read Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book if you are really interested.
* do the exercises Transform mentioned above
* ignore what other people think of your new eating habits and watch them with envy when you start to show them your new toned physique
* bask in your accomplishment and continue to eat healthy.

Roger Marbles wrote: »

If you prefer bluntness then here you go:

Breakfast: You might as well eat rubbish. Get up 15 mins earlier and eat porridge. Mix some flaxseed in with it. Have some fruit instead of toast. Take some fish oils also. Consider getting some protein in there too e.g whey etc.

Morning: Fruit = good, sandwich = rubbish again. Buy some plastic containers and prepare some food the night before. Hot chocolate = rubbish. Buy some chocolate with 70% cocoa or more and eat that. Eat some healthy nuts as well.

Lunch: Soup = okay, bread = rubbish unless wholemeal. Chips and spicy wedges = rubbish. Cut out the processed food, prepare your own food the night before and bring it with you or make healthier choices when it comes to carbs.

Snack: Fruit = good but not enough on its own, again figure out how to get some protein in.

Dinner: potatoes = good, the rest lasagna, chips, roll, pasta = rubbish. Try fish?

Listen you seem to have really good intentions and that's a great starting point. But you are going to fail miserably if you continue with this kind of diet. To be blunt:

* check out Transform's nutrition videos, you really are struggling here..
* figure out your daily maintenance calories (check out the various formulae on google etc)....
* go 15-20% below this on a daily basis to create a calorie deficit for fat loss.
* eat this amount of calories over 5-6 meals
* refine your food choices: less and better quality carbs, more protein, more protein again, good fats e.g fish oils, flaxseed etc. Read Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book if you are really interested.
* do the exercises Transform mentioned above
* ignore what other people think of your new eating habits and watch them with envy when you start to show them your new toned physique
* bask in your accomplishment and continue to eat healthy.

While the OP stated that they prefer bluntness to sugar coating could I ask that you reel it in a little and remember that you are talking to a 19 yr old student, who stated in post 4 that she is up at 04:45 each school morning and does not get home from college until some time between 18:00 and 20:00, at which time she needs to get something to eat and do homework/study. So throwing out things like get up earlier and prepare meals before you go to bed may not be as easy as you seem to think.

OP can I ask if you are living at home with your parents or living on your own/with friends in digs?

Also what type of canteen facilities are available to you during the day?


M

Hey there,

With regards to eating 6-7 meals a day and drinking whey protein drinks etc, you don't need to. you're not a bodybuilder, you just need to shed a few pounds! In fact the situation is difficult you are in. What I would do is bring in a lunch box, make up some wholewheat tortilla wraps, you can buy some chicken breasts and cook them over the weekend and put them in a tupperwear box, have another tupperwear box for some salad so in the morning you can throw them all in together, make two for the day, use some salad dressing or french oil dressing but only a tablespoon per wrap. Eat them at the start of one of your classes or between classes, no-one will stop you! Otherwise as the Op said, try and get breakfast into in the morning. Eating some porriage will give you the energy you need for the morning and the wrap will do for lunch and mid-afternoon snack.
For dinner you can make numerous things that are very quick and healthy,
frozen veg in the microwave is fine, it will retain more vitamins and minerals than boiling and steaming, also why not just oven bake some fresh fish like salmon wrapped up in tinfoil and seasoned with salt, lemon and pepper. It's fast easy and healthy. There are millions of recipes online that are very quick and easy to prep. In the late evening have a can of tuna or sardines or nuts. If you are hungary during the day have a bag of trailmix to nibble on.
I know time is important to you so doing a little more research on google will help you. Exercise and a healthy diet is the way to go. Although it sounds like if you are 5'5" and a size 8-10 then you are quite slim. Therefore your stomach fat is the most difficult to get rid of, however, seeing that you probably don't have much bodyfat per se getting rid of it shouldn't be so difficult if you stopping eating crap like chips and lasagne everyday. Cut out fried foods altogether, you can have one day where you cheat a little but don't go mental!
Wait until you move to your new place and then you will have lot more time. Remember there is a golden rule, always eat small meals several times a day. Three meals isn't the way to go to lose weight. Eating several small meals will increase your metabolism and that's what you want to do! With regard to working out or exercising there are lots of exercise you can do in your own room. No need to join a gym. Pushups, situps, walking, cycling, swimming, skipping, buy a small pair of dumbells from argos, they can be bought for less than €50 or even try on Gumtree.ie, you might pick up something very very cheap...
If you do get weights like those i mentioned then just look up some exercises for dumbells on google and you'll find plenty of exercises there for beginners. It's up to you to find something that will suit you, everyone is different!
Goodluck!

I don't mean to be smart, but have you read all the OP's posts in this thread???

xinchao wrote: »

Hey there,

With regards to eating 6-7 meals a day and drinking whey protein drinks etc, you don't need to. you're not a bodybuilder,

You don't need to be a body builder to use whey protein! While I would recommend getting as much as you daily protein requirements from food, whey protein is simply another source of protein, and as long as the calories provided by the whey are counted in the OP's daily total, it is a convenient and effective method for taking in protein.

xinchao wrote: »

you just need to shed a few pounds!

What? :eek:

The OP is 5' 5" and size 8-10 in clothes. She is fine weight wise. She stated she has a small pot belly that she wishes to get rid of, that's all.

xinchao wrote: »

In fact the situation is difficult you are in. What I would do is bring in a lunch box, make up some wholewheat tortilla wraps, you can buy some chicken breasts and cook them over the weekend and put them in a tupperwear box, have another tupperwear box for some salad so in the morning you can throw them all in together, make two for the day, use some salad dressing or french oil dressing but only a tablespoon per wrap. Eat them at the start of one of your classes or between classes, no-one will stop you!

This may or may not be an option for the OP as she has stated that students are not allowed bring in their own foods, but must eat what is provided on campus, but would be worth considering if it were at all possible. But having chicken/fish etc sitting in a tupprware container in a warm classroom for a few hours may not be the safest option.

xinchao wrote: »

Otherwise as the Op said, try and get breakfast into in the morning. Eating some porriage will give you the energy you need for the morning and the wrap will do for lunch and mid-afternoon snack.
For dinner you can make numerous things that are very quick and healthy,
frozen veg in the microwave is fine, it will retain more vitamins and minerals than boiling and steaming, also why not just oven bake some fresh fish like salmon wrapped up in tinfoil and seasoned with salt, lemon and pepper. It's fast easy and healthy. There are millions of recipes online that are very quick and easy to prep. In the late evening have a can of tuna or sardines or nuts. If you are hungary during the day have a bag of trailmix to nibble on.

I would advise going easy on the nuts and trail mix as 100g of mixed nuts provides ~600 cals. Not a great option IMHO when fat loss is the goal.

xinchao wrote: »

I know time is important to you so doing a little more research on google will help you. Exercise and a healthy diet is the way to go. Although it sounds like if you are 5'5" and a size 8-10 then you are quite slim.

Agreeed

xinchao wrote: »

Therefore your stomach fat is the most difficult to get rid of, however, seeing that you probably don't have much bodyfat per se getting rid of it shouldn't be so difficult if you stopping eating crap like chips and lasagne everyday.

This is kind of contradictory is it not?

xinchao wrote: »

Cut out fried foods altogether, you can have one day where you cheat a little but don't go mental!

Agreed, but I would also swap as much white carbs as possible to wholemeal and also replace starch based carbs with more fiberous varieties (veg & some fruit) where possible.

xinchao wrote: »

Wait until you move to your new place and then you will have lot more time. Remember there is a golden rule, always eat small meals several times a day. Three meals isn't the way to go to lose weight.

IMHO this is not true. The main thing when looking to manage your weight is calories in versus calories out.

xinchao wrote: »

Eating several small meals will increase your metabolism and that's what you want to do!

Again IMHO this is a myth. Cals in Vs Cals out is more important then timing.

xinchao wrote: »

With regard to working out or exercising there are lots of exercise you can do in your own room. No need to join a gym. Pushups, situps, walking, cycling, swimming, skipping, buy a small pair of dumbells from argos, they can be bought for less than €50 or even try on Gumtree.ie, you might pick up something very very cheap...

Agreed, though personally I would plumb for a kettlebell over dumbbells, but that's a personal preference.

Have a look at The Home Workout Thread for some ideas.

xinchao wrote: »

If you do get weights like those i mentioned then just look up some exercises for dumbells on google and you'll find plenty of exercises there for beginners. It's up to you to find something that will suit you, everyone is different!
Goodluck!

Agreed. The main thing is to find some form of exercise(s) that you like, as then you are more likely to stick with them


M

I'll just say that you don't have to eat breakfast if you dont want to/ feel like. Read the leangains website (www.leangains.com) for more information. It's not the most important meal of the day, nice slogan coming from the food companies making you eat more (ok, I have no idea if it's a conspiracy, but the earlier you start eating, the more you'll eat in a day - at least this applies to me and sure, why not generalize a bit ).

Not eating breakfast should especially suit you because you're in college and presumably most of your activity in the day (at least to your first meal) is mental/involving the brain rather than the bicep. I find this helps a lot with concentration, whereas if I eat early, I'm a bit foggy and all I can think about is my next meal.

Roger Marbles wrote: »

I would disagree strongly.

The main point of losing weight is to do so in a healthy way rather see it as simplistically as just a matter of calories in versus calories out.

For example, there is ample evidence to support the weight loss and health benefits of a higher protein, calorie restricted diets rather than low fat/high carbohydrate or low carbohydrate/high fat calorie equivalents. Furthermore, their effects on bone density are possibly favorable which is an important consideration in young females, as low bone density at this age is a risk factor for osteoporosis in later life.

He clearly said the main thing. Not the only thing.
And he is right. The main thing is energy in vrs energy out.

The best macro split in the world is useless if you are eating 30% above maintenance.

Nowhere did anyone way ignore macros, in fact it was repeated mentioned. But that should be secondary to total amount.

FYI when people say calories in vrs out, they don't mean its ok to eat sweets as long as you are below maintenance, they mean its possible to overeat with all foods, even the healthiest out there. This is pretty basic stuff and the fact that you are disecting every point is silly.

With regards to:

"You don't need to be a body builder to use whey protein! While I would recommend getting as much as you daily protein requirements from food, whey protein is simply another source of protein, and as long as the calories provided by the whey are counted in the OP's daily total, it is a convenient and effective method for taking in protein."


I'll accept that statement (even though it was meant to be funny), however, she is not losing weight, i.e. she's slowly gaining weight. Why spend extra money on whey protein? Just eat healthy foods.

" What?

The OP is 5' 5" and size 8-10 in clothes. She is fine weight wise. She stated she has a small pot belly that she wishes to get rid of, that's all."


As you clearly stated, she only needs to shed her stomach fat (which in my estimation could be 2 possibly 3 lbs, hence a "few") unless you are a in the medical profession and know the exact amount of body fat a female of 5'5" size 8-10 (sizes vary from shop to shop BTW) carries?

"But having chicken/fish etc sitting in a tupperware container in a warm classroom for a few hours may not be the safest option."

The fish was for dinner! Having a " cold, cooked chicken sandwich" in a tupperwear box in your bag will not suddenly turn into something that will turn your stomach, I bring in chicken sandwiches everyday to University and eat them throughout the day. No issues with that. The chicken is cooked and because it is inside your bag and in an air-tight container it will be safe! People bring in lunch boxes to the workplace every day and that is something I did for over fifteen years, again no issues with my chicken salad sandwiches!

When you are discussing calories in and calories out, i believe that is too simplistic for someone to understand unless they know about eating healthily, there is a lot more to just calories in and calories out! In general you are correct but that is a very general overview and needs to be broken down further with simple examples of what to eat and when, to be helpful.

"I would advise going easy on the nuts and trail mix as 100g of mixed nuts provides ~600 cals. Not a great option IMHO when fat loss is the goal."

My apologies I should have stated exactly what i meant by that. Just 20-30g is considered a small meal and is easy to take around with her as she is in college! However, I believe eating several small meals a day will give the sustained energy throughout the day she needs as she has a long day each day. Waiting for longer periods between meals will not keep her concentration levels up for extended periods. You don't have to be physically active to burn calories, concentrating for extended periods requires energy also.


" This is kind of contradictory is it not? "

This is in relation to stomach fat, which is the most difficult area to get rid of body fat as it's usually the first place to put on fat and the last to leave. You can still be slim and have stomach fat e.g. the girl who is looking for advice.

I don't mean to pick an argument with you in the slightest B-builder but my brother is a doctor, my brother-in-law is a former Ireland Gymnast and I am an intermediate body builder myself (who has played sports all my life) so I do have a notion of what i am talking about. However, we are talking to a 19 year old woman who just wants to shed a small bit of weight i.e. a few pounds (meant in the literal sense). My response was to help her and put in as simple terms for her as possible without complicating the matter.
It was also meant as a loose guide with ideas for her to use (if you kept to the original request you would see that) I'm not advocating for her to become a fitness fanatic or to change her whole lifestyle, she wanted ideas she can use that suited her in her current situation.

But I do believe fully in routine and when she moves away from home in a few weeks then it is probably better to make a start then. She could start now obviously but why not give a 100% when she is in a position to do it?

Hi Purple-Bobbin,
For breakfast, you could put some fruit(you can get boxes of frozen berries in supermarkets), yoghurt and porridge oats into a tupperware container and eat it when you're stomach is able for it in the morning(maybe before your first class?)
And in your bag, keep a packet of oatcakes, an apple/orange, a small bag of nuts...these could count as snacks, and can be eaten when standing around waiting to get into a class.
Tupperware containers are great too for salads/cooked meats/bean mixes.
Maybe invest in a little insulated lunch bag to keep things some way cool, and a thermos flask to keep soup hot(unless you are getting very 'clean', you could buy a ready made soup, heat it at home in the morning and throw it into the flask(Cully&Sully is good))
HTH

jog jog jog.. on grass if possible, try avoiding concrete paths. tar isnt so bad get good bouncy trainers
its the 1 guaranteed way to lose weight especially belly fat really fast
plus its gets addictive after a few months, so u look forward to ur daily or weekly jogs
all the best

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

My impression of dieticians is they're more useful if the person has a very specific condition like PKU or Crohns. I don't think they're of any use to the average person with access to the internet!

The reality is the OP isn't unhealthy or even overweight, she's slightly out of shape, not a dieticians job to assess her if you ask me.

Not trying to hijack the discussion but I think you are right...dieticians and doctors are taught poorly when it comes to nutrition as part of their undergraduate degrees and furthered learning is absent in this area:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/fast-food/nutritional-ignorance-abounds/

Anyways, good luck OP