A friendly challenge - make me healthy!

[phoenix-eye]

Right - i've got a challenge for all you health freaks.

I am 30. Caucasian. 5 foot 11. just under 14 st (approx 190 lbs). Well built - i.e big chest & shoulders. (not naturally skinny)

My formal class training has recently been cut back to 1 night per week as a result of me undertaking night classes foer a new degree qualification. I have a full time job as a civil engineer and cannot train during the day. I have only limited time to train at night due to study requirements.

I get married in 5 months and want to lose as much weight as possible and just get in proper shape.

My (terrible I know) diet gnerally consists of:-

Breakfast:- A chocolate bar (!sh1t! - I'm too rushed inthe morning))
Lunch;- 2 x bread rolls with ham - no butter
Dinner:- varies - often poultry
Evening:- Some slices of white bread
or toast and butter (!**** again!)

Someone post me a good and realistic training regime and diet and I will attempt to stick to it. I'll post back every Friday night with my weight.

By the way - you'll note I'm from Scotland. We have the worst diet and highest rate of heart failure in Europe. That's beacuase we have things called pies and bridies and fish suppers. We even have deep fried Mars Bars. It isreally hard to eat sensibly.

Go on - you know you can do some good......Save a fat ba today!

"We had a thing to settle so I did him"
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

[This message was edited by phoenix-eye on 10-25-01 at 05:46 PM.]

[phoenix-eye]

By the way....

i'll only listen to the first 20 replies (if i get that many)

"We had a thing to settle so I did him"
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

[davies]

Hi mate, well as i train and am also about 5' 11" and have been stocky all my life, i can tell you a few easy tips that mays just shed pounds, by just keeping to them.

You say you have the choccie bar in the morn, which you may think is bad for you, but the body does require a fat intake. Although you could still substitute this for a neutrigrain bar or a tracker bar.

Instead of butter on your toast, use marmite.

Instead of going to the gym and lifting weights that will bulk you up, do a cardeovascular proggramme instead, the reason for this is, is that your body can only do one or the other, not burn fat and build well defined muscle at the same time.

Take fat burners, these sound risky, but most are not. ECA will have your heart rate up and will damage health considerably, the safest and the most noticable fat burner i know of, which i take to keep me trimmed is called, Hydroxycut.
This stuff has been experimented on using heavily obese people, and they have lost Crap loadsa weight just sitting, eating and lying down, although i do recomend that you continue your CV.
The down side is, the cost £20 for a weeks supply is fairly high, but think beefyness or a nice slim body that will fit that Tux for your wedding.

So good luck and have a happy marriage.

-Kane

[IronFist]

Listen dude, be very careful with breakfast. If you eat too many carbs and not enough fat to balance it out in the morning, your blood sugar will drop a few hours after you eat breakfast and you'll get hungry as hell.

I've found that if I skip breakfast, I can go almost the whole day without getting hungry (but this has other metabolic implications so I'm absolutely not recommending it, just using it as an example).

Or, if I have my normal breakfast, I get too hungry to pay attention in class (two bowls of cereal and a protein drink).

So recently I've been having deli sandwhiches with cheese (for fat) on them for breakfast. Mmmmmmm... they provide calories and fill me up and keep me full for a while.

Note, however, that I'm an ectomorph (naturally very skinny) and so I'm always hungry anyway. My metabolism is insane. Last year I was on a bulking diet of 5,000-6,000 calories a day and could barely put on weight at that amount.

So, just make sure you eat a BALANCED breakfast. That's the whole point of this boring arse post. But the thing is, you need to find out what that is for you. Your breakfast requirements are different from mine, or anyone elses. Just try to keep your protein intake high so you minimize muscle loss along with your fat loss.

Iron

[IronFist]

i'll only listen to the first 20 replies (if i get that many)

Oops, just saw that. That's retarded. I hope the best advice is post number 21 :) Haha just kidding.

If you're too lazy to read a lot of posts you're probably too lazy to lose weight.

So here's my brief exercise advice, so I don't take up too much room;

Do more cardio. Cardio + good diet = losing weight. Simple, eh? If you don't already, start some kind of weight training. Weight training will help shape your muscles so that once you lose all the fat, you will look good.

5 foot 11. just under 14 st (approx 190 lbs)

I just read that. Dude, 190 at 5'11" isn't that fat unless you don't have much muscle. Do you know what your body fat percentage is? I guess you wouldn't want to lose much more than 10 to 20lbs, right? You can easily accomplish that in 5 months before you get married. A healthy amount of weight to lose is 2lbs per week. Any more is water weight (ie. not permanent weight loss). So, in theory, at 2lbs per week it would take you 10 week (2.5 months) to lose 20lbs.

Only weigh yourself once a week, prefferably at the same time each time (ie. sunday mornings, when you wake up, before you eat anything, after you go to the bathroom). That will allow for the least variations in weight.

Cardio.

Iron

[phoenix-eye]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The 20 reply thing isn't cuz I'm lazy. I just figured that any more than 20 different ideas would get totally confusing.

"We had a thing to settle so I did him"
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

[HuangKaiVun]

fresh fruit and vegetables.

[Robinf]

What I've found works for me to be able to eat healthily is to cook on Sunday (my only day off), and store it in the fridge for the whole week (Monday through Friday)--cooked poultry and meat lasts that long if properly wrapped and refridgerated.

You have to eat a better breakfast--eat what you would have for lunch. Eat for lunch what you would have for dinner and eat very light at dinner (a salad--these also last 5 days premade if wrapped and refridgerated properly).

Get out there and walk or jog--cardio is great for losing weight. Building muscle works well, too, but you'd have to get some weights and plan out a routine and... all that jazz. If you're too lazy for that, then take up jogging--doesn't require any thinking.

Robin

Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.

[Shaolin36]

Breakfast- Meal replacement protein drink-thats quik.

Snack (if needed)- Bagel-quik

Lunch- Turkey Sandwich with a half baked potatoe or Chicken Terryaki bowl- eat small portions.

Snack if needed- non fat yogurt- cheap and fast

Dinner- chicken or fish with some carbs.

Never eat past 8PM
Eat small portions more often this will shrink your stomach, hence lose weight.

Your metabolism is like a fire in a sense, the more you feed it the more it(small healthy portions) the more it will burn efficiently and fat loss will occur quiker.

Once you establish some consistency, your progress will really take off. Its kinda like putting 87 octane and performance gasoline. 87 oct will work but if you want the best performance thats unharmful you will go with the perf gasoline.

nuff said,

good luck

Shaolin36

[toxigenic]

My trainer told me that you should eat 3 meals, breakfast lunch and dinner, and 3 snacks a day. Your snacks should be something healthy, like fruit, yogurt, and nuts. That will keep your metabolism up and burn more fat. Oh, one good thing to do is write down what you eat and what time for a week. That will help you get a better handle on your eating habits.

Weight training is a very good thing to do to lose body fat. The more muscle mass you have, the more body fat you burn. So, a good regime is cardio 3 days a week and weight training 3 days a week. I hope this helps you. Using this routine, plus kung-fu 4 nights a week, helped me drop 70 pounds.

[ElPietro]

If you can manage 5-6 meals a day that would be ideal. Nothing to large at any of em. You can eat after 8pm and really should...just not too much in the form of carbs, and definitely try to cut out as much sugar as you possibly can from your diet. That means don't be drinking tons of juice as it will have lots of sugar. If you eat fruit don't eat a ton of it, and look for fruits with good fibre levels such as apples.

For breakfast if you have little time grab some meal replacement shakes...make em up quick. You can buy a bottle of flax seed oil and throw a tablespoon in with your shake. And if you want can add other things like egg whites, yogurt, etc.

I'd recommend weight training but if you don't have time then you'll need to try and get some other cardio in as well. No point dropping a buncha weight and half of that weight coming out of your muscle mass. So make sure protein is high to conserve muscle...don't be afraid of fat, as long as it's good fat, no saturated fat in other words, as fat doesn't really make you fat. One thing I'd recommend is cut almost everything you drink at home and start drinking water and lemon-flavoured mineral water. The stuff is cheap, tastes alright and will eliminate sugar from your diet as far as drinking goes. You'd be surprised at how much sugar is in juice and pop etc.

Good Luck man.

[honorisc]

Half everything! Cut your portions by a little every three days or take one less of everything. Eat all the junkfood or any kind of food you like, but in really small amounts all day if you like. Don't stuff your mouth--take smaller bites~. Let liquids park in your mouth a second before gulping--swallow in smaller groups.

Tap your feet rapidly or rub your hands when you're waiting around or not using them. If you sleep face down sleep with a pillow doubled-over, under your chest and stomach with your hips pressed up towards the pillow--like you were having a go, but only once and keep it forward. If on your back sleep with a pillow doubled over, under your buttocks and upper thighs.

Do some technique of hands really fast several times for about fifteen seconds a day. Drink warm water before you go to bed each night.

Besides that all, do whatever.

I No_Know

Very some such, perhaps might have been, likely say some, some not.

[Gum Gong]

I lost 30 pounds in 2 months eating 1 peanut butter sandwich for breakfast with some honey sweetend tea,double that for lunch and add some white corn chips,throwing 2400-3000 punches a night,then eating whatever I wanted for dinner.Also didn't eat muchy sugar at all.

Jon Moore

[Syre]

Conjugated Linoleic Acid has been shown to shift the fat/muscle ratio by about 20%. I've been taking it for a while and I'm about your height and weight, but only 19% body fat.

What's your body fat percentage? Have you measured it? I have one of those Tanita scales which sends electrical impulses through your feet (you can't feel them) and measures your body fat. You can also have it done with calipers, etc.

I still need to lose a few lbs. but if I ever mention that to someone they invariably say "why? you aren't fat at all."

Downside: CLA is a bit expensive. But it's good for you in other ways (anti-cancer, etc).

[stubbs]

are those scales accurate? i dont see how they can measure you body fat just by you feet because different people put on more or less fat in different places.

"satisfaction loses,and humility gains"

[ElPietro]

Tanita scales and all the other BS electric impulse scales are highly inaccurate. They are accurate if you are average in every way so that you fit within it's paramaters. If you are a bodybuilder and hop on the scale it will see that you are outside your recommended weight and jack your bodyfat level up to like 30%.

Don't worry about your bodyfat...like I've said so many times look in the bloody mirror to determine if you want to lose more weight...if someone calls you fat and you come back with, "hey I'm only 12% bodyfat." do you think they will all of a sudden think you are ripped or vice versa? If you really have to know calipers are accurate probably to within 2-4% and the best way is in a water tank. But I still think it's a waste of time.

[Robinf]

Within 2 - 4% callipers can be off?! That's kind of a lot. What's this thing under water that's a more accurate measure of body fat?

Just curious. Personally, I look in the mirror. If I see areas that jiggle, then I have too much fat.

Robin

Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.

[Syre]

http://www.tanita.com/consumer/faq/faqtbf.html

[popsider]

Go running, get a decent course round where you live that takes you maybe 25-30 minutes and do it 3 times a week without fail. As you get quicker extend the course so you are still taking 25-30 minutes. If you get pains in your knees then substitute cycling for one or two of the runs.

Apart from that do the shopping and don't buy the chocolate, biscuits, beer etc so that you only need will power once a week - when you shop - rather than everytime you go into the kitchen. And drink lots of pints of water.

[davies]

when i had my body fat measured i was hooked up all over the place, chest, back, arms, legs, feet and hands.
They measured me at 12% BFat total, and they think i'm still over weight.

Hows ur diet going, lost anything this week?, if you have, then it shows more than 1 oppinion is better.

-Kane

[ElPietro]

When you leave the room what others think means jack sh!t. You have to live with yourself the rest of your life so if you are happy **** the rest of em.

Heh if you live your life trying to meet everyone's expecatations you will go nuts.

[phoenix-eye]

Times up!!! That's 20 replies.

Thanks everyone. Got a good idea what I'm going to do now.

I'll post back next Friday (if I'm not in the pub). ;)

"We had a thing to settle so I did him"
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

[Akuma]

hmm, interesting thread :)

[prana]

Work out, aerobic or cardiovascular exercises for 30 minutes. 10-15 minutes cool down. Then fresh squeezed fruit/vegetable juice. About 5 minutes rest, and then big breakfast, cereals, carbos.
Get ready for a run to the toilet during this event.

Some hypertrophy exercises during the week, to increase resting energy burning etc.

Do not allow to become hungry, snack at times of the day.

My Cleansing/Equilibrium shifting diet :)