Loose weight, gain confidence?

[ebff]

I found the hardest thing about exercising is to do it EVERY day. The only way I found to actually keep going was to run every morning right after waking up for 30-50min (couple of miles), before breakfast, when you're too out of it to really make conscious decisions like "my legs are going to hurt all day - I could just do it tomorrow).

So yeah, wake up 30 min earlier and jog.

[Furious5k]

The helps been great guys, i really appriciate you taking your time to educate me in the ways of a healthy body.

A few more of questions:

-How do you manage a 400 calory meals for your daily need of hot food (2 hot meals)?? I just can't figure out anything that fits into that, a decent glass of juice is 100-150 calories in itself and I drink with every meal.

-Anyone nice enough to give me a small half hour routine of excercise sets to do (jogging really isn't my thing, BUT I will give it a try + I want something extra or for those days when there's a downpour).

-Other then a calory limit, what nutrition in products that i consume should i be looking for and what avoiding (the ussual package has Protein, Carbohydrate, of which sugars is, Fat, of which saturates, Fibre, Sodium; Salt amounts written on it, here in England).

P.S. I already started doing some excercise (working my way up, currently it's a 20min thing) and I'm trying to work out my diet, add vegetables (and generally stuff that I dislike )

[Sohan]

A famous runner once said:

"Running is a little gift I give myself every day."

Apply this to any exercise you enjoy.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[Spirit At Choice]

-Other then a calory limit, what nutrition in products that i consume should i be looking for and what avoiding (the ussual package has Protein, Carbohydrate, of which sugars is, Fat, of which saturates, Fibre, Sodium; Salt amounts written on it, here in England).

In Weight Watchers, one of the little sayings they have is: I've never heard anyone say, "I got fat because I ate too many vegetables."

A very simple way to stay full/comfortable without eating too much of the more calorie dense and fatty foods is just to increase your vegetable portions while decreasing bread, meat, etc.

Good luck.

[Aodhan]

The helps been great guys, i really appriciate you taking your time to educate me in the ways of a healthy body.

A few more of questions:

-How do you manage a 400 calory meals for your daily need of hot food (2 hot meals)?? I just can't figure out anything that fits into that, a decent glass of juice is 100-150 calories in itself and I drink with every meal.

-Anyone nice enough to give me a small half hour routine of excercise sets to do (jogging really isn't my thing, BUT I will give it a try + I want something extra or for those days when there's a downpour).

-Other then a calory limit, what nutrition in products that i consume should i be looking for and what avoiding (the ussual package has Protein, Carbohydrate, of which sugars is, Fat, of which saturates, Fibre, Sodium; Salt amounts written on it, here in England).

P.S. I already started doing some excercise (working my way up, currently it's a 20min thing) and I'm trying to work out my diet, add vegetables (and generally stuff that I dislike )

You don't have to keep a meal below 400 calories. You need to know your entire caloric intake needs for a day, then divvy those up into different meals. The 5 "meal" concept is a bit of a misnomer. It generally equates to breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch (Which should be about your biggest meal of the day), midafternoon snack, and dinner.

Also, you need to know your conversions.

Carbohydrates and Protein are about 4 calories per gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram.

This especially comes into play when you look at calories from fat versus percentage of fat. If a serving is 100 grams, and only 2 grams of that come from fat, then they can claim "98% fat free". Then you look and realize that it only has 40 calories per serving, 18 of those calories from fat, so almost 50% of calories from fat. It shouldn't be more than 15-20% calories from fat.

Bulk grain/coarse carbo for breakfast, such as oatmeal, whole grain cereal, whole grain muffins with some ham, things like that. Midmorning snack of some fruit and cheese, along those lines. Lunch should have chicken/fish/lean beef, veggie and anotehr carbo/starch. Midafternoon snack (Most people stick a protein shake type thing here), and the evening meal, again, lean beef/chicken/pork/fish, veggie, and another whole grain carb (Brown rice, etc).

To lose a pound, you need to eat approx 3500 calories less per week, which is around 500 calories a day. So, take your basal calorie needs, add the calorie needs for any exercise, and that is what you need to eat to maintain weight. Add calories to gain weight, subtract calories to lose weight. About 1 lb a week is a safe, permanent type weight loss. You'll lose more in the beginning, and less as you get leaner, then you might gain weight depending on how much muscle you gain.

Indoor exercises include situps, pushups, chair dips, skipping rope, shadow boxing (Watch the lamps! I've ruined 3 with hook kicks ), things like that.

Low impact aerobic activity includes swimming, cycling, rollerblading, x-country skiing, rowing (Crew), then your traditional higher impact activities such as running.

Aodhan

[Sohan]

-How do you manage a 400 calory meals for your daily need of hot food (2 hot meals)?? I just can't figure out anything that fits into that, a decent glass of juice is 100-150 calories in itself and I drink with every meal.

You don't have to keep a meal below 400 calories. You need to know your entire caloric intake needs for a day, then divvy those up into different meals. The 5 "meal" concept is a bit of a misnomer. It generally equates to breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch (Which should be about your biggest meal of the day), midafternoon snack, and dinner.

Also, you need to know your conversions.

Carbohydrates and Protein are about 4 calories per gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram.

This especially comes into play when you look at calories from fat versus percentage of fat. If a serving is 100 grams, and only 2 grams of that come from fat, then they can claim "98% fat free". Then you look and realize that it only has 40 calories per serving, 18 of those calories from fat, so almost 50% of calories from fat. It shouldn't be more than 15-20% calories from fat.

Bulk grain/coarse carbo for breakfast, such as oatmeal, whole grain cereal, whole grain muffins with some ham, things like that. Midmorning snack of some fruit and cheese, along those lines. Lunch should have chicken/fish/lean beef, veggie and anotehr carbo/starch. Midafternoon snack (Most people stick a protein shake type thing here), and the evening meal, again, lean beef/chicken/pork/fish, veggie, and another whole grain carb (Brown rice, etc).

To lose a pound, you need to eat approx 3500 calories less per week, which is around 500 calories a day. So, take your basal calorie needs, add the calorie needs for any exercise, and that is what you need to eat to maintain weight. Add calories to gain weight, subtract calories to lose weight. About 1 lb a week is a safe, permanent type weight loss. You'll lose more in the beginning, and less as you get leaner, then you might gain weight depending on how much muscle you gain.

Indoor exercises include situps, pushups, chair dips, skipping rope, shadow boxing (Watch the lamps! I've ruined 3 with hook kicks ), things like that.

Low impact aerobic activity includes swimming, cycling, rollerblading, x-country skiing, rowing (Crew), then your traditional higher impact activities such as running.

Aodhan

The reason I say 400 calories is that it gives him some structure. Most people aren't able to determine their daily caloric consumption. If you eat 5 times in a day, for example, that equates 2000 calories, which for most physically active people is sufficient to lose weight. A good rule of thumb for me is take your weight in lbs and multiply by 10 for total daily caloric consumption. Women should stay above 1200 and men above 1500 calories. This is for weight loss, not maintenance. Also, it's breakfast that should be the largest meal of the day, IMHO. Seems to work well this way for my clients.

I agree with everything else, though!

Respectfully,

Sohan

[Aodhan]

The reason I say 400 calories is that it gives him some structure. Most people aren't able to determine their daily caloric consumption. If you eat 5 times in a day, for example, that equates 2000 calories, which for most physically active people is sufficient to lose weight. A good rule of thumb for me is take your weight in lbs and multiply by 10 for total daily caloric consumption. Women should stay above 1200 and men above 1500 calories. This is for weight loss, not maintenance. Also, it's breakfast that should be the largest meal of the day, IMHO. Seems to work well this way for my clients.

I agree with everything else, though!

Respectfully,

Sohan

Ah, gotcha. Now I see what you meant with the 400. Still a little tough to gauge, though.

As far as the largest meal of the day, that's one of those things that you have to experiment with. Most of the exercise regiments I've set up have done better with larger midday meals. YMMV

Aodhan

[Furious5k]

Wow, guys you're great! Thanks, you have set me on the right path, it's amazing how little I knew (not that I would have needed it, considering i was in good to great form untill i was 14 without any planned excercise).

Last time I weighted myself must have been a year ago, so assuming my weigh has increased I am somewhere between 180 and 210 pounds. So if I need 2000 calories a day, and I want to loose weight I need to eat 4 times per 400-500 calories a day..Drats! I'm going to be starving untill summer (not that I intend to stop, I will simply find some form of extra excercise like swimming or martial arts that will mean I can eat a bit more).

Oh well, I loath excercise, but there is just something about forcing yourself to do it that gives you a good fealing.

Feel free to add whatever you wish to share, I am more then glad to accept any and all advice.

P.S. what's with the sit-ups, I read that I am suppoused to not have my knees extend past my feet when I "sit" down and it's impossible, I always loose my balance and stand up in a way that trains no muscle what-so-ever.

[Aodhan]

Wow, guys you're great! Thanks, you have set me on the right path, it's amazing how little I knew (not that I would have needed it, considering i was in good to great form untill i was 14 without any planned excercise).

Last time I weighted myself must have been a year ago, so assuming my weigh has increased I am somewhere between 180 and 210 pounds. So if I need 2000 calories a day, and I want to loose weight I need to eat 4 times per 400-500 calories a day..Drats! I'm going to be starving untill summer (not that I intend to stop, I will simply find some form of extra excercise like swimming or martial arts that will mean I can eat a bit more).

Oh well, I loath excercise, but there is just something about forcing yourself to do it that gives you a good fealing.

Feel free to add whatever you wish to share, I am more then glad to accept any and all advice.

P.S. what's with the sit-ups, I read that I am suppoused to not have my knees extend past my feet when I "sit" down and it's impossible, I always loose my balance and stand up in a way that trains no muscle what-so-ever.

You may need more or less than 2000 calories per day. Do a google search for BMR calculator, then use that to figure your basal metabolic rate (BMR). That is the minimum # of calories you need to maintain weight if you do nothing but breathe all day.

Then figure out how many calories you burn for daily activity, including work, working out, play, etc. Add that, and that is the total # of calories you need per day to maintain weight. Then subtract/add 400-500 a day depending on your goals.

Also, you won't always feel like you are starving. Your stomach adapts to the food you shove into it, and your brain will learn not to expect hordes of calories at each meal.

About your "situps", it sounds like you are describing squats, actually. A sit up is designed to work your abdominals. Lay on your back with your legs bent, feet flat on the floor. "Curl" your shoulders up and towards your stomach, or try to push your chest straight up towards the ceiling until your shoulders come off the floor. This will work your upper abdominals. Do the same with your legs to work your lowers.

When you "sit" down and then stand back up, you are using quads and hamstrings, and glutes. If you find you are overbalancing and falling back, then your weight is too far behind your heels. When starting, you can place a 2x4 (board) under your heels to help with this problem.

If you are bending at the waist, then you are mostly working hip flexors, and very little abdominal. The more you "curl" into a ball, the more you work the abs, since their primary function is torso flexion.

One last note- If you train abs, train lower back. If you train biceps, train triceps. If you train chest, train lats, etc. Always work the opposing muscle group to keep in balance, otherwise you increase chances of injury from unbalanced muscle groups.

Aodhan

[Furious5k]

I ran the BMR calculator, and I need around 2100 calories, which is good, since even if I eat 5 meals of 400, I am still taking 100 less, although I will try to aim for 1600, to loose 3500 a week.

I also ran the body fat calculator, I am not completely sure on the info I input, it might be an inch off here and there, I got a 23.4% so including the room for error it would be safe to say I am at 25%, which I am guessing is pretty bad.

What should it be? I don't recall where, but I heard about 8% being great (for a woman), so I am guessing I should have 10%-15% for a decent figure?

P.S. yes, I meant squats, since I've never used any excercise terms in English, sit ups sounded like the right word. Oh well, now I know.