A little advice please

[andy123]

Hi everyone. Over the past couple of years i've gained about 10 kilos in weight,most noticeably on my chest (man boobs...) and belly.

I am 25 years old, 5' 10'' and about 14 stone.

I've decided to get in shape for the summer and have been exercising and cutting down on unhealthy foods for the past couple of weeks.
I already feel fitter and less lethargic but would like some tips to help my goal.

A typical session would start with 30 mins on the cross trainer, doing the fat burning exercise, followed by 100 or so sit ups, several minutes using free weights and finishing with a light jog or 1000 metres on the rowing machine.

I also play '5 a side' football one day a week for 40 minutes.

Eating wise, on a usual working day, i'd wake up about 7.30, but my first meal wouldn't be until 10.00am, so my new diet....

10.00 am Lg bowl of special k cereal with semi skimmed milk and banana. tea 1 sugar.

12.00 pm wholemeal bread sandwich with ham or chicken, apple and yohurt. tea 1 sugar, glass of water

2.30 pm apple or banana, cup of tea 1 sugar, glass of water.

6-7 pm meal that will have a meat, vegtables and potato, or spaghetti bolognase.

Im not looking to reach any certain weight, I just want my flab to disappear!!!

Thankyou in advance

 

[deschain]

Hi everyone. Over the past couple of years i've gained about 10 kilos in weight,most noticeably on my chest (man boobs...) and belly.

I am 25 years old, 5' 10'' and about 14 stone.

I've decided to get in shape for the summer and have been exercising and cutting down on unhealthy foods for the past couple of weeks.
I already feel fitter and less lethargic but would like some tips to help my goal.

A typical session would start with 30 mins on the cross trainer, doing the fat burning exercise, (don't pay attention to the "fat burning" zone stuff, it's basically a gimmick) followed by 100 or so sit ups, several minutes using free weights and finishing with a light jog or 1000 metres on the rowing machine. (try to focus more on weights and less on a bunch of situps and cardio)

I also play '5 a side' football one day a week for 40 minutes.

Eating wise, on a usual working day, i'd wake up about 7.30, but my first meal wouldn't be until 10.00am, so my new diet....

10.00 am Lg bowl of special k cereal with semi skimmed milk and banana. tea 1 sugar. (try to eat within an hour or so of waking up / more protein in the breakfast would be good (lots of carbs listed) / drop the sugar, getting out of the habit of putting sugar in your cereal is easier than you think - I was just thinking the other day how I couldn't understand why I used to do that)

12.00 pm wholemeal bread sandwich with ham or chicken, apple and yohurt. tea 1 sugar, glass of water (again, drop the sugar (use splenda or stevia if you don't like unsweet tea)

2.30 pm apple or banana, cup of tea 1 sugar, glass of water. (sugar :11doh: / get some protein in here, maybe add some cottage cheese with the fruit

6-7 pm meal that will have a meat, vegtables and potato, or spaghetti bolognase. (I'm not a big anti-potato person like some,(sweet potato is a good sub though) just make sure you eat 1/2 Cup worth, not 3 Cups worth / try whole wheat pasta)

Im not looking to reach any certain weight, I just want my flab to disappear!!!

Thankyou in advance

Read the parts in bold. I may have missed a thing or two, but I hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[JTM]

Following on from deschain's advice:-

-Devise a full body workout using free weights
-Stop doing 100 sit-ups. It won't get you anywhere
-do your cardio after your weights
-eat alot more lean protein and less sugar

Have a read of the weight loss, weight training and nutrition stickies at the top of each forum.

Thumbs up for the effort so far!

 

[andy123]

Thanks for the advice!!! I've now started eating within an hour of waking up, a banana or nutri grain bar so far, and cut the carbs in the day by replacing cereal and bread with egg and meat.

I was a bit surprised by the gym advice however. I thought to lose the belly and chest fat, i'd need alot of cardio aswell as upper body workouts?

 

[Chillen]

Thanks for the advice!!! I've now started eating within an hour of waking up, a banana or nutri grain bar so far, and cut the carbs in the day by replacing cereal and bread with egg and meat.

I was a bit surprised by the gym advice however. I thought to lose the belly and chest fat, i'd need alot of cardio aswell as upper body workouts?

Cardio ISNT required to lose body fat, but it can play a crucial role in one's routine, if it fits within ones personal goal choice. What is required, is an "appropriate" calorie deficit, and adapting to bodily feedback,--with proper nutrition.

I posted this to a different thread some time back that may be of benefit to you, and it "simplifies" the reason we cannot spot reduce:

deschain: why did u say there's absolutely nothing tht can be done about the extra fat around lower abdomen? i mean do u have ne solid reason or proven fact? i personally dont wanna believe u, there has to be a way, some exercise or something! there are so many listed on this website for so many body parts! some of them has to work for me?what about those exercises aimed specifically at lower abdomen n buttocks?? help help!

Re-read Deschains post.

What she is saying is that one cannot spot reduce fat loss and the "pattern" of fat loss can be gentically determined per individual.

You can decrease your body fat - through dietary manipulation and exercise and you can lose the portion you desire but you dont have the choice where it comes off as you move forward with your goal, but it WILL come off if your faithful with diet and excercise.

I am going to post this article for you to read to give you an idea.

Source:

Why cant we spot reduce?

This is an important question and one I'm frequently asked. You need to know a little bit of biology to understand the answer. Here's what you need to know. Fat is stored in special cells located all over your body called adipocytes. Adipocytes grow and shrink as they store and release fat, much like a balloon grows and shrinks as air is blown in and released. You gain weight when you pump up your adipocytes with fat by consuming more calories than you burn (excess calories can get stored as fat). You lose weight when your adipocytes release fat into the blood stream and shrink, either in response to exercise (exercise sends a signal to adipocytes to release fat) or when you reduce your calorie intake to the point where you are burning more than you consume. Fat released into the blood stream by adipocytes circulates to the muscles where it is burned for energy. (A car burns gasoline for energy; your muscles burn fat and carbohydrate.)

Exercise stimulates adipocytes to release fat by increasing circulation of hormones like norepinephrine (adrenaline). When norepinephrine reaches an adipocyte, no matter where in your body it's located, it signals special chemical messengers inside the adipocytes to stimulate fat release, and just like the balloon that shrinks when you let out the air, adipocytes shrink when they release fat. You will keep the fat off as long as it gets burned by the muscle and does not return to the adipocyte for storage. That's one of the reasons why exercise helps control body weight.

The reason that you can't spot reduce during exercise, which is what you are really asking, is that you don't have any control over which adipocytes release fat. Norepinephrine and the other hormones released during exercise do not discriminate. That is, they stimulate adipocytes to release fat wherever they are located. We all have patterns of weight loss and weight gain that tend to repeat (you typically gain and lose weight in the same pattern over and over), and we don't have any control over this. The good news is that we can stimulate our adipocytes to release fat and shrink to help us lose weight, and more important, keep it off, as long as we exercise regularly and keep our muscles burning fat.


Best wishes to you!

and,

one more thing,


ROCK ON! Party yourself into being happy and rocken it!


Chillen

 

[andy123]

thank you for that, i've probably learnt more from that article than i ever would have from anyone else.

I'll be looking to consume more protein and less sugary fats and carbohydrates too from now on.

 

[Chillen]

thank you for that, i've probably learnt more from that article than i ever would have from anyone else.

I'll be looking to consume more protein and less sugary fats and carbohydrates too from now on.

Your welcome. Its a brief (not too technical article) that gets to the point, and is pretty straight forward in explaining in reasonable easy to read terminolgy.

I am sincerely glad it help you.


Continue to ROCK ON!




Chillen