Almost Clueless ...

[Kipp]

Hey all!

So, I've taken the first step that almost everyone takes, and I've decided I need to lose some weight! It's largely for aesthetic reasons, but I'd also like to live more healthily. I've been one of those individuals who has an annoying metabolism - I used to eat lots and never really gained that much weight. I've calmed my eating habits alot, just through maturing as a person, but I'd love to start living more healthily and I was hoping someone might be able to help me out with a few of those nagging questions.

I'm around 6'0 in height, and currently weighing in at around 11.7 stone. Apparently my BMI calculation is pretty much ideal, but I have a stubborn stomach that i'd like to get rid of over the summer (And prevent from getting any larger since i'm on Summer holidays from University!). I'd also, as I said above, would like to live alot more healthily, so it's all for the best. Oh, and i'm 19 years of age, so getting to that point where I don't want to take the road of no return and become a real junkie, I'd like to start fresh before I get set in bad habits.

Right; a few questions.

I've spent the last week doing an hour of pretty much 'variety excercise' daily - a little bit of cardio, a little bit of muscle work outs. I won't lie ... I've been using Wii Fit as an entry point into all this. Even though i'm sure it probably doesn't work effectively, it's a good way for me to start it up. If I start to notice little results, I think i'll be more inclined to start doing different excercises and probably more professional ones. But anyway, enough of my random comments!

If I keep up with an hour of this type of activity a day, coupled with watching what I eat (I've started to eat proper meals, watch my calorie intake in general etc) - how long do you think it'll take to start seeing noticable visual results? I'm not looking for this as a quick fix, I guess i'm just thinking if I know it'll work *eventually*, it'll keep me focused and i'll keep going no matter how long it takes.

The second question is, for my above info, about how many calories per day intake would be sensible to help reduce weight? I saw one calculator that said to maintain my weight I should look at about 2200 calories per day!?? Not sure if that's realistic, but I've been looking at around 1500 per day anyway.

Third and final question, though I know this'll be hard, getting rid of pesky stomach weight, is there anything specific I can do to help remove it? I've read many places that you have to target body fat in general, as opposed to area specific fat reduction- so I'm focusing on that but I'm not too dissatisfied with the way I look with the exception of this belly!

Any advice, help,support, ideas - I'd be soooo grateful!!! Thanks very much!

 

[KaraCooks]

Starting from the bottom of your post and working back (cause I want to dispell a myth right up front): I've read many places that you have to target body fat in general That is totally false. You cannot target body fat. It's impossible. You can't target fat areas, you can't spot reduce, you can't dictate where fat comes off your body first. It sucks, but it's the truth.

What you CAN do is ( a ) lose weight overall and ( b ) develop muscles and definition that will help reshape your body.

Your body can and will redistribute fat as you lose weight and gain muscle. It's just a slow process. And, the other thing is that if you're already at a reasonably healthy weight/BMI, it's going to take you longer to lose fat than if you had a lot to spare.

The GOOD thing about already being at a healthy weight/BMI (even if you're at the high end of the range) is that as you work out and build muscle, you'll see the results faster than if your muscles were coated in layers and layers of fat.

Now, having said all of that ... let's talk about weight and calories. You say you weigh nearly 12 stone ... which is about 168 lbs right? At 6' you don't need to lose weight and you DEFINITELY don't need to be cutting calories down to 1500. In fact, I believe at that height/weight, cutting calories would be hugely counterproductive.

I suspect that at that weight, the bit of belly you see is more a combination of bad nutrition and lack of overall fitness. You will probably see much better results by eating a healthy diet of around 2000-2500 calories and doing some real working out.

By real working out, I mean a combination of weight lifting/body resistance workouts with interval cardio (and possibly some high intensity intervals, depending on your fitness level).

Diet, however, is also important. And by diet, I don't mean "cutting calories" but diet in the sense of "what you eat". In order to build muscle, you'll want to make sure you're getting enough protein. The general guideline if you want to build muscle is that you should try to get in 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. You also want to make sure you're cutting out simple carbs (e.g. white flour and pasta, etc.) and eating complex carbs like whole grains and oats and so forth instead.

There is a ton of good information on diet, nutrition, and building strength in the stickies at the top of each forum. Spend some time reading through those and I think you'll get a lot of good info to get you going.

 

[Kipp]

Hey Kara

- Thanks for all the top advice! As I mentioned, i'm completely clueless, so having a big of an insight is a huge help, and I'm hugely appreciative that you've given me a better direction than simply controlling calories and doing some cardio. I'll be sure to follow your guidelines and have a look at more information to compound them. Thanks very much!!!