Diet and excercise

hadenoughnow

New member
Havent posted for a while, but heres where i am at, I have started back in the gym again, which usually comprises of between 4 and 6 miles on the treadmill at an average speed of 5.5mph then i do roughly 11miles on the excercise bike, all with 100 reps on the weight bench inbetween. Then a 20 minute breast stroke swim to end. (i do this approx 5 days a week) According the machines this totals about 1600 cals plus whatever the weights expend. I am 6ft4, 37yrs old and weigh 19stone. I would like some advice on how many calories i should be consuming in a day and in what form i.e a rough daily diet plan. As i seem to spend the best part of 3 hrs in the gym and dont appear to be losing weight according to the scales. having just seen a program on MTV about a teenager who lost 4 stone in 3 months i feel im sure i could do the same but think my diet is messed up.

So come on peoples! am i doing enough excercise wise and what can i be eating to help me along
 
Running your stats through a BMR calculator (and then using the Harris Benedict formula to account for your exercise level, which I pitched at moderate), you should be eating 3775 calories a day to maintain, 3275 to lose a pound a week, or 2775 to lose two pounds a week. (You'll need to recalculate these figures as you lose weight, as they'll come down)

In terms of "enough exercise", if you're talking about for the purposes of weight loss, it's relative. You should exercise for other reasons anyway, but the thing that matters for weight loss is being in a calorie deficit (a pound of fat is worth 3500 calories- so a 500 daily deficit should lead to a loss of a pound a week). The more you exercise, the more you can eat and still lose weight.

In terms of a "plan", you need to find something that works for you. Have a look around at what other people are eating and try things that take your fancy there (which you might find in food diaries- I list my food in detail). My personal "plan" (it's not really a plan, more habit and repeating what works for me) is porridge/ oatmeal for breakfast (with milk and usually berries on top), rye bread with cottage cheese, tomato, and spices for lunch, and I go looking for variety for low(ish) calorie dinners which I serve with steamed vegetables, snacking mostly on fruit during the day. But that probably won't work for you, even if you like all those things (and if you don't, it definitely won't work for you), because your calorie allowance is so much higher than mine (my maintenance is about 400 calories under what you need to eat to lose two pounds a week). Keep in mind that getting into too much of a calorie deficit can slow your metabolism which means you'll be worse off in the long run- most people recommend no more than a 1000 calorie deficit per day.

Track what you're currently eating, and see where you can make low calorie switches. Look up the nutrition of things in the shop or on Google before you shop, and make a plan of your own based on your own needs/ tastes/ budget. Don't plan to stick to it in stone- you don't want to eat the same thing day in and day out for months on end- but have some good options readily available to you (e.g., have ingredients for a couple of low calorie recipes ready to go) that will meet your nutritional requirements, satisfy you (that you'll find filling and tasty), and get you to your calorie allowance.
 
Running your stats through a BMR calculator (and then using the Harris Benedict formula to account for your exercise level, which I pitched at moderate), you should be eating 3775 calories a day to maintain, 3275 to lose a pound a week, or 2775 to lose two pounds a week. (You'll need to recalculate these figures as you lose weight, as they'll come down)

In terms of "enough exercise", if you're talking about for the purposes of weight loss, it's relative. You should exercise for other reasons anyway, but the thing that matters for weight loss is being in a calorie deficit (a pound of fat is worth 3500 calories- so a 500 daily deficit should lead to a loss of a pound a week). The more you exercise, the more you can eat and still lose weight.

In terms of a "plan", you need to find something that works for you. Have a look around at what other people are eating and try things that take your fancy there (which you might find in food diaries- I list my food in detail). My personal "plan" (it's not really a plan, more habit and repeating what works for me) is porridge/ oatmeal for breakfast (with milk and usually berries on top), rye bread with cottage cheese, tomato, and spices for lunch, and I go looking for variety for low(ish) calorie dinners which I serve with steamed vegetables, snacking mostly on fruit during the day. But that probably won't work for you, even if you like all those things (and if you don't, it definitely won't work for you), because your calorie allowance is so much higher than mine (my maintenance is about 400 calories under what you need to eat to lose two pounds a week). Keep in mind that getting into too much of a calorie deficit can slow your metabolism which means you'll be worse off in the long run- most people recommend no more than a 1000 calorie deficit per day.

Track what you're currently eating, and see where you can make low calorie switches. Look up the nutrition of things in the shop or on Google before you shop, and make a plan of your own based on your own needs/ tastes/ budget. Don't plan to stick to it in stone- you don't want to eat the same thing day in and day out for months on end- but have some good options readily available to you (e.g., have ingredients for a couple of low calorie recipes ready to go) that will meet your nutritional requirements, satisfy you (that you'll find filling and tasty), and get you to your calorie allowance.

Very informative, thankyou, I do find i skip meals especially breakfast which everywhere i look says is bad for you, but physcologically i tell myself that if i dont eat i WILL lose weight.
 
I'm eating more food now than I ever did before on old attempts to lose weight, and this is the first time I've seen substantial losses of weight. I'm less hungry, less frustrated/ bored with my food, not deprived, and feel more in control. I've lost the safe maximum (1kg- 2.2lb) every week for the past 4 weeks. I eat 3 meals a day, snack up to four times a day, and more often than not have dessert- and that's on a substantially lower calorie allowance than you have. (I just make careful choices about how I do these things. For example, if I have a big dessert, like tonight, it's low fat Greek yoghurt, honey, and berries; if I want chocolate, I have two squares and no more)

I think (this is from memory, I may be misremembering) studies have shown that people who don't eat breakfast are more likely to eat more calories total over the day because they're more hungry and so make it up with snacks and such.
 
Well im shall make a point of eating breakfast everyday from now on, Im up so early though that its hard, but i will stopat mcdonalds for porridge everyday! Thanks again, will keep you updated on how things go!
 
That's probably the best choice you can make on the go- I've done some quick looking around and apparently it contains 246 calories when served with jam (which is pretty good, actually, when compared with what I make), and according to the McDonalds (UK) website, the syrup contains 190 calories and the jam contains 50 (so it's 386 calories with the syrup).

Best of luck!
 
If you have heard of the 80/20 principle it states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. With weight loss the same principle applies and 80% of ability to eliminate excess body fat (aka weight loss) comes from how you eat (dieting).... the other 20% is from proper exercise, other healthy lifestyle habits, and genetic factors.

I see so many people who want to lose weight start off by putting the majority of their focus on exercising and not diet. I recommend you take some time out of your exercising to focus on diet.

As for tips on dieting....

- Reduce/eliminate all unnatural sugars (especially anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup)
- Reduce/eliminate processed food (anything with ingredients you can't pronounce)
- Control insulin levels by reducing carb intake

These are only 3 out of many things you can do dieting wise... but im sure you will get results if you focus on them.
 
I think running is the best source for lose weight.So, i suggest you to do jogging daily. Healthy breakfast can also help to reduce weight.So, take food but light and healthy.
 
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