exercising in vain???

R

retired_hot tuna

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Hi guys new to this so please bear with me!!
I'm a 27 year old, 168cm male I was 70kg but now 67kgs. I have never been active before, but I started this health kick and I've hit a brick wall. I have been trying to get rid of this fat on my stomach but it won't go away! I have been walking six days a week (40mins) plus cycling (30 mins) every 2nd or 3rd day, I also have been doing weight training on Mon, Wed & Fri. I haven't altered my calorie intake at all. I eat about 2700 cals daily...please let me know if this is too much!! But I can't get rid of this fat on my stomach and hips...It's disgusting! Can anyone please help me out Please tell me what I'm doing wrong I'm starting to feel that exercise is in vain. Many thanks in advance
 
The main factor to bear in mind when you intend to lose weight should be your diet. I think you should drop your calorie intake a little bit to around 2200 Kcal. However, that's not all since it's not the same to eat 2200 Kcal of sugar than 2200 Kcal of fish, so the type of diet you're doing is the bottomline of the issue. In addition, don't abuse of aerobics, since four times a week is more than enough.

How is your diet?
 
Thanks for the tip. I'll lower my cals...
My diet isn't too bad I'm vegetarian. I have commercial cereal for breaky (I know it's full of sugar), Lunch is usually a salad roll with a glass of low fat milk. Dinner is lots of vegies, mashed potato, pasta (made fron soya) or brown rice and a glass of milk. For a snack at night it's usually a fruit muffin (maybee too much marg) and a glass of milk. I drink 2- 3 glasses of fruit juice and about 2 - 3 cups of coffee a day and about 2.5 litres of water. Through the day I snack on yoghurt, fruit and occasionally crisps and toasted cheese.
 
Hi again! Hmm, you've got a problem there. Being a vegetarian makes it harder for you to restrict carbohydrates and obtain an adequate amount of good proteins. Since you already drink milk, can’t you eat eggs? If you can, that’d be of huge help because I just don’t see either the amount or the quality of protein you need. Eating eggs would help you a lot in eating carbohydrate free meals as the day draw to its end. Bear in mind that the carbohydrates that you eat in the evening are very likely to become mostly fat, because at night there’s not enough activity capable of burning all of them.

Another problem of being vegetarian is that you eat A LOT of Omega-6 oils as opposed to a very limited amount of Omega-3 oils. This unsteadiness caused by having too high values of Omega-6 promotes inflammation processes and other physiologic problems that can turn out to be serious over the years, so you should seriously consider getting an Omega-3 supplement and getting rid of the dangerous hydrogenated oils, which are contained in the margarine for instance. The hydrogenated oil is artificial and can’t be used in metabolic or energetic processes, so the only thing you can expect to happen by eating it is ending up enlarging your belly.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the tips.....much appreciated!! Eggs aren't my favorite food but I suppose if its gonna help me lose my gut it's worth it huh?
When you talk about quality proteins are you talking about complete proteins? And how much protein do I need a day? 'Cause I've been told varying things ranging from 50gms to 140gms daily. And how much carbs do I need and what time in the day should I stop eating them?
Sorry for drilling you with all these questions....It seems the more I learn the more there is to know about nutrition.
Thanks again
 
No problem! As long as I know the answers to your questions, it's great to be of help.

Let see:

When you talk about quality proteins are you talking about complete proteins?
Exactly. Vegetable proteins don't have the amino-acid layout that is more suitable for the human metabolism. That condition of the protein is measured by a value named "Biologic Value". The egg protein has a value of 100 and the soy, which is the best vegetable protein, has a value of 60.

And how much protein do I need a day?
The world health organization says that the minimum amount of protein that a person needs is 0.6gms per Kilo of weight. Of course, that's intended to be healthy but not necessarily in shape. The most respected body building professionals recommend intakes of up to 2.5gms per kilo to people who are working on bulking up. So, since you're not working for getting bigger, I'd say you could eat a daily amount of 1.5gms per kilo.

And how much carbs do I need and what time in the day should I stop eating them?
When it comes to carbs it's pretty much more variable and depends mostly on the activities you do through the day and the kind of metabolism you have. You could start off eating 6gms per kilo and slowly cutting down that amount until you see that you're slowly losing weight. If you do five or six meals a day, the first three should have carbs along with protein and the rest two or three should have protein, fiber and healthy oils such as olive oil and omega 3.

Later!
 
Also, you're still only eating 3 times per day it looks like. You should increase it to 5-6 small meals per day (same total calorie intake, just divided into more meals)

This increases metabolism, increases available energy, maintains blood sugar and insulin levels (rather than creating dips and spikes), and helps regulate hunger so you don't end up snacking on starchy carbs late at night.

Keep fiber up. Watch starchy carbs in the evenings. Change that breakfast cereal to old-fashioned oatmeal (complex carbs, no sugar, 4g of fiber).
Cottage cheese is a good source of protein, egg whites, whey protein...things like that.

Its also possible that you're a little sensitive to soy protein...a lot of people complain they feel very bloated when injesting soy protein on a regular/daily basis...and that bloat would make your stomach look extra full.
 
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