In search of general advice

Crunchie

Crunchie

New member
Hi all,

I'm very new to this forum but I was hoping someone might be able to provide me with some general advice on weight loss.

To start here aer my vital statistics

age: 21
height: 5,2"
weight: 161lb

For excersise I go to the gym three times a week and swimming once a week (hour sessions each time). I mostly do weights in the gym but tend to burn an average of 250cal on the cardiovascular machines. My weekly exercise routine looks a bit like this...

Sun: hour walk or bike ride
Mon: none
Tue: Gym
Wed: Gym and Swim
Thurs: none though my hours at work were reduced so i could do something in the afternoon or morning?
Fri: Gym and Swim
Sat: None

I have recently (well yesterday really...) made plans to start eating healthier though I only have a few problem foods which are crisps and cheese. I only eat take away food once every fortnight, I love rice and pasta and am not overly keen on chocolate either. Today my food diary looks like this...

Breakfast: none
Lunch: Baked Potato, cheese, salad and coleslaw
main meal: Lentil Soup, slice brown bread
Supper: Slice brown bread with low fat cheese spread
Snacks: Apple, fruit juice, Banana,

I think my biggest downfall is the fact I am not a morning person at all therefore I never exercise in the morning nor do I eat breakfast. If I were to drastically change this do you think it would make a difference? The extract from my diary above came on a day where I do gym and swimming therefore I only have a small main meal.

Can anyone suggest some changes to what I'm doing so far? Tomorrow I plan to get up earlier so I can take some cereal for breakfast. I have also started drinking more water and am trying not to eat as much at night (that was my downfall before).
 
Well, if you absolutely have to have alot of rice and pasta, thats ok, IF you be sure to eat only whole grain rice and pasta. When you eat whole grain pasta, you will feel the difference in your stomach as soon as you eat it. Your stomach will feel rich and warm and not heavy and bloated. Probably the only time you won't be able to do this is when you eat out, which I also recommend you avoid take out/drive thrus whenever possible. You can't accurately count calories from fattening restaurant food like you can when you prepare your own food. I think your exercise routine is great, more water will help too. I can tell you that I myself have lost nearly 50 lbs in the past 3 months with very little exercise besides walking. But I also stopped eating carbs and fats, I only eat veggies, and lean protein such as fish and poultry, all prepared in the lowest possible calorie methods. If you are able to eat carbs only early in the day that would help too, many successful diets have a no carb after lunch rule.
 
Hi there,

Like you I am not a morning person and never ate breakfast...however as part of my lifestyle plan I now get up and do a 30 minute jog at 6am and then eat breakfast (always) I have had really good success with this losing about 16lb in 6 weeks so far...

It was a hard change to make but I think it was a really worthwhile one. I workout twice a day at least 3/4 days of the week and once on the other occaisions and have one rest day, sometimes my rest day is an hour walk...

I find hard/short (30 minute) sessions has really helped my fitness and my weightloss but most importantly is the exercising in the morning and eating breakfast...

All the best!
 
Well I'm not too great at jogging so I might try getting up and going for a bike ride or walk instead. I like watching wildlife and as the best time to do that is early morning I suppose this might be quite a good idea. The problem with me getting up early is that I usually talk to a friend late at night but then this only happens about 3 times a week so I could certainly manage a walk or cycle in the morning on some days.

RE no carbs, I always thought carbohydrates were quite important in a meal? I will switch to wholemeal rice and pasta now as this was something I did myself at university but since moving back home into my parents house it's not me that does the shopping. I usually make my own stuff and have some nice recipies which I'll need to post up here at some point for pasta sauces and the like. :)

Oh well instead of my usual sandwich/packet of crisps/choccy bar/can of juice I have with me for lunch today - Bottle of dilluting juice/sandwich/apple/banana.
 
A biking or walking is a great idea and it doesn't have to be every morning...I only do that because if i don't I loose my momentum...;)

Changing exercise from day to day is a good idea too, we have just got a exercycle so I am going to make use of that for some of my evening workouts, but I also skip, use a stepper, do stair climbing and a range of strength exercises. Strength training is a good one because muscle will burn more calories so makes your body a more efficient calorie burning machine....lol

I wouldn't worry to much about carbs, it is important to find a balance and cut out bad fats and sugar where possible...:D

Try fitday.com I record everything i eat and the exercise I do here and it really helps to track my habits;)
 
Oh well looks like I'm up early for a walk tomorrow on Monday then (sorry but Sunday will always be long lie day). :D

I've set a target weight for 135lb as that's apparently the heaviest ideal weight for my height though I'm not sure about that as I lift.:confused:
 
If you lift a lot and have a lot of muscle, BMI is probably not the best way to work out your ideal weight, try getting your bodyfat % tested.

for example if i was to look at BMI just my lean body mass puts me in the obese category but in reality i am actually in the healthy range for bodyfat.
 
Trusylver said:
If you lift a lot and have a lot of muscle, BMI is probably not the best way to work out your ideal weight, try getting your bodyfat % tested.

for example if i was to look at BMI just my lean body mass puts me in the obese category but in reality i am actually in the healthy range for bodyfat.
Click to expand...

Ah right you're probably correct but does anyone know how I can calculate my body fat (even though I probably won't want the answer)? Is this something I need to get done at the doctor?
 
Hey Crunchie!!

Welcome!

First: It's all about finding what works for you. Try things for 2-3 weeks to see if they work, and if they work and you like them, stick with it (ie, if you hate getting up early, don't get up early).

Roadrunnerrita's suggestions:

1) Do more cardio. You mentioned you lifted a lot. I heart lifting and think muscles on women are awesome, but if you want to drop fat, cardio is going to become your new best friend. Keep lifting (2-3 days a week for 30 or 40 min -- which is what you are doing), keep swimming, and on the days you dont do anything or you only lift, add 30-45 min of walking or biking or whatever you like to do.

2) Eat less!!! Eat when your body is hungry (not your head), and stop before you are stuffed. Also: Veggies are your friend, whole grains are better than belached refined stuff, and fiber will keep you and your colon healthy.

If you are having trouble with carbs, I would try to measure out your protions. It's so easy to eat a ton white pasta, or 2 cups of cereal and think its one cup. So actually take out a measuring cup and make sure you eat one cup, or whatever the serving size is so you get an appreciaton for what kind of portion sizes you can eat.

I like to use small plates and small bowls to keep my eating in check. I also like to count my calories on fitday.com. I check in at the end of the day to see if I can eat extra stuff.

Develop "thin eating" rules: things you just don't do. Like, never order a cheesburger AND fries, never eat donuts at work, never get popcorn at movies, always get a salad when you go out to eat and share and entree, only get iced coffee/ tea at starbucks... whatever works for you. Once you do them for a long time, they become things that you do and you don't think twice. These things will keep you in check when you reach your goal and don't want to gain it all back.

I'd also try to eat something for breakfast. Like a piece of fruit?

Best of luck!!!
-RR
 
Actually this is your problem...

Actually exercising doesn't have to be in the morning. You just have to be more active, that's all.

Regarding breakfast, have you ever consider a shake?

I have a blog entry about breakfast options at .

But just by looking at your food diary, I can pinpoint one major problem that is causing you to be stuck on first gear. Before I reveal what it is, let me explain what I mean.

in order to burn body fat, the first step is to eat properly so that your body can release the fat from the fat cells.

Then and only then can exercise be effective at burning body fat. And this is the second step.

You are doing enough exercise to burn fat but the problem is that your eating "plan" will not help your body release the fat in the first place.

here is why.....

Most of the foods that you eat may be called "healthy" but your meals are unbalanced. Too many carbs and not enough protein. Carbs are great to keep your energy up throughout the day but you eat them by themselves, your blood sugar levels will be unstable throughout the day.

The key to release fat from the fat cells is STABLE BLOOD SUGAR throughout the day.

Here is a template on how to arrange your meals.

lean protein (to stabilize blood sugar)
complex carbs (for energy)
Vegetables (to stabilize blood sugar)

Now here is a real life example

chicken beast
Brown rice
Garden salad

Only your imagination can stop you, Try to compose your meal in this manner for a few weeks, keep exercising the way you have been doing and track your results and you will see that losing weight is not that complicated.

email me if you have any questions.
 
But just by looking at your food diary, I can pinpoint one major problem that is causing you to be stuck on first gear. Before I reveal what it is, let me explain what I mean.
Click to expand...

First I guess I should say that the above food diary is only for one day and this was the day I finally decided to go and do something. The plan is a vast improvement to what I was doing beforehand (which involved a number of packets of crisps and cans of fizzy drink ahem)

I was always taught carbs were the most important part of any meal and should really make up the majority? I only eat white meat and will only buy organic so I don't get it a lot (too expensive) so what can I do for protein instead? I've always been stuck on salmon and chicken.

Ideally I'd like to loose weight while still eating three decent meals a day, a main meal for me is say a quorn or chicken fillet, potato and boiled veg.

I'm giving up eating supper or if I'm hungry eating a piece of fruit or raw veg and also only drinking either plain or flavoured water instead of fizzy juice. Other changes I'm proposing are only eating brown bread and wholemeal rice and pasta instead of white and cutting out chocolate, crisps etc. Surely I'll see a bit of different with the above changes added in. I started on Friday so I'll weight myself again this coming Friday and see if it has made a difference.
 
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Carbs

Crunchie-
The carb thing is kind of funny right now...
Here's what I think. FYI- My opinion is based off of stuff I've learned in medical school, my biochemistry classes, information from my boyfriend (who is an athletic trainer, a medic in the army, a LVN, CSCS, and a marathon runner), and from my own experience (I was an competitive speedskater for 9 years).

You definately need carbohydrates (since your brain only functions off of glucose). I think your plan about eating the whole grain version of the stuff you like is a good one (try sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes- my boyfriend does that and they are really quite tasty).

There are 2-3 big problems with carbs;
1) most people eat too many because it's easy (and if it's processed stuff you are eating, it is often loaded with high-fructose corn syrup).
2) If you are diabetic, or almost diabetic (which SOOO many people are these days), you need to watch your intake closely.
3) Bodybuilders eat fewer carbs and more protien to be really lean and build muscle.

These problems really don't exist if you are careful not to eat too many carbs, eat high fiber unrefined carbs as much as you can, make sure to eat fruit and vegetables, and aren't diabetic.

So, after that long-winded response, I think what you are doing is fine. If you get stuck, try something new, but you sound like you are on the right track.

-RR
 
I had hoped my plan of eating healthier versions of what I do already might work better. I'm off to the gym early tomorrow as I normally don't do much on a Monday.

Unfortunately I have tried sweet potatoes but didn't like them too much, maybe I'll give them another try though. I'll maybe weigh myself tomorrow morning as I've been eating realatively OK since Friday so maybe there's a small difference already. The other big thing of course is that I'm trying not to eat anything after 7pm and if I do make it a piece of fruit or raw veg. I've been doing that for the past 3 nights and it's not been as hard to do as I thought. I was terrible for ate night snacking and I think this is what caused me a lot of problems because nothing I ever ate was remotely healthy.:(
 
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