It starts with...

R1kk11

R1kk11

New member
...this. Hopefully... o_O

Hey guys! I'm new to these forums, and I am suddenly extremely serious about wanting to get my body into shape.

I'm 20, at Uni, so money is a huge problem, can't afford gyms etc. My body isn't disastrously bad. I have a flabby chest and my stomach pokes out a bit, but no where near enough to be called a beer belly.

So, I've been reading up on things lately, and I've decided I am really going to do this. So here's the precautions over the past couple days I've done and changed to get myself on the right path:
Firstly, I cut down on food, by about half at least. I threw away all my snack items apart from fruit so that I'm not tempted in between meals.
Completely increased my water intake. I went from having 1 bottle every other day to about 6 - 8 bottles a day.
Started running, although I'm not very good at it yet. Went for my second run yesterday, can only hack about 12 to 15 minutes before my body gives up. I'm hoping this will get better with time.
Do a small (and rather novice) workout routine of Press ups, sit ups and crunches in the evening, around 7pm.

Do you think this is a good start? I didn't gain or lose any weight because I used to binge eat when I was a teenager, which I've stopped now, but my stomach is well and truly doing my head in and I want it gone.

Any other tips you can offer would be great. I just want to know if what I've done is a good start or not.

Thanks guys!

Rik
 
First, welcome.

Second, all that sounds good but when you say you cut your food by half, just be sure that it is still less than your BMR or you won't be losing weight that way either. I'm pretty sure you will be fine though.
 
Many universities have free gym memberships or big discounts on them..yours doesn't offer anything like that?
 
You dont need money to lose weight. People in poor countries lose weight for free everyday. It's called poverty.

What if we could have like an international weight equalization exchange program where we trade places with really impoverished peoples for 2 months? We lose weight where they live and they come to America and gain a bunch on our fast food, then we switch back.

If I could change anything about what you're doing though, it would be to add a low-med impact aerobic activity like walking, biking, or using an eliptical. Since you don't have money for a gym and probably don't have a bike, go walking. Buy an ipod-- oops I mean, hum a tune to yourself while you walk and just start walking every day. It's a very quieting activity. Think of it like meditating and moving at the same time. I deliberately moved from a place near the beach to a small apartment exactly 1 mile from my office just so I could walk there everyday. So I get 2 miles of walking daily without even thinking about it. Recently I've begun walking more in addition to that, just going for a stroll after I get home at the end of the day.

But cutting your calories is also very important. If you can get through the first week without cheating or binging you will probably be ok. But that first week is really painful while you adjust to the new diet.

good luck
 
Blimey.....that was a bit of a prickly response!

To the Op - Good luck with your new life style. Nothing to add really apart from just check you are not going below your BMR when you say you have halved your food.

there is a wealth of knowledge on these boards....you won't go far wrong :)
 
You need to get real mathematical about keeping track of what you eat. What are your details - weight, height, age, gender, history with weight gain. This stuff is important because you need to know how many calories your body needs and eat less food than that. All of these factors play a part in this.

Please tell us more.
 
Yes, I'd agree with the above: you need to knwo exactly what your taking in calorie wise so you knwo if your eating too much or not enough. Both are detremental to your weight loss. If you don't eat enough (eg less then half of what you need for example or less then 1200kcals) your likely going to put your body into starvation mode and this will hinder any weight loss. Eat too much and I don't think I need to explain what will happen there!

Little snacks of fruit are good but remember to weigh them and find out how many calories there are in what you eat. 1 apple can be anything from 55kcals to 150kcals depending on the size and how much of the core you leave afterwards. Don't skip on the skins this is where the vitamins are and fiber is (fiver helps you to feel full.)

Make sure your eating enough protein (1 to 1.5grams per kilo of body weight) and drinking enough plain water (1.5-2 liters a day). If your eating any white carbs, swap them for complex carbs, eg wholewheat rice for white or brown rice (brown rice is just white rice with added dye), multigrain bread instead of white bread, wholegrain pasta instead of white pasta and etc. Helps you to feel more satisified and is more slowly digested so fewer blood sugar sparks (blood sugar sparks leave you feeling hungry when they suddenly drop).

Make a note of what you eat when you eat- leave it too long your bound to forget or get incorrect amounts, its only human.
 
I agree with a lot of what Summer says, but I do not agree with the starvation mode comment. Based on experiments run over 50 years ago, the findings were:

1. Your metabolism rate (cal/day) does slow down when you are in starvation. Starvation mode is defined as less than 50% of what is required at your body weight, height, age and gender

2. Although your metabolism rate does slow down (about 10%) the calorie deficit of hundreds of calories will offset that slow down and you will lose weight.

There is a that covers this. I also have the book entitled "The Starvation Experiment" that goes into this in great length.
 
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