Advice on routine

miker1983

Hi,

I wanted to get opinions on my diet and exercise routine.

I want to shed about a stone (from 165 lbs to about 150 lbs). I'm a 5'7 male and most if not all of my excess fat is around lower stomach, lump handles and back - classic spare tyre really.

I've always been pretty active and fit but gained the excess by poor diet more than anything. I started this week so here's the routine:

Monday - Gym one hour: Mostly cardio, cross trainer, bike, treadmill
Tuesday - 5 a side soccer, one hour
Wednesday - Gym one hour, half cardio, some weights & press-ups sit-ups

I plan to continue this workout routine with 4 gym visits per week and 1 game of 5 aside. Now onto the diet..........


I don't eat any meat apart from fish. Breakfast is usually at work with yoplait yogurt and fruit.

Midday I will usually have white pasta or fish or soup with brown bread. With the past and fish I will either have white rice, beans or veg.

After work, very similar to the midday meal. For snacks I will usually have fruit - bananas, apples, scrambled egg with toast (brown bread), yogurts etc.

I drink 2 cups of decaf coffee per day and about 4/5 cups of tea - mostly at work.
Other than that I drink mostly water - about 3 litres daily.

I usually go out for a few beers at the weekend (this is my only cheat) and I plan on continuing this but cutting down the intake. 5 pints max.

Some specific questions I have:

1. How bad is the 5 cups of tea/day hurting my plan?

2. Can I speed up losing the excess weight by concentrating on ab exercises? I heard you cannot spot reduce like this and an all over cardio intensive plan would be better.


I would like to see some results at the end of 4 weeks.

Any comments, advice, tips welcomed.

Thanks.

Adam Williams

I think you need to really cut down on your beer intake. Alcohol is pure calories and will only undo what you’re working SO hard at throughout the week. Also, I think maybe you could reduce your intake of tea to 2 cups a day and if you must have more, consider green tea for the additional cups instead. Google its health benefits. Now about your diet. I had about 27 pounds to lose in July last year and I did that by going on a low carb diet. You can find low carb diet info here. Basically what you do is cut out starchy carbs from your diet. That means you eliminate white bread, white rice and pasta from your diet. Instead what you eat is non-starchy vegetables and fruit along with SOME kind of protein-rich food. You mentioned that you only eat fish, so your meals could include fish, eggs or tofu with some kind of stir-fried vegetables. You could also maybe have soup or salad along with your meat if you want a change. Truthfully speaking, a low carb diet goes a long way in helping you lose weight and I’d advise you to look into it. Good luck!

jinxremoving

miker1983 wrote: »

Hi,





I don't eat any meat apart from fish. Breakfast is usually at work with yoplait yogurt and fruit.

Midday I will usually have white pasta or fish or soup with brown bread. With the past and fish I will either have white rice, beans or veg.

After work, very similar to the midday meal. For snacks I will usually have fruit - bananas, apples, scrambled egg with toast (brown bread), yogurts etc.

I drink 2 cups of decaf coffee per day and about 4/5 cups of tea - mostly at work.
Other than that I drink mostly water - about 3 litres daily.

I usually go out for a few beers at the weekend (this is my only cheat) and I plan on continuing this but cutting down the intake. 5 pints max.

Some specific questions I have:

1. How bad is the 5 cups of tea/day hurting my plan?

2. Can I speed up losing the excess weight by concentrating on ab exercises? I heard you cannot spot reduce like this and an all over cardio intensive plan would be better.


I would like to see some results at the end of 4 weeks.

Any comments, advice, tips welcomed.

Thanks.

1. Breakfast - a yoghurt and fruit isnt really all that substantial, have you tried porridge or eggs?

2. Midday - lots of refined carbs there. could you have fish with veg and a little brown rice/beans.

more veg and protein and less bread/pasta is a pretty good rule of thumb.

I dont think isolated ab exercises would be beneficial to you at this stage, best off to concentrate on cardio and overall strength training.

miker1983

Thanks for the replies. Some useful info there.

UnknownSpecies

You can't spot reduce as you correctly point out. You'd be far better off doing high intensity sprint training (look up HIIT) or even better, get to the gym and lift weights. Weight lifting will show up the biggest improvement of all. When people do lots of cardio but no weights in order to lose weight, they end up "skinny-fat". You will look a LOT better with some weight training.

On your diet, make sure you're getting enough protein each day. Use this to calculate your daily calorie needs. Use an app like myfitnesspal to track your current eating. You'll learn a lot about where you are going wrong in a week or two of tracking calorie intake.

The beers on the weekend can be ok but you must try to fit them in your daily calorie allowance. Usually, it's the burger or kebab after a feed of pints that will kill your progress. Everything in moderation is key.

Finally, I'd advise cutting out white bread, rice and pasta for a few weeks. See how you feel without them. They can leave you feeling bloated and are very calorie dense yet don't offer the same satisfaction that other foods like eggs, porridge, avocado, tuna etc will offer you. Eat as much veg as possible. Broccoli, spinach, cabbage, kale, carrot, onions, mushrooms, green beans, corn, peas, there's so much choice. You can really fill up your plate with theses as they are low in calories but they will make you feel full.

Anyway, following these guidelines will get you to your goal but you must stick with it. I've lost ~20kg in the past 8 months using this and I'm sure it will work for you too. Just remember though, once you get to your goal, don't stop your new habits, healthier living is for life. Good luck!

vard

Adam Williams wrote: »

I think you need to really cut down on your beer intake. Alcohol is pure calories and will only undo what you’re working SO hard at throughout the week. Also, I think maybe you could reduce your intake of tea to 2 cups a day and if you must have more, consider green tea for the additional cups instead. Google its health benefits. Now about your diet. I had about 27 pounds to lose in July last year and I did that by going on a low carb diet. You can find low carb diet info here. Basically what you do is cut out starchy carbs from your diet. That means you eliminate white bread, white rice and pasta from your diet. Instead what you eat is non-starchy vegetables and fruit along with SOME kind of protein-rich food. You mentioned that you only eat fish, so your meals could include fish, eggs or tofu with some kind of stir-fried vegetables. You could also maybe have soup or salad along with your meat if you want a change. Truthfully speaking, a low carb diet goes a long way in helping you lose weight and I’d advise you to look into it. Good luck!

Tea is almost calorie free. It's what you put in it that can have an impact. So consider reducing sugar/milk intake.

Green tea will do nothing. It has caffeine; caffeine can help boost your metabolism - its ability to contribute to weight loss are grossly overstated.

Simply put, you want to figure out how many calories you burn in a day; eat slightly less than this amount and you will lose weight.

Allow yourself cheat days based on your weekly intake. A few drinks won't do all that much harm on their own, but you could help yourself by choosing alternative drinks. If getting drunk is the aim then simple hard alcohol is your best bet. Vodka and a diet mixer or vodka with lime and soda water.

Eat plenty of veg - besides being good for you, they fill you up. I can't cook so ill regularly have a large portion of mixed steamed veg mixed together with tuna and extra light cream cheese or mayo.

Energy in, energy out. All there is to it. Doesn't really matter what you eat, but certain foods will definitely make it easier.

Mark in Lucan

Body fat is caused by sugar. To reduce body weight you will need to reduce sugar in your diet. Fats & Protein ok. SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR.