Losing weight, and getting toned... naturally?

Altheus

I'm currently researching how the hell i can lose some weight and tone my body without having to pay huge gym fees, and/or buy equipment for home.

I'm 5' 9", and about 11 1/2 stone, have very skinny legs and arms, but a bit of a bulging gut, with excess weight on my face and my torso.

I'm currently trying to balance my diet, which means, orange juice, and brown bread toast in the morning. A sandwich of lettuce and ham for lunch, and full cooked meal (or as close to) in the evenings. I'm not a big veggie/fruit person and never had, so I have a hard time trying to eat these (v. unhealthy I know). I've taking up jogging, but no excruciating long runs just yet, and I'm weening myself off the ciggies.

I want to be able to tone my body and lose weight using natural exercise (sit-ups and the like), martial arts and such. Any ideas of where to point me in the right direction? I'm also considering taking a supplement for the fact I dont each vegetables.

Any help, sites, routines, exercise and advice would be appreciated

Trojan

Go for a run 3/4 times a week... that'll trim you up and tone your lower body.

I highly recommend running.

Al.

reigninblood

First of all forget the supplement. If youre not interested in buliking up but more into toning and losing your gut stick with your healthy diet and youre on track with your jogging (its good youre pacing yourself too) sittups and pressups (with arms wide and close together and i prefer on the knuckles as you can go down alot lower and work yourself more thoroughly). I know this all sounds old fashioned but theres plenty of gimmicks but this is really the way to go.

Altheus

By lower body, do you mean my stomach/hips. I'm male btw, if you didnt get that, but I've got these double hips, ) ( like that like I'm wearing a ring underneath my skin of fat

Should I just do a day on day off schedule, and run myself into the ground or set realistic targets, and move up as i grow fitter.

dumb larry

Originally posted by Altheus


I'm 5' 9", and about 11 1/2 stone, have very skinny legs and arms, but a bit of a bulging gut, with excess weight on my face and my torso.

I'm currently trying to balance my diet, which means, orange juice, and brown bread toast in the morning. A sandwich of lettuce and ham for lunch, and full cooked meal (or as close to) in the evenings. I'm not a big veggie/fruit person and never had, so I have a hard time trying to eat these (v. unhealthy I know). I've taking up jogging, but no excruciating long runs just yet, and I'm weening myself off the ciggies.

I want to be able to tone my body and lose weight using natural exercise (sit-ups and the like), martial arts and such. Any ideas of where to point me in the right direction? I'm also considering taking a supplement for the fact I dont each vegetables.

Any help, sites, routines, exercise and advice would be appreciated

Info on pushups:
http://www.stumptuous.com/pushup.html

If you haven't done pushups in a while, it might be better to ease yourself into it gradually, using the approach shown at the start of that page, rather than going straight to horizontal pushups.

Bodyweight exercises:
http://b_movie.tripod.com/in_shape.htm

If you're having trouble eating fruit, it might help to buy a juicer? A food processor is also handy. I juice two oranges, throw the juice in the processor and chuck in half a banana and a few frozen raspberries. It makes a nice smoothie and takes about five minutes to make. You could also try chopping up loads of fruit and sticking it in a bowl... that's how I eat mine.

Um... another thing is to make sure you warm up and stretch your shins before running. Look up exercises for preventing shin splints on google When I started running I didn't do this and found my shins got quite sore after a while... I was running on concrete though. It can be discouraging if you get injured or push yourself too hard, so ease yourself into it.

Martial arts is a great way to stay fit. Are you training with a martial arts club already? If you're not, it's definitely best to check out _all_ the martial arts clubs near where you live before you commit yourself to any one. The instructors will probably let you watch a class so you can find out what goes on. Read up on the martial arts they offer on the net before you make your decision.

Corega

Running is the best option hands down, however it would be a viable option for you to start doing sit-ups, crunches and a lot of the other upper body exercises, the reason being is that running will not only take some of the weight away but will also build your leg muscles, mostly upper leg. The upper body exercises will help balance your body.

May I suggest to you as well cycling and swimming, especially the latter as it will tone your whole body as well as shifting the pounds/stones/tonnes

Come to think of it I myself really have to cut down on the smokes

Altheus

Cheers for all the replies. I've manage to sustain my diet (w00t) of absolutely no junk food, which is a start. I've taken up eating two bananas, and a large glass of orange juice. The hardest part is disciplining myself into running every second night or so.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Corega

Originally posted by daveirl
Swimming is no good for you if you do what the vast majority of people do, i.e. Splash around the pool, not putting in any effort. Most people get no gain from swimming because it is too easy not to push yourself hard enough.

Sorry, I should have added that Dave. Front Crawl is good for toning your upper arms, torso and calves. Breast stroke is equally good for the arms, calves and hips and the back stroke, while not as good as the the former two is excellent for warming up/cooling down.

TomTom

I'm having a similar problem. I'm 6'2" and weigh a bit over 16 stone. I may have a good size frame but the weight is starting to pile on on the gut and chest. Could anyone recommend a regime for me to follow, e.g. 10 situps followed by a jog or something along that line. Basicly I need to to build a daily fitness plan and I don't know where to start. I've cut down on junk food and am trying to stick to regular meals. I had a serious knee operation so jogging get's quite painfull after a short time even on grass. any help would be appricated.

tunney

http://www.runnersworld.com/home/0,1300,1-0-0-1049,00.html

Saw this today and thought of ye

Gist of it is run 20ish miles a week and watch the weight fall off. Not the easy answer that I suspect most wanted but hey.

reigninblood

I'm having a similar problem. I'm 6'2" and weigh a bit over 16 stone. I may have a good size frame but the weight is starting to pile on on the gut and chest. Could anyone recommend a regime for me to follow, e.g. 10 situps followed by a jog or something along that line. Basicly I need to to build a daily fitness plan and I don't know where to start. I've cut down on junk food and am trying to stick to regular meals. I had a serious knee operation so jogging get's quite painfull after a short time even on grass. any help would be appricated.

I have a rowing machine. Only cost me €100 and depending how you have the setting you can have your heart rate right up and be burning off the inches or set it a little stiffer and really work your legs and upper body. If you do it correctly it also tones your stomach. Maybe you should look into one cos with your knee it would be ideal cos there is no jarring like when you run

TomTom

A treadmill was recomended to me as I was told it would be easier on my knee. I though it would be the same. Rowing machine sounds good, never though of that. I might just join the local gym the only problem is getting into a routine of going.

vasch_ro

I would say slowly and surely is the way to go, take your time and slowly build up everything, for example start walking for 20 mins three times a week, watch your foof, drink more water ,
consult your GP before taking on anything very strenous, with your walking start jogging a little, eventually more jogging than running, increase to 4 or 5 times a week depending on your schedule.
If you can get your hand on a swiss ball they are very good for building up abdominal strenght and core strenght.
I would also say read what you can, and inform yourself, weight training is also a good way to go and it really complements aerobic training like runnning. Talk to a pro if you can, maybe read mens health if you see a copy around etc etc

Amz

TomTom if you're having trouble with your knee then a non impact sport such as rowing/swimming/cycling would be best for you as they improve cardiovascular endurance(if done correctly) plus they are much less likely to aggrevate any injuries you may have.

Any of these non impact exercises will be good for toneing up and improving general fitness

Regards

Amz

Trebor

martial arts are good but it depends which one you do.

i did Tae Kwon Doe for a year which was very good they had use doing sit-ups puss-ups running, generlly getting us in to shape to spar
i now do karate which is not as demanding as the other but i am learning more on how the body works and how to strech.
and how to put force into my attacks as oppose to brut force.

you could always try do a martial art and the other things as most training is two nights a week.

tunney

Martial arts to get fit? You get fit to play sports you don't play sports to get fit.

Trebor

Originally posted by tunney
Martial arts to get fit? You get fit to play sports you don't play sports to get fit.

the whole idea of martial arts is training your body, i don't class it as a sport in such that you must train to play it.

Altheus

I always thought and consider Martial Arts a discipline for body and mind, and with the new-found discipline your learn to protect your body no? Martial Arts is used as a sport, but more often it's merely exibitions of the skills and disciplines gathered and learned.

tunney

Some may not class martial arts as a sport but not the less it is stupid to think that they should be used as a means of improving physical fitness. Get fit then do martial arts you'll be a lot better martial artist. But if the goal is fitness why bother with martial arts? join a gym.

Trebor

when training in karate i have had my heart rate much higher than i get it in the gym (because i have more control over what i do in the gym so i don't push myself) and also with going to the gym you have to convince yourself to go and as it is always open you keep saying to yourself "ah i'll go tomorrow" whereas with a martial art training is on spefic nights only so you are more likly to go. also going to the gym on your own is hard for some people.

tunney

So a lack of discipline is your reason for doing a martial art rather than going to the gym?

If your heart rate is higher in karate than in the gym, you either have a dodgy heart or do SFA in the gym.

Altheus

so you're trying to tell me that the ancient chinese, korean and japanese masters at the art went to there local and ran 16km on the treadmill and did a few minutes on the rowing machine? I've been to a few martial arts classes and the first 20-30 mins of a session is purely fitness training.

tunney

Whether or not the first while is fitness or not training or not is completely dependant on the martial art and the teacher. Martial arts I've gone to don't rely on physical fitness and as such there is no fitness stuff.

As for the ancient whoevers, do you _honestly_ think they were fat ****s that had to worry about their shape? No they would have been hard working physical people that would have already _been_ fit, both from lifestyle and from diet, and as such wouldn't require a martial art or gym to _get_ them fit.

Altheus

I'd say a lot of them were undernourished and considerably weaker than the modern day fat ****ers as so eloquently put it. The sessions were hard, and fitness would have been something that would come out of them. I think it's a perfectly acceptable thing to enjoy martial arts as a means of getting fit. So long as you dont sit out, and push yourself to do everything then surely fitness will come along with it? I just dont understand your idea of having to be fit to do something, as opposed to doing something to be fit. You can approach things either way, and still succeed, albeit the latter people have a tendency to drop out.

Trebor

Originally posted by tunney
So a lack of discipline is your reason for doing a martial art rather than going to the gym?

If your heart rate is higher in karate than in the gym, you either have a dodgy heart or do SFA in the gym.

preety much, i have no one to motivate me in the gym so i end up taking it easy on myself but in training if someone is about to punch you move out of the way as fast as possible.
and trying to kick waist high for 15 mins (for me) is very hard but a good work out for the legs

Trebor

Originally posted by Altheus
So long as you dont sit out, and push yourself to do everything then surely fitness will come along with it?

agreed,
if you just throw your hand out for a punch you will get nothing put if you put force behind it you will build power

tomED

I probably came in on this conversation very late - but what the hell, i think it would be good if i passed some info on to the people tryin to lose weight.

I was 15 stone not so long a go and have no toned down to 9.5 stone.

What did I do?

The most significant changes I made were

1. Changed my habits - Instead of sitting in watchin telly or a video I would either go hae a workout, jog or simply do a few st ups. This got me away from my habit of sitting and eating my life away.

2. Ensured i was doing something that i enjoyed to keep me motivated. If yer not interested in going for a walk or you feel that a run is too much hassle don't do it. Find something that will interest you. If you enjoy watching telly, get a treadmill and plonk it in front of the TV while yer favourite programs are on.

I found that exercise only helped me keep the weight off - it didnt actually help me loose the weight.

My diet changed, but not dramatically - for example i was still eating out of a chinese every week while i lost the 5.5 stone.....

I could go on and on - but i'll only bore ye all.

I guess what im tryin to say is - get interested in losing weight and feeling good. Buy a few mags and read p on statistics or whatever it will take for you to feel motivated. Once motivated you wont want to be sitting down and your motivation will no longer be about losing weight, it will be about having fun!

Benbaz

Originally posted by tomED
I was 15 stone not so long a go and have no toned down to 9.5 stone.

Just out of interest, what height are you Tom?

tomED

5' 9 - I know i am barring on the little underweight side but I am working on that.

I basically went way to far initially and lost too much weight. I was down to 9 stone at one stage!!!!!!!!

Workin to get up to around 10 stone. I dont want to be the build type - just toned and slim.

tunney

TomEd, in one thread you offer expert advice gained over years of experience, in anohter you admit to being a recent ex-fatty that only recently got into shape? And in that other thread you were giving advice on weight lifting? At 9.5 stone you haven't done much eh? Not putting you down, congrats on the weight reduction, but I am simply questioning your qualifications for giving "expert" advice and insisting that you and not the moderators are right?