Need help losing weight?

[Phillippa]

what sort of enzymes..... actimel and that sort of thing? How do they help?

[Disturbedguy]

Am following this thread actually, I want to lose weight, get bk to how i was when I first met my gf and feel better about myself ofc as thats the most important of the things.

Ive heard that one thing that works for people is the following, before having a meal or any sort at any time of the day, eat an apple or other fruit, you tend to eat less afterwards because the fruit fills you up.

I tried this at work, ate a bannana, then found I couldnt or didnt want to eat much afterwards.

[dangel]

Bananas are packed with sugar tho?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

im kind of on the same boat realy. for the past month i have just been having plain cereal with no milk as apposed to the heavy bacon breakfest i usualy have every day.

When im not working i only eat twice a day ie skipping breakfest and just going straight for lunch and then dinner.

Another thing i have done recently is to play football with my mates once a week in the weekend. this in turn is the best exercise for me as football is all about cardio and you burn alot of fat playing football constantly for over an hour.

One more thing i like to add is that in the underground station i no longer stand stil; on the right side of the escalator going up. i now walk it up. Even when there is just a normal stair case i always take that and run it up the stairs.

If i keep this up i should be fit and ready for the summer

[SiM]

skipping breakfast is not a good idea... read this thread again! Its better to eat 6 half sized meals a day rather than the same amount of food in 3 meals... eating only twice a day is terrible... you will probably lose a lot of muscle mass

[Hunain]

skipping breakfast is not a good idea... read this thread again! Its better to eat 6 half sized meals a day rather than the same amount of food in 3 meals... eating only twice a day is terrible... you will probably lose a lot of muscle mass

Ya, you are correct SIM, breakfast is essential to get your metabolism rolling, I recently lost around 24 pounds, just started exercise, checked my calories and ate a set ammount, spread through out the day, it makes your metabolism more active, burning more calories, plus water is very essential.

You can also try squeezing a lemon in a glass of water and drinking everyday in the morning. Helps burn fat AFAIK.

[Butcher]

I don't think lemon juice burns fat, though it's not bad for you either - lots of vitamin C in lemon juice and it's not as sugary as most other juices.

Bananas are indeed quite sugary, they have roughly 100-120 cals each, most of which is made up of sugar. That said, they're mostly water by weight and have some fibre in so they'll make you feel full quite well.

[CaseyV9]

skipping breakfast is not a good idea... read this thread again! Its better to eat 6 half sized meals a day rather than the same amount of food in 3 meals... eating only twice a day is terrible... you will probably lose a lot of muscle mass

Sim is right. And especially if you are planning on being more active.
Looseing weight is one thing. But when your body starts breaking down muscle to fuel you, that is not a healthy way to lose weight.

[mac007]

As we all know it comes down to 2 aspects: Diet & exercise.

Diet: Eat the right food. Best to cook your own meals - at least you know what's going in. Eating mainly fruit, veg & protein. Keeping carbs low. Having lots of small meals - recommended to have 6 meals - this includes 2 snacks. This way you don't feel hungry and over eat.
Drink loads of water! Keep away from fizzy drinks & alcohol.

Exercise: Cardio, weights and stretching.
This helps speed up your metabolism.
Legs burn the most calories - do plenty of squats, leg pushes, and lunges. Will make them feel like concrete.

Takes quite a bit of motivation & is all about consistency.
Remember that once you have muscle it burns calories a lot quicker.
Make it a way of life, not a chore.

[SiM]

3 aspects really. Diet, Rest, Training. Importance in that order.

Rest is important to avoid overtraining. Sleep is important for your body's recovery.

[PeterS]

I'm looking into this one. I'll write a review on my Blog if I think it's any good. Sounds interesting, but only for people who like monitoring things.

www.seniorwalkingfitnessblog.com

[SammEl]

Thought I'd add my 2p.

From 3 years of trying all sorts, I finally sorted everything out and lost nearly 6 stone last year in around 10 months, I also got put on the Bodybuilding.com website for the transformation.

http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/sammy_el_tawil.htm

Routine, diet, and some info, is in that link.

You follow that, you'll lose weight, period.

Hope it helps.

[YorkieBen]

try tabatas - 20 seconds of exercise, 10 seconds rest. 8 sets.

Four minutes work, use compound exercises such as squats (proper past 90 degress squats), deep lunges, burpees (argh!!) etc. Very good way to burn calories in a short amount of time.

If you cant do that then try 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off or even 10 on and 20 off.

Bazzlad afaik a bodybuilders cut routine is a temporary thing for competitions in order to make weight, etc

[merdat]

I'm looking into this one. I'll write a review on my Blog if I think it's any good. Sounds interesting, but only for people who like monitoring things.

www.seniorwalkingfitnessblog.com

lots of good advice there. thanks . being an 'old goat ' fitness and survival' is very important to me.

[SammEl]

try tabatas - 20 seconds of exercise, 10 seconds rest. 8 sets.

Four minutes work, use compound exercises such as squats (proper past 90 degress squats), deep lunges, burpees (argh!!) etc. Very good way to burn calories in a short amount of time.

If you cant do that then try 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off or even 10 on and 20 off.

Also known as HIIT, althouth HIIT is normally 1 minute sprint 1 minute run if you are trying to lose weight via running and you are already fit. It can be used with skipping, boxing, and like you said, even squats, but I would be careful, I am recovering from my messed up knees as my knees don't like lunges.

Bazzlad afaik a bodybuilders cut routine is a temporary thing for competitions in order to make weight, etc

No, a cut is done so you can have a huge amount of muscle, yet be very low on bodyfat. It's exactly the same as losing weight, except you try to keep as much muscle as possible with losing as much fat as possible. Muscle burns fat, so bodybuilders can find it very easy to lose weight. I am sure that someone who has been fat all their life, then decides to lose weight, will find it much harder to lose it than someone who is pretty fit, has put on 2 stone of fat because of bulking up, then cutting.

In that case, the second person has fitness, very healthy body, and information, to lose a lot of weight.

HIIT made me lost weight pretty damn fast, it's 1 hour a week (3 x 20 minute), so if you are fit already, it is much better than LDR.

[Cus_de_Sparta65]

I have a set of these Salter scales. They come with a USB flash drive and you program all your details in to a application you download and load it into the scales via USB and it tells you everything including the colour your next dump should be It is a bit of a gimmick TBH but it was fun the first couple of times. A solid (excuse the pun) set of scales though.
http://www.mibody.co.uk/EN/