vallumlj

I m 22 6ft and weigh about 14.7 stone and have a beer gut on me.I really want to lose the fat now and start feeling better about myself.

There are so many diets out there and its confusing to no which one is best to use. I also only like plain foods and i dont eat salads or fish.

Has someone on hear used one that worked for them ?

Would you advise going the gym or could i get a good work out by using free weights at home and cycle a lot.


thanks for any help

Coffin Dodger

Eat a balanced diet, 2500kcal a day max, cut out fatty stuff, and get some exercise.

Any exercise is good but cardiovascular is most important for weight loss and general fitness. Aim for 1hr of strenuous exercise including warm up / cool down every other day for starters. Cycling or running would be best but no slacking, you need to be pushing, not so hard that getting enough air is difficult, but hard enough that you're working up a sweat. In between the strenuous days how about getting out for an evening walk or gentle bike ride as this type of exercise also helps.

Quite simple really

Flaps

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't do the gym. Me and the wife tried it and quickly got bored, plus it was costing a small fortune! I'd take up more sports instead, that's what i'm doing. I'm getting into my golf, an 18 hole game is a walk over about four miles with some weights on my back. Plus i'm cutting back on food and drink.

Matteeboy

Vallum - are you near open countryside?
While many recommend a diet and exercise, I reckon the exercise bit is most important - if you exercise enough, you can eat what you like!

Running, cycling both great.

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

I used to try loads of diets, the one I had most success on was Atkins, but while I lost 4 stone it buggered up my insides and made me feel lousy, never again.

So for the last year I have ditched any "diets" & just followed 5 basic rules :

1) Regular exercise - 3/4 times a week, walking the dog, cycling, gym, tennis, squash etc - anything.
2) Cut down rubbish - sweets, crisps, fried food.
3) Cut down on drinking.
4) Only eat when you are hungry.
5) If you want the odd bag of crisps, takeaway, drink HAVE IT.

So 80% of the time I eat good foods, but sometimes I have a takeaway, mars bar, bag of crisps etc, but its not a habit. If you completely deny yourself little treats you wont succeed as they are all that you will want.

Good luck !

R.

Snazy

2 options....

Sudden weight loss, extreme measures.. LighterLife. Mate just lost 4 stone on this in about 8 weeks!

Or the sensible approach, adjust diet, limit carbs, and get some cardio done.

Matteeboy

Handy tip - when you're hungry (but don't really need food), glug down a load of water - it makes your brain think you are full (sort of)!

Sti_Prodrive

Dont wory mate.. u should be hapy!! im 22 aswell but im 6 foot 3in & im about 17stone.. so count urself lucky mate!

I'm looking to do anything to make myself get to good shape!

hades

With the best will in the world, exercise alone will not solve the problem if you're eating way too much. Diet wise, cutting down rubbish and keeping the calories down as suggested above is a lot of the solution. I've always followed the basis of eat sensible, balanced diet but just reduce portion size or cut down heavily on between meal snacks, large beer consumption etc; with a little will power you can lose a couple of pounds a week fairly easily, and that's a healthy rate of weight loss - much more and you're losing muscle.

As regards the exercise, get yourself a heart rate monitor (you can get the most basic pulsar ones for £20-30). Use the bike or run or whatever in the right heart rate zones for 30 minutes or more at a time to help burn fat - do a google on how to calculate heart rates, and maybe on Arthur Lydiard while you're at it as he was one of the piioneers of that type of training. At your age I'd guess you'd have a peak heart rate of about 200, a resting heart rate of say 65, so the "fat burning" zone is at 60-70% of the way between those points, i.e. around 146-160 beats per minute. If you haven't exercised much for a while, stay around the 140-150 mark intially, and build up slightly as fitness improves. A lot of people actually exercise too hard to get best benefit from a weight/core fitness point of view.

hades

PS should have said, as per Mattee - drink lots of water; it'll help you in many ways, but seems to benefit weight as well.

Paul3446

A lot of good advice above, mine would be plenty of exercise and try the GI diet, this isn't one of these trendy diets, it is one that diabetics use to control blood sugar levels. I basically stops you eating sugary foods then feling hungry an hour later. But the good thing is you can still eat a reasonable amount of food, so you don't get fed up with dieting.

Also, no-one's mentioned, cut out the beer!

TopBanana

Whatever you do, don't go 'on a diet' to lose weight. The key is getting exercise - every day if possible, in order to keep your metabolism up. It also helps if you're fairly sensible with what you eat... but don't focus too much on that side of it.

kbsub

Drinking plenty of water actually helps with water retention (beer belly )Basically the body thinks " I'm well hydrated so I'll get rid of some excess water" , Which usually means losing a few pounds in the first week .

PPPRob

I've heard the Paul McKenna philosophy is quite good as well.

Among other things he suggests that you only eat when your hungry i.e. don't sit down for big meals if you don't feel like it, although how practical that is in the real world I don't know. Also it might make you snack on things that you're trying to avoid.

Just an idea

john.dunne

my other half tried the Slimmers World which was good. Can eat pretty much anything and you dont have to reduce the amount you eat. You get red or green days and all you gotta do is eat the type of food set out for that day which is all in the books.

She lost 3 stone in about 5 months and is very happy!

kbsub

While that is very true ... What you eat and how much you move about are important considerations

Lee247

Your weight doesn't sound excessive for your height. Excercise is the way to go

davegtt

I take the same approach and dont have any problems, running 5 days a week now is keeping me in trim with an awful diet.

Matteeboy

Dave - LOL!
Luckily wife cooks healthy, tasty food but if we have the odd pizza or curry, it's not a problem.

zip106

It is very simple...
calories in = more than calories out - John Prescott
calories out = more than calories in - Victoria Beckham

you just need to find the 'happy' medium......

cursed bat

Possibly a couple of handy things I've read of recent:

Drinking alcohol: Your body will burn some fat naturally through the day/night even sitting still, when you drink your body uses all its energy fighting the alcohol rather than burning any fat.

Also for those that train doing weights or want to build up, the alcohol limits the amount of protein that is absorbed by the body (protein is one of the essentials to build muscle)

Alot of people think doing weights will make them thinner but burning fat and building muscle are two differant processes. Although building muscle under fat you can look more toned.

When doing cardio work (running, cycling etc) your body will burn off its last meal/food before it starts to burn off any fat reserves, so eating lots then doing exercise will get you fitter but not thinner....

I also think if you change everything about your life in terms of exercise/eating there is alot more chance of succeeding, "never" is actually easier to stick to than "sometimes" when it comes to eating crap.

Oh and don't eat later than 7 if you go to bed at say 11, I've read even athletes dont eat before sleep apart from protein shakes etc.

GOOD LUCK! most people find they have twice as much energy/motivation with a good diet and exercise (its all about the endorphins )

Stephb1986

Ive been on lighterlife its one of the hardest diets ever! but it works ive lost 4 and a half stone in 6 weeks and ive been off the diet for nearly 3 months now and managed to keep the weight off and eat nearly everything i want just kept the "naughty" things in moderation i feel fantastic, but if you want a sample of lighterlife pm me with your address and i'll send some to you what i have left

ps. water is the key to any diet