Gym Routine

[Stevo985]

Just now, Dr_Pangloss said:

Losing 12 pounds in one week is simply not healthy.

Yeah... I know this. Which is why I'm expecting some of it to pile back on.

But to be fair, my initial weigh in was after 4 days of eating out and drinking, so it probably inflated my starting point a bit.

 

But you're right. I'm not sure I'd recommend the diet to anyone. Not that it was particularly hard, but like you said it doesn't seem healthy. Which is why I'm immediately going into a normal healthy diet rather than carrying it on or bingeing as a reward

[Dr_Pangloss]

24 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Yeah... I know this. Which is why I'm expecting some of it to pile back on.

But to be fair, my initial weigh in was after 4 days of eating out and drinking, so it probably inflated my starting point a bit.

 

But you're right. I'm not sure I'd recommend the diet to anyone. Not that it was particularly hard, but like you said it doesn't seem healthy. Which is why I'm immediately going into a normal healthy diet rather than carrying it on or bingeing as a reward

I'd categorically not recommend it, especially if you care about preserving muscle mass and losing weight in a sustainable way, fair enough if you are personally happy with the results, but these diets have been shown to be pretty dreadful for people. The diet itself looks a load of garbage (sorry, I just hate these fad things), anything that revolves around supplements and replacement shakes ultimately are just that and do not deliver the sort of 'roughage' that your body needs. There also appears (correct me if I'm wrong) to be a low amount of carbs in this diet, whereas long term health demands a diet that has carbs commanding 40%-70% of your macros (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30135-X/fulltext). 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Dr_Pangloss

[Stevo985]

2 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

I'd categorically not recommend it, especially if you care about preserving muscle massive and losing weight in a sustainable way, fair enough if you are personally happy with the results, but these diets have been shown to be pretty dreadful for people. The diet itself looks a load of garbage (sorry, I just hate these fad things), anything that revolves around supplements and replacement shakes ultimately are just that and do not deliver the sort of 'roughage' that your body needs. There also appears (correct me if I'm wrong) to be a low amount of carbs in this diet, whereas long term health demands a diet that has carbs commanding 40%-70% of your macros (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(18)30135-X/fulltext). 

I can't disagree with any of this.

I pretty much had the same attitude as you. I hate fad diets too.
I only did this as the OH has been going on about if for months and insisted she wanted to do it. So I did it for moral support as much as anything thinking 9 days can't hurt.

It probably is low carb but it's not Atkins low. It's basically two meal replacement shakes (breakfast and lunch) and then an 800 calorie meal in the evening. Plus "free foods" all day, which are mainly green veg.

I'm not really arguing in it's favour. Deep down I know it's all nonsense. But I did lose weight. But yeah I imagine some of that was muscle.

[Dr_Pangloss]

4 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I can't disagree with any of this.

I pretty much had the same attitude as you. I hate fad diets too.
I only did this as the OH has been going on about if for months and insisted she wanted to do it. So I did it for moral support as much as anything thinking 9 days can't hurt.

It probably is low carb but it's not Atkins low. It's basically two meal replacement shakes (breakfast and lunch) and then an 800 calorie meal in the evening. Plus "free foods" all day, which are mainly green veg.

I'm not really arguing in it's favour. Deep down I know it's all nonsense. But I did lose weight. But yeah I imagine some of that was muscle.

Yeah, I can't be too preachy when I seem like takeaways far too much!

I've benefited a lot from intermittent fasting, might be worth checking it out of you haven't already, it appears to have a lot of health benefits, including weight loss, and is sustainable. The way I implement it is, for instance, I stop eating after 6pm and do not eat again until 9-10am the next day.

[Stevo985]

4 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Yeah, I can't be too preachy when I seem like takeaways far too much!

I've benefited a lot from intermittent fasting, might be worth checking it out of you haven't already, it appears to have a lot of health benefits, including weight loss, and is sustainable. The way I implement it is, for instance, I stop eating after 6pm and do not eat again until 9-10am the next day.

It's something I've always wanted to try, but never done it. may well check it out in the new year. Thanks

[PieFacE]

29 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

It probably is low carb but it's not Atkins low. It's basically two meal replacement shakes (breakfast and lunch) and then an 800 calorie meal in the evening. Plus "free foods" all day, which are mainly green veg.

This isn't too far off how I generally eat now.

I skip breakfast 5 days a week, will have a vegetable stew or soup for lunch and then an "ordinary" tea like vegetable chilli or pasta or something, probably around the 800 calorie mark or less. I never lose weight 

Edited November 7, 2018 by PieFacE

[Mark Albrighton]

8 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

This isn't too far off how I generally eat now.

I skip breakfast 5 days a week, will have a vegetable stew or soup for lunch and then an "ordinary" tea like vegetable chilli or pasta or something. Probably around the 800 calorie mark or less. I never lose weight 

Not an expert on this so feel free to shoot this down, but 800 sounds too few to lose weight. I’d guess your body has got used to your diet, is retaining the few calories you do consume and has kinda plateau’d out. 

Edit - you meant your main meal is 800 calories didn’t you, rather than your daily total? Ignore that bit then. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Shropshire Lad

[PieFacE]

2 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said:

Not an expert on this so feel free to shoot this down, but 800 sounds too few to lose weight. I’d guess your body has got used to your diet, is retaining the few calories you do consume and has kinda plateau’d out. 

Edit - you meant your main meal is 800 calories didn’t you? Ignore that bit. 

Yeah I worded it badly. But yeah, it's weird.... I do generally have 1 takeaway a week though, not sure if that cancels out eating little throughout the week. Kinda feels like it. Annoying. 

[Mark Albrighton]

1 minute ago, PieFacE said:

Yeah I worded it badly. But yeah, it's weird.... I do generally have 1 takeaway a week though, not sure if that cancels out eating little throughout the week. Kinda feels like it. Annoying. 

Yep, I have the same problem. I’ve more or less cut out takeaways, as a regular thing. I’ll still have one occasionally - once a month or something like that.

Alcohol is a big one for me. As is “innocent” snacking.

What’s your exercise routine like? Tried mixing it up? Twenty minutes of skipping instead half an hour of running? I find it can shock body (in a good way), doing something different. 

Or throw in a twenty minute walk in the evening maybe.

[Stevo985]

18 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

This isn't too far off how I generally eat now.

I skip breakfast 5 days a week, will have a vegetable stew or soup for lunch and then an "ordinary" tea like vegetable chilli or pasta or something, probably around the 800 calorie mark or less. I never lose weight 

Might be worth you tracking your calories for a week.

Quite often you have a lot higher calories than you realise.

Or if your calories are really low then it may be a case of your body hoarding whatever it can because it thinks it's starving. In which case eating more may actually benefit you.

 

Tracking the calories is the first step. Then go from there. 
But regardless, eating breakfast is always a good step.

[Dr_Pangloss]

37 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

This isn't too far off how I generally eat now.

I skip breakfast 5 days a week, will have a vegetable stew or soup for lunch and then an "ordinary" tea like vegetable chilli or pasta or something, probably around the 800 calorie mark or less. I never lose weight 

You're under eating substantial and are in starvation mode, your body is therefore optimising itself to preserve as much weight as possible (i.e. your metabolism has probably slowed down significantly). Put it this way, for any male adult, 800 kcals a day is dramatically below what is required just to maintain yourself. I don't know how much you weigh but you might want (at least) to double those calories and do exercise if your goal is to lose weight. 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Dr_Pangloss

[Mark Albrighton]

Whenever I’ve made a serious attempt of losing weight, I’ve kept a record of calories I’ve consumed and approximately how many calories I’ve burnt through exercise. Whether it’s an app or pen & paper.

I’ve always lost weight when I’ve done that because I become very conscious of how it all add up. That custard cream you had, was it worth the 60 calories? kind of mentality.

My biggest problem when losing weight is becoming disillusioned when I plateau out at around 12 stone (I’m 5’8”). Currently I’m under 13 stone - in winter mode. Ideally I’d be around 11 stone. 

In the past I’ve also done too much cardio at the expense of resistance training. I’d put too much emphasis on weight loss in running without appreciating the effect building muscle through weight training can have on burning fat. 

These days I try and have a more equal ratio between running and doing weights.

[mottaloo]

I use myfitnesspal app if for no other reason than to see what I've eaten staring back at me. Quite sobering really. I eat what I need as opposed to what I want to eat and coupled with exercise it works. 

[villa4europe]

7 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said:

My biggest problem when losing weight is becoming disillusioned when I plateau out at around 12 stone (I’m 5’8”). Currently I’m under 13 stone - in winter mode. Ideally I’d be around 11 stone. 

In the past I’ve also done too much cardio at the expense of resistance training. I’d put too much emphasis on weight loss in running without appreciating the effect building muscle through weight training can have on burning fat. 

These days I try and have a more equal ratio between running and doing weights.

im 12 stone too (6'1") i went to cuba in march, got down to 11.4 it was mental how much work i had to put in to do it, chicken and veg keto diet real strict from new years, gym class at 6am and 6pm every day, football tuesdays and thursdays, taekwondo on wednesdays and park running every now and then, its just not my natural weight, i was aiming for 11 which was my weight when i left school and i honestly dont think i could do it

the cross fit classes were brilliant though, maybe not enough weights for some people but what it does for your fitness is incredible, much more fun than running IMO

im now cross fit maybe 3 times a week, football twice, keto monday to friday, eat shit at the weekend, 12 stone

[Stevo985]

10 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said:

Whenever I’ve made a serious attempt of losing weight, I’ve kept a record of calories I’ve consumed and approximately how many calories I’ve burnt through exercise. Whether it’s an app or pen & paper.

I’ve always lost weight when I’ve done that because I become very conscious of how it all add up. That custard cream you had, was it worth the 60 calories? kind of mentality.

My biggest problem when losing weight is becoming disillusioned when I plateau out at around 12 stone (I’m 5’8”). Currently I’m under 13 stone - in winter mode. Ideally I’d be around 11 stone. 

In the past I’ve also done too much cardio at the expense of resistance training. I’d put too much emphasis on weight loss in running without appreciating the effect building muscle through weight training can have on burning fat. 

These days I try and have a more equal ratio between running and doing weights.

Yep. Track your calories, at least to begin with. It's amazing the things that you don't realise add loads of calories. And like you said it puts you in the mindset of being more careful.

 

You can then settle into a routine that you know is a good amount of calories.

[villa4europe]

i think the thing that has helped me more than anything is rightly or wrongly the mentality that eating sugar before working out means that working out is kind of pointless because all you will do is burn that sugar, i then also dont eat sugar after 9pm because i know it messes with my sleep

that means that if im doing a cross fit class at 6 or 7 that day i wont eat sugar all day, if im playing football at 7 or 8pm i havent got time to eat sugar after

as a result coke is more or less gone (although im caning coke 0 this week) chocolate and biscuits etc all gone apart from sundays, you then apply that to carbs as well, so pasta, bread etc im not eating pasta if i know im going to the gym later that day, really helps if you like chicken and hot sauce

Edited November 7, 2018 by villa4europe

[Stevo985]

If anybody asks me about losing weight, the FIRST thing I ask them is if they drink fizzy drinks.

If the answer is yes then that's my first bit of advice, tell them to switch to diet.

I know diet fizzy drinks aren't great either, but calorie wise they are zero.

 

People do not realise how many calories are in fizzy drinks. It's about 150 in a can of coke IIRC. If I'm talking to a female that's 10% of their entire daily allowance.

And they are totally empty calories. They don't fill you up, they barely quench your thirst. They take so many calories away from calories you could be using on food.

 

I only ever drink diet fizzy drinks now. I probably drink too many of them but that's a different story. If I drink a normal coke on it's own it tastes so sickly sweet to me now.

Alcohol is the exception. I'll still drink full fat coke with alcohol. A rm and coke does not taste the same with diet coke.

[Mark Albrighton]

Yep, only ever drink diet fizzy drinks, they taste the same to me. I try not to drink more than say a couple of pints of them a week though, if that.

Funny how things stick with you, but I remember years ago watching a day time show with celebrities swapping diets and Oliver Skeete (that show jumper with the dreadlocks) was on it. Now he was obviously in bloody good shape, so his reaction was a bit more extreme, but he was properly struggling with his new unhealthy diet. And easily his biggest problem was that he couldn’t cope with the litres of fizzy drink he had to consume. Ever since then, I’ve reduced my intake of coke, lemonade etc.

[V01]

Been indifferent in the gym last few months, hurt my back squatting, had flu for a few weeks and putting in some overtime at work have seen me miss a few weeks here and there. I'm on annual leave at the moment so I've tried to get back into it. Managed 4 times so far this week, planning on going on Thursday and Friday then Sunday and Monday too.

 

Taking a break from squatting for a while, using leg press instead to protect my back. Using a machine back extension in place of deadlifts too. 

 

I'd started doing 5-6km at the end of my sessions, all this week I've been doing 30 minutes and managing 13.5-14km. I don't know if that's good or not, but it was a lot easier tonight than it was on Sunday.

[StefanAVFC]

Gym-my people. I need your help.

Background, I've gone from around 97kg / 15 st 4 to around 80kg / 12 st 8 (190cm / 6'3 btw) in around a year or so. Started with diet, whilst still playing a lot of football. I'm now playing centre half at a fairly decent level in the City's league.

However, due to my weight loss, I'm missing some bulk to play there  I mean, I haven't struggled generally as I'm not an imposing defender, more ball playing but i've struggled with big strong forwards.

I want to focus the Winter Break on bulking up everywhere, as I've lost the weight in disproportionate areas - for example I have a flat belly but still some love handles etc.

I am not a gym person, I'd rather go for a bike ride, play football, squash whatever but I need to force myself into the gym this winter to be ready for the Spring games.

Can anyone suggest to me a 3 time a week routine that will actually enthuse me to go and that I'll stick to?

Also, diet alongside it. I am so stuck in eating less calories that I have to force myself to eat a big meal before I play otherwise I'll just eat my usual 1800/2000 daily.

Any help would be really appreciated