I need a good exercise/diet routine. Any advice?

[Norelco]

Quit FFXI

Winner.

[Altanass]

I need something to help me do safer sit ups though, since I never excersize , I'm not flexible enough to do those

I never do pure sit ups either, cursed with a long neck so feels a lot of stress tried to do sit ups. My brother can do them fine. But I cant do a sit up at all, feel like I am about to snap my neck o.O. I do baby-crunches instead, where head/neck only come a few inches off the ground, i mentally focus on the stomach and tighten it in.

There are alternatives too, like instead of lifting your upper body for a sit up, you lift your ass and legs instead. So your back/head stay flat, you lift your ass up and lift legs/toes up almost to point vertical. Hold tummy and butt cheeks in and mentally feel the pressure. Then back down and repeat. It would be easier with a partner to help hold your feet at the top briefly but then it would turn into gay sex. :rocl: I do this one at nighttime before going to sleep =)

You will get fast results from modifying your diet and using one of those supplements like optimum nutrition 100% gold standard, doing cardio for 30min+ a day (bike, row, jog), that would make you slim but not really toned. But if you added press ups etc then by the time you slim down you'd be somewhat toned like a 1970's boy-next-door. Then it would be time to look for exercises with more resistance or gym-machines. No point jumping into the gym on day1, a fitness instructor would just have you doing exercises you can do at home and you'd be wasting money on membership fees at this stage. Whoever pays fees to walk and jog on a treadmill is just plain dumb. You should post before and after pics or BG could have a mini-competition =)


ninja edit: about the man boobs, anyone who has been overweight or is slimming down will have man boobs even if they shrink down to a size 30" waist. Repeated weight training and push ups (wide stance) can "mask" the condition though if its not a severe case. This is why all over body exercises routines should be used. So at the same time as slimming down with diet and cardio, you work on the underlying muscles and form. So next time you go to salvage, imagine how many press ups you miss out on =) This is why I like dynamis, i only use ballad every 3 minutes so i can do lots of press up set's every few mins and come back to lot on my AF2 ^^

[Lordwafik]

Thanks for the Tips altanas, and others in this topic.

Yesterday was literally the first day I ever personally went grocery shopping for myself. I've mostly went "Eh" at grocery shopping and let other people in the house do it for me, so anyway, I've just been buying stuff and am going to pretty much Calorie Count my food till I till I hit my goal, by then I will be used to eating lighter and won't have to calorie count

I know I can shed, when I was younger I was very thin, I just lost motivation to remain thin when it became more convenient for me to just buy lunch at the cheap'n'greasy food joints.

I am feeling the "starve" sensation, but I am actually happy to feel it instead of buying some sugary snack to compensate, I bought a whole bunch of "snacks" like carrots and low fat yogurt, etc. Whole bunch of breakfast bars, whole bunch of light dinners, a lot of fish (i love grilled fillets), and have kept under 1500 calories a day for the last few days now (sometimes a lot less), much much easier than I thought since these low calorie foods are filling me up a lot.

Now I gotta make room for situps when I get home, will be easy, nothing goes on much at my place at night so most of the time I'm just watching a movie.

[Norelco]

Thanks for the Tips altanas, and others in this topic.

Yesterday was literally the first day I ever personally went grocery shopping for myself. I've mostly went "Eh" at grocery shopping and let other people in the house do it for me, so anyway, I've just been buying stuff and am going to pretty much Calorie Count my food till I till I hit my goal, by then I will be used to eating lighter and won't have to calorie count

I know I can shed, when I was younger I was very thin, I just lost motivation to remain thin when it became more convenient for me to just buy lunch at the cheap'n'greasy food joints.

I am feeling the "starve" sensation, but I am actually happy to feel it instead of buying some sugary snack to compensate, I bought a whole bunch of "snacks" like carrots and low fat yogurt, etc. Whole bunch of breakfast bars, whole bunch of light dinners, a lot of fish (i love grilled fillets), and have kept under 1500 calories a day for the last few days now (sometimes a lot less), much much easier than I thought since these low calorie foods are filling me up a lot.

Now I gotta make room for situps when I get home, will be easy, nothing goes on much at my place at night so most of the time I'm just watching a movie.

LW, I think you're going about this the wrong way. You really need to eat more calories than 1500. You should look up a BMI calculator online and put in your height/weight and activity level. That will give you an indication of how many calories you should be consuming. 1500 is way too low for you and the weight that you'll be losing will mostly be muscle.

try this one: http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm

It will have you enter your height/weight/activity level and will tell you the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight. The healthy way to lose weight is to come under that number by about 500-600 a day, no more than that. That should ensure you're burning up your fat stores and not your muscle. You obviously know that muscle burns calories efficiently while fat is just...fat. Also consider that 1 pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories, so you should be aiming to lose about over a pound a week by creating that deficit of 500-600 calories.

[RakEx]

I kinda just skimmed through this whole thread and didnt see anyone mention this.

For a good cardio workout that will give great results and fast, you should vary the type of cardio you are doing and do them in shorter intervals.

Try something like:

10-20 minutes Elyptical
10-20 minutes Treadmill
10-20 minutes Stairclimber etc.

Feel free switch them up and do them in any order.

This has really worked well for the people I know who have used it. Not only does it work well but it takes away a bit of the monotony of doing cardio on one machine for 45 minutes. Do it 3-5 days a week and work your way up from 10minutes. Something like week 1 10 minutes, week 2 12 minutes increasing by 2 minutes every week. Throw in some light weights and you'll be shredding weight.

[Lordwafik]

LW, I think you're going about this the wrong way.

lol I am 99% certain I am I know nothing of this crap.

You really need to eat more calories than 1500. You should look up a BMI calculator online and put in your height/weight and activity level. That will give you an indication of how many calories you should be consuming. 1500 is way too low for you and the weight that you'll be losing will mostly be muscle.

try this one: http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm

It will have you enter your height/weight/activity level and will tell you the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight. The healthy way to lose weight is to come under that number by about 500-600 a day, no more than that. That should ensure you're burning up your fat stores and not your muscle. You obviously know that muscle burns calories efficiently while fat is just...fat. Also consider that 1 pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories, so you should be aiming to lose about over a pound a week by creating that deficit of 500-600 calories.

I went on that website and it told me that

Your BMI is 28.8 and you need about 3068 Calories per day to maintain your current weight

But I don't want to maintain my current weight >_> I wanna lose it ! I went on another website and it told me my Calories per day were 2208, all these sites are giving me different ones bleh. 2500 a day (500 off the 3000 reccomended from site 1) is probably slightly under what I was eating before. Not so bad. Although a lot of other sites are giving me 2200-1500 , which would mean 1700-1000 or so, not gonna go as extreme as 1000 , 1700 or so sounds decent enough with me (willpower wise), I do find it hard to swallow the 2500 / day while steadily losing it.

[Saga]

use this scale, it's called the Mifflin-St. Jeor scale:

10(Weight in Kg) + 6.25(height in cm) - 5(age) +5

that's

10 times your weight in Kg plus 6.25 times your height in cm minus 5 times your age plus 5

then multiply that result by your current activity/stress factor. 1.6 = walking and exercise, so adjust accordingly. that gives you the amount of cals a day you need to take in just to function and perform at your current activity level.

[Norelco]

lol I am 99% certain I am I know nothing of this crap.

Check out that forum.bodybuilding.com link I sent. They have a fat loss section that explains this much better than I can. As crazy as it sounds, you need to eat to lose weight.

[Seig]

Get a girlfriend.
She'll keep you in shape

[Azkarin]

lol I am 99% certain I am I know nothing of this crap.

Check out that forum.bodybuilding.com link I sent. They have a fat loss section that explains this much better than I can. As crazy as it sounds, you need to eat to lose weight.

You need to eat correctly to lose weight...

[Norelco]

lol I am 99% certain I am I know nothing of this crap.

Check out that forum.bodybuilding.com link I sent. They have a fat loss section that explains this much better than I can. As crazy as it sounds, you need to eat to lose weight.

You need to eat correctly to lose weight...

No shit, Sherlock.

[Xsaintx-Siren]

This will help kick your ass into shape.

http://www.pytlik.com/escape/navyseals2.html

It's brutal. Substitute the swimming with something since not many have a pool. I just do more on a bike or something. It's a fun routine.

[Chreman]

Quick question for people a little more versed in health than me. I'm in the same type of situation as the OP and will be taking a lot of this advice into consideration.

I've been working 10 hour shifts for the last couple of months, and have taken to drinking energy drinks for energy to make it through the day. I'm shooting to take the advice of 4 quarts of water a day, and steer clear of anything else as pretty much everything has loads of sugar nowadays. First question is at around 5'10" and 180-190 lbs (not sure) is 4 quarts recommended? Or should I shoot for something else?

Also, any healthy way to keep myself awake and alert throughout the day? Is coffee acceptable? Black, no sugar of course. . .

Any help would be great

[Norelco]

Quick question for people a little more versed in health than me. I'm in the same type of situation as the OP and will be taking a lot of this advice into consideration.

I've been working 10 hour shifts for the last couple of months, and have taken to drinking energy drinks for energy to make it through the day. I'm shooting to take the advice of 4 quarts of water a day, and steer clear of anything else as pretty much everything has loads of sugar nowadays. First question is at around 5'10" and 180-190 lbs (not sure) is 4 quarts recommended? Or should I shoot for something else?

Also, any healthy way to keep myself awake and alert throughout the day? Is coffee acceptable? Black, no sugar of course. . .

Any help would be great

4 quarts is a gallon. If you're a very active person at work, that's plenty of water. I would aim to drink that gallon throughout the entire day, not just within 10 hours, or else you'll be going to the bathroom alot. That's good you're getting off of the energy drinks, especially if they contain caffeine. Most people don't realize that when they drink caffeine it stays in their system for about 24 hours, so when the next day rolls around after they had a bunch of caffeine they're going to feel tired (mostly because of the caffeine withdrawl, not actually being tired), so they drink more caffeine, and the cycle continues.

[Chreman]

Shameless bump. . . anyone have any ideas?

[RakEx]

32 to 64 ounces of water is plenty. Some people do say that drinking more water helps them feel more awake. I would not recommend drinking more than 64 ounces of water unless you are taking some bodybuilding type supplements.

Black coffee is good, probably the best option if you need to feel more alert without taking in serious amounts of sugar. I usually go with a medium around 10am and it lasts me a solid 4-6 hours.

Get more sleep if you are so tired (this is my biggest health problem). 8-10 hours a night depending on your age.

[Chips]

Every time one of these threads pop up, I just reply with the same thing, whether it be to tone your body or just lose weight. Jog! Jog jog jog and more jog (preferably outside, treadmills are OK, the fresh air is good for you). Jogging for a decent period of time (30 minutes or so) will work so many of your muscles. Not only is it amazing for the heart, but it works the arms, legs your back and even your abs.

What I suggest is to start out at a slower pace if you aren't used to it (so 10-15 minutes a day) and after two weeks or so increase your pace a little bit. If you can do that 15 minute run in 12, then it's time to move up to 20 minute jog, and so forth upping your jogging time by 5 minutes every time you can do the previous in 3 minutes less. (However, if you're extremely sore, it wouldn't hurt to take a day off to let your muscles recover). In my opinion, jogging is one of the most underrated fat losing aspects (or body toner).

Now, along with jogging, the other thing I suggest is to eat healthy. By healthy, I don't mean all 100% natural crap, I just mean skip out of fast food, chips, pop(soda) and beer.
Just do those two things and you'll achieve your goal in no time at all.

[Nchabazam]

I lost about 70 pounds in a little more than a year just by using the elliptical machine/push ups/sit ups like 4 days a week (at the start)... now I work out like 13 out of 14 days. Running is a great option too (or biking) but I have crappy flat feet so I prefer to not run when possible just because it really beats up my legs. I just got a membership back at a gym after a year or so hiatus (where I mainly ran to keep the weight off that I lost) and have put on ~15 pound of muscle.

I have really enjoyed doing some weight lifting in addition to some cardio, especially when you can lift at a fast pace. I've been doing sit ups right in between sets of whatever recently and it keeps me sweating/my heart pumping and lets my muscles rest between sets.

And in terms of diet... I don't think you need to change what you're doing so much as other people might. Just increasing your exercise and decreasing the quantity of crappy food that you eat will help you immensely. When I used to be real fat I'd eat pizza all the time, but I'd always eat like 6 pieces.. now I still eat pizza a lot, but I only eat 3-4 pieces. The same thing can be applied to most of the stuff. I still eat fast food, just not nearly as much as I used to. I drink diet soda instead of regular soda and try to avoid drinking crap like gatorade all the time. I guess over the same time period I really decreased the amount of alcohol I drank as well... but that was more related to other things than to a dietary change.

So ya... work out and give a little bit of thought to what you're eating and you should see results before too long.

And that BMI thing says I can eat 4000 calories a day... sweet.

[Saga]

I lost about 70 pounds in a little more than a year just by using the elliptical machine/push ups/sit ups like 4 days a week (at the start)... now I work out like 13 out of 14 days. Running is a great option too (or biking) but I have crappy flat feet so I prefer to not run when possible just because it really beats up my legs. I just got a membership back at a gym after a year or so hiatus (where I mainly ran to keep the weight off that I lost) and have put on ~15 pound of muscle.

I have really enjoyed doing some weight lifting in addition to some cardio, especially when you can lift at a fast pace. I've been doing sit ups right in between sets of whatever recently and it keeps me sweating/my heart pumping and lets my muscles rest between sets.

And in terms of diet... I don't think you need to change what you're doing so much as other people might. Just increasing your exercise and decreasing the quantity of crappy food that you eat will help you immensely. When I used to be real fat I'd eat pizza all the time, but I'd always eat like 6 pieces.. now I still eat pizza a lot, but I only eat 3-4 pieces. The same thing can be applied to most of the stuff. I still eat fast food, just not nearly as much as I used to. I drink diet soda instead of regular soda and try to avoid drinking crap like gatorade all the time. I guess over the same time period I really decreased the amount of alcohol I drank as well... but that was more related to other things than to a dietary change.

So ya... work out and give a little bit of thought to what you're eating and you should see results before too long.

And that BMI thing says I can eat 4000 calories a day... sweet.

yeah, this is a pretty good basic concept. eat 500 calories less a week and burn 500 calories more a week than you're doing now and you will lose a pound a week. also water onry, diet soda if you have to, stay away from simple sugars. i'd argue vitamin water is okay a few times a week, as it uses crystalline fructose which is much less harmful than high fructose.

[Khamsin]

You would need to expose your ENTIRE body to extremely cold water to mobilize adipose tissue, which in turn generates heat.. and even then, that's so little it's not even worth doing. Just exercise.

Your entire body except your head. Dunk your head under cold water and you invoke the diving reflex, which would slow your breathing, heart rate, and overall probably make you burn less calories.

Although it's kind of silly to worry about 70 calories, anyway.

On the broader topic, I really need to exercise more, if for no other reason than fitness. However, I have a bit different dietary issue. I have one of those metabolisms where it makes absolutely no difference what I eat, I maintain a constant weight. I'm 6'0" and 185 lbs. If I eat nothing but cheeseburgers, I'll still be 185 lbs. If I eat nothing but salads, I'll still be 185 lbs. According to the BMI site, I'm at 25, which is the borderline. Under 25 is healthy, over 25 is overweight.

It's sort of a blessing and a curse, because on one hand I don't have to watch what I eat. On the other, I'm slightly above what I probably should be, but it'd be an absolute bitch to lose the weight and keep it off. I have no visible gut or manboobs or anything, I'm just soft. What should I do? Just eat however I want, but exercise to firm up? Or will eating "right" still benefit me?

My last cholesterol check said I was normal, though I do realize the problem with eating nothing but fat despite no outward consequences. So I still plan to have at least a somewhat reasonable diet, but if I don't have to, I'm not going to be counting calories or eating salads and proportioning out my fruits and vegetables. I'd rather just eat what I feel like eating, within reason. I still don't think I could ever try a deep-fried twinkie without gagging at the thought (and having a medic on standby).