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Right, I've joined a gym with the intention of getting trimmed and into shape reasonably quickly.
I don't want to muscle up too much because of cycling and surfing,however I do have a nice pair of "love handles" - too much body fat,so along with cutting out cakes/chocolates/booze/bread, am I better off doing light weights/high reps or heavy weights/low reps routine?
½ hour ride before breakfast 3 or 4 times a week. Have a coffee before you go. Arrive for breakfast on the edge of bonk.
It ain't fancy, Hollywood dieticians can't make a fortune pushing it, but it plain and simple works.
Napalm?
loads of A class? Who needs food when you have smack...
hmmmm.. I wouldn't put too much faith in smack for fat burning, I've known a number of overweight heroin addicts
For really reliable weight loss you're much better off looking at stimulants
joking aside high intensity aerobic exercise for fat burning no?
I've joined a gym with the intention of getting trimmed and into shape reasonably quickly
Speak to the gym staff. I doubt you're the first customer they have had with this sort of desire. Some of them might even be professionally qualified to provide the advice you seek.
and I thought it was exactly the opposite,I thought you needed low intensity to burn fat and that 30 mins wouldn't do it. TooTall is probably correct herejoking aside high intensity aerobic exercise for fat burning no?
Eating less will make the biggest difference. As for exercise, you'll be best off doing low intensity work over an extended period of time.
"Fasted" rides of at least two hours,preferably longer, at a steady pace until almost bonk, always take emergency food for ensuring you do get home, drink electrolytes only, do eat well on completing, IE. No cakes,chocolate etc. Repeat 3-5 times weekly and strip the fat off....this worked for me to the point of friends thinking I was too thin, but I felt great on the bike....I did lose upper body muscle though as proteins were used when fat reserves were low.....no easy solution except use more calories than you take on board....I have put some weight back on now though, because it isn't fun living like that forever.
Cut right down on sugar... Or any of its derivatives. Refined suguar and hydrogenated oils are the Devils work. Cut out booze too. In a nutshell.... Your diet will determine your weight and exercise will determine your fitness. Someone else will probably be along to tell you something else shortly.
The old saying "six packs are made in the Kitchen" is true. When I was training heavily I could pretty much eat what I wanted but I was running before breakfast and before tea. i agree with the fasted exercise bit.
Stress.
Keep a diligent food diary. Record everything you eat. Even that 0 cal soda or that piece of sugar free gum. It'll build a good habit for recording that means that occasional slice of pizza or extra guinness won't slip past you.
Eat less. Folks will sell/tell you all sorts of nonsense about how sugar this, fat that, blah blah, blah. Ignore it. Simple calorie control is sufficient.
It is much easier to lose weight by eating less than it is by exercising more. e.g. not eating a Double Decker means you don't gain 250 cal. It'd take about 60 minutes of moderate walking pace to burn that off.
Once you've lost a chunk of weight (aim for about 500g/week to make it measurable and feasible) then look more to exercise to tune your figure and enjoyment of food & drink.
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Agree completely with epicyclo (1st reply).
If you're weight training stay heavy to build muscle as muscle burns fat. Cardio wise SS before breakfast for 45-60 minutes, how many times depends on what you can manage. When you're fit enough to perform hiit try and add a couple of evening sessions too. As an alternative look at kettlebells?
Or try my recent program and develop man flu with resting rate of 160 - it appears to be working.
Girl at work doesnt like exercise so she doesnt eat much!
Body fat should burn at around 330*C, whereas bone and ligaments etc won't burn or vapourise until around the 900*C mark so you should find it relatively easy
Cut right down on sugar... Or any of its derivatives. Refined suguar and hydrogenated oils are the Devils work. Cut out booze too. In a nutshell.... Your diet will determine your weight and exercise will determine your fitness. Someone else will probably be along to tell you something else shortly.
Good, simple advice. Hydrogenated fats are present in all cakes and biscuits and of course marge and have a tendency to accumulate in the body cavities so cut them out and switch to thinly spread butter if you must eat that kind of thing. Stop having any soft drinks, cut beer right back, especially Europiss, cut right down on carbs with your evening meal and be sure not to snack during the evening - I find snacking easier to resist if I go and floss my teeth after supper. Steady spinning rides are a good way of improving leg strength, CV fitness and losing weight - it doesn't have to be "balls-out" every time.
If you want to go for aerobic stuff, 30 - 45 minutes of high intensity stuff early in the day with no food and ideally an espresso or such like will help. And when I say high intensity I mean pushing yourself hard, almost vomit inducing stuff.
The more modern approach now is to work big muscle groups as they use fat to rebuild. Sets of weighted squats to failure are the easy option, do that 3 times per week and have a good load of protein in the hour after the exercise will do a job.
Oh, and what Globalti says as well. Cut out processed food in general helps, no carbs after 5pm will help too.
Sorting out the diet is the most important part, you won't notice much in the way of change without it. Visit [url= http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ ]IIFYM[/url], work out your calorie requirements for weight loss, then download My Fitness Pal app and be 100% honest (and remember IIFYM has accounted for exercise so no adding that to MFP as an excuse to eat more!).
I don't want to muscle up too much
I wouldn't worry about this, no one gets big by accident. Do 3 full body workouts a week and your cycling and surfing will thank you for it.
Done a lot of sports my whole life at various levels. Can honestly say that nothing drops the weight off me as dramatically as a good long ride (bike) does. I can actually see it in my face after a big ride.
It's the main reason I try to limit them, as one of my other sports requires me keep to a certain weight.
70% of weight loss comes from your diet and 30% from exercise.
Set your diet up correctly so that you are in a calorie deficit state.
It is really important to stay hydrated and get good rest too.
It's pretty simple. Eat well and exercise more.
I don't want to muscle up too much because of cycling and surfing
you won't bulk up. have you seen what body builders eat to stay big? my brother drinks about 4 protein shakes a day + all sorts or weird capsules. + LOADs of food.
pointless. avoid.light weights/high reps
this will help you build muscle mass,and strength. muscle mass will help burn calories.heavy weights/low reps
compound lifts for the best results. you don;t need a lot of time in the gym. you need a good program.
It is amazing how many different pieces of advice there are floating about out there.
I found when I started training for marathons the weight dropped off but then that was mostly due to;
1) long steady exercise
2) change in diet
I don't think there is any magic formula just some hard work and dedication.
Well that's my tuppence worth.
Pretty much any excercise will burn fat one way or another with a good diet.
Long rides at low intensity - burning a lot of fat
Short hard rides - builds muscle which burns a lot of fat after you've finished the ride
Weights at the gym - same effect as short hard rides.
Short but regular lower intensity rides with or without fasting (aka commuting) - keeps your blood sugar (and therefore insulin) low, which encourgaes your body to burn of fat untill you next eat and raise it again.
And there's always iDave, I tried it, it worked, but it's difficult to stick to unless you have the free time to do plenty of cooking and have a family prepared to eat 'unusual' meals.
Some good advice here and I would add that it's very important how you maintain positive thinking about weight loss strategies. You don't want it to be torture. I can only really speak from my own experience but I thought of every decision I took to have a smaller amount of food, turn down offers of cake, biscuits etc as a small victory, each time it was a step to building a better me. Much like breaking down in your head a long, long ride with many climbs and concentrating on each at a time then patting yourself on the back for how many you've knocked off. I didn't record calories consumed but I did record where, how far and how much ascent I did on each ride. Adding an extra climb or sneaking an extra ride into the week is a victory too. Biking was my only form of exercise during that time.
Did it work? Yep, I lost a stone a month for three consecutive months. That's quite a fast drop in weight and importantly, I've managed to keet it off for the last seven years too. It does creep a little during winter though.
I'd also say that, as odd as it sounds you can concentrate on the actual eating in the same way. Eat slower, concentrating on savouring flavours no matter little flavour there is. With a bit of work you can even get something out of ryvita.
Nutritional ketosis.
Body fat should burn at around 330*C, whereas bone and ligaments etc won't burn or vapourise until around the 900*C mark so you should find it relatively easy
Slight flaw in the oven diet, is the denaturation of proteins usually from about 55*C
For really reliable weight loss you're much better off looking at stimulants
Indeed, I've never been so trim as when I was on the E-Plan Diet in the mid 90's.
I read this thing in the gym. In a nutshell
Long slow cardio - Mo Farah or Paula Radcliffe
High intensity short burst stuff - Usain Bolt or Jessica Ennis
None of them are fat! All are fit
The first 2 are lean, the second 2 are muscly
[b]cloudnine - Member[/b]
Cut right down on sugar... Or any of its derivatives. Refined suguar and hydrogenated oils are the Devils work. Cut out booze too. In a nutshell.... Your diet will determine your weight and exercise will determine your fitness. Someone else will probably be along to tell you something else shortly.
As well put as I have ever seen.
Give this man a medal for the first right answer ever on STW.
cloudnine should be banned for sensible concise and informative post like that!
Good post Cloudnine. You seem to know what you're talking about so maybe you can clear something up; some years ago I thought I was being clever by switching from white refined sugar to muscavado, honey, maple syrup etc. According to a friend it doesn't matter because IT'S STILL SUGAR! Why are refined sugars badder, if at all?
Consume less calories than you burn (Using a calorie counter such as MyFitnessPal is the best way I have ever found to measure this).
Do whatever you find enjoyable to burn calories, and ensure the food you are eating is stuff you like otherwise you will never stick with it.
Be consistant and know that it won't happen over night.
Indeed, I've never been so trim as when I was on the E-Plan Diet in the mid 90's.
shouldn't that be called the gurning plan. amazing how many calories your jaw can burn.
Ha.. I'm no expert..
Refined sugar is hidden in a surprising array of food as high fructose corn syrup or similar.
Simply put... Excess fructose cannot be converted into energy by the mitochondria inside our cells (which perform this function). Instead, they turn excess fructose into fat.
It's a bit more complicated than that but once you throw a load of sugar and salt into something it becomes addictive. So much so... you will actually start craving it. And so the cycle of addictive fattening food is established. Now you have a very addictive, easily available, mass produced products on the shelves of every shop. Millions of unsuspecting people are hooked on it, they don't understand that it's making them fat and it makes billions in profits.
catch the flu, laid up in bed for a couple of weeks will make the lbs flow off your body lol
reduce sugar intake is the easiest way to burn fat
There's a correlation between added sugar and sales for most foods. Manufacturer's aren't going to ignor it but it's got to the point you can't even find healthier alternatives. Cereals being a good example, even the '50% less sugar' ones are swimming in it.
Consume less calories than you burn (Using a calorie counter such as MyFitnessPal is the best way I have ever found to measure this).
I've found MFP very good for taking a long hard look at how much I stuffed in my face and reigning it in. You have to be pretty disciplined and record absolutely everything (I don't bother with tea/coffee/water) , but on individual meals you don't have to be particularly accurate to the last cal IMO, just honest with yourself. my goal is 1750cal per day, but I keep within 2500cal and loose weight. Gone from 77kgs to 73kgs in 4 months, without doing hardly any exercise, just staying within 2500cals per day.
Cut out saturated fat and ALL sugar, eat lots of veg. Simples!
Calorie deficit, it's that easy, work out your bmr and start from there
Calorie control. Keep a record as its very easy to go off track, snacks can be scanned.
Hydration.
Couple of annoying things your body does. As you cut back your metabolism slows so you burn less. The more you move, the more your body demands food. And you body will fight to keep some fat.
I'm not so sure about fasting rides anymore after doing them for forty years. Probably best to look after yourself well on all your rides. Been to a few lectures recently that dispel the performance value of it. You'll loose weight though, not necessarily where you want though.
Good old fashioned twists, turns, stretches etc help shape up the old love handles.
Eat less
Move more
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Stand up straight and do some core work. You won't lose any fat but you'll look like you have.
Otherwise I think the calorie control thing is going to be your best bet. loads of apps out there that let you count calories in and calories out. Maybe try one and see where you can make improvements. I wouldn't kick bread out, but consider buying better quality wholemeal (from an actual bakery, not sliced stuff).
Is GI still in fashion. Think about what you are eating. Refined sugars boost your blood sugar levels but then you crash shortly after. I found muesli and Greek yoghurt for breakfast means I can cut out a morning snack. If I do get hungry things like oatcakes and cottage cheese. You need calories so within reason don't see there being hungry just eat properly when you do eat and count calories.
It isn't easy...
I'm quiet partial to the stronglifts app for weights and myfitnesspal for watching what's going in your gob...,
My strategy is keep it simple ...an ride loads. 🙂
I've also done weekly photos to track my changes re body composition...
you've got to eat a certain amount of calories though and maintain a sensible deficit and king is not kidding yourself on what your eating...
The cup of coffee in the morning and go for a ride before breakfast that I suggested earlier seems the simplest to me.
I've done it a few times to lose weight for a long event, and the weight drops off. I do not watch what I eat, calory count or avoid sugar - I can't be arsed with faff - call it singlespeed mentality or KISS.
I eat what I like and don't try to restrict quantities, but I find that while using this technique I don't find the fatty/sugary foods so appealing.
Which reminds me, I better get back into it. I need to lose some lard before July.
Tim Noakes is doing some interesting work on diet. Debunking many of the myths around what we should be eating.
[i]Right, I've joined a gym with the intention of getting trimmed and into shape reasonably quickly. [/i]
Sod that, cancel while you can and just get out on your bike more. if you don't night ride at least once a week, buy lights and get out there.
There is nothing wrong with the gym as such. If you spend an hour fiddling with your phone etc and walking between pieces of kit and talking to people it may not have the desired affect in much the same way as somebody going out for a very slow easy ride.
I use the gym a couple of times a week for a routine of core work that takes around 30 minutes and is quite intense. A calf injury meant I couldn't run for a week so I did 3 sessions on the X trainer. 45 mins as hard as possible.
It depends on what you do when you are there.
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OP, if you want to burn fat weights aren't the way to go IMO. You want bike/run/cross trainer. For the weights I would focus on light/medium weights and more reps as you want to keep your heart rate elevated for as long as possible (min 20-30 mins)
On diet you have the right easy steps, ie no bread/booze, if you can cut out pasta/rice/potatoes too that will help a lot. Try and drink only water.
Spammer! Slimming pills... Post reported.
Move around under your own steam as much as possible.
Eat fruit, veg, rice and potatoes, wholefoods etc.
Drink loads of water.
Don't eat processed bilge of any sort especially meat and diary.
The recommended low intensity stuff is interesting. I do loads during the winter but still put on a few kilos. Come time to race and the move to more high intensity work the weight falls off rapidly and back to race weight. But then I also tend to watch what I eat more when racing. Not something I worry about or want to change, just seems to be the pattern for me.