Help! How to get thinner!

rainbowfairydust

NigeWick wrote: »

You need to be having 1200 calories a day or less to hit your goal. Cardio exercise does not help with weight loss unless you can religiously stick within your calorie limit as it takes an awful lot of exercise to burn many calories.

.

no offence but this is silly advice. It is just not sustainable to eat 1200 calories or less a day long term. If anything you should be eating more especially if you are partaking in hard exercise numerous times a week.

I also wouldnt be cutting out carbs ..your body needs them. Instead choose wholemeal pasta or brown rice. Cut down on bread - have it a couple of times a week . Try to incorporate more beans & pulses into your diet. They are a cheap way to fill up and they contain a lot of nutrients which are good for the body. My personal favourite is currently quinoa - packed full of protein/amino acids etc & a little goes a long way.

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=256517423


ETA - I also recommend My Fitness Pal. Its a really good little site.

paulineb_2

Body for life is a decent programme and you can get the book for about 3 quid on ebay.

[Deleted User]

Have used Body for Life myself on and off over the last 5 years and would thoroughly recommend it. It deals with the head part of a healthy lifestyle as well as the diet and exercise bit.

heartbreak_star

hels234 wrote: »

Thanks for all your help and tips guys. When you talk about weights, am I better increasing the weight or the number of reps?

The weight

HBS x

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I was quite heavy when I decided I needed to lose weight. I started going to the gym and doing all the calorie counting. Wasn't really getting anywhere with it & was finding I was getting quite frustrated.

A freind introduced my to The Harcombe Diet & I've never looked back. No calorie counting, no need to sweat it out in the gym. Just a few simple rules to follow. I find it the easiest most effective eating plan out there.

I recommend buying the book & the recipe book that accompanies it. I got mine cheaply from Amazon & ebay. There is also a website & a forum. They have a facebook page too.

Horace

Must admit that I used to go to SW and found they were really pushing their overly sweet cereal bars which tasted vile as they were too sweet. They seem to push these Mug Shots which they say are syn free yet they are made from rubbish. These days I eat fresh food, I weigh it out and I have a smaller dinner plate plus I do loads of exercise - power walks in the park and hours of digging in the garden. I am trying to cut down on refined sugar and the only ready meals I eat these days are the one's that my mum makes for me when they have had a roast (she cooks a bit extra and plates it up for me to bring home and bung in the freezer until I feel like eating it).

One thing that I have noticed is that quite a few of the SW consultants are fat themselves - if they are fat how can they expect members to get thin if they have a weight problem themselves?

When I used to go to a gym, I was always told that muscle weighs more than fat.

Emuchops

Possibly a little too extreme for some but have you thought of going vegan? Even possibly just for a month or so (like Beyonce and Jay-Z) - the weight will drop off. I went vegan for ethical reasons and lost about 10lbs (and I was small anyway), without trying. Throw into the mix the fact that I have never felt mentally or physically better, and it's a 'no-brainer'.

NigeWick

hels234 wrote: »

Thanks for all your help and tips guys. When you talk about weights, am I better increasing the weight or the number of reps?

Increasing weight builds muscle, increasing reps doesn't. I do not used weights but try and work up to doing harder bodyweight exercises with the goal of doing squats one leg at a time and one armed press ups. The advantage is I've always got my body with me and do not need any special clothing.

pirateyqueen

Horace wrote: »

When I used to go to a gym, I was always told that muscle weighs more than fat.

Muscle does way more than fat. It kind of depends on your goals as to how you work it. For example, I've always been skinny-fat (not overweight but definitely not in shape!) and since I've been lifting weights my scale weight has stayed the same but I have lost inches off of everywhere and look much better. It is good to try and ignore the numbers on the scale if you can. Of course, this is different for people who are overweight and need to lose more fat as well as gaining muscle.

Melonade

NigeWick wrote: »

Increasing weight builds muscle, increasing reps doesn't. I do not used weights but try and work up to doing harder bodyweight exercises with the goal of doing squats one leg at a time and one armed press ups. The advantage is I've always got my body with me and do not need any special clothing.

Hi,

Do you have any particular body weight exercises/routines that you do or possibly any good websites that would help?

I'm not keen on joining a gym and don't have room for one at home and was wondering what can really be achieved without buying weights. I do have some small hand weights (only 2kg) and use them when I do squats... but can't do this too much because of a bad knee.

I'm slowly changing my diet and eating cleaner but I'm wondering if I'm being unrealistic. I enjoy exercise but would like to get more out of it in a tiny space.

Sorry to hijack the thread the replies are interesting