Intervention Needed - Diet and Exercise on a budget

McCreary

Hello all,

Looking for some advice on health and fitness on a budget. I've put weight on and become quite inactive. I lead a very busy life but know this is not an excuse for not looking after myself!

I lost 4 stone+ a few years ago through a combination of Weight Watchers and power walking at the gym on treadmills and other cardio work. I don't have the time or funds to commit to a gym and Weight Watchers ended up making me miserable.

I suffer with hunger pangs, have a big appetite and enjoy good food. Although I'm not obese, I am overweight and uncomfortable.

I have tried clean eating, paleo, gluten- free, low carb diets etc and all have been very expensive, unmanageable and have made me miserable. Everything I seem to read conflicts - eat carbs/don't eat carbs etc.

Exercise is a similar picture. Ideally I would like to be slimmer and more toned but read so much conflicting advice. Some sites say running longer distances will get the weight off - others says sprinting is better. I want to do strength training but I'm clueless. I have a treadmill and weights bench at home.

What do you recommend?

Gonzo1987

to lose 1lb you need to burn 3500 more calories than your body needs to use just to survive. This can be through either diet or exercise or a combination of both. If you aren't burning more than you consume you won't lose weight. Exercise will obviously help you along the way by building your muscles etc.

Try an app like myfitnesspal which will help work out your daily calorie target, and stick within that, you could theoretically eat a maccy d's every day and so long as you stuck within your calorie target you'd lose weight (obviously you wouldn't feel all that great, but you get the point)

In my experience trying to cut things out will only set yourself up for fail, everything in moderation is fine.

heartbreak_star

Don't get too hung up on numbers - be that calories, or weight. I've dropped a dress size and put on half a stone since I started powerlifting.

Eat good, clean food that isn't horrendously processed.

With strength training, use bodyweight exercises first. Push-ups, squats, lunges. Concentrate on form. And have a session or two with a trainer who can show you how to use free weights

Good luck!

HBS x

McCreary

I think a fad diet and whole new approach to eating is probably just going to make me miserable. I did purely clean eating for six months and felt a lot healthier but spent so much time preparing food from scratch that it became unmanageable and VERY expensive!

Think I'll just try and track what I am eating with MyFitnessPal and keep the snacking and junk to an absolute minimum.

What about cardio? Running? Sprinting? Walking?

Lizling

Cardio can burn a lot of calories, especially long distance running, but it can also make you very hungry. It also won't work if you're not currently fit enough to actually run long distances, of course! The rule of thumb is that 1 mile will burn about 100 calories, so you'll need to run quite a few to make a difference to your weight.

On the other hand, with running, it's very easy and motivating to see how much you're improving and you will improve very fast to start with. And it's cheap.

I imagine sprinting would have similar benefits to weights sessions - being short bursts of very hard work. It's pretty tough to push yourself that hard on your own though. Cutting out the unhealthy snacks sounds like a good place to start though.

But really, if you don't want to do the type of exercise HBS suggested, maybe just pick one you think you might enjoy enough to stick with it and do that. Anything is a lot better than nothing.


Oh, and on eating clean, it doesn't have to be very expensive. I eat about 90% clean but if you check the grocery challenge threads, you'll see that I spent about £75 last month and expect to do the same again this month. I can't imagine how it'd be cheaper to buy processed stuff.

theoretica

If you want to snack, carrot sticks are cheap, easy to make and carry in a ziplock bag and pretty healthy.

saveallmymoney

I'm having great success using myfitnesspal.com to log all my food and exercise, its pretty much a bullet proof system if you can do it accurately enough.

Within a week or two you'll be able to clearly see what changes you need to make.

delmar39

Hi there. Best of luck with your fitness journey. Lots of factors at play here - time, motivation, body shape and size, tenacity, will power etc etc. I've been exercising regularly for years now. Strangely though I didn't start getting into it seriously until my early twenties and it's become part of my life - that's what it has to become! You have made progress before so you know how it can be done. Running, cycling, press ups, sit ups, walking (fast) - other than investment in equipment/kit is free to do and can be done from your front door (no drive to the gym!). Of course you have a treadmill and weights bench to use. Food wise I eat well in the week, then eat and drink more flexibly at the weekend.


Eating wise, again will power. Don't cut everything out completely or else you'll go mad, but do eat in moderation. As mentioned above eat healthy snacks - oat cakes with topping, carrots, 9 bar is a good energy bar, sunbites instead of crisps, fruit and unsalted nuts, Jaffa cakes to provide energy for exercise.

You have seven days a week - schedule some exercise to suit your routine and stick to it - put this on your fridge or in a prominent place. If you are scheduled to do something on a Tuesday but for whatever reason cannot make it or don't fancy it, shift it to Weds. Yes keep it flexible, but the golden rule is no more than 2 days off exercise. If you think this is extreme, you won't stick to a regular routine and will end up back at square i.e. one day off becomes two, two days off becomes three.....


Sorry to be blunt, but I see so many people who want to do more, start doing something and I know within a few weeks they'll be back doing nothing and all their hardwork is undone. As I said above, exercise is a lifetime commitment which you are either going to commit to or not. I do however know how difficult it is to turn out when you don't really fancy it. I can say though that you'll always be glad that you did do that walk, or run or whatever it is so it really is a case of just doing it.


Just in terms of a gym it might be worth looking at cheap options. For example, I'm a member of a local squash club, which has a small gym. This is £65 for the year £1 for 45 mins lights each use. There are also other cheaper gyms opening up. Might be worth joining a no contract gym to get an expert to sort you out with a programme that you can eventually do at home. That's what I did - simply use the free weight exercises they showed me at the gym at home, although I do also use some machines at the squash club from time to time.

Very best of luck and please do report your progress on here....

freyasmum

McCreary wrote: »

I think a fad diet and whole new approach to eating is probably just going to make me miserable. I did purely clean eating for six months and felt a lot healthier but spent so much time preparing food from scratch that it became unmanageable and VERY expensive!

Think I'll just try and track what I am eating with MyFitnessPal and keep the snacking and junk to an absolute minimum.

What about cardio? Running? Sprinting? Walking?

It's not about faddy diets, it's about changing your lifestyle which, with the greatest of respect, isn't where it should be at the moment.

Eat good meals, big and hearty but don't eat till you're stuffed and lessen the snacking between meals. There's no point working out of you go home and scoff a pack of biscuits after (not saying you do!).

Does your local park have any work out equipment? Ours does. I like to wall there and then use it all. Being outside and in the park makes it seem like not working out!

The more you work out, the more you feel like eating healthily. It happens naturally

purpleshoes_2

Lift weights (heavy), do HIIT (you can get loads of HIIT workouts on youtube) and cut down on processed food. Weights first, cardio second, in that order.

Lifting weights is good for bone health as well.

Theres not really such a thing in the exercise world as toning or being toned. I know people use the word all the time, but there are so many myths about exercise, you'll get classes that promise you you can get toned, sculpted etc, when people are lifting tiny weights, that wont happen.

Its not always about eating less calories either. There are people who have a very low percentage of body fat and muscle definition who actually eat more than their daily calorie needs. Its about the end goal and what you want to achieve.

Genetics play a part as well, some people can do lots of cardio and still end up with good upper body strength but many people will need to lift heavy. The same way that most people cant train hard and eat crap and still look good.

Ive dropped around 52 pounds in a year. I dont cal count, at first I cut my portion sizes, then I did Paleo. Paleo is just clean eating.

As someone else said, its no more expensive than buying a load of junk food. I shop mostly in aldi and local fruit and veg shops. I dont have loads of spare cash and eating clean hasnt been expensive for me.

I do classes like thump boxing (like boxercise but harder), but I started doing metafit (and you'll find similar on youtube) and lifting weights.

Its important also not to over train, rest days are really important as well.
I dont really like WW or slimming world, getting people to eat smaller amounts of what made them fat in the first place isnt that healthy as far as Im concerned (although people do need to live and a treat now and then is fine).

Theres nothing wrong with having hunger pangs, its better having them than stuffing your face so much that you never get them (and Ive been there).

heartbreak_star

I tried a few different diets - strict Paleo didn't work for me as I hate most vegetables, and if I haven't eaten food I like then I don't feel satisfied and end up cheating. I reintroduced a bit more pasta and rice back to my diet and I've dropped 3.5kgs in a month because I don't feel deprived so I'm not cheating all the time

Definitely another vote for heavy weights and bodyweight training too - I find something very satisfying in barbell training.

HBS x