Want to get fit, shead stones and eat healthy for the new year

scholt

Yes - agree that it has to be a lifestyle change. Whatever you choose try and avoid 'I am on a diet/exercise kick' and think 'this is the way I live now'.
That in mind why not try a few new things - exercise classes, trial at a gym and see what you enjoy. You are for more likely to stick at something you enjoy.
Also the more specific your goals are the easier it will be for fitness professionals OR yourself to work towards them.
ie rather than 'I want to lose weight' - perhaps 'I want to lose 1-2lbs per week or I'd like to reduce my body fat % by x' then we can start looking at programming....

flopsy59

i did the 5:2 diet last year and lost over a stone. going to start back on it on monday and i cook our meals from hairy bikers diet books. great meals and all cooked from scratch

puppey

starting small to set up good habits has worked well for myself and some friends, ie first just doing a small walk, but doing it ever day, then after a few weeks increasing it etc etc. After a while its part of your routine and you don't even think about it, just do it. best of luck!

Catcherupper14

I am losing weight and eating better with Slimming World (there is a thread here).


For me it's a gradual process - I need to change my old eating habits and build new healthier ones.
I tried the 5:2 which is a really good way to lose, but because of the medication I take I could not keep it up.


I am gradually building more activity into my life. I walk, am starting pilates and would like to be able to take a Zumba class when I am fitter.


I think the couch to 5K is a good idea.


Anyway - my advice is to take it steady rather than go into it with all guns blazing; build habits and routines and you will make a permanent change.

Credit-Crunched

I agree that it is a gradual process, however, you need to make strict choices on certain things.

You MUST start to exercise, no excuses, this is fundamental in ensuring weight loss, and overall health. Pick something you enjoy doing, it does not have to be hammering a tread mill for hours.

Walk, Run, Swim, Yoha, Pilates, Zumba, Martial arts - anything that gets the hear rate up

Diet

I read so much on these forums, about allowing unlimited amounts of certain foods, such as potatoes?!!!

This is wrong, limit your portion size, and try to have a protein heavy diet, with carbs coming from veg, and other low GI intakes, such as sweet potatoes etc

Avoid fads, anything that promises to detox you etc is nonsense. That is why we have livers and kidneys.

Above all embrace the change, don't get so drastic you dread you meals, or exercise. When you lose a few pounds you will feel great, and want to spur on.

Measure yourself, don't weigh. Weight is such a bad indicator of progress.

As you build muscle mass and lose fat, you may even gain weight. Keep an eye on the inches, waist, bust, arms, thighs etc. This will truly show you the fruits of your labour.

trailingspouse

Gym? exercise? small food portions? no more take aways?

All of the above.

Make it your aim to do something active every day. Yes, it helps to find something you like doing - but you can spend a lot of time looking for that elusive exercise that you just love doing. After all, if you loved exercise, you would be out there doing it. So - try lots of different things, find some that are bearable, and then just do it. It's a bit like maths homework - you don't really need to enjoy it, you just have to do it. But if you do enjoy it, it helps.

As to diet - cut all the carp out, then have sensible portions of the good stuff. And listen to your body - stop eating when you're full. Just stop. Don't feel guilty, don't worry about waste or how much it's cost, or if you're offending the cook. Just stop.

Well done for making a start.

delmar39

Pretty much all been said. Key message appears to be just start doing something and stick at it. I've seen so many people start and make fantastic progress and then they just stop and all their hard work is undone. If there's no medical reason why you cannot exercise safely then you need to start and use your motivation to continue. Why not try running for 20-30 mins easy 2-3 times a week (walk/run if necessary) and put in a longer walk/run say 45 mins easy on a weekend. I know it's hard esp if you're lacking in confidence, but you want to do it so start. Post your progress on here...good luck. Exercise didn't become a habit for me immediately but now it is. Enter a 5k in 2-3 months time, or a 10k and work up to it. Then enter another so you need to keep up the training. Amaze your family and friends with what you can achieve.

purpleshoes_2

The odd takeaway now and then is fine. I haven't had many takeaways over the last 18 months when Ive been losing weight, I think 3 over the festive period, same the previous christmas and new year and none in between. However I have been out for a few meals, sometimes Ive stayed on plan more or less and sometimes I haven't. If I have wanted a bit of junk food I've had it and I've not worried about it.

I try not to waste or chuck food away, I make a lot of soup, I try and avoid a lot of processed foods. I do eat carbs but I don't eat white bread, white pasta, white rice anymore, I also don't eat a lot of wholemeal products either. If I do have the occasional slice of bread it will be rye.

I like my food and I put weight on very easily, I have battled with extra weight on and off for a long time. I've never been on any ridiculous diets, no VLCD diets, tried slimming world briefly and it wasn't for me, but my diet has been a lot worse than it is right now even when I've been very fit.

Lots of people eat junk and do exercise thinking they'll burn off what they consume, they probably won't. They might burn off a quarter of what they consume.

I would try and avoid anything stamped with low fat like the plague. When manufacturers take fat out it has to be replaced with something, that something tends to be sugar. If you can't read something on a label, don't buy it, it won't be good for you.

There's also the school of thought that says when you go on a diet you should cut out fat. Fat isn't actually bad for most people, trans fats are, but saturated, polyunsaturated and mono saturated in the right quantities is fine. Butter rather than margarine, if you put a pack of marg on a worktop and leave it there, it won't go off, that's not a good sign.

Diet drinks are full of nasties if you want one, very very occasionally. Your alcohol intake matters as well, wine, beer, cider, all carb heavy. If you do drink and a lot of healthy eating programmes advise people to cut down on booze, something like vodka or gin and soda would be better.

Ive personally gone through a lot of phases when its come to exercise, I used to do a lot of les mills stuff, mostly attack and step. I now do more HIIT including boxercise type classes, I also lift weights, walk and occasionally swim and do spin classes.

Its also important to try and tailor your eating to your training and if you can get a gym instructor/PT to draw you up a gym programme that's reviewed every 6-8 weeks or so it would keep you focused because after a while your body will get used to what you are doing and you need to shock it into getting results by mixing up your programme.

Also, a lot of people get into the habit of hammering the cardio and not doing any lifting, lifting weights is good for bone density, there are many benefits to a weights/cardio mix, but anything is better than sitting on the couch.

Also, if you hit a plateau don't stress about it. I had times where I was working hard, eating well and nothing moved on the scales but I got over it. I also don't worry if I put weight on, my weight goes up and down a lot anyway, it doesn't take much overeating to show a gain on the scales for me and remember between morning and night people can put on 3-4 pounds in food and water weight.

I dont weigh myself daily, when I do an 8 week bootcamp its once at the beginning and once at the end.

Also, some of the exercise I do, when Im in it, I don't love it, I absolutely hate it but when I'm done I feel great. HIIT isn't easy nor is it meant to be comfortable, but it gets you results.

dawyldthing

delmar39 wrote: »

Pretty much all been said. Key message appears to be just start doing something and stick at it. I've seen so many people start and make fantastic progress and then they just stop and all their hard work is undone. If there's no medical reason why you cannot exercise safely then you need to start and use your motivation to continue. Why not try running for 20-30 mins easy 2-3 times a week (walk/run if necessary) and put in a longer walk/run say 45 mins easy on a weekend. I know it's hard esp if you're lacking in confidence, but you want to do it so start. Post your progress on here...good luck. Exercise didn't become a habit for me immediately but now it is. Enter a 5k in 2-3 months time, or a 10k and work up to it. Then enter another so you need to keep up the training. Amaze your family and friends with what you can achieve.

I second this. I've just seen an old school friend today say she has put on all her weight since having a break from weight watchers. I struggle with my weight, but I got told to eat little and often as it keeps the metabolism going and I do believe it as I didn't eat much and felt light headed but now I eat more regularly it seems to help and my weight is slowly going down.

The other thing is to drink your 2 litres of water a day. It's not easy as it's soo bland, but as I was once told fruit juices aren't good as it loses the vitamins and is unnatural, robinsons and the like aren't good with the added sugar and the like and I could mention the rest. But water is what the body needs, the rest are just our wants. I used to drink vim to and sprite all the time, now I nearly gag if I drink it due to the sugar overload

bugslet

I must be a nutter, I love water - ooo I'm a cheap date:), so I can alwasy smugly tick that box.

In agreement with all the people who say it's important to find something that works for you.

I tried the 5:2 diet and it just didn't gel with me and have gone back to the fast 5.

http://www.fast-5.org/content/summary

There's a free downloadable book there, but in short, you eat within a 5 hour timeframe. For me, once I start eating, I want to carry on, whereas if I don't start, I'm not that fussed till about 2p.m. It also means I can eat chocolate:o. Last time I did it I lost over a stone in 6 weeks ( fell off the wagon when Mr Bugs fell ill).

Food wise, paleo/heavy on protein doesn't work for me because I basically don't like meat and try to cut down on animal products. Also, the longest lived peoples on the planet seem to eat a diet heavy on the veg/fruit side, so I try to replicate that and get about 10-12 portions a day in. But if chicken and steak floats your boat, then go with that.

Exercise, I hate it. I go walking with the dogs, so there goes an hour a day and go dancing once a week. Mate is talking about doing Fitsteps ( more dancing), so I might go in for that as well.

Good luck and if you find one thing isn't working, it just means you are closer to finding a method that does.