Diet and workout

Work on adding lean mass (muscle). This adds to your calorie expenditure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatDane 

Work on adding lean mass (muscle). This adds to your calorie expenditure.

I agree to add to it do some cardio about half hour a day to raise your metabolism.

Hello PCF,

I am somewhat of a fitness maven, and here is my opinion on the matter. You should not worry too much about what you ate on the weekend to celebrate. If you go to the gym consistently, like 4-6 days a week, you can definitely give yourself a little treat on the weekends. To build up a base of fitness, you don't even need to go to the gym. Try walking on a bike path or running barefoot on grass. You should also try to avoid processed food, any form of white bread, and candy if you are concerned about your health. Instead, build your meals around healthy staples such as eggs, whole grains, nuts and nut butters, vegetables, fruits, and basically anything natural (unprocessed). Back to fitness, building some muscle is a great idea as one pound is estimated to burn off 25-50 extra calories per day. This, of course, can be accomplished by lifting weights, but you have to start off extremely slowly if you are a beginner. Try to do the exercises without weights at first, and if you feel pain, stop that exercise. The exercises that will give you the most strength and muscle are called compound exercises, and involve lifting using more than one joint. Examples are the squat, lunge, deadlift, chin-up or pull-up, shoulder press, row, and of course, the bench press.

Get someone experienced to help you out, or look up the exercises on a reputable site. Just don't adopt a "No Pain, No Gain" attitude if you are just beginning. If you need any more tips just ask.

George

Also, I would like to add that your health and fitness depends significantly more on what and how you eat than on how much you excercise.

Go Atkins, with no simple carbs at all; add a few whole grains (complex carbs) once in awhile if you like but it's unnecessary for good health. No starches means no weight gain. Most people don't know that you can actually lose weight on a high fat diet, as long as you are eating the right kind of fats. It's the carbs that are the killer.

Growing up I was always a "chubby" kid. At age 14, the doctors told my parents I was actually at risk of having a heart attack. Things didn't really improve for a while; I made a lot of half hearted attempts to lose weight, but none of them ever stuck. It wasn't until a few years ago that I finally found the motivation to clean myself up. I fixed my diet, started getting exercise instead of sitting on my butt all day, just little steps at a time... and a year later I was down 50 lbs and in the best shape of my life.

I didn't even do anything crazy. Stopped eating junk food and fast food, cut out soft drinks, drank more water, ate small meals regularly. I never went to the gym, just went for walks and eventually light jogs around the neighbourhood, maybe 15 minutes of light weights twice a week.

edit: wooo 1000th post!

The concept of losing weight is actually very simple, within 1 month you can lose up to 10 lbs. It's the process that's challenging. Keep your protein level high for muscle retaining, and fat and calorie intake low + 15-20 min of cardio, and you'll be set. Just really start planning out your diets. 6 small meals daily is ideal, but even 3 would suffice if you follow those guidelines. The main issue here is a lot of us have no self control when it comes to eating the food we want to eat and not eating the food we need to eat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaggy 

Also, I would like to add that your health and fitness depends significantly more on what and how you eat than on how much you excercise.

I'm in this camp. Not that it matters to this group, but some people eat worse when then exercise. Of course, the best approach is the three pronged diet, resistance, and cardio. But if only one, make it diet, preferably lean meat, fresh fruit, and fresh veggies.

Also age is an important factor, If you guys are young, enjoy it. Diet and discipline is doubly more important once past the big 3 0.
 

Some good links related to dieting and muscle gain

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f15/d-s-faq-useful-threads-read-before-posting-718093/

http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10

The whole meal thing is still being disputed (at least in regards to weight loss), the consensus is that total calories/food type, regardless of the number of meals, is most important. So do whatever works best for you as an individual. 

As for sheer weight loss... just eat less than maintenance level and workout as much as you can. If you're a big snacker, cut out on the sweets and calorie-high drinks. Hell after awhile your craving for them becomes less. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia 
 If you're a big snacker, cut out on the sweets and calorie-high drinks. Hell after awhile your craving for them becomes less. 

Absolutely. After just a couple months of eating "healthy", my cravings for sodas and burgers etc dropped significantly. I still have a weakness for chips, but I think that's just a salt thing (my worst snack vice is roasted/salted pistachios).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepsi 

Keep your protein level high for muscle retaining, and fat and calorie intake low + 15-20 min of cardio, and you'll be set.

If you want more sustained exercise, you will need energy. Your body's first choice for energy is fat, so if you want to limit your fat consumption at least consume it before exercising so you have the energy. Glucose can spark the fuse, but for energy your body needs fat. You can "carb load" the night before with whole grain pasta for even more sustained energy. Protein should be consumed post-workout to be available for muscle development, which occurs after you break those muscles down while they are self-repairing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grokit 

 

If you want more sustained exercise, you will need energy. Your body's first choice for energy is fat, so if you want to limit your fat consumption at least consume it before exercising so you have the energy. Glucose can spark the fuse, but for energy your body needs fat. You can "carb load" the night before with whole grain pasta for even more sustained energy. Protein should be consumed post-workout to be available for muscle development, which occurs after you break those muscles down while they are self-repairing.

Your body will actually try to retain a percentage of fat and will resort to burning muscle tissue to achieve it,an average human needs very little food to sustain him,he might not look as good as the muscle bound chimp next to him but he will actually be a lot healthier.

If you eat properly you will NOT put on weight so you will not have to resort to all the weird and wonderful ways that people devise to get rid of it.