What are your eating habits like?
First my diet advice.
Eat smarter. I'm lucky, I love pasta. It's piss easy to make, and you can eat it with a different sauce or topping for every day of the week. Though I don't recomend it.
Eat when you're supposed to eat, not when your hungry. I was raised on this rule, it works. Eat a good breakfast, a good lunch, a good evening meal. Snack inbetween, fine, but don't start making a sandwhich cause your hungry at 5pm and you'll have dinner ready at 6pm.
Drink lots of water. Don't drown yourself, but have a drink of water if you're feelin a little peckish between meals. Sometimes its just enough to fill.
Don't eat stuff you don't like, it's just not worth it and it won't give you a long term plan.
Exercise.
Probably best to keep it low impact if your overweight, so cyclng, cross trainer, walking, swimming. Jogging is great if you enjoy it, but get some running shoes, don't have to be expensive and not recomended if you're too heavy.
Weights are good, but the least of your worries if your looking to fat. Admittadley more muscle burns more calories but you'd be better off investing your time elsewhere unless you want to come away with better tone.
But whatever you do, find stuff, things, exercises you don't see as a chore, otehrwise you'll reach your target weight then get fed up of it and gain weight again.
I'd find the activity that works best for you and stick with it until you're in the shape to begin the hard stuff.
Biking seems to work well for you based on your experience with college. 👍
Try to make an hour of your day availible for biking (best in the morning).
I can testify to the affectiveness of biking, only 1 summer, 1,500 miles, and Louisiana's hot sun took me from 250lbs to 210lbs. (now I'm back up to 250lbs.
).
Running is also a great workout but the stress by comparison to biking is easily double, the knees, ankles, and feet take far too much of a pounding when you run but biking has none of that (although it's a real pain the butt sometimes
).
Swimming would be ideal but that's out of the question based on your location and time of year.
Jumping rope along with assorted stationary excises might be good but that can get boring quick.
The key is Cardio (as others have said). Stick to cardio and you'll drop the pound quick. 👍 Good luck.
Id recommend that whatever you decide to do, dont use the gym. The gym is great for anaerobic exercise (well, for most people its the only option for anaerobic exercise), but unless its raining or snowing, you should do aerobic exercises outside. Running 10 minutes on a treadmill is boring as hell, even if you have an iPod, but running outside is so much more enjoyable that the miles just roll by.
Splended advice right here! 👍
The training you guys do pretty much sounds the same as what I'm doing. I'm running 30 minutes every day, except for the weekends, a man needs rest
I also swim on Fridays and once the snow is gone, I'm back to cycling, badminton and playing tennis 👍
This time last year I was 258lbs. As of today I am 208lbs. Here's how I did it:
- No soft drinks (occasional diet soft drinks are acceptable)
- No beer
- Reduce (processed) sugar consumption to below 10% of recommended DV (daily value)
- Eat fruits and vegitables daily--and at least a few times a month REPLACE an entire meal with a selection of friuts and veggies
- Drink fresh non-processed/concentrate fruit juice
- Cut sodium intake by 50%
- Restrict fast food to once every 3 weeks as a "reward" (but you'll find out that once you stop eating fast food you'll grow away from liking it)
- Stop eating ice cream <-- that was the hardest part for me
- Eat foods with very high fiber and protein
- Aviod anything that comes from a Pig
- Reduce beef intake by 75%
- Increase chicken and turkey intake by 200% (not fried)
- Drink 8oz of water before, during, and after a meal (you can drink whatever you want during--but the 8oz before/after is important)
- Refrain from eating 3~4hours before bed--if you are hungry drink ice water--more ice than water
- Aviod bananas and other foods with a high glycemic indexes [http://www.glycemicindex.com/]
- Do not eat carrots or celery
- Take some vitamin suppliments--but not daily, every other day and besure to eat before or immediately after taking
- Remove any desire for mayonaise, ranch dressing, and any sort of condiment that has a sort of dressing or mayomnaise--mustard and honey mustard with no dressing and ketchup will be your best friends
- After the first month of a new diet start using resistance bands to build up lean muscle--which is the most efficiant way to burn fat-even while you sleep!
- Exercise periodically throughout the week--never "over" exercise as that can actually increase weight and volume of your bodysize (with muscle)
- Once you hit the first weight-loss "barrier" (the point where you lose no more weight) increase the period of resistance band usage and increase the resistance every week
- Try eating slowly, trust me if you have an hour for lunch take 45 minutes to eat it
- If possible eat a fist sized meal every ~3 hours high in protein and fiber
- Again, I can't stress enough the importance of not eating or drinking before going to sleep
- *edit*Honey is free, its good for you and you can eat as much as you like--use this to sweeten any foods that you don't normally prefer in a fresh state
There are alot more "little" things I did too
*edit*
I forgot to mention I went from a 42" waist to a 36" waist.
*edit2*
Resistance bands should be your first exercise method choice. They are much less impact than lifting weights, running, and pretty much any of the "conventional" exercises.
This sounds a little too strict in my opinion, but hey, it worked for you, a 👍 for that
There are a lot people that try to loose weight by not eating anything, and trying to train a lot. That's the worst thing you can possibly do since you'll have no energy, and that day will come that you'll just fall to the floor trying to get your feet off the ground...
My exercise routine normally consists of about an hour cardio Monday to Friday. After the cardio I generally do free weights (nothing really heavy), just enough to start toning.
Your really going to have to regular cardio in. Rowing, cycling, running are all good. If you get bored, do half an hour cycling then half an hour running.
Diet wise, I generally eat very heathily, normally fruit in the morning. Sandwiches consist of brown bread, minimal spread of butter and normally chicken salad. If you are going to eat pasta, buy wholemeal as white pasta is normally refined. It's good to have snacks in between meals, I usually have rice cakes, raisins in yoghurt coating etc. When you start exercising you may find that your energy levels are really low. Try having a banana about an hour before as it's good for slow energy release. Don't forget to drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise.
Apart from that your going to have to get exercising and burn plenty of calories.
Same as as in the beginning, excellent advice
@JCE: Great advise on weight loss. What's your brother say about more smaller meals during the day, like 5-6 meals to help increase the body's metabolism?
Basic rules of diet/nutrition and exercise can produce healthy results.
I try to eat 5-6 times a day as well, though the portions are not so large...
I also drink lots of water, so much I'm beginning to think; Is 3 litres a day too much?
Not kidding now
What's wrong with carrots?
Nothing. They're delicious, and extremely healthy.
Also, about bananas, don't worry waiting an hour, it'll be gone. A banana is probably the best thing on earth to get energy, fast. Take one, and go out there 👍
Also, the training must suit you, don't try and impress others, do as it suits your body best. When you feel tired, REST. Don't begin to press yourself to run or whatever. Remember, training breaks down muscles, muscles build up again when you are resting after your training, so don't run an hour for 7 days a week, you'll never be able to keep it going.
Good luck 👍
