Weight loss & cardio advice?

[Danger]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to ask a few questions or get some advice from some of you fitter types out there.

Firstly, my cardio is shot, would walking at a fairly quick pace help at all rather than jogging? I think if I just started out by jogging I'd lose interest pretty quickly due to how unfit I am. I'd eventually like to be able to run for a few k's and not feel like I'm going to die lol.

I've recently started to change my diet, but one of my biggest vices is night time snacks (cheese, chips, etc.), I need to stock up my cupboard with healthier stuff, apart from fruit, what other foods should I be eating as snacks?

Also, would you guys recommend weights, or would I be better doing push ups & sit ups at first, I pretty much want to lose a bit a few kilos before I start doing weights.

And lastly, what are some excercises I could do at home without needing much equipment, I mainly want to focus on my torso as that's where most of my excess weight is.

At the moment, I'm around 180cm's and am around 95kg's, I'd like to get around to the 80kg mark, but my main goal is to boost my cardio. I run like 20 metres for a train and I'm puffing.

Any tips you guys could give me would be much appreciated.

 

[Fire]

Jump rope.

 

[Danish]

Any cardio, including starting out with walking, will help you massively.

There are plenty of "couch to 5k" style programs out there that would help you. The basic idea of them is to start out walking, with a bit of running mixed in. Even if you are really unfit doing something like walk 3 mins, run 1 min x 10 times (so 40 mins total cardio) would be achievable. If you feel really stuffed after 5-6 reps then you can just walk the rest of the time, more important to just keep moving for the 40 mins when you first start out.

then you just start increasing the amount of running every week, usually I'd recommend keeping the 3 mins walk, but adding a minute to the run time. Then when you hit 5 mins running with 3 mins walking, start reducing the walk time. Once you are walking 1 minute for every 5 mins jogging, you start increasing the jog time by 2-3 mins per week. After 2-3 months you'll be running 30 mins straight.

So assuming you do 3 days per week, it would look something like this:

week 1 - 3 min walk, 1 min run x 10 (40 mins)
week 2 - 3 min walk, 2 min run x 8
week 3 - 3 min walk, 3 min run x 7
week 4 - 2 min walk, 3 min run x 8
week 5 - 1 min walk, 3 min run x 10
week 6 - 1 min walk, 4 min run x 8
week 7 - 1 min walk, 5 min run x 7
week 8 - 1 min walk, 7 min run x 5
week 9 - 1 min walk, 9 min run x 4
week 10 - 1 min walk, 12 min run x 3
week 12 - 1 min walk, 15 min run x 2
week 13 - 30 min run (you'll be surprised how easy this is when the time comes)

You may end up improving a lot faster than such a schedule plans for, and if so can always jump ahead a week or 2 to keep pushing yourself. Conversely if you struggled with a week then repeating it the following week is fine too.

Also, give you are starting out quite heavy (I started at 102kg and 5'11) you may want to try and do your running on grass if possible till you drop a few kgs, makes it much easier on the joints. Just running on the council strip is fine. Failing that, run on the road. Asphalt has more give in it than a concrete footpath.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

A friend of a friend of mine made it through direct entry special forces and went from being chubby and unfit to super fit in pretty quick time.. His methods in the beginning were so simple yet effective. He basically ran as far as he could in one direction away from home, then turned around and walked/ran back.. It is simple, but what this does is trains your body to go that bit extra, because you obviously still need to get home and you cant just stop and give up, unless you want to sleep under a tree.

Obviously he did a lot more than that, but that is how he started. There is no science to it, cardio is hard work, and sucks. It hurts. You just need to do it.

 

[Thomas]

A friend of a friend of mine made it through direct entry special forces and went from being chubby and unfit to super fit in pretty quick time.. His methods in the beginning were so simple yet effective. He basically ran as far as he could in one direction away from home, then turned around and walked/ran back.. It is simple, but what this does is trains your body to go that bit extra, because you obviously still need to get home and you cant just stop and give up, unless you want to sleep under a tree.

Obviously he did a lot more than that, but that is how he started. There is no science to it, cardio is hard work, and sucks. It hurts. You just need to do it.

That's a great way to start out running. Every week you run for one or two minutes more.

As for getting your weight down, you won't be able to do it solely with cardio. Start lifting, bro!

 

[Danish]

I disagree. Cardio can be used as the sole exercise for weight loss (thats what i've done).

Only reason to lift is is your want to add strength/definition IMO. Perfectly fine reasons but if you are just looking to drop kgs then cardio is where its at

 

[aqua_duck]

I disagree. Cardio can be used as the sole exercise for weight loss (thats what i've done).

Only reason to lift is is your want to add strength/definition IMO. Perfectly fine reasons but if you are just looking to drop kgs then cardio is where its at

Cardio alone is ok but I'm not sure how many people aspire to look like marathon runners

 

[adamkungl]

I disagree. Cardio can be used as the sole exercise for weight loss (thats what i've done).

Only reason to lift is is your want to add strength/definition IMO. Perfectly fine reasons but if you are just looking to drop kgs then cardio is where its at

Nah. Increasing your muscle mass results in you burning more energy when you're inactive.

In answer to all your questions.

Jog. As much as you can. Then walk, then jog more. But just walking is basically a waste of time unless you're physically incapable of jogging.

Honestly, don't buy snacks that aren't fruit, or f**king carrots or some bullshit. Don't buy chips, or chocolate, or lollies, or fizzy drinks, etc. If they aren't in your house, you can't eat them on a whim.

I'd recommend something like weights twice a week, cardio twice a week.

As traumatic as this is... don't eat pizza. It's literally the most calorie dense, unfilling pile of awesome in existence. No one's actually full from half a pizza right? 1000 calories, bam. 2000 for the whole thing, thats an average persons daily intake.

Also, read this, it's super useful:

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/

 

[Fire]

Jump rope and buy a "Power Tower".

 

[Fire]

Buy your Power Tower here http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GENKI-Kn...n_15&hash=item5aec160e3b&_uhb=1#ht_2746wt_978

 

[Snoochies]

If you want to lose weight and are happy losing both muscle and fat then definitely run. As long as you are burning more calories than you are taking in, you will lose weight. If you don't eat enough (restrict calories) your body needs a source of energy and it will get it from either fat or muscle, your body doesn't care where the energy comes from, it will happily dive into muscle and fat stores to get energy. If you want to keep muscle, then you need to lift weights which will at best maintain the muscle you already have. By doing weights you are forcing your body to consume fat for energy if you are in a calorie defecit.

At the end of the day, as long as the energy out is greater than energy in, you will lose weight. You can run til the cows come home but if your calorie intake is greater than what you are burning, you'll have a hard time to get the goal you want, so stay of those cheese bites and what not.

 

[Danish]

Cardio alone is ok but I'm not sure how many people aspire to look like marathon runners

Which is why I said lifting weights has its own benefits in gaining strength and definition.

The athletes who have to maintain the lowest body fat percentage they can generally don't lift much if at all (tennis players, distance runners etc). The obvious exception being boxers who must lift to maintain their strength although none of them worry about muscle size as such, just power... unless they are trying to gain weight to move up a division.

 

[Cletus]

Nah. Increasing your muscle mass results in you burning more energy when you're inactive.

In answer to all your questions.

Jog. As much as you can. Then walk, then jog more. But just walking is basically a waste of time unless you're physically incapable of jogging.

Honestly, don't buy snacks that aren't fruit, or f**king carrots or some bullshit. Don't buy chips, or chocolate, or lollies, or fizzy drinks, etc. If they aren't in your house, you can't eat them on a whim.

I'd recommend something like weights twice a week, cardio twice a week.

As traumatic as this is... don't eat pizza. It's literally the most calorie dense, unfilling pile of awesome in existence. No one's actually full from half a pizza right? 1000 calories, bam. 2000 for the whole thing, thats an average persons daily intake.

Also, read this, it's super useful:

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/

Yeah no chips or coke the amount of energy in them is ridiculous. Cut down on your alcohol as well. If you buy coffee try black coffee instead. Just remember it takes a while to lose weight so you have to change your diet to something you can live with rather than 'dieting'. I definitely think you should do weights and cardio because you should be able to maintain your weight better if you increase your muscle mass.

 

[Spot On]

Which is why I said lifting weights has its own benefits in gaining strength and definition.

The athletes who have to maintain the lowest body fat percentage they can generally don't lift much if at all (tennis players, distance runners etc). The obvious exception being boxers who must lift to maintain their strength although none of them worry about muscle size as such, just power... unless they are trying to gain weight to move up a division.

There's a few female tennis players who definitely don't maintain the lowest body fat percentage they can.

 

[Thomas]

I'm fairly certain someone like Nadal smashes things up in the gym.

 

[Danger]

Thanks heaps for all the advice.

Ive banned myself from fizzy drinks, chips & chocolate. I drank a shitload of water yesterday & I felt I wasn't as hungry as normal, which was helpful. If I were to buy snack food, would things like unsalted cashews or sultanas be a good option?

 

[Snoochies]

Thanks heaps for all the advice.

Ive banned myself from fizzy drinks, chips & chocolate. I drank a shitload of water yesterday & I felt I wasn't as hungry as normal, which was helpful. If I were to buy snack food, would things like unsalted cashews or sultanas be a good option?

I eat fruit and almonds. Only a handful of almonds though, very high calories but contain alot of good stuff.

 

[Cletus]

They're very high in fat, around 50% for most of them so I wouldn't reccommend them. I tend to scoff them though but if you can eat just a handful then go for it. Fruit would be better.
And when your doing exercise try to find something you actually enjoy doing. Going to the beach for a swim, bushwalking just some kind of physical activity rather than hitting the gym straight away or killing yourself jogging.

 

[bileduct]

Thanks heaps for all the advice.

Ive banned myself from fizzy drinks, chips & chocolate. I drank a shitload of water yesterday & I felt I wasn't as hungry as normal, which was helpful. If I were to buy snack food, would things like unsalted cashews or sultanas be a good option?

There's no need to fully ban them, just cut them way back. Have one or two meals a week where you treat yourself, but in moderation. Sure pizza is packed full of carbs but one or two slices a week isn't going to derail your whole fitness agenda. Completely restricting yourself from enjoyable foods is destined for distaster unless you are a very disciplined person.

Honestly, losing weight is about getting regular sleep, eating regular protein based meals and keeping yourself moving as much as possible. It doesn't require large amounts of time in the gym, or any at all, in fact. You need to make a change in your daily routine that is permanent and sustainable that involves more walking and generally keeping your body moving.

Get a bike and ride those short to medium distances you would normally drive. If you catch a bus or a train, if it's possible, try getting off a stop earlier and walking the rest of the way.

Whatever you do it needs to be something you are happy to continue doing even when you've reached your desired weight loss. Otherwise you'll just get back into bad habits and end up back where you started.

 

[Danish]

There's a few female tennis players who definitely don't maintain the lowest body fat percentage they can.

Female tennis is a f**king joke. If it had to stand on its own and not just ride on the coat tails of the male tour they'd be lucky to get a tenth of the ratings they do and their prize money would be two tenths of f**k all.

I'm fairly certain someone like Nadal smashes things up in the gym.

Only since he went all pretty boy and decided he needed symmetry.

4-5 years ago he just had one giant bicep (his racquet arm) while the other was skinny as