Calling Health freaks / Pros

[Samurai]

Need to loose some flab and fast. Went to the doc and had a complete check-up....nothing serious but have been advised to loose some flab. Am probably 7 Kg over-weight for my height/BMI.

I have an extremely hectic work/social life and travel for about half a month each month. Honestly....do not get the time to exercise much.

So need to know...what is the best way to loose a few inches and kilos and fast (if I can put on some muscles on the way....even better).

Am am not much into running/jogging etc. Is there a machine/apparatus I can put @ home that'll help with this?

Thanks & Cheers

[Ztech]

If your goals are more for general weight loss and a fitness routine, I'd suggest getting a book that has examples of basic exercises. Such as push ups/sit ups/pull ups/etc. These exercises are easy to do anywhere, even during travel in hotel rooms, and don't require a membership/equipment/lots of initial outleigh of cash. It will, first, get you to loose some weight and later give you a good foundation for other forms/types of exercises later on down the road. When I'm traveling and can't get to the gym I always try to do a mix lot of push ups/sit ups/pull ups/dips/etc. Doing these basic exercises will surprise you with the results and will get you on a routine of fitness and exercise. Good luck.

[opti]

BMI is a bit of a crock, so dont take it tooo seriously. I am on the border of obese when it comes to BMI, and Im a pretty fit guy, under 10% body fat and athlete level fitness (got 14 on the beep test).

Cardio is best, I know many people hate it hell even I used to hate it but it really does wonders. And once you get into it, you will love it, and start seeing your fitness and appearance improve. If you hate jogging, I recommend getting one of those cross country ski trainer machine thingies, similar motion but without the impact of running. And an exercise bike. I love jogging but that's probably cause Im a soccer player, and its easy to do anywhere, all you need is shoes and shorts.

If you are always in hotels you can use their gyms, treadmills and bikes are standard in most places.

But the hardest think is making time to do it, that is your biggest challenge. You have to discipline yourself and MAKE yourself do it. Once you get into a routine it gets easier, exercise is addictive believe it or not I have a pregnant wife and its killing her not being able to do the things she used to do.

[letter]

What about cycling?

Stationary bike in your bedroom? Wake 30 mins earlier than usual...jump on bike..30mins of slow, steady cardio before breakfast? Whilst watching the news maybe?

Eating correct is just as important.

[cornerstone]

Cutting down on high salt food can help reduce water retention - that can sometimes be a few kilos right there.

On the exercise front it has to be fun. More sex??

[Ronin]

I have an extremely hectic work/social life and travel for about half a month each month. Honestly....do not get the time to exercise much.

I think this is a key item. Having been a road warrior in the past a few things are for certain. 1.) You will eat like $hit, and 2.) Have little time for 'consistent' exercise.

Best tips that worked for me. AVOID the Crapplebee's, TGIVomits, and most chains-- in addition to the fast food places.

Your Fork and Spoon are the best pieces of exercise equipment.

Tips:

1.) Avoid Soda/Pop, any beverage with High Fructose Corn Syrup

2.) Given-- traveling on the road, some "Important Dinners with the customer, boss, team are inevitable". Seriously, attempt to only eat HALF of what you are served. (Resturant portions are way too large. The average single restaurant portion today would feed 4 in the 1970's.)

3.) Avoid the fast food joints or stick with a healthier Subway 6". Better yet if you are flying solo, hit the grocery store, buy some "real food" and DIY, or even some of the healthier prepared stuff.

4.) Take the stairs.

5.) Park furthest from the door.

6.) Time permitting, think old school Gym Class exercises. Jumping Jacks, Sit-ups, Push-Ups.

[Samurai]

Thanks guys. The problem is consistency....exercising the first day is easy...but carrying on that the next day is a pain in the butt .

Let me clarify...I am reasonably fit....but the doc says to loose some more and also loose the love handles

[Cats]

What you eat and how much you move/walk during the day is key.

For me loosing weight is a combination of my eating habit and excersice.

I like the idear of cycling before breakfast watching the news.

End finaally maybe the most important part discipline

Carpe Diem

Cats

[nakortheblue]

If it's just weight loss you are looking for, eating less will help. As long as your input calories are lower than your energy expenditure, you will be losing weight. If you want to lose fat, you gotta stay off the carbs and train hard and hope that you lose fat instead of muscle. YMMV depending on your age, genetic disposition, etc.. In most cases, diet is key, it is pretty difficult to out-exercise a bad diet.

[stilty]

No time for exercise, then focus on your diet.

Cut out SUGARS, processed, and refined foods. It is all [censored]. Have an iphone? get the Nutrition Menu and track what you eat. For me, cutting out excess sugar was huge. No more sugar highs and crashes and I feel like I have more consistent energy. Oh yeah, make sure you eat at least 6 times a day to maintain your blood sugar and so that your body does not go into starvation mode, otherwise, your body will store energy as fat rather then burn it.

And this is a tough one, but try not to eat or drink, other then water, after 7pm.

Eat at 8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm. Six meals a day at 300 calories each = 1800 calories. Stick to that and you will drop some pounds. Add in some exercise and the results will be quicker.

To burn 1lb of fat takes about 3500 calories. cut out 500 calories a day = 3500 calories a week or 1lb. try to fit in some exercise where you burn 500 calories a day, you can easily and SAFELY drop 2lbs a week.

the first two weeks of adjusting your diet are tough, but once you curb your body of old cravings, it isn't that bad.

[lanikai]

You can easily loose 10lbs of water quickly.. the formula for further fat lose is intake > expenditure.

even with a hectic schedule it should not be a problem.. but what is the challenge is the discipline it will take..

your sodium intake will have to be cut out..

dairy products.. fast food is definitely out... Get some protein.. "Ultimate Nutrition GOLD" is good .. it's what I use .. it doesn't have the sugars and fat.. pure protein and it will fill you up..

get a dozen eggs and hard boil it before you sleep.. take it with you in the morning.. throw away the yolk.. the white is what you want for protein... canned tuna is also good ... plain.. with some lemon juice for taste.. carry breathe mints..

Remember ..NOT EATING is worse.. you body will go into survival mode and when you do eat the calories will go to fat storage.. your body will think your starving it and save everything in fat storage..

salads with again lemon juice or wine vinegar..

sodium free rice crackers for snack.. chicken or steak is fine but no mash potato or gravy or salt.. use a little herbal seasoning if you must or curry powder in chicken breast baked.

a small meal every 2 hours will help boost you metabolism.. by meal I mean .. boiled chicken or canned tuna.. with some salad.. no bread stuff.

No fruit after 12pm.. no meal 4 hours before you sleep.. if you eat and sleep the carbs if you have any will go to fat storage since you cannot burn it off..

if you can do at least an hour of cardio.. or burn off 3 to 4 houndred calories that will increase your fat burn..

Oatmeal is a great carb in the morning.. gets me more wired that coffee..

Broccoli, is a good diuretic.. as is watermelon..but watermelon has fructose so none of that after 12 pm.

you want to "graze" on sodium free diary free foods every 2 hours.. it will take some prep before you sleep at night..

never mind the weights for now.. just loose some water weight .. by then your taste buds should be used to (somewhat) the low sodium ... sweets diet.. then the real challenge come into play.. you will crave all kinds of foods.. find alternatives.. like air blown pop corn.. anything to curb your appetite .. drink lots of water.. about a glass every hour.. to loose the water you have to take it in.. after the initial 10 lbs.. you will plateau.. check back after that..

Good luck.. it is not as easy as it sounds.. discipline is a MOF when dieting..

leave yourself a "cheat day".. when you can have a "little" of something you like.. but not in abundance...

Good luck Samu..

You need to vision .. skull and cross bones on the things you are tempted to partake.. it is poison when you are trying to achieve a goal.. to diet down..

the equation we used was intake of 1600 "good calories" expend 600 calories a day .. + 1lb. lose per week.. look at 1 lb of butter.. think of it that way..

if you eat a lot of steamed veggies and chicken and tuna 1600 calories is hard to meet.

but start out slowly.. diving in head first when your not used to this diet will be discouraging..

Luck..

AC/Lani

[Samurai]

Thanks guys. I guess for starters...will try to lessen the portions that I eat and also start on some cardio. Let's see how it goes. The traveling part is the killer....off to Manila next week and NYC the week-after. Guess a proper program will start for me once am back from NY.

[cornerstone]

Wow - excellent info and advice Lani.

[Samurai]

Lani....thanks for the detailed info bro.

Wish there was some low cal weight loosing formula beer in the market

[Limestone]

On the exercise front it has to be fun. More sex??

[bwhitesox]

Thats some good seasoned advice Lani, Spot on.

[valerian]

Great information, Lani. That about sums up what I've been doing the past seven weeks.

I've lost 14 kilogramms (I think that's 24 pounds) during this short period just by changing my eating habits. I'm not going hungry anytime (Lani's hint about the starving problem is absolutely crucial: as soon as you don't eat at all your body will believe he's an starvation and will pack in fat as soon as he get's a little food again!).

I'm on a program called Metabolic Balance but I fear it does not exist in English. It helped me a lot.

Most important: Don't eat too much carbs, go on vegetables and low fat meat. No diet products, they ruin your palate and your metabolism. Carbs are for people who work out or move professionally. Me I'm glued to my office chair or to meeting tables. I won't burn loads of energy.

So no pasta, bread, rice or potatoes but broccoli, chicken and beans. And loads of water!

Best of all: After some weeks you get to eat your favourite soul food again. Just not all the time.

If you're intested read this: Metabolic Balance

Good luck

Val.

[fakemaster]

Eat less than you burn. The pounds will melt away. It wil require no effort on your part. Avtually less because you will be spending less time eating.

[tomhorn]

Lani makes a lot of good points, and I have dropped about 50 lbs in a similar manner. Keeping to a strict regiment while on the road can be tough, so I fall back on three things when on the road.

1) Watch portion size. Obviously I try to pick the right foods also, but at least here in the US the restaurant portions are normally huge. Doing things like eating half of what they bring out, or ordering the smallest cut of meat or fish goes a long way. Most restaurants will oblige you if you ask the server to tell the chef to pick out a small cut, even if there isn't a size option on the menu. Skip the wasted carbs, like bread and ketchup, and avoid the sugary drinks.

2) Make use of the hotel workout facilites. Very few mainstream business hotels are without at least a treadmill or eliptical. Get up 30 minutes early and do a quick cardio work. Or, if the weather is good, run outdoors. Just get in 30 minutes ... it's not that hard to do, even on the road. If you feel the need, you can do basic stuff like situps, crunches and pushups in the room for a little strength and core work.

3) Be careful of the late night dinners. As Lani said, eating late is not good for your weight loss goals. Also be careful about alcohol intake. It's not that you can't have any, just don't over-indulge ... it will be compounded by likely making you want to skip #2.

Edited March 11, 2010 by tomhorn

[gran]

dont forget to make sure that you make sure to get all the minerals and nutrients the muscle needs so you do not loose too much of muscle instead of fat dieting

Myself I try to start with a egg and bacon or something else with a lot of energy/calories in the morning suppressing my appetite for a while so I wont have to eat so much for lunsj and dinner.....I beleive that eating something with sufficent amount of fat and protein in the morning is a good thing and make the body used to burning calories in the long run.....

[lanikai]

When dieting it is more a change of habits and in someways your "lifestyle" of what you are accustomed to

not just what you eat but the mind set behind the food

your looking at changing habits for the long term more than just loosimg weight

oatmeal is best in the am good varna for the day and also a good fat burner

fills you up too

[Samurai]

Thanks for the wonderful advice. Would it make sense if I made a sorta menu for the week and stick to it? If yes, how do I go about this? Best to consult a pro?

[fakemaster]

Not really necessary. Just cut what you eat.

[lanikai]

Thanks for the wonderful advice. Would it make sense if I made a sorta menu for the week and stick to it? If yes, how do I go about this? Best to consult a pro?

Do not whatever you do just not eat.. or just eat less of the same food stuff.. the body will absolutely go into "survival mode".. you may loose some weight in the beginning but that will be just water.. you need to think of it as changing 'habits" and in the long term the way you think of food.. snacks being the worst.. beer is not a bad thing.. but not out of the bottle.. there is 30lbs of carbonation in the bottle.. it will stretch your stomach ergo make you hungrier.

traveling is not a huge problem.. get some protein shakes that are bottled.. muscle milk is a good one.. the dietary stuff has too much sugar.. affecting your blood sugar level,, and as a result your appetite. stay away from that crap..

go on line and google "Ultimate Nutrition Gold".. it is pure whey protein and does not contain the fillers and sugars of other protein.. I buy it buy the 10lb bag.. it will curb your appetite and give you the the protein needed so your body will burn fat .. fat is our source for energy (fuel) and without a planned diet (meals) you body will go into muscle for fuel..

your mindset need to rethink food.. when you order dinner.. chicken breast.. steak.. no gravy.... potato "dry" or with yogurt instead of sour cream..toast is dry.. diary products are out.. diet sodas..crystal light.... lemon with water..

You don't need a personal trainer .. if you are disciplined and stick to your "goal".. a trainer cannot watch what you eat.. discipline is a MOF when dieting.. make short goals.. don't look beyond the day just yet..

Remember it is a lifestyle change and not starvation.. you will falter.. don't beat yourself up.. just get back on track..

Simple carbs are a must.. without them you will get too tired and the brain needs fuel too..

write down what you eat in a normal day.. pm me the list.. we'll go from there..

it helps to have a sounding board..

so let's get you "started"

AC/Lani

[Samurai]

Thanks Lani. Will send you a list of what I normally have in a day with a few variations for different days.

Really appreciate the help and support