How to lose weight....

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: shortspanishguy

Originally posted by: meltdown75
I need to incorporate some of the diet aspects that you mentioned, OP. Probably starting out with some cereal would be good. I was checking out the nutritional guide from Tim Horton's donut shop the other day and a lot of the things that I eat there contain a ton of fat (even coffee w/ creams and sugars!).

Right now I just do 100 physio ball crunches (5x20) every other night (play hockey 3 times a week for my cardio). I also do curls and some other weight exercises on the physio ball. This "workout" takes about 45 minutes.

Basically I am just looking to strengthen my core to improve balance and for overall well-being. I'm looking to tone up the muscle I do have rather than build more or lose weight. Any additional tips for that (anyone)?

Toning muscle is losing fat that covers the muscle giving you a "toned" look. That would make losing weight important for you.

Hey... I never thought of it that way. I guess that makes sense. I guess I can't tone my fat can I?

 

[amicold]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
It's officially starting to warm up again. We had a short winter here, but I'm trying to lose the winter coat I put on over the holidays. I kind of had a triple-whammy cause I got married in late September, have had really hard grad-school classes, and the Holiday foods!

Anyhow, I'm about 10-15 pounds over what I really want to be. I want to tone up the old muscles while I'm at it. What I was going to say is that I have 2 secrets that I wanted to share. They are both theories and facts that help me lose weight any time I want to, but they take a lot of dedication and aren't easy to do all of the time because of the time involved.

1. Diet: Basically, I try to incorporate as many fruits and vegetables into my diet as possible. This is to boost my soluable fiber. I eat milk and cereal in my diet every morning to get insoluable fiber. (fiberone, AllBran, or Kashi's GoLean Crunch) All have around 14g of dietary fiber. Shoot for 40+ grams of fiber a day. Don't drink soda and stay away from anything but skim milk. Water, small amounts of Orange Juice, Light Soy Milk, V8, and Prune Juice.

The fiber is IMPORTANT. If you eat over 40 grams of fiber a day through eating fruits and vegetables, you'll basically be losing 800 calories or more simply because they carry them out of your body through digestion. This is like swimming 2 hours a day and all you're doing is eating properly.


2. Run and lift weights. This is pretty basic, but here's a twist. Never lift weights with your legs. They get plenty of workout from the running and my track coach used to say that it was damaging to your joints to lift with your legs....you use them a lot more than your arms (constant working on them just to walk....)

The key to losing weight fast in running is to split your running up into 2-3 runs/day. This is difficult for most people, but if you're wanting to really lose.....try it. Each run should be for no more than 12-14 minutes. You can do the same thing on a treadmill. You just have to get to your target heartrate. This whole plan is based on the bell curve. When you run, you are going to gain more in the first 12-14 minutes of running and from there on, your return on the time investment will continue to diminish. So why keep doing it? Save time and hit the showers for now....then hit it again later.

I have lost as much as 6 pounds in a week by running 3 days a week / 3 times a day. (morning, lunch, night) This would normally be unhealthy, but I did not starve myself. I ate more, in-fact. The bell curve method works and I was only running 6 miles. (2-7 minute miles per run) It turns out to equal 1, 10 mile run/day.

These are just things to consider. Good luck and I can't wait for Spring to get here!

Possibly the dumbest bit of advice ever given. Why are you lifting weights if you're not going to train the most important half of the body?


Edit: May I add that I became faster when I started working my legs. Everyone says their legs are huge until they actually squat/deadlifts/whatever and put on some serious leg mass.