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Hey guys, this will be brief but I want to get more fit. I'm currently, I haven't weighed myself in awhile, but around 20-30 lbs overweight (give or take) and really want to tone it down.
I eat unhealthy (as well as drink), have a silly sleep schedule and I do no physical activity; before you say anything I know that these three things have to change and I have been putting it off for to long now and I'm looking for help, extensive google searching has brought me to the same "I'll do it tmr philosophy" and it hasn't gotten done for 2-3 months now.
What I'm hoping you guys can provide (as, tbh, I've never once looked into or tried) is what to eat and a healthy workout schedule to go over. I'm not afraid to do a lot of running, about 3 months ago I was living on Campus and went to the gym 2-3 times a week and ran 40 minutes (approx ran 7.3 - 7.4 km each 40 minute run) then did about a half hour of upper body and finished with stretches etc so activity I'm not afraid of.
I am putting together a grocery list, preferably cheap, and no matter how bad tasting it might be I'm prepared to go through the paces. I eat quite a bit but I think that's mainly because I eat once or twice a day in big amounts and as such I feel compelled always to eat a lot.
So if you guys can kinda put something together for me, just a "here's what you eat everyday" I'll commit myself to it and each month (at the end) I'll post a picture of my improvement. I plan on being completely physically fit by the end of August (approx 2 months) so I plan on going balls to the walls.
Thanks!
 
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try the health and fitness subforum under sports and games. A lot of people there are very nice and help out a ton!
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Money can be a good motivator. Go get a gym membership. Now everyday not spent lifting is cash going down the drain.
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On June 15 2013 15:46 Hitch-22 wrote:
I am putting together a grocery list, preferably cheap, and no matter how bad tasting it might be I'm prepared to go through
Thanks!
that's totally the wrong attitude. if you try it that way you will fall back into your old habits soon. try to appreciate other more healthy foods, forcing it down will only work so long
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You want to lose weight? Eat less. The amount of calories you take in must be smaller than the amount of calories you burn.
That's all there is to it. You can lose weight only eating pizza's and Mcdonalds. This realization is the most crucial aspect of weight loss. Everybody that wants to lose weight says that they'll do it by eating healthier. You won't lose weight by eating healthier, you lose weight by eating less. Altough, eating less is easier when you are eating more healthier foods.
If you want to get more healthier in general. Go do some exercise as well. But remember. It's much easier to not eat that chocolate bar with 300/400 calories than to exercise for an hour. Honestly. Losing weight isn't that hard.
Estimate the amount of calories you burn each day, eat 500 calories less than that and the pounds will fly off. Track you calories with MyFitnessPal. If you want to get stronger or more muscular. Go read into Starting Strength or Stronglifts. If you do one of these programs, and run a couple of times a week whilst keeping a close eye on your calories. You will achieve your goals in about 3 months. I know I did. Altough I actually tried to gain weight instead of losing it. Now go do some research in the Health and Fitness forum. Look into the things I told you, and figure out what you want. We can only guide you. It's all up to you in the end.
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One of the easiest ways to not be overwhelmed with eating healthy is start heading to local farmers markets. If that isn't an option, one of the best ways to buy foods at the store is to do the circuit.
IE: Avoid everything in the aisles (almost all processed, high calorie trash), and make the circle around the edges of the store. You'll hit up the produce section (load up on your favorite fruits and veggies), the meat section (load up on lean meats, chicken - turkey, etc.), and the dairy section (low-fat yogurts, etc).
Also, avoid the idea that if you exercise you can eat anything you want. Ask any body-builder or fitness expert, its like an 80-20 rule. 80% of how healthy you are, and how you look (weight, body composition) is diet. The other 20% is exercise, which is pretty easy - 1 hour a day weights, and a warm up and cool-down session of cardio. On your off-days I would suggest some flexibility training.
Neat little challenge to get your mind in the right process on what you should eat. Lets go with an OLD rule of 2000 calories a day right? Buy 2000 calories worth of vegetables and try to eat them in one day. You'll be pretty amazed. The next thought is HOW ON EARTH do they pack processed foods with so much crap?
Want to know how many apples you would have to eat to equal a single big-mac (550 cal)? Almost 8 average sized apples. Which one do you think will fill you up more?
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If he's doing a serious program with compound lifts one hour a day or weightlifting is too much. I'd recommend 3/4 times a week(Starting strength or Stronglifts) and run on the off days.
Random tip: Drink a lot of water if you are trying to lose weight. It'll fill you up, and the brain sometimes mistakes being thirsty with being hungry.
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I know you mentioned it in your post, but be damn sure to keep up with the stretching. When I was doing intense exercise 5 days a week (college varsity sports team) sometimes I skimped on the stretching and it can really injure you over the long term, and you risk pulling/straining/spraining muscles right then and there. To add to that, once I graduated and started just sitting around all day, I'm really sore and stiff all the time and its quite painful. So that's one habit you must absolutely not drop, in my experience. At least a little both before and after exercise, and in variety, don't miss any part of your body.
In terms of workouts, the main advice I have is to mix it up from time to time. This might not apply for you, but I personally get bored just doing the same thing over and over again (though if you get a good music playlist that helps). So some days running, some days the elliptical machine, some days biking, if you can some days swimming maybe, and then mixing in the weights machine too. Good luck!
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If you're just getting started with a new fitness program, I'd recommend that you take it very easy for the first 3 - 4 weeks. Not because your body couldn't handle more difficult workouts, but because the primary issue for most people when they start getting into shape is psychological//motivational, not physical.
So take small, sustainable steps. I'd start with something very simple and always do-able: walk 30 minutes every day. Do this for several weeks. Religiously. Then, after you've built up the habit a bit, you can incrementally increase your intensity (via, for example, inserting 30 second runs in the walk).
Also, no more soda. If you drink a lot of soda now, cut it in half day 1. Then incrementally work you way down to zero. Substitute with water.
All the best!!
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Instead of what you asked for, here's your full program by your epic certified sensugashinatomi* trainer Stratos
1. Fix your sleeping schedule.
2. Start moving more.
3. Don't go into extremes.
Start today instead of covering up your "I'll do it tmr philosophy" with this blog. Figure out the details as you go or come back after a few weeks if there are any problems to solve. Not having everything planned ahead is not an excuse to waste another day.
*this word, unlike your procrastination, doesn't exist
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I'd get gloves, a bunching bag and a dumbbell with some weight plates.
Look up some exercises for dumbbells for different muscle groups on bodybuilding.com or a similar site.
Add some bodyweight exercises like situps and pushups(do the maximum you can of those in the first week with 3 sets and then I like to add 1 pushup, situp more per week) so you end up with around 40 minutes of exercises then do 20 minutes punching bag, which is a nice mix of strength and cardio, I mean you can go running too, but it's really fucking boring imo. Do this every day, first 2 weeks might be hard but afterwards it really helps that you do it daily that you won't get lazy and lose motivation. Don't work the same muscle groups 2 days in a row, let them rest 48 hours and do some other exercises with weights, punching bag is okay every day, unless your wrists start hurting.
Diet wise, everybody knows whats healthy and what is not, right?
Take your time to cook your own meals. Whats fast and easy is just a pan with mixed vegatables and some kind of meat and some spices of your choice.
Oh and drink only water! If you drink a lot of soda or juices right now, this alone will cause you to lose 10kg or something like that ^^
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healthy food aint gonna come cheap....like fruits is on my top 5 list of healthiest things you can put in your body, and fruit is absolutely attrociously expensive. If you want to eat healthy, youre likely going to be shelling out bigger bucks.
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On June 16 2013 04:07 Stratos wrote:
Instead of what you asked for, here's your full program by your epic certified sensugashinatomi* trainer Stratos
1. Fix your sleeping schedule.
2. Start moving more.
3. Don't go into extremes.
Start today instead of covering up your "I'll do it tmr philosophy" with this blog. Figure out the details as you go or come back after a few weeks if there are any problems to solve. Not having everything planned ahead is not an excuse to waste another day.
*this word, unlike your procrastination, doesn't exist
This is the biggest problem I had with this blog as well. It's why I very much doubt he will succeed. The other problem I have with these types of blogs are that if you tell people your goals you are less likely to achieve them.
like fruits is on my top 5 list of healthiest things you can put in your body
Most fruits aren't all that healthy. Tons of sugar.
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use one of the many calculators you can find on google to calculate your TDEE (search fot TDEE calculator)
subtract 500 from that and you eat that many calories per day to lose about 1 pound per week. subtract 1000 and you will lose about 2 pounds per week
for macronutrients, i like 40/30/30 (protein/carb/fat) but everyone has their own preference on it. eat something reasonable and within your TDEE-500/1000 and you will be OK (myfitnesspal.com is a wonderful tool for everything food)
i recommend strength training (starting strength or stronglifts are both great beginner lifting routines) and maybe some HIIT cardio as well
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According to the studies:
-High protein diet
-High monounsaturated fat diet
-High fiber/plant diet
-Low junk food diet
All of these contribute to reduced body fat and/or improved health.
Buy stuff on sale.
Lift weights and do cardio.
Make goals and stick to them.
Etc etc
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low term weight loss you need to change your eating patterns. when you eat big meals you slow your metabolism down which is bad to lose weight. if you eat 6 times a day with little meals and keep you metabolism going you will see results when you eat the right food and have enough exercise. good luck because weight loss is easy, but harder to keep the pounds off if you starve yourself or eat food you dont like because you will go back to your old habits.
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Oh the irony. Too lazy to begin. OP believes the solution is a schedule. Too lazy to research a schedule. OP is doomed to fail.
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Analysis paralysis in 1 blog.
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I started running 5 days a week and eating healthy and I lost 20kgs in 6 months and honestly it was a breeze
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Thanks for everyone's advice, I went into the local farmers market and just (skimping as much as possible haha) spent a few hundred on lean meats and other assorted goods and split up my meals today.
Also went for my first run today and set my alarm for 8:00AM tmr to hit it again.
I'll be posting my weight and images at the end of the month as a starting point and then follow suit for the next few months. I put down the first bag of chips I opened without taking a single one (probably staled the bag a bit hahaha, sucks for the next person going to eat them) today and only drank water so we're off to a good start.
To everyone being a bit of a dick, I can see the irony of my post (as I did before I posted it) but to some of your surprise its nice hearing others give advice as it can be easier to follow; try not to be such a prick in a blog about losing weight, I see no gain from it and unless you do, try to avoid it please.
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Northern Ireland25694 Posts
I'd rather you didn't. I don't want my illusion of you being physically identical to the great Hitch to be shattered, how I do miss that fiery fulminator 
In all seriousness, good luck with the endeavour.
To posts like 'too lazy to research', it's not necessarily laziness at all. The internet has a metric fuckton of advice that is often conflicting, and there is a ton of it to sift through. Getting some kind of input back to your exact issue, and being able to question those giving the advice is invaluable.
TLers are pretty sick for this, when my dad died for example, despite a few 'why did you ask here?' I got some invaluable advice on funeral etiquette, eulogies and stuff like that that I didn't really get elsewhere.
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On June 16 2013 12:38 Hitch-22 wrote:
Thanks for everyone's advice, I went into the local farmers market and just (skimping as much as possible haha) spent a few hundred on lean meats and other assorted goods and split up my meals today.
You spent a few hundred dollars on meat in one shopping trip? Got an army to feed hah?
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On June 16 2013 05:11 Recognizable wrote:Show nested quote +like fruits is on my top 5 list of healthiest things you can put in your body Most fruits aren't all that healthy. Tons of sugar.
I'm guessing that you don't eat much fruit XD
How did you form this opinion? Is it an extrapolation from conclusions regarding processed sugars?
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I was struggling with my abs for the longest time, I'd been lifting, running and working my abs for probably 3-4 months and while I was losing weight and looking leaner, I couldn't seem to get my abs to show.
Dropping soda is probably the best thing I'd ever done for my body. So many empty calories from that sugar. I swapped almost exclusively to water, drinking only V8 and unsweetened iced tea whenever I wanted something with some flavor (every now and then I'll squeeze a lemon into my tea).
Not only did I see results in only a week, I dropped the extra weight around my waist that had been bothering me in only a few weeks.
It's the processed sugars you need to look out for. Natural sugars from fruits, oats, nuts, etc. are much easier for your body to incorporate.
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EPT
