SeXuaLSoYBeaN

Got any advice?

I'm doing cardio.. Jogging a mile everyday and trying to eat vegetarian style....

I'm going to do crunches before and after I go to sleep.

GOt anymore tips?

BoCo

Eat less than 200 calories from carbohydrates, and get more protein. Plus, you might want to get more jogging time in. One mile shouldn't take any more than 10 minutes at most, and you should be trying to get 45 minutes at least. Also, add some protein, such as protein drinks or real meat to your diet. My sister is also a vegetarian, and she weighs 180lbs at only 5' tall!

As for the crunches, only do them every other day. Muscles need 24-36 hours to repair themselves, so working them out as often as you do is only going to keep them weak. Also, don't depend on crunches to shrink your waist! You can't spot-reduce fat. Instead, try to get 45 minutes or more of cardio work a day 5-6 days a week, and maybe hit the gym a little, too.

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SeXuaLSoYBeaN

Yeah but wouldn't crunches + cardio be good? Since cardio burns calories and crunches works your full ab area?

BTW, I don't work out much anymore, since I only work out during the summer ( a month away) so should i even drink protein shakes, if I'm not working out?

Leviathan[NCV]

Actually, you can in fact work the abs every day. Only muscle group you can, but go right ahead. Drinking protien shakes will work, but I'd reccomend tuna, rice, chicken breasts, steak... without all the normal things we have to go with such as cheese and heavy carb sauces etc... Learn to use your spice rack!

yangwar

Fat or sugar. Pick one and avoid it like the plague. Simply avoiding everything with fat (fried food, cheese, stuff that shines) or everything with sugar (candies, baked goods) is the simplest and easiest way to start eating less calories. Pick one and stay away from it.

Having a no-meat meal isn't going to help if you have sour cream and cheese on it. Hell, french fries are vegetables. No-meat is a great way of starting off though. You might also want to consider low-fat meats. Turkey breast, chicken breast, tuna, shrimp, and crab is a great way to start.

Start eating 5 times a day rather than 3. Make all your meals smaller though so you're eating the same amount of food.

Make sure you're drinking a lot of water. 10 glasses/day if you can. While you're at it, cut out any drink with sugar in it.

Finally, exercise like a mofo. The fact that you're doing a mile a day is great. To burn lots of calories though, you'll have to start covering a lot more than 7 miles/week. That's going to require some training. I'd recommend the following training.

M:Long run/cardio. Hard upper body weight-assisted workout.
T:Short run/cardio. Hard lower body/trunk/abs weight-assisted workout.
W:Long run/cardio. Hard upper body weight-assisted workout.
Th:Short run/cardio. Hard lower body/trunk weight-assisted workout.
F:Sprint work. Hard upper body weight-assisted workout.
S:Medium run/cardio. Light lower body/trunk weight-assisted workout.
Su:Rest

When it comes to cardio recognize that your goal is to burn calories, nothing else. That means that you can swim/run/bike whatever. It also means that while speed is good for you, it won't make you lose weight any faster. 3 miles burns pretty much the same amount of calories whether they're run at a 6:30 pace or a 8:30 pace.

Start incorporating exercise into every part of your life that you can. Take the stairs everytime. Park as far away from the entrance as you can.

Buy a pedometer. Wear it normally for a few days then see if you can't increase your steps by 10% or so.

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Mael

wanna give us some more info? like how old you are, how much you weight, height, how long it takes for you to jog that mile? it might also help you if you could find your bodyfat %, at least for goal making purposes.

i personally wouldn't bother with going to a low carb. diet, avoid any of the gimmicky type diets. go to a nutritionist, or get a book on nutrition, or go to respectable website on nutrition, and learn how to modify your current diet so that you're eating healthily. lots of people gain weight back after dieting because after they're done with the diet, they go right back to eating how they used to, they haven't learned to eat right.

find out your basal metabolism, you can use that to figure out about how many calories your body needs a day, and about how many you can cut from your diet to safely lose weight.

i like yangwar's advice, but for the workout part of it, don't rush into it. if you run a mile everyday right now, try adding a mile to each day. once you're in better cardiovascular shape, then add sprints. don't lift too much, until your ready, you don't want to overtrain or burn out. work up to it over time.

here's what should be a pretty good weight loss website.
http://weightloss.about.com/

to find your basal metabolism, try this...
http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.shtml

if your still in high school, maybe you could talk to your health teacher, s/he might have some good tips/suggestions.

Radiospank

im glad im skinny cause i could not deal with that much exercise

yangwar

Mael is right, the exercise I listed is really intensive. It's probably not the best thing to start out with. My advice is to build up slowly. I would try this:

On long days, simply walk if you're not in very good shape yet.
On short days, keep the distance short but try to jog at a mild pace.

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Skettios

I've been feeling pretty fat lately too, thanks for some good advice and for making the thread. I'm gonna try to use that basal metabolic thing, anyone have any information about that?

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Mael

do you mean what is your basal metabolism? it's your metabolic requirements necessary just to live. So if you were lying in bed in a coma, that's how much energy your body would burn. might not be the greatest explanation though.

^LJ

It's all about the diet. You can't lose weight quickly. Anything more than a pound or two per week is too much. Figure out how many calories you need/day and go 250-500 calories below that.

It just takes time and pressure.

scapegoat

Join the Army it worked for me

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clues_blues

the atkins diet is working well for several friends of mine... i have got to think about doing something too... My ass is a desk jockey, so i gets almost no excercise. of course, i would rather change my diet than run or work out, but i am sure that is not really healthy - just layyy-zeee

c_b

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Mael

i've heard from a lot of places that the atkins diet really isn't a healthy one to take. without looking up anything more exact, from what i understand is that you need carbs. in order to fully metabolize fats, otherwise with out carbs. fats are broken down into ketone's, which never end up in the electron transport chain of citric acid cycle, or whatever process breaks them down. you end up just pissing out the ketones, which in one sense is good because it's energy that's being pissed out rather than restored as fat, but appearantly, diabetics have to check their urine for ketones, and if they have ketone's present, it's a bad thing. not really sure why that is, or all the ins and outs.

just seems better/healthier in the long term to learn about proper nutrition and adjust your eating habits to match, rather than do something that doesn't teach you to eat right and you gain the weight right back.

Peutetre

A vegetarian diet won't necessarily help you lose weight.. but a true vegan diet is a sure way to lose at least 20 pounds in a month or so. Also.. soy products can be high in fat... so you might want to watch how much soy you eat. If you can't stand a vegan diet.. at least lay off the cheese (unless you are already) it is not good for you at all.. so much fat and calories...

Suzmot

Go for a brisk 10 minute walk every morning before breakfast.

Theory is that as there's no food in you to be broken down, it'll break down the fat. But do not run, running will break down the muscles instead.

Try to refrain from big meals, or meals high in carbohydrates for about 5 hours before bed.

rockwaldo

i only have problems with a beer gut, and its obvious how to get rid of that...

touhy

Consume less calories than you use. I wish it were easier than that, but its not. Adkins works because protein is relatively caloric hypodense. ergo...consumtion remains relatively constant, but caloric content declines.

Mael

actually, both carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per gram, while fat has 9 calories per gram.

Janie

I wouldn't recommend that much water. On average, you should be getting roughly 1.5 litres of liquid a day. Too much liquid can cause damage to your kidneys.

As for the weight loss, see your GP and ask questions. He will help you design a weight loss plan that works for you. If not, then he will recommend a dietician that can do the same.

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Randle

give it time. nuff said.