6 weeks to improve myself
Discussion
LordGrover said:
There is no one size fits all nor magic bullet. In general though, improve your diet and take a little exercise. It's really that simple.
Agreed. Even if your diet doesn't change (and it sounds pretty good to be fair), if you swim hard for 30mins everyday weekday and 60mins on the weekends, you'll notice a very positive difference. Just mix is up between breast stoke, front crawl and back stroke. HarryFlatters said:
I don't drink any booze through the week, and maybe only have a few tins and some wine at the weekends. I don't (and never did) eat junk food, so have already cut out sweets, chocolate, crisps etc.
I normally have a smoothie or some bran flakes and a yogurt for breakfast, lunch is a small flour tortilla with hummus, salad and sandwich meat. Dinner is a salad or veggies with grilled meat, or a fish taco, or a veg frittata so all low carb and lean. I seriously don't think I can eat any less.
It doesn't suit everyone, but try eating 'more'.I normally have a smoothie or some bran flakes and a yogurt for breakfast, lunch is a small flour tortilla with hummus, salad and sandwich meat. Dinner is a salad or veggies with grilled meat, or a fish taco, or a veg frittata so all low carb and lean. I seriously don't think I can eat any less.
By that I mean reduce or eliminate dairy, meat & fish but increase fresh fruit and veg, a lot. Calorie restriction is much easier if you take out the calorie dense foods like meat and fish, but you have to eat way more vegetables to get the nutrients necessary. I've found going mostly veggie with eggs a couple of days and steak or liver once a week, but really piling on the greens very 'healthful', in terms of weight, body composition and exercise.
Maybe not optimal for a full-on bodybuilder/power lifter/strongman but it's working well for me.
didelydoo said:
You're not going to get any bigger/more muscly in 6 weeks. You will be able to get less fat though, which will give the illusion of more muscle.
Diet and cardio would be the way top go IMO, maybe a bit of weight training if it's something you already do, if not I'd not bother.
That's pretty much exactly what I'm wanting to do. I'm not really wanting to get big, so the weights in my programme are really there to break the monotony of the cardio, which I tend to find really, really boring.Diet and cardio would be the way top go IMO, maybe a bit of weight training if it's something you already do, if not I'd not bother.
LordGrover said:
It doesn't suit everyone, but try eating 'more'.
By that I mean reduce or eliminate dairy, meat & fish but increase fresh fruit and veg, a lot. Calorie restriction is much easier if you take out the calorie dense foods like meat and fish, but you have to eat way more vegetables to get the nutrients necessary. I've found going mostly veggie with eggs a couple of days and steak or liver once a week, but really piling on the greens very 'healthful', in terms of weight, body composition and exercise.
Maybe not optimal for a full-on bodybuilder/power lifter/strongman but it's working well for me.
I've actually been considering being meat/fish free 3 or 4 days per week anyway, so this is pretty much exactly what I'm after.By that I mean reduce or eliminate dairy, meat & fish but increase fresh fruit and veg, a lot. Calorie restriction is much easier if you take out the calorie dense foods like meat and fish, but you have to eat way more vegetables to get the nutrients necessary. I've found going mostly veggie with eggs a couple of days and steak or liver once a week, but really piling on the greens very 'healthful', in terms of weight, body composition and exercise.
Maybe not optimal for a full-on bodybuilder/power lifter/strongman but it's working well for me.
Do you have any recipes for lunch, other than a whopping big green salad? Would something like brown rice/lentils and lots of greens be ok? I have access to a fridge and a microwave (and a canteen that even f
ks up chips, so that's a no go 
)The wife bought me Huge Furry Whippingtool's veg book, so I'll have a nosey through that and take out all the oils and fats and try some out
HarryFlatters said:
LordGrover said:
It doesn't suit everyone, but try eating 'more'.
By that I mean reduce or eliminate dairy, meat & fish but increase fresh fruit and veg, a lot. Calorie restriction is much easier if you take out the calorie dense foods like meat and fish, but you have to eat way more vegetables to get the nutrients necessary. I've found going mostly veggie with eggs a couple of days and steak or liver once a week, but really piling on the greens very 'healthful', in terms of weight, body composition and exercise.
Maybe not optimal for a full-on bodybuilder/power lifter/strongman but it's working well for me.
I've actually been considering being meat/fish free 3 or 4 days per week anyway, so this is pretty much exactly what I'm after.By that I mean reduce or eliminate dairy, meat & fish but increase fresh fruit and veg, a lot. Calorie restriction is much easier if you take out the calorie dense foods like meat and fish, but you have to eat way more vegetables to get the nutrients necessary. I've found going mostly veggie with eggs a couple of days and steak or liver once a week, but really piling on the greens very 'healthful', in terms of weight, body composition and exercise.
Maybe not optimal for a full-on bodybuilder/power lifter/strongman but it's working well for me.
Do you have any recipes for lunch, other than a whopping big green salad? Would something like brown rice/lentils and lots of greens be ok? I have access to a fridge and a microwave (and a canteen that even f
ks up chips, so that's a no go )The wife bought me Huge Furry Whippingtool's veg book, so I'll have a nosey through that and take out all the oils and fats and try some out
I find salads tiresome but try to eat a good variety a couple of times a week. They take so much preparation with washing & chopping, and you need so much of it to make a meal. I use a (very) large bowl with a whole lettuce, plus a bag of rocket/spinach/chard/watercress plus tomatoes, spring onions, sweet peppers, radishes, celery, grated beetroot & carrot, and anything else that's fresh on the day. For a dressing I either use a shop bought passata with some garlic and oil added or just a simple lemon/oil/garlic/salt mixture. Usually add a tin of kidney beans or chick peas to the mix too. The bowl looks quite daunting until you get used to it, and it takes some time to scoff the lot. Raw, crunchy veg takes some chewing.
Other favourites are roasted vegetables; just seal in foil a mixture of taters, sweet pots, swede, carrots, whatever and some oil/butter, herbs and seasoning. I do several bags at a time and keep in the fridge/freezer.
You may find this book of use if you're interested in getting away from the typical western diet: Eat To Live. It's not a great read but has some useful and interesting info.
On the last point, I wouldn't cut out fats and oils, just switch the poorer quality items like 'vegetable', corn, rape, etc oils to olive oil, avocado oil, etc.
HarryFlatters said:
I've actually been considering being meat/fish free 3 or 4 days per week anyway, so this is pretty much exactly what I'm after.
Do you have any recipes for lunch?
Look on line for spiralizer recipes.Do you have any recipes for lunch?
Today I am having egg fried rice made with spiralized sweet potato pulsed in the food processor to resemble rice. Cook onion in olive oil, add sweet potato "rice" to pan after 2 mins or so. Cook for another 2 mins then add some stock and let "rice" completely absorb it.
It takes a bit of practice to get the consistency right. I tend to edge on less than stock than you think as I prefer it a bit crunchier.
Scramble two eggs and add along with cooked peas. Stir and add soy sauce or whatever other flavours you like. I have added chilli and some cooked chicken breast today and will microwave it at work but just as nice cold.
The MyFitnessPal phone app is a pretty good way of quickly getting an idea how good your diet is. It's relatively simple to use and the main thing I learned after a few weeks use is my diet isn't' too bad but I just eat too much. I probably already new that anyway but it was a good bit of evidence to push me in to reducing portion sizes.
LordGrover said:
... <snip> I find salads tiresome but try to eat a good variety a couple of times a week. They take so much preparation with washing & chopping, and you need so much of it to make a meal. I use a (very) large bowl with a whole lettuce, plus a bag of rocket/spinach/chard/watercress plus tomatoes, spring onions, sweet peppers, radishes, celery, grated beetroot & carrot, and anything else that's fresh on the day. For a dressing I either use a shop bought passata with some garlic and oil added or just a simple lemon/oil/garlic/salt mixture. Usually add a tin of kidney beans or chick peas to the mix too. The bowl looks quite daunting until you get used to it, and it takes some time to scoff the lot. Raw, crunchy veg takes some chewing. .... <snip>
Wow, this is exactly me too - my wife can't believe the size of salad I eat. When you put it on a huge round plate it is near enough to six inches high, subsequently, I eat out of a bowl too. The shame. i love salads though and eat at least one huge one a day, if not two. Find the chopping and chewing quite cathartic....... <snip>OP - I eat 12 - 14 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, fish three times a week and 2x boiled eggs every day with salad for lunch. Fruit for breakfast with low fat greek yoghurt (less calories more than fat reduction was my objective there). Been eating like this for two years and have dropped my body fat from 20 to 11.5%. This doesn't sound great, but I have also had to lose the 20kg I have put on while on holidays over that time! Weight has stayed virtually the same, thanks to swimming breaststroke 3x a week and walking the dogs 40 miles I have managed to add some muscle. I realsie 6 weeks is short, my objective is and always will be long term maintenance now and management of body fat levels while still enjoying booze on a Saturday and having reckless fun on holidays. At 40, it's as good as I can hope for!
Good luck with it - eat well, train very hard in the pool and take cardio every day and you will see some results in that time frame. Surely 2kg fat loss in six weeks should be doable if you focus hard?
HarryFlatters said:
Cheers LordGrover, appreciate your help 
Nor anywhere on this damp island this summer, it seems.battered said:
It's the summer, get on a bike. How can cardio be boring when you are exploring?
I live in Scotland, summer is no guarantee of good weather Edited by HarryFlatters on Wednesday 29th June 09:22
Sticks. said:
RJB_666 said:
I'd also probably recomend carb cycling with the small time frame that you have. The refeed of carbs can increase your metabolism and leptin levels.
I'd never heard of that, so Googled it. Thanks, interesting. I'd cut out any refined carbs anyway.How does it work on increasing your metabolism?
Btw OP, you'd probably be better off eating fruit and drinking more water rather than smoothies - takes longer to digest and absorb the sugars.
The refeed or cheat meal raises your metabolism and leptin levels by shocking your body. Once you get to a low body fat it is harder to get lower and your body gets used to what you are doing. When I'm dieting down I start from around 3200 calories per day and 3 sessions of 20 minute HIT sessions per week. Then from then on I will up my cardio one week up until I reach 30 minute sessions. But decrease my calories by 100 every alternate week.
HarryFlatters said:
RJB_666 said:
3200 calories per day
That seems an awful lot. My BMR is 1895, so even with some additional exercise I doubt I'd need anything like 3200. Currently, if I ate more than 1500 calories per day, I'd be surprised.HarryFlatters said:
That seems an awful lot. My BMR is 1895, so even with some additional exercise I doubt I'd need anything like 3200. Currently, if I ate more than 1500 calories per day, I'd be surprised.
6ft tall, 80-odd kg and you think you can stay alive on 1500 cals/day? Not a prayer, you'd be losing weight like a stone. 3 months of that and you's look like Steve McQueen did after his spell on half rations in Papillon.battered said:
6ft tall, 80-odd kg and you think you can stay alive on 1500 cals/day? Not a prayer, you'd be losing weight like a stone. 3 months of that and you's look like Steve McQueen did after his spell on half rations in Papillon.
I'll start tracking things on My Fitness Pal again, but certainly through the week I'm not eating anything like the 1890-odd calories that I'm supposed to need to maintain my weight. I might/must be cheating more at the weekends than I think I am.LordGrover said:
I make big batches of root vegetable dry curries and stews in the slow cooker and heat them up at work. Beetroot, carrots, onions, leeks, celery, red cabbage, etc with a few herbs and spices makes an interesting 'main' to go with various greens like kale, beet greens, spinach, various cabbages and broccolis, etc.
E.g. 
Tomorrow's lunch. May not be pretty, but it's tasty and nutritious.
battered said:
HarryFlatters said:
That seems an awful lot. My BMR is 1895, so even with some additional exercise I doubt I'd need anything like 3200. Currently, if I ate more than 1500 calories per day, I'd be surprised.
6ft tall, 80-odd kg and you think you can stay alive on 1500 cals/day? Not a prayer, you'd be losing weight like a stone. 3 months of that and you's look like Steve McQueen did after his spell on half rations in Papillon.3x 500 calories per meal is actually very easy and I never feel hungry.
im 6.1 and about 94kgs at the moment.
I'm not usually one for diets or anything, but a colleague had lost 2 stone on the 'Teri-Ann 123' diet. I thought I'd give it a go as I work nights and feel generally knackered all the time with little time or inclination to exercise. Having a book with recipes and a plan to follow made it easier for me, because I'm not very creative and lazy when it comes to planning and preparing meals.
I've lost a stone without even trying and eating loads of food in 6 weeks. I feel a lot better for it too.
I wasn't that keen on keeping on the diet as it includes things with sweeteners in it and is a little restrictive on certain things that I like, but it really did the job in shifting that unwanted weight.
Since I've come off it, I have kept the carbs down quite a bit, kept my food fresh and healthy, and have lost a steady 2lbs per week, I'm nearly at a healthy weight now. I would recommend it for effective weight loss while still eating plenty of decent food.
I've lost a stone without even trying and eating loads of food in 6 weeks. I feel a lot better for it too.
I wasn't that keen on keeping on the diet as it includes things with sweeteners in it and is a little restrictive on certain things that I like, but it really did the job in shifting that unwanted weight.
Since I've come off it, I have kept the carbs down quite a bit, kept my food fresh and healthy, and have lost a steady 2lbs per week, I'm nearly at a healthy weight now. I would recommend it for effective weight loss while still eating plenty of decent food.
I know I bang on about it all the time but insanity really works.
If you can be assed to sweat your ass off for about 40 mins a day for 6 weeks I think you'll be very happy indeed!
The plus side is you shouldn't need to mess about with your diet either as you are going to be burning serious calories
If you can be assed to sweat your ass off for about 40 mins a day for 6 weeks I think you'll be very happy indeed!
The plus side is you shouldn't need to mess about with your diet either as you are going to be burning serious calories
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