Trying the gym again and changing my diet! Advice please!
Discussion
Hi All
A few months ago after gaining a whopping 2 stone after 1 week in the US, I started going to the gym in order to become slimmer, fitter and healthier.
Whilst I was doing okay actually going to the gym, I did ask for some advice on here as to how I could improve my extremely unhealthy diet. You all gave some fantastic responses, however after a couple of days I stopped replying to that post. I'd shamefully given up on healthy eating and the gym.
Skip forward to the start of March and I realised I had wasted £165 on unused gym membership and decided to get my arse in gear and get down the gym. I've been going 3-4 times per week now since the start of March but it wasn't until last week that I got into it properly. I was on the exercise bike and had initially entered 20 minutes. Being ridiculously unfit, after 5 minutes I was already tired and decided that I'd give up at 10 minutes and do something else. A few moments later after calling myself a f
king pussy bh multiple times I decided to give it my all - and this is what happened:
Granted this is really easy for a lot of people, but for me to cycle 32k in an hour on the 'hill clime' setting got me really motivated to do better, I couldn't believe I did that, seeing as I wanted to give up after 5 minutes. (Ignore the low calorie count, I didn't enter my weight so I imagine its incorrect)
So now that I've got some proper motivation to go to the gym I can once again tackle my diet.
I'm currently transitioning from Coke to Water. I've also swapped a fry up for porridge.
When it comes to my mail meal, my main issue is time spent preparing it, I'm a "tear open the packet and stick it in the oven for 30 minutes" kind of guy - what decent meals out there can I do with minimal effort that isn't too expensive. Or do I have to put in a bit of culinary effort to get a decent meal?
Is there any cheap, healthy snacks I could get too? I work 16.00 until 00.00, so tend to have a Sandwich at work which is normally bought from Tesco's as opposed to making it myself.
A few months ago after gaining a whopping 2 stone after 1 week in the US, I started going to the gym in order to become slimmer, fitter and healthier.
Whilst I was doing okay actually going to the gym, I did ask for some advice on here as to how I could improve my extremely unhealthy diet. You all gave some fantastic responses, however after a couple of days I stopped replying to that post. I'd shamefully given up on healthy eating and the gym.
Skip forward to the start of March and I realised I had wasted £165 on unused gym membership and decided to get my arse in gear and get down the gym. I've been going 3-4 times per week now since the start of March but it wasn't until last week that I got into it properly. I was on the exercise bike and had initially entered 20 minutes. Being ridiculously unfit, after 5 minutes I was already tired and decided that I'd give up at 10 minutes and do something else. A few moments later after calling myself a f
king pussy bh multiple times I decided to give it my all - and this is what happened:Granted this is really easy for a lot of people, but for me to cycle 32k in an hour on the 'hill clime' setting got me really motivated to do better, I couldn't believe I did that, seeing as I wanted to give up after 5 minutes. (Ignore the low calorie count, I didn't enter my weight so I imagine its incorrect)
So now that I've got some proper motivation to go to the gym I can once again tackle my diet.
I'm currently transitioning from Coke to Water. I've also swapped a fry up for porridge.
When it comes to my mail meal, my main issue is time spent preparing it, I'm a "tear open the packet and stick it in the oven for 30 minutes" kind of guy - what decent meals out there can I do with minimal effort that isn't too expensive. Or do I have to put in a bit of culinary effort to get a decent meal?
Is there any cheap, healthy snacks I could get too? I work 16.00 until 00.00, so tend to have a Sandwich at work which is normally bought from Tesco's as opposed to making it myself.
If your doing cardio then the first 5 / 10 min are always the worst or they are for me. Just keep that in mind.
As for the food why not bulk cook it's what I do when I no I'm getting in late or simply can't be bothered.
So if I was doing that I'd cook some brown rice for a few meals and some meat just keep it in the fridge. Then when I come to meal time just chuck in some veg 10 min your done ready to eat. Simple as. Use chicken, turkey and lean mince for this. You could even cook the veg at the same time just put it in plastic containers put it in the ping ping for a few mins your good to go i prefer fresh done veg though so it's not often I do that.
As for the food why not bulk cook it's what I do when I no I'm getting in late or simply can't be bothered.
So if I was doing that I'd cook some brown rice for a few meals and some meat just keep it in the fridge. Then when I come to meal time just chuck in some veg 10 min your done ready to eat. Simple as. Use chicken, turkey and lean mince for this. You could even cook the veg at the same time just put it in plastic containers put it in the ping ping for a few mins your good to go i prefer fresh done veg though so it's not often I do that.
One of my favourite go to meals is a one tray wonder.
1x Sweet potato - peeled and diced
1x Carrot - peeled and diced
1x Parsnip - peeled and diced
1x Aubergine or courgette - diced
1x Pepper - diced
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1x Chicken breast.
All the veg is diced into 1 inch chunks - whacked into an oven tray/dish with a bit of olive oil over the top, some salt and pepper, maybe some cumin or thyme and a splash of red wine vinegar. Mix it all up, add the chicken breast too and pop into an oven at 180c for about 30 mins.
Pretty much zero carbs, plenty of goodness from veg and protein from chicken. I must take me about 5 mins max to prep the veg and that is all done while the oven is warming up.
As others have said, bulk cooking when you have free time is great too - my freezer always has a couple of batches of Chili or Bolognese or tomato/veg sauce ready in about 15 mins via the microwave.
1x Sweet potato - peeled and diced
1x Carrot - peeled and diced
1x Parsnip - peeled and diced
1x Aubergine or courgette - diced
1x Pepper - diced
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1x Chicken breast.
All the veg is diced into 1 inch chunks - whacked into an oven tray/dish with a bit of olive oil over the top, some salt and pepper, maybe some cumin or thyme and a splash of red wine vinegar. Mix it all up, add the chicken breast too and pop into an oven at 180c for about 30 mins.
Pretty much zero carbs, plenty of goodness from veg and protein from chicken. I must take me about 5 mins max to prep the veg and that is all done while the oven is warming up.
As others have said, bulk cooking when you have free time is great too - my freezer always has a couple of batches of Chili or Bolognese or tomato/veg sauce ready in about 15 mins via the microwave.
If you want to lose weight, its mainly about diet, exercise doesn't burn as many calories as you would think, but is of course an important part of being healthy (healthy heart, lungs etc)
My first piece of advice would be if you have a smartphone to get the 'myfitnesspal' app and give that a go to monitor and control your calorie intake. Also consider cutting out potato, rice, pasta & bread (and similar high carb foods)
As for easy meals, I do things like
Tinned/hot smoked fish with pre-cut salad & cherry tomatoes
Grilled chicken kebabs (cover the chicken with spices) with again salad.
Steak with an egg and corn on the cob.
Omelette.
Scrambled egg with sliced ham, bit of cheese and salad.
If you want to spend a bit more time on making something, simple soups are very easy to make but a little time consuming. This is a good example http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/peaandmintsoup_8... - 4 steps probably 30 minutes work at most.
You could also roast a chicken, its pretty simple take a little time but a chicken for me will last at least 3 days maybe 4, plus it gives me chicken stock for making soups with.
My first piece of advice would be if you have a smartphone to get the 'myfitnesspal' app and give that a go to monitor and control your calorie intake. Also consider cutting out potato, rice, pasta & bread (and similar high carb foods)
As for easy meals, I do things like
Tinned/hot smoked fish with pre-cut salad & cherry tomatoes
Grilled chicken kebabs (cover the chicken with spices) with again salad.
Steak with an egg and corn on the cob.
Omelette.
Scrambled egg with sliced ham, bit of cheese and salad.
If you want to spend a bit more time on making something, simple soups are very easy to make but a little time consuming. This is a good example http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/peaandmintsoup_8... - 4 steps probably 30 minutes work at most.
You could also roast a chicken, its pretty simple take a little time but a chicken for me will last at least 3 days maybe 4, plus it gives me chicken stock for making soups with.
TREMAiNE said:
A few moments later after calling myself a fking pussy bh multiple times I decided to give it my all - and this is what happened....
Missed this thread first time round but that right there^ is the hardest part. It's why 99% of people fail at the gym/fitness. They reach that point where they aren't getting the results they want but don't want to face the truth; which is, 9 times out of 10, they're just not working hard enough. So congratulations on opening your eyes to the truth. king pussy bh multiple times I decided to give it my all - and this is what happened....
theshrew said:
If your doing cardio then the first 5 / 10 min are always the worst or they are for me. Just keep that in mind.
This. I would use the cross trainer for 50minutes at a time. The first 10-15minutes feel like crap. You just have to power through. I find that if I tried to go at it abit too hard at the beginning I'm more likely of getting a headache or some kind of pain in my side.Whatever you do, on any piece of cardio equipment, do not do what the vast majority do, and leave it on steady-state the whole time and maybe change the level every now and again. You need something to help focus on, so flick through the built in profiles and see what you like the look of.
Personally I have a favourite profile on the xtrainer, which has three peaks, ramp up to first short peak, back down again, then up to a double-length peak, back down, then the same as the first peak. I use the peaks to go as hard and fast as my body will let me. When setting it for a thirty minute session, as an example the first and third spikes last two and a half minutes, the middle one for five. . . . which is a bit of a killer.
At the very end of my session I might jump back on the xtrainer and use the intervals profile for two or three HIIT blasts. A kind of a love-hate relationship with those.
Personally I have a favourite profile on the xtrainer, which has three peaks, ramp up to first short peak, back down again, then up to a double-length peak, back down, then the same as the first peak. I use the peaks to go as hard and fast as my body will let me. When setting it for a thirty minute session, as an example the first and third spikes last two and a half minutes, the middle one for five. . . . which is a bit of a killer.
At the very end of my session I might jump back on the xtrainer and use the intervals profile for two or three HIIT blasts. A kind of a love-hate relationship with those.
Digger said:
Whatever you do, on any piece of cardio equipment, do not do what the vast majority do, and leave it on steady-state the whole time
Whenever I used to use the cross trainer at my old place I'd gradually increase the resistance every time I went while trying to keep the METs (whatever that is), and watts high. People go on about the calorie indicators always overestimating, so though it would be better to go by my BPM. Whenever I so some form of steady state, I keep my heart rate above 160bpm for the 50minutes I'm usually on it. Is that no good?There's a good reason you see footballers and other sportsmen doing fairly moderate warm ups before playing.
There is a transitional phase the body makes 'switching fuels' ensuring glycogen is starting to be broken down ready for the long period of exercise ahead. Obviously there's the warming of muscles, joints, flexibility etc, but the fact these guys get their heart rates up to around 160 at points during a 'warm up' prior to 90 mins of action shows that those first 10 or so minutes are always the hardest to get through.
There is a transitional phase the body makes 'switching fuels' ensuring glycogen is starting to be broken down ready for the long period of exercise ahead. Obviously there's the warming of muscles, joints, flexibility etc, but the fact these guys get their heart rates up to around 160 at points during a 'warm up' prior to 90 mins of action shows that those first 10 or so minutes are always the hardest to get through.
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff