Anyone have a good diet plan?

[breadhead]

Like someone else said the most important thing to do is change your habits, exercise and eat properly! 5-6 small meals a day will be a lot better than 3 big ones. Try and find some kind of exercise you enjoy doing as you will be more likely to stick to it!

Try getting a punch bag if you want to vent some anger too

Check out Beginner Triathlete which has an amazing amount of info available and a very friendly and supportive community. You don\'t have to be a triathlete to post there, but there are dozens of people in similair situations to you there and they may well inspire you to try a tri.
Setting yourself a goal like completing a Sprint Triathlon could be the motivator to keep you exercising, just be aware it\'s just as addictive as miniature painting

Diets are not the way to go, but it is important to understand what you eat and why you should eat certain things and avoid others. As stupid as this may sound, Bodybuilding forums/books etc are a very good source of information on nutrition, just bear in mind to tailor the amount of food to your needs. There is a very good ebook available by Tom Venuto called Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. It can read like one of those god awful self help manuals but actually contains a wealth of information on nutrition, cardio exercise, weight training, goal setting etc. Well worth reading (you may be able to obtain a copy through some kind of P2P thing if you are so inclined).

A while ago I decided I wanted to get in shape and used these resources with great effect, unfortunately a job loss and 6 months travelling have taken their toll on my weight but I\'m going to use the knowledge I have gained from these places to get back to where I want to be

The most important thing to know is that losing weight is a Marathon and not a sprint! Do it in a timely, healthy manner and you\'ll more likely stick with it and will be more in touch with it and able to control your weight much better for the rest of your life.

hmmmm, /rantoff

 

[swordtrainer]

thanks guys! I\'ll try some of the stuff you\'ve mentioned and I\'ll see how things go

 

[uberdark]

being diabetic i actually know how control a diet and if you have the time, i could show you exactly how to eat better and still be able to eat some good stuff at the same time.

if you want quick advice,

1.no pop, go diet pop
2.exercise at least 3 times a week
3.no fast food at all.

 

[swordtrainer]

thanks uber

 

[Rodnik]

I didn\'t read \'em all, and I\'m sure this is probably covered in the above posts.

I\'m old and fat now....but I spent quite a bit of time as an athlete---I was a competitive fighter for a number of years, my workout partners being bodybuilders, pro-football cheerleaders, collegiate footballers and such...

It\'s a VERY simple plan to lose weight---much more difficult in practice. And, it\'s all pretty much common sense....(if you don\'t get caught up in the \"science\", that is).

So...
Metabolism---speed it up. You need only do two things:
Eat more small meals, as opposed to large ones. A meal of something HEALTHY (yea, we *all* know what\'s healthy), about the size of your fist, 3 times per day. Between those meals, have some veggies/piece of fruit or something. Just a very small portion. Drink water (lots and lots of water), juice, and perhaps skim milk. You can add a little sugar-free flavor to the water if you want.
Diet soda is a trap---it has a VERY high sodium content---water is much better for you.

Cardio work---
Walk, ride a bike, swim, play basketball (even by yourself), or the like---for about 30-45 minutes per day.

If you can manage those *TWO* things, you\'ll lose all the weight you\'ll ever want to lose.

But, here\'s the catch.....
It\'s not a \"diet\"--it\'s a lifestyle change. You can\'t think of it as temporary just \"to lose a few pounds\"---you need to make a commitment to do it the rest of your life.


And if you manage that....when you hit your target weight. Keep the meal stuff going, and then change your workout routine to basically anything you want to do----as long as you do something that\'s moderately strenuous.

It is really that simple.

 

[Bengoodall]

I think the big key is working out, in some way shape or form.

I was working hundred hour weeks, and I was either running or driving while I was doing that, working as an audio visual tech.

My diet was between 5 and 7 meals a day, mostly burger king or macdonalds etc.

I was at about 92 kilos, or just under 200 pound, was absolutly all muscle, and slim as Im ever gonna get. (Ive got a big frame)

Now adays, on a french food diet, lots of fruit, cheese etc, Im up to 105kilos, or 220 ish pound, and rather plump round the middle.

If you wanna lose weight, get your fat ass off the sofa, and get out and move some.

Im going for my second walk of the day, and my soccer season starts up again soon.

 

[StarFyre]

my diet

My diet when I\'m \"on-season\" (no, not professional or anything, but I use the same terms...for me off-season is usually during vacation OR during june (my bday in june) and december)

Breakfast:
whole wheat cerial
glass of water (or 2)
fat free skim milk
natural juice

1 hr later:
banana

2 hours or so later (than breakfast):
3 egg whites or raw eggs, or whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter

lunch:
grilled fish
or grilled chicken
or tuna cans (1 or 2)
or some vegeration dish with lots of beans/lentils
raw vegetables (green beans, carrots, broccoli)

snack:
1 entire mango or
box of strawberries
or half a watermellon
either a can of tuna or some cottage cheese

after back from gym:
no fat skim milk + chocolate protein powder

dinner:
either fish or chicken (grilled)
lots of vegetables
sometimes a fruit as well

1 or 2 hrs later:
few almonds

during the day, many glasses of water


the above diet is good, not the best in terms of what \'experts\' would suggest BUT if you work out, once you get in the swing of things..if you can manage to work out 4 to 5 times/week, you can go from an atkins diet, to something like above.

I was seeing a semi-pro body builder as my trainer (for heavy weight lifting) and he suggested lots of fruits, rice, bread since need the carbs for energy. Then, with the program i was doing, and the cardio after, i burned off anything i ate, so it didn\'t matter.

Overall, the fact is, you can eat a chocolate sundae twice a day IF you do enough exercise to burn it off each day.

Most people do not...so what happens is, once off the diet and eating normally or semi noramlly, they gain weight again.

Sanjay

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

prety simple. eat less exercise more. Lifting weights and building muscle is the most important. More lean muscle mass burns more calories.

Avoid sugar, sugar is the evil. 500 grams of sugar is equal to 1.1 pounds of sugar. An example a 20 oz bottle of coke contains like 56 grams of sugar. Most packaged beverages and foods is actially multiple servings so it sneaks up on you fast.

 

[farseerlum]

huh. i see a crap load of really really bad advice in this thread.

first myth. lots of muscle means higher metabolism = faster reduction. simply not true from a weight loss point of view. if you have more muscle you have a greater need for more kilojoles not less. you can not make your body bigger and expect it to run on less.

do not crash to very low intake. it simply makes the body go to sleep. you\'ll have no energy and everything you do eat will be stored. someone mentioned reduce calorie intake by 500. that is an excellent number for moderate weight loss without having to go hungry. do not drop your required energy needs by more than 1000 calories.

what you eat is almost irrelevant. there are pros and cons to fats, carbs and proteins but it\'s all complex. at the end of the day your body know how to use all of it anyway.

simple tips. eat large in the morning, frequently during the day, little to nothing at night.

excercise is good but it raises your calorie needs. you have to figure them in. the point of excercise is to make you feel good about what your doing. it is NOT to burn calories.

example. i am middle aged. i\'m tall, i work fairly hard, and do weights three times a week. with this information i go to a website that can give me an estimate for my mainenance energy requirements.
like this one
i come up with something around 15-17000 Kj needed per day.

i\'m not aiming to punish myself or drop weight quickly. it\'s too hard. so i aim to cut 2-3000 Kj a day out of my diet. leaving me somewhere around 12-14000 per day to lose weight.

weight watchers and many other places have kilojoule counters etc. most foods are packaged with nutrional information on it.

so what i do is keep a log. everytime i eat something i write down how much energy was in it. when i get to my limit i stop eating. i do not preplan. it\'s too much work. it\'s simply recording for my knowledge and understanding.

choose your foods well and you will find eating a balanced diet of the correct energy quite filling. i have not been hungry EVER using this method.

some things to look for when choosing foods.
water. a goodly amount. but don\'t be silly. 8 glasses a day is heaps for someone not working too hard. more if you excercise.
don\'t cut your carbs right out. especially your sugars. chances are your body is quite addicted to them and it can really mess with your head.
proteins are excellent for that full feeling. i had three eggs on bread 4 hours ago and still am not hungry. but guess what? i\'m going to eat more anyway because i have to get 14000 Kj into me.
fruit is great. vegtables are great. check to see whats got more energy than nutrient though. potato for instance is high energy low nutrition.
high protein diets should also include a lot of calcium. due to the way it\'s processed your body will leech calcium from your bones if you eat too much protein.
don\'t dodge the fats too much. obviously fries and such can be dropped but don\'t sweat the fats. in eggs, milk, steaks etc.

doh nearly forgot. SLEEP. 8 hours a day.

 

[Einion]

swordtrainer, there\'s a lot of good advice in this thread (some of it is conflicting, but that doesn\'t mean each piece isn\'t good advice). There\'s also some misleading stuff and some bad advice/information.

Best of luck sorting out which is which!

If you\'d like some more input that might be of more help then some details about you would help - you\'re 17 and 220, okay, but what about height? Build (large or small hands, slim wrists/knees)? Have you always been heavy? Do you spend most of your free time sitting playing computer games or are you moderately active? How much junk do you eat? Three meals a day plus snacks or just the basics and yet you still won\'t drop an ounce?

Originally posted by swordtrainer
...im on weightwatchers but I want faster results.

This is the bit that worries me - the quick fix is almost always the wrong way to go. Trust me, I know: I\'ve lost more weight in my life than I you currently weigh. Think about that - I\'ve lost, piecemeal, an entire person. That\'s what yoyo dieting and a lack of proper application will get you and I\'ve been doing it since before you were born (roughly since the age of 16 when I had to give up jogging due to damaged knee ligaments, which precipitously dropped my metabolism in only six months).

You\'re also only 17, you gotta know that as a teenager your body is going to change a bit (more than you realise, some of it in ways you won\'t like!) between now and when you\'re 21-23, which is when a lot of people really stop developing as an adult.

So my #1 piece of advice is this: find the willpower to make a change to your lifestyle and know that you have to stick with it. This is the rest of your life you\'re working toward, not some short-term goal like wanting to squeeze into a new pair of jeans.

Einion

 

[freakinacage]

i wouldn\'t recommend atkins for anything other than crash weight loss for something like an op.
basically you don\'t need a \'diet\' as such but a permanent change in eating habits and exercise. thats the problem with diets - people use them to loose weight and then go back to their old habits and just put it straight back on again.

i have had the opposite problem - i needed to put on weight. so i started exercising more, did weights and changed my diet loads. i put on 2 stone that way

one of the guys at heresy has lost a load of weight this thread may be good inspiration for you