hey guys. dont often post in here but ive got some questions that need some answering. ive been lifting weights for around 6 to 7 years now, since i started rugby, so since i was 12. now ive always been a big boy, front row prop, built like a brick shitter. but have never really done fat loss/cardio stuff in the gym always got enough on the paddock. but since ive had a break from the paddock i havent been doing it. ive got a lot of muscle but also a fair bit of fat round the middle. and with seeing my grandfather go through the shit hes goign through i dont want to endup like that so thats my motivation to get off my fat ass again. my question to you folks is what is the best way to go about losing this excess baggage?

ive changed my eating habits a shitload. cut down salt, fat and sugar intake as well as dropping the shit out of my carbohydrate intake as well and have never been a fan of processed crap so really not a problem. now im not really looking into supplements and crap cause the way i see it id rather do the hard yards myself then let some chemical do it for me. itll learn me good. lol. now whati wish to know is what exercises should i be looking at to compliment my eating regime or can anyone also improve on that eating regime?
and please no smart ass answers please folks. no crunches etc as they dont do a great deal in losing fat as they are more of a toning exercise.

im about 177cm and 115kg - 120kg and i really want to lose at least 20 to 30 kg. what i really want to do is lose my gut. im sick of looking at it and i dont want the health problems associated with it.

thanks guys for the help

Get very strict on your diet, don't cut out fat completley, but dropping fat intake drastically (like 40g or less a day realisticly, less if you are able, bodybuilders do something like 10g a day leading up to a show, but apparantly that is like a bare minimum)

Light cardio will also help, maybe 4 days a week or so 45 minutes worth. Everyone is different and will react differently, so if it doesn't work or works too well you can obviously change it. There was one other really important point I was going to bring up but now i've forgotten, someone else will probably cover it

That would be just to start by the way, you can gradually increase sessions per week or increase the intensity as you get used to it.

thanks mate. i do a bit of cardio. but not much. lol. but ill start hitting it harder. and ya reckon get stricter on my diet? will do. can anyone put up a sample of a really good fat loss diet? just so i can refrence and compare. thanks people.

Hey mate there is so many variety's and everyone is different with the foods they like/don't like. You would prob be better off posting up a example of a average day eating plan and wait and see what advice people give on what to change and what not to eat and when to eat what etc etc...

good luck with you weight loss

alright average day

breaky - bowl of uncle tobys 'plus' variety and a banana
lunch - ham/tuna/chicken and salad sammich or just a bowl of ham/chicken/tuna salad
arvo snack - fruit or a small tub of fruit salad in natural juice.
dinner - usually meat and 3 veg or salad.

i dont eat much and only eat 4 times a day. drink plenty of water and juice. the occasional coffee or coke but not too often. and maybe a bourbon with dinner on the weekends.

so any help or advice would be sweet.

thanks

Hmmm, well first off I would recommend eating 5 - 6 times a day. That is, snack in between each main meals and have a low carb or no carb protein hit before bed. Just gets your metabolism ticking over faster. Just cut down slightly on your main meals to keep you calorie intake consistant.

What you've put up so far is basically heading in the right direction, fish has good essential fats. Make sure any meat you have is skinless. In the case of red meat it should be as lean as possible.

Try and keep the carbs low before bed

keep a food diary, list your fat, protein, carbohydrate and total Kj intake, it is suprisingly effective, infact this is probably your best tool you will have.

Stay away from the juice, too much sugar, stick to (low fat, if you want to cut out more fat) milk and water. Occasional coke, bourbon whatever will be fine. I keep drinking only for Friday night/weekend, kinda like a reward.

I'm sure the more experienced guys will have a lot more to add, this is just a starting point without getting too specific.

Edit: actually the gf has a plan worked out for her by her pt (who is honestly useless by the way and i'm pretty sure she ripped it off a body building site and uses it as a 'one size fits all')

I'll see if i can get it scanned and posted up.

thanks mate. so no juices too much sugar. gotcha. sorry to sound stupid but how do i measure fats etc in meats and fruit and veg?

i say just quit footy im guessing your 18ish already and going no where in footy if your not in colts yet. come have a trainging session with us see how u hold up. i will put you in your place and make you never wanna play again

Keep the negativity out of here mate. The fitness section is for helping people

Why would you want to do that for? Been a part of any sporting club is a great way to keep active while having fun and mucking around with mates no matter how professional you may be.

I use to be the same and didn't eat enough meals, I was lacking energy and storing fat, I've been eating more meals now and am feeling much better losing weight and maintaining muscle.

if the OP is part of a footy club he should stay, alot more motivational due to the variance and other people involved. If you really wanted to you could ask your coach to increase the amount of conditioning you guys do, and that will benefit everyone in the club if your not doing enough already.

Either way, if you go 110% in your training you should be totally fucked afterwards, so I think it would be more beneficial to stay.

There are Kj counters on the net, I'll post a link up in a second, there are also little mini-pocket book versions you can carry around with you, great if your going shopping or eating out.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/
This one is pretty good, just don't forget to convert calories into kilojoules. Also lists Fats/proteins/carbs e.t.c for every type of food and a bunch of other useful info for the hard core types.

cheers whykickamoocow. i dont play rugby any more due to an injury i sustained last season and was advised not to play this season one week out from the grandfinals. its killing me actually still go to all the boys games and training. i just cant actually play or train so im a trainer this year and assistant coach. sucks big time. but im still an active member at the club. but if i ever want to play again ill have to stay off the paddock this season. and i have all the motivation i need. and thats to come back leaner and fitter than ever. and possibly bigger. depends on if i want a change of positions this season. play somewhere except prop for a change

ahh that really sucks. What kind of injury was it?

it was to do with one of the vertebrae in my neck. i honestly dont really know what all i remember was waking up going into the emergency at the hospital in a neck brace and on a spinal board. was the scariest shit ive ever experienced. and ill admit it i was that scared i fucking cried like a bitch. something to do with it being cracked or something. cant play footy, shouldnt be surfing (but am) and shouldnt be doing weights and gym. it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. became depressed and withdrawn after it. footy was my life. lol. lost my girlfriend too. but im over it and i want to move past it start afresh and get leaner, meaner and hopefully stronger too. ya reckon thats enough motivation? lol

Can you run? If so hit the treadmill...no fuss no worries way of losing weight pretty much. Another awesome thing which might help rehabilitate you from your injury is swimming. You might find it hard but it works alot of areas and is another good way to get enough exercise to loose weight.

yea i can run and am a pretty strong swimmer from paddling out in the surf. lol. hit the tread mill i shall. and swimming i get enough of that these days when hitting the surf. best stroke to do is breast stroke as it works near on all the muscles in your body. who says you dont learn anything in p.e? lol

Most things have been pretty well covered.

Reduce carb intake.
Reduce (but don't eliminate) fats
Try to stay away from juices.
Slowly change to a 5-6 meals a day plan
Do cardio (Maybe try HIIT)
Hit the weights and focus on compound exercises (none of that low weight high reps bullshit either)

i hate low weight high reps. ive never seen the point personally. and what is hiit?

HIIT (High-intensity interval training) is a form of cardio which includes cycles of low and high intensity exercise.
Basically if you use a treadmill as an example (after a short warmup) you do cycles of 60 seconds of brisk walking and 30 seconds of sprinting for a total of 25-30mins.

So it will look something like:

60 seconds walking
30 seconds sprinting
60 seconds walking
30 seconds sprinting
60 seconds walking
30 seconds sprinting
60 seconds walking
30 seconds sprinting
...
....
etc

This technique has been shown to improve endurance and maximise weight loss (obviously when combined with a proper diet).

HIIT is the greatest way of losing fat..

HIIT + diet helped me lost close to 50kg..

I was doing 60mins of hiit 4-5days a week when i first started..the weight just fell off.. Now it's a bitch, since im trying to add muscle.

60mins of HIIT is insane. I usually did about 30 mins, and only towards the end of my cutting cycle to get the last few % down.

I would have been doin 60mins of hiit on cross trainer..

2 low, 2 high, 2 low and so on..then have like 5min cool down.. I then and still do now 30mins, 4 low, 4h, 4l, 4h, 4l, 4h, 4l, 2min cool down. I try to keep heart rate around 115/120 to 163bpm.

Still doing that much HIIT while trying to bulk? You trying to do a very "clean bulk"?

sorry, bulk was wrong word, bad habit of mine to use the word bulk. Currently doing some balance work to get body in alignment, did some testing and hamstring strength is poor same with obliques and some other muscles.

PT has given me new routine to do, then doing something else. But in that time and i think after it for awhile wants me to do cardio every day, he knows how hard it is for me to lose the weight. Since I can't run at moment(thanks ITBs!!) have to do something else that gets the body moving to keep weight from going back up.

I don't get same results walking or riding, it just keeps me at same weight, being 99kg still and most a bit of a gut gotta keep doing HIIT as much as I can.

Fair enough mate. I'm trying to get my weight and lifts back up after I dislocated my shoulder doing db shoulder press. Only just started doing db shoulder press again, i've never been so nervous in my life.

thanks guys. so this HIIT stuff really works damo? im a bit like you i have done in the past treadmill, walking, bikes etc but never lost anything jsut stayed the same. only thing i found to do anything was footy but after not being able to play for this season ive put alot of weight back on.

HIIT is the only cardio I swear by(apart from running as it works entire body) Rowing is also great, can do hiit on this aswell.. You row saw 4-500m and your rest time is how long it took you to row that 4-500m, this work fair bit of body aswell.

Easiest for me is using cross trainer, but give rowing and others a go, everyone is different and we all feel more comfortable in different positions(no pun intended) haah

haha sweet. i shall give it a go tomorrow in the gym. thanks guys

I don't know how good HIIT is for losing weight, If it is as good as what Damo says it is than I guess that's alright. I used it extensively while training for rep sides. They guys like me doing decent HIIT were leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else fitness wise. I just had a decent (high calorie) diet so my weight didn't really move, but I was never 'fat' to begin with.

Not everyone plays sport to make a career out of it!!


Geez, the only reason ive played lower grade footy is for the fun of it, running around with mates and to let off a bit of steam after a week at work! Same with our 4th grade cricket team - none of us will ever play for Australia (well, maybe the 13 year old kid who plays with us might one day) but we enjoy hitting the red around on a Saturday arvo!

HIIT is what you need and what I used. Brilliant stuff

I've tried HIIT on the last two gym sesh's, not very easy!

As others have said, try to change your eating habits so that you have 6 meals a day. Get a set of kitchen scales, and plan your meals using info about calories etc from sites previously listed or calorieking.com. Have an eating diary so that you can see how your body reacted to certain weeks of dieting. Try to have equal amounts of protein with each meal, start with say 30-35g. Don't cut your carbs too low, instead, focus on eating better quality carbs, sweet potato, basmati rice, along with lots of fibrous vegies, brocolli, cauliflower, green beans.

I would post more but have a busted hand at the moment, I will come back to this thread in a couple of weeks when I can type better.

To help you lose weight lay of the white bread always read the food labels on everything you buy stick with your good oils. Any oil that stays a liquid at room temperture is always better for you than saturated fats which clogs your arteries.Lay off all sugars stevia is really good as it it all natural limit your salt intake as salt retains fluid.Try not to eat after 8oclock at night and always stick with low gi foods.Also dont forget the staff of life water at least two liters a day.The food company don't give a rats arse what we eat we are now the fattest nation on earth type 2 diabetes will only get worse the complications from that is devastating.

Cheers

I don't necessarily agree with that, from first hand experience as well, If your eating plan says eat at 9 o clock you eat at 9 o clock, no exceptions, it's what you eat that is more important than when.

Plus alot of people on shift work can't necessarily adhere to only eating between a certain time.

Basically i was trying too help the guy who sounded a bit worried about his stomach and weight issues i was trying to keep it very simple
for him, as if you go to technical a lot of people don't understand what you are on about.The person i was trying to help is not there now next time ill say his name. And if you are a shift worker and what ever time you go to bed, you should not go to bed on heavy meal as this causes sleep disturbances and you feel like crap when you wake up and even more if you have weight issues.

Only giving some free advice. cheers.

whykickamoocow

Actually that's not entirely true. Eating the correct food before bed can help boost your metabolic rate, and even promote a more restful sleep. Try having a tub of low fat cottage cheese before bed, you will have the weirdest dreams, but have a more peaceful sleep. Plus it's a great slow release protein.

Myth .. You should never eat before bed.

Some individuals rapidly burn carbohydrates, and if they are following the
"don't-eat-2-hours-before-bed" rule, they often become hypoglycemic during the
night, which can disrupt sleep patterns, growth hormones, and the immune system,
causing them to wake up grumpy, hungry, starved, and in maximum fat-storage
mode! Test yourself - if you don't eat 2 hours before bed, do you lie awake hungry
at night, or tossing and turning as your appetite plows full speed ahead? Are you
ravenous upon waking? If so, try a light meal before bed that mixes protein and fat.
This will slow carbohydrate metabolism and leave you satisfied for a longer period
of time. I recommend a small handful of almonds, walnuts, or sunflower seeds, or if
you're allergic to nuts, try a few avocado slices, olives, or lean turkey breast or
chicken.

Remember, everyone has a different body, and there are very few "rules" that are
directly applicable to the entire population. Don't be afraid to experiment with your
diet to find out what is best for your particular system. If you find that you need
more direction, a personal trainer can perform a complete dietary analysis, and
provide you with tips and tricks that are more specific to your body type and eating
habits. All you have to do is keep track of exactly what you eat, when you eat, and
how much you eat for 5-7 days. cheers

Bold part is highly incorrect. PT's in Australia are not trained properly in nutrition. The only ones that have any decent knowledge about nutrition have actually studied it off their own back.

I pretty much can't sleep unless I have eaten right before bed lol.

What text book did you pull that from

Yeah, it happens to me all the time, I have to eat otherwise I can't sleep, but that's probably due to habit. I always know when i'm about to get hungry.

What I do find difficult though is getting people to believe it when I say eating before bed can be good for you, they think i'm off my rocker. I just tell them to look at me if they don't believe it



Yeah, unfortunaltey that is true, everyone who I know on a PT recommnded eating plan all happen to be on the exact same one. It's like they all ripped it off the same website.

well ive been hitting the gym everyday with a mix of hiit and weights. hiit every day and weights 3 times a week. i have so far lost 3kg. but im kinda worried if dropping that much so quick can be bad. i dont wanna end up like them fat bastards fo the biggest loser and 3 months later end up back where i started. i want ot lose gradually and be able to maintain it

If you change your eating habits for good, and keep exercise as part of your lifestyle, then there is no reason that you would put weight back on. People that yo-yo tend to be the ones that either go back to old eating habits, or stop exercising. You can't just get toned and expect your body to keep that muscle size. You will lose a fair bit initially just from fluid lose, after that you will just steadily keep dropping body fat if you are doing things correctly. Not only use the scales as a guide, but use the mirror also. You may not drop so much on the scales one week, but if you are lookng leaner and firmer, then possibly some muscle mass has been gained, keeping your weight on the scales the same.

3 kg a week is fine. Seeing as you are hitting the weights as well you should try and take measurements of your body fat percentage. This number will be more important than your actuall weight.

Remember this is a lifestyle change. It is something that will be (or should be) onging. Alot of people seem to forget this, which is why they end up balloning back up again afterwards.

yep cheers guys. and yes this is a permanent change. kinda like a new start, clean slate type of thing. doing something for me instead of everyone else for a change. thanks for the info

You would be the last person i would listen too go back to your books or web site, you seem to be the so called guru of fitness.May-be you should write a book and call it i no nothing but think i do.With your so called gold membership and your negativity and your hatred of PT.
which iam not get a live and grow up.This site should be positive one you need to be reported to site management.

Bunit or was that know-all unit or i think i do.

cheers.

You would be the last person i would listen too go back to your books or web site, you seem to be the so called guru of fitness.May-be you should write a book and call it i no nothing but think i do.With your so called gold membership and your negativity and your hatred of PT.
which iam not get a live and grow up.This site should be positive one you need to be reported to site management.

Bunit or was that know-all unit or i think i do.

cheers.

I have cottage cheese and some peanuts about 3 hours before I go to bed

Welcome to boost.

*awaits reply which could possibly lead to this sections first epic thread. Except I think B units maturity will get the better of him.

Please, I encourage you to report me to site management, you will make a complete fool of yourself. I have done nothing in this section of Boost to warrant any such ridiculous claims.

Firstly, I"m not a guru of fitness, but I have been in the industry for over 16 years. During this time I have done alot of study in both training and nutrition, and have tried many things. There is no clear cut correct answers when it comes to training or eating, and I make a point of mentioning that when I hand out advice. Discovering what works for you is the key, but there are certainly some basic fundamentals that should be followed.

I used to compete in IFBB body building contests, and have also trained other competitors. Past training clients have been Australian and Southern hemi-sphere champions, in more than one body building federations. I've also been the training partners of many competitors, some of which are quite successful and widely recognised in the industry. I have also helped people just in general weight loss with some very good results. One client whow was 5'10" and 154kg went down to a muscular 95kg. Not only did he lose fat and gain muscle, but I helped him improve his self esteem and confidence, which lead him to vastly improving the business that he owned, as well as started going out on dates. I actually did it for no charge what so ever, he was a mate, a great person who just needed to have someone believe in him.

I do have a personal distaste on the personal training industry, which is founded on knowing some of the people responsible for setting out the guidelines for the fitness industry. It's an industry without enough regulation, centred more on pumping pt's out as quickly as possible with minimal training all at a high cost, or should I say, big profits to those at the top of the field. I don't blame the pt's for this, I do encourage them to continue to study and learn once they finish their courses. I just can't see how a so-called fitness professional can be in such a responsible position with minimal knowledge after just 3 weeks. I have seen many trainers teaching bad technique, dispersing very ordinary dietary advice, but have also seen some very good ones. In fact, I have several pt friends, very good at what they do. Up until breaking my hand last week, I was back training with one of them again helping him get ready for contest in 3 weeks. I also know physios that are making good money from poor pt teaching techniques, it's sadly alot more common than people realise.

My gold membership I got given by site management because I donated $50.00 to a guy on the site who was doing a walk to help raise money for cancer research.

If you have a problem with me, please by all means feel free to contact me via PM. I"m more than happy to resolve any issues anybody has with myself or my posts.