Hey guys,

I recently went off the rails, in quite a bad way (won't go into details, but suffice to say it wasn't nice) and, as a result, have put on around 2 stone...I'm back to looking pretty chubby again

Now that I'm back to myself, I was just wondering if any of you guys had any tips to help me shed these pounds as soon as possible...don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting instant results (I know it doesn't work that way), but just some sort of guide to getting my figure back?

I do have access to an excellent gym, of which I am a member, so don't worry about suggesting proper equipment. I'm not workshy either, so if you suggest a 7-day/week program, I'll happily follow it...just really wanna get back to being myself

So if any of you are perhaps Personal Trainers, Fitness Exeperts, Dieticians etc then fantastic, and I'd really appreciate your help...or even if you've had experience in dropping fat, I'd love to hear your stories/tips.

Many thanks in advance, and it's good to be back

Alex

Aim for two pounds per week, workout no more than 6 days a week.

Does your gym have personal trainers on staff? that would be best, they will suggest exercises that will target exactly what you want to target whereas we can really one give you general advice.

Weight training every other day with cardio in the days you're not weight training. Not sure how much stones is but I'd say you should eat about 1800 calories a day? Also make sure to eat plenty of protein, not in one big meal though, it has to be in several meals throughout the day.

Not sure if I missed anything, but I'm pretty sure that's the jist of it.

Also what Wyatt said, take Sundays off so you don't overdo it.

They do, yeah...but they aren't majorly approachable :/ I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and ask



Ah, that's cool...on the days that I'm doing weight training, should I do any cardio at all? Or will I just catabolise (correct word?) and muscle that I've just built?

I ran 2 miles every other day during summer break and lost 50 pounds, sure it was mostly baby fat and melted away pretty quickly but running is one of the most effective ways to lose weight...along with proper diet of course which is the part that svcks. You'll get it though, also throw some pushups in there too, I used to have "man jugs" until I started throwing pushups into my routine. You dont need many, I just did 20 quick ones after I would run.

Well I'm no expert, but I most certainly follow a very regular fitness regime, and I'll let you know that I used to be about 20Kg overweight, all of which I lost this past year. I also put on a decent amount of muscle. I'm not exactly sure if posting shirtless pics is decent, so I'm not gonna do that, but I have a before / after shot in the old BGSF picture thread.

Anyhow, first thing to remember is to ease into it, and not go all out from the first day, or you'll burn yourself out pretty quick. My primary suggestion would actually be to swim rather than anything else. Not only will you lose fat, but it'll tone your body considerably. An hour a day is what I used to do, but you can start off with an hour 3 days a week.

If not swimming, then there's running on a treadmill, biking, elliptical, or any other cardio machine your gym offers. Remember to go in variation, meaning 2 weeks of each type of cardio exercise, the shock causes your fat to burn off more efficiently.

However this is all just weight loss, for muscle building and / or toning, things are different. But I'd recommend you get rid of excess fat first anyway, so following what I said above would suffice. Also, cut down on empty calories. Meaning no eating cake, or donuts, or drinking Pepsi, or Coke. Stick to natural stuff, no processed meat either. Also make sure that you don't stay hungry, or else it will have the opposite effect. Your body will think it's in a state of famine and retains any and all food given to it if it stays hungry for long periods of time on a regular basis.

I know this is a long-ass post, but it barely touches the surface. If you need additional advice on ANY aspect of working out, from what weights to use, to what your heart-rate should be, down to simply what music you should listen to while working out to get you pumped, you can ask me here, or even PM me, I'd love to help.

Edit: @ cpt krunch13: It's actually inefficient to do muscle building exercises after the cardio. Cardio should be saved for last. Once again, I'm not a professional, but I have almost 3 years of experience, and read a lot of bodybuilding magazines.

I'd say you don't want more than 1.5 lbs per week. But of course it depends.

I personally don't but that's just because I really [censored] hate running because it's so boring ...


But I do it anyway, at least for right now because the Summer's coming up and I'm way behind schedule from my 2 month hiatus in January/February but I did fine with just diet in losing a bunch of fat.

You should also read up http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek34.htm

I'm sure google can answer anything else you need really.

Also, on your diet don't try to just dive right in, take it easy so you don't all of a sudden break down in a burst of hunger and destroy so much of your progress. I mean, I still have something on the weekends to pull me through, like a burger or Chipotle followed by rigorous exercise of course.

It's definitely looking as though running will be the way to go...thanks man



Wow, a lot of useful info there...thanks a bunch! I'll no doubt take you up on the additional advice aswell...much appreciated

The key to weight loss is caloric deficit, basically spend more time sweating than you do eating.

For diet it is important to look at what you are currently eating, and then eat less. It is also important to give yourself a little bit of leeway in what you eat, this is sometimes called "10% foods". Get yourself on a healthy diet and make sure you stick to it at least 90% of the time. So if you eat 3 times a day, 7 days a week then 18-19 of those 21 meals need to follow that diet. This is more for psychological reasons than health reasons.

For exercise you have a good base with the above mentioned 6 day plan. You can do cardio everyday so long as you vary the intensity. Running 10 miles is a good workout, but doing it 3 days in a row can cause serious injury.

Resistance training is important because first the act of building muscle burns more calories than simply using muscle, second having more muscle will cause you to burn more calories just doing normal day to day stuff. Sort of like how a pick up truck burns more gas driving across town than a compact car, the truck has a bigger engine. Someone with more leg muscle will burn more calories walking up a flight of stairs than some one with less leg muscle. This is why the bodybuilder types eat 6000-8000 calories a day, most of that goes to just keeping their muscles fed.

Track and Field should do the trick. Train for the 400 or 800 meters race, and ur good to go

If you live in the suburbs or a more rural area, chances are you'll find motocross and ATV tracks throughout your woods. They are great to run on, and are really fun. Sprint up a hill, then jog down the backside of it, and repeat. The jogging in between the sprints is very important, the constant changes from a sprint to a jog helps excercise the heart.

Get a trainer, it's the best way. In the meantime though aim for a mix of:

-High reps, low weight (fat burn, 10-12 3 times)
-Medium reps, medium weight (muscle building, 6-8 reps)
-Low reps, high weight (strength, 3-5 reps)

I'd say cycle through this 4 times a week, doing a full body workout each time... start with big muscle groups (lunges, bench, pullups, etc.) and work your way down. Before you workout do cardio for around 5 mins before and after. On your off days try to do something fun that involves cardio, like badminton, squash, tennis, basketball, whatever but it'll help speed up muscle recovery and burn weight. Make sure to take at least one day off too or else you'll get super worn out.

i Recently have gotten out of the army after 10 years but while in it i was in awesome shape. couple tips that worked for ME everyone's tips don't work for everyone it;s your body not there's.

1] Run at least 5 times a week. Try and stick to soft terrain its easier on the joints, knees, shin splints, or make sure you have a good pair of shoes and run where ever you can. Also try suicides (start at point A the run to point B and back then to point C then back to A etc)

2] Push up's and by this i mean all kinds. Straight push ups, incline, decline, wide arm, close arm,(but not to close bad on your wrists) you don't have to go crazy start with as many reps as you can for as many sets. ( i use to do push up's and sit ups while watch commercials and would just do as much as i could tell the show came back on) then once all that get's easy if you are able to have someone hold a weight or something heavy in between your shoulder blades while doing them. ( i use to smoke my guys like that when they screwed up lol)

3] Sit up's/Crunches all types. regular sit up's, crunches, half way up's and half way down's, 75% up and hold it and slowly lower, oblique's left an right, and again after it gets easy grab a weight or something else heavy.

4] Just eat right.


This is all stuff i did when i got lazy and fell OUT OF SHAPE this allowed me to build my strength and stamina back up. Also everything i just named because you can do it all with out a gym.

hope this helps and i can always add a few more tip's if you would like.

Great tips. The 75% and hold is exactly what i'd recommend for your stomach and obliques. My stomach is pretty well cut from just doing that for 15 minutes a day.

Running is your best bet. My friend has lost a lot of weight just from running, and it makes you feel good to boot.

This is true but you need to do all the other stuff to strengthen up your core. Also running backwards help's build your caffs

I suggest you read http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981 and http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843. The former relates to nutrition (which is 80% of where the results will come from) and the latter relates to a very basic workout regime. Once you learn the basics you may try out new regimes.

Also, like I mentioned, http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=122509811.

And this is how to perform the most http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=118920551(squat, deadlift, bench, rows).

If you have any more questions ask away!

Also, if you don't like cardio, you don't need to do any cardio. All you need is to be in a calorie deficit (read the first link in my post). I've been on a cut for 5 weeks now, and I lost 6.16lbs/2.8Kg as of yet, trying to maintain my muscle mass without losing any of it. I don't do cardio myself because I don't have time. Of course, you could add cardio if you want to. If I added cardio to my routine I would be able to afford to eat a bit more daily, then burn those extra calories with cardio.

Also, you can't spot reduce fat. You can only lose fat all around your body. You can't do sit ups to remove fat around the stomach. You do sit ups to strengthen your core. You may feel tighter doing this, but you won't be just losing fat in that area (I'm assuming that you'd be exercising much more than just sit ups, since those alone won't have much effect. And like I said, proper nutrition is key).

If you want to do cardio and either don't like the idea of running, or find it too high impact at first (watch out for shin splints, for example), get yourself on one of the rowing machines at your gym. Good safe way to kill a lot of calories, and while it's not strength training as such, it engages more of your muscles than most cardio.

Stick with it and be patient and you'll get there.

Every time a fitness thread appears here, there ends up being dozens of replies with contradicting or inaccurate advice.

My advice to the OP: don't follow advice from random strangers on a gaming forum when it comes to your healtha and fitness; ask somebody that knows what they're talking about.

This is true, which is why I provided links to bodybuilding.com, which is the biggest fitness website on the internet (and has one of the biggest forums on the internet too), and is frequented by fitness professionals and IFBB bodybuilders who actually post there too. It's also a multimillion dollar company. Of course, there are arguments and discussions over there too since there are things which are up for debate, but the stickied threads I linked to are considered the holy bible of fitness.

I made my post without reading the contents of the thread, as these threads always tend to go the same way, but in fairness, yours was a good post with links to some solid advice.

IF your a member of a gym, that gym should have people there who can also give u advice. Or, you can also see a doctor

Doctors don't really know much about working out. And as for a good diet, I'd much rather go to a nutritionist.

Losing weight is, as far as I know, achieved the best by running... Power training might sound like the best idea but a guy of 200lbs might have uber-abs, but hidden under a big fatty belly...

So yeah, jogging or running is the way to go. And just try to eat less.