Best for weight loss

[thornz]

After being a lazy bastard for so long, I have decided to finally get off my backside and lose some weight. I am looking at hiring either a exercise bike, or a rowing machine. My personal preference is for a rowing machine as I used to row many moons ago, and know how effective they are at fitness training, BUT are they good for weight loss? Or would a lower intensity exercise such as the exercise bike be better to start with for just weight loss? Any fitness experts out there that can give me some guidance?

[Peptis]

Weight loss is directly related to energy consumption. The more muscles you use while exercising, the more energy you use. Bigger muscles use more energy than smaller muscles. Rowing machines use more energy than exercise bikes because they use more muscles.

But...

1. You want to be working in the weight loss zone, not the cardiac training zone. From memory, that means that you should be working at 60%--70% of your maximum heart rate. I've used rowing machines before; I found them hard work, so I'd say my HR went well above 70% of max.

2. You should be able to do the exercise for around 40 minutes if you want significant results. I don't know if I could row for 40 minutes as it's not the sort of exercise that I enjoy doing.

[Vilante]

Is weight training benificial?

My lungs are fucked from years of smoking so I can really run for a couple of minutes at a time. I run now for as long as I can then walk to catch my breath, then run again etc but I'm not sure if I'm wasting my time?? My heart rate is definately up the whole time and I sweat.

[Righteous]

The trick to it is just to get your heart rate up. It's not really the same for one person to the next. 220 minus your age is a rough guide of your maximum heart rate. From there you just need to get your heart rate up to 70% or more, maintain that for 40 minutes. The key to loosing weight is constant aerobic exercise. There is not as much an advantage if you stop and start. If you are a fat bastard and walking gets your heart rate up over 70% then that's all you need to do. What you will find is that as you get fitter, your body will adjust and it will take more intense exercise to get your heart rate up.. that's when you start running, cycling, swimming etc.

Having said all of that, anything is better then nothing.

[Gizmo]

Is weight training benificial?

Yes. Weight training will increase your muscle mass, which in turn will increase your metablism.

Rightys hit the nail on the head. If you stop and start it is pointless. Go and get yourself a decent heart rate mointor. $100 should get you a decent polar setup. You can have some fun too, plot a graph of your heart rate and compeare it each time.

Another key factor is cut out all soft drink If your thirsty, drink water. Take a water bottle into work with you.

[Vilante]

Might have to grab a monitor and see what's going on

[thornz]

Cheers for the replys guys, have gone with a rowing machine that has heart rate monitors, and automatically adjusts the resisstance to keep your heart rate in the range that you specify. So will see how that goes.

[Gizmo]

The important thing is to stick at it and don't be dirtured if you don't see results right away. Remember that the diet is just as, if not more important than the exercise. If you need any help or have any questions pm or post away and i'll do my best to answer.

Good luck mate

[Vilante]

I'd like to know what a good diet for weight loss and health/fitness really is. Is there some general rules to follow or should I be looking for a specific meal by meal diet?

There is so much information out there it's so hard to know what's real and what's not.

[Gizmo]

I'd like to know what a good diet for weight loss and health/fitness really is. Is there some general rules to follow or should I be looking for a specific meal by meal diet?

There is so much information out there it's so hard to know what's real and what's not.

There is alot of information and beliefes out there. One thing I do stress is stay away from the Atkinson Diet (no carbs). While you will notice a result stright away, the weight loss is actually water from your bodys cells. Your brain needs a daily limit of carbs to function correctly (can't remember the figure though).

I would start by cutting out graising ans snacks. Have 5 meals a day, Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea and Dinner and don't eat until you feel sick. You want to limit your carb intake, not eliminate. High protine foods will be good. Asain food you cook yourself is good, not the type of joint you would order No. 42 with rice

Righty might be able to provide some more info on the diet side of things as my knowledge in that area is limited.

[Righteous]

It's really tricky actually. I had a lecturer at uni who used to tell us to ear EVERYTHING, and by that he meant, vegetables, fruit, meat, etc. It's a pain in the arse but it comes back to maths really. If you want to loose weight then there needs to be more energy going out then what is coming in. Fat is basically stored energy, when you exercise you are using stored energy in your body, the energy comes from food. Sugar etc has a huge amount of energy, what you don't use gets converted to fat. What Giz was saying about soft drink is massive. You want to start heading in the right direction, ditch as much sugar as you can from your diet. You get enough sugar from your meals, you don't need it in your drink too. *Edit* Should add that, short burst of exercise wont use fat as energy, it will only use your ATP energy system, basically energy stored in the muscles. You need to be continually exercising to use that fat up.

Sooo... Use more energy then you are putting in each day and you are on your way to loosing weight. Avoid white bread, excessive amounts of meat, get lots of vegetables and fruit into you and most importantly try and get about 40 minutes worth of constant exercise a day.

Another thing to note is that you have to stick at it, it takes at least 6 weeks before you really see any significant training effect. Don't weight yourself everyday, its a really easy way to loose motivation. Weigh yourself once a week on the same day at the same time either before or after a meal. Don't weigh yourself on a Sunday morning one week before breakfast and then next time on a friday night after you just had a huge meal. You need to keep it consistent. Set man gable goals, be reasonable otherwise you will loose motivation.

Lets say, 5 kilos over a couple of months, that is reasonable, that is really, really achievable. You can absolutely achieve more than that, but that goal is something that could be achieved just by cutting out excessive sugar and maybe exercising twice a week.

[Peptis]

If you're really interested in eating properly, then I recommend reading "In defence of food" by Michael Pollan. I think the ideas about food in that book are the best I've heard from anyone. He really cuts through all the BS that people are presented with these days and gets down to the basics about food. The best part about the book is that he doesn't say "eat this" or "don't eat that", he gives you a way to think about food that I think is really healthy and is much better than any fad or dieat that you might hear about.

[Righteous]

I cant think if the name of the books, was it the CSIRO healthy eating book or something like that? Apparently that was really great for what to eat and ways of being generally healthier.

Edit*

this is the one http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/5022.htm

My sister bought the book and said it was really great, helped her loose a fair chunk of weight. Basically it's 12 weeks planning for food. Could be good if you are a lazy bastard and don't know what to eat.

[Vilante]

Thanks heaps guys!!

[thornz]

RIghto, well I have started my exercise routine, rowing about 7-8km, a easy 1km warm up, followed by a 5-6km steady row, followed by a 1km warm down a day, so 30-40mins of near continuous exercise. Im not going hard out, just going at a nice pace that gets the heart pumping, and the sweat flowing. Have started cutting out the bad things, soft drinks etc, and really trying hard to eat mainly healthy. What would be realistic weight loss target to aim for over the next two months? I am currently around the 120kg (fat bastard I know) mark, ideally I would like to get back down to the 100kg mark for my long term goal.

Also, would it be a good idea to have some rest days put into my routine? And any other tips to help my progress along?

Think I might try and update this thread along the way to give me some extra motivation.

[Vilante]

I started last night and only needed a fast walk to get up to 70% of my maximum heart rate. Got up to 90% with a sprint. Probably means I should just walk for a while, lol, unift bastard

[Gizmo]

Great news guys. Safe healthy weight loss is ONLY 1kg per week. Dosn't sound like much does it! Anything more is a bonus. Don't be fooled into loseing 5-10kg's per week from shows like the biggest loser. Losing that amount that quickly is actually dangerious for you.

A great tip is to set goals and write them down where you will look at them every day. Write down your target weight and what you will need to do each day to achieve this. Laminate it and stick it in the shower.

As far as rest days. The answer is yes. Even olympic athletes have rest days. 4-5 days a week is fine. If you feel sore or tired, give it a brake. The important thing is consistency.

[Righteous]

RIghto, well I have started my exercise routine, rowing about 7-8km, a easy 1km warm up, followed by a 5-6km steady row, followed by a 1km warm down a day, so 30-40mins of near continuous exercise. Im not going hard out, just going at a nice pace that gets the heart pumping, and the sweat flowing. Have started cutting out the bad things, soft drinks etc, and really trying hard to eat mainly healthy. What would be realistic weight loss target to aim for over the next two months? I am currently around the 120kg (fat bastard I know) mark, ideally I would like to get back down to the 100kg mark for my long term goal.

Also, would it be a good idea to have some rest days put into my routine? And any other tips to help my progress along?

Think I might try and update this thread along the way to give me some extra motivation.

I think that somewhere in the 5-10 kilo bracket is realistic. It depends on lots of things though. Also the intensity of your workouts will determine whether or not you are going to need a break day in there somewhere. What I would suggest is some "lighter" nights rather than no exercise all together.

Remember, only weigh your self once a week, anymore than that and you will get frustrated. Also, remember that the first lot of weight comes off very easily, you will reach a point where it will get tough to drop off more weight.

Looks like you are off to a good start though..

@ Vil, don't sprint ya maniac... you will pull something. Perhaps some walking then some jogging, no one said you can't get your heart rate up high, just don't over do it and don't let it drop back down.

[Vilante]

Yeah I know, I just wanted to see where it went with my new Heart Monitor thingy

[thornz]

Have done my initial weigh in, 119kgs. Will set my goal to achieve in two months from today at 110kgs.

[Vilante]

Cool, I'm going out to buy a decent set of scales this arvo

[Gizmo]

I know it's only early but how is the first week treating you guys? Have you had enough yet?

[Vilante]

Not yet, almost

I missed out Thursday cause I was out drinking but I've been on the tready every day otherwise. I was 93 kegs on Thursday morning so I'll update next Thrursday.

[Gizmo]

Thats great to hear Vil. I'll assume you were not drinking water hehe....

[Sambo]

Just on that smoking and lung efficiency Vil,

You will probably find that its just your body isnt very used to quickly processing oxygen. More so than smoking screwing it up. the fitter you are the better you process oxygen so smoking wont reduce that as much as you think, at least not at your age.

But yeah listen to Gizmo, he knows his shit about this stuff.