Weightloss and Stamina Improvement Advice Wanted...

[Kuniku]

Hi, I was going to leave this on the other thread, but thought while some advice might be the same, some could be different and people could get mixed up, so I'll keep it seperate...



I'd not consider myself very overweight, but I have gained a bit of belly in recent years, even though the rest of me is still quite fit, my legs are very big but its all muscle from lots of cycling, and theres not much to my arms, chest is starting to tighted up now that my previously too damaged wrists can manage press ups at jujitsu training again.

I'm pretty much bang on 6' and float between 100-105kg, I train jujitsu 2-3 nights a week and classes are usually 1.5-2 hours long, I'm hoping to find a more affordable gym soon so I can get to the gym a bit as well. during the summer i cycle to and from work a lot, but its only a short ride, and isn't really long enough to warm me up let alone drop and weight . . . I'd like to drop to the next weight class down and improve my stamina for jujitsu, which here in the UK i believe off the top of my head is 93kg.

I used to work at McDonalds, so i was eating McDonalds meals about 10-12 times a week, I got a new job and figured the radical change in diet would help, but it went the other way, being a desk job I'm no longer on my feet all day, and I've gained the aforementioned belly.

Food wise I find I get hungry a lot, and do need to eat a fair bit, but i've cut it down from when I first started, but I think there is still room for improvement.

I start work at 8, and because work is so close I'm not up early enough to eat before work, I usually have a breakfast bar type thing at about 9am.

About 11am I get hungry again so I usually have a little something to keep me going, at the moment its a prepackaged chocolate crepe, as they were on special offer, but usually its a banana.

Lunch is at 1pm and usually I go to sainsbury's and get a sandwich meal deal, sandwich, sliced apples and coke.

Afternoon I'm good and don't eat until Dinner which is usually a proper home cooked meal from the mother (jujitsu nights I leave before dinner so don't eat)

(Weekends are different, I wake up later so have a bowl of shreddies then, and don't usually eat until dinner)


Its been suggested I cut out carbs, my Sensei said that he just has chicken at lunch, nothing else just a chicken leg and breast (marinated etc) I've been tempted to try this, but don't see it being filling enough to keep me going . . .

A dirt cheap 24 gym has just opened up near me, so planning on joining that, which will hopefully get more exercise involved (I'm terrible at doing it at home, so gym works better for me)


As I said, I'd like to drop to below 93kg, which realistically might need me to cut some leg muscle, not sure how to do that? And improve my stamina, to potentially be good enough to get into the cage - whats a good way to benchmark test stamina?


Advice?

[Deleted]

Hmm sounds like you already do quite a lot of physical exercise so most of an improvement will be gained from improving your diet.

Since you mentioned Sainsbury I assume you live and work in the UK. That means, while expensive, it should be possible to avoid excessive junk food.

You mentioned you have quite an appetite. This is something you can accustom your body to.

A body can adapt its apatite to your climate and living conditions. You may have noticed that hot temperatures and exercise reduce your appetite while sitting around in air-conditioned rooms tends to increase it.

My amateur advice would be:

1. Cut the Coke completely. Nothing good comes of soft-drinks. Replace it with water everywhere, anytime. This is also the most important step. Regular consmption of soft drinks is bad on so many levels.

2. Prefer wholesome breads and stay away from "cotton wool" type bread that's so popular in the UK. Try half-grain or even whole grain breads. They will satisfy your for longer and curb your appetite.

3. If you have a decent breakfast at 9 AM you should really be able to hold out until lunch without a need for snaking, even if it's just a banana. Again, make sure you don't go all "British Breakfast" with eggs, toast, greasy sausages and bacon etc. Try to opt for more wholesome and balanced sandwiches etc.

4. If you have a big lunch you should be able to hold on until close to bedtime. If not, have something small to fill the gap. I remember when I used to work in an office I'd have a huge lunch but then wouldn't go hungry until about 9PM. If you do decide to eat before bedtime, remember to keep it small. No need to order a pizza if you're only going to be awake for another hour.

5. It takes at least 15 minutes for food to "arrive". That means you shouldn't go for 2nd helpings until 10-15 minutes after finishing your first course. Even if you have a huge appetite and feel like you could eat a horse, that feeling will subside quickly once the first load of food "arrives" in your intestines. Suddenly what felt like it needed a family pizza to fill, can be filled by pizza roles.

[koodledrum]

The Gym Group are in Colchester, £16 a month and it's 24/7 - doubt you're gonna find anything cheaper than that!

Check out the hairy bikers diet book, had some pretty tasty looking chicken recipes in there (which sucks as I don't like chicken!) hell, if those guys can lose weight using that stuff, anyone can!

[Kuniku]

Hmm sounds like you already do quite a lot of physical exercise so most of an improvement will be gained from improving your diet.

Since you mentioned Sainsbury I assume you live and work in the UK. That means, while expensive, it should be possible to avoid excessive junk food.

You mentioned you have quite an appetite. This is something you can accustom your body to.

A body can adapt its apatite to your climate and living conditions. You may have noticed that hot temperatures and exercise reduce your appetite while sitting around in air-conditioned rooms tends to increase it.

My amateur advice would be:

1. Cut the Coke completely. Nothing good comes of soft-drinks. Replace it with water everywhere, anytime. This is also the most important step. Regular consmption of soft drinks is bad on so many levels.

2. Prefer wholesome breads and stay away from "cotton wool" type bread that's so popular in the UK. Try half-grain or even whole grain breads. They will satisfy your for longer and curb your appetite.

3. If you have a decent breakfast at 9 AM you should really be able to hold out until lunch without a need for snaking, even if it's just a banana. Again, make sure you don't go all "British Breakfast" with eggs, toast, greasy sausages and bacon etc. Try to opt for more wholesome and balanced sandwiches etc.

4. If you have a big lunch you should be able to hold on until close to bedtime. If not, have something small to fill the gap. I remember when I used to work in an office I'd have a huge lunch but then wouldn't go hungry until about 9PM. If you do decide to eat before bedtime, remember to keep it small. No need to order a pizza if you're only going to be awake for another hour.

5. It takes at least 15 minutes for food to "arrive". That means you shouldn't go for 2nd helpings until 10-15 minutes after finishing your first course. Even if you have a huge appetite and feel like you could eat a horse, that feeling will subside quickly once the first load of food "arrives" in your intestines. Suddenly what felt like it needed a family pizza to fill, can be filled by pizza roles.

Thanks for the detailed reply!

1 Cut the Coke: I've realised for a while I should cut out the coke, I've already started drinking more squash than coke - honestly can't stand drinking just water, is squash ok?

2 Wholesome Breads: whenever I make a sandwich its always wholemeal, I do much prefer it. Obviously with sainsbury's sandwiches i don't get much choice . . . lol

3 Decent Breakfast: I'll look into better breakfasts, perhaps I could move in some shreddies and just have a bowl of that to see me through?

4 Big Lunch, No Dinner: Lunch tends to just be a sandwich rather than a big meal, but would you suggest trying to skip dinner every night rather than just monday, wednesday and thursday (if I start going to the gym it might need to be the other nights around dinner time anyways)

5 Food Arriving: I was aware of the 15 minute rule, I generally try to avoid eating for the sake of it, and my mum has gotten a lot better at giving me the correct ammount rather than piling on the plate and watch me finish enough to feed 3 people =p


Regarding Physical Exercise - Jujitsu can be a bit hit or miss regarding to how physical each training session is, warm ups have gotten a lot tougher, with sensei adopting a circuit training approach, but post warm up if we just do syllabus training its far less straining than say competition training, sparing or ground fighting . . . but I always try to get a bit of everything in (last night ALL i did was ground fighting, dead to the world today!)

The Gym Group are in Colchester, £16 a month and it's 24/7 - doubt you're gonna find anything cheaper than that!

Check out the hairy bikers diet book, had some pretty tasty looking chicken recipes in there (which sucks as I don't like chicken!) hell, if those guys can lose weight using that stuff, anyone can!

Thats exactly the gym I was looking at, as well as a new Anytime Fitness gym, The Gym Group is cheaper, but I don't live IN IN colchseter, so I have to take into account driving and parking while at the gym, where as Anytime Fitness is £25 a month, about 3 miles closer and free parking, (and isn't far off my route home so i can just swing by)

[Deleted]

Hmm, Squash still contains a significant amount of sugar. Just the same as Coke. I know it's quite common for people to "dislike" water but I could never wrap my head around it. Water is the essence of life.....it (should) taste absolutely neutral and your body should enjoy it. Whatever the case...squash is probably better but not significantly. Maybe your body is just "addicted" to sugar hence it likes it's sugary drinks. But I'm no expert, so apply your own judgement.

As for skipping dinners....having a solid routine is more important than skipping dinners. Whatever you do, do it routinely. Your body adapts it's appetite accordingly. However being in a situation where your body expects food but doesn't get it isn't good.

[Kuniku]

ok, thanks for the advice, i'll try to ween myself off the squash and sort out a routine =)

[Deleted]

I have been on the same kinda of mission for allmost 5 weeks.

I am not that big a guy, but had gotten "a belly", as you put it, over the last couple of years. I do not however work out as much as you do.

I made a dicission with myself - cut all the crap food, at least in the week days - go nuts in the weekend (all within reason of course).
Rice and pasta - only once a week.
Stay away from white.
Eat ALOT of vegs, fruit etc.
Replace snacks (cake in the office etc.) with fruits.
No soda week days
No alcohol week days.
No processed foods.
Weigh myself every monday morning.

Another thing I did (and I know this is kind of a "girly" thing) was count calories the first week. Just to get an impression of how much I consumed.

So far: 4 weeks and 4kg dropped - next weigh in is monday morning.

Basicly - be mindfull of what you eat.

Tip: carrots are amazing!

Edit: BTW - do NOT skip entire meals. It is much better for you to eat often (less portions) then eating rarely (big portions).
By eating often you keep your (don't know the english word sorry ->) food cumbustion up, which is key in weight loss.

[Kuniku]

thanks for the reply, glad to hear your plan is going well!

I've a few things i'm going to try out, see how that works.

I don't drink alcohol anyway, so thats not an issue for me, do need to cut the sugary drinks though me thinks. I'll get more fruit etc in the office to help there, and I'm going to try my sensei's advice of having chicken for lunch. hopefully Crowe's suggestion that my body will adjust to the smaller meals will prove true.

Also going to check out of of the aforementioned gym's after work.

[Deleted]

It will proove true
I myself eat alot less compared to 2 months ago.
It does take some time though - the first couple of days are going to be hard (you will feel hunger) - but hang in there. This is where calorie counting comes into play, so you can see that you are eating enough in numbers.

The best of luck to you

[Kuniku]

Cheers buddy!

Monday will be a new start for me I think ^_^