I'm going to be moving onto campus in about 2 weeks (yay!) and there is an activities center with a gym and other classes (yoga, spin, etc). I need to lose weight. What activities should I do and what schedule should I come up with? Every other day cardio/weight? What? What's the best way to do it?
Weight loss is all about calories in vs calories out. You need to be at a caloric deficit. Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs Calculate your maintenance. If you are above it you will gain weight, if you are below it you will loose weight. You can go below by doing cardio or lifting, or by changing your diet. 3500 calories is a lb, so at a 500 calorie deficit per day you, theoretically, will loose about one lb a week. I personally would go for a 250ish deficit, though. Deficit through exercise will benefit you since it will be good for your heart and body.
Cardio is going to be most effective if you want to drop some of your bodyfat. For your body to use its fat stores, you need to be using more energy than you are consuming, and cardio uses the most energy therefore making it the most effective. For someone in their 20s good cardio is anything that raises your heartrate to about 120 ~ 170 bpm. Scheduling isn't that important, it's more important that you are doing it. There isn't any special time of the day that burns more energy or anything like that. Strict schedules can be great for some people in helping them stick to their goals, but I don't advise coming up with something before you've actually gone and experienced what you'll be doing. Resistance exercise/weight training is a good thing to add to your exercise routine, but if you are mainly concerned with dropping fat then cardio is more important - if you've got time for both though then it'd be great to do both. (Scheduling does come in here - usually it is advised to try to seperate resistance exercise and cardio as much as possible; e.g. cardio in the morning and resistance at night or vice versa) I will point out that diet changes are more effective for weightloss than exercise; both are important but it's much easier to reduce the amount you consume than increase the amount you burn.
Running, dancing, swimming, and playing sports are excellent cardio exercises. Remember to do cardio and then strength training for better results. When you do cardio like dancing, sprinting, or anything high-intensity, do them in short-burst intervals. About thirty seconds to a minute is good enough. Remember to go all out when you are doing the cardio, that's why the commonly used term is "short bursts". In between those intervals, do a low intensity exercise like speed-walking to keep yourself active. Do a low-intensity exercise for thirty seconds and afterwards, resume with your high-intensity workout. Repeat this process until you are completely worn out. Weight-lifting, leg presses, sit-ups, crunches, and just about anything that tones one or two specific muscles is good for strength training. Remember to eat healthy. Working out is almost meaningless when you're eating junk. For breakfast, eat more whole grains, like whole-grain toast and whole-grain cereal. Eat more protein for less calories, like nuts, eggs, and lean white meat to help build some slight muscles which helps in the workout. For lunch and dinner, eat more vegetables and keep on eating whole grains. Cut down on red meat and eat more fish, which contains beneficial fatty acids. Replace white rice and regular pasta with brown rice and whole-wheat pasta. It's better to eat plenty of small meals than to binge on a few meals. REMEMBER, PORTIONS COUNT. Do NOT overeat. Eat on a smaller plate to trick your brain that you're eating a lot. Chew slowly and more to trick your brain that you're eating a lot. Remember to drink a lot of water. What's better than drinking a lot of water is drinking a lot of green tea since it contains detoxing agents and many health benefits. That's all the tips I can offer. I've been following this method for about a month and lost about 8 pounds so I know it works. If you're going to college on a meal plan, then you should workout more since choices are slightly limited. Good luck (I know, this looks lengthy)
Not actually true. It is a good idea to raise metabolic rate, perhaps though diet and other exercises. One of the best ways to loose fat is to increase muscle mass, which increases metabolism, as well as the cardio. What I normally do is keep a high heart rate (run a mile or two) then maintain stasis while weight lifting and/or mat exercises. Also when weight lifting, or working out at all, remember to stretch AFTER you are done. This will not only help you feel limber and prevent injury, it will help build muscle mass really quickly. I dont want to discredit this person, as I am sure calorie counting works for some people, but you will eventually hit what is called a fitness plateau if you do this, and it create bad eating habits. If you really want to increase metabolism, consider removing sugar, and refined carbs from your diet, and restricting the use of gluten. This is often the largest offender. I dont want to say I am an expert at any of this, but I am getting a certificate in personal training, and thus far have had really good results with the advice I have given friends.
Stop, wait, hold the presses. Before anyone answers this they should find out (1) How overweight you are, and (2) if you have any health issues. Both are important in determining a program that is right for you. If you've not had a physical lately, have one first. Be sure of your heart and lungs and that they are healthy before starting a workout program. This is especially true of cardio work outs because sometimes, it is contra-indicated to raise your heart rate above a certain level. This is something to ask you Primary Care Provider, not the trainer at the gym (sorry any of you who are trainers in here, you are not licensed to practice medicine.) Once you do that, find someone to help you set up a program. It should be holistic and include nutritional advise that is medically sound and a physical training plan. Tyler - sugar includes fruit, starch, all carbs. We like to think that they are different because you break the starch down to complex sugars and the complex sugars down to simple sugars. But they are all sugars. The key is moderation. Sugar is better for you than artificial sweeteners if you need to sweeten something. It's akin to removing salt from your diet. They did that from baby food many years ago and babies got sick and several almost died. Good luck on your journey to wellness. Yes, I work in healthcare.
I guess I should have been more clear. Sugars in their natural, unaltered form are fine. Fruits and veggies and such, but when you refine them even if it is raw, and/or in smoothies even, it is not good. You should read "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease" Robert Lusfig M.D. has over 1000 citations to clinical research to back what he talks about. Pretty hard to argue with, but Im sure there are people on here will try. ---------- Post added 2nd Aug 2013 at 11:49 PM ---------- You are right, it will work, for a while, but then you will hit a fitness plateau and all your progress will stop. Meanwhile, your body will get used to however many less calories you give it, and when you try to come off of starving yourself, you will gain a ton more weight. Thats the problem with calorie counting, its not the core of the problem. You need to focus on metabolism, and metabolic increase.
My advice is not to care about calories. Calorie counting can get obsessive very quickly, and takes the enjoyment out of food. Just eat more slowly, smaller portions, and make sure your diet is balanced and healthy. And for God's sake, never follow an advertised diet plan, and be patient.
You're right, although again for 90% of people they will meet their goal before hitting that plateau. Coming off a diet and gaining back fat shouldn't be an issue, because any change to diet should be something you plan on doing indefinitely and never coming off of.
I don't think exercise alone will help you with weight loss. Exercise will convert your body mass from fat to a denser bulk, muscle. I believe there are a variety of lifestyle choices you have to look at including diet, before you can lose weight. I would consult your GP first. Good luck with the lifestyle change
I'm no expert in this area, but to my understanding, Cerridwyn is basically correct; it boils down to what you're trying to accomplish, and we need to know that before any meaningful advice can be offered. If the goal is to lose 5 or 10 pounds, then decreasing caloric intake and increasing physical activity should do the job. I should add that there's a well-known incidence of what's known as the "Freshman 15" wherein one gains a bunch of weight due to a combination of the constant availability of near-unlimited amounts of food, and the normal slowing down of metabolism from the high-growth metabolism of the teen years that starts to happen around 18-19 for most people. So you have to be extra alert and extra good at avoiding all the luscious desserts and high-caloric entrees. Now, if you need to lose more than 10-15 pounds, then it gets more complicated, because the more we decrease calorlies, the more our bodies adjust and decrease the "burn rate" to compensate. Additionally, some extremely well documented research in the book TyRawr mentioned above does, in fact, call into question and effectively debunk the idea that sugar is sugar is sugar (And, for that matter, the idea that a calorie is a calorie.) I can't do justice to the complex, careful, and well cited explanation that Dr. Lustig goes through in his book, but suffice it to say that he basically indicts pretty much all processed foods as contributors to obesity, and provides some pretty compelling evidence and citations that it is primarily sugar, not fat, that is responsible for the obesity epidemic. His book is creating a lot of waves, but from what I've seen, it's hard to argue with most of his conclusions. Personally, I think the book is worth the read for anyone who's struggling with weight, but I'm getting off topic. The bottom line is, decreasing caloric intake, increasing muscle mass, and enhancing physical activity, whether by walking, cardiovascular exercise, weight training, yoga, or almost anything else will help (not to mention get you in better shape overall.) If the weight issue is significant, enlisting the help of a good trainer is a good idea, but so is reading Lustig's book, as the info is new enough that most people, including most trainers, nutritionists, and physicians and aren't aware of it yet.
Honestly, try as many of the activities as you like. Keep doing the ones that you enjoy. If you're wanting some alone time, you may find that you prefer treadmill or swimming. If you enjoy being around other people, you may enjoy a spin class. Or you can mix it up. There are lots of good reasons to exercise. Weight loss is one of them. Anything that you do to get your heart rate up is going to benefit your overall health.
True, but not entirely correct. Simple sugars are digested faster, creating a bigger spike in blood sugar levels, which creates a different metabolic response compared to complex sugars like starch or different things like fats. Simple sugars are also less efficient in stopping hunger, so it's easier to eat too many calories if you eat a lot of sugar (like in soda's). It has been scientifically proven that drinking sugared soda drinks increases your weight. Fruit is probably less harmful for your weight and also contains nutricients you'd need, but drinking for instance too much apple juice would logically give the same effect as drinking too much soda drinks, because they are quite alike in nutricients. (Not scientifically proven yet as far as I know)
I agree with Tyler on this one. When you count calories what you are doing is conditioning your body to work with lower levels of energy. In other words, yes you will loose some weight, but your body will also become lethargic and the weight loss will stop because your metabolism will burn less calories every day. This can lead to unhealthy eating habits in order to reach the *desired weight*. This brings us to the fact that weight is by no means a good way to measure overall fitness. The focus shouldn't be to go into an extreme catabolic metabolic behavior and begin to "digest" your own muscles. The focus is to burn off the fat tissue that is what is going to be really bothering the person. The best way to burn the fat is by doing cardio exercises as well as maintaing a balanced diet (1.complex carbs since these keep you going for longer and do not cause drastic fluctuations in your glucose levels which the body must compensate for. 2. Eat lots of protein so that your body can repair the micro tears you make in your muscles when you exercise. 3. Eat lots of vegetables and fruits, these will provide you with essential vitamins in addition to keeping you hydrated. 4. Keep hydrated. Our body breaks down macromolecules through the process of hydrolysis. In other words, drinking an adequate amount of water will help your digestive system and boost your metabolism). Additionally, when you exercise you build muscle which also increases your metabolism. Increased metabolism = more calories burnt every day without having to do anything.
