Just Joined a Gym

[deception]

<div class="quote_poster">Laker_fan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">

Deception, I suggest you go for a 30min jog in the mornings and start eating proper meals instead of snacking and so forth. Swimming is also a good exercise. Most the people I know who go on diets or whatever go swimming twice a week.</div>

i try and run 3-4 times a week, its tough to run every day because of soreness

 

[Laker_fan]

<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">i try and run 3-4 times a week, its tough to run every day because of soreness</div>

You can go for a jog every morning, it's not as hard as running and it doesn't ruin your plans for the rest of the day.

 

[Skiptomylue11]

<div class="quote_poster">Junoon Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Speaking of weights, I think I have a problem with my knees or something, they seem to always feel 'strained' and kind of uncomfortable anytime I'm doing any kind of leg excersices. Ditto for my upper leg parts connecting to my hips (hip flexors?) when I'm doing squats. The knee problem is persistent regardless of if I'm doing it proer or not but I think the hip flexor thing is probably cause I don't stretch sometimes.</div>
Yea when I used to try to work out and do my legs routine, it would be the same thing for me. Going the full range of motion on Squats and Lunges (especially Lunges) it just used groups of muscles in angles that aren't common to everyday uses.

I don't work out anymore, but I do use 'squating motion' when lifting. (I used to lift with my back only, and it just doesn't turn out well)

<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">somebody gave me similar advice but it really isn't feasible considering i live north of the city and everything i need is in the city which forces me to drive. although, what i'm doing is parking further away from where ever i need to be and walking rest of the way just for the exercise. although skip, i think i'm fairly atheltic guy for a dude my size, yesterday i ran 4 miles on the track in a little over 30 minutes.</div>
Yea, I'm sure a lot of people are in your situation. A lot of commuting, which isn't even close to possible to walk to work. Are there any errands you could run while walking (or jogging) to say a local bank machine, a 7-11 for a newspaper or whatever, a local grocery store, library, etc?

The parking idea seems good, especially if there is cheaper parking further away from your work.

I have no clue how long it would take me to run 4 miles, but 30 minutes seems pretty good.

 

[Skiptomylue11]

<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">somebody gave me similar advice but it really isn't feasible considering i live north of the city and everything i need is in the city which forces me to drive. although, what i'm doing is parking further away from where ever i need to be and walking rest of the way just for the exercise. although skip, i think i'm fairly atheltic guy for a dude my size, yesterday i ran 4 miles on the track in a little over 30 minutes.</div>
Yea, I'm sure a lot of people are in your situation. A lot of commuting, which isn't even close to possible to walk to work. Are there any errands you could run while walking (or jogging) to say a local bank machine, a 7-11 for a newspaper or whatever, a local grocery store, library, etc?

The parking idea seems good, especially if there is cheaper parking further away from your work.

I have no clue how long it would take me to run 4 miles, but 30 minutes seems pretty good.

 

[dunksworth]

Here's some weightloss tips (some mentioned, some not):

Diet:
- 5-6 moderate sized meals a day. Speeds up metabolism.
- Reduce your carbs. Stay away from high carb foods like sugar, white bread, white rice etc. Replace those with unprocessed carbs like brown rice, whole grain bread, etc.
- No fried foods (obviously)
- Eat lots of protein (you're going to need lots of it since you'll be working out). You say you're vegetarian so eat a lot of tofu and whey protein shakes.

Exercise:
- Cardio combined with weight training. Cardio burns calories when you're working out and building muscle will help you burn calories when you're resting... So it's important that you do both.
- REST! This is just as important as the actual work out. Your muscle grow when you're resting.
- Do not overtrain. You got to give your muscles time to grow. Personally, I only workout each muscle group once a week. For example, I only workout my chest on mondays.
- You asked for the best exercise/equipment to do, I recommend ALL of them. To build muscle your body needs variety or else it will just adapt to whatever workout you keep doing. But don't do all of them all at once. Start off with like 4-5 sets of different exercises each workout, and then change your routine every 4-8 weeks.
- I recommend you maintain variety in your workout, but the exercises you MUST incorportate are Bench Presses, Squats, and Rows (some people include Dead Lifts, but those scare the **** of out me cuz it could cause some back injuries). You won't see significant muscle gain if you don't include these in your regimen.
- You asked what the best cardio to do, I say jogging b/c it gets your heartrate up higher and faster than all the others (and getting your heartrate up is the most important thing)... but again, variety is important, so do them all! And remember to go at different speeds too (e.g. don't go jogging for 6mph the whole time.... do 5mph first 5min, 7mph next 5min, 6mph next 5min, etc).

Hope that helps... and I also hope I wasn't pointing out the obvious for you. You can find much more info on the net but these are one's from the top of my head.

 

[Skiptomylue11]

<div class="quote_poster">dunksworth Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">
- Reduce your carbs. Stay away from high carb foods like sugar, white bread, white rice etc. Replace those with unprocessed carbs like brown rice, whole grain bread, etc.</div>
Your advice is good, but you may have misworded it, instead of high-carb you meant low in natural fibre.

Brown rice, whole grain bread are just as high carb as white bread and white rice. The only difference is fibre and nutrient content, which makes whole wheat and brown rice healthier and provides energy over a longer period of time, and makes it easier on your pancreas (sp?), because sugar, white rice, and white bread break down quickly and cause a spike in blood sugar levels, so your pancreas has to produce large quantities of insulin to level out the blood sugar.

I have a feeling my pancreas would hate me if it had a mind of its own. I'm glad it doesn't.

 

[dunksworth]

<div class="quote_poster">SkiptoMyLue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Your advice is good, but you may have misworded it, instead of high-carb you meant low in natural fibre.

Brown rice, whole grain bread are just as high carb as white bread and white rice. The only difference is fibre and nutrient content, which makes whole wheat and brown rice healthier and provides energy over a longer period of time, and makes it easier on your pancreas (sp?), because sugar, white rice, and white bread break down quickly and cause a spike in blood sugar levels, so your pancreas has to produce large quantities of insulin to level out the blood sugar.

I have a feeling my pancreas would hate me if it had a mind of its own. I'm glad it doesn't.</div>

You're right about the wrong choice of words (should've said processed carbs instead of high-carb) but the way I think of it, white rice and white flour are high-carb. Why? Because they force us to consume larger portions of it since they don't contain those extra content you mentioned. When people eat whole wheat bread and brown rice, they generally eat smaller portions of it (compared to their processed counterpart) because it fills their stomach better. So not only is eating unprocessed carbs better b/c of the added nutritional value but also b/c it will generally cause them to consume less carbs.

 

[Skiptomylue11]

<div class="quote_poster">dunksworth Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">You're right about the wrong choice of words (should've said processed carbs instead of high-carb) but the way I think of it, white rice and white flour are high-carb. Why? Because they force us to consume larger portions of it since they don't contain those extra content you mentioned. When people eat whole wheat bread and brown rice, they generally eat smaller portions of it (compared to their processed counterpart) because it fills their stomach better. So not only is eating unprocessed carbs better b/c of the added nutritional value but also b/c it will generally cause them to consume less carbs.</div>
Good point! They do deter overeating more than sugar, white bread, and white rice.

I guess in a indirect way through their slower digestion they are "low-carb".

 

[deception]

thanks for the tips dunksworth and skip. i am cutting down on my carbs and choosing brown bread.

update- i have lost 10 pounds in about a week and a half. although, the hunger pains are killing the rest of my life.

 

[Skiptomylue11]

<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">thanks for the tips dunksworth and skip. i am cutting down on my carbs and choosing brown bread.

update- i have lost 10 pounds in about a week and a half. although, the hunger pains are killing the rest of my life.</div>
It is good to hear you are making good progress, I think the most I've ever lost was 10 pounds in a month and it was basketball season in high school.

Without basketball season I think 5 pounds in a month would be good progress for me, so good work Deception! I'd definitely like to hear updates whenever you would want to share.

I'm probably 10 pounds of fat above my ideal weight, I'm at 208 and 6'4, but obviously everyone has different builds and muscle content.

If you have hunger pains try eating vegetables, you can eat like 10 pounds (I don't suggest eating 10 pounds of them in one meal) of cucumber, green beans, celery, brocolli, green peppers, red peppers, carrots, lettuce, etc, and pack very few calories. (but lots of nutrients, minerals, vitamins, etc.)

 

[phunDamentalz]

<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">thanks for the tips dunksworth and skip. i am cutting down on my carbs and choosing brown bread.

update- i have lost 10 pounds in about a week and a half. although, the hunger pains are killing the rest of my life.</div>

wow. if you really lost 10 pounds in that short a time, i don't think you need advice from us

 

[deception]

<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">wow. if you really lost 10 pounds in that short a time, i don't think you need advice from us

</div>

its funny cause i lost 5 pounds in the first few days, then it took me a week to lose the other 5. people say its the most noticeable in my face.

and skip i lost 4 pounds playing ball on monday but my entire body was sore the day after so i took that out of my routine. getting in a defensive stance for 2 hours kills your legs and lower back.

 

[dunksworth]

<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">thanks for the tips dunksworth and skip. i am cutting down on my carbs and choosing brown bread.

update- i have lost 10 pounds in about a week and a half. although, the hunger pains are killing the rest of my life.</div>

Good to hear you're getting results, but losing 10 pounds in just a week and a half is usually not a good sign. The ideal amount should be 2-4 pounds a week. People who lose that much weight so fast usually end up gaining it all back sometime down the road b/c their main strategy was to starve themselves, which is not something you'd want to do. When you starve yourself like that, there'll eventually come a time when you get back to your old eating habits and you'll lose all the progress you made.

For long-term success you'll have to make healthy lifestyle changes, not just the quick fix (like crash dieting and starvation). Keep in mind that your body also needs nutrients to lose weight the healthy way, so you have to keep on eating. It took a long time for you to gain weight and it will also take you a long time to lose it, so be patient.