Fitness question

[Neilds]

I have a couple of queries for our resident fitness experts which I hope they can help with.

First is for me. I have lost 2 stones in lockdown but now have plateaued at 15.5 and can’t seem to reach my 15 stone goal. I go to the gym 4/5 times a week a do 30-40 minutes on the cross trainer or bike ( no running due to injuries). What should I add to try and kickstart my weight loss again. I am going to restart my 15 minutes a day skipping so that should help.

Secondly, my wife has done the couch to 5k and can now do 5k easily on the treadmill. To improve her fitness, should see do longer distances or the same 5k but quicker? I think she should alternate both but this is just a guess.

Thanks in advance for all your advice

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I have a couple of queries for our resident fitness experts which I hope they can help with.

First is for me. I have lost 2 stones in lockdown but now have plateaued at 15.5 and can’t seem to reach my 15 stone goal. I go to the gym 4/5 times a week a do 30-40 minutes on the cross trainer or bike ( no running due to injuries). What should I add to try and kickstart my weight loss again. I am going to restart my 15 minutes a day skipping so that should help.

Secondly, my wife has done the couch to 5k and can now do 5k easily on the treadmill. To improve her fitness, should see do longer distances or the same 5k but quicker? I think she should alternate both but this is just a guess.

Thanks in advance for all your advice

Has your diet changed as well as your fitness regime? And have you took any measurements (apart from weight) to see if you are losing any inches or gaining any muscle?

What is your wifes ultimate goal? To improve 5K time or run further?
Obviously running further will improve her stamina, but if it is purely speed she wants she could look at mixing up the running, ie 100m jog, 100m sprint, 100m walk for 1-2km.

It could be easier to workout what’s best once she has defined a target.

Well done to both of you on what you’ve achievied so far.

 

[Hacker Khan]

I have a couple of queries for our resident fitness experts which I hope they can help with.

First is for me. I have lost 2 stones in lockdown but now have plateaued at 15.5 and can’t seem to reach my 15 stone goal. I go to the gym 4/5 times a week a do 30-40 minutes on the cross trainer or bike ( no running due to injuries). What should I add to try and kickstart my weight loss again. I am going to restart my 15 minutes a day skipping so that should help.

Secondly, my wife has done the couch to 5k and can now do 5k easily on the treadmill. To improve her fitness, should see do longer distances or the same 5k but quicker? I think she should alternate both but this is just a guess.

Thanks in advance for all your advice

My Mrs did the couch to 5K and is now doing the 5K to 10K which includes high intensity training sprints I think.

As for losing weight then congratulations in losing 2 stone, good effort. I'm also on a bit of a fitness kick but am approaching it from more of a diet perspective and that I have significantly changed that and cut down on the booze. I got some good healthy eating recipe books that have transformed what I eat now. I was never a big drinker and only really had some beers at the weekend at home, but cutting down on that has been harder mentally, but I'm still managing to do that. My problem was not the calories in booze as such but that I used to have a couple of beers whilst cooking the meals and a (often large) glass of wine during the meal which would make me hungrier, so my portion size was not good. I now just have a medium glass of wine during meals at weekends.

I do a lot of walking and have done at least 10K steps every day since February, and play badminton 2 or 3 times a week, have started 30 mins of yoga a day to help so have a half decent level of fitness and am getting a bit more 'stretchy' form the yoga, but do not go to the gym. And if I go running I often end up tweaking a muscle so don't do that.

So I'm measuring my success by my clothes fitting me well, I have not weighed myself in years and deliberately did not want to be slave to the scales. Appreciate that in some this is a great incentive as you can see progress, but that was not for me. It is harder to see progress but I can feel that my trousers are a little bit looser on me which is good, as the tightening of clothes a bit was the reason I finally decided to do something.

 

[Rooter]

Wolf will be along and he is better qualified than me! But my 2p.

To get quicker at a set distance, you need to alternate the training. I would add in a speed session once per week. This can be intervals, hill sprints, fartlek whatever. A suggestion would be to do a 'normal' say 4km run, but after 1km, sprint for 30 seconds, then jog for 30, do this for the middle 2km, then normal for last.

You weight plateau, I will wager it's down to diet. You cannot out-train a bad diet, no matter how hard you train. Weight though is just a number, I will guess you didn't take body measurements before you started to train, what you have lost in fat can be an increase in muscle etc. But its simple maths and biology, burn more than you eat, you 'should' lose weight. There are many caveats here, 100kCal of biscuits is different to 100kCal of brown rice!!

Sugars for me are the bar stewards, cut these out and weight flies off me. however, I like sugars!!

Also, portion control. I am these days aiming to split my plate, 1/4 decent carbs (brown rice, sweet potato etc), 1/4 decent protein (fish, chicken, turkey, quorn) and then 1/2 plate non starchy veg (mainly green veg broccoli, french beans, spinach, kale etc)

 

[Ethan]

I have a couple of queries for our resident fitness experts which I hope they can help with.

First is for me. I have lost 2 stones in lockdown but now have plateaued at 15.5 and can’t seem to reach my 15 stone goal. I go to the gym 4/5 times a week a do 30-40 minutes on the cross trainer or bike ( no running due to injuries). What should I add to try and kickstart my weight loss again. I am going to restart my 15 minutes a day skipping so that should help.

Secondly, my wife has done the couch to 5k and can now do 5k easily on the treadmill. To improve her fitness, should see do longer distances or the same 5k but quicker? I think she should alternate both but this is just a guess.

Thanks in advance for all your advice

Exercise is great but weight loss is ultimately about diet. Food choices, portion control, alcohol/sugary drinks and snacks.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Wolf will be along and he is better qualified than me! But my 2p.

To get quicker at a set distance, you need to alternate the training. I would add in a speed session once per week. This can be intervals, hill sprints, fartlek whatever. A suggestion would be to do a 'normal' say 4km run, but after 1km, sprint for 30 seconds, then jog for 30, do this for the middle 2km, then normal for last.

You weight plateau, I will wager it's down to diet. You cannot out-train a bad diet, no matter how hard you train. Weight though is just a number, I will guess you didn't take body measurements before you started to train, what you have lost in fat can be an increase in muscle etc. But its simple maths and biology, burn more than you eat, you 'should' lose weight. There are many caveats here, 100kCal of biscuits is different to 100kCal of brown rice!!

Sugars for me are the bar stewards, cut these out and weight flies off me. however, I like sugars!!

Also, portion control. I am these days aiming to split my plate, 1/4 decent carbs (brown rice, sweet potato etc), 1/4 decent protein (fish, chicken, turkey, quorn) and then 1/2 plate non starchy veg (mainly green veg broccoli, french beans, spinach, kale etc)

Wolf's not been around for a bit, I think he's got a family issue at the moment, probably best not to PM him if the OP was thinking of it.

 

[hovis]

How many calories are you consuming a day? Bottom line is your not in a calorie deficit. To achieve this you either need to increase your output (exercise) or reduce your food intake.

As for you wife. Always do more than Last time. Whether that's distance or time. As long as its more fitness will improve

 

[hovis]

There are many caveats here, 100kCal of biscuits is different to 100kCal of brown rice!!

They're the same. Actually, without getting scientific the brownie would be better due to the thermic effect of the protein which rice doest have.
It doesn't matter where the food comes from. You can get shredded on Mars bars and pizza if you stay in a deficit. You wouldn't be very healthy though.

However, the better choice for fat loss would be the rice because a 100 calories of rice will take up alot more stomach room than a 100 cals of brownie and you'd be fuller for longer but the type of food bears no relevance to calories

 

[AmandaJR]

Agree about @Wolf. Think he has a lot on at the moment and hasn't been around.

Bear in mind if you are two stone lighter you will be burning less calories just moving around and getting through living and breathing. So if you do eactly the same as you did when 2 stone heavier in terms of CICO you will maintain rather than lose any more weight. So you need to eat less or burn off more and as has been said no amount of exercise outruns a poor diet.

You could consider a kick start by going low carb for a few weeks. It does depend on your weakness but if it's carbs it can result in fewer calories consumed. Plus the water loss has an impact on the scales which can psychologically give you a boost to really crack on.

 

[hovis]

Agree about @Wolf.

You could consider a kick start by going low carb for a few weeks. It does depend on your weakness but if it's carbs it can result in fewer calories consumed. Plus the water loss has an impact on the scales which can psychologically give you a boost to really crack on.

So he'll drop 4lb because he drops his carbs thus water. This is to give him a false sense of achievement and make him feel better to then put that weight back on the instant he reintroduces carbs back into his diet and leaves him depressed!!!!

 

[Big_G]

If you're looking to drop more it really has to be total lifestyle change

I started at the turn of the year, and did it for Charity, for the Club Captains Charity

Not only did I start an exercise regime, but cut out the crap foods, eating late, portion control. Have to give so much credit to the better half for her support in most of these. IMHO it's the best way to go if you're looking to keep it off, as the latest diet fads are only so good, and a temporary fix.

So far I've lost just a little over 60lbs and feel great for it

N.B. put away the money you would have spent on food, it's costing me a fortune in clothes!!!

 

[Foxholer]

Exercise is great but weight loss is ultimately about diet. Food choices, portion control, alcohol/sugary drinks and snacks.

This!

If it's simply weight loss that you are after, then just eat less/better!

Btw. Well done to both of you on achievements so far!

 

[AmandaJR]

So he'll drop 4lb because he drops his carbs thus water. This is to give him a false sense of achievement and make him feel better to then put that weight back on the instant he reintroduces carbs back into his diet and leaves him depressed!!!!

Just trying to give him some choices. May not work for you and you may not agree but I'm sure he'll decide.

 

[Neilds]

I think diet is probably the reason I have plateaued. I eat reasonably well, no snacks and only alcohol at weekends so cutting the amount and /or working more in the gym should kick start the weight loss. I don’t believe in diets as I feel you just bounce back into bad habits and weight gain so think a lifestyle change is better.

Thanks for the encouragement and help ??

 

[Hacker Khan]

I think diet is probably the reason I have plateaued. I eat reasonably well, no snacks and only alcohol at weekends so cutting the amount and /or working more in the gym should kick start the weight loss. I don’t believe in diets as I feel you just bounce back into bad habits and weight gain so think a lifestyle change is better.

Thanks for the encouragement and help ??

Totally agree. I always say I have changed my diet as opposed to gone on a diet. May be it is semantics but as 99% of this is mental it helps.

 

[Hacker Khan]

If you're looking to drop more it really has to be total lifestyle change

I started at the turn of the year, and did it for Charity, for the Club Captains Charity

Not only did I start an exercise regime, but cut out the crap foods, eating late, portion control. Have to give so much credit to the better half for her support in most of these. IMHO it's the best way to go if you're looking to keep it off, as the latest diet fads are only so good, and a temporary fix.

So far I've lost just a little over 60lbs and feel great for it

N.B. put away the money you would have spent on food, it's costing me a fortune in clothes!!!

Maybe I have been under a rock but I was amazed at how many Keto diet books there were when I was looking for some healthy eating recipes. Never really heard of it. So I looked into it a bit more and it seems to basically be a low carb diet where eating fats is encouraged as they talk about eating butter and cream and also cheese. I'm sure that people will lose weight having few carbs but cheese and butter instead (admittedly there are other more healthy looking foods on this diet) but it did seem strange to me. Is eating a relative large amount of fat really good for you in the long term?

 

[hovis]

Maybe I have been under a rock but I was amazed at how many Keto diet books there were when I was looking for some healthy eating recipes. Never really heard of it. So I looked into it a bit more and it seems to basically be a low carb diet where eating fats is encouraged as they talk about eating butter and cream and also cheese. I'm sure that people will lose weight having few carbs but cheese and butter instead (admittedly there are other more healthy looking foods on this diet) but it did seem strange to me. Is eating a relative large amount of fat really good for you in the long term?

It's all about having a high fat diet in a low insulin environment. I have tried the keto diet for 6 months (I was paid to). And whilst my good cholesterol went up and my bad went down I felt like a zombie and my weight training suffered big time. It improved my dry skin and my hair was heavily soft though ?

It was crazy to consume so much fat but there is actually alot of science to back it up. Not a diet I would recommend for 95% of people

 

[DanFST]

I think diet is probably the reason I have plateaued. I eat reasonably well, no snacks and only alcohol at weekends so cutting the amount and /or working more in the gym should kick start the weight loss. I don’t believe in diets as I feel you just bounce back into bad habits and weight gain so think a lifestyle change is better.

Thanks for the encouragement and help ??

Eat what you want, just track it in myfitnesspal or similar.

You just have to make sure you burn off more than you put in, creating a caloric deficit.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Maybe I have been under a rock but I was amazed at how many Keto diet books there were when I was looking for some healthy eating recipes. Never really heard of it. So I looked into it a bit more and it seems to basically be a low carb diet where eating fats is encouraged as they talk about eating butter and cream and also cheese. I'm sure that people will lose weight having few carbs but cheese and butter instead (admittedly there are other more healthy looking foods on this diet) but it did seem strange to me. Is eating a relative large amount of fat really good for you in the long term?

I think The Atkins Diet was the first biggest fad when it came to Keto diets.

“His book Dr Atkins' Diet Revolution, first published in 1972 and reissued 20 years later as Dr Atkins' New DietRevolution, sold 12 million copies, making it the bestselling diet book in history.” from Google

 

[Rooter]

Keto is really interesting, it does take the body quite some time to adapt fully, hence why a lot of people give up and say its rubbish. I tried it and gave up after 5 weeks!! Like Hovis, I found it left me with no energy. The science behind it seems sound and logically I can see it working, but its a full-on life change that is, very difficult in my opinion to maintain. Although I know some friends who are full keto and have been for years, too much thinking for my liking. But the idea of burning fat rather than carbs is great as you have an almost infinite store, as opposed to carbs which you can only store X.

Re food tracking apps, I think these are brilliant, even if only to make you stop and think. Use them as a filter to what goes in your cake hole, best one out there at the minute is called Nutra Check. 100x easier to use than MyFitnessPal and has a better database of foods and is just quicker, nicer and slick. free for a week or so, then 4 quid a month. Worth every penny and I pay for very very few apps!!