Gym motivation

[Shepherd]

After seeing a pic of myself the other day, I've decided to drag my sorry arse to the gym. Don't want to end up a middle aged chubster! I'm 6'1" and 14st, so not too lardy, but I could do with losing some around the face and belly.

The problem is, as soon as I finished work, I just didn't have the motivation to go. It was dark, damp and none too warm. Home was also between work and gym.

I don't drink much, I don't eat too much junk, but I do love my fresh bread and snacky bits. It's hard to cut them down, but I'm doing it.

 There must be some fitness guys/gals/inbetweeners on here that are gym users - any tips on actually getting myself in there? 

 

Shep

[Mickly]

At the start getting yourself there can be really hard … but, once you feel the benefits ( long before you see any change ) it gets so much easier.

After a hard session you will realise that you have not thought about any of the stress in your life, just whether you can make that next rep, extra 1/2kg or if you can hit your next target without running out of breath.

Another thing you will find mildly addictive is being able to hit the sack & sleep like a log due to being physically exhausted.

And don’t forget the money saved through having free showers

[Bender]

I lost 2st without thinking about gym.

 

Diet changes and that was it.

[KiwiBob]

When I was on my fitness kick every other day I used to go for a 3 mile run/jog as soon as I got home from work.

 

I could never see the point of paying to use a gym when running was free!

 

 

[Shepherd]

I'm going to try early morning tomorrow.  I think I have more chance at 6am than 6pm. Early starts are something I quite enjoy.

I've downloaded a workout plan to my phone on the Gyms app. 

You insert your fob in to the machine and it shows what you should be doing - weight and reps etc. and what machines to use.

That'll be a help, as I tended to wander around wondering what to do next the last time I was in a gym (Pre-covid).

Diet change is never gonna do it for me. I need to lose the 'tubby hubby' tag 

[curlylegend]

2 hours ago, Shepherd said:

I don't drink much, I don't eat too much junk, but I do love my fresh bread and snacky bits. It's hard to cut them down, but I'm doing it.

The choice is yours, fresh bread, snacky bits or less fat on your body. It's up to you .  Ditch them totally for a week and you'll see a difference. It won't be easy but it gets better within a couple of weeks.

And put the exercise on the back burner for a while. If you're exercising you'll be hungry as a starving wolf and you'll find it almost impossible to resist fresh bread and even more snacky bits. Take encouragement from your daily weight measurements and better fitting clothes.

[curlylegend]

3 minutes ago, Shepherd said:

Diet change is never gonna do it for me.

It will actually....

[geofferz]

29 minutes ago, curlylegend said:

It will actually....

Yeah. Simple calories in and out. You can eat a piece of cake which has 500 calories then run 5 miles to burn it off (roughly), oorrr.... Just not eat the cake in the first place. The latter is much easier, even if it feels hard to not eat the cake, 5 miles sucks. 

 

Eat filling, low calory food like homemade soup (very very simple), porridge, and protein shakes. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by geofferz

[Shepherd]

Yep, I know it's sound advice and it's not like I eat half a loaf a day. I have cut down biscuits, I'm not a chocolate or cake lover, so there doesn't seem a lot more I can cut out. I said to swmbo not to buy the snacks for a while. If they're not there, I can't eat them.

I was thinking of just using a treadmill at slightly above walking pace for the first few visits. I'm a desk jockey all day, and I hate it. Worked during lockdown for my Wife's firm delivery materials to sites and loved the manual side of it, but it was half hour of unloading and 3 hours back to base. I couldn't do labouring full time.

Thanks for the common sense replies, I know it makes sense - it's  just hard!

[Bender]

I cut out crisps and biscuits completely, I still have bread, have nuts for snacks, small changes add up quickly.

[megaross]

I used to weigh 175kg (down to 85kg at my peak) and I'll tell you this, you can't outrun the fork. 80% of weight loss is in diet.

 

Doesn't mean eating celery and being constantly miserable and hungry it means making sustainable long term changes to your diet and your attitude towards food. What makes you lose weight is caloric deficit - there is no fat burning exercise or targeted fat loss, it's purely eating less than your body needs so that it resorts to using fat stores.

 

If you're struggling with the gym, the best thing you can do is go home and do 5 sets of 10 fork put downs.

 

Try making small changes just on instinct, if you find that isn't enough try portion size reduction. You might also consider tracking - not permanently, but do it for a month say and it'll illuminate the surprising number of calories in some innocuous food.

 

Right, time for a bacon roll.

Edited November 21, 2023 by megaross

[husoi]

Adding to what @megaross says.

Change your "diet" regularly. If you keep having the same diet you will have your weight platooning. Changing it as soon as you notice the weight loss isn't as accentuated as desired it's time for a change.

Nothing radical, just a few different elements so you trick your body.

Human body is a habits machine and really hates change. By doing so, you will "surprise" your brain (aka ego) and you keep the weight loss at the level you want. 

[geofferz]

Go vegan like me. You can't get enough calories in you to get fat of you don't eat sausages and cheese. 

 

And also, exercise is good. You need to raise your heat rate regularly and move your joints so deffo do that too. Trackdays do both of these things... Kinda. 

 

Eat healthy, and exercise. 

 

Hey I should coin that phrase! 

[Tiggie]

1 hour ago, megaross said:

You might also consider tracking - not permanently, but do it for a month say and it'll illuminate the surprising number of calories in some innocuous food.

 

This is how I found out my favourite supermarket frozen pizza has 1044 calories in it 

[megaross]

3 hours ago, Tiggie said:

 

This is how I found out my favourite supermarket frozen pizza has 1044 calories in it 

To be fair it's not that much if you say, have a pizza and a salad for dinner. Long as you're not eating a lot during the daytime 1000 calories isn't bad for a main meal.

 

It's more when you're a greedy bast*rd like me and have 2 pizzas, garlic bread, chicken wings, dressed salad and probably dessert. I didn't used to be a fat **** for no reason, I love a good feed

 

The one downside to knowing just how many calories are in certain things is at times of feasting, Christmas for example. You tend to find yourself quoting starwars "Never tell me the numbers"

[Shepherd]

So, at 5 o'clock this morning, lying in bed listening to the rain, I decided you are all correct and give the gym a miss 

 

I have decided to cut down as suggested, lose the weight first and then have a go at toning things up.

I don't want to be muscle bound or anything, just not tubby / fat.

 

Where I live is not an easy place to go walking / running, it's all long straight boring roads with no option to go off track.

But... my weekends are Weds /Thurs, so I can jump in the Wife's car when she goes to work, and walk straight back home again. That'll be 4 miles each time that I would never normally do.

 

Thanks again guys, you make it sound so easy! 

 

 

Shep

[Shepherd]

4 hours ago, husoi said:

Adding to what @megaross says.

Change your "diet" regularly. If you keep having the same diet you will have your weight platooning. Changing it as soon as you notice the weight loss isn't as accentuated as desired it's time for a change.

Nothing radical, just a few different elements so you trick your body.

Human body is a habits machine and really hates change. By doing so, you will "surprise" your brain (aka ego) and you keep the weight loss at the level you want. 

 

Yep, sounds about right. 

My evening meals are pretty much the same week in week out.

I blame my fussy daughter!

[husoi]

One way I found to control my weight is to have vegetables soup in the evening and stop watching masterchef. 

I save a fortune in chocolate biscuits since I don't watch cooking shows.

 

About chocolate, dark one is far better than milk chocolate. Less sugar and fat.

Dark chocolate is part of your 5 a day  and high in energy with relative low cal count.

 

[Mickly]

4 hours ago, Tiggie said:

 

This is how I found out my favourite supermarket frozen pizza has 1044 calories in it 

More if you deep fry it

[Mawsley]

Seeing as beer is mostly water I use that to stay hydrated. 
 

I’ve a feeling salad has hidden calories though as I don’t stop packing on the flab. 

[Shepherd]

15 minutes ago, husoi said:

One way I found to control my weight is to have vegetables soup in the evening and stop watching masterchef. 

I save a fortune in chocolate biscuits since I don't watch cooking shows.

 

About chocolate, dark one is far better than milk chocolate. Less sugar and fat.

Dark chocolate is part of your 5 a day  and high in energy with relative low cal count.

 

Unfortunately, dark chocolate is the Devils own invention - never to pass my lips!

I'm not a big choccie eater, so it won't be missed.

Veg soup is on my list of demands, and my missus likes to make her own

[megaross]

Dark chocolate is actually higher in fat. But it is better for you, lower sugar, less empty calories.

 

Though, as with all things and with the emphasis on sustainability, a bit of what you fancy does you good. A bit, mind. 

 

I rarely buy chocolate for this reason, it somehow disappears in one sitting 

[curlylegend]

23 hours ago, geofferz said:

Yeah. Simple calories in and out.

From personal experience and many other scientific surveys, it appears that it's somewhat more complicated than that.  The Laws of Thermodynamics are very hard to apply to a human body.

A few years ago I decided to fast for seven days. No food at all. Nothing with any calorific value whatsoever. Water only. Surprisingly , my weight stayed exactly the same for the first four days. And it's not as if I was lying in my bed twenty four hours a day. I was going about my usual business including a six km walk every day. So if the average adult male needs about 2000Kcal per day ( more like 1500Kcal for me )  The calories in calories out hypothesis didn't hold for me because I didn't lose any weight. However at the end of the seven day period I had lost 1.5 kilos. I was starting to feel decidedly sluggish by then.

Another time I was hospitalised with a nasty touch of Hepatitis an I was absolutely starving !  Bread, jam, croissant yoghourt and sugary coffee for breakfast, a two course lunch and a three course dinner. And when I could walk, cakes and coffee in the cafeteria. This was a French hospital by the way.

All those calories in and just laying about all day, I must have surely put on weight ?

I lost 8 kilos over 12 days !

So more complicated than you'd think.

[geofferz]

Fair enough, but what would your advice be to someone trying to lose weight? 

 

I suspect most studies conducted are by someone involved in the multi billion dollar diet and fitness industry. No money to be made in telling people to eat fewer calories. 

 

Men's health sure thinks it's super complicated to get abs! Subscribe to their plan and they'll tell you though. 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by geofferz

[megaross]

7 hours ago, curlylegend said:

From personal experience and many other scientific surveys, it appears that it's somewhat more complicated than that.  The Laws of Thermodynamics are very hard to apply to a human body.

A few years ago I decided to fast for seven days. No food at all. Nothing with any calorific value whatsoever. Water only. Surprisingly , my weight stayed exactly the same for the first four days. And it's not as if I was lying in my bed twenty four hours a day. I was going about my usual business including a six km walk every day. So if the average adult male needs about 2000Kcal per day ( more like 1500Kcal for me )  The calories in calories out hypothesis didn't hold for me because I didn't lose any weight. However at the end of the seven day period I had lost 1.5 kilos. I was starting to feel decidedly sluggish by then.

Another time I was hospitalised with a nasty touch of Hepatitis an I was absolutely starving !  Bread, jam, croissant yoghourt and sugary coffee for breakfast, a two course lunch and a three course dinner. And when I could walk, cakes and coffee in the cafeteria. This was a French hospital by the way.

All those calories in and just laying about all day, I must have surely put on weight ?

I lost 8 kilos over 12 days !

So more complicated than you'd think.

Your body retains water when you fast, which is likely why your weight didn't drop rapidly. I generally say weigh once a week first thing in the morning and (optionally) measure with calipers for a true idea of progress.

 

Your body burns more calories when you're fighting infection, this is why you lost weight in hospital.

 

It's not really that complex honestly, calories in calories out is a basic scientific constant but you do need to understand a few other bits if you want to look under the microscope.

 

The average male will need a 3500kcal deficit to lose 1lb in body fat, as a rule of thumb.

 

But really the amount you burn will vary on height, weight, BMI, activity level and (to a lesser extent) genetic and hormonal factors. You can calculate this roughly online and by tracking progress fine tune your knowledge of your body over time.

 

Best thing is aim for about 1lb a week and you won't feel too sluggish or drained.

Edited November 22, 2023 by megaross