The get fit, stay fit thread

[Dee Man]

14 minutes ago, Comrie said:

I'm struggling to get back into it post-christmas.

I only put on 4kg over the festive period which is surprising as I ate and drank way too much. Only thing I've done exercise wise since new year has been a four mile walk and a ten mile cycle on different days.

Do gyms or any online fitness companies do challenges over a set course of time over there? I can't remember any doing it but it's a big thing in Australia and a great way to get motivated as you've got a set time frame and a goal to aim for. Gym's here generally run an 8 or 12 week challenge with set workouts and nutrition plans with prizes for the winners. 

[Dons_1988]

10 hours ago, PB4U said:

I've been trying real hard at my programme since the 3rd but I've only lost 1lb.  

I've been eating the same every day:  

B -  2 eggs hard boiled, tomato, black coffee.  
L - Lean chicken, salad, no dressing lots of water 
D -  skinless fish and unlimited root veg.   

No snacking and 90 mins every day cardio.   

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  

Much like Dee man says you seem to be approaching this in the wrong way.

What you're eating is fine (although it seems so dull that it'll never be sustainable) but you haven't said how much of it. Root veg is high in calories/carbs so you don't want to be eating huge portions of it. Work out your BMR (no. of calories you burn in a day without exercising) and count the calories of what you eat, if you're consistently coming in lower than BMR (adjusted for exercise) then you should lose weight over time.

Time is pretty key too, I don't know what weight you are but when I went through weight loss I think I lost 1kg in the first 5 weeks which had me close to quitting as I was struggling with it. After that it started to fall off me and I ended up losing over 3 stone. So be patient.

[Guest bernardblack]

Is there any useful formulas for water intake?

I’m having around 2.5/3 litres a day, on the days I run 5km but still feel like that’s too much?

[Aufc]

Is there any useful formulas for water intake?

I’m having around 2.5/3 litres a day, on the days I run 5km but still feel like that’s too much?

I probably drink about 4 litres a day. More when i go to gym.

[Aufc]

I've been trying real hard at my programme since the 3rd but I've only lost 1lb.  

I've been eating the same every day:  

B -  2 eggs hard boiled, tomato, black coffee.  
L - Lean chicken, salad, no dressing lots of water 
D -  skinless fish and unlimited root veg.   

No snacking and 90 mins every day cardio.   

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  

I would suggest this is completely unsustainable as its pretty boring especially eating it every day. The only thing you shoukd be eating unlimited amounts of is green veg.

There is good advice above regarding working out your calorie requirements but it depends on what you want to do as it takes quite a bit of effort to do this and then work out your calorie intake from your meals.

I also reckon you could make better use of your 90 mins a day for your exercise. What are you doing in this 90 minutes? Is it at a gym? If so, you would be better spending 45 mins doing weights. You wouldnt even need to do this every day so if you loved a particular form of cardio (im assuming you do if you are doing 90 mins a day) then you could do this on the day you dont do weights.

[Stellaboz]

Sounds like too much water, it'll start draining the good minerals from your skin.

[welshbairn]

13 hours ago, PB4U said:

I've been trying real hard at my programme since the 3rd but I've only lost 1lb.  

I've been eating the same every day:  

B -  2 eggs hard boiled, tomato, black coffee.  
L - Lean chicken, salad, no dressing lots of water 
D -  skinless fish and unlimited root veg.   

No snacking and 90 mins every day cardio.   

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  

You want to get back on the Quavers diet.

[Ross.]

Managed a 5k on Saturday morning, managed a weights session on Sunday morning topped off with 40 minutes on the bike. Undecided at the moment on whether I will do another weight session this evening or just cardio.

[Stellaboz]

Hastily signed up for the Konigsforst half marathon 22nd March near home here. Saturday did an hour as had only been running 5k and felt absolutely fine. Will be pushing that up to 2 hours over the next month and a bit so I'm ready to go do this in under 2 hours. Haven't ran a half since Dundee 2 and a half years ago. 

[Dons_1988]

39 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Hastily signed up for the Konigsforst half marathon 22nd March near home here. Saturday did an hour as had only been running 5k and felt absolutely fine. Will be pushing that up to 2 hours over the next month and a bit so I'm ready to go do this in under 2 hours. Haven't ran a half since Dundee 2 and a half years ago. 

Yessss Stella, get yourself in a marathon after that 

[Slacker]

I hurt my lower back doing deadlifts last Thursday. Absolute agony all day Friday. I've been shown proper form before by a personal trainer but I can't help arching my back, so I'm wondering what's the best back-friendly exercise I could swap in for deadlifts? 

Right now I'm doing:

• Squats
• Dumbbell bench press (as I work out alone in the work's gym before work)
• Deadlifts
• One-arm dumbbell row
• Crunches

Any advice appreciated.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

35 minutes ago, Slacker said:

I hurt my lower back doing deadlifts last Thursday. Absolute agony all day Friday. I've been shown proper form before by a personal trainer but I can't help arching my back, so I'm wondering what's the best back-friendly exercise I could swap in for deadlifts? 

Right now I'm doing:

• Squats
• Dumbbell bench press (as I work out alone in the work's gym before work)
• Deadlifts
• One-arm dumbbell row
• Crunches

Any advice appreciated.

Tbh though I'd not be doing any exercise til you can see someone about your back, as that risks further (potentially very serious if its not already) injury. edit: unless i've read that wrong, in which case apologies!

Edit: think seated exercises tend to put less strain on the back so might be worth a look

Edited January 20, 2020 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Slacker]

Cheers. It's not really about pride, I work out alone and don't lift much. My deadlift form is just shite and I don't really trust myself to fix it, so looking at alternatives to deadlifting rather than continuing with it. 

[Stellaboz]

2 hours ago, Dons_1988 said:

Yessss Stella, get yourself in a marathon after that 

I won't, I'm just not prepared to set aside so much training time devoted to a full marathon properly. 

This is mainly to stay/get a little bit more trim for my wedding in June, I'll be signing up for another race in May once I decide which one. 

[Dee Man]

2 hours ago, Slacker said:

I hurt my lower back doing deadlifts last Thursday. Absolute agony all day Friday. I've been shown proper form before by a personal trainer but I can't help arching my back, so I'm wondering what's the best back-friendly exercise I could swap in for deadlifts? 

Right now I'm doing:

• Squats
• Dumbbell bench press (as I work out alone in the work's gym before work)
• Deadlifts
• One-arm dumbbell row
• Crunches

Any advice appreciated.

If you're arching the back on your deadlift I'd be surprised if you're not doing the same on squats - I speak from personal experience. 

Is there a trap bar in the gym? My physio last week told me he highly recommends using that for deadlifts instead of a barbell. 

[Torpar]

2 hours ago, Slacker said:

Cheers. It's not really about pride, I work out alone and don't lift much. My deadlift form is just shite and I don't really trust myself to fix it, so looking at alternatives to deadlifting rather than continuing with it. 

As MixuFixit said, a trap bar is a good alternative or try sumo deadlift. But whatever you, take some time to rest first. I hurt my back before Christmas when I put my ego before my form going for a big 1rm, I altered my workouts so I didn't do anything involving my back too much, it helped ease the pain a little, then I just stayed away from the gym for just over a week and found the pain almost gone. 

Stated deadlifting again yesterday, went as high as  two plates per side, unless I enter the next competition at the gym I doubt I will bother going about that. 

[ICTChris]

I actually just watched a video by Mark Rippetoe about why trap bars aren’t as good as deadlifts. I’ve also seen articles that say the trap bar deadlift isn’t actually a deadlift, it uses different muscles etc.

I’ve never used one so can’t comment.

[Gaz]

Alan Thrall has an excellent video on deadlift set-up.

[Gaz]

On 19/01/2020 at 22:15, PB4U said:

I've been trying real hard at my programme since the 3rd but I've only lost 1lb.  

I've been eating the same every day:  

B -  2 eggs hard boiled, tomato, black coffee.  
L - Lean chicken, salad, no dressing lots of water 
D -  skinless fish and unlimited root veg.   

No snacking and 90 mins every day cardio.   

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  

You're not burning more energy than you're consuming. Simple as that.

Root vegetables have calories in them too. Could be you're just eating too many of them.

Your diet sounds horrific, by the way. I couldn't stomach that.

[Ron Aldo]

On 19/01/2020 at 22:15, PB4U said:

I've been trying real hard at my programme since the 3rd but I've only lost 1lb.  

I've been eating the same every day:  

B -  2 eggs hard boiled, tomato, black coffee.  
L - Lean chicken, salad, no dressing lots of water 
D -  skinless fish and unlimited root veg.   

No snacking and 90 mins every day cardio.   

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  

No offence but it sounds like you've fallen for the idea that eating boring, bland foods and doing loads of cardio is a sure fire way to lose weight.

The food that you're eating isn't sustainable in that it just sounds so boring. I'd say eat pretty much what you like, within reason - everything in moderation as they say. Get an app like Myfitness pal and put everything you eat into that. The app should also give you a rough idea based on your current measurements as to how many calories you need to consume each day in order to lose weight.

90 minutes cardio a day sounds like overkill and, also, extremely boring. I would mix cardio with weight training with each workout being no longer than 45 minutes to an hour long. There's also no need to workout every day as you'll just end up scunnered with it. 3-4 tough workouts a week along with keeping an eye on what you're eating should be more than enough to start shifting the weight.