Few questions for these 'fit' people...

[Felkyr]

Rogues_Wench

I get what you're saying about trying to do things on the cheap. I'm all for that because I'm not made of money either. LOL, even if I was, I'm still frugal at heart!

As far as what you eat, the best advice I can give you from my own experience is two things (remember, this is my OWN experience, in case anyone else reading this gets their panties in a twist):

1. Tighten up your diet, but don't be TOO strict. If you make yourself feel deprived of all your favorite foods, it's a sure way to blow it. I did okay when I felt like I was just eating healthier, but I swear, anyone only had to say "diet" and I gained a pound!

2. Every time you eat a meal....pay attention to eating (not gaming or t.v., which was always soooo tempting for me) and walk away a little hungry rather that feeling full.

I totally understand about going to friends places...you don't want to inconvenience everyone, right? But your really close friends will likely support you, and at other places, that's when walking away a little hungry helps. Your stomach takes 20-ish minutes to realize your feeding it and send signals to your brain, so by the time you think you're full, you've likely overeaten at least a little. And when it's food that's not so good for you, it makes a difference those few extra bites.

Keep it up, don't stop trying even if you make what you think is a mistake, and I'll send all kinds of good vibes your way from my direction! smile Friend me if you want to talk about it more.

Thanks. Will do that.

Yeah I'll put all these people's advice to practice and I'll let you know periodically how it's going smile

[Red Kitten 12]

I get what you're saying about trying to do things on the cheap. I'm all for that because I'm not made of money either. LOL, even if I was, I'm still frugal at heart!

As far as what you eat, the best advice I can give you from my own experience is two things (remember, this is my OWN experience, in case anyone else reading this gets their panties in a twist):

1. Tighten up your diet, but don't be TOO strict. If you make yourself feel deprived of all your favorite foods, it's a sure way to blow it. I did okay when I felt like I was just eating healthier, but I swear, anyone only had to say "diet" and I gained a pound!

2. Every time you eat a meal....pay attention to eating (not gaming or t.v., which was always soooo tempting for me) and walk away a little hungry rather that feeling full.

I totally understand about going to friends places...you don't want to inconvenience everyone, right? But your really close friends will likely support you, and at other places, that's when walking away a little hungry helps. Your stomach takes 20-ish minutes to realize your feeding it and send signals to your brain, so by the time you think you're full, you've likely overeaten at least a little. And when it's food that's not so good for you, it makes a difference those few extra bites.

Keep it up, don't stop trying even if you make what you think is a mistake, and I'll send all kinds of good vibes your way from my direction! smile Friend me if you want to talk about it more.

[Felkyr]

Rogues_Wench

I completely agree with this....pushing yourself harder is key. I personally have some health issues and can't run, but I still up the pace on walking and do weight lifting. A couple of years ago, I lost 50 pounds and have kept it off just by continuing with regular exercise, at least 6 days a week. I used to scour the internet for creative ways to lift weights without equipment...and one of the most useful I saw was using milk jugs or liquid laundry soap bottles. You can always fill them with water after they're all used up.

I also just want to say best of luck to you....you've taken a giant leap just by getting up and getting moving! Be proud of yourself. biggrin

Thanks. That means a lot.
Yeah that is some good advice just using stuff lying around. I don't know if it's so everywhere but here there aren't too many places selling proper equipment and the ones that do of course have no competition so they charge heaps for it.
Consistency is probably something I need to focus on. I decide to make a strict diet for myself for periods but then it probably gets wrecked when I go to a mates place and just have whatever their having so not to be a pain, but there's probably not much point unless you're really strict about it huh?

unhipster

Regardless of how much you exercise, it won't matter if you don't eat right. If you made some small changes and didn't see any affect, try something bigger. Eat a stricter diet, a lot of fiber and protein (vegetables, lean meats). Drink as much water as possible (you should be drinking half of your weight in ounces every day, and your whole weight in ounces if you exercise/are an athlete). For example, I weigh 115lbs and am an athlete, so I should drink 115oz of water every day. Also, get at least 8 hours of sleep every night! Even a tiny lack of sleep increases your levels of the hormone Ghrelin, which causes feelings of hunger and food cravings (especially for sugar and fats). Also, cardio burns fat, so try going on light jogs as much as possible. (:

Yeah I could do with a much stricter diet for a long period of time. But the main interesting thing I notice, my sleeping pattern, it never occured to me that it has an impact on this sort of thing... my sleeping pattern is terrible, pretty much if I can stay up I do until I'm too tired to. Not recommended I see. I didn't really know it causes (out of place?) hunger when you're not actually requiring food.

[unhipster]

Brazekool

A couple years ago I thought it'd be a great idea for me to lose some weight, so I went to the pool almost everyday after school for pretty much the whole year and swum like 45 minutes - 1 and a half hours of laps depending on how I felt each day, and I tend to do a lot of walking everywhere to get places and was kinda disheartened that it didn't seem to be doing much, especially since I made some minor dietry changes as well like for a couple months I only drunk water... hmm
I don't have too much time on my hands now with being in Uni and having a part-time job, but I was thinking in my spare time is it worth going back to the pool again if I can afford it or is there something more productive I could be doing in my house in the way of exercising? (Don't really have any equipment at home but still...)

Regardless of how much you exercise, it won't matter if you don't eat right. If you made some small changes and didn't see any affect, try something bigger. Eat a stricter diet, a lot of fiber and protein (vegetables, lean meats). Drink as much water as possible (you should be drinking half of your weight in ounces every day, and your whole weight in ounces if you exercise/are an athlete). For example, I weigh 115lbs and am an athlete, so I should drink 115oz of water every day. Also, get at least 8 hours of sleep every night! Even a tiny lack of sleep increases your levels of the hormone Ghrelin, which causes feelings of hunger and food cravings (especially for sugar and fats). Also, cardio burns fat, so try going on light jogs as much as possible. (:

[Red Kitten 12]

Sweet Murderer

The key to seeing improvements is to never get accustomed to your training - you'll get faster results by challenging your body every time you workout.

So upgrade yourself from simply walking - start running. It is definitely a better way of exercising if time is spare.

I'd recommend doing burpees with pushups at home - it's a great and intense exercise that doesn't take very much time - but is extremely effective if you can actually manage keeping the same tempo for a few minutes. If not, just take very short breaks.

I completely agree with this....pushing yourself harder is key. I personally have some health issues and can't run, but I still up the pace on walking and do weight lifting. A couple of years ago, I lost 50 pounds and have kept it off just by continuing with regular exercise, at least 6 days a week. I used to scour the internet for creative ways to lift weights without equipment...and one of the most useful I saw was using milk jugs or liquid laundry soap bottles. You can always fill them with water after they're all used up.

I also just want to say best of luck to you....you've taken a giant leap just by getting up and getting moving! Be proud of yourself. biggrin

[Street Raffa]

I agree with Sweet Murderer, challenge yourself. Do more once you get used to performing an exercise or make it harder.

[Sweet Murderer]

The key to seeing improvements is to never get accustomed to your training - you'll get faster results by challenging your body every time you workout.

So upgrade yourself from simply walking - start running. It is definitely a better way of exercising if time is spare.

I'd recommend doing burpees with pushups at home - it's a great and intense exercise that doesn't take very much time - but is extremely effective if you can actually manage keeping the same tempo for a few minutes. If not, just take very short breaks.

[Felkyr]

Volant Traceur

According to Google, 1stone = 6.4kgs. Personally, with limited free time as a uni student, I would work on body weight exercises or free-weights you can keep in your room. I don't use free-weights myself since I train outside and it works for me. On my fullest day (Tuesday) I don't get home till about 8pm from uni, I give myself an hour and a half for dinner and other miscellaneous tasks and do, and an hour's worth of exercise outside or indoors.

• Warm-up
  
• Box jumps + box jump variations (one-leg for example) and lunges
  
• Quadrupedals + variations (elevated for example)
  
• Push-ups + variations (diamonds, wide arm, over head, elevated etc)
  
• Pull-ups and dips if you can find rails, bars or even tree branches
  
• Core exercises - stuff like crunches, bicycle crunches, v-snaps, and other variations.
  
• Cool-down

You can change the reps/intensity to suit your level. But that is the bare minimum I try to do when I'm not on my proper training days (which are a lot more intensive and orientated to the activity I do). They aren't overly complicated exercises and you can do them anywhere. The amount of time you spend per exercise is up to you of course. The above exercises are really holistically working your whole body, you can find area specific exercises and do them one day and do another area the next.

Thanks for the advice mate, I'll get something like this sorted out soon it seems like the best answer so far.

[Alini]

I also like exercise DVDs (both aerobic and yoga type), as you can use them in the privacy of my own home, but have someone else figure out what the routine should be and help explain how to do things.

[Street Raffa]

Brazekool

According to Google, 1stone = 6.4kgs. Personally, with limited free time as a uni student, I would work on body weight exercises or free-weights you can keep in your room. I don't use free-weights myself since I train outside and it works for me. On my fullest day (Tuesday) I don't get home till about 8pm from uni, I give myself an hour and a half for dinner and other miscellaneous tasks and do, and an hour's worth of exercise outside or indoors.

• Warm-up
  
• Box jumps + box jump variations (one-leg for example) and lunges
  
• Quadrupedals + variations (elevated for example)
  
• Push-ups + variations (diamonds, wide arm, over head, elevated etc)
  
• Pull-ups and dips if you can find rails, bars or even tree branches
  
• Core exercises - stuff like crunches, bicycle crunches, v-snaps, and other variations.
  
• Cool-down

You can change the reps/intensity to suit your level. But that is the bare minimum I try to do when I'm not on my proper training days (which are a lot more intensive and orientated to the activity I do). They aren't overly complicated exercises and you can do them anywhere. The amount of time you spend per exercise is up to you of course. The above exercises are really holistically working your whole body, you can find area specific exercises and do them one day and do another area the next.

[Felkyr]

sacred_desires

I found the wii fit to help me a lot, Ive had it since christmas and Ive lost just over a stone doesnt sound alot, but I feel so much healthier.)

Hmm. That some software built in to the work-out ones that tell you how many cals it reckons youve burnt and stuff ey? And how many kilograms is a stone?

[sacred_desires]

I found the wii fit to help me a lot, I've had it since christmas and I've lost just over a stone (doesnt sound alot, but I feel so much healthier.)

[Felkyr]

iDream version 2

Since you are in Uni, I would definitely suggest going to the on-campus gym as well (which they should have one). On top of swimming and eating right (no less than 1200 cals a day and enough protein to sustain muscle), lift heavy weights one day and do cardio every other day. You don't have to go all-out one hour. It could be just 20 minutes out of your day.

Yeah.. I live in a rural area of Australia, our uni doesn't have s**t.
If you want to go to a gym here you have to pay memberships to one of the gyms or the pools which a couple also have gyms and are usually minimum 6-12 month deals...
But yeah.. I kinda need an idea of some stuff people would do in my position, how long for each thing, etc...

[Felkyr]

A couple years ago I thought it'd be a great idea for me to lose some weight, so I went to the pool almost everyday after school for pretty much the whole year and swum like 45 minutes - 1 and a half hours of laps depending on how I felt each day, and I tend to do a lot of walking everywhere to get places and was kinda disheartened that it didn't seem to be doing much, especially since I made some minor dietry changes as well like for a couple months I only drunk water... hmm
I don't have too much time on my hands now with being in Uni and having a part-time job, but I was thinking in my spare time is it worth going back to the pool again if I can afford it or is there something more productive I could be doing in my house in the way of exercising? (Don't really have any equipment at home but still...)