Right that time of year has come again for Spiritof98.
Time for the gym, trying something different this year. Over the Christmas period I have promised a certain person That I will run the London Marathon in 2011, I know this sounds like plenty of time but those members lucky enough to know my good self will agree that time is needed.
I am signing up with educogym in Armagh, and will let everyone know the charity i will be training for soon enough.
All advice will be welcome.
The big weigh in is tomorrow so I'll post the starting weight then and let everyone know the craic every week.
That's not a bad idea actually for those of us trying to shift a bit of weight.
A kind of gaaboard weight watchers if you like.
I'm currently at the heaviest weight I have ever been and need to do something badly.
Quote from: RealSpiritof98 on January 03, 2010, 12:54:46 PM
Right that time of year has come again for Spiritof98.
Time for the gym, trying something different this year. Over the Christmas period I have promised a certain person That I will run the London Marathon in 2011, I know this sounds like plenty of time but those members lucky enough to know my good self will agree that time is needed.
I am signing up with educogym in Armagh, and will let everyone know the charity i will be training for soon enough.
All advice will be welcome.
The big weigh in is tomorrow so I'll post the starting weight then and let everyone know the craic every week.
fake a sprained ankle
Gyms are full of what I call "tourists" at this time of year. Thankfully they`ll all be gone by March. They just take up space that the rest of us could be using.
IF you are serious about getting fit I would avoid the likes of educogym. It is a con. They are out for your money. They will try to sell you vitamin supplements and other crap associated with Tony Quinn. Quinn is a con man. End of. You`ll be attending seminars in Barbados and selling your Granny to do so before you know it.
Join a local well established gym and get some personal training, if you are serious about it you will stick at it.
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
Gyms are full of what I call "tourists" at this time of year. Thankfully they`ll all be gone by March. They just take up space that the rest of us could be using.
IF you are serious about getting fit I would avoid the likes of educogym. It is a con. They are out for your money. They will try to sell you vitamin supplements and other crap associated with Tony Quinn. Quinn is a con man. End of. You`ll be attending seminars in Barbados and selling your Granny to do so before you know it.
Join a local well established gym and get some personal training, if you are serious about it you will stick at it.
how dare they ::)
Forget about the gym. Go for a walk. Buy a bike. You don't need to spend £30/month.
If you're planning to run a marathon, Educo Gym wouldn't be the most ideal place to train. They don't seem big on cardio.
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
IF you are serious about getting fit I would avoid the likes of educogym. It is a con. They are out for your money. They will try to sell you vitamin supplements and other crap associated with Tony Quinn. Quinn is a con man. End of. You`ll be attending seminars in Barbados and selling your Granny to do so before you know it.
To follow up on this - anyone tempted to buy, subscribe to or invest in any of the many services, products, treatments, etc. promoted by Tony Quinn would do well to Google "Tony Quinn cult" and draw their own conclusions.
Its not rocket science lads. Cut out the crisps and the sweets and the fry-ups. Eat plenty of salad and fruit. Get a bit of exercise. The weight will come off.
Quote from: J70 on January 03, 2010, 03:58:47 PM
Its not rocket science lads. Cut out the crisps and the sweets and the fry-ups. Eat plenty of salad and fruit. Get a bit of exercise. The weight will come off.
Totally agree I lost 2 stone last year without doing anything radical. The main thing for me was cutting down portions of food that I ate. Instead of horsing a load of dinner until I was full I would just eat a normal serving and then maybe have a sandwich/bowl of cereal in the evening then if I was still a bit peckish.
As a few have said there is no mystery, cut out the crap and do some exercise. Even brisk walking will lead to considerable weight loss. If the diet is right you will be grand.
Quote from: J70 on January 03, 2010, 03:58:47 PM
Its not rocket science lads. Cut out the crisps and the sweets and the fry-ups. Eat plenty of salad and fruit. Get a bit of exercise. The weight will come off.
Correct. It's not rocket science, but simple nutritional science. The only way to lose weight is to consume less energy than you use, by either eating less or using more energy or both, so that the body must resort to burning excess fat to provide the energy deficit. Hunger is the feeling of the body consuming fat instead of food. If you don't feel hungry, you're not losing weight.
I found this (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/) a simple but effective way to understand what's going on with food, energy (calories) and exercise and how to lose weight an/or avoid getting overweight. Well, too overweight, in my case.
Quote from: Minder on January 03, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
As a few have said there is no mystery, cut out the crap and do some exercise. Even brisk walking will lead to considerable weight loss. If the diet is right you will be grand.
You're good on theory Minder...
Quote from: Tony Baloney on January 03, 2010, 04:13:26 PM
Quote from: Minder on January 03, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
As a few have said there is no mystery, cut out the crap and do some exercise. Even brisk walking will lead to considerable weight loss. If the diet is right you will be grand.
You're good on theory Minder...
Go f**k yourself
Well, it is a form of exercise.
or do what I did, get a bike, cycle too and from work everyday (oddly it doesnt take much longer than driving) and eat what you want. I've never ate more shite in my life and the weight is still coming off!
Quote from: Minder on January 03, 2010, 04:14:23 PM
Quote from: Tony Baloney on January 03, 2010, 04:13:26 PM
Quote from: Minder on January 03, 2010, 04:05:30 PM
As a few have said there is no mystery, cut out the crap and do some exercise. Even brisk walking will lead to considerable weight loss. If the diet is right you will be grand.
You're good on theory Minder...
Go f**k yourself
Terrible chat Minder. I obviously touched a raw nerve.
Quote from: Hardy on January 03, 2010, 02:19:56 PM
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
IF you are serious about getting fit I would avoid the likes of educogym. It is a con. They are out for your money. They will try to sell you vitamin supplements and other crap associated with Tony Quinn. Quinn is a con man. End of. You`ll be attending seminars in Barbados and selling your Granny to do so before you know it.
To follow up on this - anyone tempted to buy, subscribe to or invest in any of the many services, products, treatments, etc. promoted by Tony Quinn would do well to Google "Tony Quinn ****" and draw their own conclusions.
Corrected your poor spelling Hardy. ;)
:D
I should have checked that before posting. It should have read "Tony Quinn, cu.nt" not "****" Still you got the meaning.
Quote from: Hardy on January 03, 2010, 04:10:31 PM
Quote from: J70 on January 03, 2010, 03:58:47 PM
Its not rocket science lads. Cut out the crisps and the sweets and the fry-ups. Eat plenty of salad and fruit. Get a bit of exercise. The weight will come off.
Correct. It's not rocket science, but simple nutritional science. The only way to lose weight is to consume less energy than you use, by either eating less or using more energy or both, so that the body must resort to burning excess fat to provide the energy deficit. Hunger is the feeling of the body consuming fat instead of food. If you don't feel hungry, you're not losing weight.
Not quite that simple: the body won't necessarily use fat for energy, sometimes it will use muscle, and that's where the problem is -- that's weight loss not fat loss. It's all governed by hormones i.e., cortisol and leptin specifically. Cortisol will make you feel hungry, even if you have plenty of fat, so it becomes a question of suppressing cortisol, and there are exercise routines (such as interval training) and eating habits to do that naturally. You can still be losing fat without feeling hungry, they don't have to go together at all.
Educo Gym is a good start to build core fitness and loose the initial pounds.
Then possibly invest in a pair of Nike+ trainers and a compatible ipod. The track your distance, time, etc.
You could buy a pair from NikeID and Have London 2011 On the tongues as a reminder about what it's all for.
Also some of the charities have novice Marathon training plans. Maybe worth signing up with Marie Curie or the like and they will pay for the entry etc if you raise a minimum amount.
Quote from: Fear ón Srath Bán on January 03, 2010, 05:41:21 PM
Quote from: Hardy on January 03, 2010, 04:10:31 PM
Quote from: J70 on January 03, 2010, 03:58:47 PM
Its not rocket science lads. Cut out the crisps and the sweets and the fry-ups. Eat plenty of salad and fruit. Get a bit of exercise. The weight will come off.
Correct. It's not rocket science, but simple nutritional science. The only way to lose weight is to consume less energy than you use, by either eating less or using more energy or both, so that the body must resort to burning excess fat to provide the energy deficit. Hunger is the feeling of the body consuming fat instead of food. If you don't feel hungry, you're not losing weight.
Not quite that simple: the body won't necessarily use fat for energy, sometimes it will use muscle, and that's where the problem is -- that's weight loss not fat loss. It's all governed by hormones i.e., cortisol and leptin specifically. Cortisol will make you feel hungry, even if you have plenty of fat, so it becomes a question of suppressing cortisol, and there are exercise routines (such as interval training) and eating habits to do that naturally. You can still be losing fat without feeling hungry, they don't have to go together at all.
Fair enough, but that's getting a bit complicated for most situations. I'm not qualified to be advising anybody about diet and physiology, so to be clear, I'm simply saying that my experience was that reducing energy intake to below what my body needed, in a measured way forced it to burn away excess fat - 35 pounds in 6 months - without any ill effects.
I gather that increasing aerobic exercise instead of resistance exercise (e.g. weghts) when dieting can lead to losing muscle mass instead of fat mass. In my case I did feck all extra exercise anyway as reducing input is much more efficient than increasing exercise in losing weight.
I wish I'd known about the cortisol trick. So "no pain, no gain" isn't true?
Yes Hardy, totally correct, if your energy intake is less than your energy expenditure you'll lose weight, and equally correct in that aerobic execise could lead to muscle loss -- the body thinks that it needs to store more fat for this regular expenditure of non-intensive exercise. Resistance exercise can mimic interval training, which will increase metabolic rate for up to 72 hours, which will burn fat, without a concomitant feeling of hunger, thanks to the hormone leptin.
"No pain, no gain" is true enough in that the pain would be in the exercise itself, leading to the suppression of cortisol.
Quote from: down6061689194 on January 03, 2010, 06:00:53 PM
Educo Gym is a good start to build core fitness and loose the initial pounds.
Then possibly invest in a pair of Nike+ trainers and a compatible ipod. The track your distance, time, etc.
You could buy a pair from NikeID and Have London 2011 On the tongues as a reminder about what it's all for.
Also some of the charities have novice Marathon training plans. Maybe worth signing up with Marie Curie or the like and they will pay for the entry etc if you raise a minimum amount.
You'll probably need to sign up with some of the bigger charities to get gauranteed entry - otherwise theres a lottery.
Shoeswise, I would buy Asics - they're top dog, though New Balance are supposed to be just as good - the Nike+ thing is handy, but a bit of a gimmick - if you're going to take it seriously there are devices which can tell you exactly how far you've ran, average times, plan routes, etc, get one of those.
Time everything, and track your distances accurately. You might never do another marathon again, so f**k it, do this one the best you can. Its in 2011 - loadsa time - so none of that 'I'll just be happy to finish' shite.
Also, imo any gym will help, if you're idiot enough to sign up for a loada crazy shit, you'd probably do that somewhere else anyway. Try to swim regularly, and row a lot - dont just stick to running, cos it is boring.
Let us know how its going - times etc!
Plenty of advice there lads, I suppose it boils down to getting the right plan in place and committing to it. In the past I have did well for a few months and then just fell of the wagon when a small injury crops up. I like the gaaboard weight watchers idea, we can all share are trials and tribulations over the next few weeks.
The Marie curie plan looks to be a good one regarding a charity, would they be ok if you shared with another charity?
As regarding times Im a long way off recording serious mileage at the minute, as previously said I have quite a bit on, but I'll let you know the craic
Join your local club for gaa training, it will keep you motivated as you will be training as a squad. You will also have a bit of craic with your teammates, and will be doing different drills etc so should not be too monotoneous
I actually play hurling in armagh, but was thinking about packing it in this year (or until im fit enough), because im a stubborn whore and I do the full pre season with them but its alway too much too soon and the hamy goes or the back gets too sore and im frigged for a few weeks.
If you are carrying some weight at the minute then I would suggest that you go down the non impact route to shed the pounds first.
Spin classes are great for that and completely non impact so a lot less chance of injury. (Alternatively bike / exercise bike and cross trainer if no such classes exist)
To get fit you need to set goals in my opinion. So for example I would say set a goal of x distance per week on the cross trainer or the bike and build up to it. Ramp the miles up say 10% a week to make sure you don't get injured. Maybe this and a spin class a week would be a good start. e.g. 10 mile bike plus 1 spin would be a good start. Build up to 2 classes and say 30 mile.
Diet, to begin with, is imperative. Look at GI and things like that and cut out sweets and processed foods. The above should set you in good enough stead. (Porridge and wholegrain pasta are very good foods to be eating)
Possibly beer consumption could be looked at too...
Also longer term set goals of races - start 5k then go to 10k then a half marathon.
2011 is a long way away. Loads of time.
Quote from: RealSpiritof98 on January 03, 2010, 07:20:26 PM
The Marie curie plan looks to be a good one regarding a charity, would they be ok if you shared with another charity?
IIRC they ask for about £1500. So if you raise £1500 and give that to them you could split the rest 75other/25MC Seeing as theyve sorted a lot out for you.
Pretty much all the charities do it to some degree.
http://www.209events.com/index.php
You could ge in touch with them and book yourself, then fundraise for whoever you like and present the money to them as a donation.
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
Gyms are full of what I call "tourists" at this time of year. Thankfully they`ll all be gone by March. They just take up space that the rest of us could be using.
And those that use a gym all year around ( you know the type who like to at stare other men, wear lycra and constantly seek to catch their reflection in a nearby mirror or window ! ) should be avoided like the plague. Next thing is they will be having you eating bananas in the same quanity of a silverback , buying supplements and putting all dietry requirements through a blender.
At least if you go now you may meet some "tourists" who may have similar outlook to yourself whereby they also want to lose a bit of weight without becoming analally retentive and developing an obsessive compulsory disorder
Quote from: Bensars on January 03, 2010, 07:51:26 PM
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
Gyms are full of what I call "tourists" at this time of year. Thankfully they`ll all be gone by March. They just take up space that the rest of us could be using.
And those that use a gym all year around ( you know the type who like to at stare other men, wear lycra and constantly seek to catch their reflection in a nearby mirror or window ! ) should be avoided like the plague. Next thing is they will be having you eating bananas in the same quanity of a silverback , buying supplements and putting all dietry requirements through a blender.
At least if you go now you may meet some "tourists" who may have similar outlook to yourself whereby they also want to lose a bit of weight without becoming analally retentive and developing an obsessive compulsory disorder
Get off the fence Bensars and tell us how you really feel about regular gym go'ers ;D
all the best with it realspirit...
i'm in kind of the same boat a bit. my natural weight should be under 11.5 st but i'm hitting near 13 so i'm on a major fitness/diet drive for the next while. i've been eating nothing but shite this past 2 months, chippies, sweets, chocolate, buns, beer, the works....it all changes from here! i'll try my best to cut out sweets and fast food for a start and take up a bit of jogging, see how that goes.
good luck with your targets though and if you ever make it i'll throw you a few bob for whatever charity you decide on
its important to watch what food you eat, not just the calories, but try and avoid all the bull shit that is sold in supermarkets but is 90% ingredients that you don't actually recognise as food. This is a fantastic read and I'd recommend it highly :
http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php
1st date at the gym today lads, gave educogym a miss on the advice of fellow posters, also quite expensive, also joined male only weight watchers in the town, quite a humbling experience.
Jan 5th - 21st 4lbs
The journey begins in ernest, good luck to one and all.
Good luck.
I need to lose a few stone myself, and getting started is the most difficult part.
Best of luck RealSpirit, as stated above getting started is the most difficult part. Remember Rome wasnt built in a day. Dont starve yourself, eat sensibly, allow yourself the odd treat and if you fall off the wagon just get back on. We ve all been there and we re all fond of sweets and cakes.
A mate of mine was 21.5 stone last summer. He is now 17stone and looks 10 years younger. His target is 15.
If you are going to be doing plenty of walking and then running get the right shoes, you may pay a bit more initially but you get what you pay for.
Are mentally up for the journey RealSpirit? It'll be a big shock to your previous lifestyle habits and your mind will be willing you back to it's old way of life. Be prepared for you mind to fcuk with you. You'll need to be ready to fight it
You need to make your new regime the centre of how you live your life cause if you don't you'll subconciously find excuse after excuse to regress back and still be able to tell yourself and others that "you tried but it was no use". If you can make it your new routine it will become straight forward but you'll need a really strong conciously aware resolve to fight the demons. Also don't expect overnight miracles/success. Maintain a calm belief that bit by bit you're chalking your way to where you want to be by following the proper regime. I'd be looking at a 3 year timeframe to get down to a reallly healthy size through a good diet (eating good food (not processed diet food/drinks) and a good well planned challenging exercise regime. Don't expect everybody else to do this for you. You have to be the one in control
Good luck
Drink plenty of water too, it keeps the hunger at bay and keeps you hydrated for your extra training-there's no point just drinking when your thirsty, its too late at that stage! Avoid breads and cereals, fire an egg into ye in the mornin and you'll be flyin!
Quote from: Hardy on January 03, 2010, 02:19:56 PM
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
IF you are serious about getting fit I would avoid the likes of educogym. It is a con. They are out for your money. They will try to sell you vitamin supplements and other crap associated with Tony Quinn. Quinn is a con man. End of. You`ll be attending seminars in Barbados and selling your Granny to do so before you know it.
To follow up on this - anyone tempted to buy, subscribe to or invest in any of the many services, products, treatments, etc. promoted by Tony Quinn would do well to Google "Tony Quinn cult" and draw their own conclusions.
If anyone wants more convincing about why you should avoid this person, I can relate an incident personally witnessed that should do the trick.
Do we have to buy your book to read about all about it?
Quote from: Billys Boots on January 05, 2010, 01:22:42 PM
Quote from: Hardy on January 03, 2010, 02:19:56 PM
Quote from: Trevor Hill on January 03, 2010, 02:00:35 PM
IF you are serious about getting fit I would avoid the likes of educogym. It is a con. They are out for your money. They will try to sell you vitamin supplements and other crap associated with Tony Quinn. Quinn is a con man. End of. You`ll be attending seminars in Barbados and selling your Granny to do so before you know it.
To follow up on this - anyone tempted to buy, subscribe to or invest in any of the many services, products, treatments, etc. promoted by Tony Quinn would do well to Google "Tony Quinn cult" and draw their own conclusions.
If anyone wants more convincing about why you should avoid this person, I can relate an incident personally witnessed that should do the trick.
Go ahead, Billy.
In the interests of staying out of court, PM me if you're interested.