oh no, what have I done!!!

[pintsofguinness]

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!

[Tony Baloney]

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.

[Trevor Hill]

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. 

[Hardy]

 

[Trevor Hill]

I should have checked that before posting. It should have read "Tony Quinn, cu.nt" not "****" Still you got the meaning.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

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.

[down6061689194]

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.

[Hardy]

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?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

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.

[haranguerer]

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!

[RealSpiritof98]

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

[wallyman]

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

[RealSpiritof98]

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.

[imtommygunn]

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.

[down6061689194]

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.