New years resolution: Lose over 30kg weight. Need halp

4 pages... I'm too lazy to read them all, so I don't know if anybody made this suggestion:
Whatever you do, do it under the supervision of some professional (doctor, nutricionist.)... some lifestyle changes as sports and diets may damage your health.
 
I dropped 12lbs last year by starting a running routine, and ended up entering a few 5k races just to see what I could do. I went from 195lbs down to 183, which for me was pretty decent (I'm 6' tall).

I know a lot of people hate the whole "running on a treadmill" thing, and I'm in the same boat. I do it right now because I need to, by the time I'm home from work it's pitch black out and tough to run outside, but when it's light out, I'm outside.

For Anssi, or anyone else who worries about running and injuries, I did great using the Couch to 5k program. I've got knee tendinitis, by the time I was done with the program I was running with no knee support and with zero pain. Most importantly, I found that I LOVED running - great excuse to just turn off your brain for 30-60 mins a day and just GO. Nowadays, I'll run for 30 mins on the treadmill, then do around 30 mins of weight work. But as soon as I can run outside again, that'll be all I do.

And of course, all the advice about just cutting back on the portions and cutting out the junk is dead on. Use the cross trainer, up the water, and reduce portions and you should definitely see some results over the next few months. Good luck!!

I love to run but my right knee bothers me ever since a soccer injury. what's this couch to 5k thing?
 
part of my new years resolution was to reduce my dependency on my medications. so after pleading with my doctors on wednesday they agreed to halve my nightly meds. currently going through withdrawals but im using all the anxious/hyper moods to my advantage and wrecking myself at the gym twice as hard. that way i can start to get back into shape from the detour my medication throws me on.
 
I love to run but my right knee bothers me ever since a soccer injury. what's this couch to 5k thing?

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

That's pretty much everything you need to know right there. It's a very structured program that starts out with a LOT of walking, and a little bit of light jogging. It's designed to build up your endurance and train your muscles so you don't overexert and injure yourself.

If you have an app-capable phone or iPod, you can grab apps that'll give you all the cues on when to run, walk, how far you've gone, etc. I had to rely on my old 4GB iPod when running, so I just downloaded some "podcasts" I found online that were just made up of a voice saying when to walk, when to run, etc. and I dropped my own music in behind them.
 
Well, I lost over 40 kg and this is the rough outline:

First I walked five times per week to work, for 4 months (lost 8 kg)
Then I continued walking to school for the rest of the school year (4 months), plus I used a stationary bicycle three times per week for 45 minutes (lost another 8 kg)
Then I started to play football and to do some simple home exercising (bicep, situp, and burpee), and I lost another 8 kg in 3 months
So, now I had lost 24 kg in 11 months, but unfortunately my military service started - at the end of it, I had gained 5 kg of fat :lol: (Finnish miiltary... :erk:)

After military, it was back to exercising. Lots of football and slightly changed muscle exercise routine with more things added (improvised chest fly, back, press up), and at the end of the year (11 months), I had lost a total of 30 kg
The next year was pretty much just holding the weight while still playing football and doing the home gym stuff.

That's pretty much how I've continued until today:

- Football/futsal 3-6 times per week depending on how many practices were available (no overlapping practices - I played in three teams :lol: two school ones, and one through my friend)
- Various gym things, and real gym for the entire 2010, currently I'm doing home pilates stuff with kettlebell snatches and ab roller, plus bicycling to work (30 km per week), since I moved and don't have any football groups anymore
- Occasionally something else, like paintball, floorball, or rollerskating

So, in my experience, these are the most effective methods:

In the beginning: walking
After a while: walking + some muscle training (it really boosted my weight loss!)
Once you are getting to some shape: some group exercise, like football, basketball, floorball, etc
Later on: just a lot of heavy exercise, 5 times per week

And of course, you should also pay attention to what you eat. During the first 5 years, I ate following the low glycemic index style. That is, prefer dark pasta, wild rice, rye bread, and so on. Avoid excessive sugar and white flour-based foods (white bread, "normal" pasta, etc). I also ate following a very stable schedule, like this:

Breakfast (7:00) - a bowl of All Bran and milk
Snack (9:00) - rye bread with ham and cheese, or a mandarin/apple
Lunch (11:00) - normal food, but avoiding the things mentioned earlier, keep the portion reasonable - no seconds!
Snack (15:00) - rye bread with ham and cheese, or a mandarin/apple
Dinner (17:00) - normal food, but avoiding the things mentioned earlier, keep the portion reasonable - no seconds!
Snack (20:00) - cottage cheese and tuna

But nowadays I've been following low carb style. Not for losing weight, but for its many health benefits, and practicality (I only eat twice a day, and I'm never hungry...).

Oh and after a few times doing kettlebell snatches, I can tell it is extremely effective! When was the last time you had the taste of blood in your mouth, and straining your lungs when doing weights? :zombie: And this is for a quite fit person! :lol: Very effective, but the technique for it is quite difficult to learn properly. And if you don't, you can do some serious damage to your wrists. Here's a video:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vXEqmkI5YA&feature=related[/ame]

The difficult part is when the kettlebell is on top of your head. It's very difficult to get it right, so the kettlebell doesn't slam against your wrist, creating one helluva big bruise after just one session! And if you continue it, your wrist will be in pieces in the long-term :p So learn the correct technique with a low-weight kettlebell (8 kg), before moving to higher weights. Most of the videos are quite bad at explaining it, so here's one tip I found useful: instead of flipping the kettlebell, like you see in the videos, just let it turn around in your hand, so it swings "sideways".

Here's a decent guide:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Alright rain check; What has changed since two weeks:

- Dropped all sugary stuff (candy, chocolate, soft drinks, alcohol etc)
- 2 to 3 warm meals a day
- I've eaten quite a lot of cucumber, carrots, bananas, mandarins, rye bread, tuna and drank a lot of milk and mineral water
- I started eating smaller portions, I bought a Saarioinen single serving chicken soup that comes in a plastic bowl, saved the bowl and have used that as a portition measurer
- Being on the crosstrainer is MUCH easier. Don't get tired as fast, can be on it for ~15 minutes at a time without getting exhausted. I usually do it 2-3 times
- I noticed yesterday that the pants that barely fit when I bought them on December (the largest jeans they had at Macys, W42 L32) are now too big for me and I think I need to start to use a belt
- The most important; MY SHIT SMELLS GOOD. It may sound silly, but it's just amazing how satisfying it is.
- Also second important thing: BREATHING is easier. Also a big plus.

The worst part was after like 5-6 days when the headache and hunger started to kick in. The singer I was recording hated me, so it didn't help. When the album is finished, I'll start going to the gym, I've pretty much spent all my free time in the studio.

I decided in the beginning that I won't get a scale, because I don't want to get stuck in the "numbers" head space.
 
Alright rain check; What has changed since two weeks:

- Dropped all sugary stuff (candy, chocolate, soft drinks, alcohol etc)
- 2 to 3 warm meals a day
- I've eaten quite a lot of cucumber, carrots, bananas, mandarins, rye bread, tuna and drank a lot of milk and mineral water
- I started eating smaller portions, I bought a Saarioinen single serving chicken soup that comes in a plastic bowl, saved the bowl and have used that as a portition measurer
- Being on the crosstrainer is MUCH easier. Don't get tired as fast, can be on it for ~15 minutes at a time without getting exhausted. I usually do it 2-3 times
- I noticed yesterday that the pants that barely fit when I bought them on December (the largest jeans they had at Macys, W42 L32) are now too big for me and I think I need to start to use a belt
- The most important; MY SHIT SMELLS GOOD. It may sound silly, but it's just amazing how satisfying it is.
- Also second important thing: BREATHING is easier. Also a big plus.

The worst part was after like 5-6 days when the headache and hunger started to kick in. The singer I was recording hated me, so it didn't help. When the album is finished, I'll start going to the gym, I've pretty much spent all my free time in the studio.

I decided in the beginning that I won't get a scale, because I don't want to get stuck in the "numbers" head space.

congrats dude

it's amazing how much better you'll start feeling after a couple months of cutting out shitty food from your diet and exercising regularly...
 
I did the P90X thing, I lost 40 lbs, now I'm 175 lbs (5'8"). I'm hoping to have a six pack by this summer, it's tough though, my body fat is currently at 15%. I don't have the body type that sheds fat easily and keeps it off.

The P90X was hard though and I pushed myself too hard at times and one time my girlfriend found me passed out on the floor, all sweaty. Now that I've done the program for four months it's still challenging, and the Yoga is still the most difficult thing for me.

You could accomplish the same thing without the P90X program. Just do about 1:45 of cardio/intense weight lifting every day (take one day off every week).

Also during the first 30 days you cut your carb intake by 80% which is a big part of the fat shedding. Lots of protein and not so much carbs.

I also stopped eating fast food completely. A friend offered me fries the other day from McD's and I had one and thought I was gonna puke. That shit smells and tastes nasty once you've been eating "good" food for a while.
 
That is so true about fast food. It indeed tastes disgusting. People just don't notice it because they are used to it. Same thing for soda. Every now and then I taste my wife's diet coke and want to gag.

She gave up the diet coke about a month ago and now has a similar response when she has tried it again.
 
Alright guys, update on this. according to my journal my starting weight in January 6th was 135kg, my current weight is:









































































124kg

So 11 kg lost (~25lb) in 2 months, 25 more kg to go in 10 months (target is 99kg). To reach my target, I need to lose about 2.5kg weight per month on average.

edit: I checked and I have also lost about 10cm from by waist at bellybutton height. When this is all over, I will post before and after photos.