Hey guys! I'm going to start dieting soon, and working out, as well. Any tips on what I should do? Something I should avoid? Thanks!
For specification, I want to build some muscle all over my body, but lose some fat as well. And I don't have the money for a gym membership, at the moment, but I do have a weight bench in my room, if that helps. Most it goes up to is 50 lbs.
Yep
- Make all your meals yourself - this way you know what's in it and can limit the crap that goes into it, also this eliminates junk food
- Add some raw stuff to your diet, like grab a handful of cherry tomatoes as part of your meal, add half an avocado, make a small salad and go easy on the salad dressing (here too make your own preferably and chunk the store bought crap)
- Eat smaller meals, tell yourself you can eat again in an hour if you're still hungry, this will get you to fuel your body continuously and reduce your intake vs need which will aid your metabolism in regards to your goal
- Have a set of weights somewhere you walk past often or spend time around often ie I have a set of weights by the tv. During commercial breaks or just when I feel like it I get up and use them
- Make sure you do something for different parts of your body ie with a pair of dumbells alone you can do squats, work your back, work your chest, work your shoulders, work your triceps, biceps, etc very easily so mix it up
- Don't neglect the simple things like doing pushups, planking - again I do these randomly during commercial breaks, when I get up in the morning, when I'm in a boring conversation, when I'm fed up of being at my comp and need a breather, etc - keep finding random moments to spend a minute
- Use the stairs not the lift/elevator or escalator for less than 5 floors
- Get outside and go for a jog or a walk. We eliminate fat through breathing and the extra exercise, fresh air and if you speed it up a bit, cardio will do great things towards your goal
- I hate cardio so I joined a rugby team, it's a full body work out, so if there is a team sport you enjoy that involves a bit of running and using lots of different muscles, go do it, it'll also do well for your self esteem
But the most important part of all is that you have to stick with it and be consistent. There is no point eating healthy for 2 days and then binging and eating shit for the next 2 days thinking you earnt it. That's not how it works. You wanna lose weight and build muscle - then you want to earn that, so not eating shit, keep cooking your own meals. That's more important than any exercising.
Alcohol is evil aka lots of calories, so consider your intake. Wine has less than beer. Spirits less than wine. But alcohol in general isn't good for your body, so keep that in mind with regards to how often you want to drink during the time of your goal.
Oh and drink lots of water. Lots.
2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily.
5 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight daily.
Stay away from sugary foods.
Plenty of water.
3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise.
If you have the time plan your routine so you do 1 or 2 muscle groups a day, but cover all of them in a week.
If you have less time i'd recommend doing a push day(Chest, triceps) a pull day (back and biceps) and a leg day(possibly with shoulders thrown in) each week.
Female + Rugby = Me drooling.
On topic, if you want strength and slow size growth I'd suggest running a 5x5SL type program. No point being huge if you can't lift shit.
As for exercise - lots of squats, maybe run a bulgarian (squat virtually every day) type approach alongside your SL for better gains and lots of calories burned up, then just hit 10,000 steps a day walking.
Eat right, sleep right and join a gym.
Everyone seems to be Olympic lifting now so maybe join the trend and get proficient at what I perceive to be the most demanding to learn, and learn it early on?
Here's my biggest tip.
Don't do a "diet." Make a lifestyle change. Then you'll never feel like you're dieting because you wont be. You'll just be eating the way you should be. The weight will fall off on it's own. Energy level will go up. You'll rarely get sick. You'll feel better overall about yourself and life. If you focus on that, everything else will fall into place.
Pint of water with every meal, no sugary drinks whatsoever. If youre like a lot of people and consume a couple of cans of coke a day just cutting that out will halve your sugar intake.
Protein shake before bed every night especially if you are sore from gym.
Also how old are you? if you are young dont get too disheartened if you dont put size of real quick you dont start to fill out into your frame properly till your late teens