Hi everyone old bloke wants to look better

[nigel1reed]

Hi everyone !

I am a 66 year old born on April the first 1944 called Nigel not a good start hey?

Well have been a charity endurance walker for 25 years now my knees are telling me to give up combine that with the fat going on and I need a new challenge.

My goals at this point are simple at 100 kg I want to to get down to 82 kg with 12% body fat.

Would love any advise or help and will enjoy surfing the site.

I have my own site if anyone interested http://www.walkyourowntalk.com this is dedicated to my Late daughter Zoe.

[Pseudonym]

Welcome, Nigel. That sounds like a good goal - have you got a plan of attack for it? Do you think your knees will cope with weights and cardio, or is it more the extended strain of endurance events that's a problem?

[Dog Licker]

Hi Nigel,

Congrats on taking the plunge. Certainly want to support and encourage you for taking on the challenge! Naturally I can only talk about what has worked for me - and you can take what you want out of it.

I started following a program by a US guy called Tom Venuto about May last year. I'm not sure of the rules of the forum, so won't post a link. Anyway, Google him if you want more info. I had been doing some weights and cardio, but was struggling at loosing fat. My fat was around 24% (using calipers - one site test - iliac crest).

From what Tom wrote, it appeared that I wasn't eating enough! Yeah - you read it right - I wasn't eating enough. Didn't believe it actually - but I was committed to giving his program a go. Basically Tom talks about adopting a traditional body building meal plan, i.e. 5 to 6 meals a day, about one meal every 3 hours. I tried it and felt absolutely stuffed (as in full). I mean, I set my alarm to go every 3 hours and as soon as it rang it was like "what! I have to eat again!". I wasn't even hungry, but ate anyway. After 3 months (yeah, no instant results) my fat was down to 14%. With the success I realized that previously I had been starving myself, and in the end going on huge fat and sugar binges when the cravings got too much. By following Tom's program I didn't get cravings anymore, so didn't eat crap and go over my daily calorie budget. Tom talks more about it in his site anyway, and even gives all the scientific talk about the hormones involved etc if you want.

What I guess I'm trying to say is that if you are trying to loose fat, then diet is as important as training. I believe you have to do both to give yourself the best chance of success. By the way, I don't view it as a "diet" anymore. Now it is my natural lifestyle. I eat 5 meals a day - healthy stuff, i.e. chicken, fish, veges, etc. Still doing it today (i.e. 9 months now), and my fat is currently at 12%.

I liked some of Tom's other suggestions too and have taken them on board. He talks about putting goals "out there" so you become accountable. I joined one of his contests and took a photo of me holding a newspaper (to prove the date) and put it up to show what I looked like at day one, and then another at day 90. It was really hard to go public like that on his site, but it really gave me motivation to stay the course! I'm thinking of doing another pic at a year (i.e. this May) and sticking it up - maybe on this site. I can tell you that having a goal like this helps with keeping to the program.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I'm wishing you all the best and pushing all the good vibes your way.

[musclenz]

Hi Nigel. Agree with DL that whether you are trying to gain weight or lose weight its about eating plently of good healthy food. Jenny Craig, weightwatchers & most diets are about structured meals & taking the body out of starvation mode & fat storage into a healthy fast metabolism. You will find many good threads on diet & nutrition, exercise programs & cardio workouts on this forum. Good luck with your change of lifestyle & remember "Age is only a Number."

[Daz69]

Hi Nigel. Agree with DL that whether you are trying to gain weight or lose weight its about eating plently of good healthy food. Jenny Craig, weightwatchers & most diets are about structured meals & taking the body out of starvation mode & fat storage into a healthy fast metabolism. You will find many good threads on diet & nutrition, exercise programs & cardio workouts on this forum. Good luck with your change of lifestyle & remember "Age is only a Number."

Until You look in the mirror....... :pfft: :pfft: :pfft:

[Grover]

Hi Nigel. Agree with DL that whether you are trying to gain weight or lose weight its about eating plently of good healthy food. Jenny Craig, weightwatchers & most diets are about structured meals & taking the body out of starvation mode & fat storage into a healthy fast metabolism. You will find many good threads on diet & nutrition, exercise programs & cardio workouts on this forum. Good luck with your change of lifestyle & remember "Age is only a Number."

Until You look in the mirror....... :pfft: :pfft: :pfft:

So the answer is take up power lifting/strongman as they seem to have an aversion to mirrors!

[Dog Licker]

Hi Nigel,

I just read through the "Resources - Body Building for Beginners - The Diet" links above, and if you haven't seen that yet, it does a much better job than what I attempted at explaining the need for 5 to 6 meals a day to keep your metabolism high, and out of starvation mode.

I know when I first started changing my diet one of the biggest problems I had was knowing what to eat. It was hard to find stuff for free Googling around too. I have seen one link to an example diet for free. If you Google "Gerald Gore's Bodybuilding diet" then click the second result, it takes you to a page where you can see his exact pre-contest diet from a few years ago. He went from 242 pounds to about 190.

Actually, my diet is pretty equivalent in terms of the amount of chicken and fish I eat. I don't do the 14 egg whites in the morning and before sleep though! I typically eat a scrambled egg mix of 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg, on wholewheat toast.