newcomer - weight loss advice required for a male

firehawk

New Member
Hi!
I am a male. I need to lose weight as recently I have gained weight due to work stress and severe personal stress which I am hopefully beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I used to be a waist size of 32 but now between 36 and 38.
I admit, the past 2 months has been nothing but junk food. The odd healthy salad and soup and of course, that doesn't help.

I know I need to cut down my soft drink intake and have water/squash instead.

I don't drink or smoke - never have, never did and I am a vegetarian (do eat fish and quorn products).

I don't know where to begin or what to do in terms of dietry requirements.

I don't know what food is good for me and what is not.

I would appreciate any valuable advice given and sincerely will adhere to that. I know I need to lose weight and ideally, I would like to lose it fast but also maintain it.

I am not a great excersizer and really should begin to do them but given the nature of my work - it is a little impossible especially as of late.

I haven't had breakfast in over 6 months because I haven't had the time and because of my depression to some extent but now I have finished a big bit of work, I am now wanting to "renew" myself.

Many thanks!
 
Hi Firehawk, Good that you have decided to do something about your weight as that alone will help you to feel a lot better about yourself.
However, now you have to choose which regime you will follow. Which ever it is it will mean taking the time to keep to working out the menu for the day. With a calorie controlled one you will need to count each item of food calorie total and tho' it may seem very tedious at first you will soon get to know it and it wont be such an effort.
When you have gotten that far do start your own diary so we can see how you are progressing and can give you advice and support.

Take care and all the very best to you....:)
 
Hello Firehawk and welcome :)

I'm sorry you've been going through such a stressing time and I want to congratulate you for your strenght to try to overcome the difficulties and aiming for getting healthy ;)

I'm also a vegetarian (almost vegan actually) and the best you can do is to search about vegetarian nutrition and following the four food groups approach: http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/4foodgroups.pdf

This site is great, full of doctors articles and tips: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) - Neal Barnard, M.D., president

Avoid junk food most of the time (obviously you can have a cheat day once a week, I do and I'm at a healthy weight;)) Buy whole foods, such as whole wheat pasta, brown rice, quinoa, brown and rye bread, lentils, tofu, beans, some quorn products (if you like them), potatoes, tons of fruits and veggies. Try to cook from scratch using lots of herbs, some spices and little salt.

- Always make sure that half of your plate has vegetables;
- Eat fruits for snacks and desserts, as well as one or two slices of bread with hummus (or other spread)
- Avoid sodas and sugary drinks. Choose water over every other drinks as often as you can;) You can add some lemon or orange to taste if you aren't used to plain water.
- For breakfast eat fruits. Once you're not used to eat it start by fruits, they're quick to grab, tasty and packed with vitamins and fiber;)

xx
 
see, I was right - intellegent special ladies.

Thank-you so much for this.

I am not a good cook! I do LOVE pasta. The problem here is to figure out exactly what meals I should have and what should be in them. This is one of the problems I have.

I do love my sandwiches I must admit. If I am out and about, then I usually go to subway and get myself a veggie pattie sub with lettece, cucumber and tomato's.

I guess I need some diet to follow and for it to provide me a list of meals I can either cook or obtain.

Again - this is really helpful stuff. Many many thanks!
 
Ok I think I'm turning into a broken record here for the sheer amount of times I promote this website but!

Go to Free Diet Plans at SparkPeople They are an excellant website which provide you with soooooooooo much information on every aspect of health, fitness, nutrition and weightloss. There is a huuuuuuuuuuuge community there which are incredibly helpful. When you sign up, you can sign up to have them workout meal plans for you (you can print out a weekly shopping list) and you can select them based on your dietry requirements.


I don't think i've explained this very well at all and I definitely haven't even scratched the surface with what sp has to offer but, give it a go! You have nothing to lose. Also, if you want someone to buddy up with you can add me here or on sp (my username is twentytwo14).

Secondly, have you tried veggie boards? They are all super helpful and healthy. Most of them are mini nutritionists and more than happy to help with any nutrition, diet, fitness, weightloss questions you may have.
 
Leighleigh is right;)

veggieboards.com and sparkpeople are full of good advice.

Once you don't enjoy cooking, maybe you could cook a lot of food at once and then freeze it in taperwares to eat in other days;)

Whole wheat pasta is pretty healthy and quick (one cup or two of cooked pasta is enough for a complete meal), you could add a quorn product to it or canned beans (for protein) and a big salad of greens, tomatoes and peppers with some balsamic vinegar and that way you would have a quick healthy meal (15 min to prepare the whole thing). Then you could finish with some fruit or yogurt.
Make sure half of your plate has vegetables and you'll have a good nutrition;)

You can make it :)
 
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