[re.toon]

Self-control, that's all I can tell you.
If you can't commit and don't want it bad enough
I can't help you. All it comes down to is how bad you want
to have a nice physique. If you can't control yourself
no tips anyone gives you will help. Eat 5-6 small
meals a day so you're never hungry, but you
shouldn't eat until you're stuffed if you're trying to lose
weight, just eat until you're not hungry anymore.
Starving yourself then eating till you explode is not a good
way to go about things.

Thanks for your help!

[Ramen-C]

Thanks for all your help, it's great.

re-toon, you just have to keep remidning yourself of what you really want, rather than seeing what you want to eat at that moment and regretting it later.

[Millou]

ok, I have another calves questions...
I have big calves and they are somewhat uneven, if I'm going to stretch them every morning will they somewhat slim down?

Also, if I want to lose some weight, do I have to run every day or is 2-3 times also good? Cause it's turning winter and I don't really want to run in the rain

[Makaveli]

ok, I have another calves questions...
I have big calves and they are somewhat uneven, if I'm going to stretch them every morning will they somewhat slim down?

Also, if I want to lose some weight, do I have to run every day or is 2-3 times also good? Cause it's turning winter and I don't really want to run in the rain

I would say if you're running do it 4 times a week. You can also
do other things such as jumping jacks, circuit training, skipping and etc
when you are not running. Stretching the calves really does not
slim them down. This is a myth. Stretching just essentially
stretches the muscle. Muscle is not like dough, you can't just
stretch it and expect it to get long. You have to train it a certain
way if you want it to be lean. Stretching promotes good blood
flow and essentially prepares the muscles for work and to be
flexible. You muscles being uneven is either genetic or you
work one side more than the other.

[damyoungji]

My parents just brought a treadmill and it should be up by this weekend.

I never run unless I am just about to miss a bus O__o Approximately how much should someone be running if they do not exercise that often? (Yes, I need to start NOW).

I have been to the gym before and people tend to start walk on the treadmills before they start running. Is it due to the fact that it keeps their blood flowing and to get the momentum?

[Makaveli]

I would recommend you start at 15mins or 30mins at a moderate
jogging like pace for the first week or so. Get your body conditioned
then start ramping it up and go faster/longer whatever suits you.
I wouldn't go past an hour on any given day. If you have enough
distance to go an hour, then ramp up the speed etc.

People do walk before they run to get the blood flowing
and to warm up their body essentially. You can't just go
into a high intensity workout without warming up. You
have a higher risk of injury and your output wont be as good.

[Blythe999]

Listen up girls!

There is so much bad information about physical fitness and scanning the forum I am sadden to see that some girls believe the myths (I blame Shape).

1)You cannot target fat loss! I'm sorry but that's not how it works; if you have a fat stomach crunches will not shrink the fat. In fact, you are adding muscle under the fat (so you may get bigger there, but that's not bad!). Just focus on weight loss and you will lose fat across your body generally. Unfortunately we are all built differently and working out does not guarantee that you will have the perfect body (in your imagination), but you can achieve the perfect body for you!

2)Muscle burns more calories than cardio alone. Yes you burn more calories with a cardio based exercise than you would with a weight training session, but your body continues to burn calories after you are done exercising to help form new muscle tissue. You stop burning calories once you stop running on the treadmill.

3)Weight training will not make you "bulky". The grotesque pictures you see of bodybuilders are not a reality achievable by most people. That is a very specific high intensity/high weight workout (and usually aided by some kind of substance legal or not). In reality, you will not get anywhere close to that. Instead you will burn fat, add muscle and all around look healthier, leaner and sexier. Add bonus: you'll be stronger, and what's sexier than a woman who can clean a bag of 40 pound dog food in heels?

4) Low fat diets are bad, bad, bad. You need fat in your system (read up on the electron transport chain). In fact, if you reduce your fat intake to nil, your body will go into "starvation mode" and cling more tenaciously to the fat you do have! Instead your body will eat away at muscle mass if it is too extreme! In addition, all those low fat foods add loads of sugar to compensate for taste. That means you are flooding your system with glucose and too much of that can lead to insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes.

I weight train, I do olympic lifts. I am 5'3", weigh 110lb and can squat 95lb, deadlift 105 lb and clean 55lb. For those of you afraid that it will make you bulky, I wear a size 0-2.

I'm sorry for my long rant but I felt it was important to state some of this clearly. Also, I would add an image but it doesn't seem to work...help?

[Blythe999]

I have a friend who is currently taking a supplement that's called Wheybolic Creatine (I think that's what it's called?) to help him with his body building/workouts. I was a little worried about this and thought that this might have a potential bad side effect to his health, so I looked up creatine / creatine supplements on Google, got a search from Wikipedia, and read about it. According to it's articles, short term usage is okay and that the only bad side effect that I've read about is that there is potential cramping (when not enough fluids are taken). Since I didn't find much information on this other than Wikipedia, Yahoo!'s Q&A's, & thesupplementrating.com, I was wondering if there were any other bad side effects to this?

You naturally have a chemical compound in your body called creatine phosphate. It aids in release of energy and via creation of ATP (our body's fuel). Creatine supplements are simply a way to aid endurance. The book is still out on how effective this supplement really is, but it's essentially harmless as long as he doesn't over do it.

I was wondering what would be the best exercise or weight machine to strengthen calves. I don't really care if it makes the muscle bigger. I just feel like I'm going to die when I run and do lunges because my calves burn like crazy. Would strengthening my calves help me in those exercises?

It actually sounds like you are dehydrated and/or need potassium in your system. Drink water and eat a banana. As for lunges, you might want to check your form to make sure you aren't putting undue stress on your calves by overextending at the ankle. Done correctly, your glutes should burn.

[kinein]

Woo 2 active responders ~ I'm having fun just reading ^^

[sii.s2]

what makes you taller?? and does eating vegetables help with weight loss??

[Makaveli]

what makes you taller?? and does eating vegetables help with weight loss??

Genetics and growth hormones make you taller while you're still
going through puberty and your growing stages. Vegetables
have the potential of aiding in fat loss but you have to fix your
diet in general before you can achieve fat loss. You can't eat garbage
and top it off with vegetables and think you're losing weight.

[timothyparkerr]

what makes you taller?? and does eating vegetables help with weight loss??

I think being tall is mostly genetics. Yes, eating vegetables help with weight loss as they are rich in fibre. So eat plenty of vegetables. Another thing that helps greatly with weightloss is cutting down your carbs a little bit and cutting out processed carbs completely out. White rice, white bread, white pasta, are horrible examples of processed carbs and contains barely any nutrition.

[Millou]

I would say if you're running do it 4 times a week. You can also
do other things such as jumping jacks, circuit training, skipping and etc
when you are not running. Stretching the calves really does not
slim them down. This is a myth. Stretching just essentially
stretches the muscle. Muscle is not like dough, you can't just
stretch it and expect it to get long. You have to train it a certain
way if you want it to be lean. Stretching promotes good blood
flow and essentially prepares the muscles for work and to be
flexible. You muscles being uneven is either genetic or you
work one side more than the other.

How do I have to train my calves to make them lean? And yea, I think I worked one side more than the other...they used to be even.

Another question:
I haven't done any kind of excercise for the past 4 years and I'm planning to start doing some excercises again.
I want to start running again, althought I've never been a good runner.

So today after dinner I tried some skipping, but I couldn't even do 100! When jumping I felt like my diner was coming back up to my throat. I don't think this is normal, but one TV personal trainers act like it's all normal to throw up

How can I build up my condition on a good way? I don't want to feel like a dead fish after excercising haha...
I want to run and skip, but how can I mix both together? Is it better to run one day and skipping the other day or do I do both on the same day?

[Makaveli]

How do I have to train my calves to make them lean? And yea, I think I worked one side more than the other...they used to be even.

Another question:
I haven't done any kind of excercise for the past 4 years and I'm planning to start doing some excercises again.
I want to start running again, althought I've never been a good runner.

So today after dinner I tried some skipping, but I couldn't even do 100! When jumping I felt like my diner was coming back up to my throat. I don't think this is normal, but one TV personal trainers act like it's all normal to throw up

How can I build up my condition on a good way? I don't want to feel like a dead fish after excercising haha...
I want to run and skip, but how can I mix both together? Is it better to run one day and skipping the other day or do I do both on the same day?

When you continue doing cardio and other such exercises they should stay lean themselves.
Also if you weight train just use high rep ranges and they will stay lean. For them to gain mass
you have to train and eat a certain way so you don't need to worry about that.

Did you jump directly after dinner? If so, that's why you felt like you were going to throw up.
You should wait at least 1 hour after eating to train.

Build up by continuing to push yourself every time you train. There are days where
you'll feel great and days where you wont, that's part of life. Just make sure that you
intake a good amount of carbs before and after training. You could do like 30mins of running
and 30 of skipping but it's honestly up to you. You can do it however it feels best on your body.
Personally I like doing one thing a day. So I would run one day and skip the next.
However, I will warn you that you shouldn't do too many days a week as both running
and skipping are high impact on your joints so you may start feeling joint pains fast
if you do it a lot. I would advice switching it up and biking sometimes.

[Blythe999]

what makes you taller?? and does eating vegetables help with weight loss??

Mostly genetics and proper nutrition are involved in height. Depending on your age, you may continue to grow a bit but there's really nothing you can do once you reach your 20s.

Vegetables are good for your diet, but they alone will not make you lose weight. The most important thing is that you take in less than you burn. Make sure you eat a little of everything too! There is a reason we are omnivores, we need essential vitamins from our diet because our body cannot produce them on their own. If you are a vegetarian be sure you continue to supplement protein in your diet. I suggest lots of legumes and nuts (chickpeas and lentils are awesome).

I am not an advocate of any extreme dieting or cutting out any particular food group. I say eat in moderation and be smart about working out and eating. You could simple things like park farther away when you go to the mall or take the stairs. It's not much, but it's something!

[Ramen-C]

Woah I have a lot of questions..

This other day I was attempting to run 12km for an event and I noticed my left hand especially started to expand (bloat/puff up/get fat) and I had trouble closing my hands. My friend said I was just seeing things from the amount I was running but I swear my hands were going really weird.

Later that night I went out running and I noticed that my hands started to bloat again.
I've never experianced this before, I wasn't dehydrated because there were a lot of water stops so I'm wondering if this can occur.

[Millou]

^ It's because of blood circulation, I have that too.

I have another question (sorry for flooding the thread...)
If I want to lose 5kg of fat, do I have to lose 8kg in reality? Because the first 3kg is waterweight, right?

[Aromdeon]

Hello. I'm tryin to tone my body for the summer. I was chubby wen I was younger and I feel that my baby fat is still with me. Last semester I worked out 5 days a week doing cardioboxing or some cardio exercise. This summer I stopped exercising and I feel like I gained more weight towards my arms, back and stomach. Right now I'm running 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night. But I feel like I'm not loosing any weight. I'm eating pretty healthy as well. Should I swim as well? My main goal is to just lose weight and tone my body before summer.

[seethewayxx]

Hello. I'm tryin to tone my body for the summer. I was chubby wen I was younger and I feel that my baby fat is still with me. Last semester I worked out 5 days a week doing cardioboxing or some cardio exercise. This summer I stopped exercising and I feel like I gained more weight towards my arms, back and stomach. Right now I'm running 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night. But I feel like I'm not loosing any weight. I'm eating pretty healthy as well. Should I swim as well? My main goal is to just lose weight and tone my body before summer.

all of your baby fat goes away around age thirteen. the best ting to do is not trying to lose weight, but just try to get healthy. are you eating enough veggies, fruits, whole grains, poultry, fish, dairy, meat, eggs? if not, then adjust your eating habits. eat less fast food [ex; mcdonalds, kfc, wendy's, long john silver's, etc.] and more whole fruits and veggies and salmon or lean meats. also, keep looking into new workouts so you find what you like and what works for you. it takes a month or two to see results.

[Makaveli]

^ It's because of blood circulation, I have that too.

I have another question (sorry for flooding the thread...)
If I want to lose 5kg of fat, do I have to lose 8kg in reality? Because the first 3kg is waterweight, right?

You can't say that it'll be 5kg fat and 3kg water weight because
it changes from person to person. However, you can always use caliphers and
test your body. You just need to train and not worry about how much
is water weight, when you lose the weight you will see the difference
in the mirror unless you bloat yourself with water all the time.

Hello. I'm tryin to tone my body for the summer. I was chubby wen I was younger and I feel that my baby fat is still with me. Last semester I worked out 5 days a week doing cardioboxing or some cardio exercise. This summer I stopped exercising and I feel like I gained more weight towards my arms, back and stomach. Right now I'm running 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night. But I feel like I'm not loosing any weight. I'm eating pretty healthy as well. Should I swim as well? My main goal is to just lose weight and tone my body before summer.

If the weight is not coming off it's probably your diet.
Also you might want to try upping the intensity of your
runs. If you want to do swimming I would suggest replacing
one of your runs with it. Also what is your height/weight
and diet like? if you don't mind posting it.