Interested in getting in better shape... but not sure how...

[Indestructible]

I'm a 22 year old guy, and I've basically spent most of my life living pretty comfortably. Never bothered to work out or pay attention to what I eat. I'm... not really fat, or anything (clothed, I look pretty average), but I could definitely stand to lose some weight, and get in slightly better shape. I am kinda flabby, and kinda got the "man boobs" thing going (which irks me the most).

Thing is, whenever I see people asking for advice on how to get in better shape on forums like these, the responses are always made up of specific terms like carbs, protein, etc., and exercising terms that I'm not familiar with; so it all goes over my head, and instead of learning what I should be doing, I just end up confused because I have no clue what the heck everyone is talking about.

Now, as far as my own habits go... Looking at my eating habits, most of the meals I eat during the week are pasta-based. Sometimes I work in pork chops, or steak. I usually skip breakfast (I know, everyone always says not to), but when I do eat something, it's cereal (admittedly, a brand that's probably too sugarey for my own good). Lunch, for me, is kinda hit-or-miss. Most of the time, it's nothing particularly healthy. On the weekend, I usually get one takeout meal on each day (I know, that's bad, too, but I'm in such a habit of it). I mostly drink Coke; I know pop is never a healthy drink, but I can't stand the taste of water, and can't bring myself to like a lot of other drinks. I only have, like, 1-2 cans a day, though. I frequently skip meals on days when I work; if I work at night, I often skip dinner and snack on something when I get home. If I work during the day, I skip breakfast and lunch; I don't like packing lunches to work, and if I get really hungry, I just buy a candy bar on my break.

My actual exercising habits are... well, non-existent. I'm pretty self-conscious, so I wouldn't want to go to a gym, and my neighborhood is kinda rough (just last year, someone was shot and killed on the street I live on, just a little ways down from my house @_@), so I'd be kinda wary of going out for jog, or something like that. For a while, I was kind of using my time at work as a light "workout" because, working in retail, I was constantly carrying boxes of product around the store to stock, sometimes having to go up the ladder with heavier boxes, etc. I figured, doing that for a 5-6 hour shift would be a decent light workout. But, lately, they've been sticking me on register, so I'm confined to one spot for my entire shift. On top of that, I work such sporadic hours (and also have to contend with college classes and schoolwork) that it's hard to peg down specific time to work out.

Anyway, I'm not particularly looking to get "ripped", or anything like that, I'd just like to lose a little weight, get a little healthier, lose some of the flab. I'll be honest, I probably won't give up all of my bad eating/ exercise habits, but I'm willing to kick some of them to get a little healthier. Like I said, though, I'm really not into the idea of going to a gym. So, with all of that in mind, can anyone kinda help me out here? Food suggestions, better meal plans, work out ideas, etc.?

[Sonrisa]

as far as work out goes, try FitTV. they have a ton of different options, and try to work on that upper body as much as possible. buy some weights.
I now follow a gluten free diet and never felt better:

Breakfast

Oatmeal - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Banana - 1
Orange juice - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp (coffee or tea)



Lunch

Chicken - 3 oz
Rice - 1/2 cup
Apple juice - 1/2 cup
Ice cream - ½ cup



Dinner

Sirloin steak - 3 oz
Baked potato - 1 medium
Peas - 1/2 cup
Fruit gelatin - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Tea - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp

[Mongoose]

Yea, weights should help to burn off a bit of the fat, but not as much as you'd like. Do you have any stairs in your house? Running up those, walking down, running back up etc. might be a good place to start. You can really feel it after a short amount of time, and it's in the comfort/safety of your own home : D Just don't slip...

[ktm390]

post was too long to read but if you want to lose weight here are the two keys..... 1. eat often! at least 6 times a day! but you have to eat good food, dont eat junk food or drink sodas. 2. in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you take in.

if you want to gain weight you have to eat often, once again good quality food, but you have to take in more calories than you burn.

eating is really the key to both losing weight. look on a good bodybuilding site to find out what kinds of food to eat for the best results for your goal. i could tell you but there are sooooooooo many things to eat and what time of the day is best for each one and all that shit. my post would be much longer than yours!! good luck!

[twinrexes]

Ditto with ktm about the six mini-meals. The reason is you never get hungry. Hungry leads to bad choices like candy bars, which have no nutrition and lots of calories.

Quit drinking coke. It's terrible for your teeth (I'm a dentist!), you risk both decay and acid erosion (loss of surface enamel). Coke with caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes you pee more often so you never get hydrated. Water tastes bad? Add a little flavor powder like crystal light or similar sugar-free drink mix.

NEVER skip breakfast, it's the most important meal of the day and it sets the tone for the rest of your day. If you start with a healthy breakfast you're more motivated to keep being a good dobee for the rest of the day.

At the supermarket, shop the outer aisles. That's where the produce is, the fresh cuts of meat, and the dairy products. The less highly processed food the better.

Try Ezekial Bread, it's made with sprouted grains instead of flower. Tastes great, low carb, good source of fiber. Ask your grocer if they carry it, most large markets and specialty markets do.

For mixing up your workout routines and more diet and exercise tips, I love this site (and so do tons of other people): [url=http://www.sparkpeople.com]Free Diet Plans at SparkPeople[/url]

Last but not least, the best workout for you, hands down, is the one you know you'll DO! If it's too boring, too difficult, too easy to blow off you won't stick with it.

[twinrexes]

Oops, I meant "flour" not "flower", lol!

And that's weird. I typed in the link for a website, and it came out as an add. I did NOT type in "free diet plans!" How does that happen? If for some reason it gets removed, go to "spark people dot com"

[MOCAMBO]

Dont mean to be rude, but you say you want to get in shape/lose weight but you don't want to workout and not really give up bad foods? Weight loss and fitness really comes with a combination of both actually. I understand you dont want to be ripped so for starters, start by lowering your portions and possibly doing some light cardio to begin with.

Trust me, you don't want to jump into this, take it slow and let yourself mentally get used to your new habits/lifestyle.

You have no idea how much better you're going to feel mentally and physically, it really is amazing.

-Mocambo [Personal Trainer]

[Indestructible]

Dont mean to be rude, but you say you want to get in shape/lose weight but you don't want to workout and not really give up bad foods? Weight loss and fitness really comes with a combination of both actually.

Er, what I'm saying is that I can't necessarily axe all my bad eating/ exercise habits completely, but I figure as long as I learn to be better about doing them in moderation, that should be fine, right? Thing is, I don't really know what proper "moderation" for those things are. That's basically what I was getting at. As far as exercising goes, I'm just trying to find ideas for things that would work for me that I can fit into my erratic schedule, and do in an environment where I'm comfortable.

post was too long to read but if you want to lose weight here are the two keys..... 1. eat often! at least 6 times a day! but you have to eat good food, dont eat junk food or drink sodas. 2. in order to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you take in.

if you want to gain weight you have to eat often, once again good quality food, but you have to take in more calories than you burn.

eating is really the key to both losing weight. look on a good bodybuilding site to find out what kinds of food to eat for the best results for your goal. i could tell you but there are sooooooooo many things to eat and what time of the day is best for each one and all that shit. my post would be much longer than yours!! good luck!

Yeah, I basically knew the stuff about the calories, and I sometimes do try to count what I eat. Problem is, I have a hard time judging serving sizes, because I don't think to measure my foods in cups, or whatever they often write on there. Plus, I'm never sure how much calories are burned by doing what activities, or how many are burned by the body naturally. As far as eating often, hm... Sounds like a lot of extra calories, considering I haven't even settled into a workout routine at all. I always figured if I wasn't going to be doing enough in a day to burn extra calories, I should eat less, so as to not take in more calories than I burn.

[xxazurexx]

as far as work out goes, try FitTV. they have a ton of different options, and try to work on that upper body as much as possible. buy some weights.
I now follow a gluten free diet and never felt better:

Breakfast

Oatmeal - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Banana - 1
Orange juice - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp (coffee or tea)



Lunch

Chicken - 3 oz
Rice - 1/2 cup
Apple juice - 1/2 cup
Ice cream - ½ cup



Dinner

Sirloin steak - 3 oz
Baked potato - 1 medium
Peas - 1/2 cup
Fruit gelatin - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 Tbsp
Tea - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp

I could live on this diet and every day Thanks for this Sonrisa.

[lionheart07]

when it comes to getting into shape and getting healthy we have to look at 3 aspects, your diet, your mental( lets face it, just to even work out take some type of effort) and you need to get yourself a good training routine.
the first thing i suggest you do is go out and by yourself a skipping rope that way you can do some cardio without leaving your house, the best time i believe to do cardio is in the morning right before you eat breakfast, its wakes up your system and gets yor blood flowing, you lose more calories this way as well, lets say you lose 200calories while skipping through out the day you will continue to lose calories as you are active for the rest of the day, going to work,running your errands etc, so i suggest that you wake up early and skip for 20-30mins, you can do 5 minute intervals when skipping. 1 thing you should never do is eat before you go to sleep, as your food does not digest when you sleep and it all turns into fat. after you finish skipping you can also do full body workouts, they dont require any thing but your body weight, you can do full body squats, use your own body weight get into squat possion and do as many as you can within 30secs does not matter how much you do as long as you do as many as you can within the time frame you want to do about 4-8 sets of those, remember when your squatting its like your sitting on a chair, you can also do pushups which is good for your shoulder and your chest and wll give you some tone, do as many as you can withing 30 seconds 4-6 sets, there are diffrent styles of pushups you can do but ill leave it up to you to research that, you can also do your abbs at home, you can do byscles, or crunches do as many as you can again within 30 seconds, you can also do pistol squats you balance yourself on 1 leg and squat same concept as normal squats but with 1 leg, when you try and do this your other leg should be out towrds you. these are just a couple of body excersies you can do when you do these you should do intervals, do them all back to back once you finish 1 set of an interval take a 1mintue vbreak and start all over again. as for your diet figure out how much you weigh then you can determine how much protien you body needs daily, i suggest mabe sitting down with a nutruinst and coming up with a good diet plan for yourself,when it comes to eating healthy sum1 else diet might not work as well for you as it work for them. diet is 1 of the most important things when it comes to being healthy. you also have to set yourmind to this if you really want to get into better shape i suggest you give it your best effort anddont get lazy and follow through, best of luck!
ps cut out the soda, and drink lots of water it helps to clean out your system.