Wouldn't that be mostly water? The first 10kg drop is usually water unless you're at your normal weight range.

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Added on May 19, 2009, 10:27 pmErrr...ok. Just post it up. Although when it comes to reduction of bodyfat, that is something that is a bit out of my league since I haven't read up on it much.

The most I understand about reducing BF is that you would need to do major cardio that literally exercises your entire body. Plus, you probably have to go on a steaming food diet and eat very healthy fats in the portion that the fitness buffs are eating. Also, you may need the help of supplements to enhance the fat burning process just to drop the BF.

I can take a look at your diet but your best bet would be either tengster or Syd G or pizzaboy. I've not reached the point where I can focus on BF yet. Dropping kilos is easier than body fat.

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Added on May 19, 2009, 10:33 pmHmm...actually, you can also ask iamyuanwu. I remembered him checking out a diet on T-mag.com which reduces your BF. Just that that diet regime involves serious fitness program (not for those who are beginners) and some serious dietary habits (basically go carb-less drastically). You'll get your muscles to show up but you won't be able to sustain that kind of diet for long as it's not recommended.

Plus, you also need to be in a clean bill of health if you want to follow that diet.

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Added on May 19, 2009, 10:35 pmmofonyx may be another person to check.

All these names I've quoted are generally ok with people asking them for tips. Some of the others are a bit sarcastic and have a certain ego to them that not sure whether it's ok to ask or not.

Do you also have a Member's Journal up? I would suggest you put one up and see what the others recommend. Although there are a lot of people who just give one-liners without explaination. The journal would help though, to keep you focus.

This post has been edited by myremi: May 19 2009, 10:35 PM

5x a week is good but it also depends on the type of workout you do.

Also, depends on what your food intake is like.

You would need to put in more details in your post so that other folks here can help you out as well.

I was just reading something about chocolate. Here is the link.

If you really want to eat something but not gain weight, eat non-starchy vegetables. They usually have low calories e.g. cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower. You can also have fruit but don't go overboard. Berries are usually low in calories but note that grapes are high in sugar.

Hmm....can you give us details about your age, weight and height? Just want to see how far into the normal weight range that you want to achieve. Reason : if you want to go into the lower end of the normal range of the scale, usually have to work harder.

Wah ! 15 kg by Sept. That's about 1 kg per week with a few weeks buffer. Hmm...strong goals need strong sacrifices. Hmm...exercise wise, think you're ok but someone else should comment on it. You're doing a lot of cardio but not so much strength training that when you lose half the weight, your body may be flabby.

Breakfast : No sugar and milk in the coffee, preferably. Also go decaff if you can. Hmm... depending on what you do in the morning, do you need to eat 2 slices of bread? If you can eat more raw veggie (avoid too much carrots, corn, potatoes and any other starchy type of veggie). Or mix them for an omelette is also good.

Lunch : Bringing pack lunches would be better if you intend to make sure u lose 15 kg by Sept. It's very hard to lose weight if you are eating outside because a lot of hidden oils and sugar and carbs. Avoid any form of sugar and carbo unless it's coming from vegetables and fruit. Even then, it must be smart choices for veggies and fruits. You'll need to do some research on the carbo and sugar content in veggies and fruits and try out and see what happens after a week.

4 pm : How much calorie, sugar and fat is in an IKO packet of biscuit? I usually read labels and make sure it's not a lot. I freak out if one serving has more than 10g of sugar in it. I would suggest u either take one small fruit or hi-fiber biscuits that are low in fat and sugar (I'm currently taking Jacobs). 3 pcs of Jabcobs Low Salt High Fibre biscuits is 120 calories but a small apple may be less. Not sure.

After workout : Hmm...someone else should comment on this. There's a lot of things about workouts that I"m not so familiar with and there's also the drink that u need to take during the workout.

No dinner?

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Added on May 20, 2009, 12:40 pmBTW, here is a useful link :

http://shawnhaviland.blogspot.com/2009/01/...-nutrition.html

I'm currently following it and it coincides with a lot of the food habits that is advised for fitness freaks.

This post has been edited by myremi: May 20 2009, 12:40 PM

At least u're lighter than me. 96.5 kg at 158 cm, age 33. LOL!

Just follow the diet habits that I gave you in the link. Should work. If you want to spend a bit of money, can also buy the PN manual (http://www.precisionnutrition.com).

1000 calories a day sounds extreme.

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...=BMI+calculator

Use the calculator in the link above for calorie counting. There's a few other rules to dieting but atm, I'm mix and matching them to suit the Asian diet. But trying to put everything down on paper isn't easy. I don't quite do calorie counting well but at the start of my diet, I did. I'm in the range of 1300-1800 calories most of the time but am planning to cut down carbs.

I would suggest that you keep a food diary too. So that when you want to cut, you can. Be prepared to relook your diet at the end of 2 weeks because the nearly you get to your target weight, the harder it is to lose weight.

With exercise, you have to keep changing it a bit to keep your body "guessing" and not settle down. E.g. more training, HIIT training, different type of exercise. With aerobics/workout, you may need to try to focus on the movement i.e. not lembik but strong movement. You need to feel some muscle strain but not too much that there is strong pain. Do things like keeping your limbers straight, try to make it a graceful movement rather than lembik, proper punches, etc.

One thing that help with me my lunches is buying a packed lunch. Portion control is important and surprisingly, it worked. It's a Japanese technique for lunch preparation i.e. volume of the container with the 3:1:2 rule for packing carbs, meat, veggie, seems to work. Although, I'm going to change the carbs to full veggie to see if I can lose weight here.

clarkfann : All vegetables are starchy. Just that some are more than others lah. Compared to a potato, carrot and onion, broccoli isn't too bad. Besides, you shouldn't be eating more than a cup each serving lah.

sky.live : General rule - all root and fruit vegetables are starchy. Root vegetables, then fruit vegetables, then others. Leafy ones are the safest.

fantegero : Don't you dare touch dark chocolate if you're losing weight. The problem with winter is that it's hard to sweat or people slack at their exercise.

Dark chocolate has sugar and fat. Even the high % ones aren't so good!

If you want to eat dark chocolate, you gotta sweat it out hard hard hard!

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Added on May 20, 2009, 5:58 pmSyd G : how do you know he's retaining water? Because his BF drop by that much?

This post has been edited by myremi: May 20 2009, 05:58 PM

Answering the easier posts first.

zedstat : Grats! Cutie pie with baby face

fantagero and clarkfann : Cornflakes are a big no-no. It's refined carbs. Go for either oats or weetabix which are complex carbs that should keep you full and going with energy for quite awhile. If the taste is too bland, add in some fresh or dried fruits but not too many. The milk is slightly acidic and will breakdown the complex carbs into sugar from the fruits so it's going to be slightly sweetish.

Speak to charge-n-go. He can tell you about his experience with oats. I think it's somewhere in the first few posts. We had a very very long discussion about complex carbs.

sky.live : Rethinking back, there's one more veggie that I avoid but I'm not sure whether it falls under carbs or sugar. Corn. I try not to eat too much of it. Usually a little bit.

As for your muscle, put koyok or deep heat rub. For the koyok, I use the Sinma Tiger brand. Works better than the Tokusen and the Salonplas (which seems to burn my skin and leave red marks).

With stretches, I like the link that pizzaboy gave me. The one on Tricks. Helps to lighten my backpain as well as my knee pain.

And soak yourself in warm water i.e. bath. Make it slightly warm. Do it for a few days to relax your muscles.

neutroticmind : i'll have a look tomorrow on your diet.

emily318 : u're going to have to do a lot of cardio to tighten those muscles as well as some strength training. maybe sacrifice a bit on weight but if body fat down, should be alrite.

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Added on May 21, 2009, 12:48 amSyd G : The number of ladies with low self-esteem about body flab.... Skinny fat! HAHAHA!

This post has been edited by myremi: May 21 2009, 12:48 AM

xstorm: When you don't see your weight moving or your body getting slim, it's time to make changes and if it calls for cutting out some things from your diet, then no choice lor.

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Added on May 21, 2009, 7:44 amx-storm : Just realized your diet is mostly carbo, very little protein and no veggie.

You'll need veggie to help your body metabolism. It also contains fiber that makes you feel full. Plus, they do not have so much carbo content like bread.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

Use this site to calculate your total calorie intake as well as to check your breakdown of fat and sugar intake. Also, start studying someof those fitness diet. Those are better controlled diets than yours.

So much bread...adoi....

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Added on May 21, 2009, 7:46 amSyd G : Yeah, urgh. Nowadays, I start asking the posters who ask for weight loss tips how much they weigh, height and age. If it's dangerously underweight, I don't give much advice anymore.

This post has been edited by myremi: May 21 2009, 07:46 AM

Hmm.... ok, with wanting to drop the BF down, we may have to ask for help.

Syd G, tengster : can you guys help? I'm going by the basis that to drop BF means dropping carbo from the diet for a few weeks?

Anyway, dissection of the diet :

You have 2 breakfast meals in the morning? Try to space your meals 2-3 hours between each other and your pre-workout snack at least 45 - 60 min before your workout.

Your lunch meals are ok but I would suggest that when you do a sandwich, either put cheese or ham or tuna but not cheese all the time. Change your potato to sweet potato as it's less calories/carbs. Use wholewheat pasta or non-wheat pasta or try to avoid it altogether. Hmm...watch out for the oils + sugar in pesto sauce.

Dinner : Mee sua - watch out for the alcohol inside. Instant noodles is a big no-no. Too much carbs. Eat cold cut meats e.g. cold boiled chicken - stick them into the fridge. Or raw veggies. No more cornflakes - switch to oats or weetabix or muesli.

I'm a big advocate of meal preparation at home. If you can prepare food from home, you can see a lot of difference in your weight / BF within a week. If you wanted more tips on food preparation at home, speak to iamyuanwu and mofonyx. iamyuanwu prepared meals while working out in a gym as a student. mofonyx is a student currently who works out.

Agree about the weekend eats. Forgot that he put jam there. JAM!!!

But the rest of the week, I'm not sure. He might have to do a calorie balance of what he's eating and what are his calories he's burning off at the gym. Work hard at the gym and eat less carbs to burn off the BF. Once the BF reaches target, he can eat some more carbs i.e. a bit at a time until his BF is stabilize.

neuroticmind : Refer above. You'll need a food journal for the first few weeks. The balance should be :

Total Calories from Food = Total Calories burnt from exercise (either from machine or from calculator online for approximation. Biggest test is if you can drop BF%. Then you know your food calories is less than calories burnt from exercise)

JAM!!! JAM!!!! JAM IZZZ BADZZZZ!!! No more JAMM!!

One source I read said to drink coffee just before a workout.

Foochow Mee Sua : they usually add in some red wine into it. If you don't, that's good. I'm trying out brown rice mee sua to see if any impact to weight loss. However, am limiting my carbs so probably will only take it for dinner.

Coldcut meat : Hmm...you could do sesame chicken. Just reduce the amount of sesame oil but rub it all over the chicken (maybe 1/2 tablespoon for complete chicken?) and leave it over night. Taste yummy. You can add in a dash of Chinese wine too. Rub both ingredients after chicken is cooked and cooled. After the rub, put it into the fridge. This is a Chinese dish. Another way is to add in salt but not a good idea if you have heart problems.

Buy a foodjar if you want to keep food warm. Although, finding the bento ones isn't exactly that easy. Hmm....I think Isetan has some but probably not cheap. Steaming in aluminium foil? Adoi.... I would grill stuff with aluminium foil lol! So you can make a basket out of aluminium foil for tapau then?

emily318 : 水肿 is edema? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edema Chances of getting this is slim unless u have a heart or liver complication. Do you?

You do realized that drinking water actually cleans up the body and this is agreed by both the Western medicine and Chinese medicine practiciners. Not that hard to drink 8 cups of water everyday lah.

emily318 : I think it's more than that. You can't tighten your muscles if you ignore the food and water advice. Getting the body you want doesn't mean all exercise alone. It would also mean that you need to change your diet to a more balance one.

Your body has defense mechanism when it think it's starving and missing nutrients. There are some things that you can do to make a body think it's "starving" to trigger the fat loss without the muscle loss. But it's a "controlled starving" so that you don't end up too thin / ill.

At the same time, your body needs water and nutrients to function and it will usually get these from fruits AND vegetables. Vegetables also has less calories compared to fruits so it makes it a healthier snack.

g3rbera : How far are you from your normal weight range? For that 4 kg?

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Added on May 21, 2009, 2:53 pmtengster : Rub deep heat or put koyok and take hot bath to relax your muscles.

BTW, changing diet again. Another type of diet plan to get below the 96 kg mark. Going on another study round about losing weight and exercise.

This post has been edited by myremi: May 21 2009, 02:53 PM

tengster : PN Diet. Got the manual now. It's an interesting read tbh. And more than carbless. It's more of a lifelong practices that has flexibility.

g3rbera : Oh errr...I don't know much about profiling this way. But will give thoughts tonite. Rushing off for another meeting.

This is what I want :

http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/lunchjars/sl_nce09.html

Don't know if it's available in Malaysia though. I'm asking my sister in the US to get it for me when she's here next CNY.

http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/lunchjars/sz_ba.html

This one was available for sale at Isetan in KL but not sure if they still have it. Something like RM50 or RM80 each? Can't remember. Only problem with this one is that only one small lunch jar is insulated. The other 2 white containers aren't.

sky.live : It may be that we may have to follow a certain diet pattern. Maybe keep cheating to a minimum. Or at least cheat in a controlled way. The problem with cheating is that it disturbs your metabolic rate and you can sometimes go from fat loss mode to fat gain mode if you're not careful.

I do occassionally let go but the problem is that you have to work harder if you're heading for weight loss, no? Or probably have to do something else to stir up the body.

And I can tell you this : After 2 weeks in UK, I'm actually glad to be hitting my routine diet again. I started missing it after 5 days, luckily could cook at one cousin's place but at the other one, she was the chef. I'm just not used to oily cooking anymore or salty cooking. And honestly, I feel clean and lighter now.

yep. they sure do.

U can but it depends on the portion control and what you mean by fruits and veggies.

A lot of people tend not to eat enough vegetables and lean towards fruits because it's sweet.

Also, to consider the protein intake as well because need to make sure there's enough protein for muscle building. Because when one exercises, the body will eat both fat and muscles.

Hmm...I guess it depends on what kind of veggies and fruits.

A lot of times, people tend to follow the way the Westerners eat i.e. salad, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, etc.

I'm not saying that this is bad. Just give local vegetables a chance. They are pretty good too and may probably hold the key to better health. Examples are chai sim, pak choy, cangkuk manis as well as common stuff like garlic and onions. Even ginger. They may be better suited because of the climate that we live in. Also, the wide range of green leafy vegetables in Asia is a lot more than in the US and Europe. In fact, there is a growing trend atm to include in garlic and onions and even ginger in cooking. I see it in a lot of Western cooking magazines and sites as well as fitness sites as well. The Western nations used to avoid eating these 3 root vegetables for seasoning but now, it's no longer the case.

It's not easy to come up with a balance diet. It's probably really hard because a balance diet may actually mean leaning more towards vegetables. Fruits can help too but they have more calories than vegetables.

The other thing about food is having to do selection and checking calories and nutrition. Whether it's macrobiotics or Chinese traditional medicine or Western dietician practices, they all have ways and means to monitor this. The simplest way are just general guidelines or using portion control (one cup, one bowl, 2x a week, 3x week) or they go into the detailed method of tracking and calculating the calories and nutrition (which is hard to do because quality control is different from producer and region).

It's really up to you on what you want to follow. But don't neglect exercise though. Even 1 hr brisk walking is better than nothing. It's not the best form of exercise out there but it's a start. Better to include in some weight training as well as other exercise activities.

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Added on May 22, 2009, 12:50 pmHmm...usually the shape of the potato. Just read the signcards or check with the seller.

The problem with sweet potato is that the older it is, the less sweet. The Japanese Sweet Potato is always sweet though.

Other alternatives are brown rice or tang hoon. Hmm...or if you like, try Quinoa just like in the Biggest Loser show.

Peanut Butter - check with Syd G. I don't eat it because I can't take salt in my diet.

This post has been edited by myremi: May 22 2009, 12:50 PM

U mean skynet. I don't think skylive eats oats only! LOL!

no water during exercise meh? LOL!

Kaya is bad. For half a small pot of kaya, there's 10 eggs in there and goodness knows how much sugar.

Although, an alternative would be Smucker's Sugar Free Jam or a Diabetic Jam. I'm not sure how they taste like and yeah, they would use artificial sugar. As long as the intake is low on artificial sugar, you should be alrite.

I was reading a post online about the safety of aspartame yesterday. You can have a look :

http://bodytransformationinsider.com/acces...rtame-safety-2/
http://bodytransformationinsider.com/acces...me-weight-loss/

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Added on May 23, 2009, 1:59 pmneuroticmind : One thing also - which of your will is stronger?

The will to lose weight or the will to eat sweet food?

This post has been edited by myremi: May 23 2009, 01:59 PM