hello sifus ... i just joined a Gym and i dont know to start ... i dont know what to do, how many reps, etc ... I am a completely new starter on gym ...

I started to fat few years ago, and i took it for granted until now i take the health seriously... before this im not a total lazy fat guy sitting in house playing games, i used to jog and play badminton too, and im road cyclist too .. but it doesnt take any effect on my weight loss so i decided to join the "specialist centre" - gym ...

Like usual after i joined the Gym, the consultant took my body fat measurement, i forgotten about the result but if u need it to help me i can find it out ... then he say basically i need 3 things :
1. Cardio excercise
2. Resistance excercise
3. Diet

Although i want to be fit muscular (who doesn't) but it is my secondary target , my main primary target is weight loss, particularly ABDOMINAL AREA, and the area under the ARMPIT / side of the chests .. typical man fat area ... I need to get slim down because ... my job requires me to wear uniform, i feel very under confident when wearing that "slim fit" uniform ...

i read some article in the forum and i find myself confused by too many techniques, too many terms that i dont know which one suitable for myself. I got no kaki Gym neither do i have a friend with a good knowledge in fitness training .... some of them just never bother about fitness cause they nvr experienced fat life ..

so ... anyone sifu can help me ?? im will try my best to follow ur instructions ...

thank you~

This post has been edited by keropi88: Dec 25 2012, 03:04 PM

Well, you have made a good start by joining a gym, props to you. Hopefully you will always be motivated.

First thing that you need to do to lose weight is the reduce the amount of food intake. Seems easy but there are quite a bit of science involved in it. You see, everyone has a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). It is the amount of calorie that your body needs in order to function at minimum level/rest.

From BMR, you can get your Calorie Maintenance or TDEE. Since BMR is value at rest, TDEE is value for your normal daily activities need. For people who leads active lifestyle, their's TDEE will be much higher compared to people with sedentary lifestyle.

Why people getting fat? It is because they eat more than their TDEE. How to lose fat? Eat less than your TDEE. Find out your BMR then your TDEE (refer to my link). Then make a log of everything that goes into you body, solid and fluid. Every food has its calorie value. Make sure that at then end of the day, your food consumption is around 80% - 90% of your TDEE. You'll start to lose weight.

If you get that BMR and TDEE, I'll explain about exercises

Thanks for replying ... When I join the gym they used some kinda device to measure my body fat and they did mentioned something about my metabolism rate .. Is that the one ?

How to calculate the calories ?
Sometimes parents cook food bought from pasar .. Those raw food without label how to determine their calories ?

Well, refer to my signature for calculations.

Home cooked should be easy to calculate, as long as you know how much meat you ate (the weight) and how it is being cooked (how much oil, sauce etc). That means that you have to be in the kitchen while your mother cooks =)

Hi alien9, thanks for the great input. It's all French to me too like TS

I've calculated and my TDEE is around 1,898. Thus this means that my food consumption per day should not exceed about 1,500 kcal (appx 80% of my TDEE) if my aim is to lose weight?

I've started to hit the gym recently. Hope I can be motivated to continue with it at least 4 times a week

Well, everyone had to start somewhere right?

Your calculation on TDEE, what multiplier do you use? 1.20 (sedentary) or 1.55 (active)? If you will starting to go to the gym next week, and you'll estimate that you are going to go 3-5 times a week, you should use 1.55 multiplier. Whatever it is, 1500kcal is the least that you should consume. Higher than that is ok (maybe 50 kcal) as long as you don't reach the TDEE. Lower than that, you might lose the muscle mass.

It would be better to use the term fat loss instead of weight loss. Why? Because you whole body parts have its own weight. Your limbs, fat mass, muscle mass, water weight, all have its own weight. If you want a major weight loss, cut the limbs. Why does this important? So that you won't be referring to the weighing scale to measure your fat loss journey. Some people, beginner especially, do have experiencing increase of weight and they become demotivated because of that. There are two possibility. One is that he/she ate too much and gain weight and second one is that he/she managed to burn off the fat mass while increasing the muscle mass in their body. Fat mass is bad, muscle mass is very good. So, fat loss is what we want, not weight loss. You, the female, should keep this in mind

Last but not least, if you want to do some sort of cardio exercises, you should considered HIIT instead of cardio.

I used 1.55 as the multiplier as i will be hitting the gym at least 3times a weekm yes you are right on the fat loss - i need to lose them. I remember my PT said i have 39.5% fat content which is very high. He said ideally for me it should be 25%.

I dont plan to sign up for PT once my 3 sessions is over since its costly. Will be needing a lot of guidance from you and the forumers. As for HIIT, can you elaborate more? I checked online and its related to a burst/ sprinting during intervals of the exercise i am doing?

I like classes so i will probably start going for yoga/ zumba/ dance related group activities mid next week.i will still maintain my cardio n do sit ups. But vety very difficult for me to do push ups or even plank.

If that's so, 1.55 is the correct value. Do learn more about nutrition as you have already setup the base for your diet. You need to know about protein carbs fat intake to be included in your diet. What food to eat, what food to avoid etc2.

HIIT as its name High Intensity Interval Training is a high intensity exercises routine done within short interval. A good example is burpess, mountain climber, 30 sec sprinting, sled dragging etc. That is much2 better than slow jog, stepmill.

About zumba/yoga/dance, I would like to ask a few questions first. What purpose do you go to the gym? Are you going to lift some weight (Weight in this term is not pink or any colourful dumbbells)?

P/S: Situps won't reduce the fat around the stomach

Hello ... My BMR is 1886.2 ... I use it multiply by 1.55 it's 2923.61..
What's next ?

Noted on the food intake, I have a little understanding/ knowledge of them but sometimes when I eat out, I'll be in a dilemma. At times I'm not sure which is the better option. For example, Durian has carbs, what would be the limit if I like to eat them? And if I have to choose between yee mee, yellow noodle and kuay teow, which would be better?

Hmmm HIIT... I kinda enjoy the treadmill. Will research more on HIIT and try some out, thank you

Main objective going to gym is to lose fat, secondly to increase my stamina (will be going for trip in March which involves a lot of walking, afraid I couldn't catch up) and finally to be fit. I used to practice yoga and I did aerobics before (several years ago). I love these kind of activities because it's fun and I can workout at the same time. I'll definitely be doing yoga in the centre (at least once a week if the schedule fits) because I feel really good and less stressful after the session.

I was taught how to use 3 weights equipment yesterday. I have no idea what they're called ^^; but I sit down on all 3 and they're the basic equipment, focus quite a lot on the triceps. PT said it's to tone body. Since I only know how to use these 3, I'll be including them in my training.

Gehhhh really? What's the function of sit up?

This post has been edited by sweet_pez: Dec 27 2012, 10:36 PM

Build your abs. But I'm against doing sit ups. Better off with crunches, bicycle crunches, leg raises and all that. Sit ups are really bad for the back.

Really??? But I don't push myself to do it all the way 'up' to the stage of really sitting. It's more to lying down and raising my head/ neck about an inch or slightly more off the ground, as long as my fingertip touches the side of my thigh. I think that should be alright? Just that I feel the strain on my neck...

Going to gym, the most important is: do what you enjoy doing.

There's no point following 1001 programs if you do not enjoy it - you will just end up losing motivation after awhile.

My advise for ladies is - unless you're very sure of lifting weights is for you (most don't) you should go for more classes. This is also because most ladies love the social aspect of classes more than guys.

Yoga, bodypump, RPM (bodypump and RPM are forms of HIIT) are all good. Look for a workout partner will also help.

And don't feel bad about using the baby dumbbells (pink color ones). Nothing wrong with those for a beginner.

I am insulted on behalf of my sex.

I agreed this is a stereotype, but this comes from experience.

I never said girls shouldn't or don't lift weights, I'm just saying ladies prefer the social aspects of classes more than grunting in the squat rack. Of course this is, in general - YMMV.

Hope that clears it up. Didn't mean to be sexist.

Fair enough. I just dislike people promoting the idea that girls don't need to make the effort to lift weights, especially since there are so many misconceptions so prevalent (OMG! I don't want to be like the hulk so bulky! ) that scares women away. It simply helps many women justify sticking to cardio only when they would benefit greatly from weight training even once or twice a week. Worst of all - many girls will spread the misconceptions and fears to others. Argh.

I do actually agree with your statement though - Do what you enjoy. This goes for anyone regardless of sex.

I will say this to girls with even a little interest in adding weight training to their routine: Try not to be put off by the grunting sweaty males in the weights area (easier said than done I know) - weight training is awesome.

In the end - I don't really care if more women weight train. Just makes it easier for me to be more outstanding. Heh.

My gf has started lift weight Even though she still more Occupied wit kettle bells. Bt still more and more ladies, especially the young girls picking up weights.

Hat off to the iron ladies

haha nvr look down on females ... in my gym got a frequent comer female, train just like the big guys ... she can lift more weight than me too

n she is pretty too ... haha

Yeah its always cool seeing girls who can lift as much if not more than the men. One day... *looks at puny muscles* Many years to go.

And awwwww you will catch up! Everyone starts from no experience.

Isn't it great when you see leng chai lifting? Damn sexy. It will be nice when there are not silly concerns about women worried if they lift they become bulky and more girls realize how beneficial it is (especially aesthetically). It is just frustrating how much misinformation about lifting there is, but that is probably my number one geram. I wish it was so easy to build muscle! No need to work so hard trying to bench/deadlift/squat so heavy