Sport Eating less?

Sport Fitness
J

Joe54

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Hi guys, I'm stuck for starting a better diet plan.

I eat healthily (low salt, I only drink water and juice, as little processed food as possible, try to avoid chocolate and cakes etc.) and I'm finding it hard to find areas I could improve. the only thing I can think of, is reducing the amount.

I eat A LOT. I easily eat more than anyone I know, and I probably eat around 3000-3500 calories a day (usually a double helping at breakfast and dinner, and a larger than average lunch).

I'm tall for my age, but skinny (15, 6'3", 70kg/155lb) and no matter how much I eat, I've never noticed myself gaining weight, I tend to just go upwards. I have around a 14% body fat according to an online calculator, and the main reason I want to lose weight is to lose a bit of that and go down to around 10%.

I'm just starting cardio (rowing machine for 40 minutes a day) and I'm doing that first thing in the morning (better before breakfast as I've been fasting for around 10 hours?) so that should help, but would reducing my calorific intake be a good idea, would it stunt my growth/cause my body to retain fats etc. ?
 
The best advice I can give is be careful about the advice you get from strangers. And folks who give advice on forums are strangers to you. You will get some great tips here but please be a little cautious as your body is growing and developing. Do some additional research on all of the online stuff you read.

That said, I would add some weight lifting to your cardio routine to build some solid muscle. If you are eating healthy and clean then don’t worry so much about the calories. Good luck and I wish I had your metabolism!
 
You are right to question calorie restrictions as a 15 year old growing boy.

Also an online calculator isn't a good method to gauge body fat. If you are 6'3" and 155lbs you are underweight for your height.

I question if you really need to cut calories, so much as workout more. You might be what we call 'skinny fat' where you're under-muscled, so the fat shows up more.
And that's not uncommon for a 15 year old male...your muscle mass hasn't caught up to your height.

If I were you I'd aim for a rounded routine that had some cardio, but plenty of weight training.
 
I agree with what Malkore and Trek have both said about being careful if someone suggests calorie restriction. If you're still growing and you're 'skinny,' then your body is definitely telling you that you need the calories. I would suggest a well-rounded routine of sports, cardio, strength, and flexibility training but not cutting the calories. Just make sure that the calories you're eating are healthy ones; try to minimize the amount of fast or processed food.
 
okay, thanks guys, I can't really weight train until september when I get access to a gym. at the moment, I row on the second highest setting (I could go higher but not for as long, would that be better?) for 10 minutes at a time, twice with a five minute break between (eventually I'll get to three sets, then two fifteen minute sets, then one half hour, then up to the higher difficulty is my current plan). I also do some other plyometric (? I use my body weight for resistance) exercises before bed.

I wouldn't say I'm skinny fat, as I have some decent definition (I can see my oblique abs etc.) but I'm not as lean as I would like to be. I'm trying to cut out some of the carbs in my diet a bit, and perhaps get into a bit of HIIT (I'm not sure if my rowing would count, as I go about 75-90%, but for a longer time). So as not to clog this site up with more threads, would I be better going for less time on a harder setting, or would I risk injury?

Thanks for the advice guys.

edit: to give you an idea of what I eat:
double-size bowl of cereal with half a pint of whole milk
bacon sandwich
apple

large plate of bolognese pasta bake with a portion of green beans.
apple

half a cheesy naan bread, two large plates of cheesy vegetable risotto and meatballs

and about 3 litres of water.
 
Joe, did you miss the part about healthy eating? Whole milk, bacon, pasta, bread & cheese? Mostly carbs and fat! Start with a healthy diet that incorporates more protein, fruits & vegetables. Make sure you include good protein in every meal, eggs, chicken, fish & lean red meat
I wouldn't take breaks in my cardio, shoot for 30 minutes at a moderate effort then increase the effort, time or both. HIIT is great if you do it correctly, you are not doing HIIT now. Google it. Last, I would add some body weight exercises: pushups, chinups etc.
Keep us posted on your progress.
 
Here is the basis for HIIT using your row machine:
5 minute warm up
15 minutes of...1 minute at your highest level of intensity and 2 minutes of slow rowing to recover, repeat until the 15 minutes are up, no breaks
2 minutes of cool down

If you are doing it correctly, you should be totally exhausted after the 20 minutes, ready to cough up a lung or wishing you never heard of HIIT. If you don't experience at least one of these then you are not going hard enough during the 1 minute of high intensity. Only do HIIT 1 or 2 times a week.
 
Trek said:
Joe, did you miss the part about healthy eating?
Click to expand...

I can only get hold of whole milk in my house, and I try to avoid the cream, I didn't know the rest of it was bad for you to be honest (recoils in shame)

Trek said:
Here is the basis for HIIT using your row machine:
5 minute warm up
15 minutes of...1 minute at your highest level of intensity and 2 minutes of slow rowing to recover, repeat until the 15 minutes are up, no breaks
2 minutes of cool down

If you are doing it correctly, you should be totally exhausted after the 20 minutes, ready to cough up a lung or wishing you never heard of HIIT. If you don't experience at least one of these then you are not going hard enough during the 1 minute of high intensity. Only do HIIT 1 or 2 times a week.
Click to expand...

alright, so twice a week HIIT, then maybe 30 minutes of gentler rowing every other day of the week? I currently do 5 pull-ups (but with my head in front of the bar to do my upper back and shoulders more) then 50 sit-ups (with 3kg extra weight - all I could get hold of) then 60 push-ups, the chin-ups to failure. is that good? This is really useful, thanks a lot.
 
Sorry, didn't mean to preach. I think you have a good base now, HIIT 2x a week and 30 minutes of steady rowing another 2 to 3x a week. Google body weight exercises to supplement your pushup, chinups and crunches. Wow, you are going to be ripped. Check out this website: you can plug in any food and see the nutritional balance, a great resource.
 
Nothing wrong with whole milk if its not killing you with total fat intake.
Bacon...sadly is a bad food. loaded with salt, nitrites and fat.
Pasta isn't terrible either...if you can see some of your abs you're doing pretty good, and pasta is a good energy source. But, stick to whole grain pasta, and not pre-made stuff from the freezer isle.
 
I think you have a more well-rounded cardio plan with 2 days per week doing HIIT and a more moderate, constant-paced 30 mins on the other days... the thing I'd be concerned about is injury. Doing an all out interval on a rowing machine can be 'deadly' for the back if your posture or technique is off. I would recommend doing some cross-training on some days of the week to avoid overuse injuries... walking, hiking, jogging, swimming, cycling, etc.... You can apply the same principles (ie. HIIT or constant speed) to any form of cardio, but your body should appreciate the break from the rower :)
 
I see many people advocate that one should drink milk, and that milk is 'good' for you

I have read several reports to the contary ....

from what I have read, cow's milk is bad for you ... just a qyuick search on google brings up this site:



and found this site:



'snipet from the article:

If this is the premise on which Americans spend an incredible chunk of their grocery bill to provide for the health and nutrition of their loved ones, we need to further examine this premise.

Despite what the dairy industry has led us to believe, many medical doctors and nutritionists are now saying that cow's milk is not healthy for human consumption, and that it can lead to many serious diseases. When you look at the credentials of the doctors making these statements, it would be hard for the dairy industry to accuse these physicians of being on the lunatic fringe of the medical world.


lots more if you search google

saying that, I have cut down my milk intake to 1/2 a cup per day of skimmed organic milk with my cereal (cereal tastes crap with water) ... I have yet to try soya milk
 
People can make a website to drum of fear about anything.
 
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