My Diet and Exercise plan, comments, tips and advice welcome.
 

My New Years resolution was to get lean and fit this year. Not by any stretch would I describe myself as 'fat' but I have been carrying some excess for a few years in the form of a 'beer belly' and a bit of a puffy face and jowels thanks largely to a diet of saturated fats, sugars, lots of carbs and an excess of Alcohol with no exercise to counter the calorie intake.

I am no expert in this field and would appreciate the advice of some of you more experienced guys. As of this month I have been eating/doing the following.

Breakfast

Weetabix, Bananna and Orange Juice.

Lunch

Smoked Salmon in granary bread, piece of fruit or
Tuna in granary bread with light mayo, piece of fruit

Dinner

Chicken breasts lightly seasoned, portion of veg, portion of wild/brown rice or
Salmon, portion of veg, portion of wild/brown rice

I allow myself one day off a week where I eat anything I like, usually a Sunday which will consist of a fry-up, followed by a Sunday roast.

Exercises

I run 2k on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays first thing as soon as I wake up. 2k doesn't sound like a lot, I started out on 1.5k and that nearly killed me so i've improved sightly. I've never had a great level of natural fitness. My aim is to be able to comfortably run 4k comfortably on those set days.

I currently do 30 Push-ups and 30 Ab crunches (divided into 3 sets each) 3 days a week, will progress to 40 next week.

This may all seem rather modest to many of you more advanced guys but I am just starting out and have not been used to an exercise/diet regime before.

Some of my friends have noticed I look slimmer in the face already, and I'd agree but im not noticing much changes to my beer belly as yet. Would you guys agree that my above plan should lead to weight-loss or is there anything else you feel I should add or omit?

All advice, tips, drill-sergeant yelling is welcome. Thanks.

Looks pretty good.

For your abs (as the most commonly desired, but least achieved part on a guy) nutrition is everything. However, as a rule - I make myself do 3 sets of 65-70 twists before I allow myself a shower, every day. Just get into a habit of this (if you really want to remove your gut) and let it become everyday routine.

I would start on 30 twists, 3 sets maybe 4-5 times a week.

Abs are the single hardest thing to work and maintain, but it makes a statement if you have them nailed.

Plenty of salmon in your diet. I hope it's wild to gain maximum nutrients.

Cheers guys. I've been doing this a month now, if I keep this up how long do you think before I begin to see noticeably changes in my physique? 3 months??

I like the Push-up idea, arms and chest must ache to fuck the next day!

Don't lust after results, you'll only feel dejected if you don't reach them.

instead focus on making a lasting change in your lifestyle that you can stick to every day and the changes will take care of themselves.

Jogging and crunches are both a waste of time, energy and are potentially destructive to your body. I'm not kidding..Stop doing these.

A few really simple changes you can make which will literally make night and day progress with little effort.

-Don't eat carbs in the morning
4 whole egg omelette (cooked in butter, with meat, tomatoes etc)

-Walk for an hour a day in a low insulin state
That means in the morning or before dinner after 4-5 hours of no food.

-Instead of jogging/sit ups do High intensity stuff
Lift weights, skip, sprint, circuits..anything where you are working hard for 30-90s, recover, repeat.

-Pushups are a good exercise but,
To get a strengthening/shaping effect you need to be progressive. I disagree with Kowalski with this. Stick with 3-5 sets, increase total volume over those sets over time. rest 2 mins between each set.

This is kind of what I do..Picking up girls..not so great. Exercise, sport, diet, physio..I know my stuff :smokin:

Thanks guys all sound advice. Xylo why are crunches and jogging a waste of time? I hear jogging is bad for the knees if running for prolonged periods on roads.

Put it this way..out of everyone I see for injuries, jogging is waaay up there beyond any other population.

Many reasons which i'll gloss over, too late for rants..basically any biomechanical faults blow up joints/tissues due to repetition. Muscle imbalances develop (tension/weaknesses), posture degrades..and that isn't even going into any of the metabolic reasons why it sucks for fat loss and arguably health and longevity.

Crunches...ah the number 2 reason after sitting behind desks for 8 hours a day for destroying lower backs. 'Core' muscles are designed for stabilising, not flexing. Repetitive Lower back flexion is not something you want to put your lumbar spine through. Plus crunches won't make a lasting difference to getting your belly fat off or abs on show...and that's assuming you will even recruit your rec ab as prime movers..most people just use their hip flexors and wonder why their backs hurt.

Moderate your carbs, walk and get to a field to sprint train 3 times a week. Get lean in a matter of months and laugh at the thousands of joggers busting their balls and not making any changes.

Then thanks me ;)

Rood makes a great point. You need to make your diet sustainable also. Is salmon really a realistic daily or bi-daily dietary option for both breakfast and dinner?

Also, what's with the rush? Are you aiming to make this a way of life or just a fad?

Thanks Xylo, yeah I was thinking of doing sprinting drills. There's a Rugby pitch round the corner from me. I was thinking of sprinting from the try line to the 22 yard, then walk back to the try line, sprint up to the half way line walk back to the try line, sprint up to the opposition 22 yard line walk back etc.

@Nova, no this isn't a fad and I'm not looking for a magic pill I want to make this apart of my life. I only say 3 months as I'm unsure as to how long it would take the body to alter its form inline with the new diet/exercise as I have no clue how long things tend to take.

Salmon is totally realistic for me, I dont eat it at breakfast, just for lunch and maybe once or twice a week for dinner.