Since I have hit 40, my diet has gone to pot. I work in an office, so it's a quick sandwich from M&S or Boots and then several coffee's during the day.
I have notice the pounds are creeping on, and my fitness has more or less come to a stand still. I am intending on starting wiht my running again, but need some pointers in the diet area of my life.
Any suggestions??
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Water. Replace most of your
Water. Replace most of your coffee drinks with water instead. I wouldn't say give up coffee entirely, but make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day. Not only will it help keep you hydrated ready for exercising, but it will also help to control your appetite as you will stop interpreting dehydration as hunger and therefore you'll eat less.
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Agree!! Water all the way! On
Agree!! Water all the way! On twitter? Follow fitness people get great help there too (@stusykes if you wanna chat)
Thanks lordmooch first bottle
Thanks lordmooch first bottle of Volvic purchased, only a 50cl bottle, but I guess it's a start. Refilling throughout the day.
Now to promise myself a short run tonight, I guess we all have to start somewhere :)
You'll need more than that!
You'll need more than that! Drink at least four pints of water per day. Tap water is fine IMO.
Hi Rhys What are the rest of
Hi Rhys
What are the rest of your eating habits like? do you snack on sweets through the day? Eating heavy meals/junk food late at night? drink a lot on the weekend?? it all adds up over the years if you aren't doing any kind of exercise - or going to what I like to call a cafe-themed gym (you know, spend half hour on the treadmill and then an hour in the spar followed by another our drinking latte's and reading the paper...).
The key is moderation. Don't give everything up (what a boring way to live!), just moderate your eating habits - make that sausage sandwhich or big fat cake a friday treat instead of a daily occurence (or was thatjust me - oops!). Once you start exercising you'll start to feel hungry - don't start overeating. Just because your exercising doesn't mean you can now eat for two.
I also tend to try and follow the rule about not eating/snacking after dinner (or 9pm at the latest in my personal rule book) as it just sits there and does nothing for you but add to that weight problem. Obviously, there are exceptions to that rule - sometimes that big bag of sea salted crisps in the cupboard are begging you to eat them! just go for it but make sure it doesn't become a daily habit - think of it as a treat because of the 10k run you did yesterday that blitzed your last PB!
Hope this helps a little. Good luck with your running and remember - don't go off too fast or too long too soon otherwise you'll end up hurting yourself and you wont be able to run at all... that's when the cakes look even tastier!
Gavinp many thanks for the
Gavinp many thanks for the advice, I am taking it all on board and feel motivated by your comments.
To give you an insight, here is what I feel my weaknesses are:
I do snack a lot in the evening, eventhough my meals are usaully healthy and not pre-packaged. I have to be honest I do tent to tuck into biscuits & crisps when my wife is on nights and I am alone in the house with nothing but the television & Xbox for company. I must admit that it has changed recently with the addition of a puppy - which I plan to take out for a 30 min walk every night. I do not drink alcohol in the week, usually perhaps one a night at the weekends.
I will update wiht progress, but I have decided enough is enough - time to make a difference and get my fitness back.
Hi Rhys, Don't beat yourself
Hi Rhys,
Don't beat yourself up too much, it's easy to reach for snacks when you're bored at home after a hard days work. I know I sometimes catch myself doing it without even realising it! I'm a big believer that "mostly healthy, most of the time" is the best way to go - for most of us who aren't professional athletes/models residing in "the real world" with jobs to, families to raise, etc. So the odd biscuit or crisp in the evening isn't the end of the world so long as you're eating a good balanced diet the rest of the time. Obviously, you don't want to be stuffing your face on lots of that stuff every night, however!
I actually find that when I'm getting plenty of fruits, veggies, and lean proteins I don't crave those snacks so much. I think you might find that if you serve good filling portions of healthy meals (and maybe plan a small plate of something mid-evening) you won't reach for the crisps and chocs so often.
Looking forward to following your progress! :-)
Rhys I'm a 42 male and in my
Rhys
I'm a 42 male and in my 40th year I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. I didn't plan it that way it just happened and when it did I had to get fit and fairly quick. I've never been really overweight so I had a good starting point. Now I'm not saying that you need to go and climb a mountain but I believes it helps if you have a goal. If you are mega unfit then running a 5k fun run could be your mountain. The trick is as others have stated is to start easy and work your way up. In my 41st year I ran a marathon and a couple of 10k races. Still plodding a bit and managed 4:05 for the 26 miler. This year I'm running an ultra marathon and doing the London to Brighton 100k. The time isn't important but running all or most of the 100k is. This time last year I was just toying with the idea of a marathon and running 12 minute miles. Now I'm averaging 8 minute miles and have even managed to run some 6.5 minute miles in training sessions. I can hardly believe it myself and I don't know where it will end, I hope it doesn't.
My advice is:
Set yourself a goal (enter a race)
Drink water
Start slowly and build up
As for food, I like the saying run, eat, repeat.
Be prepared to get addicted.
Have fun.
Hi Rhys, I'm fairly new to
Hi Rhys,
I'm fairly new to healthy eating too, and being office based does make it really hard, and especially important because we're so sedentary. As well as upping your water intake, I think preparing packed lunches at least for a couple of days a week would be really helpful at the weekend (I do it on Sunday morning and it takes hardly any time). A small portion of boiled brown rice, a baked chicken breast and a huge salad in a lunchbox would be really good to take in, and so quick to prepare, for a start. And breakfast is really important - 2 x wholegrain toast with poached eggs is a great start to set you up for the day. Also a mid morning and mid afternoon snack would help you, e.g. buy a bag of carrot sticks from the supermarket and a pot of hummus (1/4 of a pot is a serving!), or spread a couple of oatcakes with some peanut or almond butter. It just takes a few minutes to pack up a couple of things to keep you from those sandwiches (higher in salt etc than you'd think!) Saves you a bit of cash too!
I've found that with the regular smaller mini-meal/snacks, it means that I'm craving sugary/fatty foods way less, so I can really stick to the healthier eating...
Hope it helps, and good luck!
Helen
Great healthy eating tips
Great healthy eating tips there everyone. Do keep us posted on how you're getting on Rhys.